We had used our swing until it didn't work anymore, and it would have cost so much to have the motor replaced by graco that we just decided to look for a "new" one. The bouncer/recliner we had was also so stretched out that the babe would have been resting her tootsies on the music/vibration motor, so we were in the hunt for a new one of those.. Fortunately, our first craigslist score was a product that does both! It is a baby swing that not only does side to side And front to back swinging, but you can also remove the seat from the swing frame and use it as a baby papasan chair! (an added bonus is that the pattern is verrry living room friendly!) Plus, we saved $145 dollars off of the purchase price by going through craigslist! (the key is to look for those people that barely used their stuff, so it is in better condition..and all of our purchases are in such great shape that it makes me a little sick to my stomach that we bought brand new the first time around! ah well, lesson learned :p)
Then, I had noticed on a friend's blog that her exersaucer was really neat: instead of putting the child in a seat surrounded by toys, this model has a toy table that the seat revolves around..this allows the baby to start out on those walking movements, and plus you can remove the seat feature and just have an activity table once baby can stand up and toddle around!! We love it!! The family we bought this from only used it for 6 months since their son walked early, and he was in daycare full time so he barely ever used it! Savings on this item: $50!
Then today, we purchased a travel system that is perfect!! We bought the cadillac of strollers the first time around, and while it is feature-filled and smooth-riding, the graco quattro tour deluxe is also Gigantic!! We had actually sold our travel system in order to have some $$ to put towards our double stroller a while back, so we didn't have an infant car seat or a single stroller. This week, the perfect combo popped up: the Chicco Cortina system. It is a very lightweight car seat that will be much less bulky than our old infant seat, and is rated extremely high on safety and customer satisfaction. Love it!! (plus the fact that it is tan and Pink is an extra bonus ;p) Even though Charlotte will probably be able to go to a booster seat in the near future (as soon as she hits 40 lbs after her birthday this winter), it still made sense for us to have the infant seat since they have changed the reccomendations and we'll be cramming in 3 car seats for a little while! Whew! On the way home from meeting the seller I looked in the back seat and felt like I was driving a little preschool van instead of our family Pilot! haha :D We also like it a lot more than we would have if we'd had to purchase it new...we saved $235 by going the craigslist route..hurray!!
Just so this post isn't all words, here are some pictures of the stuff.
We joked at lunch that now they will let us put her in the car since we have an infant seat again! Baby girl, we are ready for ya anytime after Thanskgiving! :)
