Andrew Saunders (0:1.534)
I can't scroll to the thing fast enough.
Benjamin Brown (0:5.187)
Ha ha ha.
Muamer Razic (0:7.338)
⁓ Okay. ⁓ Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (0:12.558)
All right, guys, sorry for the technical difficulties there. We are still figuring this whole thing out. But welcome into the Dad Verb podcast. As always, I am one of your hosts, Ben. We have mom and Andrew on as well. And today we're going to be talking about the baby gear, the kid gear, the stuff we love, the things we can't live without and the things that just generally make our life as parents easier. So we're going to be going through some of the stuff we've used now that our kids are, you know, I guess when they were little and now that they're getting a little bit bigger. ⁓
Muamer Razic (0:37.001)
⁓ Okay. Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (0:41.602)
that just make parenting a little simpler, which we could all use, right? ⁓ But before we do that, as always, we need to go through our sick check like we do in every episode. So we're now, think, on our third episode. So, Mommer, let's start with you. ⁓ I think we're on three. We're on two or three. I don't know. We're somewhere between two and three. ⁓
Muamer Razic (0:56.041)
⁓ And then ⁓ I'm gonna ruin it either way. ⁓ I know, ⁓ I know, I know. ⁓ Oldest is fine, wife is fine, the baby, I say baby, the two year old Leo is ⁓ sick. Started this morning, I think it's just drainage, but all that drainage turned to gunk, she started throwing up everywhere. ⁓ So.
Andrew Saunders (1:0.594)
Good. ⁓ See, we can't even remember.
Benjamin Brown (1:4.888)
But my- ⁓ no.
Andrew Saunders (1:7.550)
It's not me!
Muamer Razic (1:25.012)
He is fighting something.
Benjamin Brown (1:27.278)
⁓ Not good to hear. ⁓ Alright, so that's one down Saunders. What about you?
Andrew Saunders (1:32.668)
Yeah, so we got a wet cough from one of the other dancers at dance class who showed up with a wet cough. So that was pleasant. It took about three hours for her to catch whatever that creeping crud was. ⁓ We were very happy about that. So ⁓ now two down. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (1:40.280)
goodness.
Benjamin Brown (1:50.942)
Awesome. ⁓ I think I'm the only one. Everybody's healthy in our house. ⁓ dude, honestly, one of the, ⁓ big benefits of daycare, right, is I think we got a lot of our colds and sniffles kind of out of the way. ⁓ I say that now watch next episode. Everybody will be sick, but, ⁓ I we got a lot of the, basic colds and sniffles out of the way. So everybody's good. ⁓ we are. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (1:56.771)
Hahaha
Muamer Razic (2:13.149)
Thanks
Benjamin Brown (2:17.676)
Well, as of the recording of this episode, not as of the distribution of it, we are one day out from Halloween. So we're getting prepped. ⁓ Do you guys have now? I do have a question before we get started. Now, you guys have young kids. We do, too. Do you guys let them pick their own costumes or do you do a family costume?
Andrew Saunders (2:25.810)
Yeah.
Muamer Razic (2:34.665)
⁓ I yeah, we just let them pick whatever well I'll say when they were younger we did a family costume my wife was like, you know, we're going as Harry Potter ⁓ and We all dressed up. She made the poor baby Dobby. I'm like, how are we all wizards in the baby's Dobby? ⁓ I was like this doesn't seem fair She still doesn't see anything wrong with it, but I stand by it to this day. I'm like that just seems wrong Yeah ⁓
Andrew Saunders (2:51.930)
⁓ man.
Andrew Saunders (2:59.388)
You made the baby of the house elf, huh? Wow. Rude.
Benjamin Brown (3:3.073)
Amazing.
Muamer Razic (3:3.516)
but now ⁓ it's just the kids pick whatever they want. We were actually, I think we at like a TJ Maxx or a Costco or somewhere and ⁓ they had their Halloween costumes out and they had like little wearable vehicles. So my oldest picked a monster truck and the youngest picked a race car. And I'm like, that's cool. You guys roll with it.
Benjamin Brown (3:16.814)
⁓ yeah, yeah.
Andrew Saunders (3:22.066)
All right, fair. ⁓ My girls got to pick their own outfits. So ⁓ of the little town I'm in practices Halloween the Saturday before every year. So last Saturday we did Anna and Elsa, the eldest was Elsa, the youngest was Anna, ⁓ for trick or treating. And then they bundled all up and they actually got to ride in the parade because my father is running for city council. And so we had a like truck float kind of thing.
Benjamin Brown (3:22.860)
Awesome.
Andrew Saunders (3:52.125)
and they got to chuck candy at people from the float and that was their day. And then ⁓ for preschool, ⁓ Monday was ⁓ black and orange day. So they got to dress up in black and orange. And then Wednesday was their official Halloween day. ⁓ So they got to wear anything wacky they wanted. And then they got to bring their outfit in their backpack. And my daughter chose a green dinosaur.
Benjamin Brown (3:52.568)
Nice. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (4:5.294)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (4:19.752)
for her outfit for preschool Halloween day. But ⁓ if you go check my Instagram, you should see all the amazing treats I made that were kind of fun for ⁓ Halloween for her class. That was kind of entertaining.
Muamer Razic (4:25.114)
Nice. ⁓
Muamer Razic (4:34.151)
⁓ It made me feel bad about my culinary abilities or lack thereof.
Andrew Saunders (4:37.054)
⁓ That was the goal. I mean, just to make you feel lesser. Yeah, that was that's why I did it. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (4:38.658)
Ha ha.
Benjamin Brown (4:44.906)
Nice. Now Saunders, I know you cook at home. Mom, are you cook? Are you the chef of your house? You're not, okay.
Muamer Razic (4:53.027)
No, ⁓ no, my wife absolutely isn't. She is an amazing chef and anything she makes I love. will occasionally, of course, I feel like this is like the stereotypical dad thing to say, like handle the, yeah. ⁓ So I handle the grill, know, smoke the meats, do all of those things and we'll do breakfast on there. We'll do like dinner sometimes, but everything else she does. I made a joke earlier this week, actually, I was like one week, I'm gonna do dad dinners. Like I will.
Benjamin Brown (5:5.464)
You grill. Are you the grill guy? Nice. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (5:7.599)
gets the grill out, yeah.
Muamer Razic (5:21.723)
I'll do it the whole like whole week where I plan and prep it. And ⁓ yeah, she was she was like, that sounds terrifying. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (5:23.518)
Gordash, ⁓ Uber Eats, pizza. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (5:26.114)
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (5:29.710)
That's amazing.
Andrew Saunders (5:30.760)
Great. But propane or charcoal?
Muamer Razic (5:34.644)
⁓ both I have a, I have like a flat top with a black stone, but then I've got a loco, like it's, it's one of the, like the smokers that's like the, it's got a smart temp one. So it keeps temp a lot more easier. So just depends on what we're doing.
Andrew Saunders (5:36.126)
Alright.
Benjamin Brown (5:39.714)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (5:46.632)
Yeah. All right. All right. Fire it up.
Benjamin Brown (5:47.277)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (5:50.919)
What about you, Ben? Who's the chef?
Benjamin Brown (5:51.096)
Nice, awesome. ⁓ That's me. I grew up cooking ⁓ with my, ⁓ I grew up cooking. So I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandmother and with my mom as well. I grew up, like food was always a big thing. The kitchen was like the place that everybody, know, everything centered around the kitchen. Our table was in there. We rarely ever ate meals in like the actual dining room. ⁓ So I grew up, you know.
