The Stroller I Wanted

Once I found out I was expecting the first piece of gear to research on my list was the stroller.  I took the simple approach and compared what I was looking for with the stock from my local Babies R Us.

Here were my criteria :

* Lightweight jogger / stroller that would work for my active lifestyle.  My husband and I wanted to be able to take it off road on short hikes.

* Affordable

* Versatile and long lasting.  We wanted the stroller to be able to connect to an infant car seat as well as be usable into the toddler years.

* A modern color, but not red.  I am not a huge fan of red.

I found a great travel system jogging stroller in a vibrant orange that was affordable, easy to maneuver (I test drove it in the store), and very affordable. 

The system that I chose was the Baby Trend Expedition which I loved because it met my criteria, and immediately solved one of my other problems - it came with an infant seat!  I hadn't yet realized that the rear facing infant seat would only last until the baby was up to 30lbs so I thought this would be the only car seat I would need -- more on the car seat drama to come in future posts!  The retail price at the time of the post was $199 which is very reasonable for a two piece set.   It had great reviews.  I was pleased, I added it to the registry.  Weeks went by.

Then one day I was on the phone with my Mother talking about how I was excited and had picked out my first baby item for the registry.  I was feeling very confident until she said with an air of certainty "I bet that won't fit into your car."  I told her she was silly and the conversation went on.

About a week later while browsing more baby gear with my husband the conversation came back to mind.  I suggested we try it out in my car and Babies R Us was accommodating and let us pull up to give it a whirl.

What I haven't told you yet is that I drive a delightful Mini Cooper.  It is the second car I have ever owned, a sparkling shade of silver, and completely paid off.  I am almost to 200,000 miles, and very emotionally attached.

To my disappointment the car seat did not fit in my back seat unless the passenger seat was pulled all the way forward and down which would prevent a passenger in the vehicle.  The stroller fit through the trunk with the seat down and some force.  It just wasn't going to work.  In fact, the store could not find any infant seat that was going to work in my car.  They politely told me I would need to get a new car if I wanted to have a baby, and I was devastated.

At this point my husband and I had a fantastic morning, and we were really starting to get our baby plans in order so this was a huge blow to our plans.  As the sun set we pondered a 3 or 4 door Mini Cooper and weren't happy at the thought of that extra expense.  A new car will be necessary eventually, but we wanted to get our monies worth of the current car.  We do have a SUV as our second vehicle, but the baby needs to be able to ride in both.

So more research was needed to pick out a stroller and infant seat, but I still really like this one in theory!

* This post contains affiliate links, but I was not paid by the manufacturer to review this product - I just like it! I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's 16 CFR, Part 255. Images courtesy of Amazon.