The Angioni Family: Gianna And The Big Girl Car Seat

Gianna is now 20 months old. Believe it or not, this 9lb, 5oz baby turned out to actually be a little peanut. She is a shorty like her mommy (on track to be about my height) and for weight she is about middle of the road. One of the perks of having a "little" little one is that we have gotten great mileage out of her infant car seat. She is in a Graco Snugride 35 and can stay in that seat rear facing until she outgrows it by height or weight. That means she needs to hit or exceed 35lbs (she just hit 25) or be 30" or taller. If her head is within one inch of the top of the car seat it's time to get a new one. Well, friends, this 20 month old hit the height limit! It may be one of the only times in her life that happens. :)

We have been researching convertible car seats for a while and decided to make a purchase when we got back from London. We brought her infant seat with us on the trip and used it for the cab rides to and from the airports. Once we got back, we were able to test out the Graco 4ever which was brand new in Babies R Us. We heard about it before we left but they didn't even have it on display yet. My mom would be buying this for Gianna so she came with us to the store to test it out.

We had tested the Graco MySize65 and the Chicco Nextfit and Gianna was not the best test baby on that occasion. You would have thought I was strapping her down forever! It was hard to see the fit but she didn't seem too comfortable in either one. When we put her in the 4ever, she was calm. Not thrilled, but calm and I liked the way she fit in the seat. :) The thing I like about this seat is that it is a 4-in-one. It will keep her rear facing until 40lb, then forward facing until 65. When she is ready for a booster seat, it converts and also eventually becomes a backless booster. Hopefully, it's the only seat she will need.

We brought it home and took it out of the box. We made a big deal out of the special new seat and put it in the family room so she could play in it. She loves to do the "buckle" herself (the chest clip) so for a few days we just let her buckle away and climb in and out! She also likes to point out the pink part. About a week later we had it installed and checked at our local hospital.

We ended up moving her from the middle to the passenger side outboard position, which I am not the biggest fan of but it had to happen. We are keeping her rear facing and the seat couldn't stay in the middle because it hits the drivers seat when Marco drives. We moved her behind the passenger and that is just as safe. It's going to take some getting used to. It's harder for me to see her in the mirror and near impossible for me to hand her things. It is also an adjustment for her and we are going to do some tweaking to the position of the seat. There are three recline options and she is in the middle one in the pic below. I think we are going to recline her one more to give her a little more leg room. I am not worried about her legs being bent for safety reasons (as I know that is not an issue) but more because she seems uncomfortable. We will see if that helps at all. I also need to get used to the way her head falls when she sleeps. Totally different than in the infant seat.