Our New Ride!

Once upon a time, not so long ago a title like "Our New Ride|" would have been about a new vehicle.  Oh, how things have changed.

As a self confessed tool junkie, I can tell you the process of deciding how Sloan would travel was a big one.  I had heard babies loved to "worn", so I attended a baby wearing class to pick out the best carrier, and  I knew I needed a stroller. I probably dragged Reg to Toys R Us 5 times in search of the perfect car seat and stroller combination.  I also stopped at Bo Bebe, and E-Children on a few side trips myself. But I never could settle on the perfect stroller.  Only after a false labour scare did I madly run out and purchase a car seat...but still no stroller.  I had indeed paralyzed myself with too much information, and too many choices, and when you top that off with major baby brain, it was not looking good.

Then Roxanne came to my rescue.  She was done with her stroller and it was mine to use, yippee! Problem solved.   I didn't try the stroller out until after Sloan was born.  Big Mistake!  This stroller befuddled me to say the least! It has buttons, not just one, but two you have to push in a certain order to get it to unfold, and then the opposite way to fold.  And I found if my tongue wasn't in the right position at the same time as the buttons I couldn't make it do what I wanted.  I actually had to load it into my truck, at the mall, totally open one day because for the life of me I couldn't get it folded back up.    Sleep deprived, baby brained Moms should unite and rebel against the craziness of this particular design.  I longed for one easy button, maybe like an automatic awning, push the button and stand and stare as the thing folds itself up...  Within a couple months though I could get it every time (almost). And on the days I couldn't I would put Sloan in a shopping cart, or my Sling, Baby Bjorn, or Ergo Carrier (this is a whole other story).  Then one day I was out at my Mom and Dad's and decided to go for a walk. I couldn't for the life of me push the stroller through the gravel.  The tires were just too little, and kept getting jammed up.  We got about 30 steps into our walk, turned around, and headed back.  Clearly I needed a new tool, one with big rubber wheels.

I would have drove immediately to one of the aforementioned stores and picked out the stroller with the most gadgets, but Jodi got a hold of me first.  She said, "Why not shop on Kijiji for one, there are some great deals".  I had been resisting Kijiji for a long time...a very long time, it just seemed like too much work.  But the day before I had had a Kijiji awakening.  Jodi had emailed me some excersaucers...and in my excitement I had already bought 2 excersaucers, 30 baby bottles, a bottle drying rack (keep in mind Sloan doesn't take a bottle but once every two weeks) a bag of teething toys, and a tummy time airplane.  I was addicted and I needed a fix.  So home I came, and I found two very suitable looking strollers.  They were jogging strollers with big wheels, I emailed the people, and then waited on pins and needles for their responses. I could hardly sleep that night. The next morning, Sloan and I were headed to Calgary to pick up a shiny red jogging stroller - I love Kijiji!

We stopped at Jodi & Brian's on the way home to show off our new stroller. Brian filled the air with tires, fixed a little spot on the canopy, and Drew sweetly windexed the entire stroller.  We were set.  I got home, and after Sloan's nap I took the new ride out for a walk.  I guess you are supposed to jog with these jogging strollers, not walk, it didn't push right, and I had to lift it around corners, this stroller wanted to go fast and I wanted to stroll, I wasn't happy.  Stupid Kijiji.


Back home we came, and down to the basement I went to dig out my Eddie Bauer stroller (did I forget to mention I already had a stroller at home?), and while I was there I found another stroller, this one I had bought at a garage sale before Blake was born, it had big tires, and pushed well, but...it was ugly.  In case you aren't counting, that's Strollers:4, Baby Carriers:3,  Baby: 1.  

I decided to post my first Kijiji ads, and promptly sold my Jogger stroller (I love Kijiji).  I took the old stroller to Toys R Us and got a trade in coupon for it.  Which left me with Roxanne's stroller, and the Eddie Bauer stroller.  Now technically, I only owned one stroller, and it was listed on Kijiji, so I obviously I must buy a new one.  Here is the reaction I got from Sloan with the news that a new ride was coming...

As a side note, it's been handy having  a few strollers, I am able to outfit both Drew & Sloan with strollers, and Jodi provides the pushers - quite handy!

I researched, and compared, and researched some more.  And then I hit the order button, and I'll be honest the cool factor of this stroller was a big selling point.  Our new stroller arrived yesterday, and after a few minutes of construction, I was psyched.  Here is our new Jeep Liberty All Terrain stroller:

It has a built in ipod player and speaker (which works now, but mysteriously will quit working when Sloan wants to listen to anything other than Anne Murray Sings for Kids) pockets for Mommy stuff, a big basket underneath it, 2 cup/snack holders for each of us, and for Sloan a steering wheel, with a horn  (whose batteries may never get installed), and a gear shift.  It has big rubber tires, the front one you can lock for jogging (I don't anticipate needing this feature), or left unlocked it swivels and turns easily. And best of all, one button controls the folding and unfolding process completely. In short, I am in love! Well at least for now...so if you need us, we are out for a walk.

Love, Julie

P.S. As I finished writing this a very nice man and woman came and bought my Eddie Bauer stroller - I love kijiji!! :)