A Year Without - Day 24

Today was a very, very lazy day. According to the weather reports, it was supposed to be a snow day. There wasn't much snow, but it sure was cold!

We went to CarMax today to look at a van that, on paper, looked perfect for our family. 2 years old, low mileage, fully loaded, and with TWO DVD players! I sort of wondered, before going, whether I should wait until I had someone to watch the kids. But I wanted to put their carseats in it, anyway, and they were pretty excited about checking it out. So we all went. I now regret that. It was too cold to get in and out, especially with trying to buckle carseats in an unfamiliar vehicle. Then, to top off the chaos, #1 son had an ill-smelling poop accident in his pants while he was playing in the playroom, and #2 son choked on a piece of apple which didn't all come up, but I didn't know that, so he was super-fussy/screamy for the whole test drive, and then he threw up in the playroom when it was time to leave. (Luckily, I had a quick thought and caught it in his hat.)

I went to that dealership with all my paperwork, ready to come home with the van, but when I drove it, I wasn't super-impressed with how it felt ("Plasticky" is the term that came to my mind. Sort of how I felt 9 years ago before we bought the truck, when we test-drove a Saturn SUV), and I was extremely disappointed to find that even though it has 7 seat belts, there is no way it could be more than a 6 passenger vehicle for us:

Do you see how little room is between the 2 carseats in the back row? I couldn't even fit Benny between them! And they were shoved up against the sides, as far as they could go.

Ugh! I am so freakin' disappointed! Now I don't know what to do!

I researched skinnier carseats when I got home, so perhaps we *could* make this van work. Sunshine Kids makes this carseat which has a much skinnier base than the ones we have. A different company makes a travel vest which, except for the lack of side impact protection, is supposed to be safer than a booster seat. Not ideal for every day, but if we needed that extra seat for another person, it could work in a pinch. (It might also work fabulously if we do end up meeting hubby in Europe in September like he's asked us to do.)

I got asked today if I've given up on this blog. No, I haven't. I'm just behind. (Hopelessly behind...)