Stroll On!

Strollers. Every mom has one. My sister-in-law has a garage cemetery of them. A few of my friends earn money by giving workout classes using them. But I am yet to find someone who is 100% happy with hers. We researched like crazy, and by we I mean Mitch, who found this and a few other purchases to be his first way of connecting with Cam while I was pregnant.

We were limited to strollers with extendable handles because we’re both over 6’0” tall, which ruled out anything under a million dollars. Like looking for a home, a car, etc., all I wanted was a nice, mid-range item with some design appeal and value for money.

But there we were, splashing out considerable funds on a Quinny Buzz 3, thinking it would last through the two kids we planned for. We loved it initially, but the front wheel started to stick. The handle cable broke. And suddenly we’re wondering how it would last through one kid, let alone two, when the steering was stiff and terrible.

Toys R Us were brill, they fixed it and gave us a floor-model umbrella stroller to get us through the two weeks while they fixed it.

And then the front wheel started to stick again. Then the mechanism that locked the stroller in an upright position popped in and out of place. We were frustrated, and Quinny customer service wouldn’t fix it.

So based on further online and in-store research, here are a few I’d recommend for tall parents. Had I a cheap option, I’d own one myself, so apologies in advance that nothing comes under about $300.

Chicco Cortina: Not going to win design awards, but not bad for the price and the handle height is really high. Really high. Watch out for weight limit, as I think it’s only about 40lbs and you might find yourself buying another stroller with a higher weight limit in a year or two.

Bugaboo: Expensive, prices going up July 1, but I don’t think I’ve heard any complaints from parents who own any of the models. Also got high marks in boutique stroller shop. Lots of (equally expensive) accessories, but you can’t swing a cat in the greater New York area without hitting a mom (usually nanny) pushing one. Though I understand the UPPAbaby Vista line is taking considerable market share. I can see why: I’m tired of seeing the Bugaboo. Weird status symbol but good product, so…what to do.

Maclaren XT: Best umbrella stroller, but it’s still pricey. A bit of a booger in that you can’t have anything in the storage compartments when you fold it, but handle height is good, and it’s light(er)weight than a lot of the “systems.”

Baby Jogger – Classic or Elite (City Mini handle is still too short): Highly recommended by boutique staff member who had tested every stroller (including expensive Stokke/Maclaren/etc brands) on her three kids. She owns the City Mini, but she was short. OK for light jogging, handmade, more lines available, crazy high handle and crazy easy folding. Mine’s on order, I’ll update when it gets here! We were looking for an umbrella stroller to replace the Quinny, so turned up our noses at a jogger-style at first. Time will tell! But the joggers typically have taller handles, and this one has a child weight limit of 75lbs and good for tall babies, accessories to convert it to a double stroller and an infant system. Baby Jogger seems to be the “it” double/triple stroller as well.

UPPAbaby: Handle height on the Vista range was pretty good, but their umbrella strollers boasting high handle heights and high frames were not high enough. The Vista was reminiscent of the Quinny, which is why we shied away from it, not for any other reason.

Quinny Buzz: Starts off great. Not cheap, but not the most expensive. Fab design. At first the steering was awesome. The one-finger, gas-spring unfold was impressive. Diaper bag attached to frame was convenient. The design and ease-of-use, especially with the Maxi-Cosi carseat, was great. However, the steering going stiff and the handle cable snapping are common problems, as we knew and as we heard talking to vendors. Also, the stroller attachment is very short, so at 30lbs our son is too tall for it. The straps were too short for him to wear a jacket and I think the buckle pinched his crotch.

Maxi-Cosi and Quinny are the same brand, so while a Maxi-Cosi line has come out, we didn’t bother.

Stokke and Orbit: Far too expensive to even try. Cool looking, but at price points well over $1,000 (heard $1,800 to fully kit out the Orbit), all I can say is, you’re buying a stroller, not a rocket ship.

Top Stroller Buying Tips:
Go someplace you can test in person. Take full strides because you will kick the frame unless the handles are tall enough, and that’ll drive you bonkers in the real world.

