Strollers and Stuff

I think we may have found our next stroller, finally. We went to Sears last night to see what they have. Because, duh, I've been through the clearanced kids clothes at Sears a few times lately, but never thought to go one aisle over and check out the strollers.

I'm being a little stubborn about strollers and car seats - they qualify as something I want to buy in person, or at least see in person and order online later. Because all the specifications don't make up for getting to take a stroller for a spin around the store, or making sure that the car seat actually, you know, fits in the car before you buy it (and have to spend money shipping it back because it wouldn't fit). Most other stuff (clothes not included) I'll buy online, if the price is right and there's a decent return policy.

And locally, our stroller choices were pretty sorry, unless we wanted to drive 3 hours into St. Louis or Kansas City to find a baby-specific store with a wider selection. Target has exactly one non-travel-system, non-double stroller to choose from, and Walmart has two, one of which is the same as the Target stroller. And neither of those stores will let you test-drive the stroller. Nope, they have a display model that has been de-wheeled and zip-tied to a shelf. And the shelf is about 3 feet off the ground, so you can't even stand next to the stroller to see if the handles are tall enough, or fiddle with the seat recline, or see how compact it is when it's folded up. Toys R Us and Sears had three strollers each (no overlap!), and both places actually leave the wheels on so you can toodle around the aisle with it for a few minutes.

Notes: One at TRU was nice, but the "boot" left no room for Burrito's legs to stick out, and there wasn't any apparent way to tuck it out of the way. It unclipped from the tray, but then it just sort of dangled there. The Graco Mosaic at Sears was just way too wobbly for a $100 stroller. And while I love the Baby Bargains book and website, the reviews and discussions seem way too focused on the more expensive brands that aren't in stores around here. The stroller discussions on their forum were about 90% focused on double strollers anyway. No help there for what we need.

So, I wrote down the information on the strollers we liked at TRU and Sears, and came home to hunt down reviews and such. Which led to more head-banging, because it seems like 90% of the reviews online are for a) insanely expensive ($800!!) strollers, b) two-seater strollers, or c) "travel system" strollers that come with an infant car seat, but not separately. Now, Hell will freeze solid and turn into a pinwheel before I pay that kind of money for a stroller (my last horse didn't cost that much), and we don't need a double stroller or a "travel system." So.

Anyway, after much Googling, I found a few reviews on the Kolcraft Contours stroller we saw at Sears, and I think it'll do, assuming that it fits in the trunk on both cars (we need to measure things). I managed to find some reviews that were basically complimentary and didn't raise any red flags. And we're in luck - Sears carries it in "Ruby" (aka red), while Target.com and Walmart.com only carry it in "Cosmic" (aka radioactive neon green, similar to the color of Surge soda). K-mart carries a similar stroller, without the Ipod dock that we won't be using, in a maroon, but it's not listed on Kmart.com. So I guess we'll be getting a red one.

So that's one thing marked off the list. Too bad there's still 8432 other things still on it, including finding a bigger car seat, and a house.