06Nov
I’ve had a few questions lately about my Sit and Stand double stroller, so I thought I’d do a review of it for those of you on the hunt.
I should state for the record that, generally speaking, I am anti-double strollers. I find them to be bulky and cumbersome. Plus, they make me very self conscious. It’s hard to look cute pushing a double stroller, in my opinion. I think I just look like a mom. It’s like driving a very large mini-van to me.
Most of the time, if Chris or someone else is with me, I put Gracie in my single stroller or in her Baby Bjorn and Bean just walks and holds someone’s hand. Or, if I’m going grocery shopping or somewhere with a buggy, I put Gracie up front in the seat and Bean in the back big part. But there are certain times when a double stroller is a necessity. Usually, I use it when I’m going to be somewhere all day, like shopping with a girlfriend or at a festival or fair. For day trips, I really need my double stroller.
My parents gave me the Baby Trend Sit and Stand Double Stroller. I think I would have used it much more in the first few months with Gracie if my car seat had fit in this particular stroller, but I had one of the few car seats that didn’t fit. So, I had to wait until Gracie was a little bigger before I could snuggle her down in a few blankets in the back seat and know that she wouldn’t slide right out. We’ve only used it a handful of times so far, but as both kids get older, I find us using it more and more.
Now that Gracie’s a little older, she can sit in either the front or back seat just fine. And just last weekend, we took the seat off the back so that Bean could sit or stand on the back area. He loved the freedom of getting up and down out of his seat. For now, he doesn’t jump out or anything while he’s riding, but I’m not sure how much longer that will last… Fingers crossed he doesn’t realize he has that much freedom for a while!
I like several things about this stroller. First, I really like how narrow it is. Last weekend, Sarah and I took it shopping with us to the outlets and I rammed it through tiny clothing aisles and up under clothing racks all day without too much hassle. I like that much better than the ones where the seats are side by side because it just seems to be able to fit in more places.
I also like that it has so many options for use. You can use it just about in any position or combination of positions to fit any situation.
Also, for being as large as it is, it is fairly lightweight. I can collapse it, lift it, and store it all on my own and it doesn’t break my back. It isn’t very compact (though I think that’s just the nature of double strollers), but it is pretty easy to get around wherever we need it to be.
Something I’m not crazy about with this stroller is that there isn’t very much storage space for bags and things. There’s one area under the back seat, but you can’t get to that area from the back so it’s hard to get things in and out of there easier because the child’s feet are in the way. And then, if the seat is out and the child is sitting on the bench or standing, the storage space goes away altogether. Another down side is that the straps that hold the kids in aren’t cushioned at all and can be pretty rough on them when they are buckled in. But you can always buy those car seat padding things and use them for a little extra cushion.
All in all, I’d give this stroller a solid B rating. But I think it’s a lower rating just because I really don’t like using a double stroller. I see this particular stroller out all the time (there are HUNDREDS of them at Disney when we go!), so it must be one of the better ones. I think I just prefer an easier to way to get around than my Big Rig. But if you need or want a double stroller, this one is a pretty good way to go.
25Jul
Oh, sweet Gracie Girl. You goofy little thing.
This baby doll makes me smile and smile and smile. She is almost four months old now and becoming quite the socialite. She’s getting much better at sitting still in one place and enjoying herself without having to constantly be moving. She coos and laughs, but mostly she just sits around and smiles. Which makes me smile. Which makes her smile. Which makes me smile.
We’re a pretty useless bunch, I tell you.
The only thing that Gracie was still having trouble with was sleeping through the night. She would wake up for a bottle around 2am, and then would wake up about every hour for the rest of the night. It was brutal. She was miserable. Chris and I were miserable. But we couldn’t figure out what to do.
I knew what the problem was. We had no schedule during the day, which meant Gracie was sleeping as much or as little as she wanted. And, I’ll be honest with you, I was okay with letting her sleep so much. It was easier. Then I only had one child to manage. But that really wasn’t fair to Gracie. Throwing her in a swing for a couple hours might make things easier for me, but it wasn’t stimulating for her and it certainly wasn’t helping her sleep at night.
Knowing this, I had a really hard time getting our family on a schedule. Key times during the day when both kids needed my attention (like during meal times, bath time, or bedtime), I just couldn’t juggle both of them. But I couldn’t figure out how to separate their schedules without killing myself. I’d get one fed, changed, and put down and then I’d have to start all over again with the second. By the time I finished the second, the first was needing something else. I felt like I was being pulled in a hundred different directions all day. And then, of course, there was the sleep schedule at night on top of it all. Surely, there had to be a better way to do things.
And then a couple weeks ago, an answer to my prayers! I read a blog post by my friend, Erin, about how her little baby, Hayes, had gone from waking every couple hours in the night (much like Gracie) to sleeping 9-11 HOURS AT A TIME!!! She had used a method from two pediatric nurses who called themselves, “Moms on Call.” I would have been skeptical if I had heard it from anyone other than Erin, but our parenting approaches and styles are very similar and so I trusted her opinion and outcomes. I went online and Googled Moms on Call and was flooded with testimonies from moms who had the same results as Erin. Their babies were now sleeping 9-12 hours a night after only 2 or 3 days of this method.
