The time has come for my second official product review. Just a reminder - I have purchased this product myself and the manufacturer has not asked for my feedback, I just love gear and an audience.
I tried out the Kelty TC2.0 (transit child carrier) once Miles had outgrown the convertible infant seat. I could no longer haul that car seat around with him in it, it was too damn heavy. And I don’t always like using a stroller so I needed a different option. I tried putting Miles on my hip with a sling and that worked well but I wasn’t 100% hands free. I still kept an arm around him as a back up measure of safety.
I decided on the Kelty transit carrier because it looks like a regular backpack only it has the added feature (bonus) of being able to hold your child as well as your gear. The maximum load weight is 40 lbs so it can be used for quite awhile. Unless you have an exceptionally large child like mine who will probably outgrow it by the time he is 1. The other cool feature is the little zip off backpack that makes a great diaper bag. You can store all of the kid things in the zip off section and then store your own things (yes, you do still have items that are just for you, just think about it for a little while and you will slowly start to remember) in the larger section. We like using it at the local Farmer’s Market where it gets pretty crowded and tight for a stroller and we need a place to put all of our purchases.
It takes some adjusting to get the carrier fiting just right but there are so many buckles and straps that eventually you can get the perfect fit. The carrier also comes in some fun colors to liven up your look!
I’m not sure if I have mentioned this already but we are in the process of setting up a web store to sell innovative juvenile products. It will be a good way to sell our products (starting with the AirCrib) and for me to get a discount on other cool products to support other companies with unique ideas. I have become the self appointed buyer which is like a dream come true! I have always thought that being a buyer would be so cool. You get to find neat new products and try them out. Now I realize that it isn’t all fun and games, that you have to find products that other people will like too. So hopefully my taste is not too unique and others will purchase what I bought. We have a really great line up of products that we found at the ABC Show last month. I will also be reviewing each product here so you can read about why I like each piece so much.
We have sold and shipped an AirCrib! Actually we have quite a few orders in hand and lots more in the works since our debut at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas. But we shipped our first non-sample AirCrib this week! Now if only we had some more I could actually start shipping against our other orders…
Life in our household is back to sane again. Last week was probably the worst week that I have had in a very long time. Miles was in and out of daycare due to some “uncontainable” bowel movements. Apparently an intestinal bug traveled its way around his class and kids were in and out all week. Fortunately he seemed to feel fine, unfortunately it was not the best week for me to miss work. My mom and husband were able to fill in some to help out. We managed to make it through and I spent the weekend in a drunken stupor just relaxing with no schedule or agenda. By Sunday I was finally feeling human again and ready for the week to start.
My life is completely crazy right now and if only I could get a decent nights sleep then I might be alright. Miles was sick last week with a fever so I kept him home from daycare. Because work is so busy right now that meant that I got even further behind. I’m not complaining, if my baby is sick then my numero uno priority is to take care of him but life outside of our family doesn’t slow down one bit while we are on the sick wagon.
Then we went away for the weekend to a wedding on Cape Cod. The wedding was fantastic and I had a blast dancing the night away. We hired a sitter through an agency and she was wonderful. So wonderful that I stayed out a whole hour later then I had planned. That still meant that I was in bed by 10:15. How lame am I? Miles was a party animal, he was up all night. Not really but it sure felt like we were back in the newborn days. He finally got up for good at 4:45. I had taken the care to rent us a condo rather than a hotel room so that we would have room to take care of Miles. That morning the condo was full of hungover wastoids trying to sleep off the wedding bliss that they had felt the night before. So Miles and I were stuck in the bedroom where our own hungover wastoid (my husband, his father) was trying to catch some zzzzs.
I thought that was an early morning but that was nothing compared to Sunday morning. On Sunday morning Miles woke up at 3:45 and between screams thought that it was a good time to play. That morning we were staying at our friends’ house and their 2 year old was in the next room. Not cool to wake up the neighbors Miles, not cool. So we cut our visit short, packed up the car, and headed home at 5 AM. Miles slept for the entire three plus hour trip. And we all took a nice two hour nap at home that afternoon.
The night waking has not ceased upon our return to home. And he was kicked out of daycare for having the squirts. He can’t return until Wednesday.
And through all of this I am scrambling like mad to get our really cool press kits out the door. So dear editors, please take pity on me and publish something, SOMETHING about the AirCrib. Please.
From time to time I will post a product review. I must preface this first review with the disclaimer that I have not been asked by anyone to share my opinion but rather I have taken it upon myself to give my unsolicited feedback. All products reviewed were purchased and not donated (hopefully some day I will be famous enough to have products delivered to my doorstep). And finally, for numerous reasons, I will only discuss products that I recommend. ’Nuff said, now on to the good part…
My first ever product review is on the Me Too chair by Phil & Teds. I love this chair! I have brought it with me to restaurants, grandparents, and on a weekend trip.I have also used it as a spare high chair when a friend stops by with their little one. Gone are the days of using a dirty high chair in a restaurant.
The Me Too chair is available all over the web, just google it so that I don’t have to put a link in here. I wish that I could give you a code to use somewhere to get a discount but alas, I don’t have one. Hopefully we will be selling it on our soon to come web store (more on that in another post) but I haven’t started the process yet.
