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      August 22, 2018

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3 car seats

The Zones Of A Filthy Family Car
BabiesParenthoodPopular PostsSchool Age DaysToddlers

The Zones Of A Filthy Family Car

by Jill May 7, 2015
written by Jill

In some ways, I consider myself a bit of a parenting social scientist, making observations about life with 3 children.

In today’s post, I am sharing a detailed breakdown of what one may find in a family’s vehicle when in this season of life I am wading through. Consider it an archeological contribution to the documentation I’ve committed myself to.

CarChaosZones

The Desperation Zone is aptly named for the smell that accompanies it. Spilled and molding coffee from a variety of travel mugs and the paper Starbucks cups that roll on the floorboards usually provide the aromatic back drop for the piles of mail and receipts that serve no actual purpose in today’s digital world other than providing us something to nest in if we happen to become stranded.

Amongst unsigned permission slips, snot crusted baby wipes we’ve possibly reused more than once, and tampons that have leapt from the deepest corners of our purses to see the light of day, is the air of shame, which wafts out every time we open our door in a public parking lot.

The Toddler Splash Zone gets it’s name from the likelihood that you will be splashed with some bodily fluid while in it’s vicinity. Usually it’s a river of snot that accumulates across your infant or toddler’s face during a brief drive to the store. Half of this typically ends up on the window before you have a chance to grab a used baby wipe from the front seat to wipe it off.

When no used or new baby wipes are available, you can usually make do with one of the 4 hoodies on the floor, or maybe even a sock. In most desperate times, an old school project… perhaps even a Mothers Day flower made from coffee filters will have to do.

The entirety of this section is decorated with tiny footprints, made with whatever mixture of sand, dirt, and a dash of feces your children stomped through previously.

The Big Kid Pit Of Filth is easiest to ignore, and that’s what they’re banking on. Once you finally dig in back here, you’re bound to find a plethora of evidence that they have been sneaking forbidden snacks and candy in their pants pockets, or, more likely, their underwear.

Can’t charge your iPad because the charger’s been missing a week? It’s here. Your iPad probably was, too, but they had the good sense to return that. Perhaps if they would stop playing gaming devices back there, they would have noticed and maybe even read that library book that you profusely apologized to the school librarian about.

Note: I did make all these observations about my Honda Pilot last week while I cleaned it, in a shameful silence, purging it of it’s horrors while questioning my life choices. For now? There’s not even a stale fry on the floor. But… I did leave my receipt in the front console this morning. That’s how it always begins…

 

May 7, 2015 7 comments
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Operation 3 Car Seats and a $100 Giveaway
BabiesReviewsToddlers

Operation 3 Car Seats and a $100 Giveaway

by Jill May 31, 2013
written by Jill

3 kids can sometimes seem like A LOT of kids. Mostly when I remember I only have 2 arms, or when I recall there are only 2 grown ups in this house, or when I think about squeezing them all in one vehicle.

The bad news is there really isn’t anything I can do about the 2 arms or 2 adults thing. (I mean, unless we take on a sister wife, which… maybe?) The good news is we managed to get 3 car seats in the back of Scott’s car this week, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

IMG_3872

We plan to sell my Jeep Grand Cherokee before the baby is born, and upgrade to a 3 row vehicle. It will likely be the Honda Pilot. We test drove it last fall, LOVED it. LOVED the way it worked for our family (and YES, we considered a minivan so thank you in advance for not telling me how we should really consider a minivan). We are also currently test driving a Chevy Tahoe for the week, but so far the Pilot is still our front runner.

Anyway, we’re putting that off as long as possible because we like not paying for the cars we’re driving as long as possible. Not exactly thrilled at having another car payment, but hopefully we can time it so that we’re not paying on a new car until we’re done paying for Kendall’s pre-school (summer program). So the moral of that is I’m not too worried about the car seat situation for my vehicle, but I was worried about Scott’s car.

Magic Beans, a baby and kids retail store based out of Boston with a fantastic online shop- mbeans.com, hooked me up with 2 new carseats, and we managed to figure out the perfect combo to make all 3 work across the back seat of Scott’s 4 door sedan.

We wound up keeping Kendall in his Britax Frontier booster seat that’s he’s had for about 2 years now. That’s behind the driver’s side. Leyna switched out of her Britax Marathon and into a Diono Radian RXT. She’s in the middle seat. The baby will be riding in a Chicco Keyfit 30 infant car seat behind the passenger side.

IMG_3875

It was like solving a complicated puzzle, and there were a lot of safety factors to take into account. I consulted with a couple friends who are certified child passenger safety technicians. This seemed like the best combo for the 3.

The big, huge difference was moving Leyna out of the very wide Marathon and into the very narrow RXT.  I was worried it was going to be too narrow for her at first. I mean, she’s not a petite girl, but she seems comfy in it. We’re just going to have to make sure she knows not to use baby’s face as a foot rest.

(I’m really not too worried about this. If it’s a huge deal, we’ll try to switch her seat and Kendall’s, but I’m hoping she’ll be able to figure out that’s just not a thing we do when there’s an actual baby in there.)

3Carseats

I loved looking around the MBeans.com site for the best seats. They had every seat I was considering (and that most people recommended on a very insightful thread on my FB page). Sometimes it’s nice to look at an actual baby/kids store for a curated collection of the best stuff over just randomly scrolling through reviews on Amazon. I knew that whatever I ordered from MBeans.com was going to be great, because they only carry great stuff.

In fact, as I started to go through the rest of the products they sell, I found so many of my very favorite, tried and true items for baby- things we have used and loved for years. I even started a new Pinterest board called Tried & True For Baby, and pinned stuff I can personally vouch for that worked great for my family and my friends’ families.

So I’m really excited that I get to offer one of you a $100 store credit to Mbeans.com! Because I know you will find something (probably lots of things) that will be really useful for you if you’re expecting, have a baby, or a toddler.

To enter, you’ll need a Pinterest account. All you have to do is head to the MBeans.com site, check out what they have to offer, and pin something you would like to get if you won. You can pin it to whatever board you want.

Follow the directions and enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.

*Disclosure- MBeans.com provided me with the carseats at no cost to me in exchange for this post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

May 31, 2013 19 comments
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