Gadget Girl Meets Baby Gear

Our sleep issues have returned and I don’t quite know what to say about it. Things had gotten better for a while; Moe was still waking up every few nights but falling back asleep on his own much faster. But Moe has been up every night for the last four or five days. I have no idea why the trouble has returned. I’ve heard that sometimes sleep problems accompany a developmental leap of some sort. Perhaps Moe’s brain is busy processing everything he’s learning in school, much like I have trouble turning off my brain at night when I’m processing a big decision or a problem at work (back when I had those). I hope so. I could use a leap or two right now.

But today I want to talk about something entirely different. Jelly is outgrowing her infant car seat so we went to Babies R Us this morning. This got me thinking about one of the best benefits of being a parent: gear. I’m a gadget girl at heart. I’ve worked on some really cool consumer products, including WebTV, UltimateTV and IPTV, the T-Mobile Sidekick, and the Presto Printing Mailbox. Naturally, when I left the tech world to become a stay at home mom, I needed something to fill the void. This, I suppose, is why I own 5 strollers and just purchased our fifth car seat. Before you think this is excessive, let me explain how it got this way.

Strollers:

• Combi Flash EX: The first stroller I got for Moe. Simple frame the infant car seat clips into.
• Combi Torino: Moe outgrows his car seat so I need a regular stroller.
• Evenflo X-Sport*: Umbrella stroller. Smaller and lighter weight than the Torino. First got this for traveling. Good for keeping the car. Falling apart so potentially will need another one.
• Graco DuoGlider: Baby number two on the way! I want a stroller that will fit Moe and Jelly in her car seat. Would have preferred a side by side, but most didn’t fit our Graco car seat. Bought it used.
• Combi Twin Savvy*: Above stroller drives great but is too hard to get in and out of the car. Got this side by side for when Jelly was able to ride in the stroller without the car seat. Also bought it used.

*Strollers with an asterisk are currently in my car. The rest are in the garage.

Car Seats:

• Graco SnugRide: Infant car seat carrier, plus extra base for Daddy’s car.
• Britax Roundabout (2): Convertible car seat. Moe graduated to this at one year, after outgrowing infant seat. Bought a second one (used) for Grandma and Grandpa’s car.
• Graco Nautilus: Moe starts school and Jeff is taking him. We move the Roundabout to his car and put this in my car. Converts to a high back booster then regular booster so it should be the last car seat we need, since Jelly will eventually take this one and we can just buy Moe a booster when that time comes. Except…
• Graco Nautilus #2: Bought this today. Need to move Jelly up to the Roundabout which means we need a new one for Daddy’s car. I so so so wanted to buy the pink one since eventually this will be Jelly’s. But that is like two years away so I went with the black one.

I won’t go into detail on baby bags, but let’s just say a mom needs her accessories. That reminds me, does anyone know when the white iPhone is coming out? Mommy wants a new toy!