My single/double/jogger stroller

So, I've gotten a lot of questions about my new stroller so I'm dedicating a whole post to it!  Yes, I love it that much, too. :)

The stroller brand is Phil & Teds.  It's called an "inline" stroller because it takes up the space of a single stroller but it can also be a double.  This is Ellie in the single-mode.  This seat holds a toddler up to 55 lbs.

If you have an infant that can't sit up yet, the seat fully reclines (with the help of some snaps and zippers) so they can lay down (for some reason I think it looks like she is only partially laying down, but she is completely reclined -- and not too happy about it, haha):

Now, say you have an infant and a toddler.  No problem!  You can take off that bar across the front and pop the jump seat into the clips from the bar:

If you look carefully you can see Ellie's toes under there by Abby's left leg.  Ellie is laying down and Abby is sitting in front.  Here's another shot:

Ellie is still laying down and Abby is sitting in front/on top of her.  The jump seat in the front position holds a toddler up to 44 lbs.

But of course, Ellie isn't an infant anymore so she likes to sit up most of the time.  This is the configuration we usually have the stroller in:

Ellie is sitting in the jump seat in the back (in this position it holds up to 33 lbs) and Abby is sitting in the main stroller seat.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stroller!  Even though it's not really advertised as a jogging stroller, we take it out running about 3-4 times a week.  I know other people run with it too (I think it's not technically a jogger because the tires are too small?  I don't really know though).  The front wheel can either be in a swivel setting or it can be locked.

The handlebar can be adjusted higher or lower depending on who is pushing it.

There is undercarriage storage down under the main seat, by Ellie's feet in the last picture.  It's enough storage for whatever we've needed, but if Ellie was much taller it would be harder to store much (her legs don't go past the seat right now).

Lots of people wonder if your shins hit the rider in the lower seat.  I have never had that problem and I don't think Garrett has either.  The seat can recline a little bit, so that makes it stick out in the back a bit more.  I tried that out once and I did have to consciously avoid hitting my shins, but it really wasn't a big deal.

I got rid of my old single stroller, which freed up some space in our closet.

There are a few cons:

-It's expensive.

-The sun shade is pretty pathetic.

-Sometimes I worry that it will get stolen because it is so cool. (haha... seriously though)

-There are no cup holders or snack trays.  I do miss this from my other stroller.  Phil & Teds does sell accessories for the stroller (a nice sun shade, cup holders, rain covers, etc) but obviously those are all additional costs.  You'd think that for the price of the stroller some of these extras would be standard but they are not.  I don't really see myself needing any extras besides maybe the cup holder or a snack tray for the kids.  Maybe.

-You CAN hook a car seat into the front seat, but there is an attachment that you "need".  It's $40 or something (cheaper on ebay) but I did read a review once where someone said they were able to put the carseat in without the attachment and never had a problem with it.  I assume you just recline the seat back and  put the car seat in that area.  I'm sure I'll try that route with our next baby.

-And probably the biggest con (but still not a huge deal) is that you have to take off the back jump seat before folding it up (it folds very well, by the way, and takes up only a little space in our small front closet).  Apparently you can fold it up if the jump seat is in the front but I haven't tried that yet.  So, there are two parts to carry around when you bring it out to the car.  Not a big deal, but it would be nice if it was just one piece.

And those are the only cons... definitely nothing that was a deal breaker!

Phil & Teds offers 5 different inline strollers: the classic, sport, dash, hammerhead, and vibe.  I got the sport version.  The classic is the cheapest but it only comes in bright red and I'm sorry, but I really don't like that much red!  I don't know much about any of the other types because they are a lot more expensive than the sport & classic and don't offer many additional perks.  The only real difference that I know of is that with the "vibe" you can fold it with the jump seat still attached in the back.

