How to chose the right stoller for your child

I remember the first time I went stroller/pram shopping.  I had an idea knew the exact pram I wanted, but when I entered the giant baby superstore, a plethora of choices distracted me.  I had no idea what made this one better than that one, or the other one more suitable for me and my kids.  After trying it out, I didn’t like the one I went there for at all.  It would have been very helpful to read a guide before hand.  I had bought a double pram off ebay, but when I went to pick it up, it wouldn’t fit in the boot/trunk of our car, and I ended up having to remove some of the wheels.  Needless to say, that pram was not going to work for us.  So, for your help, here is a post that the team at Dorel have provided:

How to choose the right stroller for your child

Strollers are a major convenience for parents because they make taking your child outdoors a lot easier! However, most parents find it overwhelming to choose the right stroller for their child, as there are so many choices on the market today. Here are some of the important factors you can take into consideration to help you whittle down your list:

1. Safety features

According to Product Safety Australia, 200 children under the age of five are injured every year in incidents that involve strollers. To minimise the risk, mandatory safety requirements for strollers were implemented in July 2008; and cover the design and construction, safety warnings and informative labels of the product.

To ensure the safety of your child, always check if the stroller has an Australian standards label. It also should have a five-point adjustable harness for the crotch, legs, shoulders and waist. The wheels should be durable and easy to steer. It should also have a tether strap for your wrist to prevent the stroller from rolling away as well as a parking brake to limit the movement of the stroller. Safety 1^st’s Shuttle Stroller has a centralised brake control on the rear wheels for extra protection. It also has a fully reversible seat (forward or rear-facing) with three reclining positions to ensure your child’s comfort. This product from Dorel was awarded by the Child Restraint Evaluation Program with a 5-star protection rating in 2011.

2. Age of the child

Your stroller needs are going to vary, depending on the age of your child. For instance, when your baby is less than six months old, your main concern is stability so choose a stroller that will keep the baby stable and comfortable. When your baby is six to 12 months, you should get a stroller with plenty of cushioning on the seat with five-point harnesses. A reversible seat would be very convenient for this age as well. For children who are around 18-24 months, a lightweight stroller that can be easily folded is recommended, since your child will most likely to hop on and off the stroller.

3. Purpose

Knowing what you will mainly be using the stroller for will help you decide what type of stroller you should purchase. If you are an outdoorsy type and you want to take your child out for a run, you should get an all-terrain stroller. They are designed for all types of terrain with a sturdier and more solid in built and handling. Some of the models have adjusting and locking wheels options that make it easier to go over different terrains. If you are a mum who is always on the go, you should get an umbrella stroller. This type of stroller is portable, lightweight and can be easily stashed in your car’s trunk.

Always remember that purchasing a stroller for your child is not an easy task. Ensure you read up on the stroller model you wish to buy and check the manufacturer’s safety record. Make sure that you also do an in-store test to ensure that the stroller you are purchase is the right one for your child.

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Copyright 2014 Sheri Thomson

Pee before racing

5am. Ugh, time to wake up. I’ve been trying to get up at 5am for the last week so I can do some blogging and stuff before everyone gets up. Because by night time when the kids are asleep, I just can’t be bothered.

I got up at 5 about…well…fine, it was once. Humph. I’m still working on it.

But last weekend, we had to get up at 5 for a good reason: It was race day. Every time Aaron runs in a race, Hannah talks about how she wants to go in one and win her own medal. So we entered the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival Family Fun run. 3.5 kilometers of Aaron running with Hannah/carrying her on his shoulders, me pushing Daniel in a pram.

We planned to get there with 15-20 minutes spare before the race started. That was, of course, before we saw the line for the elevator down from the train platform to the ground. I wasn’t the only one pushing a pram. Seems half of Sydney also decided to run the race with their kids in prams. And they all got off the train at the same time as us and needed to get down to the starting line. Sigh.

Me and Hannah on the train, ready for our race. Yeah, I totally wore my tennis skirt. And how cute is Hannah!?

Skirt Sports Women’s Gym Girl Ultra Skirt

I really needed to pee. Ok, I didn’t need to go that bad, but I knew I was about to run 3.5 kilometers, and we all know what happend that one time at the gym.

The bathrooms at the station were blocked off. I guess they didn’t want crazy lines right where people are leaving the ticket gates. That probably wouldn’t have worked so well. But I still wasn’t impressed. I needed to pee before the race darn it.

By the time we finally got out of the train station, it was 3 minutes til race time. We planned to high tail it straight to the back of the queue at the starting line, with a quick stop for me at the smelly, disgusting porta-potties. Or whatever they’re called over here.

Stepping out of the station only got us sucked into the extremely slow moving river of people all making their way to the park near the start line. Come on people, THREE MINUTES! Pick up the pace some! But no, they didn’t. Snails pace. With a giant pram, we had no way to get around the snails. Sigh.

