And the winner is.....

The Baby Jogger City Mini Double

After MUCH deliberation and many, many spreadsheets (I couldn't manage to capture pictures of them to post and show you) we decided to go with the Baby Jogger City Mini Double Stroller in Stone/Black.

Here is how it won....

• It is side by side


• It has two fully reclining seats that are easy to recline and with the 2011 model they add a back board to offer more support and solve an apparent slouching issue that parents complained about in the past


• It has two separate, retractable canopies with significant coverage and with 2011 model, they apparently fixed an issue where when you used the car seat adapter you had to remove the canopy. Now the canopy can remain in place with the adapter in use.


• It is small enough to fit through most doorways


• It is one of the smallest when folded with wheels still on and is only 10" inches high when folded which is considerably smaller than most strollers in this category


• It is also pretty light and was the lightest of my finalists which makes me picking it up and putting it in the car easier


• It doesn't have an automatic lock when folding but for putting it in/out of the car it holds its fold and when traveling it does have Velcro straps that you can attach and we might look at getting a travel bag depending on how we feel the straps hold up when moving...at the same time that would be a pain to deal with at the end of the Jetway boarding with two kids!


• Not as easy as I would like for a fold as it does require two hands but for the category of stroller it is in, it is the easiest. The only way to avoid a two handed fold would be go with Maclaren Triumph which is an umbrella stroller and didn't have the smoothness for long walks that I wanted


• It is compatible with my car seat. Although it took buying an adapter for more than I would have liked to pay, it is adaptable and after talking through scenarios with John we feel it would work best for us and was worth it. And since this was the cheapest option of my finalists, even with the adapter we stayed lower than some of the others.


• The storage is there but completely not accessible other than small things. However, when I evaluated how much storage I need now, I realized it wouldn't be that big of an issue....or at least I hope so!


• Able to handle brisk long walks, as well as trips to mall/zoo etc. Will not be able to be used for jogging but as I thought about it more and more, I stopped taking Peyton jogging awhile ago because she was so heavy...why would it be any different with two kids! And I have a wonderful jogging stroller for me and Graham and whenever I get a dose of super mom strength and decide to take Peyton.


• No adjustable handlebar for John but honestly I use the stroller more than he does so it became void


• It did take about $100 more in accessories (rain cover, parent console, snack trays, bumper bar) but again the price point was the lowest of my finalists so when I added all of those (and considered what accessories would need to be added to other strollers) this stroller still came out the cheapest


• Finally....I have seen it in person and Peyton liked it and I have several friends who highly recommended it that have used the single version and now bought the double for their kids.

After a LONG time researching I finally did it and ordered the stroller but since I wanted the 2011 model (they made several modifications that I feel were worth the $30 price increase) I have to wait....they said they start shipping January 8 but we will see, for now I am on a pre-order list expected to arrive 1/13-1/19.

I am so happy to have that baby to-do checked off of my list....and even happier that there are very, very few more baby stuff left to do!