This morning there was a community yard sale in my neighborhood. We didn't have enough stuff to get rid of so we decided not to participate. Instead, we woke up early and went for a walk with Baby (our dog) around the neighborhood to see what everyone else was selling. First, I'd like to say that Baby behaved SO well we're considering taking him out to public places more often. He made a friend with the Schnauzer across the street from us and he allowed people to pet with without making a single sound. However, Nick was holding the leash and I was nowhere near Baby. As Cesar Milan believes, my fear would have been passed down to Baby and he probably wouldn't have been as relaxed as he was. Nick has full trust in him and remains calm when people approach him and I think that makes a big difference.
Anyhow, on to the sale stuff. We found a few trivial house things that were brand new and dirt cheap. The big ticket item was a glider. We are now the proud owners of a glider for the baby's room and we're even prouder of the price we paid: $25!!! This is a $200+ glider chair and we got it for $25 including the ottoman. What a deal! It's in excellent condition with no stains or scratches. The wood doesn't match our crib but I didn't care for that price. I feel great about this because it makes me feel "green". I'm recycling baby items! 
After the yard sale, we were still in "baby mode" so we headed to Babies R' Us. I wanted to play with the strollers and car seats that they carry before I make a final decision. I must say that baby strollers are not "idiot proof". I have a short list for strollers and car seats that I'm interested in. Today, I crossed off the Peg Perego Pliko3 stroller. It has a 3 step process to fold which I don't care for, the highest price tag, AND it felt heavier to carry than the other strollers. There were other European made strollers that were unconventional in design-very fun but the price tag was outrageous. We played with them but I couldn't conceive paying that much for a stroller.
We looked at the Chicco Cortina - I really liked the Discovery color scheme (green and gray). FYI: I'm going with green as the base color for everything baby related. It was easy to fold albeit you do need two hands to do it. I can deal with the two hand fold since it's a quick fold. Once we folded it, neither of us could figure out how to open it back up again. We asked another customer in the same aisle to help us and they couldn't figure it out. It took 15 minutes to get a staff person to help us (Babies R' Us is not very first-time parent-friendly). I was ready to cross it off the list at this point. It turns out I wasn't "lifting" the lever high enough, I was just clicking the release button. Once we got that clear and my frustration wore off, it wasn't bad. The Chicco is definitely the best option out of the selection we saw today. However, I'm not ready to let go of the Inglesina Zippy yet. I want to compare them side by side. I'll be asking my friend who owns a Zippy to come with me w/her stroller so I can play with both of them at the same time and make a final decision. Nick is sold on the Chicco Cortina travel system- mostly because you can get the travel system for $289 and be done with it. Whereas if I choose the Inglesina, I'd have to spend closer to $350 for the travel system (stroller and car seat separately). The saga continues.
We moved on to bedding. There are only a couple of boy/neutral decor themes that I cared for. Right now, we have narrowed it down (from the Babies R Us selection) to froggies or a very neutral pattern that's green and brown (my fav decor colors). This isn't finalized yet either. So basically I haven't made any final decisions. I did buy a onesie that has an "environmentally friendly" message on it.
BTW, there were displays of various baby products at the store today and I visited the Seventh generation diapers booth. Seventh generation diapers are chlorine-free diapers. I was curious to know how long these diapers take to decompose in the landfill since they are usually seen as a "green" product. As I suspected, they are only chlorine-free -not biodegradable. This doesn't make them dissolve any faster so they actually are just as bad for the environment as disposable diapers. That's another product I'll cross off my list. I really want to be as environmentally conscious as I can and I just can't bear the thought that diapers take 100's of years to decompose. I will attempt to use "g-diapers" or cloth diapers for as long as I can.
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