Need opinions

[luckymommy]

Hi everyone,

I'm just looking for a few opinions. Sorry for the long post. I may post on the car seat board too but I know a few of you frequent both boards so I'll start here first.

DS is 3.5 years and ~32 lbs/39in.
DD is 10 months and ~19 lbs/29in.

We currently have two FPSE carseats (~1yr 8mo until expiry) and two Marathons.

Here's the dilemma. I noticed today that DS's shoulders are now level with the slots on the FPSE. Therefore, he's going to need to use both of the Marathons and I'll switch DD into the two FPSE's.

The problem is that the FPSE seats are only good RF until 22 lbs which DD will reach in the next few months. I really want to keep her RF as long as possible. We turned DS FF around 14 months because of the seat limitations but I always thought it was too early.

These are the options I can think of:

1) Buy two new Evenflo Generations (or equivalent) for DS.
Move DD into Marathons and keep RF as long as possible.
Give away FPSE's to friends who I would make sure knew the
expiration was getting close(I really like the FPSE's though!!)

Problem - even though I know that the Generations makes a decent booster; I really wanted Parkways for DS. Will the Marathon even fit RF in Altima (I guess I should check!)

2) Buy two new Scenera's for DD and keep DS in the Marathons.
Eventually buy Parkways for DS and DD can move to Marathons.

Problem? - potentially if DD grows faster then DS both may need the Marathons at the same time down the road.

3) Buy two new Marathons. My son may get two years out of them and then we could sell them.

Problem - convincing DH to shell out another ~$700!!

Thoughts/Ideas?

Thanks

PS I took a CRST course about a month ago and volunteered at my first clinic this weekend. It was so great! I really loved helping all of the parents. I should be a certified tech soon :D

[EllasMum]

My DD is also tall and heavy - over 95%ile for weight and height, so I feel your pain! As her main seat, I have a Marathon - she is still in the 2nd slot (I think...) and as a seat for Grandma's car I have a Scenera. The Scenera seems quite adequate - my sole complaint is that the harness is a bit twisty. The Marathon has really spoiled me, I must say! But for a backup seat, the Scenera seems fine. DD is in the 2nd slot on the Scenera and seems to have lots of room to grow. I plan on keeping her RF as long as possible also. Seems to me the Scenera can remain RF for quite a long time too. I can't really speak to the booster seats - DD is my first DC so no experience yet with boosters. I can tell ya that the Scenera seems to be a good seat and the price is right - I paid about $89 at Wal-mart.

Hope you get it figured out!!

Oh, and congratulations on completing the CRST course! We definitely need more certified techs around! I had a tech check DD's Marathon and she was a great help and reassurance. :)

ETA: Not too sure about the size of an Altima but I have an old school Corolla (1995) and the MA fits perfectly. I believe an Altima is around the same size so you shouldn't have a problem. The tech that checked my MA said that she has yet to find a car that an MA won't fit.

[jujucb]

Ah, I feel your pain. I have three kids and trying to plan ahead for car seats is very tricky. And it doesn't always work out.

I like your option 1). TRU has the Generations on for $140 and the Chase for $90.00. www.toysrus.ca I have an MA and RA for our main car and use on old version of the Chase in the second car. It's not a bad seat for a spare. It sits a little too upright in some vehicles, which isn't great for napping. The Generations is a bit more padded and has the recline feature which may make it better for a main vehicle.

If you use one car more than the other, you could put both MAs in the main vehicle and get an Evenflo combo and Scenera for the second car.

In either situation, I'd still get Parkways as boosters down the road. Even though the Generations is good as booster for a combo seat - it still can't compare to a dedicated booster IMHO.

dd 06-99 Parkway/TurboBooster
b/g twins 03-02 RA/MA & Express/van built-in

[hipmaman]

Before coming up with other scenario for new seats to buy, would you be comfortable using the FPSE until 30 lbs if this is what FP and Transport Canada had said?

http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/childsafety/notices/dser/d200101/menu.htm read the Safety Risk section. We have heard that this the case with the Canadian FPSE which had been retested for use to 30 lbs rf, but FP never gotten around to change any labelling as it then got out of the carseat business.

Quoting the section here....

Safety Risk: There is no safety risk if the consumer uses the restraint system for a child between 10 and 14 KG (22 and 30 lbs) based on this single label information, because the restraint system has been tested to the standard for this weigh range and meets the requirements.

Are you comfortable and will this help you with your dd rf from having to buy new seats?

[luckymommy]

Thank you for responding ladies.

Tam - I thought that I had read something about the seat being good up to 30 lbs in the past but never knew that it was officially documented at the Transport Canada site.

Knowing that the seats were tested and past to that weight range definitely makes me feel better.

It looks like I will use the FPSE seats to 30lbs RF and refrain from buying new seats until they expire.

So glad that I posted!

Thanks,
Leigh