Ouch

“I like your Christ,
I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
(Gandhi)

PeaPod Plus



Sorry to sound like a consumer review guide (wait--no, I'm not sorry, darn it--it's MY blog!), but have another children's product to rave about. Just received our Pea Pod Plus travel bed. Ordered it for the upcoming trip to Africa since conventional playards are heavy (yes, even the lightest one), bulky and awkward. And we will definitely have enough baggage.

In a word, this thing is AWESOME. It can be used from birth to age 6, it weighs almost NOTHING, folds completely compact, is super comfy (comes with inflatable mattress, pump & sleeping bag) and completely encloses like a mini-tent to keep bugs out. Ingenious.

What's more, at $75, it's cheaper than most playards.


Yes, it is actually lightweight enough for a kid to carry.

Honored Guest

"It is the parents' vocation to welcome their children as honored guests in their home..."

"Through birth a child is given to parents; through baptism a child is given to God. At baptism the parents acknowledge that their parenthood is a participation in God's parenthood, that all fatherhood and motherhood comes from God. Thus baptism frees the parents from a sense of owning their children. Children belong to God and are given to the parents to love and care for in God's name. It is the parents' vocation to welcome their children as honored guests in their home and bring them to the physical, emotional, and spiritual freedom that enables them to leave the home and become parents themselves. Baptism reminds parents of this vocation and sets children on the path of freedom." (from today's Daily Meditation, Henry Nouwen)

What a beautiful and liberating reminder. Our children are honored guests in our home, whom God has asked us to love and care for the way He cares for us. With a mystical blend of inexhaustible love, kindness, grace and uncompromising truth. Respectful of our free will, yet protectively urging us towards true freedom.

Stroller Hunting.



Yes, I am a researcher. Sometimes to a fault, but mostly for the good of mankind. (And to the amusement and annoyance of my family/friends who like to tease me about it.)

Sometimes I research small ticket items, (colon-cleansing, eye cream, crib sheets) but will most definitely be doing some serious investigating before any medium- to major purchase.

A stroller definitely falls into the latter category. Hey, it's our most valuable piece of baby equipment. In less than one year our stroller has been around the world and around the U.S. on numerous trips--not to mention daily walks, grocery shopping & acted as a travel bed when A was a tiny baby. (Memories, light the corners of my mind....misty water colored memories...of the way we were.) Wiping tear from eye...

So who would have thought that it would be THIS difficult to find our new stroller. You see, they no longer make the A3- and have split its' functionality into two separate models (the Prammette and P3). Further, in comparison with our A3, the quality felt markedly lower, with regard to handle, push & turning radius.

As such, I have been researching this purchase from one end of the world, to another.

Must haves: Comfortable seat with multi-position recline, stability, great push, compact fold, very large storage compartment, resilient wheels (read--can take a variety of road conditions), relatively lightweight, overall high quality-- I could go on. But it's been harder than you'd think to find all of this in a single stroller. I've even spoken with several 'Stroller Consultants' and the owner of a stroller company.

So what did I decide on? That will be unveiled in due time. In the meantime, here are a few of my findings:

For us, the perfect stroller is worth it's weight in gold. That being said, in my view, the highly regarded Bugaboo is overpriced. It is a beautiful stroller--but honestly, this company has been making the most of appealing to what we, in marketing call, 'Early Innovators': people who like to be at the forefront of trend-setting and who are willing to pay a premium for status. Personally, though I appreciate the minimalist design aesthetics and product innovation Bugaboo brought to the market, I am hopelessly practical and rebellious when it comes to status symbols. (Side rant: sorry to offend anyone who's into this, but it strikes me as quite hilarious that people will pay lots of money (way more than they can actually afford) merely to be a walking advertisement for someone else's logo--to achieve the 'high regard' of people who are impressed by such simple foolery. As a marketing professional, I get the effectiveness of preying upon people's low-self esteem and penchant for materialism, but as a human, something is philosophically very wrong with the fact that so many are such willing slaves to this smoke and mirrors.)

All this to say, that while I am not blind to aesthetic value and don't mind paying more for quality & innovative functionality, there needs to be a balance between the need and good stewardship of means. The stroller we ended up purchasing, though not cheap, matches Bugaboo's innovative functionality and is a way better value. (By the way, I did even consider accepting my sister's offer to use her 7-year old, well-kept, Peg Perego. Alas, though it has served her well and is in overall good condition, it is starting to show it's age; it no longer steers well and veers strongly to one side. A good ab workout, but for the most part not practical.)