Muamer Razic (5:55.962)
Man, I'm slacking.
Benjamin Brown (6:18.050)
being her little assistant, snapping peas and peeling potatoes and all that. ⁓ So I, and just because of our schedule, I'm just happened to be home around the time we need to make dinner for the kids. So ⁓ I'm usually the one that cooks and I enjoy it too. I do thoroughly enjoy like cooking meals for people. ⁓ And I recently, we re-read it our backyard. ⁓
I think like two years ago and put an outdoor kitchen in with like a flat top and I put in a 36 inch coyote ⁓ pellet grill. So it'll sear up to like 700 degrees, but it cooks with hardwood pellets. So I can, I've done a brisket on there. do ribs a lot, you know, smoke chicken, salmon, all kinds of stuff. ⁓ so yeah.
Muamer Razic (6:45.476)
Nice.
Andrew Saunders (6:49.950)
⁓
Andrew Saunders (7:1.118)
⁓ Have you done bacon yet? you done your own bacon? ⁓ my god.
Benjamin Brown (7:4.290)
I haven't done my own bacon. have a whole package of pork belly sitting in my fridge right now. That that's sorta, I have a bunch of pork belly and a pork shoulder that are sitting in our outside freezer that I need to, I need to get on. gotta, I gotta stop slacking now that it's not, you know, a hundred degrees outside every day ⁓ here in South Carolina. But ⁓ all right. So ⁓ yeah.
Andrew Saunders (7:25.394)
I got a, I had a Weber charcoal and one of the first thing I did was an Applewood indirect heat pork belly to do my own bacon. ⁓ It was amazing. Amazing. Best BT BLT I've had forever. Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (7:31.596)
Ooh, ⁓ so good.
Muamer Razic (7:32.025)
Nice.
Benjamin Brown (7:37.304)
Homemade bacon is really solid for sure. All right, gentlemen, so I'm getting hungry now. So ⁓ let's dive into today's topic. So we introduced it at the beginning. We're talking about all the stuff that we have, love, can't live without when it comes to kids. So I figured to make the conversation a little easier, I've broken it out into a couple of categories. So we've got strollers, car seats, carriers.
Andrew Saunders (7:44.273)
Hahaha
Benjamin Brown (8:3.022)
And then a miscellaneous category called stuff you don't think about. And these are the things that usually when our friends are having another kid or having their first kid, these are the things that we give to them that they might not think about that has generally made our life a little bit easier, a little less messy, a little less icky, or just a little simpler. So let's kick it off with a stroller. So I have a lot of opinions about strollers. So if you guys don't know any of our long time listeners,
Andrew Saunders (8:28.094)
⁓ Hahaha
⁓
Benjamin Brown (8:33.122)
We've, I've been a part of the dad verb channel for, for a couple of years now and, and put out, ⁓ several reviews of strollers. So we've had a lot of chances to have our hands on a lot of different strollers. So I know what I like. I know what I don't like. I'm very particular about what I use. ⁓ and let's kick it off with like your top stroller. Like have you tested more than one or have you tried more than one and which one did you like the most? And mama, I'll kick it over to you first.
Muamer Razic (8:33.839)
Thanks.
Muamer Razic (9:0.049)
Yeah, I will say our top stroller ⁓ is and will for the longest time be the Duna. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (9:8.400)
Yes! ⁓
Muamer Razic (9:10.969)
Also a shameless plug for the channel, the DadVerb channel. You guys will see a video about it soon and a video about these items that we're gonna collectively talk about. ⁓ But we actually did the Duna and then we also had tried the Uppa Baby Vista. And I know this is like one of the most popular ones. ⁓ I did not like it. And it wasn't like the quality of the stroller. The quality was great. It was the configuration of where the oldest would go and where I could put the baby in the bassinet.
Benjamin Brown (9:25.815)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (9:33.335)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (9:38.506)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (9:40.771)
I had to put the bassinet on the bottom when the baby was the smallest and like the oldest set up top and the oldest one is at the bottom. Like there's just like little things like that where I'm like the configuration of it just doesn't make sense. And we ended up going from the Duna, which we used until we could max it out as much as possible. Then we went to the upper baby Vista, had that for a while and realized we didn't like how it just fit. And then honestly, you know, we went to, we did two things.
Benjamin Brown (9:47.926)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (10:6.265)
We went with those little cheap umbrella strollers with Mickey Mouse on them for when we had just to take it around anywhere. ⁓ And then we went with a double stroller. ⁓ When I say double stroller, it's like the side by side. ⁓ So looks like it's got bike wheels on the front. I think it's just like a Graco brand. I can't even remember what it is. ⁓ We'll have to drop the link to it. ⁓ But yeah, yeah, yeah, just exactly. Yep.
Andrew Saunders (10:9.939)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (10:10.392)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (10:23.722)
Mm-hmm. Kind of like the baby joggers I think of a baby has a jogging. It's like a general jogging stroller that side by side. Nice.
Andrew Saunders (10:28.830)
Yeah.
Muamer Razic (10:32.717)
that is what we preferred way more after our kids got older because then they could sit next to each other it was easier to maneuver folded down and the configuration was just spot-on for us so that was where like ⁓ after having the Duna and the convenience of it I struggled so much with like the little intricacies of all of the other stroller from like this is just annoying I wish there was a Duna for bigger kids and more than one kid yeah
Benjamin Brown (10:36.150)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (10:49.858)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (10:52.799)
⁓ Right.
Benjamin Brown (10:52.938)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's a lot more to it for sure. All right, what about you Saunders?
Andrew Saunders (10:58.175)
⁓ I mean, so we did a lot of shopping with our first to try and figure out what kit modular system was going to be the best ⁓ and we landed on the Duna ⁓ and We have not looked back. We are we are doing a family. ⁓ I have two dunas I've actually I've bought two dunas. I gave one away as a gift ⁓ And we actually have two likey trikes. So when they come out of the Duna
Muamer Razic (11:24.355)
Mmm.
Benjamin Brown (11:24.878)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (11:26.899)
they go into the likey trike and that is their stroller. So they get strapped into there and they learn how to pedal and steer and it's got the little bracer bar until they're old enough to kind of sit up on their own. And my three year old is currently using it as her pedal trike. So she rides it around the driveway as her bike. ⁓ And she doesn't know this, but her four year old birthday, she will get her first bike and that will ⁓ end her likey trike. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (11:30.445)
Hmm.
Andrew Saunders (11:56.959)
balance bike days. that's yeah, that was our progression. There's one that came out that I really want to see that that did the same thing as the Duna and I don't remember the brand, but it's basically a, like a frame. And there's a car frame. And it, it slides in and out and rotates, but you just land the bassinet in it. And I'm like, I want to try that one. But I've, haven't been bothered to drop $1,200 on a new car seat because
Benjamin Brown (11:59.010)
Nice.
Muamer Razic (12:11.369)
Thank ⁓
Benjamin Brown (12:12.693)
and
Muamer Razic (12:20.282)
Hmm
Benjamin Brown (12:20.514)
Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (12:26.466)
Yeah, that's fair.
Andrew Saunders (12:26.980)
my my $600 Duna still works ⁓ like yeah what about ⁓
Benjamin Brown (12:30.208)
That's fair. So ⁓ I'm gonna break this trend. Maybe hate is a strong word. I have a strong ⁓ dislike for the Duna. ⁓ I did not like it. I couldn't use it. ⁓ I think it's ⁓ in my opinion for our family. I think it does not give me ⁓ enough benefits of a stroller.
