Help! I need to be sorted out.

I'll do my best not to ramble and get to my questions, but I'll make no promises.

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We bought the Radian XTSL for the Newborn on the way. At 45 degree angle left the front seat unuseable. So, we installed at less of a recline and gave it to my 4 yo daughter to re-rear face (aprox 30lbs 40inches). Solution for the Newborn is to purchase a True Fit. (WOO solved problem #1 without a car seat going to waste.)

That will be the current set up for car #1. My husband deploys literally right after the baby is born so no need to rush out for a 2nd set of seats. If I come across an amzing deal on an infant seat I may put it in my husbands car just in case I feel inclined to drive that one while he's gone. But I'm future planning for the seats to go in his car and will probably purchase before he gets back.

My daughter will be aprox 5 and a half when he returns, and getting ready to start kindegarten. I see her still under 40lbs by then. At almost 35 weeks pregnant I'm having a hard time grasping the concept she is growing up which might be part of the reason I chose to re-rear face her. I thought about keeping her rear facing (assuming she's not over the limit) until after kindergarten, but I think someone needs to snap me back to reality.

Q and A time:
*5 1/2 yo under 40/45lbs 5 point harness? (like perhaps the radian if she still fits it height wise?)

or

*Move the Radian to the second car for the "newborn" and think about purchasing 2 new high back boosters for my daughter like the monterey?

or

Better plan?

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of course any great words of wisdom, critisism, and insight GREATLY appreciated?

ETA: Cars 2005 Freestyle (primary) and 2009 Impala (secondary)

If she's comfortable rear facing, and she fits by both height and weight, then it's fine. If she wants to forward face, I would let her. If you feel she is ready to booster train, and she wants to booster train, then that (when she's 5 1/2) would be a good time to do so.

It's all personal preference .

So far we've been rear facing again for about a week and loves it. Whenever we take my husbands car (which she is FF in) She tells me she wishes that seat was facing the back as well. Not sure daddy will be up for purchasing another Radian for her though.

I think I may have mentally figured out what I will do when he comes home for the deployment and we need seats for his cars. I will probably let the baby have the True Fit in his car, radian in mine, and purchase two of the fronteir 85's for our daughter. Hopefully with the radian having an 8 year life span and fronteir having a 9 year life span we will be set on car seats. That is unless we have another baby, Only car seat we might have to replace while the "baby" is rearfacing is the True Fit depending on his growth pattern.


(i say all this now, but my 4 yo has gone through a number of seats and simply replaced just because I wanted too or saw something I thought was better out not because she's outgrown any of them besides her infant seat)

Seems like a great plan! My 5.5 yr old really wants to RF, I just cant afford new radians Every time we are at BRU she makes me install seats RF for her so she can try them out.

My 6 year-old just told me she wishes she could ride backwards. She's 50lbs though so it's not happening. I just had her friend in our car the other day when we went to the park. She is 6 and only 35lbs. I didn't have the boot so I put it in FF, but golly she had room to grow! She was right at the second to top slots.