Whatever, I can pee fast. I could just quickly duck to the bathroom and then catch up with Aaron and the kids and start the race.

Then I saw the lines. Sigh. Sure there were about a hundred porta-potties, but there were also like 4 people waiting for each one. Sigh.

“I’ll just have to run without peeing first.” I told Aaron.

“Do you have to go really bad?” he asked me.

“No. I just like to pee before I run.”

“It’s not like you have bladder problems, you’ll be ok.”

“THAT’S EXACTLY WHY I WANT TO PEE FIRST!” You know, just in case.

Bang! The race started. We weren’t even in the start line yet. We hurried as fast as we could and got to the back of the line.

I suppose we needn’t have worried. The line was quite long and until people hit the staring arch, they weren’t running. And half of them weren’t running after that either.

“In a few minutes, group C will join us.” We heard over the loudspeaker.

Oops. We were supposed to be in group C. The group for walkers and prams. Not that we planned to walk, but we did have a pram, so by default, that’s where we were supposed to be. Oh well, we were nearly to the arch over the starting line. Group B people, that we were accidentally in with, were supposed to be people who intended to run. I guess no one told them that. Sigh. More snail pace.

Finally, we rounded the bend onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and everyone was able to spread out. And we could start running.

Oh crap. Running with a pram is hard. And we were going uphill. Er….slightly.

Me running with the pram over the harbour bridge

Hannah ran and ran and then ran some more.

Daddy and Hannah running on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

I clenched and clenched and didn’t lose any pee. Phew.

After the bridge there were about 4 photographers waiting to snap everyone and then sell them their photos. Only these slackers were just standing there. They weren’t trying to take photos at all!

“Why aren’t they taking photos!” I yelled across to Aaron. “I want photos of Hannah running in a race! It’s all these moms who will want to buy photos of their kids, not the normal runners!”  I wanted photos that weren’t taken with a crappy $50 point and shoot whilst pushing a pram and running backwards. True story. Any parent whose child is running in their first race is sure to buy the photos. Stupid photographers.

The last photographer must have heard me. He held his digital SLR with the giant long lens up to his face and aimed it directly at Aaron, Hannah, Daniel and me. Or I was stupidly waving while he was focused on someone else. (Turns out he was just pointed at me, with my stupid grin. Aaron was in there too, but Hannah was half cut off. Stupid photographers. Needless to say, we didn’t buy those.)

A little bit later, we crossed the finish line. Not with a very fast time, but with a very happy Hannah, and smiles on all of our faces. Oh, and with no urine in my underpants.

She was so excited to get her medal!

Might as well get our photo with a bear, right?

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

You need a pushchair

Pushchairs can be a pain in the bottom. They can be heavy, hard to fold, hard to unfold, hard to fit in the car, big and bulky, hard to manoeuvre, etc, etc.

I remember when Hannah was little, she’d often scream in the car. And I mean scream. Like she was being tortured by her car seat. Unless we were moving. When we stopped, she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I’d have to leave her screaming in her seat while I slowly and carefully got the heavy pram out of our tiny boot and unfolded it. Oh the screaming….

But what if there was a pushchair (pram/stroller/buggy) that unfolded itself. Genius. You could hold the screaming child (which wouldn’t be screaming anymore since you were able to pick her up) while getting the pram ready.

I unfold myself. Yes, I am a genius like that.

Hannah was never a pram sleeper. No matter how far I walked, how much I rocked the pram, or how dark I made it inside the pram when I covered it with a blanket, she would not sleep. It was so frustrating. I could never go anywhere at nap time unless I was fully prepared to deal with an overtired, extremely cranky/whingey bubba later.  I’d have a measly hour and a half to 2 hour window (more as she got older) when I could go out. That seems ok, but by the time I got where I was going and leave time to drive back, I didn’t actually have much time to do anything. Not to mention if she fell asleep in the car, even for 2 minutes, she wouldn’t nap after that, nor would she transfer from car to cot. Sigh.

I bet she would have slept in the pram if I had one of these:

Quinny Dreami Baby Carrycot – a bassinet that attaches to the pram

She could have laid down in there on the little mattress, completely flat, very comfortable and cozy. Yes, that would have been handy. Oh the places I could have gone.

If you have a baby, a pram is usually a necessity. For me it is anyway. After a few months, babies get quite heavy. I don’t want to be carrying them around everywhere. My arms feel like they’re going to fall off after 2 minutes of carrying Daniel around. Especially since he decides he doesn’t actually want to be carried and attempts to get down via flapping like an octopus out of water. Oh yes, I’m all about strapping him in the pram when I need to walk around places. With a pram, I can walk to town and back home up the big hill which gives me quite a good butt workout. I can strap Daniel in when we are dining at friends’ houses and use the pram as a makeshift highchair. I can take the pram to the shopping centre and push Daniel around in that instead of one of the ridiculous shopping trolleys that prefer to travel half sideways, are really hard to manoeuvre, and Daniel can stand up in and jump out if I’m not staring at him every second.

