When we went to the pediatrician for Jonah's follow up appointment, for his ears, we had a surprise. Jonah is nearly twenty pounds. My tiny little baby, who I was told would probably not reach the twenty pound mark until 16 or 18 months, is nearly twenty pounds! The nurse had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Granted, he was fully clothed, and his cloth diaper probably weighed quite a bit. That is still a huge growth spurt since his nine month visit. That is a huge growth spurt since he was hospitalized for failure to thrive four months ago. He has doubled his weight since he was five months. That is a huge accomplishment, and brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how healthy my little boy is now.
As I packed him up to leave the office, I realized that this means he has officially outgrown his infant carrier. The weight limit is twenty pounds. Now, I had seen this moment coming and prepared by buying a convertible car seat that has rear facing up to thirty six pounds. We were still using the infant carrier as a backup carseat, however. It was handy to have a second seat that was easy to get in and out of various vehicles. Gone are those days.
I'm glad. I hated the infant carrier. It came with our travel system, and that is the only reason we used it. It was difficult to get Jonah in and out, and VERY difficult to adjust the straps. The base was more trouble than it was worth, and we ended up ditching it when Jonah was about three months old. It was heavy and cumbersome, to the point where we just left it in the car 90% of the time. I was dieing to get this convertible seat! After a lot of shopping around, several trips to Babies R Us, and a lot of online price comparing, I found a Britax Boulevard at a closeout price. The pattern was being discontinued, and while it wasn't the most lovely fabric, it was in our price range.
A couple of days after I made the order, I got an email from the store saying that they ran out of that pattern, but because I bought it at a closeout price they would honor the sale and let me pick any of their in-stock patterns for the same price! The carseat came that same week. The color was darker than I expected, and I hope that it doesn't get too hot. The weather is cooler than usual this summer, and it doesn't typically get very hot here anyway, so I am not extremely worried over it. Jonah absolutely loves his new seat. It was a battle to get him into the infant carrier, and he screamed as we buckled him in and adjusted the straps. Riding in the car was not pleasant, as he'd cry in protest through the duration of the trip. With his new carseat, he laughs and plays the whole time that I'm buckling him in and checking all of the belts.He chatters away instead of screaming. He seems much more comfortable in his new carseat, which in my opinion makes it worth every penny. Some people tell me that this was a splurge, that a cheaper carseat would have been just fine. I don't agree.I think that if there's one thing that I ought to spend a lot of money on, it's a good quality carseat, with all the bells and whistles and safety features possible. I'm willing to buy a few less clothing items so that I can afford the peace of mind everytime I buckle my baby in the car.
The best thing about this carseat is that it fits rearfacing up to 36 lbs. Now, when I purchased the seat, I thought that he'd be three before ever reaching that weight limit, as I was told that he wouldn't be 20 lbs until several months after his first birthday. I'm pretty confident that he'll be able to rear face at least until two years of age in the seat, which is the current recommendation.
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