Friday, January 30, 2009

life's difficult decisions...


The baby's car seat...never thought I could spend so much time worrying about which one to get. I tell you. It probably hasn't been helped by the wondering macbook that sits on my lap wherever I go in the house. Ryan has given up on my obsession with this computer. I find any reason to be surfing the web or playing with the fun programs. Mostly I've been searching for the perfect bedding, or cutest baby gadgets out there. I am in love with Etsy.com and can't stay away from ebay. I think I've gotten addicted to receiving packages on our doorstep. Its been almost 2 weeks since my last. Oh, I ended that today when I bought some adorable baby necessities from etsy today! Ok, this isn't even where I meant this post to go. 

I've been researching car seats for weeks now. I know what consumer reports says, but my eyes have been locked on the Maxi Cosi Mico and I can't break the contact. I found the one I like for under $150.00. I have to admit that I'd be purchasing it more for the looks than anything. I just like its simple nature. I hate babyish things. It also has great ratings for safety from what I've read. It seems that no matter which one I try to fall in love with it gets some negative publicity. What should I do? I almost pushed the "purchase" button on Amazon, but decided to wait. I just can't commit to anything these days, except my Macbook and peanut M&M's. I would have gotten the Chicco Key Fit but I fell in love with the Baby Jogger City Mini and the car seat doesn't adapt with that stroller. I don't know if that will be a big deal to not be able to use the stroller with the infant car seat so that's another delimma. Help me Car Seat gurus! But I'll probably just be more confused...

So, if I want it to be compatible with my stroller I have these options:
Babytrend Expedition or StrideZ
britax Companion
Graco Infant Safeseat or Graco SnugRide
Maxi Cosi
Peg Perego Primo

Help me and Ryan will be eternally grateful for reducing the number of hours I spend searching and researching the internet!

8 comments:

  1. graaco is the best out there. i have LOVED mine and i mean LOVED mine. it is the infant seat and travel system. i love how i could go from my car to the stroller without having to unstrap brennan, especially when going on airlplanes. my friend down the street bought a less expensive one when she had her baby 8 months ago. she has been seeing mine on walks and such and just went back to buy the same one as me b/c she loved it so much. there's a reason everyone has it, it's the safest, most userfriendly, goes to highest poundage (32lbs. and 30 inches: brennan just outgrew his in length and he is huge for his age in weight), has a bassinet option where the seat leans back flat so they can sleep in the stroller, basket underneath, sunshade that goes in both directions, etc. it is durable and will last through multiple kids!!! don't get a jogger until you know you'll use it. i love my stroller for walks, i have never jogged with brennan (and i love to run). we go on walks and the stroller (as we refer to it "the cadillac") has been nothing short of perfect. the system comes with one base so that you just slide the car seat into the base that is strapped into your car with the seatbelts, and lift it out when you are going from place to place. most car seats come with this feature. it was totally worth the money. i have ZERO complaints about the graaco infant travel system we have:-)

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  2. yeah, these are fun yet difficult desicions! I can't spell tonight, by the way.

    We have a graco snugride and it is awesome. It is actually a travel system called the Metrolite and was 200 bucks at Babies R Us. Love the stroller and carseat. I went on a morning walk every single day in the stroller and it held up so well.

    When we went to a toddler seat, we got the Britax Marathon, which is amazing and I highly recommend it. you can actually fit an infant in it, but it doesn't adapt to many strollers at all. I would recommend that onei n a HEARTBEAT for a toddler. Expensive, but the safest and most comfy on the market.

    I don't know about the others except I hear Peg Perego is amazing. Let us know what you decide!

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  3. Also, if you are really interested in looks, stace...

    get a graco for much cheaper and just buy a car seat cover that is really cute. I am sure you can find them on etsy or ebay or probably at some really nice boutiques! Just an idea...

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  4. I have absolutely loved my Graco. We got the travel system and the stroller is my favorite. I have had to try and figure out some of my friends strollers and I can't help but be reminded of the ease of folding my stroller. It is super easy to steer and if you need to, and you probably will at some point, you can easily steer it with one hand. Also, when it folds it fits very well into any car trunk. I wouldn't use any other brand.

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  5. I have a few friends who have the graco travel systems and I wish that we would have got one too. I loved the way that our looked but it was really hard to buckle him in and the car seat was wide so it didn't fit in shopping carts at the store or in the car seat holder things at resturants. Charlie HATED to lay down after he was 3 months and it was awful putting him in the car in the infant car seat we finally bought a graco transition seat and he has been a happy car rider ever since. I would also recommend getting an extra base for your seat so you can put one in each car, it was that much more expensive and saved a lot of trouble not having to switch the base from car to car (if you will be doing that)

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  6. here's my two cents-- no matter which carseat you buy, they all have to abide by the same safety regulations so they should be fine and just go with the one you like the best! we have the baby trend and have liked it, but we bought it when berkeley was born so it's almost 4 years old now. i think they just keep getting better year after year so any one you get now will be better than ours! good luck. i know what you mean about getting addicted to researching everything though. i'm sure ryan could commiserate with patrick on this one-- he gets so annoyed with me and is like, "just decide already!"

    did you already buy your stroller? i had another suggestion for you on that one. . .

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  7. we got Eddie Bower's SureFit infant car seat, we'll see how the little one will like it :)

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  8. we have loved loved loved our peg perego carseat. (the one downfall is that it locks into a movable base where some of the other carseats out there don't need one). the seat locks into the stroller (others just set in) which is super light and compact and doesn't fold down onto itself, scraping itself on the ground as it goes. we got it online somewhere much cheaper than at babiesrus. babyage.com has good deals and cheap shipping. good luck!

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