Finally, a crib!!!

I forgot to post that I got fed up with waiting for that part from Once Upon a Child. Several days had gone by and I hadn't heard anything so I called them and then they said they would call the manufacturer. Two or three days later, they call me and tell me that the manufacturer needs a different model number. I could not come up with a different magical number from my ass or elsewhere because the same number on the instructions was the one on the crib, so there was no possible other model number. I even gave them the manufacture date (November, 2006--how hard can it be for the damn company to figure out which model it is?).

Another week went by so I took the effing thing apart and loaded it up in the car (at this point I was pretty mad because we wasted another two weeks, I spent over an hour assembling the crib, and OUAC didn't seem to understand that it's not safe to use a crib with a side that can detatch--that's the whole reason why the other ones were recalled). I also went online and found other people with this same crib who had the same broken plastic part on theirs. I then read a mother's post saying, "Don't use this crib; my baby died when the side detatched". That was enough for me.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Friday I was in the staff breakroom and talking to a co-worker. She was talking about this rummage sale she is having next weekend and she's selling all of her boys' clothing. I, half-kiddingly, asked if she was selling a crib too, because I had just gotten done venting to another co-worker about my crib dilemma.

"Yes", she said, "and you can have it. It's older and it has some scratches on it, but we are getting rid of it". I told her I'd give her something for it, but she didn't want anything.

So, we picked up the crib after work yesterday. Rob and I put it together right when we got home while Andrew tried to "help" by taking the screwdrivers and running with them (this problem was somewhat fixed when I put in his Clifford DVD). I then cleaned the crib up good with my Orange Plus natural cleanser, and it looks really nice! The crib is old (wow, 1988 is the manufacture date), but the old adage is true: the just don't make things the way they used to. No plastic parts on this. The parts that are plastic on today's cribs are metal on this one. Rob even replaced the four screws with some Allenwrench ones so that he could tighten them easier. The drop-side system from the 80s used metal rods instead of relying on the weight of the crib to be held up by plastic tabs. It is much safer and I think there were less recalls in the 80s and 90s. Why they ever went to the newer system is beyond me, but if it was to save $.50 by using plastic parts, that is pretty pathetic. When babies are dying from being entrapped, it's time for all of the manufactuers to re-think their process. The only cribs I found online that were created solidly were $800 and more. If you could get your hands on an Amish-made crib, they're super nice, but will set you back $1200.

I promised a pic, so here it is! Not bad for free!
Last night was Andrew's first night in it, and he did cry more than normal, but it's because he's had a month of going to bed with Mom and being nursed to sleep. I took him out once because he was just going nuts and I thought he was going to sweat to death. One more nursing session and back in the crib and he was asleep within 5 minutes. He had his little stuffed birdie ("Bird-suh") and his toy power drill in his hands, but he was asleep. Very cute!

Still waiting on part for the crib

I had posted last Friday about the crib. Well, I got it together (myself, mind you) 3/4 of the way done. The very last step was to attach the front side (which happens to be a drop-side, which I don't like, but I have found it's hard to find a crib that doesn't have the drop-side). It wasn't going on, and I couldn't figure it out, so I called DH into the room (which I really didn't want to do because I was doing so well putting the crib together myself). He looked at it and the part on the bottom right, the one that slides on and catches--has a piece broken off of it (junk plastic damn fucking shit!), so I went back to Once Upon a Child and told the cashier about it and she asks me if I want to return the crib.

"Well, no, I'm hoping you can contact the manufacturer and get the part replaced for me", I said.

She said she'd talk to her manager, who was coming in that night (this was Friday) and see what they could do.

It's not rocket science. There's a 1-800 number right on the instructions. It says to contact for replacement parts. I don't even think they would charge, because it's not like they want people using unsafe cribs. It said someplace on the crib "2006", so it's not like it's some antique we're talking about here.

I am going to call them (right now) to see if they have figured it out. This shouldn't be that hard! I could have called myself, but I wanted OUAC to be aware that they sold me a crib with a broken piece on it (and, no, it wasn't me because I looked underneath to make sure I wasn't the one who broke it). It's about the principle of it all.

I want a crib so my kid can sleep in his room again!!!! <------------ see how frustrated I am?

Got the crib dilemma solved.

Okay, so a couple weeks back, you probably saw my post regarding the Simplicity crib recall. I took it back to Shopko without a receipt and got the full $147 refunded to me.

I thought I'd get Andrew sleeping on a "big boy" bed, but in the back of my mind, I knew he wasn't the type to stay in bed. No big deal, I figured, I'd just let him get used to the idea and eventually he'd figure it out. WRONG-O! Try Andrew running for the door, crying, and banging his head on the door so hard, he left bruises. Dang, this kid is fierce!

So, I needed to find a crib. I've been looking on Craigslist and whatnot, but really can't find anything to suit my needs. Yes, I'm being cheap and not buying a new one, because, well, all the ones that are nice are significantly more than what I got back for the first one. I didn't really feel like paying more, and DH was like, "let's just wait".

DH had another idea: that he'd find plans online and just build one. By the time he gets around to that, Baby #2 will be in kindergarten. Plus (and I hate to admit it), DH takes shortcuts and I would be afraid of the crib being ghetto if he built it. It's a baby's life we're talking about, so it damn well better be perfectly and safely constructed.

So, my mom was aware of this dilemma and she called my sister-in-law-to-be (1 week to the wedding), who works at Once Upon a Child (Asst. Store Manager) and asked her what they had. They happened to have a wooden 3-in-one crib (cherry-colored) and with her discount, it'd be $85.

I ran over on my lunch (oh, the convenience of living in "Small City", WI and being able to get several things done on a 1/2 hour lunch break) and took a look and the crib is in good shape. There was just one scratch on it, but it would be on the back side by the wall, and who really cares.

I paid for it and will go pick it up after work (I didn't have time to wait for them to disassemble it).

No, Andrew won't be in a crib forever, but this is worth my sanity to have him in there until approximately December. He went from being this angel toddler who went to bed awake, smiling at his Baby Einstein fish toy, to a demon self-hurting, angry child who is once again being nursed to sleep in my bed.

Here's to having a new crib!!! :)