Back to the Drawing Board July 26, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: car seat, peg perego, stroller
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After we found out we were having a little girl, we headed over to on of the Baby Stores (not to be confused with Baby Place, which is where Baby’s comes from 
). The thought was to buy something pink. While we were there, we decided to take the information we received while on vacation about the non-compatibility of Britax car sats with Maclaren strollers. We have some pretty straight-forward requirements.
- Car seat can’t be ugly
- Needs to fit in the MINI
- LATCH system compliant
- Have side-impact protection
- Work with a stroller
So we have gone away from the idea of buying just the Maclaren XLR and back to the idea of buying a more heavy duty stroller and, possibly an umbrella stroller, if needed. It seems like the Peg Perego infant car seat and Skate stroller perform those features.
So why didn’t we decide to go with the Britax infant car seat and their matching stroller? Apparently, the Britax infant car seat is being replaced in December… after we will have use for it.
Strollers June 5, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: baby, maclaren, stroller, techno xlr
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Stroller, you are evil to me, right now. I’m sure that the future will prove you quite useful and probably my favorite item of baby gear. But right now, you perplex me.
My goodness the options.
Okay, I’ve got to confess something. I have a little bit of a head start. When i was 15, a little sister came into my life. Back then, there was basically only one option, your traditional umbrella-esque, foldable stroller. Sure you saw the occasional first-time, eccentric, spend-too-much-money parent pushing one of the larger strollers, but those wound up parked in the basement in favor of something lightweight.
But today, the umbrella-stroller is only one option. You also have the jogging stroller, the modern take on the pram, and the urban stroller–something that will take the beating of the miles, has larger wheel, and collapses for those darts onto the subway.
General consensus here is that you need two… one for “reconnaissance” and one for “expeditions”. In other words, you need a lightweight, foldable one, and you need a heavy duty one.
I’m thinking that we’d go with the umbrella and one of the more substantial city strollers, that could double as a jogger on S.’s morning walks.
Then there was the curveball. The in thing to do is to get a stroller that will accept you infant car-seat (so you don’t have to wake the baby). Remember the last post where the tipping factor between Graco/ Britax was length of baby? Well, the Britax car seat does not seem to be acceptable to too many strollers. But I think we’ve decided on this:
This is the Maclaren Techno XLR. It’s foldable. The handles telescope. It accepts the Britax Companion car seat. The only problem is that its so hard to find! I want to find one before I decide. Oh, and Maclaren invented the umbrella stroller. I’m sold.
So the Recon Stroller is settled. The expedition stroller is still up in the air.
Stay tuned
Edited: Yeah, so we go to the Maclaren store while in New York. A wonderfully nice lady informs us that, contrary to claims on website, there’s no way the Maclaren XLR accepts the Britax Companion. Back to the drawing board.
And the Search Begins June 4, 2008
Posted by Dad in Baby Gear.Tags: baby, britax, car seat, gear, maclaren, pram, stroller
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Dear me. I must confess, for the past week, I’ve done some reading on the internet about different “baby gear”. The advantage of the “Googles” is that you can alway turn the computer off when you hit your saturation level.
Yesterday, S. and I made our first excursion to the stores to actually look at gear. Oh my. There’s so much stuff to think about. Good thing we’ve got 6 months to plan all this stuff. Otherwise, we’d be up the proverbial creek.
We went to two different places. It painfully obvious that our tastes and demeanor for how we like to shop far outstrips our budget. So we have to set a process and prioritize. What do we buy, what do we register for, what can we buy used, and what must be purchased new.
I don’t really know where the process goes.. so I guess I’ll start posting stuff by priority.
S. is well into week 13, now. She’s doing okay. I still find it uncanny how her sense of smell has come out of nowhere.