When I broke my wrist, I wasn’t allowed to drive. I had to ride the bus everywhere. With 2 kids, that would have been impossible without the pram. Holding 2 kids on my lap on the bus? Ha! Not to mention walking a kilometre to the bus stop. I definitely needed my pram. Rain or shine, it didn’t matter. Prams have a sunshade and you can get a rain cover too. Some even come with them.

With a rain cover

Where do you buy a pram? Shop for a Quinny pram at Argos. You can order online for pick up at a shop or delivery. Easy.

*This post was in partnership with Argos.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

It’s hard being a lefty

Right before the citizenship ceremony. Too bad I couldn’t find a pink Aussie shirt over a size 10. A KIDS size 10.

Guess What? I’m an Aussie now. A full-blown, official, can-get-a-passport, Australian. At nearly 29 years old, I can vote for the first time in my life.  On the 26th of January, Australia Day, I got my citizenship.  The Mayor of the town I live in (which will remain anonymous, for our privacy) presented it to me himself.  And then he asked me what happened to my arm. Sigh.

“I broke my wrist.” I told him.

“How did you do that?” He asked me.

“Taekwondo.”

“Well, that’s a much better story than falling over.”

I must have looked an interesting site.  Everyone else was all dressed up, looking sleek and well presented.  Then there was me, thongs, too-short singlet, sparkly belt (because sparkles are clearly awesome) and useless arm in a cast.  I was dressed like an Aussie.  Come on people, it was AUSTRALIA Day!

Everyone asks me what happened to my arm.

I get some strange looks from people when I push the pram with my left hand and right elbow, my purple cast sticking up in the air like some sort of demented flag. You’d think I could use my fingers at least. They are mostly free of the cast, and my thumb is half free, but I can’t.  I broke one of the little bones in my wrist just under my thumb, so using any of my digits hurts.  And I’m not supposed to do anything that hurts or it won’t heal.

So as you can imagine, doing pretty much anything is hard.  I can only use my left hand and I’m not even remotely left-handed.  When the mayor gave me my certificate, I awkwardly held out my right hand (my left was occupied holding Hannah’s hand) and he had to stick the paper between my thumb and first finger. That’s pretty much the limit of function my right hand has right now.

It takes me ages to button my pants. At least I can actually put on my own pants, not like when I broke my leg and had a cast from my toes to the top of my thigh.  But that’s another story for another day.

I would love to be wearing my breastfeeding singlets to limit my awkward non-stealthy breast feeding.  But they have a bra clasp at the back and I can’t do it up with one hand. I’m not that swift. Instead, I wear a normal maternity bra (which I can fasten in front of me then turn to the back) under a shirt. When feeding time comes, there is no more putting Danny’s head in the general area and then pulling up the shirt, not showing any boob in the process.  Nope, now I have one useful hand, so it’s pull shirt up, free the boob for all to see, then position baby at boob. Hello indiscretion!

Have you ever tried to put your hair up with one hand? Hard. Impossible actually.  So while my boob is out for all to see and I’m trying to get Daniel in position, he’s grabbing huge clumps of my wild, non-restrained hair, which I can’t pull from his extremely tight baby grasp as I’m holding him with my one good hand and freeing my hair would result in a Daniel floor face plant.

Straight after the citizenship ceremony, we went on holidays to the beach (because it’s summer here…). My new cast  (I had to get a water proof cast.  After 2 days, the other cast had baby food, spit up, and what very well may have been baby poop on it.  I needed something washable…) may be water proof, but it’s not supposed to get sand or salt water in there.  If it did, it could irritate the skin under my cast, get infected, and then fester under there. Ick.

Bag arm. Note: someone else put my hair up for me.

And so I donned the plastic bag secured with packing tape. Stylish. It’s hard to make sure a newly sitting and sometimes forgets to hold himself up baby stays sitting up and keeps the sand out of his hungry little mouth with just one hand. Danny boy managed to eat handful after handful of the stuff.  Even when I laid him down, he sucked the sand off the towel. His nappieswere full of it.

Brown Medical SEAL-TIGHT Original Cast and Bandage Protector, Adult Long Arm

Daniel the sand monster

Changing a nappy with one hand is hard too.  Especially Danny’s.

As soon as those little tabs are unfastened, he thinks it’s kick-like-your-life-depends-on-it time.  Usually I hold  said kicky feet with one hand and remove the nappy with the other.  Can’t do that now. Kicky feet kick up a storm, of course going straight into the poop.  But then they still kick.  Baby poop is runny….You get my drift here people.  It’s not a pretty site.

I’m not allowed to drive with a cast on my arm, so I have to ride the bus everywhere. That’s fine, but when it’s raining I can’t hold an umbrella and push the pram, so I become a little drowned rat or get stranded places.  The kids are fine, they have a rain cover.

Oh well, at least it’s an adventure. 2 weeks down, 4 to go. Sigh.

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