Bittersweet-ness

Today was a big day.  The day of the big boy car seat installation appointment! 

Like I said before, Jack is simply getting crazy heavy in his carrier, so we went ahead and purchased our next car seat.  I did my research, asked around, and decided on a Britax Marathon. 

It got great crash ratings and Britax is a well respected brand...not to mention I found one on SALE!  Woohoo!  Because these suckers are expensive!! 

Anyways, he's not quite at the weight limit of the carrier car seat, so the new one has been sitting in our living room for about a month now.  Being the good mom that I am, right after the car seat arrived, I called the car seat check people at Cook's Children's and set up my installation appointment, because the last thing I wanted to do is to install the seat incorrectly and, God forbid, be in an accident and Jack not be as safe as possible. 

Now, I can be pretty ambitious so one day I decided that I would just go ahead and install the thing.  I mean, how hard could it be?  Long story short, that was a big time fail...these are a little more complicated looking than our current car seat base, which is super easy!  To many straps and tethers!

So Jack rode happily in his carrier car seat for a few more weeks. 

But, today was the day!  Our appointment was at 11, so around 10:30, I strapped Jack in and got ready to head out when all of a sudden...I was sad.  This is the last time I'll strap my sweet baby boy into his first car seat.  We brought him home in that carseat!  His tiny little self, all bundled up...

and then I looked at Jack today, with his legs hanging out of the seat, and growing more and more every day!  There have been lots of "last time"'s with Jack...last time to sleep in his bassinet, last time to wear the Swaddlers diapers, last time to sleep in the swing...but this one got to me for some reason.  Just thinking about all the times I looked in the mirror to check on how he's doing, in the early days, trying to figure out where his mouth was to stick the pacifier in while he screams...then today, he thinks it's hilarious when he sees my arm comes over the top of his seat to hand him whatever. 
So here it is, the last ride in the car seat carrier. 
And getting excited about the switch!

Here's Jack sitting in the car with both car seats out, patiently waiting.  The ladies with the car seat safety program were so nice, and beyond helpful!  I don't think I could have gotten it without their help...they knew exactly what to do with the crazy straps and tethers!  Go figure...

And sitting safely in the big boy seat!  He will be in this seat until he's 60lbs...how old is a 60 pounder?  I don't know, like 4?  I have no idea.  Anyways, this car seat will be around much longer than the last one, and I imagine by the time it's time to let this one go, I'll be an even bigger basket-case about it than I was this morning. 

I simply can not say how much I am in love with this little boy.  Who would have thought...I never could have imagined. And he's getting so stinkin' big, growing up so fast, and I LOVE watching him interact with things these days.  They say they grow up fast and I feel like I'm enjoying each moment and not wishing it away...but it still goes by so fast!  I feel like tomorrow he'll be 16 and my worries about a car will be a little more than just installing a car seat safely!  EEK!!

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