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Comments
Patti
Actually the Z4 ain't too bad, and at least it performs. For that price, gimme a Lotus Elise. I'll be glad to wait in line.
-juice
As for "jumping on every poor miscreant", that's becuase we get all the miscreants over there at IDLSWDY!
Besides...you guys get along far too well over here :-)
Regards to Mike (paisan). Oh, and we love our Outback. And my RSX, too.
What's the latest on the best child seats, and which ones work best in a Forester?
:-)
DaveM
And if not, as Dave said: "Never mind."
Bob
Frankly we're still in shock a little bit. We're happy, we're scared as $%#@, nervous, and completely unprepared since this wasn't planned at all.
Whoo boy.
Time to go over and see Mom and, er, Grandma and Grandpa!!
Bob
Life could not get more interesting this week!
Careful there Loosh, saying something like that is tempting fate :-) Anyway, congratulations to you and Kirsten.
-Frank P.
We have an EvenFlo carrier and base that fits well in the Outback. Then once they were big enough, we had 2 Fisher Price Safe Embrace convertible seats. Keep in mind that when either seat is in rear-facing mode, it does take up some real-estate and you may need to creatively adjust the front seat to accomodate it. Glad I'll be able to 'stretch' my legs out again soon as Brogan will be one in June. Hey, that rhymed!
As for being scared, you learn the ways of being a parent quickly. That first diaper change is a tricky one, but you get the hang of it in no time!
9/4 is our anniversary, if you're looking for a particular birthdate ;-)
-Brian
Back in '89, I bought a GL-10 Turbo wagon and 2 weeks later my wife was pregnant.
Congrats again to the new mommy and daddy!
DaveM
Bob
Man, that is sweet. The Crew is like a family so it's like getting another addition to the family.
So, what is Dave's due date?
GREAT call on the FXT vs. the WRX wagon, now you really won't regret it. Pile up the stroller, diaper bag, port-a-crib, high chair, bath tub, baby suitcase, baby's 2nd suitcase, and oh, yeah, your stuff, and you're gonna fill her up!
We got our child seats in 1999, so there are probably better designs out there now. We used an infant carrier system, base, rear facing carrier, snap-in to the stroller. That worked up to 22 lbs. You don't *have* to go that way, though, a regular seat can do both.
Then we went to a rear facing child seat. You reverse them when the kid is 1 year old. But now with ISOFIX anchors you might get one of those. I have the old style ones with the LATCH only anchor on the back that uses the seat belts.
At 40 lbs, we then went to a booster. It was cool because kid #2 basically inherited the stuff kid #1 out grew.
My advice is to take the FXT to the store and test-fit the models you like. Some will fit better than others, due to the seat angle and the size of the child seat. Get help because 2 of you can get it tighter than one. Finally, keep in mind you may need to use locking clips (provided with the seat) to keep them tight.
I can't believe I'm saying this to Lucien!
-juice
Cheers Pat.
Like Brian, once Paul is big enough, we have 2 Fisher Price Safe Embrace convertible seats.
So congrats to you on multiple fronts!
Ed
-Dave
Ok, congrats on both cases loosh!
Those forester folks should get some skid plates for em
-mike
Congratulations to you both. What a wonderful year you're going to have!
Patti
Congratulations! You're in for yet another life-changing experience (after the turbo).
Okay, car seats. Just been there so I think I have the latest.
I highly recommend getting an infant system first. While it's only good up to 20lbs or so, the regular convertible seats are very big on babies and don't cradle them as well. The best part of an infant system is that you can snap out the carrier from it's base (which is belted or latched to your seats) and it goes right into a stroller. Your baby will be sleeping a lot at first and when you drive so it's nice to be able to transfer them without waking them up.
The only drawback to the infant system is that if you have a BIG baby that grows quickly, you could be out of the 20lb range in a few months. Luckily, Erina was petite so it lasted quite a while.
We looked into lots of brands and we settled on an Italian brand: Peg Perego. Their stuff costs more, but it's built extremely well. I've seen some of the Cosco, Evenflo and Eddie Bauer stuff and it just doesn't compare. The model we went with is the Primo Viaggio.