The Quinny is a very cool stroller, but has almost no storage space whatsoever. (An absolute MUST for us.)



The Easywalker Sky is a very cool Dutch stroller that you'll be hearing alot about in the future, as it is apparently really giving Bugaboo a run for it's money in Europe. But unfortunately, I couldn't demo this stroller and wasn't convinced that it had enough storage space.



By the way, the Britax Vigor is probably the best buy in this stroller-type, if you don't need much storage space.




I considered purchasing a good umbrella stroller, just for travel, like the Combi Cosmo (a great little stroller) but this category just isn't heavy-duty enough for the way we travel.



Some of you may have noticed that the most inexpensive strollers available at Target, etc. have the most storage, and indeed they do. Alas, they don't usually have the best push, turning radius or fold. (I will say: this type of stroller is perfectly adequate (and it would be silly to spend more) for those who need baby-wheels only for an occasional jaunt to the park or mall.

Even considered a 3-wheeled jogging-type stroller like the Urban Advantage...but these are not light and definitely do not fold small--and you just never know what kind of rental car or taxi you might be trying to cram this thing into!



More info. on our new workhorse to follow after we have had the chance to put it to good use for a week or so.

Product review: Peg Perego A3



So I ran over our stroller. Our beloved stroller. No, thank God, the baby was not in it.
And the strange thing was that I've hit possums that felt like a bigger thump. Anyhow, it was a sad, sad day because we loved everything about the A3. Multi-functional pram, large basket, great push, fold, etc. Only 1 product weakness to report: this stroller cannot take being run over by a Ford Explorer. (You gotta hand it to A3--he doesn't look too bad, all things considering; but structural damage was definitely done.)

Happy Birthday, Mom
We love you!

Name: Dorie Lee Shaw (other alias: Soapie, Schotzkie, Doe, Mom, Nanny, Nanaý)
Born: September 24, 1957
Civil status: Married to Kevin Shaw, 34 fun-filled years
Children: 3 incredible specimen
Grandchildren: 4 adoring fans, ages 1-12


Mom and Dad, taken Thanksgiving 2006


Locket, 1974: Mommy & B



Mom
B, Kell, & Kir
Arizona, lookin' hot & bow-chica, ca. 1985


Thanksgiving 2006: 'Nanny' with her grandkids, minus Lance


Nanny & Gailk--silly as ever together.

Nappie Showdown II:
This time it's personal



Background:
As you may remember, Pampers Cruisers were our pick in N.S.

This time, we tested an inexpensive brand--the new Luvs with Bear Hug stretch against 1.) our reigning champion, Cruisers, and 2.) what we call our 'daily didees'--the Kirkland brand 'premium' diapers. Note: on very careful inspection, I am convinced that this private label nappie is actually a Huggies Supreme in disguise. In any case, it has become our daily go-to because Costco sells them in bulk for around $0.19 each; Luvs cost about the same. Since Cruisers range from $0.30- $0.40, this is a savings of approximately $22-$40/month.


Here the lab crew prepares to employ the Scientific Method

In Nappie Showdown II, our test was 3-fold:

1.) Preliminary Test

Each diaper was examined in its’ original state for thickness, materials, etc.

• Bulk & material
  The Luvs and Pampers felt thinnest and lightest when dry. Kirkland was slightly bulkier. Luvs has an inner blue panel which is supposed to improve absorbency, but which didn’t add any bulk to the diaper. Pampers has a premium dry-weave fabric which is intended to pull liquid away from the baby’s skin and allow it to breathe better.

• Stretch & fit
  All three competitors have stretchy tabs on the side, which give a much more comfortable fit, not to mention better protection from leakage. Luvs and Pampers seemed to have a more contoured fit. However, the Kirkland brand provides extra comfort and tailoring with stretchy material throughout the entire back waist. All three also had stretchy panels throughout the legging area for added protection against leakage.

2.) Roadtest

• 200ml of blue, scientific-looking liquid was poured into each diaper and allowed to settle for a few minutes; we did also observe how quickly the liquid was absorbed as it was being poured.
  
  
• In addition to feeling how wet each diaper felt to the naked hand, we did the patented ‘Paper Towel Test:’ we held a piece of paper towel on the wet spot for 5 seconds and then looked to see how much liquid transferred to the towel.