I bought my stroller on ebay.  I'd been searching for months on Craigslist and on ebay.  I had also been looking on Craiglook.com, which is a site that allows you to search ALL Craigslists in all cities.  Back when Garrett was interviewing all over the country I tried to find one where he'd be so that he could bring it home to me, but I never did find anything. :)

So, a few weeks ago I saw a navy blue sport version on ebay.  It was brand new in the box and it only had 7 hours left on it, and no one had bid on it (and, it was in the color I had been wanting, which was a huge bonus)!  For some reason, the seller didn't post a picture so I think that people were overlooking it... there were strollers in the exact same brand/color for sale at the same time that already had at 15 bids on them, but this one was completely left alone. I bid on it with one minute left and I won!  It was from a legitimate seller (they had 300+ sales), the shipping was free, and I didn't pay any taxes.  Score!  And, the jump seat was included (they are sometimes sold separately and are pricey of course).  Since I bought this stroller (and even beforehand), I have never seen this stroller sell for this cheap on ebay so I really got lucky.  I mean, it was still pricey, but not like they usually are.  (To give you an idea, on the Phil & Teds website, the stroller I have retails for $529 with the jump seat included, but that's before taxes and shipping.  Since it's from the retailer, this is the most expensive price. You should be able to find them cheaper than this at most places).

Here's a link to Phil & Teds strollers on ebay right now.  In fact there is a navy sport listed right now with no picture... only 7 hours left! :)  From the same seller I bought mine from.

365.

Our little Ellie Bean turned ONE on July 1.  In true second-child fashion, we did nothing to celebrate.

Just kidding. Sort of.

Both the kids were sick that week though, so we didn't do anything too big.  We sang Happy Birthday, played games, and we went running that evening and then took the kids to the park.  Garrett snapped some pictures of the birthday girl.  It was low-key but fun to be together as a family, and the weather was great.

Ellie's first year was quite a roller coaster... for me.  Adding a second child to our family was pretty overwhelming for me and I struggled quite a bit.  It didn't help that she had failure to thrive from the start.  She lost over a pound after her birth, weighing in at 5 lbs 5 oz at her 1 week appointment.  For a long time, she had weekly doctor's appointments to make sure she was gaining weight and getting healthy.  I remember sitting in the doctor's office week after week, praying that she had gained a few ounces.

I always assumed that all my kids would be 100% breastfed for the first few months, and that I would breastfeed until 1 year (or more).  Abby was perfect in that regard, and I always assumed that the rest of my kids would be, too.  Ellie hated it from the start.  So, we tried bottles and that seemed to work.  I, however, was insistent that my child only have breast milk (you know, the BEST) so I decided to pump until she got used to breastfeeding.  And since Ellie was to eat every TWO hours (remember, failure to thrive), I would try to breast feed (20 minutes), then we'd resort to the bottle (20 minutes), and then I would go pump for the next  feeding (20 minutes).  60-90 minutes later we'd start all over again.  It was a hard time and it lasted for about two months.  Finally, my mom convinced me to supplement with formula (she convinced me by saying that my brother Mike was on formula starting at 2 weeks, and "look, he's normal".  Um, not really but okay.... just kidding, Mike).  Anyway, it was a hard decision for me and I felt like I had failed big time.  I remember giving Ellie her first bottle of formula and just crying because I felt like I was a bad mother.  Ellie, on the other hand, loved it and we never looked back.  At six months I gave up breastfeeding altogether and she was on formula-only from then on.

Ellie has been doing great health-wise since those first few months.  She still small (she weighed a whopping 17 lbs on her first birthday) but Abby was petite too.  It sure makes it easy on me!

Ellie has the cutest little grin and loves to make people laugh.  When we are sitting at the dinner table, if her foot ever touches someone else she just starts laughing and grinning.  She loves to tease.

She is a FAST crawler and has recently started to stand alone for a few seconds at a time. No walking yet but I think it will come in the next couple of weeks.

She still only really says one word - "Dada" - but she's started to be a little more verbal and you can tell that she is trying to speak sometimes.  She likes when we say "Ready, set..." and she'll make a noise and you can tell she is trying to say "go!"

Ellie loves her big sister.  She mimics her actions, and she tries to mimic what Abby is saying too.  It's the cutest thing to see them playing together and enjoying each other (when Abby is not taking toys away from her).

Ellie is very stubborn.  She knows what she wants and will whine and/or cry until you give it to her.  When she gets mad she puts her head down on the floor and starts screeching.  She also likes to bang her head into things, especially when she is mad.  Like any 1-year-old, she puts everything in her mouth, which is really annoying (Abby never did that so I am not used to that).  She is also a pickier eater than Abby ever was, so it's hard to know what to feed her!

