_We are well into the preparation phase for the new arrival, and we have definitely hit the ground running! My Parents and my In-Laws, for both of whom this will the FIRST grandchild (and therefore the best!) have gone a little bit crazy with the gift buying for baby! The kid already has more clothes than I do, and embarrassingly is already more fashionable than me too!

The biggest gift so far has come from the In-Laws. On a short visit to Oz recently, they took us out pram shopping, to see what we liked, and specifically to try out a couple of Swedish brand prams (Brio and Emmaljunga) they wanted to get us as a baby gift. I was told before they arrived that this would be happening....I was not prepared for how involved it would be!

__First of all, Mum-in-Law produces a stack of 4 separate catalogs covering different Swedish Pram manufacturers and their extensive product lines. I remember what my pram looked like when I was little...
a canvas seat suspended in a frame with 4 wheels, that folded up into this long skinny item that was easy to fit in the boot of dad’s car. This definitely isn’t the case anymore!

These days prams are far more complicated.

These days, prams come with OPTION'S.

My car came with less options!

For example:

• You can choose colour
• Wheels (as in the style of Rims)
• If you want fixed front wheels or the swivel kind, or lockable swivel wheels
• What kind of matching diaper bag you want
• Different Chassis Options
• Textile options
• Optional Sun Protection
• Ventilation Options to keep baby comfy (I checked, it surprisingly does NOT come with air conditioning)
• The list goes on and on...

So after perusing the catalogs we track down a shop in Sydney that stocks these brands, and go have a look to get a feel for them.

That’s right, I took a pram on a test-drive, how cool am I?

_The first thing we see when we arrive at this Baby Warehouse place is the fanciest, poshest looking baby carriage I’ve ever seen, all navy blue fabrics, and leaf suspension, and leather and chrome. It's the kind of thing you'd imagine Prince Charles would have been pushed around in as a baby. I’m thinking, that must be like an old movie prop or something, people don’t actually USE things like that, do they?

Well, I was informed by the girl behind the counter that it was actually one of their best selling models, and costs almost $3000 dollars!!
For a PRAM! That's more than my first TWO cars cost put together, it boggles                                            the mind...

The girl then showed us to the prams we wanted to look at, and while still trying to wrap my head around $3000, we took them for a test drive (around the store), and my wife made her decision. Happily, she decided on red for the colour, because as every guy knows that means it will go faster!

_Fast forward a few weeks and I come home from work to find three large, differently shaped boxes in the living room. “The Pram’s arrived!” my wife gleefully tells me. I’m thinking “Yes, and it seems to have brought some friends, why so many boxes?...”

Anyway, we pull it all out and start assembling. Now being a Swedish brand, they have decided to make their instructions those very “helpful” info-graphics with no words describing what to do (not that I’d understand Swedish anyway), so building this contraption takes me a little bit longer than I imagine it would for most people, but we get it done.

_And now the fun really begins. Because what we have before us is not just a pram....

...it’s a bloody Transformer!

_It starts off with a bassinet, that baby lies down in, which can face backwards towards mum and dad, or forwards to enjoy the view. That can then be removed entirely from the chassis, so baby can be taken upstairs while sleeping without waking.

Then when baby gets bigger, the bassinet gets replaced with a fully adjustable reclining mini La-Z-Boy seat that also face both ways, and can be removed, and has a sun parasol if baby doesn’t want to work on it’s tan, and comes with a built-in 5 point racing harness and cross brace bar. I really like that last part, I have no problems fostering an early love of Formula 1, I could have the next Jensen Button my hands here!

I’m still looking to find the iPod jack and the built in Sat-Nav, I’m sure they’re in there somewhere, I just haven’t found the right info-graphic yet. I’m a guy who loves gadgets (who doesn’t, right fellas?) and this thing is a pretty cool gadget!

I didn’t think the pram would be something I’d get excited about, but now I really wanna take it for a spin, so I called dibs on being the first who gets to take baby for a walk to the park.

Yup, prams have seriously evolved since I was a kid. This thing is awesome, and I NEVER thought I’d say that about a pram. During our last trip to the baby shop I even saw After-Market parts for it...Cup-holders you say, um yes please!

Oh, and the best part was when I took a photo of it to show all the parents... it has light up reflector strips...that's right, not only is my baby’s pram a Transformer, it also looks like a Light-Cycle from Tron!

Clearly we are gonna have the coolest baby on the block!

Now I wonder what else we’re, I mean baby is going to get next...