Crib update

It turns out the side of the crib that wasn't latching had just gotten off-track somewhat. Maybe that's not the correct way to describe it. I don't know. I just know that after I jiggled it into place this morning, it locked in the upright position securely and stayed that way. I spent awhile jiggling it the way Meg often does and it didn't slip out of position again. I'm sure drop-side cribs aren't as safe as non-drop-side cribs, but I am now confidant our particular crib is just as safe or unsafe as the day we bought it.

However, that doesn't mean I'm happy with it. I've been putting off doing anything about it for awhile, because, as Mama Fuss said in her comment yesterday, I am also "pretty casual about...the overall panic of people freaking out about what might happen." I figured it was a bummer we'd ended up with a drop-side crib when I didn't really want one and that I should probably do something about it. But 'do something' was pretty fuzzy... But when the crib started acting up last night, it really freaked me out.

Today I dug through Meg's room and finally found the stack of instruction manuals the lady we bought the crib from had given us (we pretty much bought ALL of her baby stuff - crib, toys, etc. - everything but the infant carrier/stroller, which we purchased new). I found the manual for the crib, so now I have the manufacturer and style. I looked around on their website and they don't have anything listed about recalls or disabling drop sides, but the site says there is a lifetime warranty on the cribs and that the store it was purchased from can repair it (supposedly for free). They don't say whether "repair it" includes disabling a drop-side feature. I hope so. I'm going to go to the store tomorrow and see what I can find out. There's also an 800 number for customer service, but its too late to call tonight.

I'm just annoyed by this whole crib thing, because the crib was one of the things I thought we did well. I thought purchasing the crib from this lady was:

1. Frugal
2. Green
3. Protected our baby from breathing in the fumes emitted when a crib, or especially a mattress, off-gasses
4. Allowed us to have a more expensive crib than we might otherwise have
5. Left more room in the budget for an expensive/safe travel system (i.e. car seat)
6. Allowed us to have the exact "look" (color, style) that I wanted, which might not have been available at the time or in our budget
7. Helped this other woman out: she was selling all the baby stuff so she would have enough money to buy her kids a couple Christmas presents.

I mean, how could we go wrong? Well, we've found out. If we can't disable the drop side, we'll definitely think long and hard about buying a new crib. Which blows pretty much all of these reasons out of the water.

1. Frugal? No way. Buying a used crib, THEN a new crib is definitely more expensive than just a new crib.
2. Green? Um. I suppose if we were going to buy a new crib either way, there's not much of a difference, but maybe the woman could have sold the crib to someone who wouldn't later buy a new crib.
3. Off-gassing? Well, we did get a mattress out of the deal and will continue to use it even with a new crib, so I guess this one is still a win.
4. More expensive crib? HA! Who knows what we will buy if we get a new one, but I'm guessing it won't be as upscale. Think Target, not baby boutique.
5. Car seat? Well, we did buy a travel system that was on the expensive side, but we probably would have anyway. Besides, my mother-in-law got it for us as a gift.
6. The "look"? I'm thinking they might not have exactly what I want at Target. Bummer.
7. Helping the woman out? Well, we did do that. Its something at least.

Of course, if we do find a way to disable the drop-side feature and keep using the crib, I guess it was still a pretty good deal. We'll see...