Ladies & Gentleman We have chosen a stoller...and are close to finalizing the registry

This weekend is the first weekend in WEEKS if not MONTHS that both Rob and I had off (well Rob worked Friday but still.) We had a small Aids Bike Run Event that we volunteered to do in downtown Manhattan on Saturday afternoon. We were there for only an hour so it wasn't bad.

In any case, either I've been tailing Rob to look at the registry items or something, but he decided since we did have the time that we would visit the baby stores and actually LOOK at the items I had chosen to see whether or not they were worthwhile and such. Many decisions were made but one remains up in the air. Of all things, we seem to not be able to agree on a bouncer/soother thing. I had my heart set on the Baby Papasan

But Rob remains unimpressed with it. His real problem with it is that it vibrates and does not bounce. He wants a unit that the baby will learn that his movements are what causes it to bounce. So the search continues. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Someone online recommended the Baby Bjorn 1-2-3 Babysitter but it's a pretty penny and well, in the places we've visited they didn't have it to see.

Saturday Visit to Babies R Us (Route 22)
I think we were in this place for a little over an hour, just looking at things. Rob seems to be really into the mechanics, long term use and logical reasoning for what it is we're buying. Plus this was an education of sorts. Yes, I find that he was overwhelmed with how much a baby in fact needs, but then again, he said we'd register for only those things we need and hope that we get them. So we breezed by the bottle and such area and started out in car seats. Explained the convention between baby car seats that seat newborns, convertible seats and booster seats. He agreed with my selection although seeing it in person I preferred another but that was shot down as he didn't like the other one. Score on the seat. Moving on....here's where things started getting funny.

The Stroller Section.

We knew that all the strollers we wanted to see we couldn't see at BRU. They have a good selection but none of the 'higher-end' strollers. But for Rob's first real look and feel of strollers it was a good place to start. Rob's testing strollers was rather entertaining. He'd check the maneuverability, he'd check how easy they were to open and close. He'd check how bulky they were and how heavy they can be. During this process he would practically beat the crap out of the stroller. Apply pressure, finagle and at times grunt. Many, after looking at them got a series of comments of varying logic and comedy...

"What the hell kind of material is this?"
"For $250, I don't want my kid sitting on metal"
"Goddamn, this thing is heavy"
"Why is this one so big?"
"What the hell does this thing do?"
"Look, this one has a 3 cupholders."
"Wow, an extra $100 for 4 wheel drive & a convertible handlebar. Pfft"
"Damn, that was hard to close"
"I can hardly snap it, lord knows you won't be able to"
"It's $200 for this piece of shit?"
"This is doable."
"I like this one. This one is nice"

I think we spend the most time in this dept. 2 customers came by and offered advice. One was saying how wonderful the Graco Metrolite travel system was. We found it to be rather LARGE and bulky. Really, really bulky. Not a fan. I showed Rob the oh so famous Snap N Go for which another customer was raving to him about and for which many moms online rave. Rob was unbelievably unimpressed. I was surprised at this. But he did see the Carry N Stroll and liked it. He said not to put it on the registry but this would be the stroller he would get should one of our mothers be taking care of the kid. It's both a stroller and functions as a snap and go. 3 wheeled and good maneuvering.

Moving into other departments, The beloved Deluxe Jumperoo was shot down by Rob and we are removing it from the registry. Although getting wonderful reviews from the online moms I know, Rob thought the unit was cheaply made and annoyingly creaky. That and he fell in love with the Rockin' Jitter Buggy which he found much 'cooler.' In the carrier section, Rob was unimpressed by all of them quality wise minus the Bjorn Carrier which had lower back support. And entertainment continued as we entered the world of Pack and Plays. We are getting this solely for the reason that if babe needs to go to someone else's house it needs its own space. But my GOD not only are these things HUGE but they are expensive. Rob was convinced we needed one with a built in changer and this is where we learned that height is a BIG DEAL. You all know Rob has a bad back right? Well, his big initiative now is to prevent himself from having to bend forward to do things like change the baby's diaper. So we picked a pack and play solely on the fact that it had a high changing table and it was in a nicer color (what is it with these HORRIBLE prints and color schemes in baby stuff??) and because of the height thing. Who would have thought that height would even be an issue considering Rob's just 5'6 and I'm 5'3. I feel bad for those taller individuals. We continued into the crib section where Rob would swiftly brushing his hands on cribs and changing tables and state in a rather loud voice...

