We'll Take Two, Please

Remember my post about needing to look for a new vehicle?

I have spent hours researching SUVs, but also narrow car seats. I can't tell you how many google searches I've done on "narrow car seats," "15 inch booster," "fit three car seats in a town and country," etc. etc. Seriously. I'm a nut.

Here's the maddening thing, though. I'd find one place that would say a particular car seat or booster was 15" wide and I'd get all excited, but then find the exact same car seat on a different website and it would say it was 20" wide. Um, hello. That's quite a difference.

As you saw earlier, we had given up on thinking we could fit three car seats across. But then came a new car commercial for Chrysler. They specifically mention in it that if you have five kiddos to haul around, their minivan is for you.

What!?! Am I missing something here??? I am the mom with five kiddos to haul around, but so far my Town and Country isn't working.

That gave us hope again, though, that maybe we could find car seats that are narrow enough. So for our exciting Friday night out, we headed to some of those giant baby stores. Love them, yet hate them, too. They're just so overwhelming. I saw a pregnant first time mama with the registry gun last night with a look on her face that said get me out of here. I'm tired. I'm overwhelmed. I'd just like to sit my big 'ol pregnant behind down on one of those cozy gliders.

Oh girl, I was so there seven plus years ago. Seems like yesterday.

Anyways...our car seat search. Babies R Us was not so helpful this time around. We went there first and felt pretty discouraged. But Buy Buy Baby? They're my new best friend. They had one of the car seats I've been researching like crazy and they let us take two of them out to our van to try them to see if they will fit. Praise God, they did!!!! It is going to be rather tight back there, and Josh may have a heck of a time getting his seat belt actually buckled, but they fit!!!! And they might have been $269 EACH, but of course I had coupons and when you compare $460ish to $28,000ish, it's a total no brainer!

So we're now the proud owners of two of these fabulous car seats:

And we get to keep our minivan! Hooray!!

I'm sure that we'll be looking for a larger vehicle a couple of years from now since our kiddos are only going to keep getting bigger and bigger. But I'm glad that it doesn't have to be in the same year that we're incurring plenty of costs already. Plus, I think it will be much easier to have an SUV when the kids are a little bit bigger. I sure wasn't looking forward to crawling over the second row of seats to somehow buckle in the girls in the back! Or, for that matter, lifting an infant carrier with a baby in it up and over into the middle of the SUV.

Hubby, though? I think he's kind of sad we're not going to be getting a truck. I mean, he's happy that we don't have to spend all the money now, but he's much more of a truck/SUV guy than a minivan guy. Someday, babe. Someday.

Driving Along In My Automobile

As a soon-to-be family of 7, we're currently hunting for a new vehicle. I have a Chrysler Town & Country minivan right now that I love, but it unfortunately just won't fit us all. Believe me, we've tried. We just don't think Josh will enjoy riding with one cheek on the seat and one in the cup holder.

So we're checking all sorts of websites (autotrader.com, cars.com, carmax.com, ebay.com, and craigslist.com) and checking local car lots for a vehicle that is large enough to fit us all, yet manageable, and at least a little bit stylish. And because of our commitment to stay out of debt, we're paying for the car outright, which means we're most likely buying a "previously owned" or "new to us" car. Here's the four we seem to have narrowed the list down to:

Ford Expedition EL

Cadillac Escalade ESV

Chevy Suburban

GMC Yukon XL

Anyone have any feedback on any of these? Love 'em? Hate 'em? I'm so nervous about driving something so huge, but I really have no choice. Because I'll probably need a double stroller with me on a regular basis and we like to travel, we want something that has some storage space, in addition to being able to seat our whole family safely.

And if anyone knows of someone who's wanting to sell one of these lovely SUV's, or even if they want to give one away (hey, a girl can dream!), please contact us! With all the expenses we have coming up (GULP) to complete two international adoptions, buy a new vehicle, get a new bunk bed and mattresses for the girls, and purchase lots of extra baby supplies, we'd like to be as wise as we can with the resources God has blessed us with! We know He has called us to this, and we know He will provide, it's just when you look at it all on paper that it seems crazy!

Oh, and please pray for us as we shop. No offense, but used car salesmen can sometimes be difficult. We were on a lot last night and about six of them stood in the middle of the road so we had no option but to stop our car to talk to them. We'd really love to find an honest, trustworthy one to work with!