3rd due soon, configuring/updating car seats in MDX

Hello,

First, thank you for such an awesome site! I have found answers to many questions searching through the threads. Such great info from informed parents, yay!

Our third is due in 6 weeks, and I have been stumbling on the car seat configuration question. Can you help? First, I'll give you our basic stats. Then, I'll ask my questions. Many thanks in advance!

Our cars:
2011 Acura MDX (I drive this one everyday)
2003 Chevy Suburban (Hubby drives it now)
*I really prefer driving the MDX, so I'm planning to do three seats across row 2*

We are:
"E" is 4, 32 lbs., 39 inches
"M" is 15 months, 20-ish lbs., 30-ish inches (not sure, she's always 50th percentile height, smaller weight)
"J" is due April
Parents - not tall! (I'm 5'3" hubby is 5'11")

Car seats we own:
Graco Snugride 22 with multiple bases (expires 12/2013)
Britax Roundabout (retired, expires in 2013, good up to 40 lbs/40 inches)
Britax Boulevard 65

Right now, we have E in the Roundabout FF and M in the Snugride RF. I need to move both E and M to new seats. E is almost sized out of the Roundabout (at 39") and M is almost sized out of the Snugride. I'm planning to use the Snugride for baby J. The Boulevard sits in the Suburban for now, but is rarely used.

My questions:

1. What is the ideal configuration of seats? I will keep M RF as long as possible, so I have read that the FF child should be in the middle because she will be the least protected. That means she will have to climb over/around the infant seat base to get to her seat. Sound OK to you? Or should I put infant in the middle (and just deal with lugging the baby in his seat over his sisters' seats to land in the base in the middle)?

2. The Britax Roundabout would still work for M, but I have noticed that one side of the buckle doesn't click audibly. It goes in, and stays in when tugged tightly, but it doesn't have a clear "click" sound like the other side. Is that OK? Or worrisome? It was manufactured in 2008.

3. What should I buy? I'd love to have as much flexibility as possible as the children age, a configuration that is safe and also works on a daily basis, and not spend gobs and gobs on a zillion seats.

4. I see that there is a "Harness-2-Booster" seat line (Britax, I'm sure others) that could keep E in a harness now and then someday we convert to using only the booster. Should I add one of these to our mix? Or is it better to keep E in a convertible seat?

5. I originally bought the Roundabout for my mom's car, so she could easily tote a child to the park and drive her own car. So, I also need to buy a new seat for my mom's car that she can ideally use for both the 15 month old and the 4 year old. Are there any seats that are easier to re-position than others? Or is it just better to pull the girls' everyday seats out of my car each time to avoid re-positioning the straps?

6. How should we outfit the Suburban? Hubby takes the girls out and about occasionally, and often just takes the MDX when he does, but with a third on the way I'd love for it to be as easy as possible for him to take a kid on an outing. That said, I'd love to not buy 5 brand new car seats, too.

If I sound a little overwhelmed, I am! Any advice is very appreciated.

Many thanks!!

Kristina in Atlanta, GA

1. What is the ideal configuration of seats? I will keep M RF as long as possible, so I have read that the FF child should be in the middle because she will be the least protected. That means she will have to climb over/around the infant seat base to get to her seat. Sound OK to you? Or should I put infant in the middle (and just deal with lugging the baby in his seat over his sisters' seats to land in the base in the middle)? I would do whatever puzzles best. Some seats puzzle better in certain orders. I would make sure that your ff has a tether. I have put an infant seat in the middle before. It was not the easiest, but we had boosters outboard that required lap/shoulder belts. The middle spot was a lap belt only. I think your oldest could easily climb into the vehicle and walk over to the middle spot (around the infant base) before you place the infant seat in the vehicle. We use to do this in our minivan when we had 2 rf 2nd row and older kids in 3rd row.

2. The Britax Roundabout would still work for M, but I have noticed that one side of the buckle doesn't click audibly. It goes in, and stays in when tugged tightly, but it doesn't have a clear "click" sound like the other side. Is that OK? Or worrisome? It was manufactured in 2008. Some were audible for both sides and some are only audible when you put the 2nd buckle in.

3. What should I buy? I'd love to have as much flexibility as possible as the children age, a configuration that is safe and also works on a daily basis, and not spend gobs and gobs on a zillion seats. I would recommend 1 radian for in your vehicle. Because they are narrow and safe to use for 8 years, so you can hand it down later.

4. I see that there is a "Harness-2-Booster" seat line (Britax, I'm sure others) that could keep E in a harness now and then someday we convert to using only the booster. Should I add one of these to our mix? Or is it better to keep E in a convertible seat? I would totally look into a harness to booster seat for the suburban. They are wider seats, so I don't know if they will work in your vehicle. I would look at the Graco Nautilus/Argos, evenflo Maestro/SecureKid and britax frontier. They are all great seats and have pros and cons. The pro to the frontier is that it is safe to use in any mode for 9y, so you could pass it down to possibly all the kids in harnessed mode. And get the kid moving out can move to a booster. Boosters are a lot cheaper.

5. I originally bought the Roundabout for my mom's car, so she could easily tote a child to the park and drive her own car. So, I also need to buy a new seat for my mom's car that she can ideally use for both the 15 month old and the 4 year old. Are there any seats that are easier to re-position than others? Or is it just better to pull the girls' everyday seats out of my car each time to avoid re-positioning the straps? I would look at a scerena for #2 and a maestro for #1. You could have them have their own seats for $130 total. If they share a seat you will have to reinstall depending on who is going. The Evenflo Triumph/Momentum, safety1st complete air and Truefit are easy to adjust the harness between kids, because you don't have to rethread. But you will have to reinstall them.

6. How should we outfit the Suburban? Hubby takes the girls out and about occasionally, and often just takes the MDX when he does, but with a third on the way I'd love for it to be as easy as possible for him to take a kid on an outing. That said, I'd love to not buy 5 brand new car seats, too. You could use one of your britax seats for #2 in the suburban and get your oldest a maestro.