Car Seat Confusion Pt.2

Some of you may have read my post last week called Car Seat Confusion as the title of this post clearly puts it, this is part two... more. confusion. More anxiety over something that should be small and simple, but is not.

After finding the correct size/age/weight limit on Vada's infant car seat I became kind of excited about the possibility of putting her into her "new" (new as still in the box and never used new, but old in the sense that it was bought over a year ago and has been sitting in the same corner of our basement since the day I purchased it) car seat. I brought the new seat upstairs, took it out of the box and placed it on the living room floor, just to see what Vada would think about it and you know what? She seemed to really like it, which makes me think that she also needs one of those child sized reclining chairs--seriously! Anyway, I waited until Justin got home and left the final decision up to him. Should we change Vada over to this new seat meant for older and more distinguished (aka "larger" babies)? He said yes and took it out to our van. About a half an hour later he came back into the house, slightly frustrated and slightly on edge because he was more afraid of my reaction than I think he was frustrated at the situation...

The situation was this..., I was all for the new seat. I was. Change can be good. It can simbolize growth and milestones that are met. In this case change meant exactly that and it also meant a new sweet seat for Miss. V herself. The problem was that I still wanted her rear facing. The seat that I bought said the seat would sit rear facing just fine, only it didn't. If you look at the first two photo's you'll see a sight that should be very familiar to any parent and that little silver ball and that green area in the middle is the cause for this new confusion. When the seat is in a rear facing position that freakin' ball goes into the red. Red as in "stop", "do not move forward, do not pass go" and certainly "do not collect your two hundred dollars!"

So Justin switched the new seat into the forward facing position and I had to accept it because what else could the man do? No seriously, Im asking... is there something else he or I could do to get this seat into a rear facing position? Am I over reacting here? Maybe a little? I mean I had both of my older girls facing forward as soon as they turned one. It's just that I know better now-- you know?  

I may have not liked the whole idea but I think that little Miss sure did. At first she was all like "what the heck" (her words not mine) and I was all like "your big now and Papa says..." then she was all like...

 Okay, okay so that whole conversation never really took place and yes I need some serious sleep right about now but she does like her new seat and for the most part, I do too. 

I have this mirror in my van that is above my rear view mirror and when I look into it I can see the whole inner van, well everything behind me of course. It's nice looking into Vada's sweet face. It's nice to turn around at a stop light and babble to her about anything and everything and watch while i listen to her ramble something back to me in return. I am just a worrier im sure...

The main thing that concerns me, besides the seat facing forward, is Vada's poor neck. When she falls asleep it just doesn't look right. The way it looks may have a little to do with her lower tone. I remember J and K looking uncomfortable when they were asleep in their car seats too but with the AAI possibilities I am concerned that she doesn't have enough support for her neck. What do you all think? Here's two thoughts. 1. I think that the fire department men are suppose to be knowledgeable in car seat safety, if not I know of a pregnancy center near by that it. Maybe I go to one of these places and have them check it out. 2. The seat came with a cushion-like pad that is typically used for smaller children-- maybe I try using that? My thought with the cushion is that its not going to stop her neck from going so far forward like in the third to last photo that I have shared here. I just don't know.

Nope. This looks neither comfortable nor safe.

Getting Ready to Ride

Last Summer Jasmine took over my bike. Her's had a flat tire not once but twice with in a weeks span and was already a bit too small for her. Since I was unable to ride mine with Vada, I just let her have it.

This year, however, I want to ride! So, I told Justin that I wanted a bike. I told him what I wanted and he began to research different brands and similar styles to what I had originally said, a beach cruiser.

Since I will need to be toting Vada with me it needs to be a bike with multiple speeds. We have been told by some bike experts that anything below a 7 speed just wont do. Another thing that was brought to our attention is that the bike seats are not a safe choice. Babies tend to fall asleep with the motion and then "flop" all over. Plus, if I were to ever fall over or get hit Vada would be the one who would take the majority of the impact. Can you imagine? I can't, it makes me sick. The safest thing I suppose would to just not ride a bike with a baby, period, but then you cant live your life fully sheltered either.

We have narrowed the bike choices down to these five. The first and second are in the run and I am having the hardest time choosing! Justin made sure that these would do for what I plan on doing with them... casual riding with some extra "luggage" and then he showed them to me, along with about a hundred others!

The Raleigh Retroglide 7 in Steel and Green

The Trek Pure Low Step in Cream Yellow

The Giant in Suede Black

The Giant in Pearl White (the same as above, just in a different color)

The Schwinn Midmoor in white

Again, the first two are my favorites and I am really leaning towards the first one. Yes, I will also have a basket on the front. How could I not?

We have been searching for trailers that would attach to the bike for Vada.  I want the trailer to look good with the bike as well as be the safest choice for Vada. So far, this is my favorite one... only  it's pretty expensive. Too expensive and I want to find one that's more affordable without cheapening it up and risking safety or it's comfortableness. 

The Burley Honey Bee Bike Trailer

Here's where you can help. I would really appreciate your input. Do you have experience with bike trailers? I personally, have never used one with Jasmine or with Kiliegh. In fact, I didn't ride with them at all.

I need a trailer that has a five point harness, for extra support in case Vada does fall asleep. We need to really protect her neck until we find out if she has atlantoaxial subluxation (AAI), which may be quite awhile until anything has been established in that regards. Plus, I really don't want her to fall asleep and not notice that she is having her own mosh session behind me. That would be bad!