• It occurred to us that there might be a difference in how diapers perform when subjected to #1 and #2. So, for the first time ever, we tested the addition of a substance meant to simulate baby poo: porridge with prunes. Each diaper was blessed with exactly ¼ + 1/8 cups porridge.

3.) Lab Rat

Throughout the past week or so, Audrey has worn all 3 brands of nappies in real life.

It's a tough jury and she cannot be bought;
Except for may be with blueberries.

Test Results & Conclusions:
When subjected to the liquid, both Pampers and Luvs felt extremely dry to the touch and showed no sign of wetness on the paper towel, whatsoever. The Kirkland brand had slight wetness to the touch and on the towel.

Interestingly, both Luvs and Pampers had a slightly cool and gel-ish (not wet) feeling on the outside of the diaper—giving the (accurate) indication that they were wet on the inside, while the Kirkland brand had a very dry, sturdy feeling on the outside. In other words, if you are a parent using Kirkland brand diapers, you cannot use the old ‘squeeze the bottom a bit to ascertain whether or not it’s wet’ test.

Our Lab Rat tests on Audrey confirmed our ultimate conclusions:

While all three diapers performed very well and none leaked, the Luvs and Pampers outdid Kirkland in dryness--the single most critical factor, in our opinion. Both were equally dry after 200ml of liquid, although the Pampers did seem to absorb a tiny bit more of liquid from the ‘poo.’ This may be due to the dry-weave fabric (ladies, dry-weave technology is a breakthrough, no?)

However, given the fact that we were not able to verify this scientifically or accurately, and that Luvs are significantly cheaper, we are very surprised to crown Luvs the best overall value. While we still love Cruisers for the feel of their dry-weave, our test results indicated that the Luvs with new stretchy side tabs keep baby just as dry.

Breakfast @ Audrey's


We heart Saturdays. On this particular one, Audrey shanghai'd mommy's headband and, remarkably, knew just what to do with it. This is 100% her coiffe.

(Also pictured, our beloved Trip Trap chair!)

We watched daddy mow the lawn...



and bust a sprinkler head again (the bane of his existence)
Notice the discouraged posture.


... Audrey saw her first rainbow...


...And the 'do' makes an encore presentation, with a side-view, for ladies who are wondering just how she achieves this regal look.

Love Retreat


On our wedding night, we stayed at the Channel Road Inn--a lovely B&B in Santa Monica. Since we didn't really get to spend much time there (got in late and flew out early next morning) we've talked about going back--which we did for a little 2nd anniversary, 24-hour retreat.



The Channel Road Inn is a renovated Victorian home with 14 bedrooms.






Our bathroom(any place with l'Occitane toiletries is all right with me)


Our private sitting room


The living room downstairs

And a lovely time it was! As if just being alone together wasn't enough, this beautiful & charming B&B is located right next to the beach! Once we parked, there was no need to drive anywhere; a welcome change in L.A.! There are even wonderful restaurants right across the street. (Had dinner at the Brass Cap; excellent!)

What a treat to be together, relax, read, take walks and bike rides...eat a leisurely B&B breakfast!








Reminded of us of our wonderful honeymoon.

Audrey had a fabulously fun time with her cousins.

2 years



Happy Anniversary to us!

Considering ourselves extremely blessed, we celebrate and remember the best day of our lives--and all of the wonderful ones since. How much has happened in 2 short years! Last year at this time, we barely had the energy to stumble out of our new baby 'cave' for a few hours to ourselves. Who would have thought we'd have a baby before our 1st anniversary? Not us! (P.S. Matt B.: Yes, the math works.)

Our joy is tempered only by the heartache we feel for the sudden death of our cousin, Vicki's beloved, Tom, last week. We do not dare take one single day for granted.

To borrow the words of a famous song for my beloved husband:
I love you more today than yesterday, but not 1/2 as much as tomorrow.

Party hardy!


This past week has been a full one- Sunday we gathered at the Orr residence to celebrate some big family birthdays--Chapman, Jesse, Dad, Nanna (80!!!) and Jeanie (50!!)





It was a gorgeous late summer day...balmy and breezy. As always, Mindy dished up an occasion to remember--'surf & turf', cake, presents & family love.








Jeanie and Melina--looking lovely, as always. (Don't they just look like mother and daughter?!)


As always, Jay can be relied up on to take quality photos (unlike the ones presented herewith.)


Audrey sorts through the gift after-mass, reading people's birthday cards, etc.