Our first product tester in residence has now arrived! Heck, she even arrived via Velib bike with a polka-dot wrap.
Despite joining us just two weeks ago she already been out testing various devices. From heart rate sensors to weight scales to baby cams. Thus far she’s pretty much not a fan of any device she’s been given to test. But I’m sure she’ll come around eventually. After all…who doesn’t like 24×7 HR wrapped in a tiny sock?
Unlike most products she tests, she was actually ahead of schedule – albeit giving up her most Frenchly possible planned due date of Bastille Day. Instead she threaded the needle between Canada Day and Independence Day. Appropriate, given her nationalities.
While she was born in Paris, she won’t get Baguette and Beret citizenship anytime soon. Instead, she’ll soon gather both American and Canadian citizenship (yesterday was passport picture day…and it was hilarious…she’s gonna hate us someday). And if we’re here long enough, she can eventually pickup her French credentials. But if nothing else, she’ll always have a birth certificate that says Paris.
One thing’s for certain though – she’s gonna love testing out action cams. Even from a mere 12 hours after birth (below), she was hamming it up for the camera. Just wait for what happens once you give her photo and video review responsibilities.
While we contemplated taking her home via Velib bicycle, the baskets lacked a proper seatbelt. French law requires parents depart the hospital in a proper car seat, and apparently the baggage/bike lock on the Velib doesn’t fulfill that requirement.
So instead I drove the Autolib home. This is also noteworthy since it’s the same mode of transport that we took getting to the hospital while The Girl was in labor. The second time around was much less agonizing since we stopped for Starbucks on the way home.
Her testing tasks thus far haven’t yet quite included the BOB Running Stroller, but we have been making use of her regular stroller and getting her parent’s wrist based activity trackers all confused by pushing the stroller everywhere. To the park, lunches at cafes, dinner at a restaurant, picnics, H&M, Starbucks, and more. Given it’s just The Girl and I taking care of her here (and without owning a car), she’s always going out and about with us in the Cow Seat – which is the semi-official name for her stroller seat.
When she’s not rolling around town, she can usually be found watching the Tour de France during the afternoons – even from Day 1. Typically she’s a fan of mountain stages, but she put up with the flat stages for the first week while at the hospital.
The rest of the time, she can be found hanging out in her crib. Kinda like the show MTV Cribs, though in a stylish baby-chic kinda way. The bunny currently occupies her WiFi weight scale.
The Girl did all the design work there, and it looks great. And speaking of great, The Girl is doing very well since releasing her first product.
Finally – for those wondering about little Lucy, she’s adapting quite well. When the baby cries, Lucy goes around and gathers up her dog toys and tries to offer them to the baby, hoping that one of them will do the trick. Basically Lucy is the baby’s miniature soigneur.
With that, it’s time to get back to watching over the little nugget…or…eating my ice cream. On second thought…I’ll do both.
Thanks for reading!
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Congrats, Ray!
Congrats to you and The Girl. Little one looks happy and healthy.
Remember to sleep!!
Congratulations!! Both of you… Enjoy this nice time.. 🙂
Congrats Ray!
Great times ahead
Ok, my cuteness meter got past 100% when Lucy was fetching the toys for Gadgettester Junior 😀 Congrats and good luck to you all!
Congratulations to the whole family!
Congrats for you and the girl. Would be really interesting to see how your attitude toward sport and sport technology will shift as you become a full time dad.
Big congrats from Nova Scotia Ray!
We have the same bouncer seat and our first loved it. The second (born on the same day as your daughter) isn’t a fan of it yet though.
For baby scales are you rocking the withings one? And have they sent you a thermo yet? It just got fda clearance in the us and I’m debating if I want one now that I’ve got two under 1.5 years running/flopping around.
Congrats on the baby. Best wishes to you and the Girl.
Congratulations!!!
This is a great news, congrats to the three of you !
Congratulations to both of you!
Wow, congrats – lovely pictures.
Congratulations to you both
The polka dot wrap on the velib is just perfect for July in France.
Congrats Ray and The Girl!
Congrats! Beautiful baby, happy family. Sweet dog!
Interested in your sleep stats ;-).
Congrats Ray and Girl, she’s beautiful, and that’s not a platitude, babies aren’t all cute, my second was a miniature troll! You’re going to love fatherhood, most of the time….
Congrats to Daddy & Mommy! Life will never be the same again…it will only get better.
Beautiful pictures!!
