Crib Acquired!

I bought a crib on Tuesday and just picked it up this afternoon... ah jai (that's what I'll call my baby until we come up with a proper name) now has a bed (sans mattress)! :)

Next items on the list:

• dresser -- probably MALM 4-drawer, the same one I'm using myself
  
• breast pump -- trying to get it for free on Freecycle. If not, Daniel'll have to buy from the States as the manual one I'm eyeing is USD$35 at Toys'R'Us in the States vs. CAD$65 in Toronto. I *think* I can live with a manual instead of electric since I'm planning to take the full year off.
  
• bottles -- plastic, glass, bagged...? As I'm planning to breastfeed, I probably won't buy anything until I figure out how many I need, if at all.
  
• sterilizer -- I don't even know if I need this, or, do I even need to sterilize the breast pump?
  

Food Experiement -- Chickpea Stew, Couscous

I always like to try out new food/dishes when Daniel's gone. This time, I made a chickpea stew and a couscous dish. (No pictures because Daniel took the camera, and neither dish look glamorous.)

Chickpea stew

What:

• 1.5 cups of dry chickpeas, soaked
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 carrot, diced
  
• 3 small potatoes, diced
  
• 1/2 large onion, diced
  
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 2 cups of water
• olive oil
  
• paprika, dry basil, dry oregano, salt and pepper to taste

How:

1. Caramelize onion in olive oil. Add garlic.
2. Add 1/2 can of tomato, carrot, potato, basil, oregano, and paprika. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add chickpeas and water. Cover and simmer until everything is thoroughly cooked and soft.
4. Add remaining tomato, S&P.
   

Result/comment:

• WAY too much chickpeas
• Chickpeas not soaked enough, too chewy
• The tomato was too sour, needed sugar
• Taste was too one-dimensional; could use more herbs and spices
  

Couscous

What:

• 1 box of instant couscous
• 2 baby eggplants, diced
  
• 2 zucchini, diced
  
• 1 carrot, diced
  
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• olive oil
• water
  
• salt & pepper

How:

1. Cook all veggies in olive oil in a cast-iron grilling skillet. Add a little salt to the veggies.
   
2. While veggies are cooking, add equal volume of boiling water to couscous. Cover and wait for 5 minutes.
3. Fluff couscous with a fork.
4. Add cooked veggies to couscous and stir well. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Result/comment:

• Not as disasterous as the stew
• I should stock up on couscous -- they're dead easy and fast to make!
• Could still use more seasoning
• Maybe add some mystery meat (hot dog sausage, BBQ pork, pepperoni) next time, a la fried rice
  

How to Buy a New Car [YouTube]

4.1.5 Rob Gruhl - How to Buy a New Car - Ignite Seattle 2007

Speedo LZR FTW!

I don't normally follow swimming competitions, but 3 days of Olympics and I'm absolutely convinced that the Speedo LZR swimsuit is THE swimsuit to wear if I were to compete in any serious swimming event.

Many Olympic swimming records and even world records were broken in the past few days, and most swimmers (at least among those who qualified for semi-finals) were wearing the LZR. Placebo effect or not, the results speak for themselves.

According to Sab, who is the most hardcore swimmer I know (and she competed at the Master games), said the swimsuit does seem to help shave a few tenths of a second, which can be the difference between gold and no medal at the Olympics level.

If it's so good, then why isn't everybody wearing it? Sab said the swimsuit costs close to $1k and only lasts about 8 swims, because the LZR is--get this--water soluble! It may be money well spent if you're USA swim team--which were sponsored by Speedo anyway--Speedo even gave them a special star-stripe version of it. On the flip side, imagine if you're Zimbabwe or some other cash-strapped country with medal-hopeful swimmer(s) and not being sponsored by Speedo.

Imagine how many swimsuits Michael Phelps is going to run through in the Olympics alone in his quest for 7 gold!

You Know You've Been Obsessed with Strollers When...

... you go to a picnic at Edwards Gardens and you can name almost all strollers which passed through.

(And I must confess I still want the Quinny Zapp, even after I bought the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe.)

Stroller Acquired!

After all the time spent on researching and test-driving various strollers, I bought one on an impulse...




Long story:
With this weekend's weather finally feels like summer, Daniel went to play basketball at Miliken after brunch. Obviously I had no intention of being baked by the sun watching him play, so I went to Markville Mall instead.

I parked my car at the west end (Wal-Mart) of the mall and headed east at a leisurely pace. When I arrived at Sears, located at the east end of the mall, I (very uncharacteristically) entered and (naturally) walked towards their babies department.

Unbeknownst to me, Sears was having a time-limited sale on baby stuff. More specifically, I saw a sale sign by the side walk, "Graco Quattro Tour Travel System $269.99 until 2:00PM Sunday Aug 3, reg. $369.99".

$269.99!!

Being one of the more affordable and popular travel system, Daniel and I saw and "test-drived" the Quattro Tour multiple times already. I generally liked this system, other than it being too bulky and heavy when folded. That's why we didn't buy it even when it was on sale at Toys'R'Us for $289.99 two weeks ago.

But $269.99!

My first reaction was to whip out my cell phone -- it was 13:57; I had exactly 3 minutes to decide. A sales associate saw me looking at it and came over, "Can I help you with anything?"