We love our little Ellie and we are so glad she came into our family.  Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Let's talk about me.

I am 99% sure that in this picture I am telling Abby to "share" her Care Bear with Ellie.

Taken 7.4.10, waiting for the fireworks to start.

Since this is my blog, I'm going to take this time to grace you all with my random thoughts and things that have going on with me lately..... feel free to skip this post if you only read my blog for the kid stories/pictures (mom + dad).

• I am pleasantly surprised with our apartment.  As you know I was very nervous about moving to an apartment because I've only ever lived in one once, when I was in college.  It was great then, but I was nervous about moving our family from a house to an apartment.  All in all, though, it's worked out really well.  Of course it has its downsides, and probably the biggest one (for me) is that there is a real lack of natural light in our home, which I really miss.  Our house in Augusta had great natural light (lots of windows/glass doors) and I miss that.
• I really, really, really want to decorate our house nicely. I want it to look put-together and coordinated and lovely.  After the kids go to bed I spend hours looking at pictures of house interiors and I love so many different things that I don't know where to start, which style I want to do, how to bring everything together, etc.  It's really frustrating.  Some days I want one thing, and then other days I want something different.  Or, there are some things I know I want, but Garrett isn't on board with them.  I also feel really stuck because of the things we have now.  I like some things we have, but most of them I could be happy to get rid of, but obviously we can't afford to just redo a whole room at once.  I just don't know how to decorate a room piece-by-piece.  I can't visualize a finished product unless I have everything in front of me.  Today I went to several stores looking for throw pillows in a desperate attempt to lighten up our apartment.  I saw a couple that were okay, but nothing I was visualizing beforehand.  Then I saw a couple that I really liked, but I was too afraid to buy them because I was afraid that it would force me into a certain "style" or certain colors for the rest of the room, and I wasn't ready to commit to that yet.  I'm so lame.  So anyway, I ended up leaving all the stores empty-handed because I was too afraid I would buy the wrong thing.
• Getting a paycheck is extremely exciting.  Garrett has gotten two paychecks so far and it feels so great to see money coming INTO our checking account... money that is OURS and not a loan!  AND, we don't have any tuition bills to pay... first time that's happened in the (almost) six years we've been married (BYU, then medical school). (SIX?? I'm old. Or, I got married really young.  Yeah, definitely the second one.)
• I am the Primary chorister at Church.  This means I am in charge of music time for the kids ages 3-11.  I also go into the nursery class and do a little music time with the 1-3 year-olds.  Last week I went in there for the first time, not really knowing what I was doing, so the teacher helped me out by telling me which songs they usually sing, etc.  "We have to start with this song," she told me.  So we started with a certain song that lists all the kids' names (I don't remember any of them), and then I asked what else they like.  "Ohh," she said, "they LOVE to sing 'The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.'"  "Ok," I said, "let's sing that."  So "we" sang that one and I say "we" in quotations because it was just me.  The kids just stared at me while I sang song after song that they apparently "LOVE to sing!!".  Fun.  
• We have been eating a lot of fish lately... Garrett goes fishing just about every Saturday morning and has been coming home with about 8-10 fish each week.  We've been making fish tacos, which are SO good!
• I've been working out like crazy lately... I am getting desperate to lose the last of this baby weight.  It's hard to say how much I have left to lose because my weight fluctuates so much.  I'd say I have about 5-6 lbs to lose in order to get down to my "best" pre-Ellie weight. (the weight I was when we went to Maui two years ago).  I'd love to lose another 10 lbs after that - that's the goal anyway.  We'll see.  It's just so frustrating!  I am pretty conscious about what I eat every single day - I am pretty careful and I rarely eat any sort of dessert or candy (sweets just aren't really my thing).  I also work out a lot.  Garrett and I have been going running about 3-4 times a week.  I don't run far, only a couple of miles, but it's been so hot that it's all I can handle!  On the days we don't run (and even sometimes on the days we do run) I also do a workout video here at home for 45 minutes or so.  It's just frustrating because you see tv shows of people who have to lose 8 lbs in a month or 6 lbs in two weeks, so they go to a "boot camp" type person who whips them into shape by making them go running, lift weights, and eat right.  And then at the end of three, weeks, the (enter random article of clothing here) fits! Um, hello, I've been working out regularly (and sometimes intensely) for the last 6 months and I would be thrilled to lose a pound a WEEK! I would be thrilled to drop ONE PANTS SIZE!  My body just does NOT lost weight easily.  It's really frustrating!  Granted, I am back in my pre-Ellie clothes but it's been a YEAR since she was born so I would hope so.
