Stroller hindsight

Hindsight. Gotta love it.

When I first registered for all the baby stuff after finding out I was pregnant, I fell in love with the Chicco Travel System because it was highly rated and I was told constantly how safe it was. Well, what no one could have told me was that my son would grow out of the stupid infant seat (which never hooked on to any grocery store shopping cart properly) in a mere FOUR MONTHS, when we had to graduate him to a beautiful Britax Marathon…. and that ginormous Chicco Cortina stroller would become nothing but an extremely heavy hassle to get in and out of the car.

I was incredibly grateful when my mother-in-law, Debi, purchased a Maclaren Quest for us, relieving my back from having to lift that monstrosity of a stroller out of the car, and we use it quite often, but since we are a two-car family, the Maclaren typically stays in Adrian’s car, which we use more often, and the huge Chicco hangs out in my trunk. For the past month or two, I’ve been considering selling my Chicco system as it’s in very good condition (anyone interested? it’s red), and purchasing an inexpensive umbrella stroller for the other car, like the Chicco Capri, which my mom & dad have and like.

So.. today I hung out with my parents and Zachary while Adrian stayed at home to get work done as we prepare for the big photographer convention next week (our studio software company has a booth there), and on a whim, without ANY prompting from me, my mom asked if I needed another lightweight stroller, and then, in an awesome gesture, offered to purchase one for us! We headed over to Buy Buy Baby and after looking at the aforementioned Chicco Capri, then an Inglesina, and then a few different models by Combi, I finally decided on the Combi Cosmo in Sand, a nice neutral color that will work.

The price was very reasonable, at only $129, and it comes with a zillion features, including a little storage pack on the back, a high weight limit,  and a drink/snack cup holder in the front bar. The turning radius is also pretty fabulous and I can steer it with one hand for the most part. The best part is that it folds up in under 3 seconds – SERIOUSLY! We put Zachary into the stroller to test it out and he got sooo comfortable – even putting his feet up on the bar! Our Maclaren doesn’t have a bar, and there’s no way he could get his feet up on the bar in the Chicco, so I think this was a perfect choice for him and will allow him a lot of comfort, especially since he’s in a stage where he’s not very happy in the stroller and would prefer to be running around.

Here’s the stroller we got:

The great thing is that even though this is a lightweight stroller, the Combi infant car seat works with it, so no need for a travel system! Phew! I’ll definitely be purchasing one of those for the next kiddo in a couple years.

Now all I need to do is sell that Chicco.