Preferred Product Posts?

I have been so busy lately that I neglected to post! Life certainly gets in the way; but that's no reason not to live, ya'll!

We have had a lot going on, like getting ready for a move to Kansas, planning quality time with family before we go, and celebrating a lot of spring happenings!! 

In the meantime, I thought it might be interesting to start regular posts about cool products I like, as a mom, as an amateur photographer, as a home chef (haha!), etc. 

Unfortunately, one of my favorite products, which is our travel system (stroller + carseat combinations), the Orbit Baby system, was bought by another company that decided not to make this awesome product anymore.

Thankfully, we collected all the parts we needed and we are happily using it, but if there are parts we need much later on, we'd be out of luck. Still, it's a wonderful and attractive product. We were swayed  by our friends that lived in Europe at the time and had a Stokke Xplory, which is also a gorgeous and very functional stroller set; they said it was great for getting around the ancient areas of Europe as easily as an American mall. We knew we needed something as functional and we wanted it all in one package, as opposed to buying a separate car seat, stroller, etc.

We loved the Orbit Baby system's base idea. There is a circular bottom on all the parts (bassinet, car seat, stroller seat, and toddler car seat) that you can swivel-lock into all of the bases (like the car seat base, rocker base, and stroller frame). The click-an-go and interchangeability, which we were drawn to as lazy pre-parents, has been an awesome feature, and we also loved the look, especially when Baby A. was tiny and could sleep in the bassinet (above). We would stick him in that bassinet at night in the elevated rocker base, and when we were ready from some fresh air, we could pop it right into the stroller base without waking him. Alternatively, we could sit the car seat into the rocker base as we were getting ready to keep him calm, and then it was very easy to go right to the car. 

Baby A. also was pretty content in his warm, cuddly car seat anywhere we went, and I was never worried about that transfer from the car seat to the stroller because we could just put the whole seat right on the stroller and go. No baby head bumping on the car door frame! haha! Also, the car seat has a flexible strap that made it easy to loop over my arm as well as carry in one hand... which was key to me, because I HATED the thought of my baby being swung so much by that rigid handle due to a tired arm from the weight. 

 He loves the stroller seat (right photo) the most, though, because he gets a lot of freedom to move around. We love it because when he falls asleep on long walks, we can rock him back almost fully horizontally for a nap. Then, it also rotates to the side, so a lot of times before he was old enough to sit in a restaurant's high chair, we could just pull up the stroller and turn him to the side and he was perfectly tucked under the table. The stroller has detachable panniers and a bag with a shoulder strap that goes under it, as well, so if I have a small shopping list, I don't even bother with a cart. That has been awesome in an area where you can get charged a bagging fee! It's really been ideal and functional while maintaining a very trim and sleek look. 

We also jumped out the window during a clearance sale and got the O2, which was their jogger, but we use it all the time because it's very sturdy and works well on the older, bumpy streets of Old Town Alexandria and in DC. It also has a very big under carriage area for storage on the go, which I have tucked even my mom's Maltese pups into during long exercise walks!

 You may be wondering why I'm going on and on about a travel system you can't buy any longer... I wanted to go through what we looked for and enjoyed in our system, so if you're a new mom or dissatisfied with what you have, you can see what we looked for. I do go out for occasional runs, but I'm not a huge exerciser and we mostly stick Baby A. in his stroller to go out to eat or to a museum. We needed a good, sturdy system, but it also had to look as cute as it was functional. We also needed to stick to a budget, and while we were gifted the first, large portion of funding for this system as a baby shower present from my dear cousin, you CAN find a solid travel system gently used or on sale if you look. We cobbled together some of the extras that we were tempted to splurge on, like the bassinet rocker and the jogger... we didn't need them and could make do without them, but it was nice to be able to find pieces that worked with our set already. 

I suggest looking at your local facebook garage sale pages, Craigslist, Letgo, and the like for items you need. In our area, we have a lot of well-to-do families that were selling a lot of brand-new baby gear that they were gifted in duplicate. As a military spouse, I also checked out the on-base options for thrifting and suggestions from other moms. The point is that you can find what you need and like without breaking your bank! Happy hunting, and I hope my product highlights become a helpful resource!

-Tallulah Bear and Baby A. on a lovely walk!

-Big A.