You can use it on the inside or outside of the door

We all live in New York which = no room, no space, no storage, nada! This is where the StrollAway comes in. We were sent the small contraption last week. It basically looks like a large over-the-door hook. I set about putting it up immediately since we are desperate for space. My husband watched me with amusement, sure that it would take me most of the night. Not a chance: it went up in 10 seconds. The StrollAway is made of steel, hangs easily over a door (no drilling or screws required) adjusts to hold most any stroller model up to 35 lbs, and folds flush against the door when not in use. I am in love. Truly, in love. I can’t believe that no one else has thought of this before. My one complaint about it is that the hooks don’t lock into place after use, so I have to resquare them before I put the stroller back up. Okay, so a little thing, but, it does matter to me. This brilliant gizmo is mom-invented, by the way. You can buy it here for $49.99 or at buybuybaby.com or at these Brooklyn stores (which of course is preferable!).

MiniJake
178 N. 9th Street
Williamsburg
718-782-2005

All About Baby
4802 Glenwood rd
Brooklyn, NY 11234
718-339-6212

A Baby Jungle
1715 Avenue M
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-338-1840
www.happymothers.com

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Post tags: in apartment, in new york, metrotots, minijake, storing stroller, strollaway, stroller, stroller storage, where to store your stroller

Be Green Consigment Sale in Brooklyn Spring 2010

Has anyone been to or sold items at the Be Green Consignment Sale in the past? I’m tempted to sign up as a consignor but the pre-organization I would have to do sounds daunting.

The Be Green Kids Consignment Event is happening in just a couple of weeks- and whether you want to consign or buy clothes, the date is fast approaching.  You can buy clothes, shoes, winter gear, Halloween costumes, toys, baby equipment/gear, strollers, and “boutique brand” clothing.

If you are a consignor or volunteer you get first dibs at the Friday morning and afternoon presales.  If you are a new parent (child 1 year and younger) or first time due you have access to the special Friday night presale- so now is  the time to book your entrance. The general public doesn’t get to shop until Saturday. It seems it would payoff to get involved and start your buying on Friday.

Details: The sale is scheduled for October 22-24th (with drop-off/set-up on the 21st) at the Textile Arts Center in Park Slope.
October 21-24, 2010
Textile Arts Center
505 Carroll Street
(Park Slope) Brooklyn, NY 11215

Train: R/M to Union St. or F/G to Carroll St.
Closest Bus Service: B63, B67, B37.

Currently accepting Consignors for the FALL 2010 event. Click here to register. (they only have 10 slots left)

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Post tags: be green consignment sale, brooklyn, consignement sale, consignment sale, resale shop, textile arts center, used clothing

And the calorie burning begins!

My biggest regret after having our babies was not doing a mommy boot camp- get your booty in shape type of class. When I saw the moms who were doing it, I was envious; actually downright green. They had triceps and biceps to die for and they got them while hanging out with their babies, meeting other moms and laughing…really. I thought I could get back in shape on my own. Ha! I never lost those extra 11 pounds after baby #1 and then after baby #2 I packed on another 10. Is it too late for me? No, and not for you either!

Stroller Strides, a fitness program for moms, has classes for new moms and now one for runners.  Stroller Strides is a nationally respected program that gets you in rockstar shape while interacting with your baby and other moms. Worried about being the slow one in the class? Or that the class will be too easy? Classes are designed for all fitness levels and the certified mom instructors know how to work with you.  The classes are an hour long and give you a total body workout combining power walking with toning exercises that incorporate the stroller.

The big value to me? You don’t have to pay a sitter so that you can work out and you can make new friends while having fun.  Did I mention those other moms’ lean legs? That’s the clincher. Sign me up!

Starting Tuesday, October 5th Stroller Strides classes will meet 5 days a week in Prospect Park with new classes added on T/Th at 11AM. Class will continue to meet every M/W/F at 9:30AM.

DEAL ALERT: Sign up before October 5th and they will waive the $50 registration fee.

If running is more your style, 5k training for beginning runners starts on October 2 in Prospect Park. They will start slowly with a combination of walking and running and work towards the goal of running the NYRR Holiday 5k run on December 11. This program is open to everyone, not just moms. It will also be stroller friendly training – strollers are welcome but not necessary. Training will start October 2nd and meet for 10 weeks on Wednesdays at 6:45PM and Saturdays at 8AM.

