Sleep won for 2 of the 3 of us:
I stayed up researching convertible car seats (any advice?) and looking for snacks that are soy based for B (think Yogurt melts minus the lactose).We ran to Starbucks and then hit up the mall for a short walk (B was very happy that I carried him the whole time instead of putting him in the stroller).
Now were back home watching Wipeout (love it) and relaxing. What a lazy day!
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33 comments:
We have a Britax Marathon and I highly recommend it. I have also used the little sibling Roundabout and prefer the extended height and weight limits of the Marathon. You really can't go wrong with Britax, IMO.
For a super cheap and very highly rated option, the Cosco Scenera is a good seat.
Check out Baby Cheapskate for car seat techs recommended picks. You may have to search around a bit for it.
I LOVE lazy Saturdays. I spent the day working in the yard and hanging in the pool...well, not working, ENJOYING!
We have the Britax Boulevard and I love it.
We've had my son's for about a year and half and we're in the process of buying my daughter's right now.
It's pretty pricey, but I found some good deals online, and Babies R Us practically always has some 15% off coupon..but it's amazing and totally worth it. My 2 and half year old still loves it.
We love our Britax Marathons! We have 2, one for our 5yo and one for our 3yo. We went to the Marathon as soon as they outgrew the baby carrier (first rear facing and now forward facing).
I know they are pricey but this is one of the things we didn't mind splurging on, especially after doing lots of research and seeing their safety record.
Hope that helps! I am a longtime follower but first time commenter and mom of 2 boys.
Blessings,
Jennifer
johnandjennrutherford.blogspot.com
Sounds like the perfect Saturday minus the funeral
:( Have a great rest of the weekend!
Yes Britax Marathon or Roundabout (or any of theirs) are pricey but beat out all other carseats in safety. We've loved our Marathon and it lasts until their 65 lbs. and then you can just get a booster!
We have the Britax Diplomat and the Britax Boulevard. Both are great--the Diplomat is made for smaller cars, so if you are short on space, this is a good option. The Boulevard, though, goes up to a higher weight limit. My son seems most comfortable in that. It's well worth the money--so easy to install and has the best safety ratings.
Well, Britax is supposedly the best out there. They are also wicked expensive. So, for my kiddos we used the Evenflo Triumph. It is great if you plan on using it rear facing. The adjustment thing for the straps is on the side, not the front. So it is so much easier to get baby in there properly. If your infant carrier is going to be used until B is 1, then, well I still like this seat but there are probably others that would be fine as well.
we just purchased the maxicosi priori & love it!! great seat & great price!!!
The Britax seats are very expensive but in my opinion you can't put a price on your child's safety. I know everyone says that every seat passes the same tests and they are all safe. That is partly true, all seats are safe there are just some that are safer. Britax is a great company who goes above and beyond in their safety testing. All other seats are tested to 30MPH and Britax does 50 MPH crashes. I think that in itself is a big deal for me.
I am ordering Landyn a Britax Boulevard this week since he is outgrowing his infant seat. Remember a rearfacing car seat is outgrown when they reach the weight limit or their head is within 1 inch of the top of the shell. Also remember that keeping him rearfacing will be the safest, 2 years and 30 pounds in the new recommendation from the AAP. But even better would be to keep him rearfacing in his seat until he outgrows it by height or weight. A child who is forward facing is 5 times more likely to have internal decapatation in an accident. (that was the only thing i needed to hear to change my mind about keeping Landyn rearfacing until the limits of his seat)
If you are interested in more information about Extended Rear facing just google it, there's a lot of good information out there or go ahead and ask me. Im working towards becoming a car seat tech now but so far the week long training hasn't fit into my schedule.
As you can tell, Car seat safety is one of my passions! Good Luck!
We bought an Evenflo Titan Elite for Hailey when she was almost 6 months old. I believe it's rated to 35 lbs. rear-facing and then 50 lbs. for forward facing. We like it and Hailey seems to like it even better than our infant carrier. She's 14 months old and we still have her rear-facing, which is great.
Britax are wonderful but too expensive for us. The Evenflo is a great seat.
I know I don't have kids yet, but I've installed many car seats when having my friend's kids out with me. I love Britax as well. Yes they are pricey but when it comes to safety price doesn't come into play for me. Evenflo seem to be recalled ALOT. I happened to be running errands and had to stop at walmart and looked at their recall board and evenflo made 5 of the 7 children's products represented on the board. Graco is a good option as well.
