Sarah vs. the Pack-n-Play

Today was my last day of work before the arrival of baby Isabelle. It was a pretty routine day, complete with one or two kids managing to find my absolute last nerve by 3:00. Nevertheless, it was an odd sensation walking out of the building and getting into my car knowing that I won't return for about 8 weeks.

On the way home, I began thinking of all the things I could do to fill my time until the arrival of zero hour. Among these was setting up the pack-n-play in our bedroom for Izzy to sleep in when she arrives home. It's been on my mind for a while, but knowing that I had to get up for work the next day had been holding me back. So tonight I decided it was time to meet the beast head-on.

When I got the directions out of the box, I was actually surprised at how simple it all looked. I laid out the essentials and quickly got to work. The actual play yard was all one collapsed piece, so it popped right up. The bassinet attachment was a little tougher, but didn't require too much effort. I even managed to locate a D battery for the little vibrating attachment that went under the padding. After a fairly short amount of time, everything is ready to go with the exception of the changing table attachment and organizer.

Here's where it got tricky. The directions are short on words and mostly illustrated. The picture does not show whether the support bar goes in with tabs up or down, so I ended up switching it around several times. To complicate matters further, the swivel mounts actually need to be swiveled before attaching them to the changer! This whole process probably took as long as the assembly of the rest of the pieces combined, but when it was all said and done, all the pieces worked the way they were supposed to and the assembly complete.

I'd post pictures, but the camera has been returned to my hospital bag so as not to be forgotten when D-day arrives. Instead, I will leave you with a picture of the pack-n-play as it appears in stores. It actually does do it justice.