Congratulation to all of you 🙂
Ray, congrats!
As I’m having already two kinds of that product, I can definitly recommand it 🙂
Chris
Congrats! Take care!
Congrats to you and the Girl, Ray !
Congrat!!!
You’ve been testing everything (sport-tech wise) over the past years…now you get someone who will be testing you!
And the very hard way…
Congratz to you and your family!
Wellcome to the real world.
Congratulations and best wishes!
Congratulations to you both.. Exciting times ahead. 🙂
Congratulations !!!
Congratulations!
Whoaaa, congratulations to you both!
Congrats Ray!! What a little cutie! I’m not surprised she likes the mountain stages, given that she was all decked out in KoM polka dots!
So happy for you guys. Yo look like an awesome team!
Congratulations to the Girl and to you!
Congrats !!! Great job to both of you 🙂
Hope she will enjoy the Parisian these days.
Alles Gute ! as we say in Germany !!!
Enjoy !
Congratulations, she’s so cute!
Maybe just me haven’t found it in the text, but what will be her name?
If his wife is still “That Girl” what makes you think he’ll name the baby anytime soon? 😉
Cograts, Ray & That Girl!
But who will be The Girls from now on? 😉
The Girl
Yeah, had I realized years ago that The Girl would eventually produce another The Girl, I might have selected differently.
Then again, if I had realized years ago that a random Blogspot blog would be read by more than 6 people…I might have also selected a different name. 🙂
The Girl 2.0
She is cute! Congrats Ray!
Congrats! Life just got way busier, but so much better.
Long Live the QOM!
Congrats!! Kinda surprised there wasn’t a pic of her on the scale!!
Beautiful little girl! Congrats to the you both!!
Congratulations!
Ahahah, congratulats Ray!
Congrats to the whole family from Schweiz!
Congrats! Take care guys!
ray your baby holding position sems to need some baby-fitting!!!! 🙂
Congratulations to both of you. The little one is adorable.
Congratulations to the Girl, who did all the hard work this time… Since my own daughter is 21 now, I predict a whole lot of testing parental testing in your future, and we might see a few more tracking related reviews in a few years…
Congratulations!
Congrats Ray!
When can we expect some roller-pin size comparison shots?
Seriously though, cute kid!!! Take it easy on the ice cream though….you don’t want to go from rad-bod to dad-bod. At least not for a few more years.
Congrats to Daddy & Mommy!
Congratulations!
congratulations!
Congrats to you both. Enjoy every minute. Time goes by too fast.
Congrats, hope you’re enjoying the new family member 🙂
Congratulations!
Congrats to you both!
Congrats! Love the pictures.
Congrats!! She is a little cutie!
Congratulations!
What a cutie and she has momma’s chin! Congratulations!
Ray, so pleased for you. I’m sure you don’t need telling to relish these precious, golden moments.
Congrats. Enjoy every single second of it.
Great post. Great pictures. Congrats!
Thanks as always for the great review, Ray. I’ve been waiting for the release of this product for six months and wondering if the Clever Training European opening was related to your latest tech acquisition. Hope you’ll provide updates on firmware upgrades, along with detailed charts on product features and how they stack up to Garmin’s latest gizmo.
One bit of advice: Probably best not to submit your newest toy to the water-pressure chamber. I’m pretty sure that would void your warranty.
Felicitatios!
Congratulations bath of you 🙂
Welcome Lucy !!!
Great :-). Congratulations to the whole family!
Congrats – may she bring you years of joy and happiness. Maybe you can write a feature about how to run a marathon on sleep-deprivation 🙂
Congrats.
Oh, and things will start to change… Now.
Congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was looking forward to this post. Congratulations. From now on every product review should have at least one dog and baby picture.
Congrats you two! So happy and healthy! good job!
Great product. Congratulations.
Thanks for the quick look report. When can we expect the full product review?
Congratulations- and enjoy all the firmware updates. these products keep getting new features (and bugs).
Welcome little Lucy!!! Congrats to you and The Girl, Ray!
Congratulations to all the family!
Congratulations!
Congratulations from Canada: a new athlete in a team is always a good thing 🙂
Congrats, Ray!
Congratulations ! enjoy this time they grow up so fast ! Take billion of videos they are the best to remember how they were !
Congratulations, lovely little girl!
Cute.
Thank god she got her mothers looks!
😉
Looks like a great space for a wonderful girl. Congratulations to you and your growing family!
