Another reason to have spare carseats

mamaofthree

New member
Because when your dh switches them back from his car to your van late at night he'll leave the lights on and drain your battery. DD has to miss school today now. She was crying her head off, but she's a bit sick anyway, so I told her we'd have a movie day. She put her PJ's back on and she's over it.

We've been using dh's Civic more and more on the weekends, because we go out separately, with only one or two kids at a time. My 3 yo's Triumph is actually easier to install in the Civic than it is in the Sienna. However, I can't trust dh to do it properly. I totally forgot that he had put it back in the van late last night (because I forgot) and if it wasn't for the dead battery, I never would've remembered. Which means I wouldn't have double checked whether he installed it right or not (I still haven't). Time to get a seat for his car. Or does that defeat the purpose of saving gas money if I'm spending it on a carseat, lol?

Kimberly
 
ADS

Kat_Momof3

New member
How about when my husband ran to home depot and then calls later, because the car wouldn't start... the battery was dead!

So after my customer came and got her craigslist item, I got to pile all the kids in their spare seat situation (Jeffrey backless cosco high rise, Damian middle seat seatbelt, Ruthie Britax Laptop... IN THAT ORDER) in my husband's 2007 2-DOOR Cobalt and drive up there because the jumper cables were in the trunk of it, and jump him.

If we hadn't had spare seats, I would have been bugging neighbors and/or friends and relatives to watch my kids or drive up with the cables to jump him.
 

skiersnowboarder3

Senior Community Member
Or when you move a seat to your spouses car so he can take your daughter to swimming on the weekend and then he leaves for work monday morning (4 hrs away) and doesn't realize until halfway there that he still has the seat in his car and he won't be home till thursday eve. ;) This happened to a family I babysit for. Luckily, I had a seat they could borrow.
 

mamaofthree

New member
Ok, finally went out to check the seat and it is totally loose. Who knows when I would've remembered to check it if it hadn't been for the dead battery. WTH? He was the one who had originally installed it in his Civic on Sat, so he could take the girls out, and it was super loose when I came out to double check. All I did was press on the seat and tug the LATCH strap a tiny bit and it went rock solid. He was standing right there and acted astonished because he swears he did the same thing and could not pull it any tighter. I'm a 5 ft weakling mind you.

So I thought for sure he prob got it right when he reinstalled it in the van. I was hoping to check it and find it perfect. I'm very disappointed. I will admit that it is harder to get a rock solid install in the van- I always have to put my knee in the seat, but he is waaaaay stronger than me so that shouldn't be an issue. I guess I'm def getting a seat to leave in his car now. I better get a Triumph Advance, because he DOES tighten dd's reg Triumph harness properly. Ds's MA harness is another story, I'm always tightening it after dh puts him in, but he doesn't take him out without me. I know other moms have complained about similar install/harness tightening issues. Why don't some dh's get it? Dh would never want to purposely buckle our kids in wrong. I'm thinking they assume it shouldn't be that much trouble to get it right? So the Triumph is hard to install but has an easy harness adjuster. The MA is a breeze to install (bet he wouldn't screw that one up) but the harness adjuster is a PITA. Is there a perfect seat? Guess I need another thread.

Kimberly
 

melniemi

New member
We don't have spares but we only have one vehicle that we all fit in and if dh does take the truck somewhere, he'll switch the seats around. He has a separate work truck, so if he forgets to put them back I can do it. Not that I wouldn't love to have spares.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
Or the seatbelt breaks in dh's car, requiring him to use the old van to haul the kids, and in spite of installing the Husky quite appropriately for years in that same van, he has a complete and total brainfart, uses the wrong belt path, can't get it tight enough, so he uses the top tether to make it seem tight....

And don't even get me started on how many times he used to take the freaking carseats to work with him.

*sigh* Yeah - permanently installed carseats are definitely not a luxury.
 

labdogs42

New member
We have seats for DS in my car, DH's car and my mom's car. Good thing I only have one kid!! I would HATE to have to juggle seats around all the time!
 

Morganthe

New member
If DH just worked dayshift, I'd probably feel a bit guilty about insisting on a second seat for his vehicle, especially since we'll be down to a single car in 6 weeks. Perhaps once in a blue moon would he drive her on a weekend somewhere in his car.