• In HAPPIER news... I finally, finally got the stroller that I have always wanted. (I know how that makes me sound.  I'm a mom, ok?).  This may sound dumb (ok, it does) but ever since Ellie was born I've been struggling with how to take the girls out and about.  I got a double stroller that was highly recommended, both online and by friends, but I just hated it!  It was incredibly hard to steer, it was heavy, it was bulky, and it was ugly. I felt like I was pushing a bus.  I just didn't like it at all, so I didn't use it much.  And thus, I didn't GO many places because I didn't want to carry around two little kids that wanted to be held and carried.  I really felt like this old stroller was holding me back from going out and doing things. Also, I hated that I had to have this huge double stroller and keep my single stroller... since we are living in an apartment that just couldn't happen. Enter: the new stroller.  This baby is awesome.  See, it's a single stroller at first glance.  However, when you have a second child, there is a jump seat that you add underneath the first seat, thus making it a double stroller.  A double stroller that pushes and feels like a single.  It's great!  My only regret is that I didn't buy it years ago when Abby was born (although the reality is, I couldn't have afforded it until now.  And I didn't know about it then.).  And before you go thinking I went out and spent all this money because Garrett is a doctor and suddenly has a paycheck... no.  I saved up my own money for a LONG time and bought it all on my own. :) Garrett would never have let me spend our "real" money so frivolously.  And just as a sidenote, this stroller also doubles as a jogging stroller, so that's how we've been able to go jogging together. Oh, and I bought it (new) on ebay, so I got a great deal and free shipping. ;)  So, for one price, I got a single stroller, a double stroller, and a jogging stroller all in one (for a cheaper price than your traditional top-of-the-line jogging stroller). I'll post pictures of it soon. I am completely in love with it, if you can't tell.  Best purchase I've ever made. Literally. (PS - Emma, last night I had a dream that you owned 32 different strollers.  Seriously-- they were all hanging on hooks in your garage.  All different brands, different types of strollers, etc.  It was insane.)
• And speaking of running with Garrett.... by the time I run 2.5 miles, he can run 3 miles pushing a stroller.  I am so slow. Oh well - I am okay with that.
• Most days I am car-less because Garrett takes my car to work.  His car has been giving him a lot of problems lately and while he is usually able to fix it, it's not something he can just get under the hood and fix.  The car actually has to be jacked up and he has to change his clothes.  So, it's pretty embarrassing for him to have to do that in the doctors' parking lot (plus it's difficult to do when people are parked next to you.  Plus, the last time he fixed his car he accidentally crossed some wires and gave himself third degree burns on his hands, so... needless to say we are on the lookout for a new car.   Well, new to us.  We'd be happy to buy a Camry with 100k miles on it.  It just needs to get him to and from work, and it needs to actually start up. :)  Of course, on days when I need the car I could just drive him to work, and that would work out pretty well on this rotation (ICU) but he starts his medicine rotation in August and that one's going to have some crazy hours.  I can't exactly pick him up at midnight, and I'd rather not get up at 5 a.m. and drag the kids into the car to drive him to work.  So, we'll see what works out.  The unfortunate thing about Virginia is that the cars have to pass inspections,  so we can't just drive a certain Rodeo with a cracked windshield that his parents currently have.  I supposed we could fix the windshield but frankly I think that that's the least of it's problems.  But hey, at least it starts, which is a lot more than we can say about Garrett's current car.

Anyway... more posts coming this week.  Ellie's birthday, fourth of July, new stroller, etc.

The five W's

Virginia Beach, June 2010 

(yes, Abby had to go to the bathroom!)

Something that's driving me crazy lately is that Abby is having a problem distinguishing between interrogative pronouns (who, where, what, when, why... and no, I didn't remember what they were called, I had to look that up. Thanks internet!).

