Saturday, November 19, 2011

Tetris...oh, and some news

So I spent a good hour or so today starting, measuring, and pricing car seats because (SPOILER ALERT) I am pregnant. I was actually planning on revealing this to my wide blog audience at the end of the month but I feel pregnant and tired and I have been thinking a lot about car seats and I think you should too.

So here's the deal about the car seats. We have a Corolla (Sport) and it is pretty cramped in the backseat but we don't want to get a new car because, by golly, we bought this one cash and we don't want to have to get out a loan if we don't need to. And it turns out you can you can fit three car seats in the back of a Corolla (according to the interweb) you just have to get the right car seats. FYI I think you all should know that despite the fact that we now have a steady income we are doing an awesome job of living the poor life to save our money. Nebraska will do that to you.

We already have three car seats (well, two carseats and a booster) so I went to Babie's R Us, or however you freaking misspell that store's name, and measured and juggled and I am pretty sure we need to buy the most expensive car seat in the store to make this work. $300 for a car seat. It's not that it is smaller, it's just that the base is smaller and the carseat doesn't widen until it's like two feet above the seat. I didn't try them out in the car because after all my calculations, I noticed that the store was super busy and there were no available staff to go out and watch me play Tetris. So I'll be going back some early week day morning.

FYI and unrelated to car seats, I want to be clear that I am excited to be having a baby. Who would not want a child with such excellent genes? We planned to have this baby, but only after getting kicked in the pants by Heavenly Father. Seriously, were it not for the eternal truth that Heavenly Father answers all prayers, we would definitely not have planned to get pregnant now. Maybe never again. Still. There is divine revelation, there is interaction between deity and mortals, angels speak to man, and as a result Lewis #3 is coming. Think about that, and be careful what you pray about.

Baby is coming in July. We'll have a Utahn, a Nebraskan, and a Bavarian.

6 comments:

Bridget said...

Try this site:

http://www.carseatdata.org/cnt/resources/car-seat-measurements

It gives the measurements. I know it's possible to fit three seats back there. A friend of mine had a civic and she had a booster, a forward-facing, and an infant seat in the back.

Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Bridget said...

OK, I just looked at the site, which I have had bookmarked for 3.5 years, and it seems to have changed. The data might still be on there but maybe you'll have to click around a bit. Sorry. It used to have the widths and heights and breadths (?) of every seat out there.

Lisa Lou said...

WHEW!!! It was SO hard to hold that secret in any longer!!! Also, I'm very happy that you are having multiple kids before me so that I can just mooch off all your research... hehe. Also, mostly, I'm very very very excited for Lewis #3. You should name him (or her) a very German name. I'll think of some good ones for you.

Katie Lewis said...

Congrats, Anna!

Though hearing this news mostly just makes me feel cool because, ya know, I already knew.

As for the car seats, I must admit that I am kind of sitting over here thinking what a sissy you are. (Remember that I mean that as funny in case you're feeling pregnant and are easily made sad when usually you know I'm just being funny.) And this is why. It is so easy to fit 3 car seats in the back of a very small car. And the reason I know is because we have done it on several occasions (since we downgraded to our paid-with-cash small car, much like yours, though ours is a Kia Rio hatchback). Anyway, my expert opinion is this: you're asking the wrong questions about how to fit 3 car seats in the back of your car.

It's not about the calculations on a new infant car seat. And it's most def not about the most expensive car seat. In fact, I think the real answer to your problem lies in buying the cheapest car seats. I think you could buy 2 new car seats for the Soap Star and Jojo for a total of $100 (or less) and then just use the infant car seat you already have.

Just go to Walmart and buy two of the Cosco brand car seats that they sell there. They always seem to have them and they always seem to be $40-$60 a piece. They're skinnier and they (if I remember correctly) sit lower than an infant car seat in a base, so it should solve your problem.

Just be forewarned that you'll kind of have to give an extra oompf every time you close the (back) car doors. Things may be squished, but they will fit.

Call and ask if you have questions.

Also, I have a friend who has front-facing only car seats that ride even lower than our cheap-o convertible Costco brand one does. I can check on the details on those if you're interested.

Love,
Katie

Shelly said...

Congrats on number Lewis #3! I am so excited for you!

Nathan said...

Yea! Congratulations on #3! I'm so glad you posted about this because I keep telling Nathan I think we are having twins because I feel so much bigger this time around. He keeps telling me I'm not that big and that we could never fit 3 car seats in the back of our car (paying cash for a car and keeping it as long as possible is the cool thing to do!). So we'll see in a couple of weeks who's right about twins but, for now you have put my mind at ease. If we need to, we can!

So, you get to take your car to Germany!?!? That is awesome!