Although, to argue in my defence, I just went to the Texas website for carseats and car safety and they recommend rear facing for as long as possible. I know she's 15 mos. old but she is tinier than my others. I don't feel so bad now.
Kolbe's carseat was fine but I didn't have it installed with the tether so I did that. I got Sophia a carseat (after having gotten rid of hers). I figured since she sat in the middle the lap belt was fine. After seeing the video, though, I put her back in a 5 point harness, and am trying to find something to tether down her carseat onto. The back row of my van doesn't have anchors!! Only the middle two seats do. Do the van makers figure that you should only have two kids in carseats?? I now have four kids!!! Anyways, I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to anchor down her carseat. We have a Honda Odyssey. Maybe I'll check out their website.
Also, I think Anna should be in a carseat too but the only thing I could find would act more like boosters instead of 5 point harnass carseats. So I bought some seatbelt adjusters so they won't cut across her neck. I picked one up for Belle too. I wanted to get her a booster but need to take measurements. The last time we had a booster and carseat in the same row, nobody else could sit there. That was okay before baby Catherine came. Now Isabelle has to be able to sit back there.
After buying the seats (this is where the mad woman takes over), I stayed in the parking lot for over 30 minutes installing and adjusting the straps. I had to rethread the straps for Sophia and that took forever. If anyone was ever looking to hijack a lady with five kids in a minivan, I was the perfect target. But I had to do it right then and there. Wouldn't it be awful to get into an accident with carseats in the trunk!!!
Poor Sophia fell asleep in the baby's stroller in the parking lot waiting for her carseat to be installed. But I did it and I feel much better. I used to be so good about all this when I only had 2 carseats but with all the traveling and musical chairs and lack of room to fit three carseats side by side, I had gotten lax. Never again! I don't consider myself a scrupulous person AT ALL! But this time I didn't want to tempt fate.
Isabelle isn't comfortable in the back since she's right next to a carseat. Oh well!!
Nothing motivates me more (and turns me into a crazy lady) then the thought of my kids getting hurt because I didn't keep them safe.
So after all this (and library visit and picking up milk) I REALLY NEEDED a drink!! Our grocery store has a Starbucks so I went to pick up an Almond Mocha. The Starbucks person was AWOL! They paged her three times and she never showed up. I finally had to leave because the kiddos were going to be late for Taekwondo. Oh well!!
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I forgot to mention. When we started out on our journey, my car battery was dead ... AGAIN!! Somebody had left the main light control switch on. I called Craig (he was in Dallas) and he walked me through jump starting my car. Talk about hysterical! I couldn't get the red cable off the battery and I was afraid to pull too hard and touch the black cable by mistake. It wouldn't look good to get fried in front of the kids!! Craig was trying to stay calm (he was on the verge of laughter) for my sake and I got it accomplished! It set us back 30 minutes and we missed story hour at the library. But now that I think about it, maybe we avoided a car accident too?? Afterall, God knew I was on my way to get my carseats in order. I'll never know.
So, that was my day today. Craig is home now and the crazy mad woman has split.
***Another note! I just finished talking with Craig and he doesn't believe it. He thinks carseats don't fail. An industry has been built on them and lots of tests done. He thinks the 3 yo boy must have undone his seatbelt. I just read the news article about the accident and it says it was either fastened improperly or seatbelt was undone. Still, I'm anchoring whomever I can and becoming VIGILANT if anyone unbuckles themselves for whatever reason. Craig's probably right. Gotta go research seatbelts now. I'll post my results.
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2 comments:
Hey Lillian! Just posted a long comment on the Aggie board. I've felt like a carseat mad-woman a lot! Especially at my parents' house when moving seats around and having to take them out and wash them (twice!) and re-install, annoying! But I feel like it's better safe than sorry. Hope you get all your kinks worked out and hope to see you again soon. It was a nice quick visit the other day!
When I was in nursing school I worked as a tech in both E.R. and ICU...Everyone should have a 5 point restraint like a race care driver.
When we bought the Toyota Sienna this year we spent at least 4 hours testing three car seats in both the Odessy and the Sienna. The Sienna won because it had a more substantial 8th seat and 5 latch systems installed. We have three britax, 5 point restraint care seats (two marathons and one roundabout) installed across the middle row seat. It's pretty common to have folks staring inside our car when they see this set up...but it's sooo worth the money I spent on them.
My husband has tried to convince me to put my 5 year old into a booster...a booster, that's held in with the seatbelt alone! I'm going to show him this video, maybe he'll understand then why I've insisted on keeping all the kids in these seats for so long. And when they grow out of the Marathon, I'm getting the Britax Husky...which is the seat the big sister is sitting in on the video.
One note, latch will only accomidate a child until 45lbs. After that you need to use a seat belt, anchor, and with the Husky, the stabilizer bar that inserts into the back of the seat.
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