Intro

I just wanted to take a minute and introduce myself before I just started posting. I probably will mostly read, I am usually on the run so much I rarely found time to post even on my DD forum on my other boards. Anyway, I'm Rachael, mama to to 10 little ones ranging in age from 5 months to 19. I recently figured out I am a carseat addict. I had no idea I was so anal about seats until my dh pointed it out to me yesterday. Anyway I stumbled upon this website as I searched for carseat options for my kiddos. I have 3 needing seats right now and need to figure out the best option to go with. I look forward to meeting everyone!

Welcome!

If you are interested, here is a thread that explains what our abbreviations around here stand for! http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=9550

Welcome!

What is the age/weight/height of the kids you are needing to buy seats for? What vehicle do you have? Do you need narrow seats to work in 3-across situations? Let us know the specifics and we might be able to give you a few seat choices to look at.

Welcome! You have me beat, LOL. I only have 7 little ones .

Welcome! You are in good company here with your addiction! We look forward to getting to know you better!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! I have 5 that are still in carseats and I drive a 2006 Ford E350 12 passenger. Right now the twins (they are 2) are in True Fits on the 3rd row seat. Micah is 3 and he is needing a seat. He will be 4 in December. His seated shoulder height is abou 14" and he is around 32lbs. He's tall and skinny! He wants a cowmoo Frontier 85 he saw when I was looking online. LOL Jonah is 5.5 and weighs right around 60lbs. He is my lil chunk. I was going to get him the Frontier as well and someone online said I should get a Monterey so I did. Well now that it is here I realized that I don't have LATCH in my van where I have shoulder belts so that feature is useless for us. I also would rather keep him harnessed a bit longer. Now I am stuck with that seat though because they want me to pay shipping both ways to return it. By time I do that I won't be getting any of my money back basically so I am sick over that deal. Lastly Eli is 5 months old and 17lbs. I am waiting on a Graco MyRide 65 I ordered for him to arrive. I know nothing about those seats but I got a good deal so I couldn't pass it up. I have a RA and a MA that don't have lots of life left and are both needing lots of parts. The basically need everything but the shell and may have about a year left before they expire. I just hate to invest in brand new seat pads, straps and foam for seats that I can't use more than a year or so. I welcome any advice or suggestions you guys have. As for what I like, I like seats that wrap around my kiddos for the most part. I am not overly fond of super thin, streamline seats. I like them to have some bulk by their sides if that makes sense. Lots of padding is a plus, I hate hard seats. Oh and no rethreading is super nice too.

Hi, and welcome!!

Are there any one of your older kids that could use the Monterey?
http://carseatblog.com/6773/4’9”-age-8-80-lbs-does-your-kid-still-need-a-booster/ is a great place to see if they all pass the five step test. While the 5yo meets the minimum physical requirements for a booster, it is up to you to determine whether he has the maturity to sit in it properly 100% of the time.

The Frontier85 is a GREAT seat, as is the Graco Nautilus for a little bit cheaper just slightly lower specs. The TrueFit is also a great forward-facing seat up to 65lbs with a similar harness height to the Nautilus and of course deep side wings and padding, so if you want to keep using that you should have a long time to go in those seats. The Recaro ProSport is also a great FF harness to booster seat with VERY deep side-impact wings.

The My-ride is a GREAT extended rear-facing seat. It RF to 40lbs. It doesn't do as great FF in some vehicles because it installs VERY reclined but by the time you get to a good age to turn kids around (after 3 years old is ideal) one of the other kiddos should be able to pass a seat down

Oh, and you don't HAVE to use LATCH with the Monterey, it is not required. It is still a great booster regardless---the LATCH feature is for convenience ONLY.

You might as well hang onto that Monterey. Unless you have retrofitted headrests, you'll want your children in high-back boosters as long as possible. I'm sure you'll find someone who needs it! Would your 3yo die if you let your 5yo use the Frontier for a while first? You could probably shuffle seats so that you wouldn't have to buy another Frontier.

The MyRide is great except that it is ridiculously wide at the cupholders. But because it's up high on a base, it works well beside some other seats. My booster kids like that it leaves a lot of buckling room because the base is narrow. It should be fine FF for you since you have those bench seats.

If there's nothing wrong with your seats other than that they're old, I would put up with them for another few months and replace them. I wouldn't buy anything new for a seat that's going to the trash in a few months, unless it was essential for safety and I wasn't planning on replacing the seat anyways.

We used the Monterey this weekend and Jonah LOVED it! I moved him to the first row in it so I could reach him easily and make sure he was strapped in right each time. He sits really still in it and feels "big" now so he doesn't mind being in a seatbelt. Before in the 5pt harness he would sneak the straps undone while I drove because he hated it so bad. He will be 6 in April so I guess maybe he is more "ready" for the booster than I thought.

I am going to get the Frontier for Micah since it will last him forever and he has outgrown his 40lb seat he has now in height. I got my RA and my MA out of storage and they were manufactured in 5/06 and 6/06 so they have almost 2 years left on them. In order to use them I would HAVE to buy new straps (I have washed these before I knew better) and I would also need the foam pieces because my kiddos pulled them out and tore them up. @@ I have the seat pads but new ones would be nice. The RA seat pad is better than the MA one. I would really love to get a cowmoo one to match Micahs Frontier I am about to order. If you were me would you try to get pieces for the Britax seats I have and get a refund on the Graco MyRide I ordered or just keep the MyRide and toss the Britax seats?

i would total up how much all the parts and shipping would be from britax and then decide if the cost was worth less than two years of use.