Setting up a nursery for first time parents can get a little overwhelming. There are so many adorable fashions and fun styles available for baby gear these days, it’s hard to choose just one.

While narrowing your search for the perfect pattern, be sure to make a stop in Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory. They offer a wide selection of Graco fashions, but don’t think they stop at baby gear though. They also carry a huge variety of your favorite brands for all the other baby essentials like bottles, cribs and even maternity wear. And great news! Now through April 8th, you can also find some extra special deals too!

Check out these prices for the Forecaster™ fashion, a playful geometric paired with a neutral palette. This fashion is a pop of fun that both mom & baby will love.

The Olivia™ collection is featured alongside Forecaster™ in the mailer, and if you are in the market for a new travel system, it’s your lucky day! The Quattro Tour Sport Travel System in Boone™ is only $199.99! The sporty stroller has spring-suspended, all-terrain wheels with front swivel locks for enhanced maneuverability, and one-touch brakes for on-the-go ease.

So whether you are looking for that pretty girl fashion or something more neutral, Baby Depot at Burlington should be on your to go to list. And when you’re in the store, be sure to check out Baby Depot’s great registry program featuring a convenient checklist with everything you’ll need for your new arrival, along with adorable personal registry cards to distribute to your family and friends!

Ready to shop? Visit Baby Depot online or find a store near you.

Graco is extremely excited to announce the launch of the much awaited, all-in-one car seat, Signature Series™ Smart Seat™.

Working for Graco, I’ve used the full line of car seats — from infant car seats to convertible car seats and harnessed booster seats. But as a mom of two kids, let me tell you what I love about the Smart Seat: the versatility of it. The Smart Seat lets you easily and quickly adjust it to fit any size child from 5 lbs to 100 lbs.

This is the ultimate car pooling seat for the mom on the go!

Here’s a look at some of the best features from a mom’s perspective:

The Smart Seat is Easy to Use:
The Smart Seat features a stay-in-car base (we call it the Smart Base), which is installed once. And what we mean by that is that you don’t have to re-install the seat to move from rear-facing to forward-facing (and vice-versa). You can even buy an additional base for a second car! That means I could take PP to school in the morning forward-facing, and then pick up Pinkie Pie later in the day to bring her home rear-facing, WITHOUT reinstalling the seat.

Also, there is a no re-thread harness which automatically adjusts in height as you move the head rest up and down.

Multiple recline positions make it easy to accommodate the comfort level of your child, and it also helps with proper installation. And did I say recline? The Smart Seat also has what we call “on the go” recline, meaning you can recline the seat after it’s installed in case your forward-facing little one wants to lean back and rest.

For me, this makes it AWESOME for anyone with multiple kids, will be having multiple kids in the future or will be driving around multiple kids.

The Smart Seat is Built for Safety:
I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the safety features of this seat. The Smart Seat is definitely large and heavy, but it was made that way for a reason — the car seat is reinforced with steel (both the seat and the stay-in-car base) for strength and durability.

The Smart Seat has also been SafeSeat Engineered, which means it is Side Impact Tested, tested to 2x the car seat standard for crash force and is tested for performance in extreme interior temperatures in a car. It also has an EPS, energy foam liner.

If that weren’t enough, the Smart Seat features seat-to-base locking indicators to ensure that the car seat is locked into the stay-in-car base. You can install the seat using LATCH or the seat belt lock off, which makes seat belt installation easier (your choice on which one to use to install the seat). Once the car seat is installed, there is a level indicator on the seat to ensure that the seat is at the right angle and installed correctly. Correct installation = a safer seat for your child.

I have to say, this seat has everything (did I mention that it has flip-up arm rests that let you easily get your child in and out of the seat AND a handy harness storage compartment to use once you start using the seat as a belt-positioning booster? Oh — and don’t forget the cup holder!). With a life span of 5-100 lbs. and a ten year expiration date – this might be the only car seat you’ll ever need!

The Smart Seat is exclusively available at Babies “R” Us and is available for pre-order today. It will be available in Babies “R” Us stores in mid-February, but why wait? Order yours now!!

Looking for great deals on some of your favorite Graco items? Look no further! Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory is always a great place to find amazing discounts on the Graco products you love, but starting this week, the prices are even more unbelievable! This a sale you won’t want to miss…

Graco Morgan Collection

Pack ‘n Play® Classic Playard – Sale $89.99
Entertaining toys amuse your little one. This changer offers convenience for quick diaper changes and a safe, cozy space for your baby to play.

