Seat Check!

My mom and I had our 1.5 hour car seat check appointment on Monday evening. What a ridiculously long event. We've done this before - Craig and I before Will's birth and my mom and I after Will turned one - and it never took that long before. I think it was just a busy night. The kids had to be present and it just made the night a little more chaotic. But I'm glad it's done and I have peace of mind that they are riding safely.

Here's what we learned:

We did a perfect job installing Will's new seat. They checked that all over and everything looks good. They also checked the seat in mom's car, which was purchased through their program two years ago.
I asked about Sophie's seat and if it truly was that much more difficult to install, and the lady told me that "No, it was not any harder to do than any other seat - just that the Britax seats are bulky and sometimes awkward." But then she went on to have quite a challenge getting it in properly. ;) They checked to make sure there were no recalls on any of our seats (there were not) and told me that they definitely recommended rear-facing her for as long as we can. Our seat rear-faces safely to 35#, but I don't see it lasting anywhere near that long. Will's not even 35# yet! Also, we were told that we ALWAYS had to use the tether strap for Britax seats, which we weren't before. So now, while it's rear-facing, that tether strap is latched to the appropriate spot on the under side of the passenger seat. There is also NO leg room at all for the passenger seat up front. Literally, my knees will probably be an inch from the glove compartment when we all ride in my car because there's no way Craig would fit up there. We put both kids into the seats to make sure the shoulder straps were in the proper position, which is why they needed to be present.

Sophie doesn't mind rear-facing at all! So this is our new set-up for now. I imagine we'll forward face her by 15-18 months. But we'll see.

My mom also purchased a second seat for her car so that she can transport both our kids or Casey's girls. Before that, she was able to strap the infant seats in with the seat belt but she very rarely drives them anyway. The Safe Kids program offers seats at great prices and the whole installation and check appointment is free. They are located in the bottom of the parking garage towers at Toledo Hospital, so it was easy for me to just head over there after work and my mom met me there with the kids.

For more information on Safe Kids Greater Toledo, click here and here.