So it's come to this.

When we brought Viv home, we were so panicked and desperate that we purchased our equipment willy nilly with nary a thought to ease of use or any similar considerations.  We bought our stroller and car seat as a set, and I knew they were very safe, but I had no idea they were so damn chintzy and awkward.  I've come to despise the very sight of our horrid, bulky, cheaply made stroller whose parts fall off with a visceral passion.  It's incredibly heavy, I can't lift it with one hand, it's difficult to open and close and it's so large that it occupies the entire space of the trunk and I cannot navigate store aisles without knocking over displays in a comical, sitcomish fashion.

Still, I had no idea that, in a post from several years ago in which I cruelly made fun of parents and their strollers, I would jinx myself into becoming the worst of them.  We bought a Bugaboo today.  More specifically, a Bugaboo Bee, one of the most expensive and pretentious strollers available on the market.  Well, in the top five of pretentious strollers, after Stokke, Inglesina and Orbit Baby, and above Quinny and Phil and Teds, although not by much.  However, we did get the stroller secondhand from Craigslist for a really excellent price, and it had been used a very limited amount of times.  It's the smallest and lightest weight Bugaboo, and folds with one hand and fits behind the front seat of the car.  It is a thing of beauty and genius and I adore it.  Too much.  It's embarrassing.  I still will never get a luxury SUV, though, despite that seeming to be the next link in the fancy pants chain of events.  My Toyota is good enough for this family.