Lovin’ Hug® Infant Swing – Sale $89.99
The ergonomic design of Lovin’ Hug™ swing’s hammock-style seat mimics the curve of your arms, giving your baby a sense of security. At the same time, the plush mobile, 10 classical songs and 5 nature sounds, keep him soothed and amused.

Meal Time™ Highchair – Sale $69.99
The 4-position height adjustment combined with the 3-position reclining seat help you to find a comfy position for your little dining companion. The locking casters and convenient fold make tucking this chair out of the way between mealtimes a snap.

Passage™ Travel System – Sale $174.99
This three-piece system features a Graco Passage Stroller, the top rated SnugRide® Infant Car Seat and a stay-in-car base. The stroller’s sturdy frame has built-to-last durability.

Graco Car Seats

ComfortSport™ Convertible Car Seat – Sale $89.99
This ultra-versatile seat can be used rear-facing for infants from 5 to 30 pounds, and then forward-facing as a toddler seat for children 20 to 40 pounds. With a five-point, front-adjust harness, EPS energy absorbing foam, removable head pillow and a handy cup holder, it’s got the key essentials you’ll need.

Nautilus™ 3-in-1 Car Seat – Sale $154.99
Our Nautilus™ 3-in-1 car seat helps keep your child in a 5-point harness up to 65 lbs. When ready, it converts to a belt-positioning booster seat, and finally to a Highback or Backless booster, for a comfortable fit up to 100 lbs. Plus, this seat is outfitted with reinforced steel for enhanced durability.

My Ride™ 65 Convertible Car Seat – Sale $129.99
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends your child ride rear-facing as long as possible, so My Ride 65 stays rear-facing up to 40 lbs. – longer than most other car seats in the US. Then, it secures your forward-facing child in a 5-point harness until he is 65 lbs.

Enjoy!

So in the spirit of the season, Graco’s Get One Give One program is back! Every day next week (Dec. 13-17, 2010), we’ll give you five chances to help someone in need and also win that day’s prize for yourself.

And now, allow us to officially announce this year’s incredible prizes:

MONDAY – A Graco Simple Switch™ Highchair in Ashford, available exclusively at Walmart
TUESDAY – A Graco Pack ‘N Play® Playard with Newborn Napper® Station in Inman Park
WEDNESDAY – A Graco My Ride™65 Convertible Car Seat
THURSDAY – A Graco Swing N Bounce™ 2-in-1 Infant Swing in Nobel, available exclusively at Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory
FRIDAY – A Graco Highback TurboBooster® in Zurich

Here’s how it works:

- Each day of our Graco GOGO program, we’ll share a blog post here on the Graco blog with more information on that day’s Graco prize.

- Comment on the Graco blog post or on Facebook — we’ll put information out each day on the Graco Facebook page and on our page for expecting parents, I Love My Baby Bump. In your comment, share a story of a parent or family in need that you would “Give One” of that prize to and why they deserve it. It can be an organization that you care about, a neighbor that is having a tough time, or you can leave it up to us choose a recipient.

- We’ll choose one comment at random every day as our winner for that day’s giveaway. You will have until 10:00 a.m. EST the following day to enter. At that time we will close the comments and announce the giveaway winner. Friday’s winner will be announced on Monday morning, December 20, 2010, so you’ll have the whole weekend to enter on the last day of this GOGO (and it’s going to be a good one!).

- If you win, we’ll send you that day’s prize (the “Get One!”) Then, we’ll also send that same product to your nominee/organization in your name, or anonymously if you’d like (the “Give One!”)

- Plus, if you spread the word by on Twitter by sharing this post, we’ll give you an extra entry. You are free to enter each day’s GOGO, but please only one entry per channel (Facebook, Twitter and the Blog).

We hope you’ll join us next week and give back with Graco this year!

Void where prohibited. Winners are chosen at random. Your odds of winning vary by the number of entries. Limited to residents of the US only. For a full set of rules, contact us at blog@gracobaby.com.

Each gift-pack includes a canvas Sharpie bag and two Stainless Steel Sharpies — which are AWESOME!

So how do you win?

All you have to do is keep doing what you’re doing! No, really, just subscribe to our RSS Feed! — you’ll get updates from the Graco stories you already enjoy reading. Already a subscriber? Then you’re automatically entered to win!

Five subscribers will be picked at random and announced next Friday, Dec.9!

