Have a BOB or similar jogging stroller?  Chances are you are a fun, active, go-getter who doesn’t mind getting dirty from time to time – and that includes your little one and her ride!

Caked on dirt, rusted rivets, mold and mildew are all par for the course for these road warrior 3-wheelers – and that tells us that they are well loved!  Sure, you can vacuum out the seat, wipe down the fabric and even shine up the wheels, but for serious adventurers – hardcore runners, you know who you are! – that jaunting jogger needs some serious deep cleaning!

We here at Stroller Spa would love to make your jolly jogger sparkle like new, but if you plan on doing it yourself, here are a few key tips to make the disassembly of the fabric a bit smoother:

1) Use a handheld screw driver to take screws out of the chassis.  

Often times customers get overzealous with the unexpected power of an electric drill and can accidentally strip the screws, making them very difficult (if not impossible at times) to release to take the fabric off.  Stick to the manual screw driver and you will never go wrong!

2)  Be mindful of where those screws are coming from.  

One great trick is to place the screws back inside of the body of the stroller.   If you you are short on time, use a jam jar (or something similar with a lid) to place the screws in while you clean the fabric.

3) Do a piece count.  

How many screws does that jogger have?  Are any missing that you need to replace?  How many pieces of fabric came off of the body?  Are there any other random parts underneath the fabric (the BOB has a resin triangle under under the tip of the fabric by the footwell).  Make sure to take out any cardboard or plastic that is within the seat (if applicable) and set aside.

Once you have the fabric off you are ready to go to town!  We recommend hand-washing and air-drying for maximum preservation of your little one’s sweet ride.

Keep in mind that joggers are meant to be pushed hard and, in order to keep your little egg strapped in tight, there will be lots of straps, buckles and, as always, screws.  Keep track of those boys, and  you will be set…for the disassembly at least!

If you get caught in a web of handlebar straps, 5 point harness and Velcro, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.  We are always here to help.

Happy Cleaning!

Jamie

Stroller in need of some serious love?  Car Seat or High Chair have so much dried on goop that your baby is sitting a little higher these days?  Enter our Great Stroller Spa “Like” Challenge and win hundreds of dollars worth of services for the entire family – or friends!

Entry is simple: Ask your friends to “like” us and then post on our wall or via a message to us with your name. We’ll tally the totals at the end of the month (April 30th) and the participant with the most referrals will get credit for however many “likes” they helped us get.  Up to $500.00. Seriously.

A glimpse of the new strollers debuting this spring.

Ah, the smell of fresh flowers and the sun shining on our bare shoulders means one thing – it’s Springtime!  While the winter chill is dissipating and everything is anew, it’s time to check out the hottest strollers popping up this season.  Babble, the go-to guide for savvy moms, has released its Best New Strollers for Spring 2012.  So, whether you have the stroller of your dreams, are helping another mom select one for her upcoming arrival, or are just flat out curious to see what’s new to the scene, this detailed look at the latest from our favorite brands, and some newbies on the market, is sure to please. You’ll see many of these strollers go wheel-to-wheel in the fall when the competition gets fierce for the title of “Top Stroller” in categories such as, Best Overall Stroller, Best Stroller on a Budget and Best Lightweight Stroller to name a few.  Stay tuned, as we’ll be sure to post all the winners once released. If you missed last year’s list, here’s a look at the 2011 winners.

While you may be partial to your baby’s ride, some of the strollers making their debut this season have really taken the spotlight and are quite impressive.  If you are thinking about a new stroller, remember we are here to spruce up your current stroller for resale or to feel like new once again. Especially with a pair of our new fave CityGrips to give you a unique look while strolling around town. Other moms may have stroller envy once you are all decked out!  City Grips are complimentary with any detail package to our customers, while supplies last.  Enjoy the season!

Sarah Mitchell

Stroller Spa, OC

Thank you to our Stroller Spa Swag Bag Sponsors for keeping our customers, clean, safe and happy!

We are loving the Orange-Vanilla Scented All natural hand sanitizer!

Be sure to thank our Sponsors by liking them on Facebook and telling your friends about their great products!