Although I don't recomend the cosco scenera seat. The padding isn't the best. And it doesn't have the safety features others have.
You get what you pay for.
Lazy days are always good! I am in the process of searching for a car seat too and I have heard a lot about britax and have been leaning towards that brand.. let me know what ya decide!!
Oh and have you started Brayden on any snacks like the yogurt melts, or teething crackers and things? I was just wondering because I didn't know when it was the right time to start them on those things??
We use a Britax Boulevard for our daughter - she started using it around 7 months - she outgrew her infant seat early b/c she was so tall.
I did tons of research and just kept coming back to the Britax brand. The Boulevard won for us b/c of the side head wing things. They work perfectly when she falls asleep - her head doesn't flop around like so many others do. We are on vacation right now where we just drove over 1700 miles and she didnt complain once. Plus the head wings increase the side impact rating too. I have a cheaper 2nd car seat that we rarely use and you can definitely tell the difference - in both the quality of the fabric & padding as well as the ease of installation.
For us there was no comparison - definitely worth every penny. We got ours for a great deal at albeebaby.com during one of their sales. Hope this helpss with your decision.
Kristen :)
P.S. - Brayden is just so cute!!!
Oh forgot to comment on the snacks. The first snacks we did were the Gerber Puffs...they are nice and small and the best part that made me comfortable with giving them to my daughter was the fact that they dissolve in the mouth so I wasn't too scared of choking. She still loves them to this day and she is almost 21 months old. They come in many different flavors too.
My friend subscribes to Consumer Reports and did the research for me - the Evenflo Triumph got better reviews than the Britax & is about $150 cheaper. We went ahead & got it so we could quit transferring the carrier back & forth & have no complaints. Wells is still backwards in both cars. I kind of fretted about not buying a Britax b/c everyone says their the best, but haven't had any regrets so far. Hope that helps!
Here's a good website to research things like this, but you might have already seen it since you've been reading.
http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/pages/home/index.htm
I actually just moved my twin daughters into their new convertable carseats. I got on ConsumerReports.com and researched. There are 2 that are tied for the highest ranked, the Evenflo Triumph and the Britax Roundabout. But the Evenflo scored higher in the safety fields and the Britax scored higher in some of the easy to use fields. The Evenflo is like $130 to $180 depending on the material but the Britax is about $250. I Love our Evenflo Triumph. They are big though but very nice and even recline. Hope this helps. Also Babies R Us runs lots of %15 off coupons on carseats and you can even download the coupon off the internet.
We have the Britax Roundabout and LOVE it!!! We went through 2 others before we bought the Britax. Yes they are more expensive but it has been worth it. He is so comfortable in it and its very easy to install.
On the snacks we started him on cherrios and the puffs first.
I used to be a carseat tech (I let my official title go due to being too busy to volunteer with four kids underfoot) and these are my favorite Convertible seats!
* First Years True Fit (starts at $159, RF to 35, FF to 65)
* Evenflo Triumph Advance (starts at $129, RF to 35, FF to 65)
* Britax Marathon/Boulevard (starts at $179 on sale, RF to 35, FF to 65)
* Sunshine Kids Radian (starts at $199 on sale, RF to 40, FF to 65)
All four of these seats go to 65 lbs Forward Facing so you will be able to keep them in this seat until they probably need a booster seat so they are make pretty good choices. I'm a Britax fan and I have three of my four kids in Britax Marathon's and my oldest is in a Britax booster but the others one are very good as well and since they all go to 65 lbs forward facing.
I usually order my seats on-line because they are usually cheaper that way. You can check out:
www.babyuniverse.com
www.babycatalog.com
www.albeebaby.com
www.tinyride.com
or Toys R Us carries most of them as well and I think Target carries most of them too. You can always go look at them in the store and then go home and order it on-line!
If you want a lower-budget seat, the Cosco Scenera is always an option (starts at $40-ish), RF to 35, FF to 40). You can usually find this at wal-mart. It only goes to 40 lbs so it won't last the longest, but it makes a good back up seat for a 2nd car.
Good luck! I LOVE carseat shopping:-)
Do you have BRU? Call ahead and ask if you can schedule an appt to try the seats in your car. We had a Neon, and only the cheapest, smallest seat would sit properly in our car. You can also try out the installation b/c some of them are a pain if you switch cars regularly. Usually an employee will go out with you, and you'll take the display seats out to try.