All Stroller Strides classes and 5k training meet at the 9th St. entrance to Prospect Park.

Contact info - www.strollerstrides.net/brooklyn, annacatherine@strollerstrides.net, 800.972.1623

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Post tags: 5k training, annacatherine, boot camp, brooklyn, class, fitness class, mommy and baby class, mommy and me class, mommy boot camp, mommy class, moms fitness, new york, nyrr holiday run, personal trainer, post baby workout, prospect park, running training, stroller class, stroller strides brooklyn, stroller workout

If there’s one thing we want to protect our babies from in the summer, it’s too much sun, but many stroller canopies don’t offer proper coverage. That’s where the CityShade comes in. Cleverly created by a Brooklyn-based mom, this super stylish yet durable pram shade is a perfect item to splurge on.

The best part is how easy it is to use. Unlike bulkier covers, the CityShade quickly attaches to the front of the stroller’s hoods with Velcro, dropping down to provide full or partial coverage. It’s a great alternative to using a blanket, which can actually pose a safety risk. If you are thinking it’s only useful for summertime, think again: use it through the winter months as a barrier on cold, windy days and as a shield against people poking their well-intentioned but germy hands in your stroller.

What’s really fun is that the CityShade comes in a variety of great colors and patterns to match your stroller. And as a plus, it folds to the size of a CD for easy storage. It’s best suited for children under six months, although it can be used in the upright position for the strollers it’s designed for, which means you can still use it for older children when they’re sleeping. You can order the CityShade here for $69 including shipping, or buy it at Therapie New York on the Upper West Side. Also, check out CityMum’s facebook page and post about the craziest thing you’ve used to shade your stroller for a chance to win a CityShade.

*******
Joy Ferguson has been a financial journalist for seven years in NYC and before that enjoyed traveling and living abroad. She lives in Fort Greene with her husband and two-year old son. Please contact her if you have a product you’d like reviewed.

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This is the third installment of our new feature called “Top of the Shop”. It’s a weekly look at a shop in Brooklyn and its 2 top selling items and then my favorite 2 top items. I hope that you see some new shops to visit or old shops that you might have forgotten about. Let me know what you think.

Our third featured “Top of the Shop” is “Refinery”, a 13 year old woman’s boutique that sells handmade and vintage items in Carroll Gardens. And, surprisingly, they sell shoes too.  There’s a good chance that if you stop a woman wearing Svens clogs in Brooklyn, that she will say that they bought them at Refinery.  This petite shop does a blockbuster business in selling the customized clogs and sandals. You can buy the Svens in any number of ways: low heel, medium heel and high heel in slip-on, sandal or full-back. Do you want patent, antiqued or regular leather? Or how about slits, flower cut-outs, shoestrings, or maybe contrast colored stitching? The owner, Suzanne Bagdade,  gently guides you through the choices and hems and haws with you until you come to your final decision. And sometimes that can take an hour. You can also order customized clogs for your kids.

Sven clogs lined up at Refinery

Her second most popular item in the store are these handmade bags.  Suzanne makes these herself out of her studio in Red Hook.  The bags, although sweet in design, belie the fact they are virtually indestructible. They are made out of waterproof fabric and the straps are adjustable. That means these are the perfect bags for hanging over a stroller, getting dirty and wiping off, and then: adjusting the straps to wear as a nice purse. They range in price from $70-80.

Owner Suzanne's handmade customized bags

My favorite 2 items in her store.

These scarves from the Refinery are nicely priced

I love these brightly patterned scarves that are from India. The yellow and blue-striped crinkle scarves are my absolute favorite. They are $26 each and the other ones are $22.

Salt water sandals can go in the water

These salt water sandals are a great mix of retro, crunchy and “now.”  What makes these sandals so great is that they are comfortable (though you definitely can’t walk all day in them) and that you can get them wet without damaging the leather or sole.  As you can imagine, they are great for children.  Though the childrens’ sandals are sold in tons of shops in Brooklyn, it isn’t as easy to find the adult version. Refinery sells them in all the colors and sizes. At $40 a pair, they’re a nice summer sandal that’s easy to wear from the playground to a night out.

