Sunday, March 7, 2010

Strollers and car seats???

So my outing yesterday was fairly successful.  I am glad I went alone and gave myself plenty of time to peruse and meander through the stores.  I played with and touched plenty of things... my dad will tell you how much I LOVE to touch things (it used to get me in a lot of trouble at stores because it frequently led to breaking or spilling things), but in this case I felt it necessary to touch, feel, and play so I could really get an idea of what I was looking at. Opinions are welcomed and wanted again!! :D  (Again, you do not have to log in to post a comment, you can choose "anonymous" then you can sign your name.  Or you can e-mail me!)

While I sorted out a few of my questions by playing with some things, I now have some new questions.  First off, what kind of stroller do I want???

Do I want a "travel system" like this one from EvenFlo:



These "travel systems" seem to be very popular these days. Basically they come with an infant car seat that clips on top, but the car seat can be removed and underneath is a regular stroller for infants to toddlers.  They have all kinds of perks like cup holders, baby wipe holders, storage beneath, purse hooks etc.  This particular one was easy to maneuver, folded down with a one-handed push of a button and twist of a handle, and I loved the handle on the car seat and the stroller itself:

 

I was also a fan of this model from Graco.  It was heavier than the above one, but only by a bit.  I particularly like the pattern.  It was also easier to fold up one-handed and the pieces seemed to snap together a little more easily.  But it didn't have the "twisted" car seat handle nor the one-handed steering handle like the stroller above.


But maybe I want a stroller and car seat seperately?  Most of the travel systems are really bulky and heavy.  I like that you can plop the car seat in so you don't have to transfer the baby, but I don't like how cumbersome they seem.  I did find this though:


It allows you to clip in an infant car seat, as pictured below (ignore the pink, I grabbed the closest appropriately branded car seat):


It, like the others, folds up with one hand but is soooo much lighter.  And I understand that it will only be good while baby is in the infant car seat, but I keep reading that most people recommend getting an umbrella stroller or a simple stroller like this later on anyway....

 

I am NOT a strong girl, especially in the upper body department, and though I was working on that with a personal trainer (pre-pregnancy of course), and I know I'll get more strength once I'm lugging a baby around, I really don't want to deal with something heavy and cumbersome.

When it comes to car seats in the first place I don't even know what I'm looking for!  All of the above involve infant car seats, but do I want an infant to toddler convertible car seat?  My question is how soon we'll be thinking about having another little one.... and I don't really know right now.  But if one is going to be a toddler and another an infant at the same time (which is most likely), it seems we ought to have separate car seats anyway otherwise we'd have to buy a new infant car seat to accommodate the baby while Floodling is using the convertible one as a toddler seat.

In any case, I think I really like this pattern, what do you think??  Is it neutral enough to accommodate future little ones should we end up having a girl later on??

 

Close up of fabrics:
 
And I also liked this one (I was kind of surprised that I did):

 
Close up of fabrics:
Both of these were Graco and had matching high chair, play pen, swing, etc.  Obviously I need to choose a brand/model I like before I choose a pattern I like... otherwise I'll end up choosing a stroller/car seat based on how "pretty" it is (a bad habit of mine that I am trying to avoid), but just curious what you think.

I also did some searching for fabrics in another attempt to settle on a nursery theme.  I came up with this combo in the "dino" department that I thought was cute, but maybe a little bright:


I also ventured into new territory... doggies:


As for something simple and theme-neutral, I really liked these prints:


Overall, I think one of my faves is still the "golf" argyle print:

 

I found some really cute stick-on leaves (that peel off the walls later) that might go with the above, and with a golf theme... I think they would be cute covering one wall.

Enough visual material for you today?  Can you tell I am a visual person???

I would REALLY love some opinions and thoughts! :D

4 comments:

  1. - love the travel systems; think they make a lot of sense. Of course, they weren't around when we were carting babies around :-)
    - like the argyle print and the leaf decals (didn't care for the dino print - kind of scary bright)

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  2. LOL! Brought back memories about touching stuff. I think the travel systems are amazing, and I think the twisted handle is much easier to carry (especially for Jason! - just kidding).

    I like the argyle as well.

    Love - "Grandpa" Simpson.

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  3. LOL, too! Remember the red-button day? :)

    Hmmm, what do your new-mom friends think about the strollers/car seat options? It seems like that travel system would be handy.
    Love, 'Grandma' Simpson

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  4. Most "new-moms" I know have had the travel sytems, though I don't know their feelings about them after the fact.

    If I had the ability to clip a car seat onto a base stroller though and had a separate stroller for when they were bigger, wouldn't that be kinda the same thing? I'd have more options of what kind of car seat I wanted AND what kind of stroller I wanted...

    I do need Jason to come to the store with me and play a little though to see what he likes. He says a 23 pound stroller is no biggie for him... :P

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