Stroller Spa has over a dozen car seat bases in assorted brands and models at our San Francisco location up for grabs.  There is no charge, but if you feel like making a donation in the amount of your choice, we will make sure that it get to the Homeless Prenatal Program of SF.

Feel free to drop us a line or call us with questions or to arrange a pick up.

Safe Driving!

The Stroller Spa Family

We all know the routine for New Year’s resolutions: Commit
for three to six weeks then discard from memory.  While this recipe for non-success sounds all too familiar to
many of us parents who are barely surviving each day, remember that setting
goals, in general, is a motivating and rewarding way to live life. For Type-A
personalities like mine, living my life by tiny little goals is essential.  I must admit that making a list of
important tasks or daily to-dos just to check them off sort of keeps me going.  By finishing things on my list
throughout the week I feel like a better professional and mother.  Plus, it’s a great way to give myself a
pat on the back for accomplishing what I set out to do.  If this sounds like a completely
ridiculous idea to you, that’s alright too.  Some people find other ways to motivate themselves and stick
to their goals that don’t include lists or tasks at all; you just need to find
the best option for you.  There’s
hope for all when it comes to setting out to change old habits and begin anew
for 2012!

Last year, my resolutions included the following:

Get in better shape and lose some holiday weight 

This is one that I am fairly certain is on most people’s
list of resolutions, unless you are perfect, in which case you don’t even need
to be reading this. Anyhow, I managed to do this for most of the year and I did
even lose a few pounds but somehow managed to gain it back these past few weeks
– go figure. Ok, add to this year.

Keep track of and remember birthdays

Facebook has really helped me out with this one, but not
everyone I know is on Facebook, especially my little nieces and nephews and
most family members over the age of 60, so making an online calendar of
birthdays at the start of the year was the best thing I could have done.  I used this service Birthdayreminder.com and was able to add in people manually if I wanted
too.  I think I’m at about 90
percent on this resolution so I’ll transfer it over to this year also.

Organize my kids’ rooms and belongings

This is still a work in progress and will also be
transferred to this year.  However,
I did make a decent dent in this one and donated lots of gently used items to
charity or friends and sold off the rest on Craig’s List or to second hand
shops throughout the year. Since children often accumulate things faster than
we can find places to store them, I expect this will make an appearance more
frequently on my list. If you find this is one of yours too and you have more
stuff than you know what to do with and no space to store it, try Bubble
Wrapped by, yours truely, Buggy Bubbles.  You can store for a season, long-term
or until you decide whether you’ll need that baby paraphernalia for another
child in the future.

Spend more quality time with family

With two young children and a busy work life, this one was a
no-brainer; however I still needed to carve out time when I wasn’t answering
emails on my phone, cleaning the kitchen or reading while my kids watched Yo
Gabba Gabba to qualify as real “family time.”  I have to say, this is an ongoing struggle, as I am sure
with many of you.  Stay-at-home
parent or career woman, it’s still difficult to get those quality time moments
in with all the other things on your list.  My solution – make it part of my routine.  Every day, at least spend 30 minutes of
“real” quality time with my family.
I planned that reading and horsing around before bed without TV or phone
distraction would be the time to accomplish this.  I’d say it happens most of the week, but reading with my
little ones snuggled on my lap in their jammies or hearing my little girl
giggle while playing “This Little Piggy” is worth the time invested, and is a
great way to end my day – love it!

So that was it for 2011 and I think those will all be on my
list again for this year, as none of those will ever be perfected I might as
well work on them some more.  I’ll
also be adding journaling, paying off debt and working on my house more often
to the list as the front runners for the year. I’ll let you know how they go!

I leave you with my grain-of-salt, anyone-can-do tips for
making this year different and sticking to your resolutions:

Resolve to accomplish one of your goals each month.

If you decided to get more organized (one of my favorites),
shovel through one de-cluttering project per month until you feel that you are
forming some semblance of order in your home or office.  Even the smallest of projects, such as
cleaning out a “junk drawer” or thinning down your closet of old college
t-shirts you’ll never wear again can make you feel cleansed and accomplished.

Make a list.

