The year was 2009. I was pregnant with my first baby and inundated by all of the gear options. Blogging wasn't "big" back then and I didn't have eleven Pinterest boards dedicated to the best baby products on the market. Resources were few and far between and most of them a bit antiquated. I did, however, have the Welcome to Motherhood checklist that came with the registry sign up at Toys R' Us and as any new mom in the early 2000's would do, I followed it to a "T" when I began registering for everything I would need as I began my foray into motherhood.
Fast forward 6 years (or 1 Kindergartner, 1 Preschooler and a toddler later) and I can't even begin to comprehend how much has changed on the baby gear front. There are so many incredible and amazing products out there on the market today that I would almost, almost have one more baby just so that I could justify purchasing and enjoying them all.
If I had to pick one product to have been completely revolutionized in the last several years, it would undoubtedly be the "travel system" or infant car seat/stroller combination. What was once bulky, lacking significant storage and without variable positioning options is now sleek, stylish and wildly versatile.
Take a look at what I was using back in 2010. Not only was it hardly available in a solid color and incredibly difficult to maneuver on any surface that wasn't as smooth as a tennis court but it was also supremely difficult to clean. Folding it basically required a degree in engineering and good luck if you wanted to attempt to do anything one-handed; steering, folding and reclining all required the luxury of two hands. Speaking of luxury, nothing about this travel system screamed "luxury" at all.
Nowadays, the travel systems available to parents rival the style, class and luxury of my very first car. While this baby-making factory is closed down for good, one of my very best girlfriends recently found out that she's pregnant with her third after having given away every last shred of baby gear in her home. I won't say that this baby necessarily caught her by surprise but...did I mention that she gave away every last shred of baby gear in her home?
When the opportunity arose for me to collaborate with Evenflo and review the Pivot Modular Travel System, I knew it would make an excellent gift for my best friend who is quite literally starting over in the land of newborndom. Since writing this post, I've gifted her the stroller and car seat in exchange for the promise of unlimited baby snugs once the newest member of our village arrives at the end of the summer. Sure she gets some amazing new baby gear but I cannot wait to sniff some freshy baby head...
While I'm not the least bit jealous of the sleepless nights and sore nipples that await her, I am definitely envious of the fact that she'll get to stroll around in such comfort and style. With three reversible strolling modes including (a). Carriage, (b). Infant Car Seat with Stroller Frame and (c). Toddler Stroller, the Pivot travel system allows numerous configurations when on the go with the most precious of cargo. With its Cruiser wheels, ergonomic handle and adult cup holder, not only is baby comfortable while strolling but mom is too.
One of my favorite features of this stroller is the bassinet or carriage mode. When my youngest was brand new, this was my favorite way of strolling the neighborhood with him. As a freshly minted family of five with three boys under the age of 4 at the time, we didn't miss a single opportunity for fresh air. Rather than have to shove my fresh little newborn into his infant bucket seat, I could keep him safely and snugly swaddled while laying comfortably on his back in the carriage mode of the stroller. What's even better is that once your babe is old enough to ride like a big boy without the infant car seat attachment, the carriage mode simply transitions right into toddler mode. No extra pieces or attachments to fuss around with, it's all right there on the original basket of the stroller. So amazing.
The second greatest feature of the Evenflo Pivot is that totally rad over-sized canopy. Its three panels not only offer fantastic protection from the sun's harsh rays but also extra privacy to keep inquiring hands (and germs) out of baby's face.
Storage on a stroller is what location is to real estate. With the size of diaper bags these days not to mention all of the accouterments that tiny babies and their growing siblings require on any given outing, a stroller without adequate storage is basically a waste of money and wheels. The Pivot travel system has a generously sized storage basket located beneath the stroller that's big enough for a diaper bag plus big sister's full-size backpack. In my case, it's big enough for my 2.5 year old to curl up in. It's also very easy to access with the stroller in both Carriage and Infant Seat modes.
Speaking of the infant car seat, Evenflo has quickly become one of my favorite car seat manufacturers on the market. Did you know that Evenflo designs and tests their seats for structural integrity at energy levels TWO TIMES the federal crash test standard? Additionally, they also test their seats to simulate side impact and rollover events. The SafeMax infant car seat featured above has an anti-rebound bar that limits the amount of rebound movement experience in the event of frontal impact. My middle child currently rides in an Evenflo Symphony convertible car seat and for a couple years now I've been nothing but pleased with its performance.
