My first child, Alison, rarely rode in a stroller. When she did, it was a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law. I honestly couldn’t tell you what brand it was, but I remember that it was blue. I used it 2 or 3 times. Mostly, she rode in the snugli or baby bjorn until she could walk, which was at 15 months. Around that time I started using an umbrella stroller occasionally when we traveled because she was unwilling to be strapped to me anymore. With Blythe, things are completely different. I hemorrhaged two weeks after she was born and physically couldn’t carry her infant carrier by myself. Along came yet another hand-me-down from my friend Kim, a stroller frame designed to hold a Graco infant car seat. That thing is great! It’s lightweight, can fit in the smallest space and is so convenient for running errands or just about anything. Just snap and go! I fell deeply in love with this stroller and never, ever left the house without it for the first 4 months. Being the anal-retentive person I am, I started to worry what I would do once Blythe outgrew her infant carrier and I could no longer use this stroller I was so attached to. I started asking people about their strollers and researching them online. A whole new world opened up to me – I had no idea there were so many options! And then I found it online: the perfect stroller that I could use for Blythe now, as an infant, and that would grow with her. The Peg Perego Venezian. Oh, how I wanted it. I started noticing them when I was out and about, and was gawking at them more than once, causing alarm to those around me. But no way could I justify spending $450 on a stroller, no matter how much I thought I’d be using it. Even on Craigslist they are close to $300. I figured I would just pine away, until I found one I felt was affordable online. Then one day, in a consignment store near me (www.kids-barn.com) I came across it by accident: my Holy Grail. A Peg Perego Venezian, in perfect condition (although missing the snack tray – easily fixed, they are $35 on the Peg Perego site) and everything I ever dreamed it could be. The price tag? A very affordable $100. I was in Heaven. After being given a quick demonstration on how to work it, I wheeled my prize out to the car and started using it 30 minutes later. Even Alison, who never has been a stroller girl, loved it. Since it is so versatile, she could easily ride in it and I could convert it for Blythe to use a minute later. Blythe is so much more willing to take a nap in the stroller when we us the Peg Perego, because she can lay flat instead of being in a seat. I still use the snap-in stroller for errands (because it really is so easy) but most of the time I use my lovely Venezian just because it makes me smile.
Category: Motherhood and Pregnancy
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Baby names
It’s so hard picking a name for a baby. You want to pick something that is an extension of yourself, but still allows the child to be an individual. Something not too trendy but not too far out there. Something that will fit her as a child but look good on a resume. Jeremy and I both came up with a lot of names for both our kids, but we had a hard time agreeing on one. Well, actually, we settled on boy names right away but wouldn’t you know we’d only have girls. Jeremy picked some pretty icky names for girls both times like Kiara and Tiera – fine names for other people, but not my girls. When I was pregnant with Alison, we agreed that he would pick the boy name and I would pick the girl name – but when we found out we were having a girl, he changed his mind because he thought the name I had picked (which was Payton Olivia) was a boy name. Now that both Payton AND Olivia are popular names, I’m actually glad I got vetoed.
Everyone in the universe seems to think it’s OK to comment on the name you’ve chosen, while you’re pregnant. With Blythe, people either loved her name or hated it. Most often people would say (and still do), “What is it again?” and then, “How do you spell that?”. With Alison I was told I was misspelling her name – but I am a lover of grammar, so I spelled it phonetically. I love the names we chose for both girls, not that we call them by their names very often. No one tells you, when you’re choosing your baby name, that (for the first year or two anyway) you won’t even call the baby by her name so you may as well wait and pick a good one.
It doesn’t matter what name you choose for your child, even if you’ve decided that you’ll call them by a nickname. We thought we might call Alison “Ali” but we don’t. Jeremy thought he’d call Blythe “Bly” and I thought I’d call her something relating to “Bee” but we don’t. What I do call them are embarassing names that I’m almost ashamed to call them in public. And oddly, I don’t call Blythe by names I called Alison. Why do I call Blythe “Goolly-goo-goo”? Something having to do with an Eddie Murphy stand up routine I remembered from decades ago. I tried to stop calling her that, but I can’t. It just comes out of my mouth before I can stop it – and when she laughs, how can I call her something different? Same with “Buggy-boo”. “Booger”. I can just imagine her going by “Booger” in Junior High. The worst one by far is what I call Alison, and that is “Pooter” or sometimes, “Pooty-Alison”.
Alison’s gotten me back lately though, by deciding that instead of calling me “Mama” she’ll call me “Old Lady” since I sometimes call her “young lady”. I guess that’s my just desserts!
Ahhh, the sweet life!
Everyone in the universe seems to think it’s OK to comment on the name you’ve chosen, while you’re pregnant. With Blythe, people either loved her name or hated it. Most often people would say (and still do), “What is it again?” and then, “How do you spell that?”. With Alison I was told I was misspelling her name – but I am a lover of grammar, so I spelled it phonetically. I love the names we chose for both girls, not that we call them by their names very often. No one tells you, when you’re choosing your baby name, that (for the first year or two anyway) you won’t even call the baby by her name so you may as well wait and pick a good one.
It doesn’t matter what name you choose for your child, even if you’ve decided that you’ll call them by a nickname. We thought we might call Alison “Ali” but we don’t. Jeremy thought he’d call Blythe “Bly” and I thought I’d call her something relating to “Bee” but we don’t. What I do call them are embarassing names that I’m almost ashamed to call them in public. And oddly, I don’t call Blythe by names I called Alison. Why do I call Blythe “Goolly-goo-goo”? Something having to do with an Eddie Murphy stand up routine I remembered from decades ago. I tried to stop calling her that, but I can’t. It just comes out of my mouth before I can stop it – and when she laughs, how can I call her something different? Same with “Buggy-boo”. “Booger”. I can just imagine her going by “Booger” in Junior High. The worst one by far is what I call Alison, and that is “Pooter” or sometimes, “Pooty-Alison”.
Alison’s gotten me back lately though, by deciding that instead of calling me “Mama” she’ll call me “Old Lady” since I sometimes call her “young lady”. I guess that’s my just desserts!
Ahhh, the sweet life!