The secret mission to 'walk your way'

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. Time to finally write about the secret mission that we had over Christmas.

When the email arrived shortly before Christmas saying that we needed to do a video of our own version of the Moodd dance my heart sank quite a way. Being 7.5 months pregnant with SPD bad enough I was walking around on crutches when going more than a few steps, standing in front of a camera trying to do a dance where the moves would cause a lot of pain was not how I fancied spending my Christmas. Sooo, it was time to get my thinking cap on.

Thankfully an idea came quite quickly. Ever since the first photo of the Moodd came out with this model in her heels pushing the Moodd it's made me think that to me that's not what the pushchair should be about as there aren't that many Mum's who are like the woman in the picture. Given that the dancers in the demo video are all in little black dresses and heels it really re-inforced that the image being presented wasn't me. Therefore why not do something that showed how it's possible to walk MY way. That's where the shoes came from as high heels and being a mum don't always easily go together.
The different shoes are the different types of Mum's and to me represent the different Mums that the pushchair is for and how they can all walk their own way (including Dad's as did manage to get a pair of hubby's shoes in there for good measure).

Thankfully just after Christmas I had one free day while my eldest was at nursery so I grabbed my standard digital camera (not a camcorder), cleared the table and grabbed various pairs of shoes from the cupboard. The positioning of the shoes is all taken from the dance moves (with a little artistic license) so I just kept moving them around to what would represent the dance. Having edited it up my main gripe with it was the heeled shoes could have done with a polish (couldn't find it). It didn't take too long to do and I was pleased with the results.

I was even more pleased when I heard from Quinny that I'd won a prize in the Quinnycasters competition for creating a dance video.

Here's the video - see whether you like it.

Now the competition has been launched for everyone to enter (as a caster I can't enter the main Quinny competion) and given some of the complaints and gripes that have been appearing on the Quinny page I really wanted to write up how I thought about mine to give a different perspective on the possibilities. The prizes are great with both individual and group categories (with prizes) available. Closing date for submitting videos is 15th March.

Give it a go - if I can do it then virtually anyone can do it. Link is below. I'm looking forward to trying to watch as many of the entries as I can. (facebook link below to the Quinny page)

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/quinny.uk?sk=app_157331111041892

Helps if you look!

Finally found 2 minutes today to have a proper look at the baby nest and found the second set of strap guides that resolves all the problems we were having with positioning Ewan in the nest!
There are a second set of strap holes just under the head hugger which bring him up to the right level so his head just abouut sticks over the top when it's zipped up.

Makes far more sense now - one of those things that we missed it while trying to balance being new parents and juggle a toddler and sort out a new pram.

Time to bang my head against a brick wall!!!

Special deliveries

What a week for deliveries.

I’ll spare you the details of the first part, but needless to say our second son Ewan was delivered safely at 7pm on Tuesday 17^th January, 2.5 weeks early. We were released on Wednesday at lunchtime and arrived home to find a massive Quinny box sitting in the dining room. J

2 deliveries in 2 days, was rather nice. I don’t think Ewan could wait to try out his new pushchair!!!

The box is certainly big. If you’re planning on walking out of a shop with one then it’s seriously worthwhile thinking about whether your boot is big enough as the box isn’t just wide, it’s very deep too. If you get a choice, get it delivered as that must be simpler and save some headaches of getting it into a car. At some point when we’ve got a chance we’ll get the box back down from the loft and try it in the boot of our car – I think it will go, but as it’s a big car I wouldn’t hold out much hope for many people unless you start putting seats down.

Opening the box is supposed to be like opening a gift. Nice theory but in reality it’s a box (especially when tired having recently given birth), it’s rather a pain to have to undo 4 sides and wiggle the top off. I can’t see that many pregnant women (most heavily??) fully appreciating the fiddle of having to wiggle the lid off.

Once the lid is off it was a case of wow. We’ve got the Blue Reliance and the colour immediately sprung out of the box to catch my eye. We got everything out and slowly hubby Andy put it together. – Summary video to follow when it’s been put together. It wasn’t too hard to complete, some of it is similar to the Buzz such as putting on the front wheel and shopping basket.  I think we had the whole thing up and ready for use within about 20 minutes.

First impressions after a visit out:

Looks wise I have compared it to the Buzz in the past and although it does clearly take inspiration from the design of the Buzz, the Moodd reinvents it and takes the style to the next level in class. The back wheels are particularly striking in matt and gloss black with lovely shaping.   The chassis is in principle like the Buzz but has slightly different proportions. Once moving it around, I immediately noticed that the handlebar doesn’t come up as high. It’s still more than enough for most people but I did like the tiny bit of extra height I got with the Buzz as it made pushing it with my wrist problems a little easier when they were going through a bad phase.

The seat is lovely to look at. Rather futuristic but practical. First son who’s a big 3 year old can still get in it (pic will follow another day) and do the straps up so it will take children of most sizes. Having the single hand recline function is lovely and much easier than the 2 handed approach needed with some (Buzz included).

