Need help with my combo of carseats and kids

[hellokitty]

OK, so here is the situation. I have a 2001 Honda Ody. Latch in the two captain chairs, no latch in the third row. Right now DS1 and DS2 are in the back row in their marathons. The situation is that both Marathons exp in December 2009. I snagged a Nauilus at Target two months ago for about $65 on clearance. Today, I saw a True Fit that was 30% off on clearance, regular price $199, so it rang up at $132. I almost got it, but put it back, it had a really good DOM of 6/09. Would this be a good seat for us?

DS1 is 5.5 yrs old, 36 lbs, 43 inches.
DS2 is 4 yrs old, 34 lbs, 41 inches.
DS3 is in a SR32 in one of the captain's chairs, BUT he is a chunky monkey unlike my other two boys, only a little bit over 2 mo old and he is already over 15 lbs and 23.5 inches!!!

OK, so here is the thing. My DH drives the older two boys *maybe* once a wk (sometimes not at all) and in his Subaru WRX, DS1 uses a Parkway and DS2 uses a Cosco Scenera. On top of that I had gotten an extra Parkway (these are not the new ones, but the discontinued ones, I got them cheap on clearance), thinking that would be DS1's next seat. BUT, he is still really runty. So, I am thinking it's probably better to keep him in a 5 pt for longer. Would the True Fit be ok as one of the Marathon replacements? I figure the Parkway could be used to replace the scenera in DH's car for DS2 when he outgrows it. OR can I just have DS1 use the extra Parkway as his main seat in my Ody.

The only reason I've considered the True Fit is b/c I seem them on clearance every once in a while at Target and I figure that DS3 could use it, since it can be used RF. DH won't be happy to hear that I am going to buy another convertible seat, but at the rate that DS3 is growing, I am thinking it might not be a bad idea. What do you think? Should I go back to Target and get the True Fit (if it's still there)?

[jjordan]

Sounds as though you need two seats for each kid (one in each car). (Unless, maybe you don't need a seat for the baby in your dh's car?) Once your marathons expire and the baby outgrows the infant seat, you'll have 4 seats between the three kids (nautilus, scenera, and 2 parkways, right?). I'd put the older kid in a nautilus in the primary car and the parkway in the secondary. I'd put the second kid in a harnessed seat in each car, and the baby in a convertible in each car, and save the parkway for when one of the older kids gets a little bigger. So that leaves you buying 3 seats. I think I would probably do two combo seats (like the nautilus, although you might do one nautilus and one cheaper one like the apex or new evenflo generations 65) and one convertible. Then put the middle child in the combo seats and the baby in the new convertible and the scenera.

If you don't need a seat for the baby in your dh's car, then I'd buy one combo seat for the middle child and one convertible for the baby. I'd leave the middle child in the scenara in your dh's car (assuming he still fits in it pretty well - harness straps have to be at or above his shoulder level).

I don't think it would be the end of the world to put the middle child in a parkway in your dh's car, but if it were my kid I'd prefer he stay harnessed just because he is so small. (Same thing goes for keeping the oldest harnessed in the primary car - he is old enough for a booster but still pretty small!)

ETA - forgot about the truefit, DEFINITELY get it! I saw several clearanced at target today and the DOM were 4/08! :( That would be a TERRIFIC convertible seat for your baby, especially at that price.

[o_mom]

I would get it. I think you will get plenty of use out of it for both your DS2 and DS3. Especially if you don't already have a convertible seat for your DS3, you can use it now for DS2 and then in a year or so when DS3 moves out of the infant seat you can put him in the TrueFit. At that time, you can assess if DS2 is ready for a booster in your DH's car. However, he may already be close to outgrowing the Scenera (shoulders over the top slots) in which case, you probably need another harnessed seat for that car as well. In any case, there aren't many tall options for less than $132 and the TrueFit is nicer than most that are at that price point.

[hellokitty]

Thanks jjordan. I think you just verified what my gut instinct was about this situation. Gosh Target is going to see a lot of me in 24 hrs. I had to go back tonight, b/c they double charged me on an item. I'll go back tomorrow morning and hopefully the true fit will still be there. I think I will just let one of the older kids use the true fit until the baby outgrows his SR32, and then at that point, let the baby use the true fit and and hopefully by then I would have found another higher wt/ht limit seat to accomodate the older one who had to give up his seat for his baby brother. I'll keep DS2 in the scenera in DH's car for as long as it fits him. Oh and to answer your question, no, my DH just needs seats for the older two in his car. So, I guess I'm buying myself some time.

Oh and I screwed up. I forgot that we got my old subaru legacy back from my parents (it's a 1998, so really small), and that is what my DH drives the kids around in if he has to, b/c he wants to, "save" his WRX {eye roll}. Can you tell I don't like his WRX?

[hellokitty]

Thanks o mom! DH says DS2 isn't at the top slot yet of the scenera, and I think that seat has at least another 3 yrs left on it before it exp, so I'll let him get full use out of it. We originally bought it as a travel seat for airplane travel, so decided to just use it in DH's car too.