That night, I told Chris I thought we should pay the money and do the online seminar that tells you all about this method. He said he thought it wasn’t worth the money. I said that was because he wasn’t the one getting up in the middle of the night with Gracie. He said I was exaggerating. I said that if we didn’t do it, then he would be the one who had to do the middle of the night from then on. He said we should pay the money and do the online seminar.
So we did. And, no lie, I think I’ve died and gone to nighttime heaven. In three days, Gracie went from her erratic sleeping schedule at night to sleeping 9-10 hours at a time! We put her down at 8:00pm and she gets up between 5:00 and 6:00am. It was like magic.
Before you all rush over to their website to sign up for their seminar, let me give you a warning. This method uses a very strict cry it out routine at night. I had mixed feelings about crying it out before. On one hand, I completely understood the reasoning behind it. Just like you can set patterns and schedules for babies to eat and nap throughout the day, you can use crying it out to help set their sleep schedule at night. I totally get that and agree with it. But I always felt like I was taking the easy way out by just sitting there while my baby cried. What Moms on Call showed me was that if you’re putting in the time and giving your baby the attention they need during the day, the crying at night doesn’t last long and it ends with them getting a healthy, full nights sleep. By putting my focus on the daytime routine, I felt better about letting Gracie cry for those two nights it took her to get into the routine of sleeping through the night.
Moms on Call isn’t just about crying it out at night, though. What it is more about is scheduling, particularly when you have multiple children. Their seminar gives you routines and schedules to follow during the day to make sure your children are active and stimulated so that they are tired and ready to sleep at night. My favorite part is that they give you actual time-slotted schedules you can model your day after and they have sample schedules specifically for families with infants AND toddlers. As a person who functions better with a game plan, Moms on Call gave me the stability and strategy to plan and manage my family’s routines and that resulted in all of us getting a good night’s sleep.
They offer a program for newborns to 3 months old, one for 3-12 months, and one for 1 year to 5 years. So, you can use them to prevent sleep problems with your baby or to address a sleep problem. I can’t recommend this program enough.
Sleep is good.
The End.
02May
When I was pregnant with Bean, one of the things on my baby registry check list was an activity mat. I decided not to get one because I didn’t think we’d use it any time soon. I didn’t think newborns could use an activity mat. But when Bean Man came along, I quickly realized that, like anyone else, newborns can get bored – and quickly! Who wants to just lay in a swing or bouncer seat all day long? Even being held gets old after a while. The nice thing about an activity mat is that it gives the baby something to do. And by “do,” I mean it gives them something to look at. Visual stimulation is important, even at the very beginning, and having a place to put the baby that can be somewhat entertaining to them is really important.
Because we hadn’t registered for an activity mat and because our wallets were stretched so tightly after Bean’s birth, we found one of the cheapest activity mats and figured we’d test out the whole visual stimulation thing without spending a fortune. If Bean was even mildly interested, we’d go buy something nicer. Turns out that Bean loved his simple activity mat!
I don’t remember which type ours is, but it is the Tiny Love Super Delux Light and Music Gymini Activity Mat. Don’t let the name fool you though. The “super delux” part meant that there was one toy that lit up and played music. Other than that, it was just a mat that popped up easily and had hand toys attached.
Let me pause right here and tell you that any Tiny Love product has been a big hit in our house. They make affordable, stimulating, good quality baby products. We have a ton of their baby toys and they’ve all been totally worth the $4 or so we’ve paid for them. I really like that brand.
What I loved most about this activity mat was that it had a lot of little loops where you could attach toys.
That meant that we could change out what toys Bean was looking at (and, later, playing with) depending on his preferences. It also means that the activity mat has lasted a long time. We are using it now for Gracie and it still looks good as new because we’ve replaced any old, ragged hand toys with new ones. And that’s a lot cheaper than having to buy a whole new activity mat.
Gracie is quite a fan. She just recently started enjoying the activity mat and she is loving it these days. She stares at the toys and even flails her little arms around trying to reach for them.
But what she really loves is when Bean plays on the mat with her. He lays down next to her and shows her the toys and talks and talks and talks to her about them.
Gracie loves when Bean talks to her. She stares at him and starts cooing every time.
And if she does happen to get upset, Bean knows just what to do. He grabs her binky and tries to give it to her very gently.
When Bean had the activity mat, he loved it for the bright blinking lights and cheesy music. But we’ve long since lost that toy and so the mat is a little less flashy. But Gracie doesn’t seem to mind at all. Being able to change out the toys to keep her interested helps and it’s for that reason that I recommend this activity mat to anyone with a baby. But I really think it’s the person who plays on the mat with Gracie that keeps her attention to most!
28Apr
(Can I just say that the word “wiener” is one of the most versatile and awesome words in the English language? I just needed to get that off my chest. Thank you.)
The winner of the Nugget Baby Beanie is…AshleyG! Ashley, email me at katie@marriageconfessions.com to claim your prize.
But, really, we’re ALL wieners because Briana at Nugget Baby Beanies has so kindly offered a discount to all Marriage Confessions readers. Enter the code NUG123 to receive FREE SHIPPING on your Nugget Baby Beanies purchase!
Thanks to everyone for playing and a special thanks to Briana for sharing her adorable shop with us!
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