More Fun with Strollers

So speaking of Christmawesome, my mom has decided to get Nathan (and by Nathan I mean me, since he doesn't really care about having convenient baby stuff.... sorry mom) some great shoes and a new stroller for Christmas. And by decided, I mean responded to an emailed idea list that said she'd like to give these things to Nathan and for me to order it and put it on her card. Which I have on file because I also make all her travel arrangements. Don't you love it when your parents have so much confidence in their own parenting skills that they trust they've raised competent enough kids to just make things happen for them so they don't have to worry about it? I do. (However, we can't remember to bring their paper tickets to the airport for them... ahem... mom. She did make it to St Croix today safely, despite the forgotten ticket, for the record. But even the best of parents who raise the most competent of kids can't do every step.)

But I digress.
The shoes are rockin' awesome and he will be able to wear them outside. Remember my good fortune with Bobux? Yeah we're going that route again (third pair in his life). At their prices he will get exactly one pair, so I picked these that can pass as dress shoes or athletic shoes. And if we don't like this style as much as we've liked our other Bobux shoes, I have no shame in returning them in favor of some very acceptable second-choices I scouted out.

The stroller... not so simple. Remember how I lost my umbrella stroller back in the fall? Well I need to replace it with something small, but with several conveniences that umbrella strollers don't have (like being tall enough for Daddy to push comfortably, having at least a little cargo space, and maybe even a cupholder for me). I did a bunch of research, found the one I wanted, did even more research, found who had it for cheapest, and then realized no one has them in stock. At all. They're all completely backordered. Until who knows when. Nothing like a bunch of research done in vain, right? Because I have time for that. [shakes head]

So we went all over town, doing more (yes! more!) lightweight stroller research. Wal-mart, Babies-R-Us (oh how I cringe to type that), Target, and eventually Burlington Coat Factory. After much back-and-forthing and indecision (I involved Mark), and after Nathan had crawled all over the nasty floors of all these stores (yeah he's totally sick now, by the way), we finally decided on one. And guess what? It's half the price of the one I originally wanted, and I think I like it better.

The whole process exhausted us so much that it's still in its box, in Mark's car, and we might or might not assemble it for Christmas. But in the end, mom's dollars combined with my bargain/value-hunting ended up with a pretty good solution. I hope.

Everyone say a prayer that I won't leave this one in a farmer's market parking lot.