Shower #1

...or as my dad likes to call it, our first 'rain storm.'  You may find this hard to believe but the spoiling of our first child has officially begun.  Almost 2 weeks ago, Bob, Ruth, Lindsay and Sharon hosted a wonderful couple's shower for us that resulted in Baby G getting his first set of new wheels!  He better enjoy them while they last because it's going to be another 17 years before he gets a new ride.  Did you know that kids don't get their freedom until they are 17 these days?  Some of them wouldn't even be able to drive their friends around their college campus.  But I digress.

Our wonderful hosts!

Most of the people at the shower have known me since before I was born.  Many of them were members of the 28 year slow-pitch softball team that my dad played on, some are my parents' old college friends turned current tail-gating friends, and the rest are friends and family near and dear to our hearts. 

Of course, they couldn't just buy a group gift, wrap it up, and give it to us.  Where's the fun in that?  Lindsay thought it would be best if we started out with a car seat that is nice and broken in.  Who wants to sit in a new car seat that looks and smells clean anyway? While we all shared a few good laughs about how this old thing could go in the grandparents' car, I better not see my child anywhere near it in real life. 

You want me to put my kid in that?!?

Baby G's new ride!

For my fellow mamas out there who are interested in the technical parts of this post, we decided on a Britax B-Agile stroller and a Britax B-Safe car seat.  The car seat snaps into the stroller and we'll use it like that for the first 6 months until the baby can sit in the stroller by himself.  As some of you know, researching car seats and strollers consumed the first few months of my pregnancy.  After reading and re-reading consumer reports, reviews, and advice from friends this is the one we decided on.  The stroller has 3 wheels, of which the front one can lock or swivel.  I plan to do lots and lots of walking, some jogging, but no marathon training with this guy so I decided I didn't need a high tech jogging stroller.  One negative review indicated that this will only work for jogging if you run slower than an 8 minute mile.  Ok, Mr. Condescension, I think this one will work just fine, thank you.  We did consider the BabyJogger CityMini for our stroller, but after doing a side-by-side comparison with the B-Agile in the store, we decided to stick with Britax. I'll report back once I have formed my own opinion.  My cousin, aka Aunt Katelyn, highly recommended Britax car seats (she's an expert, you know) so we checked this one out and found nothing but positives.  I take that back, the only negative comment was that the safety buckle is very sturdy and can be difficult to unlatch.  Is that really a negative?  Do I want my infant being able to unbuckle himself?  We'll just see if we can get him in and out without giving him a black eye (coughcoughKathryn). 

This baby sure is loved a lot