Brewtiful Fiction: Excited to unpack the pushchair, must be a mum thing

I was EXTREMELY excited when I got an email last week to tell me that I had been picked as one of ten other people to be a Maxi-cosi reporter and that I was going to be testing the newly improved Loola pushchair.

Well those of you that know, will know I am a huge pushchair addict, infact at this moment in time I have four pushchairs in my house, Daddy Hazelden thinks this is absurb, I on the other hand think I could do with atleast a couple more.

Being a Maxi-cosi reporter means that we will get set four tasks to complete with our pushchairs over a 4 week period. Our first task was to unpack and put together the Loola, now I bet you are all thinking that this task is way too easy, well yes it is simple but when you are rushing to to piece it together without looking at the instructions first (I may be talking about me) well then it could take slightly longer than anticipated.

Firstly let me just show you the box the Loola arrived in.

I have to say I was glad my mum was around when the pushchair arrived because it was well and truly suctioned in the box.

To get it out was like a game of tug of war, my mum held the box whilst I held on to the pushchair and we both pulled.

Luckily neither of us fell over in the process and as you can see we managed to release the Loola from the clutches of the cardboard box, you can now all breathe a sigh of relief, phew.

Now to admire all the lovely parts that came with the Loola :

* instructions (important part!!!)

* parasol clip

* bumper bar

* car seat adaptors

* seat unit

*chassis

* raincover

* baby nest

*hood

In the email we received about the first task, it did say in the worst case scenario we could read the instructions, so I took this to mean that I really should try without them first. Having had a Loola previously, I found it simple to unfold the frame, first moving the handle bar up by clicking the button on each side of the handle. Then I pulled up on the other white bits on the side of the frame, I really should learn the name for those. I then clicked the seat unit into place, one side at a time. Then I was left scratching my head, the frame seemed a tad wobbly, so I may have had a sneaky peek at the instructions and embarassingly realised that I had forgotton to push down the pedal in the middle of the frame at the back, blushes.

As I was putting together the pushchair I was making note of all the features :

* the seat unit can lie flat

* the harness has lovely padding

* well padded seat unit

* gated bumper bar

* front wheels can be locked using buttons on the frame rather than on the wheels (no dirty hands or bending down)

* easily accesable basket

* one hand recline

* adjustable handle height

One of the stand out features for me so far, is the hood. In this lovely sunny weather we are having at the moment, it is important for me to be able to shade Layla.

The hood attaches by clicking it into the sides of the chassis, zipping onto the seat covers and poppering over the frame at the top, nice and secure!!!

As you can see from the photo to the right, it has many positions, there is even a zip in the hood to extend it further, see the last picture.

The hood itself stands up quite high, which not only gives better coverage from the sun but I think this would allow a child on the taller side to have plenty of room too.

You can also see there is a plastic section which allows you to keep an eye on your little one without having to disturb them, great if they are napping because trust me, you never want to wake a sleeping baby!!!

One of the accessories that came with the pushchair was the raincover, I am really hoping that I don't have to use this any time soon but I thought I best work out how to use it just incase.

So easy to put on, just place over the top and pull down. Your little one won't get drenched waiting for you to fit it if you get caught in a sudden shower!!

There is an elastic loop at the bottom that gets over and behind the seat, no more naughtly feet kicking it off.

It is elasticated at the bottom which allows for stretching and longer legs to have room.

Vent holes on the side allow good air circulation without the child getting rain drops on them.

And it folds down to be very compact, so fits in the basket with ease.

For the grand finale, I had to learn how to fold the pushchair. Easy peasy and before you think it, I didn't look at the instructions this time. It is literally the unfolding process in reverse, put the handle into it's lowest pushing, pull up those button things that I don't know the name of, push up on the pedal at the back and the chassis will slide closed. I was more than a bit happy to find out that the frame can be collapsed with seat unit still attached but not only that, this can be done with the seat unit in either forward facing or parent facing mode, amazing I hear you all cry!!

After all the excitement, my girls informed me that none of what I have written was the best part of unpacking, oh no the best part for them was the cardboard box, so thank you Maxi-cosi for not only the puschair but the packaging too. Have a look at the short video below just to give you an idea of what I mean.