"Elbows Up"

About a month ago, Jenn and I went to an expectant parent info session for the Toronto Parents of Multiple Births Association (TPOMBA). I think that the title of the organization is pretty self-explanatory. From what we've learned, being parents of twins (or more) is a whole different ball game, so having people to answer questions can be incredibly helpful. There are local chapters of this organization as well, so we can meet other twin parents living in our neighborhood. At our twin prenatal class last Monday night, two couples came in to speak about their experiences with their sets of twins. Both couples talked about how great TPOMBA is. After hearing that, I decided that it was worth the $40 per year and joined.

I had emailed with the woman who ran the info session prior to joining and she mentioned that they were having their spring sale on Saturday (today). Members can sell clothes, toys, bouncy chairs, high chairs and virtually anything else baby/kid related. Being clueless newbies, we had no clue whether it would be worth it, but decided to check it out anyways. Per this woman's advice, we got there early. The members only sale started at 7:30am. The general public was allowed in at 9:00am. We pulled into the parking lot at 7:30 on the dot, only to see a line of people wrapped around the building. This was clearly serious stuff. These people meant business.

Thankfully, we made it to the front of the line within 10 minutes. Once in the door, I got "my elbows up," as my Dad would say. Upon first sight, I will admit that it looks like a very chaotic junky rummage sale. As newbies who still don't know what baby things are good or useless, we could have easily gotten overwhelmed. This morning though, Jenn and I were anything but overwhelmed. With our elbows up, we plowed through the crowd and came across a couple of great items for less than 1/4 of what we'd pay in a store. Close to the back of the sale, we had our eye on a bumbo (see picture below).

We had heard that these little seats were good once the baby can hold themselves up. Another clueless shopper asked one of the volunteers if the bumbo was really that good. Her response..."these seats are amazing! My family uses them ALL the time!" That was all the vultures needed to hear. They greedily starting grabbing for the now hot commodities. Thankfully, Jenn was front row centre for this conversation. Knocking over some children and a pregnant woman (not me), she came out victorious, bumbo in hand! I gave her a high five as we moved proudly through the crowd. 

Normally, I despise crowds and bargain shopping, but as future parents, this bi-annual sale is going to be well worth the short-term chaos. We made out with some useful items for a fraction of what they'd cost brand new. 

We arrived home by 8:45 as our visiting friend Deb was waking up for the day. After admiring our purchases once more, we headed out to breakfast at Lady Marmalade. I had definitely worked up an appetite. 

ps. I may have slightly exaggerated that part about Jenn. She was not as over-zealous as I made her out to be. No children or pregnant women were harmed in the bumbo buying process.