Bottom line - buy one. And hopefully you haven’t bought a highchair already cuz this could save you some cash.
I am responding to Katja’s call to action regarding local mom fashion. Burlington is full of all types of fashion from hippy to trendy. Most moms tend to dress sporty casual during the day and trendy or preppy for going out.
Baby joggers are a HUGE necessity here since most people are so active and all brands and versions can be seen around town. Slings are also very popular.
Babies are dressed in a minimalistic fashion. Old Navy and Baby Gap are the most common look - not a lot of ruffles and teddy bears. And a very popular activity is taking your baby to baby yoga in your Subaru or SUV.
Like I said earlier, the trade show was a huge success. We came home with some great leads and even orders! Nathan and I have been busy following up on all of the inquiries for samples and trying to put together a sales team. Stay tuned for some hot product reviews featuring the AirCrib.
As is always the case in Vegas, the real fun happened at night. I can’t really get into all of the details because, well, you know, I just can’t, it was Vegas. But there were all nighters, celebrity sightings, and a missing persons report (everything turned out fine in the end) thanks to my college friends who joined me. Unfortunately I wasn’t as interesting as them and retired after dinner each night. I used to be the wild and crazy one who they tried to keep up with but motherhood has tamed me.
I have so much to say that I will break this out into at least two posts, maybe more.
Last week I packed up and flew out to hot, hot, hot Las Vegas for our first trade show, the ABC Kids Expo. It was the first time that I left Miles and I don’t want to do it again any time soon. I really missed that little guy!
Anyway, I flew out to Vegas (did I mention it was hot there?) along with one of my two pieces of luggage. After all of my luggage arrived safe and sound I dragged it out to the taxi stand. Or at least what USED to be the taxi stand. They moved the stand and its endless miles of rope. The line was, as always, exceptionally long and smack dab in the middle of the (hot) sun. When it was finally my turn I collapsed into the cool air of a cab and nursed all of my old injuries that had resurfaced as a direct result of dragging the huge bags though the miles of taxi stand ropes.
We arrived at the convention center and I dragged the luggage to our booth. The booth looked great! All of our efforts to design an eye-catching and interesting yet low cost booth paid off. We also had a killer location - right on the main aisle. From the moment that I hid my bags until the end of the day our booth was full of people. We were ecstatic! It was the light at the end of the tunnel.
One of the best parts of the day was when a woman stopped by to take a look. I started giving her the sell and explained the how, what, and why. It turns out that she was from Babble, an online parenting magazine that I love. She was searching out new products to put on her blog and our product was selected!
We also had some neighbors stop by with their babies to try out the aircrib:
Emma, from Baby Snaps
Hayden, from Snug and Tug
All in all, a very exciting day at the show.
After the show (now this is where the fun begins) we hit the first bar that we could find in the hotel and partook in a little happy hour magic. It was definitely needed. And following that was a delicious dinner outside (not so hot once the sun goes down) on the strip across from the Bellagio water show. Definitely the best seats in Vegas and the food and company wasn’t too bad either (I had to include that in case any of my coworkers read this).
More tomorrow…
I am quickly becoming a blogaholic. I’m not addicted to writing posts (but I think that is about to change) I am addicted to reading them. Last week I was in blog heaven. I returned from a week of vacation and was knee deep in blog posts that I had to catch up on. Leslie, one of my fave bloggers, was writing a guest post for Karly. The post was about swearing and generated a ton of comments. It was one of the few instances where I read all of the comments. And they made me laugh pretty hard.
Today I was in a vacant office with my breast pump humming away (lovely visual, heh?) and catching up on some more posts. I stumbled upon one that referenced Leslie’s hilarious guest post and it got me thinking of all of those funny swear words again. When I finished pumping I packed everything up, opened the door, and saw this:
Some prankster thought that it would be funny to barricade me in with AirCribs. With the recent blogs on my mind I started to yell, “Ha ha, pretty fucking funny” just loud enough for the entire office to hear me. Instead I stopped mid sentence, paused, and yelled out something so gargled that it probably made absolutely no sense. Real smooth.
The unveiling of the AirCrib at the ABC Kids Expo is only a few days away. We are getting very excited here at the office and working like mad to finish all of the last minute tasks.
Even more exciting for everyone is the socializing that will go on. I am meeting up with three friends from college, two of whom I have not seen in over a year. We are going to squeeze into one hotel room and live it up like we did back in the day. Well, kind of. Now that I have a baby my living it up sessions are nothing like they used to be. Staying up past 10 o’clock - crazy! Yup, I am still the party animal that they once knew. They might be just getting in at 6 AM but I will be up and getting ready to go out. Does it really matter if you do Vegas by night or by day? I think I know the answer to that question…
Two of my coworkers will also be hosting guests - a girlfriend and a wife. Thankfully the girlfriend and the wife don’t go with the same person, although that could make things very interesting!
It will be my first overnight away from Miles. Being the overachiever that I am I couldn’t just break myself in with 1 night, nope, I am going to do FOUR. It will be tough but I will spend so much time fending off the shots that my friends send my way I won’t have much time to think about it.
