Parental Corner

Roomys_ZA said:
We looking at the 4D Scan option, just need to find someone that decently priced down here in Durbs - what did you pay?
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I can't really remember, I think it was R400 or R500. But there's a certain time when it's good to go for a 4 scan, I think it was around 32 weeks or there abouts
 
So i just composed an email for my family on how we are going to baby proof our house. This is a couple of pics i came up with.

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I regularly arrive at work with either dummies or cars in my trouser pockets. It makes for great distraction during boring meetings ;)
 
matt, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

When I saw those pictures, I could not stop laughing uncontrollably. My face and top are wet with tears from laughing at those.
 
Fivel said:
@matt, great advice. I can strongly second the 'dads get involved'. It is hard work but hugely rewarding!
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Yup. I have 2 kids and have been involved with both from day 1. The rewards are awesome. Stressful at times but love them both to bits.

We have tried to live our lives as "normally" as possible. So while movies haven't been possible in the first few years, we did get out on holidays, trips to family and going out for meals too.

My kids are now 10 and 4 and we are now going to the movies, zoo, etc. All as family. We have fun getting out like this.
 
McT said:
Yup. I have 2 kids and have been involved with both from day 1. The rewards are awesome. Stressful at times but love them both to bits.

We have tried to live our lives as "normally" as possible. So while movies haven't been possible in the first few years, we did get out on holidays, trips to family and going out for meals too.

My kids are now 10 and 4 and we are now going to the movies, zoo, etc. All as family. We have fun getting out like this.
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We have now managed to get both our boys to sit through a movie, they are aged 2 and 4.5. We pretty much do everything with our kids so our meal choices are any restaurant with a play area.
 
Ok so the wife and mom in law went out shopping from pram's / Strollers. And apparently this is the biggest purchase when having a baby? So a sales person got hold of them and sold them on the idea of a R7,500.00 Stroller. I said bugger that. What other brands have you guys bought that where decent and could last 4-5 years and a decent price too?

I have been looking at Grayco and they seem to be the best make locally?
 
Graco is a solid choice as a pram. You get my recommendation iro the brand and most of their products.

We got a McLaren stroller which went through both our children plus a friend is using it for her little one now.
 
McT said:
Graco is a solid choice as a pram. You get my recommendation iro the brand and most of their products.

We got a McLaren stroller which went through both our children plus a friend is using it for her little one now.
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I have heard the McLaren is the expensive brand?

The Graco Ultima T/system is what we looking at.
 
Roomys_ZA said:
Ok so the wife and mom in law went out shopping from pram's / Strollers. And apparently this is the biggest purchase when having a baby? So a sales person got hold of them and sold them on the idea of a R7,500.00 Stroller. I said bugger that. What other brands have you guys bought that where decent and could last 4-5 years and a decent price too?

I have been looking at Grayco and they seem to be the best make locally?
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Pro tip, buy a set of car seat/pram/base that all fit together.

We made a mistake when we got a car seat at the baby expo, we bought just the car seat, not a base or pram that fits because we had a hand-me-down pram from my brother in law, but we learned quickly that it's a big mission to secure the seat in the car with a seatbelt every time, and to then when you get where you're going, then you have to take the baby out of the car seat (where he's hopefully fallen asleep), and try get him comfy in a pram, and then getting back in the car, you have to wake him up again and secure him in the seat, and wrangle seatbelts again. It's a huge mission, and it upsets the baby.

We ended up getting a Graco set instead, which is much cheaper, but works fine, and it's much easier on all of us. You just put the car seat on the base, or in the pram, and it clips in all secure.

The seat that we got was a maxi-cosi one, which I must admit is a very nice, high quality brand, but it cost nearly R2K, and when we went to find a pram and base to fit with it, we found they are also really expensive. The base is a fancy one, and I believe it's the only brand in the country that works with iso-fix instead of seatbelts, but my car is too small and my wife's car doesn't have the iso-fix anchors. So the other option was a seatbelt type base, but then you can't use the same base when you move up to the forward facing toddler size seats, and that was R2300 or so, and the Quinny strollers which fit the car seat (which are also awesome) cost nearly R5K as well. So we bought a whole Graco set for about R2.5K, and we're selling the other seat.
 
Pooky said:
matt, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

When I saw those pictures, I could not stop laughing uncontrollably. My face and top are wet with tears from laughing at those.
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LOL, glad you enjoyed them. I saw them a while back, and I had to go find them again because I thought they were perfect for this thread.
 
Roomys_ZA said:
Ok so the wife and mom in law went out shopping from pram's / Strollers. And apparently this is the biggest purchase when having a baby? So a sales person got hold of them and sold them on the idea of a R7,500.00 Stroller. I said bugger that. What other brands have you guys bought that where decent and could last 4-5 years and a decent price too?

I have been looking at Grayco and they seem to be the best make locally?
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Are you set on buying new? You can save a whole lot if you look at gumtree for great quality second hand stuff.
 
Fivel said:
Are you set on buying new? You can save a whole lot if you look at gumtree for great quality second hand stuff.
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Well, the problem is the its our first child and we would like a new one. Also this prob wont be the last so its an investment for the next etc as MTC experienced with his McLaren.
 
Roomys_ZA said:
Well, the problem is the its our first child and we would like a new one. Also this prob wont be the last so its an investment for the next etc as MTC experienced with his McLaren.
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We did the same and bought new. A couple of other things to consider is that do you want a pram that you can maneuver with one hand. Also consider the size of you boot as some of these prams can on collapse so much.

We decided on the Graco Ultima which comes with a clip in car seat. I agree with MTC on the McLaren, best strollers ever.
 
:cry: Kiddie has to go for more vaccinations this weekend. I feel so bad putting him through that.

I did have a nice surprise though, that my medical aid does cover them without me having to claim or anything, and it's a seperate benefit, not out of savings. Last one, we went to Dischem, and paid R65 admin fee, and they claimed the other R1400 or so straight from Momentum
 
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