Here's an example of how a conversation with her will go:

Hannah: Abby, do you want to come in the kitchen and help me make some cookies?

Abby: Where?

Hannah: In the kitchen.

Abby: Where??

Hannah: In the KITCHEN!

Abby: WHERE?

Hannah: cookies?

Abbie: ok!!

Or another example:

Hannah: Abby, lunchtime!

Abby: Who?

Hannah: umm.... lunch.

Abby: WHO?? (she's getting frustrated now)

Hannah: It's time for lunch.

Abby: WHO??

By this time I'm so annoyed that I just ignore her.  I have no idea what she is asking me and it's driving me nuts!  This happens all the time now.  And ideas of a good way to teach kids the difference between them all, or is it just something that eventually comes to them?

In other news, we went to the beach a week or two ago and the girls had a great time.  Ellie took a couple face-dives into the sand and didn't seem to mind at all.  It was a great day, made complete by 2-for-1 fish tacos and a great night's sleep.

A fly on the wall

If you were a fly on the wall of our home, you'd find that most of our conversations since moving here are about the following:

• "No, that won't fit in our apartment."
• "Why is Abby being so naughty lately??"
• "We can't afford it."
• "Mmm, leftovers!"
• "The car won't start...... again."
• "I can't believe you have to start working again!!  This is going to take some getting used to."
• "ABBIE, SIT DOWN AND FINISH YOUR DINNER!"
• I really need to go to the library (we aren't going to get cable here)
• "Where is my i-touch?"
• "Why isn't my computer working?"
• "Maybe we should get around to putting the pictures up on the walls."
• "We are out of milk."
• "Did you ever find my contacts when you unpacked?" (Still no, Garrett)
• "Abby, PLEASE stop snatching toys away from Ellie!"
• "I really want the new Evo phone."
• Happy Birthday Garrett!
• Happy Father's Day!
• "Abby, please stop jumping off the couch.  That's how Ava BROKE HER ARM!"
• "When are you going to take that stuff to Rob's garage?" (dolly, bike, skis,. ladder)
• I need a better stroller. (yes. need.)
• Abby, SIT DOWN AND EAT!"
• "This room is a mess."
• "I wonder when we are going to get callings at Church" (done.)
• "Thank heavens for the gps in our phones."
• I have to study/take a quiz/read.
• Thank goodness our closets are so big."

And that, my friends, is what we've talked about over the last two weeks, in a nutshell.  We live extremely exciting lives, I know you are jealous.

And to expound on one of the above.... one morning Abby woke up waaayyy too early (we're talking 6 a.m.) so Garrett gave her his i-touch to play with so she would be quiet and let us sleep.  A few hours later he asked her where it was, but she didn't know.  This is really strange because Abby always knows where EVERYTHING is (case in point: the other night she asked for her doll as she was going to bed.  She had been playing with it that morning, but hadn't seen it since then and didn't know where she had put it.  I asked her where it was and she said, "In the stroller.  In the living room corner. Facing the wall.").  So anyway, it was pretty surprising that she didn't know where the i-touch was but we figured it would turn up.  Well, it didn't.  Three DAYS later we were still searching for that darn thing and asking Abby over and over again where it was, and each time she said she didn't know.  Finally, we decided to kneel in prayer to ask where it was (I know, we should have thought of that earlier).  Not THREE MINUTES LATER, Garrett found it in Abby's room.  I know I looked there before, but there it was!  But it was a great lesson and we were able to teach Abby about the importance of prayer, and also the importance of saying "thank you" in prayer afterwards. 

My Dad, 20 years ago

In May I posted something I'd written about my mom about 20 years ago.  This is what I wrote about my dad:

"My dad's name is Chris.  He has brown hair.  He lets us drive on our [bus] stop 'cuz it is not busy.  There are only 2 or 4 cars [that] go by.  He is nice.  When I am done with a piano book he takes me to Toys R Us to get a toy.  Dad I love you so much.  My dad is 36.  He beeps the horn in the car at houses just in case I know them.  But I don't.