Don’t know what an RSS feed is? We wrote about it here in Oprah speak.

For the tech savvy: The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication,” an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but for most people like you and me, what comes to mind is probably, “Uh, I don’t get it?”

The Oprah definition for RSS: “YOU get a story, YOU get a story, YOU GET A STORY!”  In Oprah speak, this stands for: a way for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all of your favorite web sites and blogs in one place.

Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each website and blog everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can “subscribe” to a website or blog, and get “fed” headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list. That way you can see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours. Definitely a time saver!

That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers the headlines from the web sites and blogs you have subscribed to.

How to Use RSS

1. Get an RSS Reader – The first thing you’ll want to do to use RSS is to find an RSS Feed Reader.

There are many feed readers available with a variety of approaches and features – a good place to start is with some free and easy to use readers like Google Reader and Bloglines. Either one will do if you’re starting out. Both of these feed readers work a little like e-mail.

When you subscribe to feeds you’ll see that unread entries from the sites you’re tracking will be marked as bold. As you click on them you’ll see the latest update and can read it right there in the feed reader. You are given the option to click through to the actual site or move onto the next unread item – marking the last one as “read.”

The best way to learn how to use either Google Reader or Bloglines is to simply subscribe to some feeds and give it a go. Both have helpful help sections to get you up and running

2. Use RSS-Buttons – From there, any time you see an orange button  or anything like the heart shown above, it means that the site you are viewing almost certainly has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to.

In most cases it’s as simple as either copying and pasting the link associated with the button into your RSS Reader or clicking the button and following the instructions to subscribe using the feed reader of your choice.

To quickly and easily subscribe to RSS feeds, you’ll want to set up your browser to subscribe to a blog with your chosen feed reader by default.You can do this by going to the ‘preferences’ of your browser and choosing your feed reader.

3. Start Reading – Once you’ve done this and have subscribed to a few feeds you’ll begin to see unread items in your Feed Reader and you can start reading. Bookmark your reader and open that one page whenever you feel like catching up on your reading.

Still have questions? Leave us a comment and we will help out! Make sure and subscribe to our RSS feed here (or you can always subscribe to the Graco Blog by e-mail too).

Here’s where we got this information about RSS feeds:

* How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way
* ProBlogger: What is RSS?

In Fond Remembrance of Graco’s Founder, Mr. Robert Cone Sr. (1916-2010)

In 1942, Russell Gray and Robert Cone Sr. formed Graco Metal Products, in Philadelphia, PA. For 11 years, the firm fabricated machine and car parts for local manufacturers – a company that one day would become Graco Children’s Products.

In 1953, Mr. Gray left the firm, leaving Mr. Cone as the sole owner. Mr. Cone decided to manufacture his own line of products, and after only 18 months his dedication to build something sustainable led to the world’s first wind-up infant swing, the Graco Swyngomatic®.

Mr. Cone and Graco entered the baby-products business believing they had a hit on their hands. An enthusiastic Graco salesman anticipated that 10,000 of the swings would sell, but no one could have predicted that Graco would sell millions of Swyngomatics in the coming years. Mr. Cone’s vision made Graco into one of the world’s leading manufacturers of juvenile products.

Just Look at Us Now! 60 years later Graco continues Mr. Cone’s  tradition of innovation, with products like the imonitor™ Digital Baby Monitor and the compact folding Contempo™ Highchair.

Mr. Robert Cone, Sr.  resided in Elverson, PA with Charlotte, his wife of 72 years, he lived to the age of 94 and passed away in mid-October this year. He ran Graco until his retirement in the early 80’s at which time he turned over control of Graco to his sons (Ed & Robert, Jr.) and enjoyed an active retirement. He will be greatly missed as a humble-visionary and vivacious leader.

Today, Graco is a business unit of Newell Rubbermaid™, with 1500 associates worldwide. While a half-century has brought many changes to Graco, the dedication and commitment to designing and manufacturing safe, top-quality products that Mr. Cone established years ago will continue to live on.

If you love neutrals, the outdoors and adorable scenery you are going to love the new Nobel Fashion out this month exclusively at Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory.

Nobel combines a mix of lovable forest animals, leaves and fruits with colorful stripes and solids. The combination works nicely in the home thanks to the nature-inspired colors of green, brown, tans and soft corals.

