So just how many car seats has it been now?

I take a little bit of abuse since I change car seats just about every time I take a shower. So just how many car seats has it been? There have been 19 total car seats through the door. Some have been repeats though (for instance, three different Graco Cargo Platinums, two Graco Safe Seats). So the total number of unique models of car seats through my door is now at 11.

First we had a Graco Snugride. Then an Alpha Omega for rear facing, then forward facing. Since I could see that Monkey was going to be too tall for the Alpha Omega (it only goes to a 50th percential child for height) I picked up an Evenflo Vision. I bought the Vision then discovered that the manufacturer had made a mistake with the expiry dates. I returned the seat since I didn't want to deal with it. I brought it to the attention of Transport Canada and a Consumer Information Notice was issued. http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/childsafety/notices/TP14563C/2007c01/menu.htm.

I borrowed a Safety 1st Enspira from a friend when we were expecting Big C so that my sister could come and pick Monkey up while I was giving birth.

Then I was in a collision with my car seats (but not my kids) in the car. The insurance company wrote me a cheque immediately. I bought an Alpha Omega Elite (AOE) for Monkey and a Graco Safe Seat for Big C. Then I was offered a brand new Safe Seat as a loaner so I returned mine and bought an Alpha Omega Elite for Big C to use later.

Before I used them, a nice fabric Eddie Bauer went on sale at Toys R Us. So I returned the AOEs and picked up the pretty ones. None of these seats were a good fit in our car rear facing and the AOEs were not going to be tall enough forward facing.

Luckily for me, one of the new pretty seats faded really badly in the first month. As it turns out, they were having a problem with that dye lot. I took the opportunity to return the seats to the store and chose something that would be a better fit. I picked up a Britax Roundabout from Kiddytown for Big C (I can't begin to express how beautifully it fits in our tiny little car rear facing). I also bought a Britax Marathon for Monkey but Dave made me return it the same day.

I went on line and ordered A Summit from Costco. Unfotunately the specs that they had on line were incorrect so I returned the seat since it wasn't any better than the ones I had before for beight and weight requirements. So I went to Sears and bought a Graco Cargo Platinum for Monkey.

The first Graco Cargo arrived in a really beat up box. I was concerned that the seat may have been damaged so I returned it and ordered a new one. The second one arrived with part of the styrofoam broken off, so I called the manufacturer who sent me a new shell. All of the Graco Cargos had been really hard to adjust the harnesses (I am told this is true for all of them with children less than or around 30 lbs but I have not verified that) so I just returned the last one and picked up a Safety 1st Apex (currenly the tallest seat on the Canadian market from what I understand). I have noticed that it has a 5 year expiry on it (it should be 6) and I have let Transport Canada know about it (stay tuned!) but I like the seat and am keeping it for now.

Up until now I have sworn by the Roundabout. While I still love the seat and the awesome way that it fits in the back of smaller cars, Big C is a VERY tall child and is a matter of months away from being too tall for it in the rear facing position. He is 14.5 months old, 22 lbs and walking, running, and even climbing so he could go forward facing...I love him too much to risk it, so I am keeping him rear facing until he reaches 30 lbs (if you don't understand why, watch this movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI).

The opportunity presented itself to leverage some of my current assets and a Britax Marathon (in the cowmooflage pattern) has been purchased for me (it should arrive in a couple of weeks).

You would think that I would finally be done now, but 2 days ago an interim order passed allowing car seats to go to 65 lbs in Canada (and mine only go to 48 lbs) so stay tuned to see how that goes. There may be a couple more in the future!