Muamer Razic (12:38.909)
Hahaha
Benjamin Brown (12:56.832)
and it gives me more drawbacks than a regular car seat. So it's heavier than a regular car seat and has less convenient, ⁓ storage capacity. ⁓ Because we use our strollers a lot for, know, for out somewhere, ⁓ even, you know, at the grocery store or we travel a lot with our kids. We need like a big lower basket to just throw all our stuff in.
Muamer Razic (13:3.639)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (13:22.486)
And so a couple of the ones that I really liked, so we started out with the, up a baby Vista. That was our number one. Mamert completely agree though. The configuration is a little funky and it has to do with the, the weights of the kids that are allowed. like the top kid can only go up to 35 pounds. The bottom one I think can go up to 50. So you do have to configure it a little bit funny where either the oldest has to be away from you or.
Like when you put the extenders in to make it toddler friendly and put the rumble seat on, it only has a 35 pound weight capacity. That may have changed in later models, but we had one of the original ones. ⁓ but our two, I would say our two favorites that, that we absolutely loved. ⁓ number one was the, well, number one that we use all the time now is the Veer switch and roll. ⁓ so it's the Veer switch and roll stroller system. There's like a jog and roll. ⁓ basically you can configure it to be. ⁓
Muamer Razic (14:10.947)
⁓ Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (14:16.982)
like a jogging stroller, ⁓ you can put two seats on it. There's a 50 pound weight limit on both seats. So can put either kid in either seat. And then there was a lot of like really cool small stuff. So when the kids were smaller, the seats actually, the toddler seats actually convert into high chairs. So you can take them somewhere and there's these little straps that attach to the seat and you can actually attach it to like a restaurant chair and strap them in. ⁓
Muamer Razic (14:44.813)
That's awesome.
Benjamin Brown (14:44.928)
Everything's like wipeable. It's got like a, it has a mountain bike shock system on it, which is adjustable. So as your kids get heavier, you can actually adjust the dampening of the shocks. So if you're going over really rough surfaces, you can soften it up. they're not banging all around the place. ⁓ but that thing has just been an absolute workhorse for us. The storage is great. All those little kind of design features are cool. And then the Cybex Gazelle S was the other double stroller that we used. ⁓ it's a
you know, a front to back, ⁓ configuration. So it's not a side by side. ⁓ and the big plus for that too, was also that it was both a 50 pound weight limit on both seats. And then they have this really unique, it's like a one hand strap adjustment system. So when you put them in it, ⁓ in order to put them in, it's like the car seat where when you put them in, you pull a single strap to tighten it down.
Muamer Razic (15:20.994)
⁓ Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (15:37.932)
That was the same way. So you didn't have to fiddle with it. You just loosen it up, popped them in there, pulled the strap down and they were good to go. ⁓ And that thing we beat up too. I mean, that went everywhere in the back of my truck and was fantastic. ⁓ And then lastly, like for travel for just like a small stroller, we use the, the Colugo compact stroller.
Muamer Razic (15:50.690)
⁓ Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (15:57.390)
because it's the only shoulder we have that you can wear it like a backpack. It fits in overhead bins. It's relatively lightweight. You can change the seats out or change the seat colors, ⁓ depending on the season. ⁓ There's like a cooling seat cover. There's all kinds of stuff you can do with it. ⁓ Those have really been our like three big go-tos, but really the two that we use all the time are probably the Veer and the Colugo.
Muamer Razic (16:19.766)
Those those sound awesome. I'm going to I'm going to advocate for Duna one second just because I love them ⁓ and I will say it's not out in the US yet, but they had two new models. They have the Duna I so like it actually fit within the smaller European standards that needed to be. And so whenever we would go back home, that's what we would try to figure out. ⁓ The second one is it's released not in the US and at some point it's coming to the US post tariffs and everything the Duna X.
Benjamin Brown (16:25.546)
Hahaha.
Benjamin Brown (16:31.127)
Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (16:35.276)
Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (16:44.845)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (16:46.305)
So they actually do address the storage. Now storage basket isn't as big as what you'd see on like a traditional stow stroller, but it's at least better than that little tiny like strap on bag that you had to get for the front of it. And they even added one of our biggest complaints with it was like the lie flat mode. So they've given you the ability to recline the actual Duna. So I'm like, Oh, look at all these great things I can do with it now. So at some point, maybe I'll try that. But the one that you had mentioned as far as I can't remember what it was called, being able to attach it like a, like a high chair.
Benjamin Brown (16:50.563)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (16:56.288)
Yeah, yeah.
Benjamin Brown (17:2.434)
Hmm. ⁓
Muamer Razic (17:15.723)
That sounds really cool because one of the items I have on my list is called the Inglacea Fast Table Chair. And it's this like little foldable chair that you could bring with you and attach it on like, yeah, we love that thing. And I'm like, that'd be cool to like consolidate those into one. But I also admire Ben that you have multiple strollers. For us, it was like, no, I want one at a time. That's all I want to use.
Benjamin Brown (17:16.267)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (17:23.671)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Saunders (17:25.886)
have it.
Benjamin Brown (17:33.179)
So many strollers. ⁓ Yeah. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (17:37.492)
Well, ⁓ I think what I got when I was listening to Ben describe the four strollers he likes is we went with light. We want one device ⁓ that does ⁓ almost everything, and we didn't want storage. I didn't want to carry a bunch of stuff, right? I mean, we always either carried, I have this little daddy fanny pack thing, and it either had like a bottle in it.
Benjamin Brown (17:52.365)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (18:4.216)
Hmm.
Andrew Saunders (18:6.557)
and a few diapers and some wipes. And that was pretty much what we carried. ⁓ Or I had the Tactical Baby Gear Deuce 2.0 ⁓ and that was like our, if we need a diaper bag with change of clothes and mats and all of it, we carried that. Otherwise we carried the fanny pack. ⁓ And I think that's just the big difference, right? You guys were carrying, ⁓ you needed the storage and we went with, we're not ⁓ gonna be those people that have the...
Muamer Razic (18:32.737)
Plus, when Ben does all these Disney trips, I gotta have somewhere to put all the stuff that they get with the ears and the, like, yeah. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (18:36.445)
Yeah. Right. All the additional stuff. Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (18:37.398)
Yeah. Seriously. Seriously. That's, that's the big thing is like the park bag. Like we literally pack a park bag that goes underneath and holds, you know, snacks and food and extra clothes and all that stuff that we, don't have to worry about for sure.
Muamer Razic (18:44.297)
Yeah.
Muamer Razic (18:51.936)
But think that's the, that's like, as all three of us are talking, like that's the point, right? These are what works for us. And I think the key is that's why there's so many different strollers and a lot of them now, there's definitely some that are in great quality, but most of them meet the safety quality and materials and know, standards that you would need to have across the board. And at that point, the rest of it just becomes personal preference. I saw one that you could do like a duck walk and I'm like, a parent who needs it, sure. Like why not?
Benjamin Brown (18:57.326)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (19:6.402)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (19:12.618)
Absolutely.
Muamer Razic (19:17.696)
But like there's so many different things you just have to figure out for your lifestyle and how you're going to be using it, which one makes the most sense.
