Information Overload

I used to think baby stores were awesome. Baby stores are the cutest thing ever! I can't wait until I need to start shopping there!

Baby stores TRICK YOU. They lure you in with the cute window displays, the impressive strollers, the teeny shoes and onesies. So you walk in. And you start looking around. And all of a sudden, it's 7.5 hours later and your eyes have spirals in them like a cartoon who's just been knocked out. Info Overload.

So ok, I'll admit, it's still fun. And just amazing that we're actually shopping in baby stores for our own baby. Plus, Eric has said about 38 times how much more fun baby planning is than wedding planning. I could have a few things to say about that, but the face of an excited Daddy-to-be sort of takes the cake.

So we've started some lists of our must-haves before baby, our would-like-to-have's before baby, and things that could/should wait until after baby. The main things we've been considering are the big ones: carseat, stroller, sleeping situation. I'll save sleep for another post since that's a whole other kettle of fish.

The carseat ended up being narrowed down pretty quickly. I've done a bit of research and the Graco Snugride seems to be a pretty highly rated infant seat. The big debate will always be price vs. longevity. It's hard to spend big bucks on things that may only last for a few months or so, but with this being our first of hopefully more than one baby, there's something to be said about buying products that are built to last. So the Graco Snugride! We're just between the 30 and the 35 as the 35 holds much more weight, but you never know when baby will grow out of it other than the weight requirements.

Graco Snugride 35 2012      

Strollers. This has been interesting. There are SO. MANY. STROLLERS. out there! My parents and brother are here visiting and we went to the Calgary Zoo Monday afternoon. Well, hello stroller palooza! Eric and I had taken a quick look at strollers in Vancouver at the fancy pants Jack and Lola, so we already had the Baby Jogger brand in mind. The amount of Joggers we saw at the zoo was crazy, but you had to get a bit closer to see which model it was. Before this, we were thinking of going with the City Mini. After the zoo, the Select was brought to the forefront because of the versatility for two kids and the fact that a toddler can sit in an outward facing seat, instead of so many double strollers I've seen where the toddler has to sit directly underneath and looking up at the upper seat. Anyways.

So the day after our zoo browsing, we went to Bo Bebe in Calgary. Actually, that's a lie. We first stopped at Babies 'R Us, which in my opinion was a nightmare. I truly don't have anything against this store, or those who shop there, but I was NOT impressed. I realized the selection would be different from other boutique stores we'd been to, which was both a positive and negative. There were tons of playards to look at, which we haven't seen at the boutiques. More on that later... There were quite a few strollers, but only ONE Baby Jogger (now I don't even remember which one it was). We did get to take a closer look at the Snugrides, which was great. They seem to come off the stay-in-car base very easily, and though they all feel heavy, I think it's pretty standard in terms of weight. I also like the way it looks, which isn't as important, but a plus! We don't want to get a bassinet add-on for a stroller, so we will be getting quite a bit of use out of an infant carseat as this will be key to using the stroller with a newborn. We did spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out the difference between two Snugrides, and didn't get much help from staff. We went through about 3 staff while looking at strollers as well, and none were all that knowledgeable about features, or even how to fold the strollers. I get it, one was new, and in a store like that, there's SO much product that it would be impossible to know about everything. But I can't say it was helpful.

Off we went to Bo Bebe, and the first thing we saw in the window was the Select stroller. Inside, there was a whole lineup of Baby Joggers, so we were able to compare the City Mini, City Mini GT and Select side by side. The sales woman there was extremely helpful, already a mom of two with another on the way, so she knew her stuff! We were in that small store for well over an hour, going back and forth over the pro's and con's of each, and learning that the City Mini is not really worth it at all, unless you go for the GT. So here's our list:

Baby Jogger City Mini GT
- folds insanely easily, can do it with one hand
- a bit of a smaller frame, so would be better for storage
- lightweight
- decent sized storage underneath
- like the 3 wheels, narrower for navigating in grocery store, malls, etc.
- all we need for right now

Baby Jogger City Mini GT

Baby Jogger City Select
- can convert to be usable for 2 kids in over 10 different combinations
- gigantic storage underneath, seriously one of the best things about this one
- not that much bigger than GT considering the extra capabilities
- more durable frame, can support more weight so no problem to hang diaper bag on handlebar
- best option if we're going for longevity, as it could be used when there's two

Baby Jogger City Select

Select configurations for two, though we wouldn't buy bassinet

Hmmm....

Actually, when you get it all in writing, I almost think it makes it clear that the GT will be the way to go for now. Despite the awesome pic of the variations of the Select. Really, the only bonus of the Select is for the long run, and by the time Baby #2 comes along, who knows what the latest and greatest will be. Being in a condo, tight on space and a bit tight on budget, I think we'll probably agree on the GT. HOWEVER, as soon as we left Bo Bebe, we saw about 14 Selects around the mall, plus two women in the store said that it was their dream stroller, AND I've had it recommended by a close friend. Grr...

After the stroller tests, we started talking to the store owner about cribs. There was a crib that I absolutely loooved. Something I didn't really think about before was that cribs really are relatively all the same size, because a standard crib mattress is one size. We are just so concerned with space, especially for big furniture, that the first thing I looked at on cribs was size. So, this guy definitely knew his stuff and I was glad to hear all the info he was giving us....BUT....somewhere in his description of different organic mattresses and how much everything costs, I literally started seeing spots. All of a sudden I felt hot, lightheaded, and figured I may actually pass out in the next few minutes. Best pregnant excuse in the books? "I think I need to use the bathroom." Mom looked at me and said how pale I was, so we left the store, sat right outside and got an iced tea for me. I think it was just a low blood sugar moment, but man it came on fast! Once I'd had something to drink and sat for a bit, I felt a bit less shaky, and we went to get some real lunch before heading home. I was really glad to have them there to discuss everything, but definitely wish Eric had been there to get all the info at the same time. That night I had literally 20 tabs open on my computer to all sorts of options, and went through some things with Eric. I think we'll go back to Bo Bebe on Friday so he can play around with the strollers, but other than that, we'll wait on a few other decisions. We've all agreed, there's no 100% right answer. Just whatever seems most right for us and our situation, and the rest will go from there.

So there you have the story of how I almost passed out due to baby info overload, and how no matter how excited you are for baby shopping, always take a Gatorade with you. The end.