Happy July 1st! It’s hard for me to believe that we are already halfway through 2016, but there you go.
Needing // To baby proof the house again. Charlotte is into EV-ER-Y-THING right now and there are way too many of Emma’s toys with tiny pieces easily within her grasp. Wise parents who have gone before me: how do you keep the big kid stuff away from the little kids??
Looking // At homes for sale after contacting a realtor earlier this week. Eeeeeeek! Jose and I have been throwing the idea of moving back and forth for months, always concluding that our current house is good enough. And it really is…except for the location. Taking the NASA bypass every day is slowly driving me crazy, but there’s no effective means to avoid it. (On Tuesday it was super backed up so I tried a different route. The alternative route took me 55 minutes. Ugh.) If I could pick up our current house and plop it down on the other side of the freeway, I would do exactly that, but I can’t.
Of course now that we finally called a realtor “just to look” we’ve already found ourselves debating whether to put down an offer on a house we saw yesterday…
Exploring // A brand new Kroger that opened a few days ago. We drive past it every day to and from work and school, so we’ve watched over the past several months as the land went from empty and brush-covered to full and paved. It will be really nice to have a grocery store so close to our house, but I’m worried about the impact on traffic. (And that’s in addition to the bypass traffic mentioned above.) We shall see.
Researching // Car seats. Charlotte is about to outgrow the infant seat. We currently have two convertible car seats, one in each car, so one option would be to put them both in the Highlander and just have that be the kid car. We did that for 2.5 years when we only had a single carseat. But while it’s doable, I really like our current setup since it allows for one parent to do dropoff while the other does pickup. Then yesterday I realized that Emma is already tall and heavy enough that she could switch to a booster seat when she turns 4 in August. So do I keep the convertible seats for Charlotte and get 2 booster seats (which are cheaper) for Emma? If so, which kind — the belt positioner or the kind that also has a 5-point harness option? I know the 5-point harness is “the safest” but I feel like there are other considerations too. Hmm.
Resolving // To make the most of our summer, and shake off my recent stuck-in-a-rut feeling. Although buying a house would certainly do that. To which I again say: eeeeeek!
Sarah says
I think when the baby gets old enough to be messing with little toys we temporarily get better at picking up, store certain things on higher shelves, and assign some things to be toys played with on a table or during nap times. I feel like it was a long time ago, but I think I also kept a room or two off limits to the youngest.
A new house sounds exciting! We’ve been kind of looking for a while, but nothing yet seems worth it.
Would Emma sit still in the booster? Does she fall asleep a lot in the car? The harness is nice for keeping them in place without them needing to remember to stay in their chairs. Do you park close enough together at work so that you could switch cars and the person with the kids would take the “kid car?” We do that sometimes. Another idea would be to buy a seat for Charlotte for the car you use the most with the kids and buy a booster for the other car so that you could use it if you need it.
Sarah says
She does fall asleep in the car on a semi-regular basis if we’ve been out and about and it’s naptime…and even though she’s technically old enough for just the belt positioner type of seat, I do feel like keeping her in a 5-point harness for a while longer would be a good thing. We do use the Highlander more often than the Camry, so the idea of buying another convertible seat plus a booster could work. Hmm…
We don’t park close enough to make switching cars super easy. We do it when necessary but it takes effort (vs. the ease that would come with being in the same lot).
Karen says
Go with the booster and let me know how it works out! Our two convertible seats cost almost $500.
Sarah says
I know!! That’s why the thought of buying 2 more convertible seats to have a set in both cars makes me cringe…and consider booster seats. The 5-point harness boosters aren’t exactly cheap, but they’re not as much as a convertible seat.
Karen says
Also the hose sounds exciting. I think you will benefit from a house with s bigger guest room.
Sarah says
I’m curious — why specifically the guest room? Our current one is small but a guest room in general is lower on my priority list than other things.
Karen says
I just remember how small the bedrooms in your house were. The guest room in particular struck me as too tiny for suitcases ;).
Sarah says
True. Interestingly, moving wouldn’t really affect that too much. The area we’d be moving has homes built in the late 80s and 90s and the bedrooms in some cases are slightly bigger, but not a lot.
Jennifer says
Care to share the house listing?
If memory serves, 5-point-harness reduces death rates by about 50%. High back vs. low back booster had no impact on death rates, though I think high back might have helped with injury rates. If it were me, I’d stick with a 5-point-harness for any vehicle you plan to drive, say, at least once a week. I would have no qualms about a low booster for occasional use. AAP has a nice position paper with a lot of data on the value of various restraints – more reliable than my memory.
Sarah says
Location (specifically making commutes easy) is everything in my opinion. Moving is a pain, but the payoff sounds like it could be worth it. Good luck figuring it all out!
Sarah says
Yes, the idea of getting an hour back in our day with a better commute is really enticing!