My Life in Strollers.

I've been on a big wheel double stroller search. This is the only item on the to-buy list for this fourth babe.

I'm generally not a fan of crazy amounts of baby gear, but I'm all for the right stroller. Being able to get out with baby WITH EASE is so important. There are so many things that make it difficult to get out of the house with kids, the thought of struggling once you're on an outing shouldn't add to it. I'm not, however, into spending a thousand dollars, or even half that, on a grand baby chariot.

We had a Cosco big wheel single jogging stroller since Thane was born, a wonderful big present from Troy's parents when we didn't even have a car. The big wheels are smooth on trails (we lived beside Halifax's Point Pleasant park at the time, full of walking trails) and great for snowy sidewalks. This stroller had a great feature where the seat switched so baby could face forward or face you. It was very convenient to be able to tailor the stroller to suit the baby's mood, age, or the weather. This also meant there were feet rests on the front and back of the stroller that created an unofficial double stroller, where my toddler could stand on the back feet rest when the baby was facing forward. Unfortunately this stroller didn't make it to baby #4, by it's last days it neither switched seat positions or collapsed anymore. We decided it wasn't worth the space it would take to make the move from province to province.

I don't always need a big wheel stroller. To begin with I am a big advocate of a baby sling. My babies loved and craved that closeness, enjoying the movement and napping while being close to mama. I enjoyed being able to provide them that closeness while still being on the go, have the use of my hands, and be able to keep up with my older babies at the same time. However, as they get bigger it isn't something my back can take for long outings (and in my case a tired mama with a breaking back is not a patient mama) but I usually have the sling stuffed in the stroller bottom in case a snuggle need arises. Being tied to a plastic seat is not the most nurturing and happy place for baby.

For longer hikes and a one to two year old in tow, we have our 'baby backpack' for Troy to carry. His stronger shoulders bear the toddler better but we still have a resting place to offer the babe when their little legs can't keep going and the terrain isn't for wheels.

Somewhere along the way I discovered that umbrella strollers are indispensable for errands, the perfect 'mall stroller'. I keep one in each car all the time now, just in case. They get their name for how small they fold up, and they're so light and inexpensive. Mine are cute and orange, and were less than $40 at Zellers. You can get them for $10, but I find those ones not quite tall enough for me. For this baby I plan to get a set of stroller connectors also, inexpensive removable attachments that connect two umbrella strollers to make one double.

When Claire was an infant, I stumbled upon the Snap N' Go stroller base. Since they don't recline or have a lot of support, umbrella strollers don't work for newborns but the snap n' go filled the errand stroller void for those six months. Mom can take the infant carseat from the car without removing baby and just place it on the stroller base, where it snaps in place. Since it really is only useful for maybe six months I wouldn't recommend spending the retail ninety dollars for it, I was pleased that I scored and found it for $40 on Kijiji. I will probably be able to turn around and sell it again for the same.

And that leads me to why I want a double big wheel stroller. It's not for the mall or errands, they are comparitively heavy and really don't fit in the trunk well, at least not leaving room for groceries by any means. I would like a stroller that will fit both the new baby and Claire for walks, the kind of walks we do everyday from our driveway. When Claire was born I still lived in suburbia and did a lot of sidewalk walking and thought about buying the Joovy Caboose for my two littlest ones. Now though, the trail near our house is gravel and the little Caboose wheels just won't be optimal, and Claire is a year younger than Seth was at the time, so I think she would benefit from her own seat rather than the back sit or stand choice.

Now what KIND of a big wheel double stroller? I think I'd like a side by side because one behind the other can get very difficult to steer, and for my use I'm not worried about the width and fitting through doors. Really, I'm still holding on to finding something second hand for under $200. Unfortunately, I think a million other people also have this in mind. My rural shopping grief extends to my online second hand Kijiji shopping, the selection just isn't there and there are more wanted ads than for sale. Since I still have my Halifax family to do pickups for me though I've been scouring the Halifax Kijiji, but without much luck even there. I've found mostly small wheeled doubles, or really high end big wheel doubles, like the Bob Revolution. This stroller crossed my mind, at $850 new the seller was asking $500 for the used one. I'm having a little indecision on this one because with it's high end quality and popularity I probably could still sell it later for a fair amount. I've thought about just getting a bike stroller/trailer. I could use this to push when walking or behind my bicycle and they retail around $160, but the seats don't look very comfortable or fit for a newborn. There's also a Baby Trend Expedition double at Toys R' Us for $260. I checked it out in person the other night and it doesn't feel like it's lacking in quality. It strolls and steers smoothly, each seat reclines seperately, it's light enough, and folds up easily. It is also comparable to used prices I've been finding, but then my ethical issues arise. Surely I can do my part for the environment and reuse a stroller already out there, it seems so silly to buy baby gear new when you use it for such a short period, and sometimes low prices indicate deeper trouble warnings. Annie Leonard's voice reverberates in my ear, "How can I get an item priced this low? Someone paid for it, in lack of benefits, low salary, through environmentally or socially irresponsible big company shortcuts in the name of low prices."

