Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween - hope you like my outfit - what you can't see are the cute socks that look like orange cowboy boots - Mum's crap with a camera sometimes.

Love Elly xxx

Look who's smiling

Despite the rumours of grumbles and grizzles, Elly is starting to smile - and it is no longer wind!

We've met Humphrey

Whilst out and about in John Lewis, we ran into Humphrey

Humphrey is 3 years old.

He is a gentle and soft elephant.

Sometimes he gets a bit noisy (if he is being an indian) or grumpy when he gets tired but usually Mummy says what a good boy he is.

Contrasted with Elly who is 6 weeks old, a gentle and soft siren who tends to be noisy and grumpy when she is not asleep. Otherwise Bridie will agree that she is a perfect princess.

PS. We still didn't find what we wanted at John Lewis.

Pink

Our house is slowly going pink.

Bridie has never been a pink person. I think it has always been a bit too girly for her. And since we didn't know if we would have an Ally or Elly, we had managed to avoid pink presents too.

But no longer.

Not only do we now get lots of pink presents (which I find adorable), I have also taken the step of washing my red T-shirt with lightly coloured clothes. As a result we now have lots of pink stuff.

Except for the angry red look Bridie gives me whenever the topic of T-shirts comes up.

Happy 1 month birthday!

Elly has turned one month old.

We even came close to being awake for her actual arrival time of 2.43am (thanks to Miss Elly herself)

Britax Vigour 3+ roadtest and review

You may have noticed that our blog seems to be less about travelling and London life, and more about our new baby. It seems that the title above ('ramble about the travels and trials of London life') might be inaccurate to some degree now - or at least more trial and less travel.

We can solve this by unifying them into one big blog posting - about how we get our baby Elly to travel in London. If you don't want to read about prams/buggies then stop now.

When we went buggy shopping we wanted something small, light and zippy. So we chose the Britax Vigour 3+ - which is different to the Vigour 3 because it has a plus after it. Apparently. (I guess upping the model number to 4 was impossible because that is what they call their 4 wheel buggy)

Pros:
- Big wheels. I have always believed in theatre you can't beat a big prop. The same goes for wheels.
- Great maneuverability. Goes around corners easily, and can steer one-handed. Perfect for the mother-on-the-go-using-a-mobile-phone.
- Fits in the back of a VW Golf for when we use Streetcar.
- Wheels come off for fitting in even smaller cars. Actually got it in the foot well in the back seat of a small car.
- Not too expensive - at least compared to other options.

Cons:
- A pivoting front wheel can be a problem when making a big step up or down onto a curb as it can turn to the side and go off at an angle. Front wheel is lockable but at the expense of maneuverability.
- Wheels are soft plastic, but still somewhat solid - so can seem a bit hard against edges. Still Elly doesn't seem to mind too much.
- Back wheels are too wide to go down a bus aisle. This of course puts you at the mercy of bus drivers to open the rear doors. Though looking at the aisles, I'm not sure how any buggy could get down them.

We aren't even using the seat part right now as Elly is too small. Instead we have the Baby Safe Sleeper - a cot attachment that can be used directly in the backseat of a car. It also clips directly into the buggy, so Elly can go from house, to buggy, to car, and back again - all without waking her up.

Pros:
- one cot suits all - therefore minimising waking the princess.
- saves on buying a separate cot and car seat.
- attaches using the existing seat belts.

Cons:
- Heavy
- Fiddly one-hand release system doesn't always disengage. Combined with the weight makes it difficult to get Elly in and out of the buggy.
- I think it will only last 6 months before she outgrows it.
- Requires 2 of the 3 seats in the rear.
- Can be a bit fiddly to attach the seat belts to the hooks.
- Has a big unattractive Britax logo on the front

Summary
Are we happy - yes. Elly loves going on the bus, can sleep through the melee at Sainsburys & Tesco, and she draws stares because it looks a bit different.

Out and about in South Park Gardens

Elly had her first trip to the park today.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite what we had requested - instead of warm sunshine, we got cold, grey and raining. Not at all surprising in October really. So Elly was rugged up nice and warm, loaded into her hot rod buggy and given a protective rain cover.

I have this urge to paint flames down the side of the buggy - or to give it go faster stripes. But Bridie insists that would not be the sort of carriage for a lady. I offered to bling it out in pink and frills, but that idea didn't even get acknowledged. Perhaps it is best I'm not left in charge of decorating. (Though I might have to fit a GPS unit on there when Bridie isn't looking - just to geek it up a bit)

On a sunny day this park is normally packed with young families. So much that you can barely see green grass for the number of blankets, picnics, Frisbees and kids. We almost had the park to ourselves today - except for a gardener and a posh man in a suit who seemed out of place. Maybe he was escaping from the credit crunch.