Material Instinct: stroller

I thought my search for the perfect diaper bag and stroller had ended with the YakPak Olivia and Kolcraft Contours Lite Plus, but oddly enough I never ended up buying either one. I just couldn't justify spending $80-100 on a diaper bag. I stumbled upon a Spark by Skip Hop bag in the Squiggle design @ Target one day on clearance for $7.99! It was marked down from $29.99 and I totally would have paid full price! It has so many great features, I have to pinch myself every time I use it! (Ok maybe not every time.) It has two outer pockets with velcro closures (which I use to stash my keys and phone when I don't wanna bring my purse too), two zippered compartments and a mesh bottle holder on either side. It also comes with a changing mat. I love the pattern too! It doesn't show stains and it's a good neutral for dads. The best feature, though, is the straps. You can carry it on your shoulder, add the extension strap for a messenger bag effect or use the two mini straps on either side to attach it to your stroller! That way your bag is up high and you can actually get stuff out of it easily instead of having to dig around in the stroller compartment underneath, hunched over with your plumber crack hanging out for all to see. (That happens to me way too often!)

*I'll be doing a vlog on my YouTube channel about it soon and about all the essentials I keep inside it.

The Lite Plus stroller got amazing reviews on WalMart.com and I loved that the baby could listen to music from your iPod, but I went with the Kolcraft Contours Options 4 Wheel model instead. It got equally outstanding reviews, but it's much more versatile than the other version. It was about $90 extra, but I felt like it was going to be much more durable in the long run. I love that the seat can face either way, like a pram or a regular stroller. I like being able to see my son's face instead of trying to peek thru a plastic window and wonder if he's choking himself on something. It comes with an infant car seat attachment too so you can just secure the car seat in the frame and push it like a stroller.

I've only used it a couple of times so far because it won't fit into my car's tiny trunk. My old Eddie Bauer Kingston stroller fit, but I had to take the front wheels off of it first. The Kolcraft doesn't give you that option, but I can't hold it against them since my VW Beetle is just so damn small. It is very easy to fold though, almost too easy. I struggled with it the first time until I realized I was making it more complicated than I needed to. It's pretty big, but I feel like that's a good thing. It was fairly easy to assemble, but then again I pride myself on my "putting shit together" ability. There's no parent compartment up top for keys and such but there is one cup holder. The child snack tray is kinda small and I feel like my son could easily slip underneath it if he wasn't buckled. He also looks a little uncomfortable, like he's too small for the seat. (He's 11 months) The underside compartment is huge, but shallow, so it worries me that my stuff will fall out if I go over a speed bump (thank goodness I have my Skip Hop diaper bag secured up top!). I love the vibrant red color and it is easy to maneuver because of the super-sized wheels. I figure I'll hang on to it so I don't have to bother researching a new one and so I can use it for baby #2 in a couple years, at least in the beginning when I'll need the car seat cradle.

It's just about time for Nikki to switch from the infant carseat to a convertible one and while the fact that NO bulky convertible car seat can fit into my teeny, tiny VW Beetle...I am looking forward to upgrading his gear. ::shopping trip!:: Starting with a new stroller!

The Kolcraft Contours Lite Plus Stroller with music on the go is stylish, lightweight and reasonably priced! Plus, it has an iPod dock so baby can jam out while they ride! I already uploaded some Baby Einstein tracks for his listening pleasure! Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a crazy consumer review believer and all the reviews I've read about it are super positive. It's only $67.88 on Walmart.com and shipping is free if you have it sent to your local store.

My current travel combo is the Eddie Bauer Adventure System. I just HAD to have it. Little did I know, the car seat would be such a pain in the ass and I'd have to take the wheels off the stroller to fit it into my trunk! Luckily, I bought a "previously loved" Graco car seat at a yard sale, so I don't have to struggle with it anymore. I could keep the stroller, but it's a set so I'd rather just sell 'em on craigslist to some poor "style before function" sucker (oh, how naive we are when we're preggers).