If you’re tall, your kid probably will be, too. Look for higher weight limits, or at least a large-looking chair (wide and tall) to accommodate her. Think about stroller weight, but not too much, as if you’re tall you can lift a bigger stroller.

Then there are smaller things: how much do accessories cost on top of stroller cost? Do you have to empty all the baskets to fold it? Will the stroller tip backward if you have a heavy diaper bag hanging off the back? Do you own a car or are you on and off buses?

Don’t always buy the best deal. Toys R Us has an excellent return policy (keep that receipt forever!), though staff don’t tend to be super knowledgeable and the stores don’t always stock the more expensive brands to test. Boutique staff are very knowledgeable but the strollers tend to be more expensive. Buying online is cheaper, but if you need a fix…duh-doh. Ask about repeat offenders on repairs.

Largely, I think, where do stroller makers get off charging what they do? I'd take a $20 umbrella stroller if the handles were high enough.

Darling Hell Misery

I can’t exactly take credit for coming up with how to describe what Cam can be these days. Describing her son as vacillating “between the most charming, darling child on earth and hell misery why are you so upset frustrated tantrums,” my friend gave me inspiration.

I’m just going to go ahead and bundle that all up and coin “Darling Hell Misery.”

Darling:
Cam’s cousins helped him get started on speaking (and a lot of other awesome things like naked trampoline-ing) during our recent visit. Our crowd pleaser is, “Have a nice day!” which comes out, “mun-a-ma-AY!!!!” very enthusiastically. Juice, cracker, apple, banana, up, pee-pee, rock, please (peez) and a form of thank you…and some other stuff. We can figure it out about 50% of the time. Largely, he just points and says, “this. This! THIS!” while we grab everything in view and try to give it to him.

Hell Misery:
After going swimming, jogging him to and from the park and playing there for hours, miraculously finding him meals he will actually eat and not throw on the floor – all after an hour nap in lieu of his regular two hours – he has the nerve not to let me eat my dinner and insist I get “up, up!”

I lovingly got up, many, many times, to be led to many, many corners of our apartment for no apparent purpose, only to go sit back down again to be screamed at, hit and bitten. And, while it’s cute he wants me to “play, play,” and grabs my hand and pulls, flipping his lid when I don’t go the two feet to the toy he then throws at my head isn’t.

I’m like: MOMMY IS TIRED. IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, QUICKLY LEARN TO ENTERTAIN YOURSELF.

At least during dinner. After a day – I feel – I was a really good mom.

The Highly Underrated Sternum

I have decided recently that my sternum is my favorite part of my body. It’s by far the skinniest part of me. It hasn’t sagged. It’s lightly tanned, yet the skin doesn’t have that damaged, creepy, wrinkled look old sun-damaged ladies get. Yet. Necklaces always fit. My sternum never says, “My, our boobs are small,” it just houses them quietly and enjoys their light-hearted comedy.

Yup, me and my sternum. Will eagerly await hit R&B or rap song with accompanying dance and/or catchy phrase praising it.

This And That

Cam is officially in a normal bed now.

New Yorkers, while not in cars, are very nice people, especially to women with babies on the train.

What happened to swine flu?

I miss playing golf and volleyball. Sometimes basketball and softball. But I'm enjoying my yoga, just wish I could do it two or three times a week.

Broccoli 1. Chocolate cookies 5.

Had my first go at Guitar Hero -- but on the drums -- and I can hold my own at medium level. Rocked Eye of the Tiger. Nirvana kicked my ass in the final verse. Twice.

Is it wrong that I enjoyed Mother's Day morning because I didn't spend it with Cam? Got to sleep in, go to yoga, be by myself for about 1/2 hour before the boys took me to breakfast. Brilliant! Yet still so very weird I'm included in this holiday.

Why is it impossible to spend less than $200 each trip to Costco?

My friend just had her baby on Sunday in three hours start to finish. Didn't realize that was an option. Please sign me up for that next time.

