exersaucer...

so the day before we left for ontario, i was feeling like ben was getting tired of his playmat and how great would it be if he could play in his exersaucer while i was packing and cleaning? i went and pulled the box out of the closet where it's been waiting since april. in my mind, i was going to dump out a mostly put together toy. you know, snap the legs on and snap the top and bottom together and voila! exersaucer.

instead, i dumped out a billion tiny pieces in baggies and way more plastic pieces than i was expecting. okaay...well i had obviously gotten myself into a bigger job than i'd realized. but hey - let's get it done. i pull out the 12 page instruction booklet. i go to the garage and get the screwdriver. (who knew there'd be screws to this thing?) and i set to work. as you can see, ben watched from his playmat.

work, work, work. eventually, ben was tired of the playmat and moved to his jolly jumper to watch the process. lots of snapping things together and using my sscrewdriver to make things stick. i'm working away, thinking how handy i am as well as speedy but 45 minutes in, i discover a missing piece. WHAAAT? a missing spring. now, springs ARE round and have a tendancy to roll and i DID pour all the parts out of the box. so i search my kitchen for about 15 minutes. and the kitchen is not 15 minutes big. i searched thoroughly. in fact, i even walked around my house looking...just in case. no spring. GAH!

i email evenflo to say that i am missing a spring. can they get me one? a pieced together exersaucer sitting in my kitchen is at stake. well the very next day, i'm in ontario. i check my email and discover a prompt email from evenflo saying, "yes! we can mail you a spring! it'll be there in 2 - 3 weeks." WOAH! i'm pumped. maybe it'll be home before i get home!

nope. i got home on thursday and it wasn't here yet. but no worries. it was on it's way. so friday morning, i'm on the phone with my friend, kara, and as i walk into my kitchen, i see a glimmer of silver from under the sink cupboards. i stop talking mid-sentence and get down on my hands and knees to look into the cavernous hole under the cupboards that leads to a heat vent. THE SPRING! it had rolled all the way over there and even though i'd gotten down on my hands and knees and looked under the oven, i hadn't looked in this direction apparently. shoot.

so i set to work and finished up the exersaucer. ben's pumped. and if anyone finds themselves missing a spring...i have one for you.