Congratulations! Any name yet for the new product…?
She’ll need to be in France for a while to be eligible for French citizenship…the earliest age seems to be 13 with continuous residence since the age of 8.
Congratulations to you both
congratulations Ray, she is so beautiful
Many congrats! She’s a beaut! May she grow healthy and happy…
Congratulations! Love the pictures, the room and the stories!!
Congratulations.
Congrats !!!!!
Congrats Ray!!
“Mazal Tov” from Tel – Aviv
Congratulations Ray to your entire family.
Congratulations!
Congratulations Ray & The Girl! 🙂 Fantastic news, super glad everyone’s doing well
As an aside my I became a Dad (for the second time) about a week before mini-maker came along so am travelling the same journey of disruption 🙂
Congratulations to both of you!
great pics!
Thank you for sharing! Blessings to you and your family!
Congratulation to all of you 🙂
dude… where is garmin?????
heheheh
congrats man!!!!!
Congrats, The Girl and Ray!
Congratulation for all of you three! I wish you happy times.
Nice to see Lucy in such a caring role as well.
Congratulations to you and the Girl, Ray. Lovely baby.
Backing up your data is important, including your DNA, so kudos for getting that covered.
Congratulations!!!
You know that the best of having a baby is… having another one!!!!
Ray, awesome to see you have a baby-girl. You’ll love the experience! Congratulations to you and the Girl.
Kudos!!! 🙂
Congratulations once again guys. A great post as always. can’t wait for you to start do comparison charts of baby monitors!
Aw, she is so beautiful. Congratulations! And best wishes for speedy recovery for The Girl.
Random question, what model Britax is that? Loving the cow print.
Looks like the one we have…Britax Marathon 70 in cowmooflage.
My daughter still misses her “cow seat”.
That and the Bob Revolution are on our list of best baby purchases that we recommend to all friends.
Yup, a Britax. We’ve got the Britax 2016 B-Agile 3 Stroller & B-Safe 35 Car Seat:
link to amzn.to
It was given to us by my parents, both us and the baby love it! So easy for us to fold up and carry up stairs, since it doesn’t fit into our little apartment elevator. One button and it insta-folds up. Also, Lucy enjoys sitting in the bottom basket…constantly.
Congrats. Enjoy it, as it is a wonderful part of your life!
Your daughter is adorable. Congrats! (Perhaps a white jersey, given her young age!)
Congratulations to you both. Still the first blog I go to for running tech reviews.
Congrats to you guys!
Congrats to all three of you!
Great congrats from Canada – hope all three are doing amazingly well.
Congratulations to you and the Girl!
Congrats to DCR family !
Congrats Babymaker!
Good work!
I was going to post this with your two weeks ago podcast, cause you told the story:
8 years ago, our labor was long too. Water broke at 4 am, went to the hospital. Kid born a 1:45 am, the next morning! The two of them did stay in the hospital for 3 days – and were sick of it and ready to go home by day 3.
But we went home in a downpour (mid winter in California)
Time flies and any other cliche you can think of!
Enjoy it.
Congratulations to you all, super cute!
Congratulations!!
A very DCRainmaker way of making a birth announcement.
You really get a week in the hospital after giving birth in Paris?
Seems much longer and civilized than the US method of kicking them to the curb within a day.
Congratulations – Hope you all enjoy the last day of Le Tour 😉
Congrats to you both!
Congratulations. Nice work as usual.
I’m glad you didn’t include the unboxing pictures this time.
Congrats to you and The Girl on The Baby or The Nugget (not sure what her official name is) she is absolutely adorable. Can’t wait to see you capture all her adventures. Her room is great. The Girl looks skinny already!!
Many congratulations! She looks quite adorable.
Congratulations Ray
Congrats
Congrats Ray!
Congrats !
Congratulations on the new addition.
Congrats to you Both. Cute Girl, but how can she not be!!
Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
Congratulations, Ray and The Girl!!!!
Beautiful baby! Welcome to parenthood. Kiss your restful sleep goodbye for a while! 🙂
-Paul
Congratulations and good luck.
IK
The best thing that will ever happen to you both. Soak up all the goo-ing and gaa-ing. They grow up way too fast. Make sure to take care of your two girls and spoil them rotten.
Congrats, man1
Congratulations
Congrats!!!
Congrats to you both! Cherish every moment; they get big in the blink of an eye.
Congratulations here!
