carseat wwyd

eclaires

So currently Scarlett is in the Graco SafeSeat or whatever it's called, and she'll probably fit in it for awhile longer, but I'm kind of over it now that she can sit up and stuff on her own.  Even though she's only 15lbs it gets heavy.

Jackson has a Sunshine Kids Radian SL XT.  Our plan was to move Scarlett to that RF when the time came and get him a Britax Frontier or something like that.

But, I'm hesitating.  I'm wondering if we should just buy another Radian (maybe 2) so we could have 3 carseats in the back of our Equinox.  The reason isn't for a 3rd kid - if we have a 3rd, we will have to get a bigger car.  It's so if Jackson has friends ride w/ us (one in particular that lives in our neighborhood), we can fit 3 carseats across the back.

I don't want to move Jackson to a booster yet, and he has one more notch up on his Radian before he outgrows it.

EMT

Why replace the Safeseat? Just keep it in the base if it's getting heavy?? She could use it for a LONG-TIME if she's only 15 lbs. I think the weight limit is 30lbs?

eclaires

It's just such a pain to get her in and out of...god, I'm such a whiner.

She will outgrow the height before the weight - the height limit is 32 inches and she is currently 26.5-27 inches long.

It's also because I probably will be keeping an eye out for good prices, but I need to know what I'm looking for (radian or frontier).  I probably won't switch her for a few months still.

Plus, I am not sure we can fit a 3rd seat in there, unless all 3 are Radians.  Does that make sense? 

Andrewsgal

From someone who moved my kids out of their infant seats ASAP I totally get what you are saying, oh and after mine could sit up neither wanted to be reclined like in the infant seat. I would buy a frontier and give the radian to S. We bought the frontier for E and moved J to our Britax

EMT

I guess I never noticed how much more an infant seat reclines vs. a rear facing convertible? But, anyway, not sure I would buy two radians for a pretty temporary situation. It sounds like you think once J outgrows his radian, three carseats would not fit no matter what you buy (so basically once he outgrows his seat that extra seat you would potentially buy would be useless). I guess it would depend on how long you think J has left in his seat and how expensive they are. But I am cheap like that.

eclaires

yeah, good point.

The only thing I'm thinking of is that we could always use the other Radian in Jeff's car.  Right now we only have one of each kid's carseats and just drive the one car.

I hate buying carseats.  It gives me hives.

Angela814

I actually think buying a second Radian makes sense. The Radian allows you to use it with the shoulders above the top harness slot, so that should give you quite a bit of time. (Annalise's are 1/4" or so above the top slot.) By the time Jackson outgrows the seat, he should be ready for a booster.

I'm just not sure I'd buy a third Radian just for a friend's DC. They're not exactly cheap, and you wouldn't be using it a ton.

eclaires

It would more be for us to just have an extra seat that fits in our car if we need 3 or can go in MH's car.  A nice bonus would be using it if Jackson had a friend ride w/ us - nice to have the option to take him with us to the park or whatever.

It'd be nice to have one for MH's car so we wouldn't have to switch seats.  Plus, I usually take Jackson to school, even though MH could because he'd have to come home and trade cars which doesn't really make sense.  We are also thinking about a 3rd at some point in the near future, so it's not like it'd go to waste if I did buy two.

I'm glad I posted this now though because it's probably going to take me months to decide what to do. 

JenniC1135

We've definitely hit the point where it's helpful to have an extra carseat in the minivan.  We currently own 3 Radians, which are in DH's Prius and we use them somewhat sparingly bc all three can reach eachother and fight like dogs.  In the van, the twins are in Decathlons and Adam's in a Marathon, and we also have a Graco Nautilus that we sometimes put in our 4Runner for one kid to go with DH on errands, but mostly we keep it in the van in the back row so we can haul friends around with us.  Lots of those kids are in boosters in their parents' cars, but I feel better having them in 5 pt with me.  It's been super convenient for days when we have a playdate after school, and the Nautilus can move quickly and be used with the shoulder belt, so it has also been easy to transfer to someone else's car when one of the twins says, "Mommy, can I go home from the park with ___ and you pick me up later?"