In the Battle of Big Person vs. Little Person, Big Person Wins Every Time

I've been debating about privacy and this blog, and just what I was willing to share about myself and others. It's KILLING me right now, as I have one personal tid-bit to share that's slightly embarrassing, and one bit of news about someone who I hate. HATE. that would be so gratifying to share as it's the truth icing on the toxic bitch cake that has nail files in it in an attempt to (off-)spring from jail a waste of a life or two. I have never wanted to be as teeny, tiny, infinitesimal a person about publicizing this news as I do now, but damn it. Morals. Bastard morals. As always, I have to be the bigger person.

What is one to do? If you know me, you know there really isn't much I won't share (sorry about that). But it occurs to me -- as a self-proclaimed and, dare I say it, rather accomplished cyberstalker -- that setting up a blog open to the masses sets oneself up for the possibility of being stalked, uh, oneself.

It's not stranger-weirdos trying to track me down that bothers me. It's the people I know who I don't care for indulging in their own stalkiness that irks. I can only think of a handful of people who would take the time, or who I would find it particularly grating that they were having a snoop and hitting stalking gold. See above about person I HATE.

To the questions. Where do you draw the line on privacy online? Also, when gossiping can go very public so easily, what is there to stop you from doing it? Sub-question: if it's already in the newspaper and on the news, wouldn't one just be disseminating already public information thus providing a public service? Discuss.

Where's Sally Jesse When I Need Her?

Not until after I had Cameron did I understand how women went on talk shows for make overs and said they hadn't looked in a mirror for years. But suddenly, I could relate.

I was going to write something about maintaining a certain level of hygiene (washing, brushing) after having Cam, but now that I think about it, that would be a big, fat lie. Clothes were filthy, either too big or too small, covered in god-knows. As close to a mirror as I got was to vaguely glance to see if I had food in my teeth or mascara under my eyes. Hair was in a perma-pony, or I'd put on a hat instead of makeup.

That phase lasted a long, long time.

Not enough pounds lighter but regularly bathed and maintained, I've returned to fashion (well, returned to effort, success is questionable) but not to one of the mirrors I never used to shy away from: the camera.

I just signed up for something that asked for a recent photo of me -- with no one else in it -- and I couldn't find one. Not one. After quite a search, I found one from September 2006 that I thought was an accurate representation of how I think of myself looking. I look about 12 and 150lbs. Sent that picture faster than you can say DREAM ON.

Alas, sometimes I feel every bit the geriatric mother Welsh hospitals categorize us mothers over 30 as. Seriously? Geriatric?

Kick. Us. While. We're. Down. And fat and swollen and hormonal. Anyway.

My point is, I get why Glamour Shots has stayed in business so long, and I back soft focus portrait techniques! Though I don't see the need for feather boas. That's just more seduction than any middle-aged housewife can handle.

Loathing in The Time of Launderia

Substitute title: Ring Around the Collar-a?

Don't know why appliances are high on my list to write about. It's not like I do housework. But here we are, may I be hounded by environmentalists everywhere: I can't escape energy-efficient washing machines. I love the idea of them, of course (who doesn't want to save the planet one wash at a time?), but I hate the reality of them.

My understanding is they work on less water and use less energy by taking longer per load. But here's the rub: how is it energy efficient when you can only half-fill the damned things thus requiring double the loads, and nothing comes out clean so you have to wash them twice?

Am I high or is that more energy, less efficiency?

They're ever so popular in Europe, where they are rarely accompanied by tumble dryers and located in the kitchen. A kitchen usually located in an apartment, located in a building without access to an outdoor clothes line. What you are left with is airing your (still dirty) laundry from every surface of the house, usually the radiators – which sometimes you have to turn on especially to dry the clothes. Even if you do have access to the outside with a line, what’s the point if you live in a place where it rains, like the UK, 360 days a year?

Now, being Americans with tumble dryers, you might not know that if your laundry is left to dry of its own devices, it can take days, and as time passes, your clothes develop a mildewy smell and you have to start the process all over again. It’s a nightmare.

Doing laundry is the one chore I don’t loathe, but give me an energy-sucking, high-speed, meter-spinning, stain-removing, truly convenient, lovely jubbly machine that finishes a wash in under two hours and I may just be able to focus some time on putting away the clean clothes instead of piling them up on the dresser.