Welcome Aboard!

Welcome to Baby Trek: The Next Generation! Here we are for our inaugural post! We are Jason and Alexis, parents to 1 year old Claire. We are a young family living in Southern California, and trying to survive this insane recession! Being first time parents is hard enough without having to worry about cutting costs, and these days I don't know anyone who isn't worried about that. And with all the baby paraphernalia out there that you have to have, figuring out what is necessary and what is extra fluff was something we had a hard time with. After a year we've finally figured out how to get exactly what we need while cutting costs without losing quality. That's why we decided to start this blog; to help other parents by reviewing baby products we like, and don't like, and comparing them to some of the more popular (big name brand) products out there, without which we shouldn't be able to function.

Like lots of other new parental units, spending time together is key, and getting out of the house with a baby or toddler is sometimes chaos. Just the thought of managing naps and tantrums during a day of activities away from your home can be enough to land you back in your sweats and in front of your TV. But I think any parent can agree that putting in the extra effort to get out of the house as a family is well worth the screaming and crying it takes to get out, sometimes from us more than our kids. Jason and I have made a point to go places with Claire. We spend the extra time and (sometimes) money it takes to experience things with our child. We go to the Zoo, the duck pond, restaurants, and even Disneyland with our little one because even if she doesn't remember it, we do. It's part of our experience as parents. It's also a good experience for her to see different people and places and discover more than our living room or stuff that fell on the kitchen floor. As part of this Baby Trek, we'll share our experiences and tips on traveling with Claire, from airplanes to parks, to zoos to, my favorite place to take her, Disneyland.

At no point in our lives will you hear either of us say we're experts on parenting or baby products, we are far from it. But when I look for information about a new product or a place for Claire, I don't only look for an expert filling the page with facts. I try to find people my age, who are new parents experiencing the same issues as we are. Those opinions are based on reality, which in my expert opinion are just as important.

I hope you will continue to check back with us as we travel along in this blog. Thanks for stopping by! Until next time ... Stay Classy