Thoughts? Stroller experience? Pass it on, I'm eager to hear how you tote your littles around!

Stuff.

I'm not so good at Spring cleaning. I am, however, excellent at The Spring Purge. I go through the kids clothes, their toys, the linen closet, our closet, the front closet, the kitchen, every corner of the house, editing, cutting, and deleting items from our lives. I'm a good three quarters of the way there this year. Those Spring-like days where it's deceptively sunny, but when you actually go outside you realize that wind is still bitter cold, those are the best days to get me motivated to cull through our house. I love simplifying our lives by getting rid of those things, that 'stuff' that I spend so much time sorting, tidying, and taking care of.

My problem lies in the fact that this is an annual thing, especially since I've had kids. I get a huge 'yardsale pile', sometimes actually have a yardsale, sometimes not, and the remainder goes to the charity bin. It's still good stuff, just unused in our house. But will they actually be able to sell it to someone who will use it? Or is it really just unusable garbage created in our consumerist cycle. (Take twenty minutes here and watch Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff. It's useful food for thought.)

This year I've been brewing on some ideas to put an end to this cycle. Where do we get this stuff? A lot of it is clothes. I'd have to swallow my pride to get over this hurdle. The pile consists of clothes that are a little worn from use (or from washing, it's debatable), I only keep the really nice ones to hand down to the next kid, knowing full well that between birthdays and holidays and my finding deals that they will never have a lack of newer, less worn clothes. The pile also consists of clothes that are just not quite my 'style' or 'in style', both terms created in the 50's to create 'the consumer', to keep us buying and support the economy. An ideology that is killing the environment. We buy much more than we could ever possibly need!

A lot of it is also toys. Ones that never seemed to capture the kids attention in the first place, or were annoying so ended up never having the batteries replaced, or ones that they already have eight of. I feel like I can battle this one. I think for the kids birthday parties with their friends I'm going to request no-gifts. And I genuinely think the kids will support me on this one for their birthdays. They get excited for their birthday parties for the chance to have their friends over all at once, do something fun, and eat cake and ice-cream. One of Thane's favorite birthday gifts was a drawing he received from his buddy. They'll still receive a handful of gifts between their grandparents and us, and they'll be more likely to be meaningful gifts that the kids are actually interested in. I know when I shop for another child's birthday that one of mine is attending, I often don't know this birthday child's likes and dislikes at all and buy a generic gift that may or may not even be appreciated. I'm sure I can back off at Christmas, no one needs or can possibly appreciate the copious amount of gifts Christmas often brings. Introducing the concept early to my kids that less is more can't hurt.

And what better way to celebrate Earth Day than to make a few Earth Day resolutions. Any other ideas?

I have more to chat on about the Spring cleaning itself, I'll get back to you!

Mom was right, again.

So I've been thinking lately that mom just had it right. Or if I think about the specific dates, her mom had it right. Has anyone seen The Story of Stuff? Watch it. And then again. And then show your spouse, your kids, their teachers, and your relatives. And then watch it again a year later when you've slipped back into 'ruin-the-world-itis', aka: consumerism.

Annie goes through the materials economy system, through extraction, production, consumption, and disposal, pointing out the flaws, limits, excess, chemicals, human-rights issues and environmental issues along the way. Our earth can't handle this abuse and humans can't either.

"The average U.S. person now consumes twice as much as they did 50 years ago. Ask your grandma; in her day stewardship, and resourcefulness, and thrift were valued. So how did this happen? Well, it didn't just happen. It was designed. Shortly after WWII, these guys [the government and the corporation] were figuring out how to ramp up the economy. Retailing analyst Victor LeBeau articulated the solution that's become the norm for the whole system [the materials economy system]. He said, 'Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.' "
- The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

Does this mesh with how you feel? I know I certainly have to fight against my consumerist actions, they've been ingrained to the point of becoming instinctual. Shopping makes me feel happy when I'm blue and blue when I'm broke. I'm proud and excited when I acquire new 'things', and I'm embarrassed of my stuff that's old. So their plan worked, 50 years later, consumption is our way of life.

Annie goes on to describe the two ways we are sold on this consumerist cycle, why we drank the juice. There's planned obsolescence, where the company figures out how to make the product last just long enough to break as quickly as possible while managing to not jeopardize the consumers trust. But perceived obsolescence is the one that really gets us.

"Perceived obsolescence is the one that convinces us to throw away stuff that is still perfectly useful. How do they do that? Well they change the way the stuff looks. So if you bought your stuff a couple of years ago, everyone can tell that you haven't contributed to this arrow recently [referring to the 'golden' arrow of consumption] and since the way we demonstrate our value is contributing to this arrow, it can be embarrassing." - The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

Now this evening I ran into a conversation over on Babycenter, called "Working Moms; Are they shortchanging their kids?" Wow. Did this article ever start a cat-fight. Between the working moms and the stay-at-homes of course, today's epic battle. To sum it up, Dr. Laura Schlessinger has written a book titled In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms, and argues that all moms should stay at home. I find this statement faulty in that it's all-encompassing, obviously the single moms would have a tough time with this one. However, my opinion has began to lean in this direction lately too. I've worked full-time, I'm educated and career-orientated, but my family needs me home!

