99 Days of Baby Boy Strads-The Latest Reason to Love Craigslist or The Promise of Mobility

So, I'm the type of person who, once I set my mind to something, is almost obsessively driven to make it happen.  Luckily, I almost never utilize this store of determination, because it's rare that I actually feel the passion to set my eye on a prize. However, since I've become pregnant, I feel this obsessive drive more often and towards, what have seemed until now, strange goals.

The latest?  Well, this is possibly the strangest of all...a stroller.  Yes, my transformation into motherhood is much further along and much more serious that you or I previously realized...

If I were to analyze my obsession with strollers I would probably tell you that it stems from a latent fear that having a child will make me feel not just physically immobile, but metaphorically immobile as well. By this I mean, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I fear I will be forsaking all myself, all my personal progression, and all my own selfish desires to care for a soon to be born baby.  I fear this baby will, for me, weigh much more than the 7lbs (oh please, no more than than that...) at his birth, but will be a yoke placed upon my shoulders holding me back, keeping me from the "things" I have planned for MYSELF.  And although it's only a physical solution to the mobility concerns of having a baby, I think that a stroller provides me with a little emotional security that I won't be "stuck."  In other words, a stroller is a metaphorical promise that I will continue to be the active person, both physically and personally, I imagine myself to be.  That's how I would explain it...I think.

Ok.  So strollers.  I've been looking at them in stores, online, and in the streets.  I've sought out testimonials from friends and family with small kids.  I've read reviews and even bought a subscription to Consumer Reports.

What I've learned is:

• Strollers are expensive, but an investment worth making.
• Since I'm going to be living in cities, I need big wheels.
• Something light and easily fold-able is key.
• Something that can evolve with my child and with my family is ideal.

After much ado and going back and forth between several outstanding models, I set my sights on a well-designed hunk of "welded and formed aircraft aluminum alloy" called, Uppababy VISTA.  It met all the critical criteria, and was a dream to "stroll" around in.

"That sounds expensive," you might be thinking.  When I first started shopping for strollers I thought I would be spending around $100 for a really nice, higher-end stroller.  Depending on your experience with baby "stuff" you might be following this erroneous line of thinking as well.  However, let me set you straight by saying that I know people, very reasonable people, who spend more than 10X that sum on a stroller.  Gasp.  Granted, these are city people, who walk most of the time to the places they are going, taking subways and climbing several flights of stairs to their tiny apartments, etc. They obviously need a stroller that will hold up to the wear-and-tear of city life.  BUT, $900 for a stroller...how depressing.

The Uppababy VISTA, however, retails for a nice fat, $680.  OUCH.  Even though  for the next 6+ years of my life I will live in Boston, NYC, and Tokyo, I don't care, I can't spend that kind of "change" on anything, especially a stroller. 

However, I was sure that the Uppababy VISTA was the ideal stroller for me.  My determined spirit set in and I told myself if I can't get it new, I'll certainly find a secondhand option.  After months of trolling craigslist and eBay and emailing potential sellers, but never quite feeling great about what they had to offer, my diligence was rewarded.  A craigslist listing explained how a couple who recently had a shotgun wedding was gifted three strollers as wedding presents. Badly in need of some fast cash for an impending move, they went about selling them unopened, completely new for a deal that made the angels sing within my heart.

Jonathan met the guy, paid him in cash, and came home with our own Uppababy VISTA.  My symbolic ticket to mobility! All for a price that fit nicely within our budget.

Hooray for Craigslist! Baby Boy Strads will be rolling down the streets in style...oh yeah.

The Uppababy Miracle