| The Chicco key fit car seat in evergreen [source] |
The reason we waited is because the local children's hospital has a safety center sponsored by Kohl's where parents can buy safety gear including car seats, gates, latches etc. at a discount (doing a little browsing online, I'd say we saved somewhere around $50-$60 shopping there rather than in a retail store). However, it's only open a limited number of hours per week and only after work on Tuesdays. We finally made it in yesterday evening, and it was BUSY, but the staff was very helpful and -although the selection there wasn't large - we're happy with our choice. There are so many positions, latches, buttons, straps, etc. that I'm glad we had someone just show us how to install it rather than trying to do it based on reading the manual.
We also took the plunge and bought a stroller - or rather a base to plug the car seat into that acts like a stroller.
| [source] |
We went back and forth on the stroller thing quite a bit before we decided to buy this one. The big "con" is that it only works with the baby car seat. Once he's too big for the infant seat, he's too big for the stroller. However, it was so so so so much lighter and easier to push and fold than a stroller that works with both a car seat and converts to hold a toddler. We decided that at the point it was time for him to go in a toddler-sized stroller, we'd hopefully be able to get one that was just made for forward facing that would be easy to push and fold as well.
Although the car seat was 100% necessary, I am having a tiny bit of buyer's remorse about the stroller. I guess I'm just afraid that we're not going to use it enough to justify the cost. A stroller is one of those things that you are "supposed to" buy, but when exactly do you use it? You can't take it to the grocery store because you can't push a stroller and a cart at the same time. You can't take it to church because... I don't know... it seems like it would get in people's way. You can't take it to the mall because once you have a baby, you better stay away from the mall ;). I can see myself taking the baby out for a walk when it gets warm enough, but wouldn't I just want to carry him in one of those Ergo things? It wasn't that expensive, but I dunno...
Moms - what do you think about the stroller thing??? Are we wasting our money??? Are we going to be glad we have this thing??? Should we return it? We still have (I hope - Daniel picked it up) the receipt.
It's getting real...
