Search Results for: blog convertible carseat

Keep Toddlers In Rear-Facing Carseats

The news came out today that the official recommendations for child safety seat use were updated. The news wasn’t news to me, however. I had been telling people about the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for years. The child safety seat law is that children must remain rear facing to one year old and twenty pounds. The AAP recommends that children remain rear facing to the weight/height limit of the seat or at least until age two. We all know how soft a baby’s skull is. Baby’s skull has an official soft spot on top too. I don’t know that … Continue reading →

Convertible Carseat

Although my only child is an infant, I feel like I have a small window into the world of parents sending their kids off to their first day of school. They dab at their eyes with tissues, give tearful hugs, then burst into tears as they (or the school bus) drive(s) away. They exclaim, “It’s too soon!” What gave me this insight? Today, my daughter will be riding in a convertible car seat for the first time. I can’t believe she already outgrew her infant car seat. It seems like only yesterday that we were putting her in the car … Continue reading →

Evenflo Symphony 65

The first child safety seats we got were a Graco Safeseat and a Britax Marathon. We added another Marathon when Jessie joined our family and we had two toddlers. Jessie graduated to the Britax Frontier when she was over three and almost at the weight limit of the Marathon. Emily can stay in the Chicco Keyfit to 30 pounds. The Keyfit is so easy to install that I was happy to leave her in it and not remove the heavy seat and baby from the base. Emily was tired of being at that recline so she barfed all over herself … Continue reading →

Do You Have a Navigation System in Your Car?

In 2008 we traded in our Chevrolet Silverado and Nissan Sentra on a new Ford Escape lease. We shopped a lot of cars and drove many. The Escape fit our needs at the time and was within our price range. We ended up with a lot of extras I wasn’t expecting because they were on the car in the color we wanted that was in inventory. They were not all the options that I would have liked, however. One of the dealers we visited was offering a free navigation system with purchase. We hadn’t had navigation in our cars and … Continue reading →

Car Seat Safety Following A Car Accident

My family was in a car accident this past week. We were inside our car, which was parked in a Walmart parking lot. I had just finished buckling our infant daughter into her car seat when a car struck us on the driver’s side front door. After getting everyone out of the car, calling 911, and calming our unsettled nerves, I began to consider the lasting impact of the car accident. Would all three of us be sore the next morning? Should I take my daughter to the doctor to be examined? The biggest question on my mind was the … Continue reading →

Why Toddlers and Jeeps Don’t Mix

Earlier this week a father driving a Jeep made a U-turn. Unfortunately, his 2-year-old son did not. According to reports, the toddler, who was strapped inside his carseat, which was placed in the back of the Jeep, flew out of the vehicle when the dad executed the turn. Fortunately (or should I say miraculously), the little boy did not suffer life-threatening injuries, at least according to a fire battalion chief in Wisconsin, who happened to witness the entire incident unfold right before his eyes. Chief Matt Haerter told local reporters that he saw the boy fly out of the Jeep … Continue reading →

Giving Thanks for Safe Travel

I think it is safe to assume that when most of us get behind the wheel of our vehicles we wholly expect that we will get to our final destination in one piece. In fact, many of us are probably so busy either trying to dodge traffic so we make it to said destination on time or are completely distracted by the ten million other mental notes we are formulating in our minds that the thought of NOT getting to work, school, the supermarket or the pediatrician never occurs to us. Bottom line: Safe travel is something many of us … Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About Offsetting the Financial Squeeze of Parenting

What every parent-to-be needs is a list of inspiring ways to assure them that their new little bundle of joy won’t suck dry the retirement fund. Well, I can assure you that you don’t have to be a millionare to raise a family comfortably. Here are the ways our family does it: Tax Credits The federal government has created ways to ease parents’ burden via a tax bill signed into law in May 2003 that gives parents a larger tax write-off on minor children. The child tax credit is now $1,000 for each child under age 17, as long as … Continue reading →