Stroller Mania

You may be asking yourself, what kind of stroller do I need? As a somewhat rational thinking noodad,
I asked myself the same thing.  What I found out was that I should be asking myself, what kind of strollerS does the primary caregiver (aka my wife) need.
I am married to Strollerella Child Vehicle Queen of the East.  The fact is that you probably only need one stroller for starters.  As your needs progress, certain situations will call for certain strollers.  You can get away with just one type, but she"ll be a lot happier if she isn"t trying to force fit a particular kind.  Cease to think of them as strollers, but as small, situational vehicles deployed from your larger, less maneuverable craft.  If you were Admiral Noodad on the aircraft carrier the USS Diaper Rash, would you send an A-10 Tank Killer out against enemy MiGs?  Then why deploy your jogger to the mall?

The King of all starter strollers is not really a stroller at all.  It"s actually a lightweight cart (with a big basket underneath) that you can pop a baby carrier into. You need to buy the baby carrier, the cart and the car seat base. This is sometimes called a snap-n-go system, but I call it the TSK (travel system killer—more on that later).  With the TSK, you can schlep the little pooper in the carrier. They can nap in it, they can sit in it, they can do whatever it is they"re doing when you"re not holding them.  It"s great because if they"re napping in the seat and you need to go somewhere, or you"re at a friend"s place and need to go home, you just pick up the carrier, snap it into the base and go.  You can also buy what I call the car seat sweater.  It goes over the carrier and gives the baby a soft, warm blanker in the background, but can also zip up around the baby for the perfect swaddling affect.  My son was born in the winter time and that sucker was invaluable.
Some of you are saying, has foodad lost his mind? Is he out of his gourd? What about the Travel Systems I’ve been reading about? I must have one!  Travel systems are fine if you don’t mind moving at the speed of a sea slug.   These effectively transform the nimble, powerful and sometimes clueless noodad into a tree sloth.  In other words, the sheer bulk of them will slow you down.  Now you’re thinking but what about when the infant outgrows the carrier?  Won’t the travel system be worth the hassle when I don’t need to buy a new stroller? You know, you ask a lot of good questions.  My answer is no.  Many of the good folk who did not heed this advice (because I never gave it until now) tell me that the stroller without the carrier can be awkward and doesn’t really live up to their expectations.  Given that and the fact that I like to be able to go to the city and whip the stroller out of the back, snap in the carrier and go as quickly as possible, it’s not worth the 10-12 months of travel system agony to graduate to a crappy stroller. Besides, if you’re anything like Strollerella and I, you already have additional strollers…
The TSK outgrows its usefulness, so you’ll need other MCVs^TM (maneuverable child vehicles).  The umbrella stroller is the smallest and most nimble of vehicles, but it doesn’t contain the most space for storing stuff, so it’s good for the store where you are moving around in small spaces, but not really great for a walk.  If you like to run or walk fast, the jogger is excellent, but it’s just plain rude to take that to the mall.  If you have 2 kids, there are some really excellent side-by-side doubles, but those can still be clunky in boutiques like Gymboree, so 2 umbrellas is better when possible (of course it requires 2 adults!). 
The tricky part can be financing.  I suggest you plan carefully prior to the introduction of a new bundle of pure unadulterated chaos joy into your life space.  Think of the situations you will typically face as well as the amount of space you have (city dwellers!).  Register for strollers, beg your folks, send notes to your rich uncle.  Comb second hand stores like Children’s Orchard. Look on eBay and craigslist for deals on your second strollers.  If you’re near O’Hare or SFO airports, groups coming back from China with new babies frequently jettison umbrella strollers at their gates.  You may also have some friends who are a few steps ahead of you in the kid game. In that case, they probably have between 2 and 5 strollers they are not using in their armada.  Perhaps you can borrow one or six? We did.  Happy strolling.