I must forewarn you, I'm going to get a little preachy here! Feel free to tune me out, although I hope you don't. We just got Christian a new car seat and I love it. He can buckle it himself, Praise the Lord!! Do you know how nice that is to have one child who can buckle himself!!?? Now I'm working on Abby and Nate. You may be wondering why he's still in a 5-point harness! He's forty pounds and could be in a high back booster seat with an adult belt, but that is NOT the choice for us. 
Please, please, please watch this video about a little boy named Kyle! I have learned a valuable lesson about booster seat safety from his short little life. Christian is in the Graco Nautilus. He can be in this car seat in the 5 - point harness until he's 65lbs. I'm going to keep him in the 5-point harness as long as I can then this seat converts to just a high back booster and then it converts to just a booster seat. This is the last car seat I'll ever have to buy. Yippee! It cost $140 on AMAZON.com (free shipping) and since Christian's life is priceless to me, it was worth every penny.
I wasn't a blogger back in 2006 so most of you have never heard this story, but February 24th of that year changed my life. I was heading home from a baby shower for my cousin. My Aunt was in the front passenger seat. It was her 84th birthday. My mom was sitting in the back seat of my Explorer. I had the four wheel drive on because it had been snowing and the roads hadn't been plowed yet. Christian was supposed to be with us (he wasn't even two yet) but for some reason he had woken up at 5am and would not go back to sleep (Thank you God - I know it was you who woke him up. I know it was you who kept him awake so he would be too fussy to go to the shower. Thank you, thank you Lord Jesus!!). So Christian was at my parents house with Ryan and my Dad. I didn't think much of the snow. I was in a safe car, four wheel drive, I had driven in snow before, I was a careful driver!! I remember my mom and my aunt and I worrying about my other aunt in her little Ford Focus. I was going about 30mph as we headed up the hill and that's when I saw another SUV sliding down the hill towards up. There was no where to go, no way to avoid it. The other SUV hit us head on and then rolled down a hill off the side of the rode. There was a nine year old girl in that car, bleeding and scared because her father didn't slow down. Her father was careless and didn't even use his four-wheel drive. My aunt's wrist was sprained and her sternum was broken (she had chest pain and I immediately thought she was having a heart attack). My mom didn't have her seat belt on because Christian's carseat was in the way of where her seatbelt should have latched. I didn't know that at the time until I looked back and saw the injuries to her face and head. She also had a huge hematoma on her leg that later had to be operated on. I should post the pictures of my mom's face because I guarantee you would never get in a car again without a seatbelt on (even in the back seat). I won't post it because she would probably be mortified. All of my kids (and the Marshalls too) have seen what Grandmom's face looked like after the accident and all the them have a great understanding of why they should wear seat belts. No one in our car fusses about buckling up. My car was totaled and I re-lived the 10 seconds of that crash over and over in my mind for months. It was traumatic, even though I walked away. The lesson learned it that you have no control over the stupidity of others, therefore I'm going to protect my kids the best way I know how. Saving a few bucks on a car seat is not worth it to me.
The Graco Nautilus is actually the cheaper way to go. The Britax Frontier is probably the absolute best way to go, but it cost twice as much and I think the Graco Nautilus gets the job done!
I will climb off my soap box now :) Thanks for listening!!
P.S. Amy's going to kill me for this....but if anyone wants to buy Abby and Nate a really great, expensive early Christmas present I would love to see those two riding around is safety and style in their own Graco, Nautilus! You know it's driving me crazy that Abby's in an adult belt. So far Nate's okay, but it won't be long. Just a thought if you have a spare $300 bucks (like any of us do)!
5 comments:
You already know my thoughts on this..as Jacob is in a Britax Regent which is the 5 point harness to 80 lbs. Nate needs a car seat scholarship fund...maybe if all donate 20 bucks he can get a new ride, too??
I splurged for the Britax Boulevard which is a 5 point harness up to 65 pounds (I think we have some time seeing how Liam's 12months and not 20 pounds yet!). I did watch that clip when you sent it to me a month or so ago and it definitely impacted my decision. Kristian's mother was in a head on collision last fall with the 4 month old twins at the time, due to a careless driving into her lane. Fortunately everyone was ok. No matter how safe you are, you can't trust what other drivers are doing...or aren't.
someone recently asked why I still have Natalie in a high back booster and not just the bottom piece. I still have Wyatt in the high back booster and plan to keep him there for a while.
I saw that video a while ago and it definitely shows the importance of a good, 5-point harness!
And thanks for showing the details of yours! We have a Britax for new baby that will go to 40lbs, but after that we'll need a good one--of course it's a while away!
Judy, I'm going to check my basement. I might actually have a 5 point car seat/booster down there. If I do I will ship it to you guys. It's not as fancy as yours but it'll do the trick.I'll get back to you.
wow - had no idea about that accident, Judy. God's protection for sure!! Christian looks styling - and I agree; it's amazing how FREE you feel when they can buckle themselves!
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