I bought this one when Emerson was a baby. I thought she and Ava would ride side by side nicely. We would ride through stores while Ava smiled lovingly at her sleeping baby sister next to her. It was such a beautiful image in my head. The only problem was that a two year-old bouncing up and down and screaming on one side, makes it very hard for an infant to take a nap quietly on the other. Also, I couldn't get it through a single doorway.
When Ava was a little older, I decided we needed a sit-n-stand stroller!
Emerson could sit in the front and Ava could either sit on the back, or hop on if she got tired. I somehow forgot in the purchasing of this stroller, that Ava wasn't the kind of child you let stand on the back or sit if she got tired. She was more of the 'keep buckled in a 73-point harness' kind of child. The back of the sit-n-stand did have a strap, but it took her about 20 seconds to figure out how to Houdini herself out of it.
When Declan was born, I decided we needed a Graco Quattro Tour something-or-other.
It was this monstrosity of a stroller. The one pictured above is this year's model. The 2009 model was twice as big, I swear! It's a tandem stroller, so it did fit through most doorways. But it was really big and heavy folded up, making it almost impossible to get in and out of my car. It was nice in that, Emerson could be buckled up front and Declan's infant car seat could strap in the back.
When Finlay was born, we needed to have the entire 3rd row in the car up, so I was no longer able to fit this giant stroller in my car. When I saw that Babies R Us was having a trade-in-stroller event, I decided to trade it in on the new Sit-n-Stand. It was just like the old one, except the back part could also be an actual seat. Since they are only 18 months apart, Declan was definitely not ready to stand on the back, without being strapped in.
This stroller was great, with the exception of the fact that it will not fit in my car behind the 3rd row. So it has to ride shotgun. This is fine unless 1. My husband and I want to go somewhere together or 2. I have to park next to another vehicle in the parking lot or 3. Even though when I parked, there was no one next to me and I could open the door all the way, when I return to my car, a car has parked so close, that I cannot manage to get the stroller back in the car.
So, Friday after reading a bunch of reviews and test-driving it through the store, I bought this guy:
So far, so good! It folds up small enough to get it in the back of my car, it's lightweight, but not flimsy and Declan can't figure out how to get out of it! It has underneath storage and little pockets in the back for keys, wallet, phone, etc.. It steers great, fits through a standard doorway, and is easy to fold up. It has sun canopies and came with a rain cover. It wouldn't have worked as well for an infant, but now that Finlay is older, it's perfect! She and Declan rode side by side today with no problems! They even shared part of a sugar cookie! It doesn't have cup holders for the driver or any kind of tray for the occupants, but I consider it fitting in my car to be a much more important attribute than cup holders! Plus, I'm sure I can buy a cup holder attachment and probably MacGyver something out of a bungee cord and a snack trap for the kids!
So hopefully, this will be THE one! I try not to think about the fact that for all the money I have spent on 5 strollers, I could have been on Pimp my Stroller and had Exhibit custom make me a double Bugaboo with iPod speakers and a juice box fridge!
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