"She says that while women may find it financially difficult to stay at home - particularly in these tough economic times - it’s just a matter of setting priorities and making it happen." - Babycenter.com

And the working mom readers panicked - stating that their kids are happy and whole, and they need their money and their stuff! (Sound familiar?) While other readers, the stay-at-homes generally, stated things like we've sacrificed a big home, but yeah, we're pretty happy!

I particularily liked this post (by Meribel), mostly because I identify closely with her (not that I had a six-figure income by any means, but the work vs. stay-at-home personal struggle bit):

"Sensationalism sells books…I’m less concerned with what Dr. Laura has to say than I am about the nasty comments some have made here. I NEVER thought that I’d be a SAHM [stay-at-home mom]; I worked hard for my MBA, had a six-figure income, and was positioned for a rapid ascent to senior management and even more money. When I had my son six months ago, though, I found that I simply couldn’t entrust him to someone else’s care (and I had the luxury of even making that choice because my husband has a good income). I am not a female slave, a robot, lazy, or any of other other slurs I’ve read here because I stay home. I thought my 90-hour workweeks were rough; I’ve found that being on-call and engaged all day, every day, is significantly harder. Sometimes I miss the financial and psychological benefits of work; but we’re all making trade-offs. Don’t judge mine, and I won’t judge yours."

And this one (by Nicole), because it reminded me of the consumerist way of life we're in...

"Let’s face it ladies, now-a-days the world is set up for working mommies. There are breast pumps, next-best-to-breast bottles and formula, nannies, au pairs, home day care, center day care, picture mobiles, and voice recording toy cell phones… -anything and everything to make your baby thrive away from his/her mommy. We teach our daughters in order to be a valuable member of society she needs to get that undergrad, graduate or doctorate degree before she ties herself down and gets hitched with a baby. Then, why on earth shouldn’t she have it all? The job and the family.

The world is not set up for working mommies. American culture is raising little girls to tie her sense of value to her degree or her income, or all those material things that ‘make you happy.’ Cost of living has skyrocketed: cost of homes, food, gas, utilities, taxes, etc. and many women feel like they don’t have a choice, or frankly, don’t want the choice."

Over the past 7 years of motherhood/adulthood, I've been slowly but surely maturing and changing into an earth-conscious and health-conscious mother. Loving these little people this much (more than yourself one could argue) just made me realize these are critical issues and you can't just accept what you're told should be your way of life. Not only do we have to nurture them, we have to nurture the world they live in. So in the name of keeping contaminates from my children, my mother has watched me first learn to breastfeed, like she did. Then get rid of my plastic spatulas in favor of bamboo, like her old wooden ones. Then my teflon coated frying pan in favor of stainless steel, like her hand-me-downs from her mom. Then my plastic bowls and cups for glass. Plastic grocery bags for cloth. One of our largest sacrifices in the great back-to-basics? The microwave. It zaps the nutrients, puts god-knows-what into the air and the people standing nearby, and acts as a crutch for meals not planned. You know the meals I'm talking about, the ones that never end up as the whole and healthful meals we aspire to. Pizza pockets anyone? Recently we've been moving towards the Paleo (caveman) diet - vegetables, lean meat, nuts, and fruits for dessert. I try to use vinager instead of Mr. Clean, and grab the dye-free, scent-free, decent for the environment laundry detergent. Tempted to run for an antibiotic? Let's try the naturopathic store first. New baby clothes and furniture? No thanks, I'll wash the gently used, hopefully the flame-retardent douse has long since wore off. I'm learning to re-upholster, using the good bones of old chairs that would be thrown to the curb otherwise. Old wooden furniture? I'll take it. Would love to not have chemicals seeping out of the presswood variety. When I need to get rid of something? Word of mouth, Kijiji, or Freecycle can find someone who can use it, it doesn't need to be part of a landfill. Bit by bit, I have 'healthified' our lives and hopefully our environment. By doing exactly what my grammie did. And you know what? ALL of these things... save money. Seriously.

However, like in Grammie's time, none of these things are convenient or easy. I'm not saying I don't have my washing machine running often, or that the Shout stain remover isn't an important part of my arsenal (can't find a natural concoction to match it, but figure the environmental impact is less than buying new clothes?). I'm also not saying that my facebook status is always "happy, happy robot-mom vacumming". In fact I'm pretty sure yesterday it read something like "I miss my 9-5, it was so much easier!". What I'm saying is that our moms had it right, and I think what is required to save our earth and our littles is going to be hard and not convenient. We need to take a step backwards, in time, take some cues from our resourceful, thrifty moms, be there for our kids, and get out of this consumerist cycle.