Confession Time: We're Donkey-less

New year. Clean slate. I have a confession. Just before Christmas I did something that turns this blog into a sham. "Expat Life with a Double Buggy" became a redundant title. In the interests of accuracy it should now be called "Expat Life with Two Single Buggies, One Of Which is Hardly Used". 

The Bugaboo Donkey has a new home. To be perfectly honest the double pram had been used as an oversized single pram for many, many months. More months than I want to admit. My three year old would sometimes stand on the buggy board, but hadn't sat in the pram itself for a looong time. Facing up to the fact that we no longer needed a double stroller meant admitting that I no longer have two babies in the house. I have one toddler and a pre-schooler, (and their brother of course - he's still here, but for the purposes of pram talk he's out of the picture). The time had come to invest in a pram that actually fits through the regular check out of my local supermarket. The days of being forced through the wide aisle needed to be over. Whilst the side basket on the Donkey in single stance was handy, the contraption all in all was wider than the standard single pram. It was time for a change. 

So with a heavy heart the pram was lovingly spruced up and put on Marktplaats to sell. That was a Sunday, just before dinner time. By the time we had eaten our meal and loaded the dishwasher we had a buyer. Twenty four hours later, we were well and truly Donkeyless, the Bugaboo Donkey and it's close friend our buggy board nothing but a distant memory.

What made me feel better about the whole transaction (aside from the addition to our holiday fund) was that it went to a good home, namely to foster parents who were likely getting baby twins to look after, in addition to an older child who was already part of their family. It's nice to think of a whole new set of children being ferried about in our pram. Our ex-pram. 

So we bought a new, single pram and we still have the 'spare' McClaren buggy folded and stored under the stairs for cases when space or stairs are an obstacle. So two single buggies. 

Anyhow, back to the point of this post. My expat life is now sans double buggy. But I'm not changing the blog title at this stage. When all three of my boys are teenagers I might consider it. Think of the title as preserving a little of expat history. Two single buggies is pretty close to a double buggy right?

Let Me Introduce You to My Donkey

Life with a Donkey
(c) The Writing Well

This blog title, Life with a Double Buggy, was inspired by my recent transition from a single to a double pram when my third son was born last October. Before we actually bought a double buggy we weighed up the options.

We considered if carrying the baby for a while everywhere was an option until my middle son grew out of the pram but quickly ascertained that the medical bills for damaged backs would probably amount to more than the cost of a pram. So we turned our attention to the type of double pram to buy. It turns out you can get all sorts of shapes and sizes (and prices) of prams to transport two small children: ferrying them around underneath each other - a sort of bunk bed pram, side by side and in front of each other. In the end it was a question of wide or long, and we chose for wide. We chose a Bugaboo Donkey. We discussed, and hesitated and discussed again (they cost more than most people's first car) but after a test ride on the test tracks at Baby Park we dived in and signed on the dotted line for a Donkey.

The Donkey was delivered. The Donkey was (with some sweat and tears) put together. The Donkey was occupied by my toddler and new born and we braved the streets. Those living in the Netherlands will know that nothing here is particularly big. Roads are not big. Pavements are not huge. Supermarkets are not massive (even the supposedly XL ones pale into insignificance compared to counterparts in the UK, France and US). You get the picture. I need space with my buggy. Space which in most ordinary day to day places just doesn't exist.

Therefore getting my Donkey around has been a challenge in some places. A good example is my eldest son's school. I used to zip through the nearest entrance to the school playground with the single pram. Now to avoid massacring my toddler's arm on the prickly hedge next to the entrance I have to walk around to the next entrance at the front of the school where my double buggy can actually safely pass thorough the barriers. I have to detour.

The blog title is synonymous with life after the birth of my third child; "Life with a Double Buggy" has meant rethinking normal, every day tasks. It throws up challenges. It has made me a little more creative with my time, how I get things done and set priorities. "Life with a Double Buggy" means manoeuvring a little differently - both in life and in the local supermarket!