6.20.2008

New Stroller

When I told Casey I wanted to buy another double stroller he asked "um, how many strollers to do we already have?" Okay, we have 4. This makes 5....but let me explain:

Stroller 1 - the Snap N Go
This only works with the infant carseat. I have loved this stroller and wish I could have used it with Owen. There were times when I went shopping withOUT Lucy and used it as a shopping cart. It was so much easier to wheel my way around than with a clunky cart. Co-workers at Universal bought this for us as a baby gift.
My money spent: $0

Stroller 2 - the Jogger:
We got this as a Christmas gift from my parents the first year Lucy was born. I had always wanted one for our walks so it was perfect (picture shown is not the exact jogger we had. The one here is more deluxe). Many mornings, before I got pregnant with Owen...Lucy and I would walk with Casey to the train station. We'd go a mile down Allen street, turn right at Orange Grove, walk through some neighborhoods, then back home. It was a great routine! Once I got pregnant though, I had no energy to do it. And once Owen came, I savored any sleep I could get. So...we haven't used it all that much anymore.
My money spent: $0

Stroller 3 - the little red Chicco:
When Lucy grew out of her infant car seat I had to get a new stroller. I decided to get something small and light-weight, especially since I knew we'd be getting a double stroller somewhere down the road. This has been a great purchase. It's slightly more deluxe than your basic umbrella stroller: the back reclines a little and there's a small basket underneath which I've used many times. This has become the Disneyland stroller. It fits easily on the tram between most of the rows so I don't have to unload everything (or wait in the LONG stroller line).
My money spent: $70

Stroller 4 - the Double
A couple months before Owen was born I started looking at double strollers. I wasn't sure what to get since there are so many ways to do a double. I knew I didn't want anything heavy. I'm all about simple/quick in-and-out of the car (which is why I loved the snap-n-go). I thought about a sit-n-stand, but wondered if Lucy was too young for it. I still wanted a seat to put her in. And most of the long double-strollers seemed SO heavy to me. Then one day I was at Children's Orchard (a second-hand kids clothing store) and there was a simple, plain, black double-stroller (I hate all the crazy fabric options out there) and it was NOT heavy at all. It fit in my trunk perfectly. And best of all, it was only $40. I sold them some of my baby clothes and with my store credit I decided to buy the double for only $20! It's been good to us thus far. But when Lucy sits in the front seat, it's really difficult to steer because it's so front heavy. And it is way too big to take to Disneyland on my own. Thus is was time for something else. And since I was never super invested in this double, I felt justified to buy another. Thus far my total expenses for all 4 strollers: $90. Wow.

So, here's what we got! The Peg Perego, Aria Twin:
My sister-in-law Laura has the single version of this and loves it. When I started noticing the double version, I grilled her with all sorts of questions. She sold me! We went to Babies R Us twice to give it a test drive and it was great. A few cool features:
- It's called a 60/40 because one seat is slightly larger than the other to accommodate an infant carseat, without making it super wide.
- The whole thing only weighs 14 pounds! (some of the Graco doubles are seriously 45 lbs. Sheesh).
- It folds up in one, yes one simple step.
- I can steer it with one hand, while holding one of the kids in my arms. Amazing.
- we had some gift cards to Babies R Us from Casey's work, so we only had to pay for part of the stroller!

We've mostly only driven the thing around the house so far. And Lucy was asleep when I took it out of the box. So Owen got it all to himself. And he loved it. No matter what angle I took the picture from, he was looking over smiling at me. Hopefully this foretells how our future outings will be!
Happy little Owen.
Once Lucy woke up (with her crazy nap-py hair again) she got to ride too. She's wasn't into it:
But later on Jeremy pushed them around the house and she had fun:
That's a long post on the history of strollers. But if for no other reason, it's documentation for my husband to justify my needs.

13 comments:

Suman Family said...

owen looks so cute in that big stroller! way fun. i hope you really love it.

Sara said...

both of your kids look so old in the stroller... I don't know why, but it looks like Owen is suddenly no longer a new born anymore!

Stroller hunting is NOT my favorite thing at all! Glad you found something you like!

lyndsey said...

wow, talk about stroller 101...thanks for the debriefing :) you are so prepared for anything, it's awesome. not to mention how impressed i was that time at the park when you carried children, ice cream sandwiches, toys, etc. etc. without a problem. stroller #5 basically makes you a mommy-hero.

Jean said...

Sounds like the perfect stroller!! I must remember this when baby #2 comes along (and hopefully some gift cards come along too, haha!). In the meantime, I dig the red one. I'll have to check it out too!

teresa and the boys said...

We have a double jogger which I love, and a cheap-o umbrella. We sold the travel system (car seat and stroller to one of Aaron's co-workers when hers got stolen). So I've been debating what to do about this new situation... the baby won't be able to sit in the double for at least 5 months, and Alex absolutely cannot exist in public without some sort of restraint (TRUST ME!!!). So??? I'm getting a new travel system, and I'm buying the monkey-backpack/leash for Alex. Yep. I'm tethering my kid to me. Call me what you will -- it's done out of love. =)

Hmmmm, me thinks I should post my own stroller saga with all I've had to say about it.

Miriam Oh Painter said...

makes me wat to buy a stroller! and i ain't even got no kids!

Zen Mama said...

LOL!
I do much the same thing when explaining our strollers. I'm one less than you, but I've only spent $20!

My double is a jogger -- it is such a dream to push!!! I don't know how people live without double strollers when they have two little ones.

Shanell Farr said...

i have the single verson of that stroller and i love it! great choice!

Casey said...

You should have juxtaposed a collage of your 5 strollers next to this photo you took a week ago:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_1eI7tS4s_Bg/SFU9kr_w0HI/AAAAAAAADE8/63XylC0bdIo/s1600-h/IMG_8741.JPG


But hey, I'm not against this new stroller. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask questions first!

gunnfam said...

I LOVE it!!! You are so lucky!

megan said...

can I tell you that I would honestly be one of those moms with 6 strollers (or more) if I had a place to store them?! I feel like I need different strollers for different occasions...the lightweight one, the double side by side, the jogger, etc. Stroller looks very nice!! I'll have to see it in person someday
:-)

Grayson Family said...

That stroller looks great. I should have had you look for one for me. I needed one that holds 2 toddlers and one baby - now 2 pre-schoolers and 1 toddler. I am still using my graco duble. Ashton sits in front and I lie the back down and make the girls share a seat. How terrible am I? Or cheap?

Oh the abuse of being a twin. They are going to need some serious therapy.

Teressa P. said...

We have the single Peg and I love it!! Only 9 pounds :) Now when the next one comes (not anytime soon) we'll go out and get this one. Yay! We should go to Disneyland together sometime. We have our passes and haven't used them this year yet. Ugh, too much going on I guess. But we still need to get there.