Ok, you had to know what one was coming.  But seriously, saying your resolutions
and writing them down in plain view are two very different things.  Once you ink it it’s permanent.  List them, devise a plan and put those
resolutions in plain view.  Want to
lose some weight, post it on the fridge or on your weekly shopping list.  It might help, it might not, but it’s a
start.

Plan it!

I must admit, planning is essential to success in most
cases, but if you don’t find yourself to be the self-motivated planning type,
make yourself.  Put reminders on
your calendar and stick to those annoying pop-up reminders instead of
dismissing.  If you plan it out,
stick to whatever it is.  If one of
your resolutions is to stick to plans this year, then there you have it.

Be your own inspiration.

This might sound like a stretch, but write yourself little
motivational notes to remind you of your goals for the year.  Post them on your computer monitor,
send yourself an email, put them in your wallet or purse, or drop one in your
lunch sack for the next day.  There
is even a service you can use to send yourself an email in the future to remind
yourself of things or how you felt on a certain day http://www.futureme.org/.  It couldn’t
hurt to schedule those quarterly for a little gut check.

Buddy Up!

It’s not too late to get a friend to hop on the resolution
train.  It’s a fact that people
stick to their goals when doing them with a friend or spouse. Grab a friend to
go to the gym or have a photo organization party with friends.  Resolutions can be fun if you want them
to be.

You may have seen some of these tips before or have mapped
out your own plan for success this year already.  Whatever you do, try to stick with it for the entire year or
at least until you can’t stand it anymore.  We typically resolve to change things that we know are
things we should be doing anyway.
With a clean slate, this year is filled with opportunity and a chance to
be a better version of ourselves for at least several months. If you see my
better version bopping around town remind her that she has to do something
about her laundry routine this year – it’s a mess.

Article by Sarah Mitchell

Owner, Buggy Bubbles – OC

On the heels of the official confirmation from the FDA that
many apple and grape juice brands contain excessive levels of arsenic, parents
are asking themselves if they should cut out juice from their child’s diet completely.  The good news is, if you are following
most pediatricians’ recommendation of only giving your child one small serving
of juice per day(about 6 ounces), you should be fine.  The fact is that all things in nature contain arsenic and
other chemicals elements that naturally occur in our earth – the non-toxic
variety.  The harmful, toxic
variety can be found in pesticides and industrial chemicals and is poison to
our systems.  Unfortunately, the
arsenic levels tested didn’t delineate between the two varieties, only that
there was an alarming level in many brands tested.  One could argue that both apples and grapes are in the
family of most heavily pesticide sprayed fruits as part of the infamous “dirty
dozen.”  Would an all-organic fruit
juice contain less arsenic?  In my
opinion, yes!  Not that I’ve
scientifically backed up this theory, but putting two and two together, more
heavily sprayed fruits are probably the culprit to excessive levels of toxins..

Regardless, the FDA is strongly being urged by the public to
work on establishing stricter regulations on arsenic levels in juice similar to
ones already in place for drinking water in the U.S.  Hopefully this will ease everyone’s worries about fruit
juice in the future.  However, I’m
not entirely sold on the FDA’s regulations and oversight of additives in our
foods, but that’s en entirely different topic I might feel compelled to rant
about in the future.

Finding completely organic fruit juice is always an obstacle
in any mainstream store.  It’s even
hard to find in health food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods –
especially in the ever-so convenient boxed variety that fits so nicely in a
diaper bag or lunch sack. Nevertheless, an option worth exploring.  Another option is juicing your own
squeezed version of y our child’s favorite juices from organic fruits and
veggies.  They might even get a
kick out of learning how juice is actually made.  It can be a teaching moment in the process.  Plus, nothing tastes better than fresh
juice – except an actual piece of the fruit you are juicing.  Which, of course, is always a better
way to go to incorporate additional fiber in your child’s diet found in many
fruits and veggies when eaten whole.
I know you probably already knew that, but I felt like it was worth mentioning.  Still, many children don’t get enough
fruits and veggies throughout the day or don’t necessarily enjoy the texture of
many fruits we enjoy as adults. So, until there is actually more research done
and stricter regulations on juice manufacturers is established, I think we’ll
avoid apple and grape juices all together in my household, or just find juices
with very little amounts of them to sip on.  OJ anyone?

