On Tuesday, the last day of March, my parents and I took the girls out for an outing to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, as the weather is finally starting to warm up! It’s my Dad’s favorite local garden/park to go to, so it’s become a sort of annual tradition to visit a few times a year! He took a lot of photos, so I thought I’d share some here on the blog.
A video of the girls at the Interactive Children’s Garden area:
Some videos from when we got to the gazebo:
Yesterday afternoon, I was getting ready to go out on an errand with Mio, so I unfolded the stroller by the front door and then went back to the bedroom to look for my phone. I came back a minute later to find Mio seated in the stroller, looking at me coolly and babbling as if to say, “Let’s go, Mom. I’m ready — what’s taking you so long?” I did a double take and thought, “Wait, did she just climb into her stroller on her own and properly seat herself?” Mio is really adept at climbing these days, but I was very surprised that she was able to smoothly and safely nestle herself in there, especially since a stroller has wheels and can move around — thank goodness she didn’t get hurt!
When Dan came home from work, I told him about what had happened, but that I hadn’t actually seen her in the act of climbing into the stroller. He wanted to see it in action so we unfolded the stroller to see if she’d do it again. Sure enough, she climbed into it like a pro with almost no hesitation. Dan took a video of it on his phone.
I’m not sure whether to feel proud or scared of what Mio is capable of. She’s a fearless one!
We’ve been experiencing non-stop rainy days this week, and Mio has been dying to go outside. She’ll pick up her shoes, walk over to the window, and just stare outside with shoes in hand, making it more than obvious how much she longs to go out.
I will only go out in the rain if absolutely necessary, because it’s such a hassle to get all the raingear ready — windbreaker, umbrella, rain boots, raincover for the stroller, etc… and I just would much rather stay warm and comfortable indoors than get cold and damp outside. So while I feel bad for Mio, I have not taken her on any walks in the rain this week. (Call me heartless if you will!) But when Dan saw Mio staring out the window like that, he felt so sorry for her that he decided to take her with him for a quick run to Trader Joe’s last night.
Ch-ch-ch-changes! The car seat and Snap-n-Go stroller that we got from Baby Trend earlier this year has been serving us well for the past few months since Mio’s birth, but we had been setting our sights on getting a big girl stroller for Mio for a while now. Although the car seat claims that it can hold up to 30 lbs of weight (and Mio is still under 20 lbs), she is already just barely fitting in it mass-wise. We’re pretty certain that in a month of two, she’ll be too large for it. So, being the prepared Super Mom — or rather, control freak worrywart — that I am, I started doing my usual extensive research on virtually every stroller out there to figure out what would be the best fit for our little family.
The Quinny Zapp Xtra intrigued me and was a top contender in my mind from the beginning. It was actually the original Quinny Zapp that I initially considered, due to the fact that when folded up, it is the world’s most compact stroller. (Having a stroller with a small footprint is important to us, since we wanted to be able to store it in our small duplex unit when necessary, and keep it in the trunk of our cute little Honda Fit for outings.) It has a sleek design and is originally from the UK. There were some major disadvantages to it, though — it was unable to recline, the sun canopy was not that big, and it could only face forward. That’s when I stumbled upon the updated version, the Quinny Zapp Xtra, which just released in the US market in March. The Zapp Xtra solves all those issues of its predecessor with a new seat that reclines to three positions, has an impressive sun canopy, and the ability to be flipped to be either forward-facing or rear-facing. I had never really thought about the option of having a rear-facing stroller, but I figured it’s nice to have the option, especially when the baby is still young. (I also recently read this article that away-facing strollers stress babies out. While the study’s suggestion that life in such strollers is “emotionally impoverished”and lead to “stressed babies [that] become anxious adults” seems a little extreme, the observation that parents tend to talk more to their babies when they are facing towards them definitely makes sense.)
