Having Luka more than two months early on neither of the two continents we currently call 'home', has had an obvious impact on our level of preparedness. Bearing in mind the comment by a good friend and colleague of Chris' when I mentioned to him all the 'stuff' it seemed we needed for the baby, he simply responded 'they didn't used to need that much', we figure that most of the 'stuff' we would pick up along the way. The one thing we knew we had to have was an infant carseat. Off we went to the only baby store in Darwin where, to our horror, we found a Chicco Key Fit for nearly $500 (USD)!
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Whoops! How to have your baby re-confiscated by the
special care nurses in no time!! |
Now, I may have been unprepared for this whole ordeal, but I was not
that unprepared. As part of what little upfront research I
have managed to complete prior to the birth, included a renewed subscription to
Consumer Reports, a non-profit organization committed to testing and independently reviewing products. As such, I have had our carseat picked out for months, and was intending to pre-order it to Cape Town. Fast forward to our present location and the rather urgent need to obtain one unless we want to be seen carrying Luka from the hospital and to the airport on the lovely paved sidewalks.
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| Just kidding! He's with daddy! |
Back to the story of the carseat in Darwin - needless to say, we were horrified that we would now have to pay more than three times the price of the same carseat available on Amazon for $165. So what to do? Well,
Facebook the dilemma of course! Within 20 minutes a friend and former colleague (well, boss really) of Chris' at the
UN Office for Project Services in Afghanistan offered to hand carry the seat from his current base in New York City, to Brisbane, where he was headed, from where he mailed it to us. Easter holidays included, our seat arrived in less than two weeks, and
just in time for me to avoid having to walk Luka home on Friday (though 'arrived by plane, left on foot' does have a nice ring to it).
Million thanks Bruce!
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| My first car ride. |
Hi
ReplyDeleteAlready Luka looks like a worldclass traveller! He looks too cute! Congratulations, and thanks for the lovely photo. And yes, for us all that lives so far away, it would be lovely if you could keep the blog ongoing.
Love Skoonma