Owner Suzanne Bagdade (how perfect is that name for someone who makes bags?!)

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Post tags: boutique in brooklyn, brooklyn, clogs, diaper bag, refinery brooklyn, refinery store, salt water sandal, scarves, shoe store, store on smith street, stroller bag, suzanne bagdade, sven, svens clogs, svens sandals, womens shoes

at boing!, a baby shop in Brooklyn, talk about baby carriers and other subjects. For some, “wearing” a baby has taken on cachet. Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times Mothers

The New York Times goes on a “babywearing” trip to 2 of the biggest babywearing stores of NY and Brooklyn: Boing and Metro Minis.  They report that, for a lot of these parents, the “last decade’s coveted Bugaboo or Maclaren stroller has been largely supplanted by baby carriers.” Has babywearing become fashionable? That’s what the article posits. As we see images of celebrity parents carrying their babies more and more, “wearing one’s baby has taken on a certain cachet.”

Sales of baby carriers have dramatically increased. “Between 2006 and 2008, overall sales of industry-certified carriers rose 43 percent to $21.5 million, according to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. The ERGObaby, a soft carrier structured like a backpack that was introduced in 2003, has seen sales rise 200 percent since 2007, according to Karin Buck, a company spokeswoman. The Moby Wrap, a length of stretchy cotton that attaches babies to their caregivers with a series of origami-like tucks and twists, has doubled in sales almost every year since it was introduced in 2003, said Marisa Frantz, a company spokeswoman, and it is poised to debut this month in retail locations of Babies “R” Us.”

Regardless of the upswing in sales, the Consumer Product Safety Commission believes that certain carriers are not safe.  Specifically, bag-style slings have contributed to the suffocation of several infants.  “On Tuesday, Inez M. Tenenbaum, the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, announced a forthcoming warning about slings, saying that “we know now the hazard scenarios for very small babies” carried in them. Many specialty stores, like Metro Minis, do not sell bag-style slings whose safety has been challenged, and instructs buyers to position babies in any sling upright and tight against the caregiver.”

Will the “cachet of wearing your baby” supplant the stroller?

There are a group of parents who believe it should. This group defines themselves as “anti-stroller”, like these commenters on a mothering.com forum:

I have seen so many children crying and ignored in their strollers- never leaving the contraption the entire playdate. They are huge, expensive, and are EVERYWHERE anywhere you go.

admitt I am anti stroller. I have used them before, I am not going to lie.. But I am horrible now, I catch myself wanting to run over and talk about babywearing to stroller pushers sometimes, I think I tend to look down my nose a little at them which is snobby and wrong, but only cause they look at me like I have 10 heads for wearing my 16 month old on my back all the time..

Others see the advantage of using a stroller, like another commenter on the same mothering.com forum:

I personally never understood why people needed strollers until my daughter got heavy enough that my joints were affected on long walks (we walk as much as we can, to the grocery store, etc.). Slinging a 25-lb toddler is just too much stress on my knees and hips– it remains comfortable otherwise. The stroller has also proved to be a wonderful way for me to get some exercise. Walking slowly with a toddler on my back isn’t that strenuous, really (except to my knee joints), and I can get my heart rate up nicely while pushing the stroller.

I am happy to see babywearing catch on.  It’s a tradition for many parts of the world and been done here for decades too. I don’t know why it has to be an argument about carrier vs. stroller. I own both and use them for different situations.  Carriers are becoming more fashionable- and why not? Strollers have been going that way for some time.  Whether we like it or not, fashion and design has become enmeshed in our lives. It’s only natural that it would spill into the design of the carriers.

P.S.- there is a Babywearing class this weekend, in Carroll Gardens at Madison Rose Maternity. Here are the details:

Babywearing Class: March 14th at 10:30AM, 313 Court Street between Sackett and Degraw.