Ny daughter outgrew her infant seat around 6 months. We got the Britax Diplomat and love it! She is now two and I needed to get another seat for our sitter and I went with the Recaro Signo and it is great and it was also on sale at babyage.com. You can find great deals on there!
I say Britax all the way. Our kids are older now, but that is what we used for the last two and loved them. They are top-rated and very safe seats!
We have the Graco Nautilus but it can't go backwards. I like it because it's 5 pt until 65 lbs.
My SIL has the Sunshine Kids Radian 65 and it can go backwards I think and is 5pt until 65 lbs as well I think.
Hi Jenna! We also bought our son Greyson the Britax Boulevard. Try doing a google search for the park avenue pattern, it's a GREAT design for boys! I totally agree with all the other mama's here, it's pricey but you CAN'T beat their safety ratings. You'll love the TIPS -true impact protection sides for each side of their head, it even adjusts as they grow. it of course offers the five point harness and latch system too. Good luck!
btw- did you have any luck with a fried rice recipe?
We have used the Evenflo Triumph for both of our children and really love it. It is comfy, easy to adjust the straps, and safe.
Also, you may find that B does well with things like yogurt and maybe even cheese. Many kids that are lactose intolerant, only have sensitivities to their formula and milk, but do fine with other dairy products. Talk to you pediatrician about it.
Just thought I'd chime in-- we have the Sunshine Radian 80 and absolutely love it! Seriously, never thought I would love a carseat so much. It gets the same or higher safety rating that Britax does, but we love that it is a much slimmer profile. We will soon have three across in our CRV. We also love that it folds-- with the backpack style carrying case, it is perfect for flying.
Don't know too much about dairy-free snacks, but the organic section in our grocery store usually has lots of great toddler food options. Our son used to have a dairy sensitivity, but he outgrew it by around 10 or 11 months, so we never really got into too many of the snacks.
--Elizabeth
The little boy I watch is lactose intolerant and loves the soy yogurts! I think it's called O'soy and it is made my stonyfield.
Jackson loves it and I am sure B will too.
My son is 7.5 months old and we just bought him the Britax Boulevard. It is the best.
Yes, it is pricey, but if my husband and I can buy what we want and spend money on ourselves, we can do the same for our little man. It has the latch system, the tether system, and a new feature-an audible click to tell you when the straps are tight enough on your child. We love that feature! We bought the seat in the Cowmooflage pattern on diapers.com with free 2 day shipping.
My son was in a Chicco infant car seat and I loved it. I was worried I would not be able to find anything like it (we felt that Chicco was the safest option out there and that seat gave me peace of mind). Enter the Britax Boulevard...I love both equally now!
That picture is priceless! Love it!
I have a Britax Marathon and won't buy anything else (own 2 of them for my two kids) However, anything convertible with the Britax name would prolly be a good choice but my preference goes to the Marathon.
I am very picky about safety of carseats in my vehicle as well as my 12 passanger van that I drive my 10 daycare children around in. These are the seats I own and are all very safe.
1)Britax Roundabout 50 (Rearfacing up to 35 pounds then forward facing until 50 pounds)Easy to install with built in knock-offs
2) Sunshine Radian 65 theres also a Radian 80 This a steel framed carseat but can fold for travel and is airline approved and can fit 3 across(Rearfacing up to 40 pounds then forward facing to 65
3) Graco My65 is rearfacing till 40 pounds forward facing till 65 pounds.
The two most important things you can do to be safe for your child is keep him rearfacing for as long as you can and this means 2-4 yrs old when they outgrow the weight limit for the carseat. Turning them forward after age one yr puts them at risk for internal decapitation. The second most important is not to put them in a booster seat at 2, 3 or 4 yrs old keep them in a harnessed carseat. Now days they make seats that go up 65, 80 even 100 pounds in a harness. Giving B a really safe ride in the car. Good luck with your search.
We bouth the Britax Boulevards for our girls. We used them for one year and then recently bought the Sunshine Kids Radian XT for them both. The radians are SO MUCH narrower. The Britax carseats (which I used to be a fan of) are just so big and bulky.
Also to consider, we just bought our 7 month old a Graco My Ride 65. It is a new car seat that allows the child to be rear facing up to 40 pounds...the best on the market. My 3 year old is still able to face the rear in this seat. It is bigger than the radians but you can't replace safety with more room in the car, you know?!
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