Comments on: A bit of a rant on baby gear

By: Frank Bray

Frank Bray — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:57:42 +0000

I found the information here quite useful.

I have a business making rocking chairs, and I also make nursery rockers and matching accesories, like crib quilts and boppy-style nursing cushions and diaper bags. Was going to start making matching bumper pads but now I think I will not. I also think I will advise my customers buying my nursery rockers about how unsafe bumper pads can be!

Thank you so much!
Frank

By: Postcards from the Mothership » I have the bestest bloggy friends

Postcards from the Mothership » I have the bestest bloggy friends — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:01:02 +0000

[...] a handmade baby quilt and pillow they ordered from Etsy.com for me baby. With moons and stars! And no crib bumpers! Do I not have the most wonderful, sweet, thoughtful bloggy friends [...]

By: yvonne

yvonne — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:44:21 +0000

Ahem, and you could always sew a quilt. I seem to remember that you are quite skilled at sewing. Now the trouble is where to find the time.
And I have a pack and play that was rarely used that you can have, rather than buying through consignment.

By: Loukia

Loukia — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:33:25 +0000

Dani, you should check out Sleepy Hollow, they have great stuff there!

By: daysgoby

daysgoby — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:53:32 +0000

We have a bulky stroller (yes, a bajillion bucks, too) that we used for Cass. When Rosey was born, we used the same awful one until she could reasonably hold her head up (and come on, it was winter, how much stroller action is your child going to see?) and we bought one of those 25-dollar umbrella strollers.
And it was heaven. Put the baby in the car, and with ONE HAND, and WITHOUT STRAINING YOUR BACK, easily put the stroller in the back!

And it was small enough I didn’t even have to collapse it all the time….

By: Sheila

Sheila — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:58:14 +0000

Since you ask, I would vote:
- Yes, buy a new baby car seat, since the old one is probably close to its safety expiry date.
- Go second-hand on the pack-n-play and stroller, if you decide you need them. If you can wait til spring, you might find great deals at the Multiple Births Families Association of Ottawa, when they have their club sale. See http://www.mbfa.ca
- Try local community or church craft sales for baby blankets, and you might find a nice machine quilted, crocheted or fleece blanket. This is the season for craft sales.
- Polar fleece is very warm and washes so easily. You can even make your own with 2 square metres of fleece fabric, cut in half, cut 3″ fringes round the edges and knot them together – the fabric doesn’t fray.
Happy nesting!

By: BeachMama

BeachMama — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:07:12 +0000

Dani! I can’t believe you only have 10 weeks left, wow. As an FYI, Here we Grow Again opened a Barrhaven shop, at the mall with Independant. They have great stuff. I bought a new stroller this time around. Our four year old one had seem many better days and the back wheel was ready to fall off so we invested in a Peg-Perego Pliko P3. The best money we have spent in a long, long time. Not only does it do one hand turning on a dime, but it is so much more narrower than our old one and it folds up umbrella style. It was the one I originally wanted and am so so much happier with it than our old one. So worth it for both me and my newest little addition. I felt since we didn’t really need anything else it was well worth the expense.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:12:03 +0000

Yeah, I say stay away from the baby stores and stick to usedottawa.com and craig’s list. I think you’ll be much happier for it.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:14:04 +0000

Hi Dani,

Man oh man did your post hit home. I apologize if it is poor blog etiquette to link to my own post on the same subject, but here goes. (Keeping in mind that it was written before I discovered Babies R Us has also gotten in on this stroller caste system and started selling Bugaboos). http://playpenpundit.blogspot.com/2007/09/do-you-throw-in-tv-with-that.html

Don’t even get me started on the looks of pity I’ve received from some Bugaboo owners when I wheel my Graco around certain areas of town. (Relax Bugaboo devotees, I said some owners, not all). Didn’t realize I owned the stroller equivalent of the Griswold Family Truckster.

By: Roxanne

Roxanne — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:47:50 +0000

I make quilts (not professionally, just as a hobbie). If you find that you don’t want to bother making one yourself, just let me know. I could make one reasonably priced since I have a ton of fabric that I always buy on sale.

I’ve bought cars cheaper than that stroller. Wow!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:11:18 +0000

First time commenter….fellow Ottawa mom here and fellow Greek girl (hello Loukia!). I was so overwhelmed by all the stuff that is out there. My first son was born in July 2006. Having lived in San Francisco, I love Pottery Barn Kids and I found some great deals on crib sets on ebay. You have to be very careful when buying from ebay…I was and got a great set for Niko, called “At the Zoo”. I am mostly an online shopper, so when I ordered Niko his Grobag, I entered to win $1000 and I won. I know, don’t hate, but I ended up getting the Bugaboo Cameleon (like the frog). I have to say, the stroller is very nice, but I much prefer my Graco travel system, which came with a infant car seat and was much easier to load and stow in the trunk of my car. We use the Bugaboo for strolls around the neighborhood.

