The Post Everyone Does

Well as some of you may know my life has been turned up side down of late by a whirlwind of political activity. I have yet to grocery shop in the last three weeks so we are now officially living on freezer burnt pizza, meat I put in the freezer at least a year ago and the reminisces of various mixed veggies bags previously long forgotten in their dark hide-y holes of my deep freeze. So posting regularly on this blog has been relegated to the back burner some what. I will be posting again regularly soon after the 25th of March. So in the mean time think I will post links to baby/kid stuff I couldn't live without when baby girl was small, that I cant live without now or that I cant live without in my professional life working with kids. My things always seem to have stories to go with them. So if the entertaining I might add them as well. To start this off, behold;




This is something I use every single day but at the beginning didn't really want.

I was militant about researching strollers before baby girl came along. I knew what I wanted the stroller to be able to do. I knew how much I would have to pay for said stroller. (then about $400.00 I think) I decided I wanted the Peg Perego Uno.

At the time there was only one store in my city that sold the Peg Perego strollers as instock items. Time for us was of the essence. I was past my due date by over a week. We needed a stroller. So after several research trips and trial runs we were ready to lay down our money and take out prize home. Only thing is, on the day we went the store was having a massive clear out sale of all last years models. But being who I am I marched over to the Uno of my choice (the very last one in the store) barely pausing to glance at the women, about 7 months pregnant and the man gazing at the Uno.

They still had that newbie look. Touching the stroller, trying out the closing mechanism in an inept way. They were asking all the newbie, uneducated questions. I was the professor of strollers. I knew every feature, colour combination available. I knew that strollers weight and dimensions closed and open. I knew about the double shocks. I knew about the available options for special order. I knew about the warranty. I had studied that stroller, I knew it inside and out. Heck deserved that stroller.


So I pounced. I took that stroller right from under that pregnant woman's nose. Did I feel guilty? Not for a second. As I said before I DESERVED that stroller. The shocked look on the other parents-to-be didn't phase me for a second. I was a mother lion, I went in for the kill and was dragging home the feast. No room for emotion. This was all business. I had no qualms about taking my brand spanking new, orange stroller home and leaving the shaking, rounded form of a pregnant women crying in my wake. "Talk about classless" was my thinking. Imagine crying over a stroller!

The only thing that made me waver was the $400.00. $400.00 would essentially wipe out the last of my baby gear account. I knew I had most of what I needed, but four hundred dollars. That's a significant amount.

It was that blasted husband of mine. He wavered. He broke under the flood of tears the other preggo let loose. He saw my doubt on my face as I watched the store clerk write up the sales slip. He reasoned with me that if I had some doubt over paying the $400.00 then maybe this was divine intervention that I should get the smaller Pliko P3 instead of the Uno. It took a solid 15 minutes of him trying to reason with my hormone inflamed brain and the visual of the other woman sobbing into her husbands shoulder for me to let loose my death grip on the handle bar of my chosen stroller. Up until I let go, I was convinced that the only divine intervention was that we had a store clerk that could write up a sales receipt as fast as I throw away my pre preggo ethics.

In the end I did let go. I got the 'satisfaction' of knowing I had taken the 'high road' (read; got to watch the tears suddenly dry and a look of smug satisfaction spread on the other woman's face.) To my mortification as I watched them leave with my stroller, I felt hot pin pricks of tears behind my eyes and a large hormonal lump form at the base of my throat. I looked at the sales clerk and she ushered us to the Pliko P3s.

Well believe it or not, I am so glad she did. My stroller is perfect. It has taken a massive beating thanks to yours truly, the husband and baby girl. We have taken it on hikes where strollers are not meant to go, umpteen laps of the off leash dog park. Its been to the beach, over sand dunes and into the water. We have used it as a shopping cart and I have personally used it as a makeshift walker after an especially nasty ice storm. It hasn't let us down yet. Its super light, small enough we can fit it and our dogs in the back of our van if pressed. Its so very maneuverable and in the summer its not so closed in to make baby girl hot and claustrophobic. All in all it was the best buy of our baby gear.

Our idea of spending more on the things we use everyday has worked out really well for us. This is an item I use every single day and need for it to work well in all situations, in all weather. The Peg Perego Pliko P3 does just that. I recommend this stroller, very, very highly.