Question Just registered here...

hello,
First of all I am so excited to join this group. I will need some help with short forms like DS? i have no idea what they all mean.

I am a mom of 3 beautiful kids. We are a small canadian military family from Ontario. Ava is 5, Olivia is almost 3 and Anthony is 17 1/2 months. I have owned 6 britax marathons, 2 click n safe boulavards, 2 frontiers, 3 sunshine radians, 2 turbo boosters, peg primo vaggio (older one) and sip, graco safeseat, and 35 model...oh and a sad evenflo bucket yuck. I'm a sucker for new kids products and I believe I have an addiction. *sigh* I figure I work hard for my money and I want the best for my kids sooooooo... is that a good enough excuse?

Well, we have two vehicles...a 2005 honda civic 4 door with 3 crammed radians, and a 2005 toyota sienna currently holding a frontier in the back and a marathon next to it...the middle has a rf marathon and sometimes a turbo booster beside it.

Since my marathons are expiring soon (I only kept them as "spares") I would be reinstalling my boulavards...got those in 2009. I alternated inbetween leaky diapers or barf..heheh.

From reading here and seeing youtube videos I am so mad at myself for forward facing my first daughter at one. She was 2 months premature and was only 17 pounds when I turned her around. My dr said she was old enough!!! My second daughter rear faced till 16 months but she was a chunky monkey. Then my son (born sept 09) I realized I should have rear faced a lot longer....hes 17 pounds at 17 1/2 months so he is definately rear facing still and will be for a looooong while. I'm just bummed my new radians that I purchased in 2010 were actually 09 models and don't rear face to the higher limits...but i'm not worred since my baby boy is so little. My oldest daughter occasionally rides in a highback booster and she is 40 pounds and 5 years old. She prefers her frontier. My middle daughter is 5 pounds lighter and always harnessed.

my friends dont understand why I continue to rearface my son but thats okay...I'm just glad he is. I just wish I knew better with my daughters.

Well, I need advice all the time and so I decided to join here. My carseats are installed in our van without any trouble. They do not budge. My car however is more difficult. I rear face one of the radians on the outter passenger side and they are all installed seat belt. the back of the seat moves unless i pull my passenger seat to help support it. Also I can't sit very well in the passenger seat and I am short 5 foot 2. My knees are in the dash. Any tips would be so helpful. We cannot afford a new car so thats why we purchased 3 radians. I only used down filled jackets for my kids so the seat belt is as tight as possible.

Thanks for reading my rambling post.
Ellen

Welcome Ellen! I hope you find this forum enjoyable and welcoming. No question is a bad one, so go ahead and ask. A good idea also is to use the search feature. Do a quick search for past threads and posts to see if your question has been asked before. If not, you are welcome to make a new thread! If you are confused about where to post, the moderators will move it if necessary.

As for the abbreviations, DS means Darling Son. You can find other ones we use here a lot at this page: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=9550

Since you are from Canada, any specific questions you have about laws, regulations and seats available should go into the Canadian and International section.

Don't feel bad about turning your daughter! I'm sure a lot of us feel guilt for decisions we made, but it's no use dwelling. This site is to educate you about child passenger safety so that you can make educated decisions and become an advocate for your children.

To address your question about your car, might I suggest you start a new thread with a specific title and ask your questions. We will be able to assist you when we have more information about the weights and heights of your children, as well as the seats you are using.

I have to ask though...when you said "I only used down filled jackets for my kids so the seat belt is as tight as possible." What are you referring to?

Thanks and welcome!

Welcome, welcome!

First, you may want to check out the thread which explains some commonly used abbreviations. It'll come in handy.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=66826#post66826

farrbabies said:

My oldest daughter occasionally rides in a highback booster and she is 40 pounds and 5 years old. She prefers her frontier. My middle daughter is 5 pounds lighter and always harnessed.

Click to expand...

:thumbsup: I just have to ask though, does your ODD (Oldest Darling/Dear Daughter) have the maturity to sit properly 100% of the time while in her booster? That's the most important factor when a child is in a booster.

farrbabies said:

my friends dont understand why I continue to rearface my son but thats okay...I'm just glad he is. I just wish I knew better with my daughters.

Click to expand...

Hey, when you know better, you do better! Don't feel bad for the past. You didn't know.

farrbabies said:

I rear face one of the radians on the outter passenger side and they are all installed seat belt. the back of the seat moves unless i pull my passenger seat to help support it.

Click to expand...

Does your vehicle allow bracing? The Radian allows "bracing" (to be put against the front seat), but the vehicle must allow it, too.

Also, when RFing (rear facing), it's normal for the "top" of the car seat to move a bit. You want to look for less than one inch of movement at the belt path. Only Britax and Sunshine Kids allows rear facing tether, so as long as you have an acceptable install at the belt path, you can utilize the rear facing tether to stabilize the top of the seat. :thumbsup:

farrbabies said:

Also I can't sit very well in the passenger seat and I am short 5 foot 2. My knees are in the dash. Any tips would be so helpful.

Click to expand...

Could you install the Radian (I assume this is the RFing Radian) more upright? Let me know if you need some tips on this, I just want to verify that this is where the RN (Radian) is.

farrbabies said:

We cannot afford a new car so thats why we purchased 3 radians.

Click to expand...

I noticed that you said your DD (Darling/Dear Daughter) prefers her Frontier, so who is using the 3 Radians? Could you just post a simple list of your kids' stats (so age, weight, torso height) and what seats each kiddo is using?

farrbabies said:

I only used down filled jackets for my kids so the seat belt is as tight as possible.

Click to expand...

This is the ultimate test for jackets in the car, so definitely check that out before you continue to use that down filled jacket. http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=1475006&postcount=3


Welcome again!

Welcome!

And as pp suggested please start a new thread to ask your installation questions

Thanks for the quick response. .

I know we are not supposed to use bulky clothing under harness straps but it is cold here so I use down filled jackets as much as possible because they are warm and compress well under the straps.

My ODD hehe okay she sits well in the booster for my friend in her car. But refuses to sit well in my car. She unbuckled herself 3 times while I was driving. She is around 39-40 pounds and 43 inches tall (if I recall correctly) I will measure her again. How do I measure her torso length? Oh I also had her in a nautilus a year ago but sold it because she kept slumping forward. Even when it was reclined. I never liked that seat.

My middle daughter is 35 pounds and I'm not sure height either but she is in size 3t clothing.

My youngest is 17 pounds 2 ounces. Almost 1 1/2. Wears 12 month clothing. On the lowest harness strap of the marathon.

You're right I should start a new thread to help with my questions. And I need to upload some pictures. Wonder if I can do that from my iPhone? Hummm.

I haven't had a carseat inspection in ages. Since my ODD was 4 months old. I should find one!

Thanks!

To get torso height, you have them sit on their bottoms, against the wall, and measure from the floor to the tip of their shoulders. That gives us an estimate of how they'll fit in certain seats.

And yeah, it's cold up there. We have a few members who live up in Alaska. You can check out her thread, too. http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=151522

You can also "number" your kids. So, your oldest daughter could be ODD or DD1.

And yep, you can do pictures from your iPhone. Download the Photobucket App, upload the pictures to Photobucket, and then copy the code that starts with . Just try to limit the size of the pictures, there are limits. Try to keep the size around 300 pixels or so (I honestly can't even remember the limit for in-thread posting ).

If you'd like to meet a tech from the board, here is a list of technicians from the board who are willing to meet up.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=67767