Handling is brilliant. I seem to remember that it’s heavier than the Buzz in actual weight but it felt soooooo much lighter, it was an absolute dream to push around the shops. The easiest pushchair I’ve ever manoeuvred with one hand.

Baby Nest:

This is an interesting one and something that I did want to post about fairly quickly. Looking at it my first thought was that it looked fantastic. The colour highlight is beautiful and the button detail a nice touch. Open it up and there’s a young baby head support and another that pads out the bottom so it’s a snugger fit. A great bit of design work is that these are both zipped in so they aren’t going to go wandering yet can easily be removed as babe grows bigger. For use with the pushchair you do have to put the straps through so baby can be strapped in before it’s done up.

My bugbear with the nest is how it does up. Pull it shut and do the zip up fully and the head of your young baby is virtually completely covered. There isn’t any scope to adjust this as the straps holding the nest in position mean there isn’t any leeway to move baby up so they aren’t covered. I think this is a big flaw as I certainly don’t want my baby’s face covered, and if you don’t do it up completely and try to create an additional fold so it’s not covering their face; it does need regular checking to ensure that it hasn’t sprung back up over their face.

There is a simple solution to this and I hope Quinny do take this on board and make the adjustment in future production runs. It needs a second button further down. This would then allow it to be fixed into position (where I’d want it to end up is in the pic below) that is more appropriate for a younger baby.  At some point I will get my friend to try it with her 5 month old to check that this issue doesn’t exist with older babies.

Having said all this about the baby nest, if I was buying the Moodd I would buy the carrycot as well as I prefer young babies not to need to be held in by straps. That’s just my personal opinion and preference as if out for a long day I’d rather they were not restricted by straps in their pushchair/carrycot having been restricted when in the car seat to get to wherever we’re going.

I'm so far very impressed with the Moodd and looking forward to put it through it's paces in the coming weeks and months as we settle into our expanded family life.

More pics from our first trip out:

Nearly time for my Moodd to change!

Happy New Year!

It's the middle of January, the Yezz has hit the shops (comments I've seen so far seem positive) and the Moodd is starting it's way there now!
I've gone for the Blue Reflection which will hopefully arrive in this country next week so I'm still waiting for mine to arrive. Quite useful for me as still trying to sort some of the house out ready for the fun of having toys and gear around for 2 children rather than 1.

If you're itching for an advance look there's now an intro video that Quinny have posted on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll1eABAsL7g&list=UUq_TW6Qh7tciu1IuKLynsFQ&index=1&feature=plcp


I'm really looking forward to giving the Moodd a good workout once baba mc 2 arrives. My Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix is down from the loft and raring to go. It's such a bonus that it's a full travel system (if you have the extras) as I do love the flexibility travel systems offer. On the other hand I'm pretty sure we're not getting the carry cot to test as it's not part of the core Moodd package so it will be interesting to try it out without that option. This means I'll be relying on the layflat option of the seat and the baby nest which is provided with the UK version, and the car seat where it's potentially appropriate or necessary to use it.

At the other end of the scale, my 3 yr old still wants and needs to use a pushchair at times - the way he ran off in a shop today strongly reminded me that he's not ready to be a dutiful walk by my side son yet!!! :-)  He is currently around 17kg so above the weight 'limit' set on the Moodd (yet under that of the Buzz). It's becoming rather a bugbear of mine that so many pushchairs are not being tested and approved to higher weight limits and it's disappointing that Quinny have decided not to get the validation up to the higher weight to match the Buzz. If I was choosing a pushchair it would be one thing that would push me towards the Buzz rather than the Moodd.

Having seen the Moodd in the video it does remind me more and more of an upmarket Buzz, and having owned a Buzz in the past it will be interesting to compare the two, along with the comparisons I'm sure I'll end up making with the Phil and Teds Verve that we got for our double pushchair, and the Baby Jogger City Mini that we've had for a couple of years.

Not one but 2!

The announcement came promptly at 9am this morning on the facebook page - Quinny unveiled the Moodd - quickly followed by ANOTHER new pushchair - the Yezz.

Here's a picture of the moodd:

 

Quinny have said this is the 'first premium pushchair' set to rival the Icandy and Bugaoo types.

On first impressions I though 'OK, an updated Buzz frame with a seat more like the Senzz' what's so different and new about that. Thankfully I found a few more details on the website and after the initial glace it looks a bit more promising. Plenty of accessories including a folding carrycot means there are options for newborns that should be better than the hefty and bulky Dreami that I put up with first time round with the Buzz.

The Yezz is an interesting proposition. Very light weight and portable it looks fantastic for taking on the tube.

When the news first broke I wasn't that sure and lost some of the excitement I had been feeling. I'm starting to get a little of it back, now to wait from news about the Quinnycasting :-).