Baby Expo...

Last Sunday, we went to the Pregnancy, Babies and Children's Expo at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (Jeff's Shed) in the city. We parked at Crown for $6, which was cheaper and easier than taking the train in to Spencer Street. We also got free tickets online, basically by signing up to be spam-emailed by them and their affiliates for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, we went with one thing in mind - prams. I had in mind what pram I wanted but I wanted to see if anything else jumped out at me.

We wound up putting a deposit down on the Joolz Day Earth pram in lobster red.

Joolz Day Earth pram, lobster red, $1499 AUD

OK, this pram is insanely expensive, but most of them are. The reasons why I liked this pram over others was because it has leather handlebars (more comfortable and also more durable than the black foam-type ones most prams have which, a lady in the shop when we looked about a month ago pointed out, have a tendency to wear out and split apart), and also because of the height - when the pram is in chair mode, it sits at table height (perfect when at a cafe/restaurant), and when in cot mode, it is nice and high, so not much bending or hunching over requited which saves the poor back, especially as the baby gets heavier. Also, it is nice to be closer to eye level with your baby when you're walking around! I also like grey (but the grey in the Day Studio which was $100 more for quilted handlebars which wasn't worth it, the grey in the Day Earth wasn't as nice a grey), so red it was (I have been keen on a red pram for as long as I've been thinking about prams) - as I told several people, red goes faster!

Me with the Joolz Day Earth in lobster red at the expo!

This pram moves really smoothly and looks really good. The only downside is the small basket underneath the pram, but the plus to that is that it is a fully-enclosed basket as opposed to most prams which have a giant, wide open basket which any distracted parent could have stuff swiped out of, or stuff could bounce out of.

We decided to put a deposit on the pram (picking up in January) because they were having $450 of extras included as an expo special - the nursery bag, the sleeping bag/foot muff (the cover that zips over the front of the pram to keep the baby warm in colder months, and the XL shopping bag. I added a cup holder ($25 from $30) to my order, but I will be requesting a couple of extras as potential birth/baby shower gifts for people who ask for suggestions - I want the Summer seat, the UV cover, and possibly the comfort cover down the track.

We also had a great time at the ErgoBaby stall, as my husband is super keen for what we have (somewhat wrongly) calling the 'baby strap on'. The girls at the stall looked great in lovely orange dresses and were super friendly without being pushy in demonstrating how the ErgoBaby carrier works.

Modelling the baby carrier!

The stall had dummy babies filled with sand to the weight of a newborn (it felt more like a 2-3 month old weight though). Derek was all too happy to try the carrier on and was very impressed with how much the weight of the baby was eliminated as the carrier sits around your hips. Although he is trying on the new 360 model (four positions, front of parent/forward facing baby, front of parent/parent facing baby, back of parent piggy back style, and hip of parent), we wound up purchasing the Original Earth Baby Carrier (which has three positions, all except the front of parent/forward facing baby) as we didn't see it as being worth an extra $80 for one position - the carrier was also on special at the expo. We also got a newborn insert which allows the carrier to be used from birth. I can see this carrier come in really handy when we travel.

ErgoBaby Original Earth baby carrier, black, RRP $143 AUD (plus newborn insert, RRP $35.00 AUD, not pictured)

We got the carrier for just over $100 plus the newborn insert at the expo, so was a good deal. I am keen to give it a go in the real world down the track.

There was sooooooo much on display at the expo - stuff you wouldn't know what the purpose of is, stuff you know you won't need, and stuff I didn't want to look at yet (like car seats - I need to go to a shop and make sure it fits in my small car), as well as stuff I couldn't buy yet because I don't know the gender of the baby (3 weeks to go!).

After, we had lunch at the food court in Crown, before heading home for a giant nap.

This weekend is the long weekend with Melbourne Cup Day on Tuesday - one of the reasons I love living in Melbourne! Spring Racing is always a fun time of year. I have an afternoon tea at my aunty's house this afternoon, movies Monday afternoon, and Cup Day races watching on TV at my Mum's house on Tuesday. I'd like to go for a swim a couple of times at the local pool if I can manage. I also have mountains of work to do which I really can't continue putting off. I will be working every spare minute this long weekend - lucky Monday is 'work from home' day for us this year, as I really need the time as I've got a bit behind with my work recovering from morning sickness (all day) and being super exhausted (I'm slowly coming out of the fog of exhaustion and have got back on the coffee after a couple of months - let's say Thursday morning at work I came to work completely wired, telling everyone I'd had coffee that morning, and didn't blink for a good two hours, lol).

What are you getting up to this weekend? Are you lucky enough to have Cup Day off?