Adventures in Baby Cribs

Cribs, one of the most important pieces of furniture in your child's life.  Anyone who has purchased one of these items knows that there are all sorts of regulations, from the space between the bars to the firmness of the mattress, to the chemicals used in the paint, there are a zillion things to consider.  Knowing all of these things, we made the conscious decision to buy a bona fide Argentine crib.

This decision has been a bit more than we bargained for. 

We bought our crib on Belgrano Street at a shop called Quartos (Av Belgrano 2610, 4943-1227).  For those that don't know, Belgrano Street has blocks of furniture shops lining both sides of the street, each one just slightly different than the next.  We went store to store searching for the perfect crib, and we chose Quartos because they had both the crib we liked and the matching dresser/changing table.  This is where the frustration began. 

Hooray!  The crib is finally here!

Issue #1:  The Delivery.

We purchased our crib on November 6, 2010 with the promise of delivery within 45 days.  To be exact, the salesman, Oscar, said that he thought it would be delivered before Christmas.  Delivery actually occurred on January 17, complete with an added charge, an additional $140 pesos - a detail that was omitted from our original "grand total" bill. 


Issue #2:  The Invasion.

Three months to the day after our crib finally arrived, we realized that the delivery brought more than just furniture into our home.  The wood platform that supports the crib's mattress has termites.  Disgusting little bugs eating away at our little girl's bed.  Immediate action was required.  Luckily, we had Grammy and Papa in town to assist in the deconstruction, thorough cleaning, de-bugging and reconstruction of the crib.  We did everything we could to be sure that all of the little buggers were gone for good.  As a side note, I have called Quartos repeatedly to see if they would replace this part of the crib, each time they say that they will call me back.  I have yet to receive a call. 

Issue #3:  The Sheets.
Most cribs in Argentina are bigger than those in the US, and the style that we chose was the most popular on the market, a style that will eventually become a toddler bed.  In all of the planning that we did when shopping for a crib, we didn't consider the fact that: larger crib = larger mattress = the need for larger sheets.  We received a few adorable crib sheets from our baby shower in the US, but they were too small (both in length and width).  I shopped all over the city for sheets that would fit our crib mattress and the only ones I found that fit were extremely thin, see-through, white and cost $75 each.  Fortunately for us, our incredible cleaning lady, Candy, is a whiz with a sewing machine and has added material to our US crib sheets to create this adorable result.  I have no idea how she did it, but they fit perfectly and look adorable. 

Whew!  That was a lot of problem solving for one little piece of furniture.  We are still hopeful for a long life from the crib, but we will certainly take more care in thinking through our future furniture purchases.