This class is perfect for those who are new to baby wearing. They will go over the 5 different types of carriers (available for you to try on) and the specific brands available. From Mei Teis, wraps, ring slings, pocket slings, one shoulder vs. two shoulder carriers, soft vs. structured …They will concentrate on discovering the best carrier for you, your partner and your family’s needs. Class will be taught by Megan Davidson and Tanya Wills of the  With Woman Doula Coop. To RSVP to the store through their website www.madisonrosematernity.com

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Post tags: babywearing brooklyn, boing, boing boing, ergo, metro minis, slings in the city

You can use it on the inside or outside of the door

We all live in New York which = no room, no space, no storage, nada! This is where the StrollAway comes in. We were sent the small contraption last week. It basically looks like a large over-the-door hook. I set about putting it up immediately since we are desperate for space. My husband watched me with amusement, sure that it would take me most of the night. Not a chance: it went up in 10 seconds. The StrollAway is made of steel, hangs easily over a door (no drilling or screws required) adjusts to hold most any stroller model up to 35 lbs, and folds flush against the door when not in use. I am in love. Truly, in love. I can’t believe that no one else has thought of this before. My one complaint about it is that the hooks don’t lock into place after use, so I have to resquare them before I put the stroller back up. Okay, so a little thing, but, it does matter to me. This brilliant gizmo is mom-invented, by the way. You can buy it here for $49.99 or at buybuybaby.com or at these Brooklyn stores.

• All About Baby
  4802 Glenwood rd
  Brooklyn, NY 11234
  718-339-6212
• A Baby Jungle
  1715 Avenue M
  Brooklyn, NY 11230
  718-338-1840
  www.happymothers.com

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Plush for the tush!

Yes, it’s true. James Bond (if he ever settled down….) would have this stroller. Abiie, a new stroller company, has just released a G2G stroller with a “Baby Deck”- a built-in changing table. With a flip, the G2G’s seat bottom unfolds into a sanitary changing table. It has a removable, washable anti-microbial pad, and a secret compartment to store wipes and other baby items. I don’t know how this would work with bigger kids though. However, it it soooo much better than cramming them in the stroller as I do now for diaper changes for my 15 month old- or using those filthy changing tables in the park or at the airport.

The Abiie G2G BabyDeck Stroller can be purchased online at a number of online retailers www.babiesrus.com, www.amazon.com and CSNstores.com. It is listed for $189 on Amazon.

The reviews of it on Amazon are good:

Now we love this babydeck feature bc we no longer need to stop by public restroom. It keeps our 9 months daughter from potential flu bugs. An awesome stroller!

I love the BabyDeck stroller!! My favorite feature is the ‘babydeck’. I can change my baby directly from the stroller seat – where I KNOW its clean.!!

With baby changing deck featured from this stroller, it is life saver for parents when your baby just needs a clean diaper in a few minutes instead line up waiting for the restroom and need to clean the baby changing station for few minutes. We also found another useful feature from this stroller, and we use it as baby sleeping station. Our baby sleeps comfortably in this stroller outdoor.

P.S. It comes in a few different colors.

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How the hinge covers should look on your stroller

By now, you have probably heard about the massive recall on Maclaren Strollers. The fix for the hinge (which has been reported to have severed 12 childrens’ fingers) is a fabric cover that hides the hinge. To get yours you can:

1. Call Maclaren USA toll-free at (877) 688-2326 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday
2. Or visit the company’s website, to get the fix.
3. You can get your Maclaren Hinge Covers locally at:

LuLu’s for baby
44 5th Avenue
between Bergen and Dean Streets
718.399.2540
www.lulusforbaby.com

Maclaren may not be the only problem, as Zrecommends points out: You see, many umbrella strollers, not just Maclarens, have been hazardous for a long time. It’s a risk that is intrinsic to the way many umbrella stroller hinges are designed. I have a vivid memory of a doll stroller recalled in 2007, because our daughter Zella, then three, had one. The primary hazard was fingertip severing, and the fix was a retrofit kit that shielded kids from the hinge, just like Maclaren’s does. That toy stroller had the same basic design common to umbrella strollers, which is why the manufacturer probably thought nothing of it when they produced it. When that recall came out, there were probably people at big baby product companies who said, “What kind of an idiot would use an umbrella stroller hinge on a kids’ toy? Strollers are designed to be opened by adults, not kids.” But what these product designers don’t seem to have recognized was how frequently a child’s finger might get close to that hinge during the opening of the stroller. Kids who are eager to get going where that stroller will take them may start to climb or jump in before it’s been fully deployed.

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