Andrew Saunders (19:23.519)
⁓ there's one I saw that has wheels to go up and down a stairwell. Like it has the three little climbing wheels and then it just locks in on two and I'm like, ⁓ if ⁓ you live in a fourth floor walk up in New York City and you got a baby, like that's probably a killer mode for you. But I don't know anybody else who needs a stroller that can navigate stairs, right? Yeah, but.
Benjamin Brown (19:23.605)
Absolutely.
Muamer Razic (19:28.500)
Uh-huh.
Benjamin Brown (19:31.393)
⁓
Muamer Razic (19:31.772)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (19:39.488)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (19:43.882)
Yeah, ⁓ it's a very, very specific audience for that. All right. Awesome. So we talked a little bit about strollers. Now I think there's going to be a lot of crossover. We're to go into car seats. Now this is, ⁓ I think there's a lot of personal preference here. ⁓ a lot of car seat choice in most cases depends on the stroller system you're choosing. So most people either choose a car seat and then a stroller system that works with it within the same family.
or you're going to buy a car seat and then need adapters, right? Especially when they're infants, if you're going to pull them out ⁓ in their infant seat and attach them to the stroller base, you're going to need some kind of ⁓ adapter, whether that's for up a baby or Cybex or whatever it is or Nuna. ⁓ So for car seats, I've got a couple of favorites because same deal. We got sent a bunch of seats to review. ⁓ We started out.
Muamer Razic (20:30.335)
⁓ Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (20:37.642)
with the original like UPPAbaby infant seat because we had the UPPAbaby stroller. We just wanted one system to be able to click in, click out, be done with it. ⁓ But recently we've had a couple of seats that we've really enjoyed. ⁓ Most of them are actually from Cybex. ⁓ So there's the Cybex Aton G, which I think was our infant seat. And then the Cybex Serona S. And the Serona S, so I drive a full size pickup, ⁓
Muamer Razic (21:1.054)
⁓ you ⁓ you ⁓
Benjamin Brown (21:7.160)
doors swing out, right? Like I don't have a minivan. Sometimes you're in tight spaces. ⁓ The Cybex Serona S is a rotatable ⁓ infant to toddler car seat. So goes up to a hundred pounds. So it does a, I think it has a 360 rotation. So you can have them front facing, rear facing, ⁓ tilted, but it's basically like one big shell with a, it has a foot on the bottom. So it is really made for like larger vehicles, but that's the one that we've used in
Muamer Razic (21:23.520)
⁓ Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (21:36.230)
all of my cars for the last, ⁓ I don't know, probably two, two and a half years from my daughter, who's now about to be three. ⁓ And then on the ⁓ sort of more affordable end, ⁓ like for my mom's car, we bought a Greycoast Slim Fit because she drives a ⁓ Honda. ⁓ what is the, it's the little bitty Honda. ⁓ Not this, no, it's not the Civic. It's the, no, it's the little hatchback. In any case, it's it.
Muamer Razic (21:58.688)
The civic, the accord.
Muamer Razic (22:4.837)
the the inside.
Benjamin Brown (22:7.244)
It's a very, it's a very small Honda, right? There's not a ton of legroom in the back. we needed a slim fit seat that seemed to work the best for a compact car. And then in my wife's car, we have two of the, the gray Co. I think it's the forever D L X or forever deluxe super soft. You can get them in target. So shout out to target when they do their 20 % off trade in, ⁓ you can trade in an old seat for a new seat. ⁓ So we replaced a couple of seats after a car accident. ⁓
with those and they've been fantastic for road trips. Comfortable, nice, relatively nicely priced in terms of car seats. But what about you guys? What are the car seats that you're using and what do you like?
Muamer Razic (22:36.094)
you
Muamer Razic (22:40.837)
you ⁓
Andrew Saunders (22:47.200)
So after, mean, obviously we use the Duna click in one until our eldest hit, I want to say 25, 30 pounds. There was like a point in which she became too heavy to lift inside the carrier and snap into the car. And so then we switched to the Irma 360 by Maxi Cozy, I think is the brand.
Benjamin Brown (22:59.330)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (23:0.574)
Thank ⁓
Benjamin Brown (23:5.091)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (23:10.168)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Saunders (23:15.824)
I still use them to this day. I own two of them. ⁓ I absolutely love them. ⁓ I have a little bit of issues with one where it sticks on like the 360 release, but other than that, excellent car seat, completely washable. ⁓ It is a little large. Like I find it ⁓ when it's in rear facing mode, you as the adult can't really recline. You can't go back very far. So that is, I would say a
Benjamin Brown (23:26.595)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (23:33.315)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (23:45.005)
a downside to that 360 swivel model. But yeah, yeah, they're wider. ⁓ But I absolutely love it. Like our our two year old is still in it. She's she hasn't even hit 30 pounds yet. So she's still like well with she's grown. She's outgrown the Duna. Like it doesn't make sense to have her in the Duna, but I can still put her in this 360 seat. And then for my three year old, we actually found a company called ⁓
Benjamin Brown (23:48.514)
Yep. Yeah, they are bigger seats for sure.
Muamer Razic (24:10.257)
Thank
Andrew Saunders (24:14.590)
ride safe ⁓ and they have a harness ⁓ and it's a five point toddler harness that we use with the base of a booster seat like a gray co kind of click in booster seat ⁓ and then we strap her in with the regular seatbelt ⁓ and ⁓ what the harness does is it guides the seatbelt over her shoulder it's got a center clip like locking mechanism
Benjamin Brown (24:16.782)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (24:19.453)
Mmm.
Benjamin Brown (24:28.974)
Mm.
Andrew Saunders (24:42.782)
and then it guides the lap part of the belt over her thighs properly. And it's got these like guide rails that clip in that don't bend. And the whole thing is basically a five point harness for her. ⁓ And it works a lot better than any of the booster seats we've ever tried. ⁓ And it's got her out of that official car seat. So she's actually learning how to.
Benjamin Brown (25:0.408)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (25:2.075)
Okay. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (25:5.606)
sit properly and manage her window now and she started to unbuckle herself but she can't undo this harness because it's got a couple like hooking straps ⁓ and it's $60 ⁓ like ⁓ it I can buy yeah I can buy as many of these and I can put them in any car and she doesn't have to use a booster seat we gave her a booster seat so she can see out the windows because she likes that ⁓ but she could just sit in the normal seat with these ⁓
Benjamin Brown (25:14.990)
Yeah.
Yeah, ⁓ super affordable. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (25:34.165)
And I really, really liked them. I went through all the like, is it okay with the highway safety commission, right? These guys are ⁓ ranked, but it's the ride safe harness and they go all the way from, I wanna say 25 or 30 pounds up to like almost 14 or 15. Like they have ⁓ large five point straps for them. ⁓ And then they're really nice. I really like them and it's machine washable. Like I can just throw it in the washer and it's like.
Benjamin Brown (25:39.918)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (25:55.723)
wow.
Muamer Razic (26:0.540)
⁓ you
Benjamin Brown (26:2.976)
And just so you guys know, nobody's going to have to remember all this or rewind through the episode. are we were talking about a lot of different products. We will do our best to link everything in the show notes and in the video description. So if you guys want to check any of this stuff out for yourself, ⁓ you know, based on anything we've said here, you'll be able to go and do that. But, Mama, what about you?
Muamer Razic (26:10.544)
you ⁓
Muamer Razic (26:18.428)
⁓ Similar kind of thing after we left the Duna sphere ⁓ of trying to figure out which car seat worked ⁓ and ⁓ we I think we tried like seven or eight of them. It was just trying to figure out which one we went from everything from like the safety firsts. We still have some of the Grecos and some of the vehicles, the Greco Slim Fit. ⁓ We did some of like the even cheaper ones that we would just go find it like a Target or Walmart and see which one works.