Here’s to a childhood of health and happiness. 🙂
Congrats! She’s beautiful.
Congrats, no doubt we will be seeing some additional comments on resistance to liquid/semi-liquid damage in future reviews.
Congrats Ray – prove everyone wrong ! You will not get fat and out of shape 🙂
How have you been balancing your fitness since the baby?
I’ve roughly been working out every other day. Usually prior to that I alternate bike/run each day, with a random swim tossed in. I hope to stabilize back on 5-6 days a week over the next few weeks, but the wonky sleep is making it tough.
Congratulations!
You and the Girl are blessed…Congrats.
Congratulations Ray on such a happy occasion!
Enhorabuena!!!!
Congratulations!!!!
Ciao Ray,
Congrats to all the family! Bravi!
Wonderful News and Congratulations. She looks so sweet. Enjoy being parents, it is full of good times.
Very nice family! I think you will love the BOB… and at least you will be able to mount a lot of cameras and other devices on the handlebars to do your testing!
When my little girl was born and we were leaving the hospital (here in Canada) they also wanted to check the car seat. A nurse usually walks with you to the car and check it before dismissing you. I told them we were walking home – we live 3 blocks away – and it was funny to see their reaction.
Cow seat?! That’s clearly the Queen of the Mountain seat. She’s going to rule the hills!
Congratulations! She’s so beautiful, and so lucky to have Lucy to make sure she’s adequately stocked with stuffed critters.
awesome – congratulations!
Congratulations! Just curious what her first powermeter will be 😛 Enjoy each other company and all in good health
Congrats to you both!!!
Fantastic post. Congrats and have fun!
Congratulations to you and the Girl. A baby is hard work but a happy one. 🙂
Hi Ray,
Congrats again to you both. I’m glad to hear everyone is doing well and that they take such good care of new parents in Paris hospitals.
Should we refer to her as “The Girl 2” or “Girl 2.0”?
Wow, huge congratulations!
YES the images are in!!!, Our biggest congrats to you all. It amazing.
Félicitations à vous deux ! Congratulations to the Maker Family for this wonderful addition 🙂
And the picture with Lucy is funny and adira
Congrats to you and The Girl! She is a cutie!
Congrats!
Congratulations!!!
Congratulations!!
Congrats Ray , The Girl and welcome The cute little Girl 🙂
A truly life changing event of the best kind.
congratulations to you both.
Dom
Mazel tov!
I’m sure you’ll be a good dad. Congratulations
Congrats to both of you!
Bravissimi! Great time ahead, guaranteed!
Congrats! This will change a lot in your life – have fun together!
Congrats,, She’s got yr nose
Congratulations, welcome to the club!!!
Congrats!
Congratulations to you both.
Ray I see one of these convertible stroller bikes in your future! link to tagabikes.com
Congrats!!!!!
Congrats to you both, lovely images! best wishes from here on out
Just super! Congratulations. All the best. Lucy has reported on her blog that you guys are doing a great parenting job.:)
Super cute introduction of your new product tester! Congratulations!!!
Congratulations! I think you’re probably used to the sleep deprivation so you’re one step ahead there. And in just about 12 months time you’ll have a new training plan, running after a toddler all day! Enjoy!
Congrats!!!
Congratulations! All the best to you guys
Congratulatons!
Wonderful news…and a whole new endurance adventure!
Enjoy every moment!
Peter
Time to use that TACX Cobblestone feature to lull her to sleep!
Congrats Ray. Welcome to the magic and adventure of being a parent.
A new story just starts.
You never be alone.
Congrats both of you…all the best
Congratulations to the family!
Is time to see a Parents Sleep Report.
Congratulations to you both. Enjoy!
Congratulations to both parents and extended families. Your new life starts now.
I foresee new lines of product testing. Late deadlines due to lack of sleep and those already in the know will fully understand.
Why do new fathers always look awkward when holding the baby?
Congrats Ray! What an awesome post!
Felicitaciones a los nuevos padres!!! Congrats to new parents!!
Congratulations to both of you!
Terrific news and congrats to you both. Very exciting. Hope you are adjusting well!
Congrats to you both.
Congrats Ray!
Congrats! Guess this explains all your upcoming product testing. Can’t wait to see more from Baby Maker.
Congratulations Ray! She’s very cute!
Congratulations to the Maker clan! Fun times ahead. Hope you avoid the round shape that I assumed when the kids were little.
Congratulation!!