The drawback to the Zapp Xtra is that the new-and-improved removable seat now adds a bit more weight and takes up a little more space than the original Zapp pushchair, but the frame itself is still just as compact. It can actually be used from birth (with a minimum weight of 5 lbs) to around 4-5 years old, with a maximum weight capacity of 50 lbs. The Zapp Xtra also comes with adapters so that you can attach a Maxi-Cosi Mico infant car seat to the frame as well, so we may get rid of our Baby Trend system and just go that route for any future babies. It’s great for travel (apparently, it’s so lightweight you can even take it on the plane as a carryon), and all around just seems like the perfect urban stroller.
Although we’d gotten baby essentials such as our crib and changing table new, two big ticket items we had not had to spend a penny on had been the infant car seat and stroller — my boss’s sister had very graciously let us borrow her Graco SnugRide travel system which her kids had outgrown. We thought we were all set in that department — until about a week ago, when Dan went to get the car seat inspected at the local police department to make sure he had installed it properly. (Apparently, 90% of parents don’t install their car seats properly — being the anal retentive worrywart that I am, I made sure that we got ours inspected to make sure that that would not be the case for our baby.)
Dan’s installation of the car seat was perfect — in fact, the police officer was really impressed, saying that it was the best installation job he’d ever inspected. There was a problem, however, with how old the car seat was and the fact that the mount showed wear and sun damage, and so the car seat itself failed the inspection. Apparently, you’re not supposed to use car seats that are over five years old period — the one we were borrowing was a little over five years old, but it looked to our untrained eyes like it was in really great condition so we were really surprised when we were told by the officer that he couldn’t pass the car seat. Five years seems like sort of a short lifespan for a car seat, especially if you plan to have multiple children to reuse it for, but I guess safety regulations can change a lot within that time.
As bummed as we were, we knew it was better to be safe than sorry, so we set out on our search to buy a brand new car seat. Which meant that ultimately, we ended up having to buy pretty much all of our big ticket items completely new, which we had been trying to avoid as cost-conscious new parents — but so it goes. Such is life.
And so we did our research — from Graco, Evenflo, Britax, to Chicco… but we ultimately ended up going with what my cousin Yuko had recommended to us when we visited her last September. The Baby Trend Flex Loc — affordable, manageable, and the #1 rated car seat in terms of safety. It can be used for a pretty long period of time, considering you can use it until your child is 30 lbs — which is great, especially with the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommending that you keep your child in a rear-facing car seat until the age of two. We went with the Grey Mist model, because of the soft, high-quality fabric and cushioning as well as the fact that it would be gender-neutral for potential future children. (Dan’s eyes are starting to hurt from all the pink!)
As for the stroller, after talking to a number of seasoned parents and reading various reviews, we decided against getting a full travel system to go with the car seat, at least for now. We were tempted to get the Jogger stroller that the car seat fits right into, after seeing how maneuverable and relatively light it was, but a lot of parents told us that the last thing we will want to deal with is a bulky travel system that will be a pain to unfold and put together. For myself personally, if I’m going to be taking the baby out on my own, I’ll want something I can unfold and snap the car seat into with one hand , unassisted, while holding the baby. So the Snap-n-Go Stroller seemed like the perfect answer. It’s a simple, light metal carriage frame that you can easily snap the car seat into and be on your way. I’ve seen a bunch of parents wheeling these around in the area, and it’s so low-profile and seems so much easier to handle than their travel system counterparts. You’re already carrying around so much extra baggage with the diaper bag and other baby essentials (not to mention the baby herself adds considerable weight), so why get an unnecessarily large car seat-and-stroller system on steroids? In a metropolitan location like the Bay Area, this seems like the way to go. We’ll definitely need to invest in a larger stroller when the baby’s older and can no longer fit in the infant car seat/carrier, but until then the Snap-n-Go should be enough for us.
Now that we’ve purchased these final items, we’re finally completely ready for our little girl. Since last Friday, I’m 37 weeks so the baby is full term and can come at any time in the next few weeks. All we can do now is wait patiently to see when she decides to make her much-anticipated arrival! 🙂