December 2014 Thread #7 - third trimester here we come, jingle babies all the way

[Chipandspuds]

Hooray into the third trimester!

Jealous of the uppababy vistas! That's my "if I won the lottery" buggy! As it is I have to content myself with a new front wheel for my baby jogger city mini so that the swivel lock actually works!

peace it's harder with your own because you can't hand them back but it's also easier in some ways because your standards don't have to be so high all the time.

I think easier as you are the one that sets the standards. I have two stepsons and it's been hard as I have to parent to their parents rules/standards etc.

I meant easier with your own.
Just saw my bump twitch for the first time! DP saw too.

Yay hugmonster - clearly JL markets them well :)
My (our) filtering down was Icandy peach - too heavy and a bit hard to manoeuvre; Bugaboo cameleon (too fiddly and didn't like the angled handlebars); Oyster 2 - pretty good but a bit more awkward to remove the cot etc. Uppababy cot was definitely the easiest to remove (one hand lock at the back, then lift), seemed fairly intuitive and comfortable to push. Downside was I struggled to work the collapsing mechanism although got it in the end (a learned knack I think). Should be delivered in a week.

Now what do we think of the old wives' tale about not bringing the pram home before the baby?

I had to find something suitable for giant DH so the uppababy was one of the only ones that seemed tall enough and doesn't have a bar at the bottom so he can stride with it. Well that's my excuse anyway Luckily my lovely parents wanted to buy it for us. It's definitely worth providing the first grandchild!

DP had some money from his grandfather's legacy which we've used. This is grandchild no. 2 on both sides of the family, but my niece lives in LA and DP's nephew was adopted at age 2 so bought grandparents are also sort of doing this for the first time. They've yet to start spending money though!

Peace it's harder with your own but then again they arrive tiny so you get used to it in stages rather than one rude shock of a fully grown one straight away!

Oh and you'll be knackered. ALL THE TIME.

Tayra and hugmonster we have bought the uppababy vista jake.

The vista was my first choice when we first saw it in jl when we first found out we were expecting but kept fluctuating back to an icandy peach because my sister had it, but was never completely sold on it. Then we went to kiddicare and they had it there and I was completely sold on it.

I've had it in our garage for about the last month or so. Did bring it in the house to get it out and make sure it's all ok but didn't want to leave it "in the house".

Lol my pram has been sat in my living room for weeks since I bought it. There's nowhere else for it to go!

I could really do with some tips on getting baby to sleep because I am so grossed out by the constant low down kicking tonight terrible mother already.

Pram purchasing is exciting. We stuck with the tradition of not bringing the pram into the house before the baby and stored it in my SIL spare room. Dates back to an era where maternity and neonatal deaths were more common than now. We'll ne using the pram / pushchair that we're currently using for DD which lives in the garage but the carrycot is in the spare room.

Weve got the new silvercross pioneer in raspberry pink i love it

We've ordered the icandy peach 3, as it can easily convert to a double if and when we might need! I am so excited but it's out of stock everywhere! John Lewis say it's should be in by end sept so fingers crossed!!

We've gone for the vista too (again we're very lucky that my parents have offered to buy it for us and when we ordered the shop had an offer where you got a free maxi cosi car seat). Both DH and I are tall and not only did the handle come up to a good height but the ride position of the pram itself seemed higher than a lot of others which means baby will be closer to us which I liked. I actually went looking at prams with my mum and fell in love with the vista, poor DH didn't really get much say in the matter so I let him choose the colour - he went for Denny red which I guess will at least be festive I saw the navy one in JL last week and it did look lovely

Heavens! Those vista prams are pricey. I feel guilty for my parents buying us the £250 mothercare xpedior. I'm still really hoping to find a charity shop/ebay/fb group/second hand bargain before December!

Same catface! The xpedior is the absolute most am prepared/can afford to spend! I have really shit maternity pay too.

I was seriously looking at the xpedior, just got swayed by shinyness in JL and the legacy money. Silly really! I thought the xpedior looked like a good compromise on many areas though.

They are expensive but does depend in how much you are planning to use them. We've used our travel system every day for the last 18 months and I spent a lot of time out walking with a colicky baby on maternity leave. I now walk to the nursery every day and am so grateful we bought a very manoeuvrable pushchair. Really depends on your lifestyle, how much you use a car /public transport and also if you'll get annoyed with a bulky, heavy to lift travel system in 12 months and then buy a stroller. Ours has been worth every penny though some of my friends found theirs was a waste of money. Horses for courses.

Morning all,
Ooh prams and purchases, not been that brave yet, although DH has put deposit on car seat.

Is anyone else feeling utterly pants? Swollen, painful land foul headache :(

We went for an Uppababy Cruz, purely because we are in London and it's 7cm narrower than the Vista, which will be a huge bonus on buses. It's otherwise pretty much the same.

The price, well, yeah. We're only planning on having one baby, and I anticipate selling it and getting a Maclaren once the baby is about 6/9months. So I bought it on eBay for £340, from a lovely couple who we're upgrading to a double buggy. Only a few superficial scratches, so a nice bargain!

Frankly the cost of the car seat plus the base made me wince more, as we don't drive that much! £160 for the base alone...argh.

If you've got the pennies then go for the best you can. I am both skint and have a dp that doesn't like spending money I really want the xpedia but some guy at his work has offered him all his baby stuff for 100 quid including travel system. It'll either be the bargain of the century or a complete crock of shit!

I loved pram shopping when I was pregnant with DS - it is so exciting! But can't justify a new one for this baby- we already have the Bugaboo Cameleon which I love, and although it was very pricey it has lasted really well, is very robust, easy to use and has been perfect for our needs. DS is almost 3, tall for his age, and still uses it and is still comfy in it (unlike lots of other prams my friends' children grew out of early on). We're buying a buggy board to ease his transition out of it to make way for the baby.
But am planning on buying new coloured fabrics for the pram so it looks and feels a bit newer for the new baby. Can't decide between red (very unisex colour) or I prefer the teal/ petrol blue colour but people have put me off by saying it would only work if DC2 is a boy as it isn't girly enough? Are they right?

Nope! Teal is lovely for a girl!

I'm getting teal (or green) and think it's a great colour whatever the sex (we don't know).

And so is blue! Don't listen to those people, they all want girls in pink.