If you're asking yourself "do I need a travel system?" Is it worth the investment? Am I really going to use it? The answer is yes, absolutely. While I wouldn't ever recommend the travesty that I was cruising around with back in 2010, I would highly recommend the Evenflo Pivot Travel System with SafeMax Infant Car Seat. Safety, style and comfort all rolled into one that will grow with you and your baby starting on day one!
Thank you to Evenflo for kindly sponsoring this post.
I honestly and truly thought we'd outgrown this phase by now.
By "we," I mean the collective that encompasses myself and my three sons, ages 6, 4 and 2. I remember reading somewhere, probably on Diply or Buzzfeed or HuffPo, all super-reliable parenting resources, about how intense mother-son relationships could be but I never really gave it much thought until I had three of my own sons, each growing into their own, struggling with their desires for unrealistic independence, like wanting to use steak knives and cross the street without holding hands and cutting their own hair while desperately wanting me and only me to rub their backs before bed, cut up their dinner, buckle and unbuckle their car seats and in the 4 and under crowd, wipe their butts.
Yes, I still wipe my 4-year old's butt and the truth is, it's much better than the alternative of letting somebody with a short attention span and T-Rex-sized arms do a reach around in your newly cleaned bathroom with its illogical white shag bath mats and over-sized bath towels.
The truth is, it's really, really hard when you're the only one for the job. I move through most of my days feeling stretched all too thin tending to their emotional and physical needs. My husband, bless his heart, tries to fix things in only the way that the greatest of husbands can, by gently reminding me that in about 10 years, they'll want nothing to do with me and I'll just be that embarrassing mom who does too much and loves too hard. It's then that I'll want to grab them by their brawny shoulders and shake them all while saying things like, "You used to cry for me to wipe your butts!"
Sometimes I think to myself, "It's your own fault. You did this!" because the truth is, I'm the only one who knows how the baby likes his pillows arranged at bed time and I'm the only one who knows who likes the crust cut off their peanut butter sammiches and who will lost their shit if you cut it in half on the diagonal rather than down the middle. I'm the only one who puts the special cream (Aquaphor) on their chapped hands at night and covers them with the right fuzzy socks. It's me who lays out their school uniforms in just the right place on their dressers and I'm the one who knows how to rub their backs light enough to soothe but not too light that it sends them into fits of tickle-induced laughter. I do the different voices while reading bedtime books and that automatically makes me the Official and Only Reader of Bedtime Stories Ever. Apparently I'm also the most adept at wiping butts because clearly I'm the only one who knows how to fold the toilet paper.
I can't remember the last time my husband changed my two year old's diaper or hoisted him out of the bath tub and not because my husband hasn't tried or offered. He's a fantastic Dad and an incredible teammate on Team Parenthood, although I'm sure there were more than a few diapers he was more than happy to not be a part of. While I'm sure there are better ways to deal with our 2-year-old's irrational demands, rather than hear him scream bloody murder while he thrashes about in the bathtub threatening to break a leg and completely ruin my Friday night by an unexpected ER visit, it's easier to trudge upstairs, wrap him in a towel and hoist him out of the damn bath tub.
This season of motherhood feels like an endless string of asking little people to put on or clean up their shoes while simultaneously being interrupted every 11 seconds because someone hit someone, breathed in their general direction or bent the corner of their beloved Pokemon card. Sprinkle in several hundred "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOMs" shouted from the tops of lungs, five collective hours spent chauffeuring little people around in a car and there's my day in a nutshell.
While my days of feeling like a 24-hr. milk buffet are long behind me and I've slept through the night more times in the last two months than I haven't, I've entered into a whole new season of motherhood and it's kind of annoying. There, I said it. I love my kids so much that I often want to squeeze them until their little heads pop off but I am not nearly as cool and amazing and magical as they think I am. Their Dad is just as amazing at wiping butts and rubbing backs and squirting ketchup onto their plates as I am. Trust me on this one.
I know. I know in five years I could come back here and write a post through tears about how I miss the days when my kids needed me, their little hands reaching out for me, for just one more kiss, one more back scratch, one more story and there's a good chance I might even come back here to write that post, maybe even sooner than that- but sometimes?
Sometimes it's really difficult to be the only one for the job.
