It's a Cliche Because It's True

I bet you've seen this in a movie or a televisions show: it's late on Christmas Eve and Mom and Dad are sitting in the soft-glow light of the Christmas tree.  Half eaten cookies and/or half-drunk cups of eggnog are close at hand.  Beyond the window, snow is falling.  It's a beautiful and peaceful scene except that Mom and Dad are glaring at each other and some half-assembled toy at their feet that they *must* put together before Christmas morning or else they will shake Junior's faith in Santa and the notion of justice in the world. 

Well, that was us--minus the cookies and eggnog--with the Snap-N-Go this weekend.  For the uninitiated, the SNG is a supposedly universal carrier into which you snap your car seat to create a stroller-like ensemble for itty bitty babies.  There are slight adjustments that you make to the frame to accommodate your specific car seat brand--and though these adjustments require a screwdriver and pliers, they seemed relatively straightforward.  I monkeyed around with it for an hour or so on Friday before throwing up my hands in frustration and putting my husband in charge of figuring it out.

My husband is rather a handy fellow, I must say.  He installs air conditioners, builds bookshelves, and replaces planks in the deck with aplomb so I wasn't too worried about the SNG.  Over the course of a few hours, however, it became clear that the poor man had met his match.   It is uncommonly difficult to position the various bars and such where the good people at Baby Trend suggest they should go.  The screws don't want to screw (insert your own double entendre here).

I didn't have to look too hard before I found similar stories from other SNG assemblers online--as well as various work-arounds.  Somehow I missed these prior to purchase.  Besides, half of New York City has the SNG/Graco car seat combo--did everyone struggle this much?

Anyway, I think we've mostly got it covered.  Next up: replacing the car seat cover that I removed to wash.  Like I'm ever going to figure out how to thread that harness back in correctly.  Yeah, right.

Comments

[Cat, Galloping]

Yep, I've always heard that the biggest fight you'll ever have with your partner is trying to install the car seat!

[Karin]

My husband ended up attaching the second car seatbase to the snap n go since we weren't using it. It worked perfectly then and folded up just fine. That was our work around! lol

[Jenn]

Oh no! We registered for a SNG but with the Baby Trend carseat (same brand) so hopefully we will be ok. DH is NOT as handy as yours and I am very low on patience....

[Dee]

I didn't even attempt to put the SNG together--I'm useless at that kind of thing. But my hubby is great at it so I turned it over to him.

He did get it put together fairly quickly and it works just fine (with the Graco) but we had a piece leftover. I'm not sure if that's good or bad but whatever...so far, the SNG hasn't come apart nor has the seat/baby dropped off of it!

[Anne]

Yikes and okay so as soon as I get done here I’m off for some mad googling for tips on how to assemble SNG with a Graco. My lovely recipe for marital bliss/disaster is in the mail as we speak.

[Annelise]

Jenn, don't worry! It works fine with the Baby Trend carseat. This is our setup and we haven't had any issues.

[Brooklyn Girl]

Jenn--The SNG comes already set up for the Baby Trend car seat so you don't even have to adjust anything.

As for the Graco set up....it really leaves a lot to be desired. If I had this to do over again, I would buy the new Graco Snug Rider--the lightweight carrier made by Graco. Thumbs down to Baby Trend.

[Becki]

We had a SNG (in fact we still have it, I could have shipped it to you, fully assembled) and I loved it. I hope you get as much mileage out of yours and that memories of assembling it are driven out of your mind by the adorable face of its occupant.

[Michelle]

Thank you for posting this. I was excited to see that you had a healthy baby after dealing with infertility. I am trying to have a baby and surf the Web praying for success stories. You are inspiring!