The Nobel Fashion, which is only being offered at Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory, is available on some of Graco’s most popular products, like the new Graco SnugRide® 30 Infant Car Seat – a light-weight car seat that holds a baby from 4-30 lbs.

And there’s the extremely popular Graco Pack ‘N Play Playard® with Newborn Napper® that cuddles your newborn up to 15 lbs, then grows with your child to transition to a bassinet and then a playard as your child gets older.

The Nobel Fashion pattern is also featured on these Graco products sold at Baby Depot:

• Graco Swing ‘N Bounce™ 2-in-1 Infant Swing: $129.99
• Graco Vie 4™ Stroller: $99.99
• Graco Pack ‘N Play Playard® with Newborn Napper®: $149.99
• Graco SnugRide® 30 Infant Car Seat: $119.99
• Graco SimpleSwitch™ Highchair: $89.99 (Coming Soon!)

Wherever your baby needs to play, rest or explore, the Noble Fashion creates that perfect nurturing environment.

Check out the Nobel Fashion at any Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory or online at www.babydepot.com.

1. Infant Car Seat. You can’t leave the hospital without one. Selecting a car seat is an extremely important decision, so please do your research. Make sure you select a car seat that will fit your child, fit your car and that you can use correctly every time.

I suggest going online first to narrow down which brands of car seats you are considering (or talk to your friends to see which one they would recommend). Then go into the store & make sure that you are comfortable with the functionality of the seat. Ask questions! Also, ask the store associate if you can bring the car seat out to your car to make sure that are comfortable with it fitting in the car.

And don’t forget to check out www.gracobaby.com to see our car seat installation videos before installing your car seat. My top pick is the SnugRide 35–it holds babies from 5-35 lbs and has lots of great fashions to choose from.

2. Stroller. You are going to want to show off that adorable little baby! Make sure you consider your lifestlye before buying your stroller (do you live in the city? Do you travel a lot? Are you outdoors frequently?) That will determine if you want a more lightweight stroller or something a little heavier and full-featured. Remember, all Graco infant car seats snap into most Graco strollers so you can create your own travel system or buy a pre-packaged one. My pick is the Alano FlipIt since the handle flips so you can see your baby while you are out and about.

3. Playard. I am sure a lot of people are told to get a playard but may not know exactly why. Well, the playard becomes your “family room care station” for your little one. Basically, you can eliminate running up and down the stairs ten times a day to find diapers, get diaper cream, etc. Different playards have different features, but many include a bassinet, changing table, and diaper organizer. Some newer models even have newborn napping stations!

4. Swing. Since babies are used to constant motion when they are in your belly for 9 months, the motion of a swing continues that familiar and calming action. Add a pacifier for an additional soothing method (check out Dr. Karp’s 5 S soothing method) and your baby will be cooing with contentment in no time. For Pinkie Pie, I used the Sweetpeace swing which allowed me to customize the swinging motions as well as having a MP3 hook up for my own lullaby play list.

5. Highchair. Some people forget to add a highchair to their registry. But, when Baby is 6 months old, you are going to need it! Some of the new highchairs provide multi-functions, like the one PP is using, DuoDiner. What’s great about DuoDiner is that it becomes a booster chair so when you want Baby to sit at the table with the rest of the family, you don’t have to buy another product. PP is now officially sitting at the table in her booster seat (but in the picture above, I’m showing PP before her graduation to the table).

There are still so many other things that you are going to need on your registry, like diapers, wipes, bibs, towels, etc… but I will leave that one for a future post!

Until then, Happy Registering!

Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory makes it easy for you to find exactly what you need for your entire family. With more than 410 locations nationwide, they have an impressive selection of Graco items, plus other baby essentials you’re looking for from bottles and cribs to maternity wear and nursery bedding. And, don’t forget about those designer boots you’ve been eyeing – you can snag them at up to 70% off department store prices!

At Baby Depot, they believe that shopping for the little things means little prices — and on top of their already great selection for baby, they have some incredible deals. Save $10-$25 off of Graco’s Morgan Collection in store and online now through Sunday, Nov. 14!

And when you’re in the store, be sure to check out Baby Depot’s great registry program featuring a convenient checklist with everything you’ll need for your new arrival, along with adorable personal registry cards to distribute to your family and friends!

And if that weren’t enough, now through July 2011, sign up to receive Baby Depot e-mails to learn about amazing deals and products and you could win a $500 shopping spree (now that’s a lot of bottles!)

Ready to shop? Visit Baby Depot online or find a store near you.