The Never Ending Story

Seven years later and the story continues.

The car and the crying 

and

the great car seat debate.

Addie is seven.

She weighs under 40 pounds

and

despite what other parents are doing,

I am sticking to the recommendation to keep this primate in a booster with a five point harness for as long as possible. 

It is a complete freakin pain.

It does not make her happy

and 

although she likes to try to think she can pout her way into sitting in a "regular" seat belt, we make her stay in her "big girl seat".

However, there is a slight twist to the stories of days past.

Out of the blue, we happened upon Julien's new car vehicle/Jeep/truck/whatever you want to call it.

At the exact same time, we happened upon my new car vehicle/SUV/truck/whatever you want to call it

and my husband decided it would make for a good anniversary gift.

Totally unexpected, but it worked out.

I figured since Julien got a new car and I got a new car, Addie needed a new car seat.

It was only fair.

I proceeded with doing what I do best.

Over researching/over analyzing every single ridiculous detail.

After I finished making myself crazy, we took Addie into buy buy baby and let her sit in the car seats that had made the top five.

When she got to this one, she didn't want to get out.

Could she really be happy about sitting in a car seat?

We were like crazed lunatics, we couldn't get the process going fast enough.

The sales guy offered to take the display out to the car to make sure it would be a proper fit.

After verifying it would fit properly, he proceeded to show us all the colors we could choose from.

Problem was, the only color in stock - was either hot pink - or green.

Chris outright refused pink and I was good with that.

So...we immediately loaded up the green one and headed to the nearest register before Addie changed her mind.

Julien HATES the green and insists that any color would have been better than the booger green that we chose.

I assured him it wasn't booger green, it was dragonfly green.

Big. Difference.

It has been nine days since we installed the new car seat.

She hasn't cried once (well...except for the trauma caused by Julien - story later)

and we are beginning to think that we may have found a car/car seat combination that might bring a hint of sanity into our lives.

This car seat is visually the most simplistic car seat I have ever seen.

Ever.

However, the mechanics behind it are phenomenal.

This booster reclines pretty far back, and Addie seems completely comfortable.

My new SUV is more grounded than my last one and between the reclined position of the car seat and the stability/quieter interior and Addie's ability to have a better view of her surroundings, we might be on the right track.

I think the combination isn't disturbing her equilibrium.

Or so I hope.

I could be making it all up in my mind and come tomorrow, she will cry again - every time we are in the car.

It is so sad and so pathetic how very much I want this to be true.

We have a very big trip coming up and I honestly don't think I can go through with it if this doesn't work for Addie.

I hope we have broken new ground
and have found the answer that we have been working towards all these years.

...If I am not mistaken, this makes car seat number five and car number three...
#unbelievable