And now, the stroller.
As you know, Brian and I, well... we don't really plan ahead very much. Charli was no exception. When I went into labor, we didn't have the hospital bag packed. The nursery wasn't even really started, except we had bought a changing table. I had just found out that gliders take 8 - 12 weeks to order, and they're ALL ordered. Mom got us a nice, big stroller at a garage sale, and that was just fine. It had lots of wheels, we got a carseat that clicked into it, I took it all around the city; everything was great. Until I took it into Tartine's. That little bakery, so yummy... I go in there anytime I walk by and there is no line (is it good or bad that that does not happen too often?). Well, I got the stroller in fine, since there was no line. But I couldn't get out, because by that time there was a big line, and the tables are always packed. I had to ask just about every single person to move themselves and/or their chairs. Very embarassing.
Well, clearly I needed to follow some advice I'd read, and get a second, smaller stroller, for use when I needed more maneuverability or less weight or smaller size. So I started doing some research. Wow! I had never looked before, because Mom got me the stroller several months before I was due. There are some seriously cool strollers out now! And some RIDICULOUSLY expensive ones. Good lord, how much does a person want to spend on a stroller anyway? Geez (although their promo videos are quite fun to watch).
Anyway, there were so many strollers, it became obvious I needed to get serious about things. Enter: spreadsheet. This is the final version (and only the top page), after several revisions. I love spreadsheets; everything just sums up so nicely. There was one stroller on there that had all the features I wanted, and they had it at a store within walking distance! So Dad and I went to try it out, and unfortunately, it didn't drive well. To use a term from another mother: it had no "push". So then we went to Citikids. Citikids has samples of at least 30 single strollers, maybe 40. They have a lot of strollers. We were overwhelmed, even with my spreadsheet (on sight of which, the guy who was helping us accused me of being an accountant, which I hotly denied). We drove everything, including the "good lord, who would buy a stroller this expensive" models, just out of curiosity. The guy was so nice (except for that accountant crack); he demoed everything for us. I asked him if there were any idiots who actually bought those $900 strollers (there are multiple brands), and he said, well, yes, and it WAS a kind of ridiculous price for a stroller. Anyway, we really liked a $300 model, the
Baby Jogger City Mini - full recline, folds up awesome, really maneuverable, great push... The only problem was that you seriously could not get to the basket, and it was easy to tip backwards, so you couldn't hang things on the handles. That was almost a non-starter for me. So we continued to drive everything around, including the
Bugaboo Cameleon and the
Stokke Xplory (this one has the coolest feature - a height adjustable seat!), both totally out of my range, and the
Quinny Buzz and and
Bugaboo Bee and
Mutsy 4Rider Light, out of my range but getting closer all the time, and still the City Mini, which was completely within range and only had one tiny little (BIG) thing wrong with it. We closed down Citikids and went home to think.
It's a dangerous thing, that going home to think. I sat at home and thought: that Stokke Xplory sure had great push...
The next day, we went back to Citikids, where I took yet another hour to rationalize getting a completely outrageously overpriced stroller. That's right, friends: yesterday I asked the salesclerk if there were any fools out there who bought this particular stroller; today I was that fool. Except... I wasn't! Turns out they had just stopped keeping the Stokke Xplory in stock, and they had sold the last one the day before, and now they were all done on special order (4 - 6 weeks to deliver). So I went home, disappointed and unfulfilled and with a pile of money burning a hole in my pocket.
This, of course, required all kinds of additions to the spreadsheet. Now that an Xplory was actually within range, anything was possible. I took a closer look at the Bugaboo Cameleons, as well as the
Orbit - none of the 3 had previously been on my spreadsheet, because I was not even considering something that expensive. Besides, working on the spreadsheet was a lot like shopping, which helped to assuage the disappointment of not getting what I want.
There was a potential light at the end of my tunnel, though, because I had an appointment set up the next day at Let's Go Strolling, a store that specializes in what, and which is only open by appointment. Of course, they have a pile of strollers to try out, including all the high end ones. It's run by 2 mothers, and they try out all the strollers, and they are really nice and really informative and you can play with everything, and they don't mind if you break the floor model (No! I didn't! But one was ALREADY broken, and they just acknowledged that as a danger of the showroom). Appointments are for an hour, but we spent 2 hours there. Yes, I am insane. So I drove around another Stokke and I was going to get it (Dad had to call Mom, to tell her what was happening), when there was an 11th hour contender - the
UppaBaby Vista! It had all the features I wanted (other than the height adjustable seat, which no other stroller has), and it was hundreds of dollars cheaper. Great push (not quite as good as the Stokke, but come on), easier to adjust all the things you want to adjust, and did I mention hundreds of dollars cheaper? So I decided to get that one instead. Dad had to call Mom back and tell her what was happening again.
Except... I couldn't do it. I was in love with the Stokke. I love the height adjustable seat. It's the best thing. I also love how it drives - it definitely had the best push. And it looks really cool. So I got it anyway. Dad had to call Mom back again, and tell her what was happening. Again.
So now the stroller saga is over, and we have a new stroller, a red
Stokke Xplory, and it is AWESOME. It sits at the table. It is super maneuverable - lighter, narrower, and shorter than our old stroller. It doesn't fold down very small or very easily, but it's comparable to the one I have (in size - the old one was really easy to fold), and I can actually get it in and out of the car myself, which was really hard with our old one. It has the best push. It fits our carseat. I was going to come up with a name for it, but nothing seemed to fit, so we simply call it Charli's ride, and I will soon be pimping it. And without further ado, here is Charli's new ride:
See, she loves it. So it's all worth it. :)
Honestly, none of this solves my Tartine's problem anyway. Tartine's is just not built for strollers, much like Bi-Rite. It's just a
Moby sort of place, no matter how small your stroller is. But, you know, any port in a storm...
Anyway, the hike was good! It was a little windy, but carrying a giant backpack sure warms you up! We didn't hike very far, but we saw a lego buddha and we had a great view of San Quentin. We had some Clif bars by the lego buddha - Charli thinks they are pretty OK. We brought her a bottle, but we cleverly forgot to bring a nipple, so we had to dump the water out of her sippy cup and put milk in there. It worked out fine, except that we felt dumb.
As far as a backpack exercise, it was definitely a success. We got a lot of practice adjusting the straps, and I realized after we got home that the reason the carrier is not "hydration compatible" is because, most likely, the person carrying the baby is not alone, and therefore does not have to be the one to carry both baby and water (and food and diaper bag, etc). Indeed, the next time I use the backpack, someone else will carry everything that can possibly be detached. Hooray!
