How many parents does it take to put together a pack and play?

 Pack and play .... sounds simple enough, right?  WRONG!  But they're supposed to be easy to put together, right?  That's what I thought.  And I guess it really was easy to put together until we had to add the little bassinet and changing table thing.  That's where it got very complicated.

First of all, the instructions booklet for this thing is like 50 pages long. You'd think for such a long instructions manual it would be super easy to figure out what to do.  Well we did alright until we had to put together the changing table part.  The manual said to "insert metal poles as shown in the picture".  So I look at the picture which is about one square inch.  Ok, I can barely make out what you're showing me in the picture.  Thinking, "how difficult can it be?" I put the manual down and try to just figure it out.  Yeah that was a failure.  It took both Mike and I a good half hour just to figure out how to get the stupid support pole through the fabric.  We were pulling and pushing and wishing the damn thing was made of velcro instead of sewn shut.  Who the heck writes these manuals?!  They need to fire that person and hire someone who can be a little more descriptive.  FINALLY, we figure it out.  Small victory for the parents to be!  Now, onto the bassinet ....

The bassinet wasn't too bad.  My struggles with the changing table helped me with the bassinet part.  But .... once we had it all put together, proud parents standing looking at their achievement, we realize ..... we have 2 extra pieces.

Do you see those two poles in my hand?  Yeah, we have no idea where they go.  (Sidenote: Mike really needs to take a photography class.  I know it's an iphone but is it too much to ask to get a clear picture?!  Love you Mike!!!!) Anyway ...... we gave up trying to figure out what step we missed and why we have extra pieces.  Of course we still have 5 months to figure it out so I'm not terribly worried yet. 

Here's the best part of the story - we decide to put the pack and play in our bedroom.  This is where Sea Monkey will sleep for the first few weeks.  I know, why do we have it set up so early?  Well a few reasons -  #1 we wanted to be sure we know how to use everything and #2 - we want the dogs to be comfortable with all the changes happening in the house.  So back to getting the pack and play in the bedroom.  We have it all put together and we don't dare take it apart to move it since it took long enough in the first place.  So we try to carry it through the door.  Ok, great. We're in the hallway.  A creative "pivot" and we're about to bring it into the bedroom when we realize it doesn't fit.  What?  Are you SERIOUS?  It fit through one bedroom door, why won't it fit through the other?  I thought they were the same size.  We didn't take the time to measure, but apparently they're not the same size.  So we do what any other completely exhausted and frustrated parents would do ..... we try to shove it through.  We tilt it, we push it, we pull it.  Nothing.  It's not working.  I also don't want to ruin a brand new pack & play.  So we realize the hard truth and half take it apart ... just removing the top portion with the bassinet and changing table, and finally get it in the bedroom.  Ahhhhh FINALLY! 

I really didn't think we were going to need a Ph.D to put the darn thing together, and in all honesty, it made me feel pretty stupid.  How are we going to raise a child when we can't even figure out how to put his pack and play together?  Sort of makes you think about all the fun things we'll do that will make us feel stupid.  But then again, I think about the day we were in Babies r Us and we saw this very young couple who looked like they should have been going to a party instead of pushing a 2 year old around in a carriage and Mike said to me, "Hey, if they can do it .... we can do it."  :-)