"You see - now that's what I'm talking about. Not bending. See..."

I seriously think at this point, he was having too much fun and it took everything I had to not laugh at him. Seriously. Another concern that came to light in the toy section is Toy Storage. We need to evaluate what to do about Toy storage. Get a toy box or figure something else out?

Got home and Rob was in baby mode. He spent another 2 hours on the computer researching baby stuff and asking me question after question about things. It was entertaining to say the least. I'm proud that he's taking such an active roll in all this stuff.

Sunday visit to Buy Buy Baby in Manhattan
So, we left around 10:30am to hit NYC since the store there would have all the other items that BRU didn't. This trip was not as entertaining as the trip to BRU. A this point, I think Rob is practically babied out and wanting to get the decisions over with. Let me just say that Buy Buy baby is so beyond organized, it's frightening. They carry all the higher-end stuff here and they have about a 15-1 ratio on service associate to customer...that is 15 people per every customer (or at least that way this early in the morning.)

In any case we head downstairs and directly to the bouncers. Everything here has batteries in it unlike BRU so you can actually feel the vibration and such. Rob found he needs to research on a bouncer that vibrates AND has a massager - I kid you not - it has a rolling massage bar. He's still anti Papasan. Moving on into strollers which was the primary reason for our visit, we started by looking at the Phil & Ted's E3 which was one of my top choice based on online reviews alone and we had seen 2 of them on route to Buy Buy Baby that morning. Needless to say Rob said no immediately. He did not like the quality of the material or the complexity of the recline feature. Way too many snaps and zippers to make it convenient. He also did not like the quality of the piece. We moved on to the Inglesinas and the Oh So Popular McClaren (which managed just to have Rob make a face of disgust. Not impressed at all. He did oddly enough like the Combi I Thru Stroller which I've never even heard about.

And then we moved to what he called the stroller Ferrari section.

Starting with the Stokke Xplory which seems to get rather rave reviews from 'dads' online. I tell this to Rob as he stares at the odd contraption and then whirls it around. His take on it...

"I think it's popular with dads because it reminds them of a golf bag"

LOL. Onto the almighty Bugaboo. With a crowd of 4 in front of the salesperson, we join in and hear the spiel on it. All sounds wonderful but Rob pipes up asking for a demonstration of it's capabilities, which the salesperson maneuvers thorough with ease while injecting little side notions every Manhattanite should know (if you take a cab often you would fold it like this, it's easier) All 3 bugaboos were there for view. The Gecko, the Chameleon and The Frog. After our presentation, the opportunity to whirl it about and additional questions....the decision was made.

Rob and Dianne are getting a Bugaboo Frog. We choose the Frog (although according to the salesman, it will be phased out in the next few months and ultimately discontinued) because we did not like the Gecko (entirely too stripped down and missing too many important features) or the Chameleon (entirely too overdone, large, and what the hell is the reasoning for the fleece??) Rob's take on the Frog

"I still think it's overpriced, but when you really look at it, it really is
made very well, is easy to fold and has a hell of a lot to offer. Folds
very flat and handles unbelievably."

So we are getting a Frog. The rest of the trip through Buy Buy baby was looking at more cribs, and Rob shooting down my love for the SkipHop Diaper Bag. He says $64 is too much for a diaper bag. SUUURRRREEEE. He insists on getting the $99 Bugaboo diaper bag
*rolling eyes*

And now I'm tired of typing so ta ta for now.