a brave new garden: Stroller Derby

We finally purchased a stroller for Arlo. Because there is such a wowing abundance of stroller types and because we weren't really sure which kind would best fit our lifestyle, we opted to hold off on nabbing a stroller until we discovered and settled into the new rhythm of Life with Baby. And the waiting suited us perfectly, since anywhere we needed to go with Arlo could be done with a bit of simple babywearing. (I loooove my Moby wrap! Thanks, Jacque!)

Soooo, we read the entire stroller chapter in the Baby Bargains book. And we watched what felt like every Baby Gizmo stroller review. We visited stores and did a little test driving. Some were way too big, some were way too spendy, and some where just simply Not Us. One feature that we were dead-set on was the option of a parent-facing seat. Nearly all of the strollers with a reversible seat are crazy expensive, so it almost felt like a lost cause. Somehow I managed to stumble onto Kolcraft's Countours 3-wheeled stroller. Costing just over $100 with a giant basket, two cupholders, a decent canopy AND, most awesomely, a reversible seat, it was juuuuuust right. We ordered it online sight-unseen, which was a bit risky. But, for the most part, we are satisfied with it. It does take up the entire space in the hatchback (boo), but we can deal with that trade-off for now.

It is safe to say that we like the stroller much more than Arlo does. It's safe to say that he pitches a major crying fit about 80% of the time that we put him in it. And it's safe to say that Arlo prefers to be up with his parents, snug as a bug in a Moby wrap...which means that most of the time I am wearing Arlo in the Moby while pushing an empty stroller. Lil' stinker.