Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Gender Bending & Hand-Me-Ups.

I always promised myself that I wouldn't be one of those moms that embarrassed her kids in front of their friends. I'd be understanding when they said they needed a certain type of jeans, shoes, whatever, and I'd never chase them around the block demanding they put their coats on. But I may have crossed the line today.

Let me back up a bit. Max is almost at the point of being too big for his car seat. He's nearing 40 pounds and he is so tall, the straps on his Cosco convertible 5 point harness car seat are snug. Cameron is almost at the point of being too big for her infant car seat. The solution here is obvious - Cameron will move into Max's old car seat and we will get Max a bigger car seat. After doing some research, I discovered that the safest thing for Max is still a 5 point harness (I don't trust him to stay put in a regular booster seat with a seat belt), and the car seat with the best reviews bar none, was the Britax Marathon (the weight limit is 65 pounds). After a little more digging, it became apparent that this car seat is fairly expensive, and I'd need to find a deal on it if we were going to be able to swing it. I searched for "cheap Britax", "Britax sale", "Britax closeout" and I finally found one for $179.99 USD and free shipping. The catch? It's got flowers on it. I wrestled with this for about 10 seconds and found that it didn't bother me that much. Max is too young to know that his car seat is "girly" and in a few years, he'll grow out of it and it will be Cameron's. Technically, this could be considered a "hand-me-up".

I sent Scott and IM with the link and asked him if he was okay with it. Being on the tight budget we are, he couldn't find a reason to justify spending $30 USD more per car seat just to get a more masculine colour. Before I could second guess myself, I placed the order and had them shipped to my brother's house in Ithaca. We are now the proud owners of two Ashley Floral Britax Marathon car seats. And don't you dare make fun of Max if you see him in it.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:05 p.m.

    Those are maple leafs, actually.

    mb

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  2. Do whatcha gotta do, Momma Bear :o)

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  3. Another good one is the Sunshine Kids Radian..that is what we use and will get another one soon for Connor. I like it a bit better than the Britax due to it being much more streamlined but both are excellent seats.

    One thing I hate to mention but we ran into this with our infant seat, is that when you buy a seat in the states it isn't certified by transport Canada so it doesn't have the canadian sticker of approval on it. I know in BC, that is an issue. That being said, we still use our American bought infant seat.

    I'm sur eyou will love the seat, I know lots of people who have them. WHo cares about the pattern :)

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  4. That sunshine carseat looks awesome. I think when we move Cam into the Britax we'll look into that for Max. I'm not too worried about the transport Canada thing...though I'm probably jinxing myself now that I've said it!

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  5. Most of what my boy wears are hand me downs. He does not care if his pajamas are pink, and neither do I. But seat is going to be a problem soon.
    When last one broke after picked him up from school, I had to go and get something right then. We both went first to Canadian tire, and than to Walmart and picked the biggest five point. My boy was undersized for his age for a long time, but now he is growing fast, and I do not know what I will do if he will outgrow it, and he is close. Do you know who is making oversized five point seats for special needs kids?

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  6. Anonymous11:52 a.m.

    This post made me laugh out loud and now people around me are giving me some seriously dirty looks.

    Rhonda

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