Car seat shopping AGAIN! They BOTH hit a growth spurt!

Both kids have hit a major growth spurt lately. Orren is pretty decidedly a size 3T, with the exception of a few 2T's which are from brands that run big. Of course, typical Orren, he's tall and slim as far as babies go. We had to move up the harness straps in his primary car seat (that would be the Britax Diplomat he uses in the car), and I made a dubious discovery. He's nearly outgrowing it in height. Yes, we'll soon be putting away the Diplomat for the next baby. I'm seeing a trend in this house. The average cost of our car seats is $273. Thus far, it takes Orren an average of 6 months to outgrow any given one of them.

This means we are in the market for a Radian XT SL (in Nitro) for Orren. We knew we wanted one anyhow, but thought we'd have longer to think on it than we do. As it is, probably within the next month or two, we'll go ahead and take the plunge on that. It's yet another $300 something car seat, but like the other ones, it's well worth it for its safety features. Plus, it installs via the LATCH system until 80 pounds, whereas other seats only install via LATCH for half that much. LATCH is a safer install than seat belt, so we definitely want the SL (Super LATCH) technology on our next seat, and Radian is the one that's making that. They also rear-face to 45 pounds, and when your baby is as big as Orren, and you hope to rear-face for at least 3 years, that high rear-facing weight limit is very important. If we went with just the standard 35 pound rear-facing limit that other seats have, we would barely make it 18 months at this rate.

Erin, too, has hit a growth spurt, and has nearly outgrown the 5-point harness of her Nautilus (BTW, friends don't let friends buy Graco. The Nautilus isn't bad, but since we're used to high-end car seats, it just feels cheap. Just dish out the extra cash and go for the Britax Regent if you're considering a Nautilus. In retrospect, that's what we should have done.) and the Nautilus has the second highest harness slots on the market (the only thing higher is the Regent, by an inch) so it won't be long before she will be unable to ride in a 5-point harness anymore. Therefore, I've been shopping for boosters for her.

Now, because I know everyone's thinking it, I have to say it. No, all boosters are most certainly NOT created equal. That $20 piece of crap you can buy at Wal Mart does not offer True Side Impact Protection, and will probably fall apart before you've gotten more than a couple years of use out of it. Not to mention, it'll probably be uncomfortable as all hell. It's kind of like putting your baby in a $40 car seat. Sure, the law says you can, but that doesn't mean you should. (Obviously, if that's all you can afford, then it's understandable.)

Anyhow, for boosters for Erin, we have one already. Her Nautilus will work as a high-back booster, and since it does top-tether and all that, we're happy with it for use as a booster. (In fact, I'll be happy on some level to get rid of those cheap straps! They're the part that disgusts me the most about the Nautilus.) We need one more, though, because she still only has the Nautilus, which we transfer back and forth between the car and the truck. The Nautilus was actually bought mostly for the truck since it's huge. We were going to get Erin a Radian car seat for the car, but now that she's too tall for that, we can't.

There are two boosters we are considering. The Sunshine Kids Monterey is made by the same company that makes Radian car seats, and the quality is absolutely outstanding. It is also compact car friendly, which is exactly what I need. I am going to have to fit three car seats across the back of my HHR within the next couple years, and it'll work if at least two of them are Radians. The other seat we're SORT OF considering for Erin is the Britax Parkway , but at present, I'm leaning away from that because it's wide. Plus, it's uglier than sin. They're roughly the same price, as you can see, and honestly, as far as car seats go, a $120 booster is a lot cheaper than what we've been paying for stuff. Plus, it's the last car seat we'll ever have to buy Erin, and both of these models have the quality to stand up to many years of use. They both feature excellent side-impact protection, and their belt positioning apparatuses are superior to those of cheaper boosters. All in all, either one is worth our money, but we'll more than likely go with the Monterey. Plus, Erin likes the pink. I kind of would like to talk her into the red and black so it will match the car and Orren's car seat. I don't think I can sell that one, though. Trying to get a little girl to accept red when pink is available is far easier said than done!!

So yes, we are car seat shopping again. Thankfully it's slightly cheaper this time around since Erin is going into a belt positioning booster again. :( I'm a little sad about that. Just knowing how much safer it is to be in a 5-point harness, I was not looking forward to being unable to keep her in one. We'll just hope that there are a few more months before she truly outgrows her 5-point harness. She's got one more inch to grow, and then we'll have to take her out of it. With Erin, that could happen next week or three months from now. Your guess is as good as mine.