Convertible Car Seats

Car seat shopping is a beastie!

We've been using a Graco Snugride that is on loan from my nephew's family.  It is an infant carseat/carrier thingy - you know, the kind that you can pop the whole thing in and out of the car on a base.  It is rear-facing only, up to 25 lbs.  Infant carriers are really useful because tiny babies fall asleep in the car all the time, and considering that they don't always want to fall asleep any other time or way, this allows you to get the baby in to where ever you're going without waking them up.  Brilliant.  Also, if you just need to contain the little squirmer in the grocery store, or something, these work great.  And, of course, we bought the adaptor for the BOB, so ours snapped right into our awesome stroller and the Z could sleep safe and sound while Mom/Gramma/Dad wandered around outside with her.  We had 3 bases for the infant carrier, the loaner, plus 2 more we purchased, so that my car, P's car, and Gramma's car could all accomodate the Z.  The carrier stayed with the baby, and everyone could use it.  No prob.

At a certain point Gramma and I noticed that it was becoming really difficult to carry the carrier with the Kid in it.  Heavy, awkward, etc.  But we persevered.

Then Gramma went and quit on us and daycare presented a new problem: I was going to be dropping the Z off, but P was going to be picking her up.  And there was nowhere to store the carseat at daycare.

Enter into the picture: convertible carseats.  These are carseats that are supposed to take your tyke from birth to the end of carseat-dom.  They're big.  And expensive.  And they aren't carriers.  Honestly, for the first several months of a baby's life, I'd want the carrier for the reasons listed above.  BUT it'd be silly to purchase another carrier to fit on that base in my car only for a few months, when for way more money I can get a carseat that will last the next few years.

I did some searching around on mommy-boards, and the general consensus is that you want a Graco My-Ride 65 ($150) or a Britax Marathon ($270).  Once we got to BRU, I was briefly wooed by the Graco SmartSeat, because let's face it, for $30 more than the Marathon I'd end up with a nicer looking, better reclining carseat that also converts up to a booster seat.  Last. Carseat. Ever.  But ultimately frugality won over and we went home with the My-Ride 65.

P installed the thing, and let me tell you, rear-facing, this thing is H.U.G.E.  And I drive the Red Menace, not some family sedan (yet).  It's a freaking SUV!  And the passenger seat was pulled all the way forward to accommodate the carseat monstrosity behind it.  And of course, now the AAP recommends leaving kiddos in the rear-facing position until they are 2 years old.  I couldn't picture having my car in this configuration for 17 months, and couldn't picture how the thing would even fit in a smaller car which I think (hope) I might (maybe) be buying in the next 17 months.  What to do?

Well, we decided to take it back and see what else we could do.  We waited around BRU forever to get an "escort" to allow us to try the floor model in our car (why can't they just take your license and let you do it yourself??), but no one ever responded to us, so finally we just purchased the Britax Marathon.  Now that it is installed, I can tell you that it is a few inches shorter than the My-Ride 65, so that's good.  It doesn't have cupholders, though, so that is a downer (for $120 more).  Hopefully this means it'd fit if I got a new smaller car!  Not sure if we'll choose another Marathon or if we'd go with something cheaper once Z is legal to forward-face and we need a 2nd convertible carseat.  At least that bridge is a little farther away!