But with him primarily on swingshift (2ish-11pmish) where he takes her to quite a few classes and outings in the mornings for the past 15 months, neither of us have any regrets about the extra $ spent. :love:

It's also nice having a portable spare for an emergency or a sudden trip with friends. A Regent is far from the best seat to switch vehicles in a pinch :p ;)
 

mamaofthree

New member
The saga continues. Dh couldn't get the van jump started when he got home from work with our battery jumper cable thingy. So he thinks maybe it's a POS, and goes and buys regular jumper cables. That doesn't work either. Who knows what the heck he's out doing now, prob buying a new battery. This has been one expensive mishap. With all the money he's spending we could've almost paid for a new carseat, in which case none of this would've happened. Not to mention I'm so freaking sick and just ready to go to bed. I am NOT reading to the kids tonight.

Kimberly
 

dd9736

New member
Ok, finally went out to check the seat and it is totally loose. Who knows when I would've remembered to check it if it hadn't been for the dead battery. WTH? He was the one who had originally installed it in his Civic on Sat, so he could take the girls out, and it was super loose when I came out to double check. All I did was press on the seat and tug the LATCH strap a tiny bit and it went rock solid. He was standing right there and acted astonished because he swears he did the same thing and could not pull it any tighter. I'm a 5 ft weakling mind you.

So I thought for sure he prob got it right when he reinstalled it in the van. I was hoping to check it and find it perfect. I'm very disappointed. I will admit that it is harder to get a rock solid install in the van- I always have to put my knee in the seat, but he is waaaaay stronger than me so that shouldn't be an issue. I guess I'm def getting a seat to leave in his car now. I better get a Triumph Advance, because he DOES tighten dd's reg Triumph harness properly. Ds's MA harness is another story, I'm always tightening it after dh puts him in, but he doesn't take him out without me. I know other moms have complained about similar install/harness tightening issues. Why don't some dh's get it? Dh would never want to purposely buckle our kids in wrong. I'm thinking they assume it shouldn't be that much trouble to get it right? So the Triumph is hard to install but has an easy harness adjuster. The MA is a breeze to install (bet he wouldn't screw that one up) but the harness adjuster is a PITA. Is there a perfect seat? Guess I need another thread.

Kimberly


my dh is stronger, but he cannot climb into the seat to get it tight, so he physically cannot put the radian in our car. the truck is no problem, as the seatbelt tightens much easier, but i have to put it in the car. the seat will feel tight, but i always notice, if i dont put it in, the seat won't move, but tghe seatbelt moves in the beltpath, even without the tether.
 

Morganthe

New member
The saga continues. Dh couldn't get the van jump started when he got home from work with our battery jumper cable thingy. So he thinks maybe it's a POS, and goes and buys regular jumper cables. That doesn't work either. Who knows what the heck he's out doing now, prob buying a new battery. This has been one expensive mishap. With all the money he's spending we could've almost paid for a new carseat, in which case none of this would've happened. Not to mention I'm so freaking sick and just ready to go to bed. I am NOT reading to the kids tonight.

Kimberly
((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))

We've had several incidents similar with dh's cars when the car won't jump (Thankfully, with a manual trans, we can always push-start it --need smilie for sigh of relief). It ALWAYS happens when we're PCSing. In fact, it's a tradition for dh dating back to his first assignment 18 years ago :p :rolleyes:

Here goes what could be wrong when his car can't jumpstart:

Bad Starter (usually has grinding as warnings)
Bad Alternator (dies during engine running occasionally too)
Bad Ignition Switch (This is the primary one when the battery doesn't work)
"Something Electrical in the harness" (No clue, but it happened.)

There's a couple of other incidents, but they're too far back for me to remember why. Sorry. What's saved us, is that he's always had a smaller car with a manual tranny.
He pushes, I dump the clutch. It starts. :thumbsup:
 

mamaofthree

New member
my dh is stronger, but he cannot climb into the seat to get it tight, so he physically cannot put the radian in our car. the truck is no problem, as the seatbelt tightens much easier, but i have to put it in the car. the seat will feel tight, but i always notice, if i dont put it in, the seat won't move, but tghe seatbelt moves in the beltpath, even without the tether.

You know, I hadn't thought of that reason. I bet that has something to do with it. He was prob installing the seat by standing outside of the car at a weird angle. Since I'm tiny I can climb all the way in and stand centered in front of the carseat. Makes sense that I can do it better/easier now. Same thing when I tighten ds's MA. I stand up in the van to get better leverage, whereas he is outside leaning over. And that captain's chair is pushed toward the center, so he prob has trouble.

Finally got the battery thing situated last night. He took it to Pep Boys and had it tested. It was still good, just reeeeeaaaaally low, so they charged it a bit and he put back in and let the van run for a while. Good as new. :) I finally got to go to bed at 7:30 when he got home. Still sick but at least my throat isn't on fire today.

Kimberly
 

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