Benjamin Brown (26:38.990)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (26:47.610)
We ended up for our first going with the Nuna Rev, which I have a full-size pickup as well. My wife has an SUV and so it's like how we had enough space to do it, which is a key thing for the 360s. They're great, but you need to make sure you've got space for it. Cause those things are.
Benjamin Brown (26:51.950)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (26:59.446)
Yeah. Yeah. Especially if they have a foot, that's the thing. Like that, that foot, the load legs are great for safety, but they do take up a lot of space. So if have a smaller vehicle, it's going to be a challenge.
Muamer Razic (27:4.420)
Yeah, the load leg.
Andrew Saunders (27:4.734)
Yeah. Yeah.
Muamer Razic (27:9.584)
Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (27:13.236)
I mean, I have a full-size Saban. That's the only way it fits. ⁓
Muamer Razic (27:13.359)
and even the 360.
Yeah. Yeah. And even with the 360 though, ⁓ the mechanism of it just takes up so much space. we thought the Nuna Rev that we have was like, it's fine. It's good. It works. Our kids like them enough, but aren't in love with them. ⁓ What we ended up trying to do was we rotated after we got the Nuna Rev. I think my mom got it for us ⁓ as a gift. And then we're like, what do we get for the second kid and other cars? We tried like a ⁓ five to seven different other ones.
Benjamin Brown (27:33.646)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (27:47.149)
and we actually ended on the Maxi Coci Priya Max. ⁓ So the reason we went with this one is we literally went to the store and we had our oldest at the time just sit in a bunch of different car seats. And he was like, I like this one. He likes the fabric. He likes how it feels. ⁓ We've had this thing for, he's almost four now. He's three, gonna be four in February. He still tells us to this day, I love my new car seat. I'm like, great, this is the one. ⁓ So this is the one that we've like doubled down on and.
Benjamin Brown (27:51.830)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (27:59.213)
Yep.
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (28:11.470)
⁓ Perfect.
Muamer Razic (28:15.227)
when we've got other vehicles and gotten them for other people too. Cause it's not terribly expensive like the Nuna Rev or anything like that, but the fabric's great. It's comfortable and it's so easy to get in and out of the car. And that's what we tried to just focus in on with all the ones that we tested. ⁓ Cause ⁓ I will like go ⁓ on trips or if we're going to ⁓ a shoot or anything like that for work, I need to get the car seats out. So I always wanted to try to find what's easy to get out and what's comfortable. And especially with that 360, I'm like, this is not it.
Benjamin Brown (28:18.990)
Mm-mm.
Benjamin Brown (28:29.165)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (28:40.003)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (28:43.537)
So this is the one that we've doubled down on for now. It's like the maxi-cozy.
Benjamin Brown (28:47.052)
Yeah, that's the thing about like those latch systems is you don't really think about it. Like one of the things that we loved and we did have Maxi cozy seats. ⁓ Like I said, my wife had a ⁓ car accident in June and so we ended up having to replace the seats. But up until then we had the Maxi cozy. I think they were the Priya Max seats. We had two of those. They were fantastic. Easy to clean. ⁓ I will say with some of the, think it was the Cybex Aton G. ⁓ One of the things I really liked about that is it actually had ⁓
Muamer Razic (29:5.177)
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (29:16.746)
It had stiff latch attachments. So I had like these arms that swung out from the bottom. And then you would pretty much just slide ⁓ the seat into place and it would just click into the latch. So you didn't have to do any of like, you know, where you put it in a car seat, you got to sit, basically put your body weight into it and tighten down the latch attachment. And like in the summertime, you got to put them in, take them out and you're just sweating and dying inside your car, trying to get car seats loaded up. This was the simplest latch system.
Muamer Razic (29:20.155)
⁓ Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (29:46.102)
I had ever used and I still dream about that thing to this day because it was so easy to get in and out of the car. ⁓ All right. So let's go on to, we've all talked about ⁓ baby carrying, like right, baby wearing ⁓ something we all enjoyed doing or have done. ⁓ So baby carriers, super personal, like you're going to have to find one that fits you and works for your body and you know, works ⁓ for both you and your partner. ⁓
I know a couple of the ones that we love. had three that we really used ⁓ most of the time. Number one that we used all the time was like this hybrid carrier from Boppy called the Comfort Fit, which was sort of a, it's sort of a mix between a structured harness and like a baby wrap. So basically you have like a bunch of material, but you have actual shoulder harnesses ⁓ to make it a little bit more comfortable or no, so you don't have shoulder harnesses. You just have the stretchy material.
Muamer Razic (30:20.186)
⁓ . ⁓
Benjamin Brown (30:45.038)
but where the baby sits is kind of like a more structured harness. So it kind of keeps them in the right spot. And then you tie all the extra fabric around you to hold them in place. Really soft, really stretchy, and it adapts to either parent, right? you would, some of the more structured carriers, like the other one we loved was the Ergobaby Omni 360, which is a true structured carrier.
Muamer Razic (30:45.850)
you
Muamer Razic (30:56.794)
Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (31:11.406)
It does take a lot of adjustment and fiddling to switch it from one parent to another, which we didn't love. Um, but the boppies, we kept one in either car because they fold down into a little bag, probably about, you know, the size of a, a compact raincoat. And we just stick them under the seats and we always had one with us. And then the last one that we use regularly is, uh, now that the kids are a little older or our daughter, at least as a little older, we use a shoulder harness called the goose kit.
that seems to have been the easiest one to fold down and take with us on trips, but, ⁓ it is. I remember you didn't like the goose kit because it kept falling off your shoulder. ⁓ we use ours all the time and have loved it. So you're, on the, ⁓ you're on the Duna hate fence with the goose kit.
Andrew Saunders (31:42.880)
⁓ Is that the one that we tested?
Andrew Saunders (31:48.160)
⁓ I can't stand that thing. Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (31:54.866)
All ⁓ right. Yeah, well, I actually came across it the other day. And I think we were like, they've got a new baby, they can have this thing. ⁓ Because it like, ⁓ the concept was amazing. But it did not work for my body style. Like, ⁓ it just didn't function well for me. ⁓ Anyway.
Muamer Razic (31:57.544)
You ⁓
Benjamin Brown (32:5.667)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (32:10.029)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (32:15.993)
⁓ Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (32:16.236)
Yeah. That's the thing about all this, right? Like it's all personal preference. It's what's going to work for your body shape. So, I mean, I know what is it? Babies are us doesn't exist anymore, but, you know, if you can find a local baby shop somewhere where you can go test this stuff out, try it on, find someone with a really good return policy, that's going to be your best bet.
Muamer Razic (32:31.033)
Thank
Muamer Razic (32:35.549)
Listen, I want to pause. I'm glad you said baby shop because I was when I was recording the video for ⁓ Like the products that we want to talk about and recommend I said like baby shop or baby store and my wife always like listens in from where I film or her offices and she's like No one says baby store. No one's gonna know I'm like wait, why you giving me a hard time? Of course people say that what else am I gonna say? ⁓
Andrew Saunders (32:35.937)
⁓ You guys.
Benjamin Brown (32:49.869)
Mm-hmm.
⁓ Need to go bye baby.