For more
information on safe juicing, visit http://blogs.webmd.com/childre…..worry.html
or http://blogs.webmd.com/childre…..worry.html

Sarah Mitchell

Owner, Buggy Bubbles, OC

Want some suggestions for some good toys to buy this year for your little ones?  We have those for you, too!  InventorSpot.com, lists the hottest toys of 2011, as awarded at this year’s 11th Annual Toy of the Year Awards (Totys). The best things to keep in mind while shopping are the basics.  Stick with your gut.  If you don’t feel 100% about a toy, don’t buy it!  Look for age appropriate toys for your child, watch for labeled safety approved toys and avoid toys with long strings or small, breakable pieces for the little ones.  No toy is completely safe, but just use your best judgement and don’t get caught up in the novelty of a sale when making selections and you should be fine.  The perfect toy is bound to be on sale somewhere. Happy shopping, fellow mommies!

Sarah
Buggy Bubbles, OC

Let’s think about this from a logical standpoint. It’s common sense that toxic chemicals and babies don’t mix, so why is it alright for the most frequently used baby products, strollers and car seats, to be constructed containing chemicals like PVC, phthalates, lead and bromated flame retardants (BFRs)? The answer is simple – regulation and cost.

Using high-end materials and minimal-to-zero chemicals takes ingenuity and, of course, the almighty dollar. However, some high-end stroller manufacturers are still using some chemicals in their products that, yes, your baby might be lounging on. While a baby’s skin is much thinner than an adults – roughly five times thinner, some chemicals used in the construction of your stroller may be so minimal that it probably won’t do any tangible harm to your child.  In fact, a trace amount of some chemicals is acceptable in all baby products under regulation by the U.S. government. In the past few years,restrictions mandated on the use of chemicals in baby products has significantly increasedand become more stringent under laws like ASTM F963-07e1 for European, Canadian and Japanese toy standards, and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 which under Title 1 – Children’s Product Safety, defines what the government deems acceptable levels of chemicals in children’s products in the U.S. These laws, among others, limit the concentrated amounts of certain chemicals known to be problematic and are a good standard to go by.

Some stroller companies are becoming pioneers in eco-friendly construction of their products, to name a few, Maclaren, Stokke and Orbit Baby. These companies are proving that you should get what you pay for and that our most precious resource, our children, shouldn’t be held victim to the manufacturers sliding under the radar in using toxins in their products.

So, what does this all mean to you and your baby? Not to make light of chemicals being harmful to your children, but honestly there are chemicals in the air we breathe every day. Chemicals emit from nearly every product out there and land on our skin, in household dust and into our bodies. It’s inevitable that we will be exposed to chemicals throughout our lifetime, but we can do the best job possible at minimizing the collection of harmful toxins that we ingest, and of course, our little ones ingest on a regular basis.  For a more detailed review on top stroller manufacturers leading the industry in eco-friendly measures visit non-toxic kids.net and healthystuff.org (we also like: Eco-mom.com and SafetyMom.com These sites will help you find out what products are safe, borderline and the ones you should burn immediately.  That last one was just a joke – never set fire to a stroller! That is, if you can find one that isn’t flame retardant…

Since day one, Buggy Bubbles uses only the most eco-friendly baby products to maintain

the cleanliness of your baby gear.  Contact us for a “buggy bath” so we can help you ensure your child is breathing less of the junk and more of the goodstuff!

By Sarah Mitchell

Not and expert-just a mom.

We were nominated, then we made itk into the finalist round, and now we are in the top 3!

Please take a minute to vote for Buggy Bubbles!  When you do, you will be put into a drawing for a $500.00 gift card from Giggle and you will also have a chance to win an “Ooh La La Ultimate” Stroller Spa Package for for cleaning and detilaing for up to 2 strollers, 2 car seats, 1 high chair, 1 week stroller rental and complimentary pick up and delivery!

After you vote, simply let us know on our Facebook page and be entered automatically.  When you like us, you will be entered twice!

Thanks for all of your love and support!

XO,

The Buggy Bubbles SF Family