In my car, Zachariah's seat has already expired and Selah Grace is in the Graco bucket. Which she still fits just fine, but will probably outgrow it when Leroy gets here.
Soooooo... that means new seats allll around.
We have small cars (corolla and small suv), so this was a super-duper challenge. Thankfully, there are so many online resources! I found a forum of car-seat technicians who were extremely helpful in the 3-across debacle. 3-across is hard enough, but when you have a small car (especially the corolla), where the angle of the seats plays a part, as well as the width and height, and specifically where each seat is wide or narrow in order to puzzle them next to each other - it just gets very complicated.
And I think - after sooooo much research - (drumroll)
Zachariah will get a Britax Parkway. He wants it in Maui Blue. (tacky, but whatever) And he gets to sit on the passenger side (for carpool and because we can move the passenger seat up a bit). Plus he likes the window seat. I cannot BELIEVE he is finally graduating to something other than a 5-point harness! (I admit, I absoutely cringe when I see smaller kids in a booster. I just don't see the rush!) Anyways, the technicians approved his move up to a high-back-booster. We would have gotten the Radian (the seat SG is getting), but it only fits in the middle seat, and it makes more sense to have SG in the Radian. My big boy! He should be able to ride in this seat for the next 5-7 years or so.
Selah Grace will get a Sunshine Kids Radian XT SL. She will sit in the middle. This seat needs the most angle, and it will only fit in the middle. I love the cute pattern! :) It's a very narrow seat that should fit well in our car and will keep her rear-facing for another couple of years. (That's another thing I cringe about - facing babies forward at a year old. Again - why the rush?) It also has the side-impact wings. I've always liked those in the Britax seats, so I was glad to see them offered. And it is supposedly extra cushion-y. She will have this seat until Kindergarten or so.
Leroy will get a Coccoro and sit behind the driver. This will also keep him rear-facing for several years. (It does also fit forward.) It's more narrow than the Radian, and it's really the only narrow seat that will fit behind the driver's seat in my corolla, without totally squishing the driver into the steering wheel. We will have to upgrade his seat, probably in about 4 years. But by then, we will probably have another car and other options.
I had a few color choices, but I think I chose ones that will look okay together. I was hoping to have the babies in matching seats on the outside and Zac in the middle - just to be aesthetically pleasing... haha! But, we worked with what we had, and I think they'll look cute. Brian does not understand my need for them to look cute together.
Do you think they'll all look cute next to each other?
After weeks of back-and-forth, I think these are the best (and really the ONLY) options that will fit. I'm almost sure we will need a professional to get these things installed correctly. It will be such a tight fit in my car.
Zac's getting his first because his seats are expiring (his Parkways should be shipped next week) and I'm going to keep checking the sales for the Radians and the Coccoros since they aren't necessary just yet. And gosh SG's is super pricey.
The big bummer is that we have to buy 2 of each seat. VERY expensive to buy 6 brand new car seats!!! We are going to be listing some things on craigslist for some extra cash, that's for sure! ha!
BUT, it's better than a car payment. We just keep repeating that. :)
Plus, our babies will all be safe and that is obviously the most important thing of all.
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