My Dad got great pleasure out of embarrassing us.  We always hated when he drove us to school in the mornings, because starting about half a mile from the school he would start honking his horn to "warn people that we were coming".  Once we arrived in the parking lot, he would lean out the window and yell, "Here come the Siebachs! The Siebachs are coming!  Here we are!"  All while honking is horn.  I remember just crying from embarrassment and begging him to stop.  It never worked, though.

On the move

After weeks of packing, we finally loaded up the truck and made the 465-mile journey to our new home in Virginia.  It was sad to leave our home in Augusta.  We had so many friends there, and so many people in our situation that we could relate to (poor students with kids).  Medical school was hard (haha doesn't that make it sound like *I* went to medical school?) but we absolutely loved our time in Georgia.  Yes it was hot and humid and there really isn't much to do in Augusta, but we had people we loved there, and we made some great memories.  Such a fun time of our life!

But, life goes on and I am especially excited for THIS chapter because it brings a PAYCHECK!  (still waiting for the first one, but still.)

Anyway, back to the move.  We rented a 24' Budget truck.  For weeks, Garrett stressed that not all of our stuff would fit in the truck.  I knew it would be fine... we had spent weeks helping our friends load up their trucks, and we have (much) less stuff than some of them have.  Besides, we were already getting rid of tons of stuff not only for the truck space, but because we lost 350 square feet of living space when we moved here.

So, on a Tuesday morning some people from the ward came over and helped us load the truck (a surprisingly great turnout for a weekday morning, thanks everyone!).  We were DONE in about 1.5 hours and spent the rest of the day doing last-minute packing, errands, and cleaning.  The plan was to leave at 5:30 on Wednesday morning.

We rolled out of the driveway around 5:45 the next morning - 15 minutes behind schedule, but not too bad!  We were lucky enough to be moving to the same city as some of our best friends, the Egberts.  We decided several weeks ago that we would all caravan to Virginia.  It made it a lot more fun since we all had walkie-talkies.  Rob did a great job of warning us when a great mullet was on its way to pass us in the left-hand lane! (Thank you, North Carolina).

Garrett did a great job driving the truck, and towing his sedan behind.  That's Rob in the background with his Penske, towing his truck with the canoe on top.

My view for 465 miles.  Garrett set the pace for us all.  At first we thought that we'd have to go 55 the whole way (there's a governor on the truck), but thankfully Garrett found an override button that allowed him to go 70 - woo hoo!  Made ALL the difference.

My rear view - Haley was behind me and Rob was in the back of the caravan.

We only made one stop, somewhere in NC for lunch.

The girls did great in the car! I thought it would be rough because we don't have movies or anything but they did really well (although they didn't nap, which was annoying).  And we made great time.  We got to our new hometown in just about 8.5 hours - not too bad considering we took a long break about 2/3 of the way through.

When we arrived at our destination we decided that we'd go straight to the truck place and drop off the hitch and the car.  That way, when Garrett returned the truck later that night, he'd already have his car there to drive home.  Would you believe that that dang car wouldn't start to even take it off the trailer??  He'd been having some problems with it the week before we moved, and I told him that the last thing we want to do is haul a no-good car all the way up to Virginia.  I told him that it probably would break down in the first week we were there.  I was only too right... we couldn't even start it to take it of the trailer.  So, we pushed it off and left it there overnight, and I drove Garrett back the next day to fix it (YouTube has saved us hundreds of $$ over the last few months. Seriously.).

Anyway...... we got to our apartment complex and some people from the ward came to help us unload the truck.  It took a few hours but it went great - we were so thankful for the help.  It's amazing how much stuff you can have, even if you don't REALLY have a ton of stuff.  Does that make sense?  Let's just say, I'm glad we got rid of so many things before we moved.  I don't even remember half the things we ditched - that's how "important" they were to me.

So, that's our story about our move to Virginia.  WHAT A DAY!!  It was fun (traveling with friends and walkie-talkies), it was challenging (unloading boxes and dealing with 2 whiny kids with no naps), and it was awful (dealing with the car not starting when we got there).  And sad (I got some family news that was very upsetting).  Thankfully it's OVER and now we can just move on with the new chapter of our lives here in residency!  Let the games (and paychecks) begin!

I'll post some pics of our apartment complex/neighborhood soon!