A Dad's Journey Through International Adoption: Car Seats

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Car Seats

Friday, November 17, 2006

Of course with plenty of waiting time we have had many opportunities to research all the stuff we will need to either get or do as first time parents. First there was the NGO wait, now the accreditation wait, soon to be followed by the referral wait and then the court date wait.

During the NGO wait we were able to put Lil' G's room together and now during the accreditation wait we're researching car seats and planning out our baby proofing needs.

The car seat research is just another example of my usual overt frugalness that somehow always leads me back to what Stefanie had decided on (and usually that means spending a bit more than I'd like).

There are a couple of very good sites that give out some good reviews and the myriad of car seats out there. Carseatdata is a very good place to both find information on which car seat to buy and also (which is kinda cool) which one works in your car. Carseat.org is another good one for basic info. We're very into "Value" in all our purchases. This means sometimes we buy the top-of-the-line models and sometimes we don't. It depends more on what you get for the dollar. And one of the best resources for value is consumer reports.

We also relied on our friend's input and we got quite a bit of very strong opinions on a particular manufacturer--Britax. Now, they're pretty darn expensive but they are known as one of the best car seats in the market. Both my sister and one of our friends (who just returned from Russia a few months ago) felt ever so strongly that Britax was the one to get, feeling they are like Porsche in that..."There is no substitute." But like Porsche, the Britax seats are pricey (like $200-$300 depending on model) and of course we have a few cars so Stef says we need two of them.

We've been married for 13 years and you'd think by now I would have learned that when she strongly believes in something, she's almost always right. But no, I go out and canvas the field to see if we can just get by with one car seat moving it from car to car. Well, I got back a slew of comments like, "You HAVE to be joking" and "Don't be so cheap and stupid".

Needless to say, we're getting two car seats.

Hopefully (shameless plug) one of our family members will buy us one so we only have to buy one ourselves.

posted by Steveg @ 10:38 AM

2 Comments:

At 5:52 PM, Lauren & Cupcake said…

http://www.tinyride.com/Britax-Car-Seats-C54.aspx

This is a cool site because youcan change the colors too. We bought 2 Britax Decathalons, Maclaren Stroller (for travel), teh hip hugger and a couple other items. Keep watching as they offer 10% off and free shipping. I don't rememeber what days but often.
At 8:24 PM, Jim said…

Or you could do what I did, which was insist that we buy only one and move it from car to car. Well, my wise wife let me do exactly that, only she insisted that I be the one to move it every time. After only five moves between cars, I was the one going back to her and asking if we could please just buy another car seat!

Never underestimate the wisdom of your wife...

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I'm Steve and this is my wife Stefanie. This is our story, mostly seen through my eyes, of the journey to create our family by adopting a child from Russia.

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