Andrew Saunders (32:55.925)
Yeah. ⁓ So you guys heard right? Toys R Us is reopening locations. There are going to be six across the country. So babies R Us probably coming back in a little way, little way. We can hope. ⁓
Muamer Razic (33:0.813)
They are.
Benjamin Brown (33:6.198)
Yeah, we can hope, we can hope.
Muamer Razic (33:7.288)
little way. So for us, for us on the carriers, we actually did two separate things. One, the babies always prefer to be carried by my wife. They never like I don't know if it's just like me as a person that they didn't like as much, but they would not what they're just like just carry me normally and not in the carrier. But she she actually did a wrap, which I could never figure that thing out. It was just like a piece of long fabric. And she could just do some kind of voodoo.
Benjamin Brown (33:24.078)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (33:27.853)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (33:31.478)
Yeah. ⁓
Muamer Razic (33:34.038)
and wrap the baby and hold it. And I'm like, I'm never gonna figure that out.
Andrew Saunders (33:35.595)
Right, right. It's a piece of stretchy fabric and a ring ⁓ and you're like, how, how does this work? Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (33:35.842)
Yeah, my sister- my sister-in-law is like that. Yeah.
Muamer Razic (33:40.696)
Yeah, I'm like, I'm never gonna do that. So we got to find something for me. So, so we ended up going with I did the ergo baby Omni that Ben had mentioned, that was my favorite. And it was nice that my wife did the rap because then I could just set it for me. And I didn't have to make any other adjustments. But yeah, the the rap I think they liked and they preferred that over the ergo baby Omni because
They looked like little things in a cocoon. like, yeah, that looks way more comfortable in this thing as comfortable as the ergo baby is. But I'm like, I'm never going to figure out how to do that.
Andrew Saunders (34:8.449)
Ha
Benjamin Brown (34:8.514)
Yeah. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (34:13.665)
fair. So I did so my wife did again, same thing kind of that ⁓ muslin cloth wrap with the metal ring and she absolutely loved that ⁓ it was the best on her shoulders she could she could reposition it. ⁓ The girls were fine in it. I wouldn't say they were like, this is our favorite ever. ⁓ I did the tactical baby gear.
Benjamin Brown (34:13.947)
That makes a lot of sense. What about you Saunders?
Benjamin Brown (34:25.432)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Saunders (34:42.017)
⁓ 2.0 carrier. ⁓ And ⁓ that, ⁓ well, I had a whole theme, like I bought a lot of tactical baby gear stuff. ⁓ I was being bro dad, okay, leave me alone. ⁓ And I absolutely loved it. I still have it. I still have used it. ⁓ My girls loved it. ⁓ Still do. It washes really well. It's very adjustable. ⁓ My dad used it. And then I tried the goose kit.
Benjamin Brown (34:43.949)
Yeah.
Muamer Razic (34:45.432)
because it looked cool.
Benjamin Brown (34:49.998)
You
Muamer Razic (34:51.448)
⁓ There you go. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (35:10.997)
thing when we got the demo, I even had my dad try it and it just didn't work for us. ⁓ But the other thing that I got for kind of a little kid backpack carrier was I got the piggyback scout toddler carrier. ⁓ And what it is, is it's basically a weight belt that you strap around your waist. And then it's got ⁓ shoulder harnesses. ⁓ And for your child, you put them into a three point harness on the top.
Benjamin Brown (35:12.664)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (35:16.334)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (35:26.382)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (35:27.490)
Okay. ⁓
Muamer Razic (35:39.639)
. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (35:40.628)
and then they clip into your shoulder straps and there's a bar that hangs out about where your kidneys are and they stand on that bar. And so ⁓ they stand up and they kind of like have these handles on your shoulders ⁓ or they can run and they basically are standing and holding onto you and it takes all the weight off of your shoulders for having them like behind your neck. It's pretty breathable. ⁓ And ⁓ I have taken the girls on that two or three times. It's a little intense.
Benjamin Brown (35:44.611)
Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (35:48.871)
⁓ yeah, I've seen that one before.
Benjamin Brown (35:54.403)
Hmm.
Muamer Razic (35:55.499)
you ⁓
Benjamin Brown (36:0.899)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (36:10.391)
⁓ Huh. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (36:10.581)
Like it requires two people to get your child on or they have to be good enough they can like stand on a counter or a ledge so that you can clip them in safely. ⁓ So that is the downside. But in terms of comfort and like hauling my two year old and three year old around now that they can stand for long periods of time, it's absolutely amazing. ⁓ It allows everybody some freedom. I'm not really concerned they're gonna fall out and no one ends up all sweaty and disgusting. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (36:14.551)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (36:20.140)
Right.
Benjamin Brown (36:28.450)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (36:38.956)
Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (36:40.063)
And so that's ⁓ probably one of my favorite carriers. I assume it'd work really well in Disneyland or if you're a trail hiking person just because it gives you that freedom of movement. ⁓ Anyway.
Muamer Razic (36:42.007)
⁓ you
Benjamin Brown (36:46.222)
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (36:51.756)
Yeah, the only, the only one that we had that was like that, which I actually just sold and I'm trying to decide if I regret it or not. ⁓ we had the, ⁓ the Osprey Poco plus, ⁓ which ⁓ is, ⁓ I will say, unless you really hiking with your kids, it's overkill. ⁓ it's like three or 400 bucks. It's, it's effectively a framed hiking backpack, right? Like it's got.
Muamer Razic (36:52.294)
you ⁓ you ⁓
Benjamin Brown (37:18.060)
the padded hip belts. It ⁓ literally has a signal mirror inside of it in case you get lost in the deep forest and need to, you know, yeah, you need to signal ⁓ search and rescue. ⁓ But it was once you got it adjusted, it was super comfortable. ⁓ I hiked ⁓ both of our kids ⁓ actually ⁓ right after I got over COVID like.
Muamer Razic (37:22.728)
Gosh, ⁓ a signal mirror.
Benjamin Brown (37:42.770)
in 2021, I think right after Christmas, we had some time off and I was like, I'll take my kid on a hike. That's a great idea after being sick for a week and a half. And so I hiked like three or four miles with our then I think two or three year old on my back. ⁓ And I was I was exhausted. I shouldn't have done it, but I was very comfortable the whole time. ⁓ And they resell really well. They keep their value ⁓ and they wash super well. ⁓ But again, it's a
Muamer Razic (38:1.330)
Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (38:11.118)
It's a premium backpack carrier. It's going to cost you, like I said, about three to $400. It is overkill for the majority of people. It was overkill for us, but it was one of the most comfortable carriers I'd ever used.
Andrew Saunders (38:22.582)
Yeah, see, and that's why I got mine because I think I looked at that one and I was like, this is so expensive. And it was it had a limited use case, right? Like they were only good to like 4030 pounds, like it was a small weight. Yeah. And that's why I went with this this piggyback one is because the weight limits 50 plus pounds like it's ⁓ it's so light on you. It's really what can you tolerate before ⁓ the straps rip? ⁓ And that was
Benjamin Brown (38:28.621)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (38:33.166)
Yeah, yep. Yeah, you can't use it forever.
Andrew Saunders (38:50.454)
That was my big distinguishing factor was, do I get the full-size backpack thing that I'll use once or twice a year, or do I get this thing I can keep until they're like five, six, seven, and maybe ⁓ use once or twice a year, right?
Muamer Razic (38:51.367)
Thank ⁓
⁓ Absolutely.
Benjamin Brown (38:58.307)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (39:2.990)
Yeah.
