Out with the old, in with the new

Well, New Year's Eve didn't exactly go out with a bang this year at Nappy Valley Central. Our original plans having fallen through some time ago, we felt too exhausted by Christmas and illness to make new ones, so we sat at home, nursing the remnants of our colds and giggling at Meet the Fockers over a bottle of champagne, before going to bed at five past twelve to the sounds of distant fireworks.

And thus it was that we woke up at 8am on January 1st (the Littleboys having granted us the most amazing lie-in) feeling fresh, reinvigorated...and ready to reassemble prams.

One of the Doctor's cousins is about to become a father, so we decided to take the opportunity of a family New Year's lunch to hand over some of our baby stuff that is no longer in use: a newborn carseat, the beloved Baby Bjorn bouncy chair, the sling, a playgym - and our original Bugaboo pram. Since we've had the double buggy, we've hardly used it (which brings me quite neatly to the below*) and unlike most people we know, we haven't sold it on eBay. It was still in the position designed for older babies, so this task required locating all the other bits and pieces and converting it back to a carrycot. It was all such a hazy memory we had to hunt down the instruction book. After The Doctor had spent the best part of half an hour on his stomach in the kitchen reattaching bits of velcro, we had a good look at all our high quality baby equipment and said to each other, "My God, we must have spent a lot of money - were we mad?".

In one way it felt good to offload some of the contents of our house, as when we go away to the US it will all have to go into storage anyway, and it was nice to feel that we could provide a member of the family with some decent stuff. But in another way, it felt a little bit sad - the Littleboys are becoming bigger boys and we no longer have a tiny baby. Even if we had another (which remains unlikely), it was a reminder that, for the moment, those days have gone.

Still; new year, new challenges. Getting Littleboy 1 out of nappies at night; getting Littleboy 2 to drink from a beaker, rather than a bottle, of milk in the morning. Getting ourselves ready to move continents in five months time....argh. Have decided I will think about that on January 6th. It's still Christmas, isn't it? Pass the chocolates....

*I'm not really into the idea of reviewing/plugging products on my blog, but I have to admit that when I was contacted by the buggy company Bugaboo recently to have a look at their new social networking site, Bugaboo Friends, I was intrigued. After all, Bugaboo is a brand with which I have had a close relationship.....

Let's go back in time (cue eerie music)...to May 2005. When I met up with my class of NCT girls shortly after we all had our babies, six out of eight of us were pushing Bugaboo Frogs. The Doctor and I had chosen it, not because it was the 'trendy' pushchair of the day (we had never been cool, and were not about to start) but because it was slim and compact - suitable for the narrow doorway of our Victorian house. It also had good, robust wheels - suitable for the dodgy pavements of Lambeth. I assume my NCT friends had thought likewise.

For the first 18 months of Littleboy1's life, it went everywhere. It was light to push, and versatile - I especially liked the carseat plus wheels combo that meant you could put the baby straight from car into buggy without waking them.

But, oh Bugaboo, Bugaboo - you missed a trick. Because, when my NCT group and I all had our second children, we all appeared with another pram - the double Phil and Teds. The Bugaboos were put out to pasture.

As far as I am aware, Bugaboo don't do a double buggy, but, like the Carlsberg ad says, if they did, it would probably be the best double buggy in the world. OK, they do a 'buggy board' where the older child can stand on the back, but this is a) only suitable for short trips, particularly if your age gap is small and b) has a habit of turning your shins black and blue as you smash into it while walking.

So what do I think of Bugaboo Friends? Well, it looks good - there's a gallery of photos of people all round the world with their Bugaboos and there are some nice features, like suggested walks in different cities. But to be honest, I'm not sure I see the point. Why would I want to be friends with someone just because they are a fellow Bugaboo owner?

I think I'd prefer it if Bugaboo had invested their cash in dreaming up a double Bugaboo. So there's your tip, Bugaboo. Go and do that. Then you'll really strike gold in Nappy Valley.