Maclaren Recalls 1 million Strollers

It's official if you have a Maclaren Stroller it's probably been recalled.

The Hazard as described in the recall - The stroller's hinge mechanism poses a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller.

For recall information:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10033.html

Dining in Toronto with Baby

Restaurant: Joy Bistro
Address: 884 Queen St. E.
Meal: Saturday Brunch

Stroller Friendly: Yes both patio and inside - The staff were great at choosing a table were the stroller was out of the way and easy for us to reach.

Change Table: No - We had to place some paper towels on the floor then a blanket and make our own change table. The floor in the barrier free washroom are cleaner and more spacious.

Breastfeeding: The booths are very comfy for breast-feeding. While I was nursing the staff left us alone, I found it amusing that as soon as I was done nursing the waiter came by and filled my water glass; it was like he was waiting for the green light that is was ok to approach us. All in all I felt comfortable nursing.

Server: Good without being exceptional.

Food: Average.

Dining in Toronto with Baby

Geoff and I have always enjoyed eating out at restaurants; however since Christophe has been born we have not attempted too many outings until recently. Anyone who knows me well; will tell you I am not to fond of most "family restaurants". Being a vegetarian there is usually only a veggie burger or veggie wrap to chose from.

That been said I have decided to blog about the various places we test out with Baby and rate different aspects.

Restaurant: Casa Di Giorgio
Address: 1646 Queen St. E.
Meal: Friday Supper

Stroller Friendly: Patio yes; Inside no - The inside of the restaurant is very tiny which makes it hard to find a spot to park your wheels; we chose to eat on the patio. They were great at helping us chose the perfect spot for our stroller.

Change Table: No - We made sure to be seated on the wooden benches outside; these are long enough to use as a change table in a discreet way. Make sure to bring a plastic bag to hide the dirty diaper in.

Breastfeeding: The benches on the patio are very comfy for breast feeding; I am not sure I would have been able to breast-feed on the patio chairs due to the chair arms. The staff and patrons did not make any comments or treat us differently while I was feeding. While I was nursing him the waitress came up and took our order just like any other table.

Server: Our waitress was extra great with Christophe stopping to talk to him each time she was at our table.

Food: As always the food here is great; they have probably been one of my favorite Italian spot in the city for a while now.

Busy Times

Lost has happened since my last post...

Last Sunday Christophe went for his first "walk". We had been out and about many times but never for the purpose of walking. We bundled up Christophe and took the bug out with the bassinet, we ended up walking all the way up to the Danforth and picking up a few grocery items from a small market there.

On Tuesday this week we had a midwife appointment. Christophe weighed in at 8lb 2oz. He is growing too fast a few of his smaller onesies are already too small and a few pj's are getting there. It was Sara's last day as a student so it was nice to see her one last time. She is going to make a fantastic midwife. Sara said we can start weaning him off the formula so we have been doing one feed with formula one without. Most times (well 50% of the time) that we offer him formula he refuses it. After the visit we went up to my work to show him off to my colleagues and pick up a few items that I had left behind due to his unexpected arrival.

My sister called to let us know she is coming for a short visit. She will be arriving on Sunday and staying for a few days; I am excited to have her over.

On Wednesday we had a very exciting day... we started at the Big Carrot to pick up some food, the traveled to Queen street to go to Baby on the Hip were we picked up some disposable diapers, disposable wipes, flash cards and cloth wipes. The disposable stuff is for when we hit the town we only use cloth at the house. After that we stopped in at The Upper Crust for Supper and popped in to my pre-natal yoga classes to say hi.

In the mix of all of that I still found time to take some photographs of my favorite little guy.

Stroller

We wanted to shout out a thank you to grandpa Wiseman...

Last weekend grandpa Wiseman (Roy) treated us and baby Wiseman to a brand new stroller.  I have to say I can't wait till the little one is out so I can go for nice walks with him and his new "Cadillac".  Yes for all of those who want to laugh at us we chose a Bugaboo.  However we had our reasons:

• Had to have adjustable arm in length that could accommodate both comfortable myself (5'-5") and Geoff (6'-1").  Honestly there are only a few out there that met this first requirement: Bugaboo Cameleon; Stokke; Quinny Buzz (just barely); Mutsy; Stroll-Air
• Weight of the stroller when folded.  I.E. I needed to be able to lift it comfortably into the trunk of my car.  This gave a strike against the Mutsy, the Quinny and the Stroll-Air.  However the Quinny was just on the line of tolerable.
• Ease of use.  We played with all of these over and over in the stores.  the Quinny and Bugaboo kept on coming up at the top for the easiest to fold and open.  The Mutsy we had to fight with each time and the Stokke we eventually got the hang of it after going to 4 different stores and finally finding a sales clerk that knew how to operate the stroller.
• How each of the strollers felt to us when we walked around with them.  Geoff really seemed to prefer the Stokke and I preferred the Bugaboo. For both of us it had to do with the handle.
• We looked at the price however by this time we had already decided against the Mutsy one of the lower cost options.  The remaining 3 options ranked in price as follows the Quinny (+/- $700); Bugaboo (+/- $1100); Stokke (+/- $1200).
• Then I wanted to look at the widest span of the stroller because I know it can get complicated trying to get a stroller onto the TTC in Toronto. The narrowest Stroller was the Bugaboo, followed closely by the Stokke and then the Quinny was probably a good 6" wider at the wheel span.
• The I looked at what came with the stroller and what was available as an add-on.  For the all inclusive package the Stokke definitely wins, it came with almost everything including a stroller umbrella/parasol.  The Quinny followed after however the bassinet is a separate purchase and the amount of verity in the accessories that you can purchase after the fact are limited.  Including the fact that until this month you could not get an infant car seat that was compatible with the stroller.  The Bugaboo came in last for all inclusive however it definitely leaves everyone else in the dust with the after-market add ones you can get.  The only ones we are planning on getting for our Bugaboo are the cup holder, diaper bag and travel case.
• The designer in me had to look at the style and colours available, however at this point all 3 strollers left in the running were all great looking and very hip :-)

All in all: 

• The Mutsy got eliminated due to the weight and not user friendly
  
• The Quinny got eliminated due to the wheel base width
• The Stokke we flip flopped back and forth to this one but at the end it got eliminated because it just was not as user friendly, it felt odd to push around (at least for me) and it was more costly

Oh, for those of you that are wondering what our final choice was from Bugaboo: The Cameleon with a dark grey base and red canvas tailored fabrics.

Registry

Well, we've toyed with a few different registries, and for now I think the one Pierrette likes best is findgift.com, so we've added that on the right. No need to run out and buy stuff, by all means, but if you're looking to do so and want to know what we're currently interested in, it'll show up there.


We've done some stroller shopping. The Stokke is nice, but i'm not yet sure if it's $1299 nice. I haven't yet seen either of the Bug models in person. Quinny Buzz and Uppababy Vista are both markedly cheaper, and relatively decent. The quinny's still too new, so there's no carseat match or enough accessories, but that may change before we have to buy.

I'm kinda hoping that something really feels like "the one". So far, I think the Stokke is still probably the one that's most interesting, but ... it didn't give me a feeling of total satisfaction. It's all made from plastic; high-quality plastic, I'm told, and durable, but ... it doesn't have that "rock solid" feeling that I would have hoped for, for the price.