Yeah. And this is the stuff you got to think about when you're picking these things out, right? It's like, how long are we going to use this? Do we want to get the most out of it? Or is it something we're going to use for a little bit and then get rid of? Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, exactly.
Muamer Razic (39:16.790)
And then also if you're gonna keep it, how, yeah.
Andrew Saunders (39:16.834)
Right, do I want the DeWalt brand or the Harbor Freight brand? Which? ⁓
Muamer Razic (39:22.678)
And also if you're going to keep it, how much of a pain or not pain is it going to be to store? Cause like some of the things that you're like, do I want this? Like, are we going to have kids in a couple of years? Like, is it worth trying to keep this or buying again and reselling? Like you got to deal with that too.
Andrew Saunders (39:27.829)
⁓ god.
Benjamin Brown (39:28.150)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (39:32.972)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (39:36.684)
Right, yeah, 100%.
Andrew Saunders (39:39.127)
the Maxxerma 360 car seat is like having a piece of furniture in your house. It's the size of an end table anywhere you put it. Like it just doesn't store well, right? And like the Leike trike like folds up into this thing about the size of two footballs, right? The Duna is either in use as a stroller or it's like just a carrier. And everything else I have folds up into a backpack.
Benjamin Brown (39:45.560)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (39:52.248)
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (40:4.128)
Mm-hmm. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (40:7.488)
and you can like just hang it on a coat hook, right? And, ⁓ God, some of those things just, yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (40:12.182)
Yeah, storage of stuff, storage of stuff for sure. All right, we're to get into our last category. We're going to do a bit of a lightning round here. OK, so this is this is probably one of my favorites because you don't know this stuff unless you know it. Right. Like these are things that either you wish you had with your first or you didn't buy until it was, you know, a little bit too late ⁓ or things that you were gifted from other parents that just made your life a little bit easier. So we're going to call this category. ⁓
Muamer Razic (40:17.374)
you you ⁓
⁓ Yes, I know the blue one the blue one yeah, I don't yep
Benjamin Brown (40:40.332)
We'll keep it PG stuff you don't think of. ⁓ so things, things that, that make your life easier, but you wouldn't have thought of before you had kids. And the first one I have, we, we affectionately call the butt spatula, but it's, think the actual name. Yeah. I think it's called the bum brush and they make ⁓ a travel size and they make a full size, but
If you have kids that are prone to diaper rash, or if you end up spreading a lot of diaper cream, ⁓ the butt spatulas are it, man. Because otherwise, you're either throwing on a glove or using your hands and getting all up in those little butt cheeks and just trying to get the diaper rash under control. ⁓ And ⁓ it gets kind of squirrely. So the butt spatula, it's like silicone, it's soft. ⁓ It helps you get ⁓ all the cracks and crevices and folds of that little nugget. ⁓
Muamer Razic (41:14.709)
⁓ You're getting all in there, man. Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (41:34.434)
but that's been one of our favorite things and it's something we give to everybody who's having a kid.
Andrew Saunders (41:40.034)
I love the fact that you bought the branded baby butt ⁓ silicone kitchen spatula. Like ⁓ I saw that thing and I went over to the other department at Bed Bath and Beyond and I'm like, look, it's a dollar over here if I claim it's for the kitchen. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (41:48.236)
Yeah, how to present.
Benjamin Brown (41:55.222)
Yep. Yeah, exactly. Hey, man, it's got a suck. It's got a suction cup on the bottom. You can stick it to the counter.
Andrew Saunders (41:57.923)
⁓ That's awesome. ⁓ Okay, you can stick at the things. All right.
Muamer Razic (41:58.396)
It's okay, Ben. Hey, I ⁓ fell for it too, Ben, and we still have it and love it.
Andrew Saunders (42:6.390)
Yeah, no, you're not wrong. You need a butt spatula. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (42:6.626)
Yeah, dude, we've got travel size in the diaper bags. We've got full size in the house. It's awesome. I love those things. ⁓ What about you guys? What's it? What's a thing that was either gifted to you or you discovered that you loved him? Mamma. I'll kick it over to you.
Andrew Saunders (42:12.386)
⁓ That's great. ⁓
Muamer Razic (42:20.284)
Yeah, you know what it is for me? An electric nose sucker. For the longest time with our first, we used like the manual bulb sucker that everyone gets when they leave the hospital. And then we tried like the Frida baby, which I think is still so gross, the one that you like suck it out. And I don't get up, I'm like, this is just gross. But the problem that we found, the problem that we found was that when your kid is snotty and stuffy and like crying and sick, ⁓ trying to hold them down for either one of those two things is a pain. ⁓ And I can't remember,
Benjamin Brown (42:25.303)
Mm.
Benjamin Brown (42:30.049)
Right.
Andrew Saunders (42:35.382)
Doh!
Benjamin Brown (42:35.637)
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (42:47.072)
Yeah, it's a nightmare.
Muamer Razic (42:49.365)
Can't remember if we ordered it or if my mom got it for us or somebody else, but we got, we got, we did too. We did a Frida baby makes a no sucker. But then got another one off Amazon that was way more powerful and like had lullabies and played lights. And then it would just like grab the baby's attention for like the 0.5 seconds that you needed to just get in there. But I'm like, yeah, this is way better than trying to suck it out or use that stupid little bulb.
Benjamin Brown (42:57.730)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Benjamin Brown (43:13.440)
Is it? Do you have the one that plays like wheels on the bus? But it's like the people on the train go to to toot or whatever. Yeah, I hear that song in my sleep because it's just like that that the lights in that song kept them calm enough that we could get their boogers out and they could actually get some rest. So, yeah, electric nose suckers are another one that is 100 percent worthwhile. I have seen people Jerry rig like breast pumps onto the nose Frida like the the one the manual suction one.
Muamer Razic (43:16.616)
Yes. ⁓ Yeah. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (43:16.800)
Yeah, yeah, that's what I have, yeah. ⁓
Muamer Razic (43:27.635)
Yeah.
Andrew Saunders (43:34.380)
and if
Andrew Saunders (43:39.682)
⁓
Muamer Razic (43:40.206)
I've never seen that. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (43:42.082)
Okay. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (43:42.188)
So you can Jerry rig like a manual, like a breast pump ⁓ onto that to get better suction. But I've never, I've never tried it.
Andrew Saunders (43:48.895)
If you're the guy jerry-rigging your breast pump to get the nose sucker, $39.95. Walgreens, they're right next to the pharmacy. They sell these things all day, every day now. You can just go to your local Walgreens and get one. There's no Amazon trip. Like you're be there for something anyway. Just turn left, grab it. It's right there. They're amazing. ⁓ That's great.
Benjamin Brown (43:52.503)
Right.
Benjamin Brown (43:56.984)
Hahaha ⁓
Muamer Razic (43:58.856)
Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (44:6.752)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (44:11.342)
Alright, what about you Saunders? What's your stuff you didn't think about that's now a must have?
Andrew Saunders (44:16.450)
So I have two and Ben probably knows the first one, cause I used as a catchphrase for like the first six or eight episodes that I was on. And it's something that you don't think about. They tell you at the hospital, they send your wife or girlfriend or significant other home with one, but they don't tell you about it. Install a bidet for your toilet now. They're 49.95, you can get them at Home Depot.
Benjamin Brown (44:42.414)
⁓ So good.
Andrew Saunders (44:45.524)
it hooks into the cold water line, go get one. ⁓ Your significant other, your wife, mother, whomever will thank you out the wazoo. ⁓ And he was the father will never be as clean as you have ever been in your entire life because you got to try it at least once. Yeah, a bidet.