The Peg Perego goes in Kana's Jetta. For my Forester, we went with a convertible seat. Here, we also looked at many brands and ended up with a UK one: a Britax Roundabout. They're very well known for their safety and quality. The Britax sits in the middle of the rear seat facing backwards. In my 98 Forester, The seat conveniently tilts in between the two front seats so I didn't have to change my driving position.
Ken
Whew what a day. Nighty night everyone...
-Dave
Just back from a ski trip to West Virginia. Was snowing heavily when we drove up Friday night and -6F. First time I have seen negative numbers on my Outback's temperature readout! The car was audibly unhappy about starting the next morning when it was -14F, but otherwise did great, and the all-weather features were awesome, I think I had ALL the different heaters going!
I'm glad I got the H6 when driving into the mountains with 4 people and a bunch of gear on board. The car was fantastic, definitely a great ski vehicle. Ended up getting 24mpg too, which is excellent considering the trip was 50% twisty mountain roads and I had a full load and a bunch of skis on the roof. Yet again, I see the H6 as a no-brainer upgrade from the H4.
The only deficiency is the steering, it's just not quick enough or precise enough in mountain twisties (the roads were clear on the way home, so I was driving "normally"). The car definitely handles fine, but the steering is kind of sloppy. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my WRX or my wife's Forester, who knows, but the Outback could definitely use a dose of refinement in the steering department. I hope they address that for 05.
Craig
Jim
Jon
Sheesh...what is it about owning a Subaru that makes people so...uh...fertile? :-)
-Dan-
On the car seat front, a few things to consider (from someone who just went thru this). We liked some of the Cosco seat designs, but they recently went to a new center buckle design that requires that two tongs be held together and snapped into the retainer at the same time. Nice idea, but impossible with a squirmy kid. So we went back to Evenflow.
We first bought one of the convertible (reverse & forward facing), with recline function. Unfortunately, it has a huge base to accommodate the reverse & tilt features and barely fits in the OBW. It just sits too high to easily maneuver the baby in past the upper door opening. So we moved that seat to the Odyssey, and I bought a dedicated forward facing Evenflow seat for the OBW (after getting 'permission' from our doctor to turn Annie forward).
Bottom line - as said in previous post, be prepared to experiment. Oh, BTW - Latch rules! What an incredible improvement over the seat belt method. Unfortunately, the upper teather system is not as well thought out. For instance, I had to make an extension to use the one on the Odyssey. Using the roof hook on the OBW can block some big boxes from fitting in the back. And the floor mounted ones on a friends WRX wagon look like they would make the cargo floor very unusable. A 'work in progress', I suspect.
Also, be prepared to ditch, or at least turn around the headrest, as they often interfere with how the kid seat fits against the seatback.
Steve
The drawback Ken mentioned happened to use - both our kids hit 22 lbs and outgrew the Infant seats well before they were a year old.
That's why we had to mount the regular child seats rear facing. That was the hardest position to secure properly, nothing else gave me trouble.
Still, I'd get an infant carrier again. Being able to transfer them from the car to the stroller to home, all without waking them up, was key.
-juice
It's a lot easier when you only have ONE child seat in the vehicle, so you can typically place it in the center position. When you have 2 or more, then it can get interesting with the front seat positions.
And LATCH is awesome, we have it in our MPV in the 2nd row seats. Makes for installing the seats that have LATCH a breeze.
-Brian
~c
-Dennis
-Dave
Congrats to both you and your wife on the present and future surprises!
Mark
Another thing. Try to discourage your better half from reading all of these "having a baby" books. While the information in them is for the most part good, there is a lot of stuff in there about worst case scenarios that would scare you from ever having children again(thumb though them first). A good doc, and supportive family and friends will cover most of your needs. My wife and I had our child 13 years after she had our last- her basic comments were something along the line of "what you don't know can't hurt you"
Robert
Our kids are spaced 10.5 years apart. So we had a toddler+teenager situation for a while, and we survived, so you'll be fine!
Greg
Mike k
Congratulations to you both!
Treasure the moments!
Cheers!
Paul
http://ganon.net/albums/Ofc-Bud-in-DC/Sheriff_cruiser.sized.jpg
-Dave
~c
-juice
BTW, If any of you crew need the booster seat, it is available for the asking, no charge other than shipping it to wherever...it is in great condition...just let me know here or send me and email.
Serge