I wasn't quite sure about the whole thing, "is this Quattro on sale?" "Yes, but for another 4 minutes only. We still have 3 left," she replied, and started demoing the features of the stroller.

I pondered for a split second on whether to call Daniel about this deal, but ultimately decided against it. (He wouldn't have picked up his phone when he was playing anyway.) "I'll take it," I told the sales rep.

While I was paying at the cashier, I noticed they actually had 40% off on selected baby clothes until 2:00PM as well. Alas, the stroller was more important. The sales rep told me I had until 5:30PM today to pick the stroller up at their dock, which was all the better for me, since I was worrying how I could carry a presumably huge and heavy box across the mall!

I thought about how to break the news to Daniel: I originally planned to use the line "Honey, I bought a car (stroller translates to "baby car" in Chinese)." That would probably freak him out. :D

However, he called me before I was ready to leave. I lost my preemptive advantage!

Daniel: I'm done.
Cindy: I'm not ready yet -- I bought a stroller.
Daniel: What??
Cindy: The Quattro Tour was on sale at $269.99 until 2pm at Sears; I saw it at 1:57. I had to act fast.
Daniel: Oh.. ok.
Cindy: I'm going to pick it up now.
Daniel: Alright, take your time.

Playard Assembled!

Continuation of Wednesday's post, Shopping Time:

Around 9pm, while I was busy preparing the next day's lunch, Daniel called from Delaware. "Are you near your computer right now? Can you find me the closest Babies 'R' Us from Christiana Mall?"

I pulled up Google Maps, found the mall's ZIP code, and looked it up on Toys 'R' Us website. The store wasn't too far, but giving address and driving directions to the store got a little complicated, especially when one (or both) of our cell phone's reception was choppy. I figured he has a GPS, so I sent him the address over SMS instead.

Minutes later, he called back. "I checked out both the $59 and $79 playards, and they both looked filmsy. However, I saw a $99 one which has changer. Do you want that instead?"

"Huh? Changer?" My mind was still fixated at the dish I was experimenting cooking, and the word "changer" didn't ring a bell.

"You know, a surface for changing diapers," he explained, "so we can skip the changing table and refund the changing pad we bought."

"Oh. Hang on, let me look it up online." I pulled up the Toys 'R' Us website (yet again, for about the 20th time on that day), and found the item he was talking about.

It looked OK. The customer reviews were high, with many parents swearing by it. The only real concern is the changing table is too low, which shouldn't be too much of a problem for me because I'm not that tall. And I trusted Daniel's opinion that it is sturdy enough.

However, there was still one lingering concern, "just make sure it comes with a full travel bag, not just a wrap." I had to ask that, because I remember I've read not-so-stellar reviews of a few playards where the parents complained the playard wasn't really suitable because there is no full enclosure, so parts could fall off when traveling.

"Yeap I see a zippered bag," Daniel replied. It was a green light.

----

Daniel was back in TO last night. It took him an hour to wait for the playard (still in the cardbox) to come out of the luggage belt -- which it didn't, and, unbeknown to him, was sent to the oversized luggage area instead. We got home after dinner, and I was very eager to open the new toy for "ah jai". :)

First, I noticed the colour wasn't the same as the one I thought he was buying, but that didn't matter to me. Then, I couldn't find any instruction manual in the box. It was slightly concerning, but we proceeded anyway. After a few missteps ("Let's flatten the bottom first." "The side beams lock with a click." "I can't get my side to lock... wait, it says don't lock the bottom until the sides were all locked. Oops, let's try again."), we finally set it up.

When I tried to pack it up in the bag, I finally found the instruction manual sitting in a pocket underneath the mattress pad... at least we did everything right. (Yes, I checked.)

At the same time, Daniel stopped me from packing the playard up, "let's just leave it assembled for showcase." :)

Stroller Search Continues...

The second-hand stroller search was fruitless. In fact, I am now stepping back and reconsidering what I really need from a car seat and a stroller: How am I going to use it? Do I really need/want a travel system, or is a stroller + convertible car seat combination a better choice? Do I really need a stroller for the first winter?

Daniel and I considered our day-to-day "use cases" (sorry, been dealing with those at work today...) for the first few months: afternoon tea, dim sum, doctor's appointment, grocery shopping, mall shopping -- aside from shuffling the baby between our car and whatever indoor environment we visit, we don't have to worry about whether the stroller can handle winter conditions. However, judging from the above list, a stroller which can handle infant (either in a car seat or otherwise) is a must. Since the strollers which can handle infants without the use of infant car seats are often higher-end models (Bugaboo Frog or Cameleon, Quinny Zapp or Buzz with the bassinet), I'm pretty much stuck with a travel system.

At the same time, Amazon decided to throw this Peg Perego stroller sale in my face this weekend. I mean, I haven't even checked out a Peg Perego before! However, judging from my keen observation at Babies 'R Us today (that'd be my 3rd visit to a Babies 'R Us in the past week), Peg Perego seems to be a fairly common choice -- more than half of the strollers I saw (with real parents and kids using it) are Peg Perego. Maybe I can ask my bro to order one for me... On the other hand, the car seat is CAD$300 as opposed to USD$164 on sale at Amazon! And I can only stare at it because it's not sold in Canada, thus not CSA-certified, thus illegal to use in Canada!!! The argony!!!