Benjamin Brown (44:55.412)
Literally, no pun intended. ⁓ A bidet will change your life. A bidet will change your life. You will never feel cleaner than when you install. We now have them in like every bathroom in our house. They're fantastic. It's I feel I feel very sophisticated when I get to, you know, water jet my butt instead of ⁓ instead using toilet toilet paper like a filthy westerner, right?
Muamer Razic (45:3.570)
you
Andrew Saunders (45:6.614)
Yep. Yep. They're amazing.
Muamer Razic (45:7.350)
Thank
Andrew Saunders (45:16.332)
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Muamer Razic (45:17.746)
⁓ Mm-hmm. ⁓
Andrew Saunders (45:21.596)
Absolutely amazing. And if you want to be bougie, they sell electric ones that will heat up the water and ⁓ play you the radio and things like that. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (45:29.070)
I'm still trying to convince my wife to let me buy a Japanese toilet, but ⁓ I'm not quite there yet.
Andrew Saunders (45:32.559)
Hahaha
Muamer Razic (45:33.476)
Dude, was gonna say I had a trip to Japan and I'm like, this is game changing. The heated seats, the built in bidets, I'm like, this is nice.
Andrew Saunders (45:39.489)
Yeah.
the radio. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Benjamin Brown (45:43.098)
Yeah, the light show plays music. That's amazing. ⁓ One of the things that we love too was ⁓ that you don't really think about that you end up using all the time are water bottles, like just water bottles, water cups. ⁓
God knows we've ended up with so many spills in the back. So the ones that the ones that we've used that have held up the best ⁓ are from Brewmate. So ⁓ kind of a competitor with like Arctic and Yeti and all that. They make specifically just drinkware. ⁓ But we had their coffee cups and like I've got their water bottle here, ⁓ but their water cups. I'll show you guys can't see this on the audio version, but on the video version they have these locking lids.
so I can switch it around and then it's, ⁓ you you get no drip, no leaks, no anything, but the kids cups are the same way. And they even have like a little silicone sleeve around them. So when they pitch a fit and decide to throw it, you're not going to dent your stainless steel insulated cup. ⁓ so they've held up super well. We've never really had any issues with them. And then their warranty is fantastic. So they have a lifetime warranty on all their stuff. ⁓ we've had cups, you know,
Muamer Razic (46:27.013)
Mm.
Benjamin Brown (46:54.978)
the handle breaks off or something, shoot them an email say, Hey, our cups broken. And like, okay, we're shipping another one out and you've got a new one within, you know, a couple of days.
Andrew Saunders (47:3.874)
Yeah, ⁓ awesome. Water cups.
Benjamin Brown (47:7.342)
⁓ all right last one so I do want to get into go ahead Saunders
Andrew Saunders (47:8.866)
Okay. ⁓
Well, as I say, ⁓ I have ⁓ one more like you never think about this and it's totally worth the money ⁓ is the Baby Brezza. And I know Ben and I have talked about it before, but if you get the Wi-Fi one or not the Wi-Fi one, the Baby Brezza, a couple other cleaning accessories, ⁓ that is the best formula mixing feeder thing I have ever used. ⁓ And ⁓ it just saved my...
Benjamin Brown (47:18.690)
Mm-hmm.
Muamer Razic (47:21.682)
Mm.
Benjamin Brown (47:22.294)
Mmm.
Andrew Saunders (47:39.828)
like brain space that I could walk up, set the bottle down, hit a button and and I could fill it up later with water or whatever like the baby brezza.
Benjamin Brown (47:43.960)
Yeah.
Benjamin Brown (47:47.822)
⁓ Yeah. only pro tip on that one too, is a lot of people complain about cleaning them. So the baby Brezza, all of them, because of like hygiene will only allow you to make, I think it's like four bottles before it needs to be cleaned and reset. So you can buy extra pieces, right? Like all the parts you need to clean. So we had two sets of them. So we would just swap it out. So if one got dirty, we'd swap it out, put it in, and we could just continue on with our day.
Andrew Saunders (48:2.083)
⁓ Yeah.
Muamer Razic (48:3.915)
Hmm.
Benjamin Brown (48:17.942)
But you can order the, think it's like 20 bucks or something for the extra set. Buy the Brezza, buy the extra set. If you're doing formula feeding and it's ⁓ like you said Saunders, it made our lives a lot easier with our second for sure.
Andrew Saunders (48:29.921)
Yep, ⁓ totally worth it. Seems expensive when you're looking at it, but ⁓ one of my most used kitchen gadgets.
Benjamin Brown (48:35.498)
Any anything you can do to save your sanity is going to be good. Now, I think you said that you didn't like the is that right? Did you say you didn't like the brezza or you just didn't use it enough?
Muamer Razic (48:45.268)
No, no, no, we didn't. We didn't use it. We did. My wife kudos to her. She breastfed for the longest time and then we supplemented with formula when we needed. like we would just we had a what was it like the Dr. Brown's warmer that we could do if we ever needed it. But yeah.
Benjamin Brown (48:53.998)
Mm.
Andrew Saunders (48:58.851)
Gotcha.
Muamer Razic (49:5.070)
So for us, ⁓ it seemed like a lot, but we did gift it to a few people ⁓ and they loved it. So it's great if you use it, but again, everyone's different whether you choose to bottle feed, breastfeed, or ⁓ pick your poison or not poison at this case, because we don't encourage poison babies. So, ⁓ no, ⁓ yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (49:11.246)
Mm-hmm.
Benjamin Brown (49:20.034)
Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Let's not poison the babies.
Andrew Saunders (49:21.187)
⁓ Yeah, ⁓ wrong order. Yeah, man, at least you're going to jail this week. not, I'm in the hot seat yet.
Benjamin Brown (49:27.566)
All right, guys. Well, I think we covered a lot of ground in this one. I mentioned before, we mentioned a lot of different products. will do our best to link everything that we talked about in the show notes or in the video. So you guys can go check those out for yourselves. There's anything that you think you're interested in. If you have any questions about any of the stuff that we've used or that we mentioned on the show.
Muamer Razic (49:29.317)
Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (49:50.242)
You know, leave us a review, leave us a question, go to Instagram at dad verb podcast. You'll able to find us there. Shoot us a DM. We're more than happy to answer questions on anything we mentioned here or just anything you might be asking about. We'd be, yeah, absolutely. Join the discord. Talk to other dads.
Andrew Saunders (50:2.659)
Join the discord, ⁓ join the discord. answer ⁓ respond in there. Dads pop up stuff all the time on ⁓ gear, equipment. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (50:10.710)
a lot of good conversation in there for sure. Awesome. Well, we've covered a lot of ground. ⁓ think we're just about at 50 minutes. So a little longer than we thought was going to but this is all really important stuff. And these are things that have made. Yeah, they've made our lives easier.
Muamer Razic (50:14.352)
⁓ We have this problem we'll get better guys ⁓
Andrew Saunders (50:24.843)
We're all gearheads. That's what I'm learning. We all like our toys. ⁓ Yeah. ⁓
Benjamin Brown (50:28.728)
for sure. All right. Well, thank you guys for joining us on this episode of the Dad Verb podcast. This has been Ben. You have Saunders and Mommer and we will see you all in the next episode. Thank you for joining us. Peace.
Muamer Razic (50:39.984)
Peace.