Also, there are some very good consignment stores around. A couple of my favs are: “Belly Laughs” at Kanata Centrum and “Here we grow again” in Stittsville.

Good luck.
Nicole

By: Loukia

Loukia — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:06:11 +0000

Dani – if you’re into a moon and stars theme, check this link out to PBK. It’s the bedding we got. It even has a moon and stars mobile, so nice!

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/room/rom/romnur/romnurtwk/index.cfm

Jojo, to keep baby warm all you need is one of those Jolly Jumper things that is essensially like a baby sleeping bag that fits into most car seats. Check it out on the TRU website.

By: Jojo

Jojo — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:50:48 +0000

Thank you so much for commenting on the Bugaboo stroller. There are times when I see them around that I wonder, do these people really need a $1000 stroller, or is it a status symbol?

This being our first child, I can’t believe this other level of consumerism which exists. The other thing which i can’t get over is the amount of things which you buy/have lended to you which aren’t safe. Ie. the carseat liners. My SIL was going to lend me hers, but I just found out that it could affect the safety of baby. Have you had a baby in winter before? What did you use to keep baby warm, but safe? Thanks!

By: Loukia

Loukia — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:28:45 +0000

Bugaboo… my dream stroller! I love it. I think sometimes you pay for good quality. We are Peg Perego fans! I need to get a nice double stroller. And Dani, I’m due first week of January and we still haven’t done the hardwood floors in baby’s room yet, nor have I washed and folded all the baby clothes, new and Christos’s old (but like new!) clothes/onesies/sleepers. We need a new monitor, too. Yikes, too much to do, not enough time!
As for bedding, we bought Christos’s bedding from Sleepy Hollow. We totally didn’t need to buy the bumper, but we did. When the nurse came over to my house a few days after baby was born, she showed us how we can still use the bumper safely – just push it down so that it is level with the crib mattress and voila! This time around we bought new baby Dimitry’s bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, and bumpers also come seperately there… we bought it and will put it low like we did with Christos. What else did I want to say? Oh yeah the fact that Christos wasn’t even using the crib until he could sit up on his own – he was beside us in the Arms Reach Co-Sleeper – best invention ever! You should look into that for quick access to baby for all those night feedings! And the Pack N’ Play can stay downstairs! LOL!

By: kgirl

kgirl — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:25:20 +0000

I think you’re a chump if you buy a bugaboo. Sorry, but it’s true. There are way better strollers out there for half the price. The celebs don’t even really ‘drive’ them anymore.
As for the quilt, ikea has them separately, and making a quilt cover is about the easiest sewing job in the world. Of course, I made my m-i-l sew ours

By: ali

ali — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:53:56 +0000

bugaboo is a name. not a stroller. sure, it’s nice…but there are MANY nice strollers out there that don’t cost $1000.

By: shortmamaof2

shortmamaof2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:44:22 +0000

LOL – “Holy mother of consumerism” – I luv this & just in time for the holidays. I think I will exclaim this loudly every time I go shopping if you don’t mind me borrowing the phrase

As for the overly priced baby gear, so often it’s the name that determines the sticker price not the quality. That & if celebs are using it or not…my take on used items, it must be pretty good quality to have survived this long so might as well use it ’til it can’t be used no more (pls excuse my deteriorating language here).

10 weeks left & counting. So exciting!

By: Mac and Cheese

Mac and Cheese — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:36:17 +0000

There is a most amazing post about stoller culture over at Martinis for Milk,

http://scarbiedoll.blogspot.com/2006/03/stroller-snubbed_14.html

Lots of Bugaboo mockery.

By: bubandpie

bubandpie — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:28:22 +0000

Winners is a good place to look for baby accessories, along with Home Sense. I’m actually getting a lot of use out of my bumpers and quilt now that Pie is older: I put the bumpers on after she was a year old and they instantly solved the soother-falling-out-of-the-bed problem. The quilt is coming into play now that it’s winter. At this age, Bub was in his own bed, but Pie is doing so well in her crib I figure I’ll just make it bed-like, with covers until we’re ready to make the switch.

By: juls

juls — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:13:27 +0000

Babies R Us is just evil. And anything with the Eddie Bower name on it is the exact same as Evenflo, just with a $100 embroidered name on it. It was actually a TRU employee that told me that!

I had Maxim at the Monfort. It was a cesarean so I was there for a few days, but the nursing staff is incredible. Hopefully you get Rachel. She was awesome!