Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Minivan Mama?

34 week update: As expected, they had trouble getting Baby A on the monitor again at the NST today (making the whole experience a bit more stressful - and really uncomfortable - at least for me). Thankfully, once the nurse got a good position (and stood there the whole time holding the monitor in place) the babies were cooperative and looked good. My BP was up just a hair and apparently I have traces of protein in my urine, but they’re not worried yet. So today’s status - so far, so good, and holding steady. Yay.

My in-laws were here for a few days this weekend (a spur-of-the moment trip to help get things in order before the babies). J and his dad and brother got a lot done around the house (only some of it baby-related), though now we have to finish cleaning up from all of their projects. And MIL was quite happy to be sent on an errand to get a couple of things from BRU, and went a bit overboard as I expected. It made her happy, and we have a bit more stuff now, so it was a good deal all around. But having that many people in the house? Tiring. And I wasn’t doing any of the work.

One of the tasks that was accomplished over the weekend was installing the car seats in my car (since mine has those LATCH anchor things). They got them installed without too much fuss (or at least, I didn’t have to see what fuss there might have been) but we’ve now realized that my car is really not big enough for twins. The car that I bought 5 years ago and just finished paying off. The car that I chose partially because I thought it would be a good, safe, comfortable choice for our first kid. Serves me right for being so presumptuous.

I did think, even back then, that I’d need a bigger car by the time hypothetical child number two came along, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised now to see how tight it is with two carseats. But still. So this afternoon we went to a couple of car places to look at, um, minivans. Yeah, minivans. Because we could get a car big enough for both carseats, but there still wouldn’t be a place for another adult to sit. And while we don’t often drive around with extra adults, there are all of these grandparents who will be visiting... So, we’re looking at minivans. Yipes. Not that we can buy anything yet, since I can’t tell how I’ll fit behind the wheel (since right now I just don’t fit at all). But we figured we should take advantage of the kid-free time (what little we have left) and start the search. (The first car salesman seemed fascinated by the concept of twins, and even moreso by the size and appearance of my twin-carrying body. And commented on it several times. Really endearing. If we buy from them, he won’t get the sale.)

9 comments:

  1. Wow, the minivan plunge, huh? I'll confess to having gotten minivan envy for the first time now that we're making room for two carseats. In the meantime, I guess my in-laws will just have to rent a car when they come and not ride with us!

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  2. Eh, I'm dreading this. I think the carseats will fit, but I don't know if my husband will be able to put his seat back all the way (he's 6'5"). I really don't want a bigger car. We'll probably install ours next weekend and see.

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  3. Any chance we got to see the marvelous twin-carrying body?

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  4. Welcome to mommy world...Trust me with two and all of their baby stuff you will need the room! If you can swing it and plan on keeping it for a long time get one with a DVD player built in. Makes those long trips much more bearable!!!!! You can turn on Baby Einstein and off you go!

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  5. That salesman sounds creepy. *shudder* GL with the mini-van buying!

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  6. Straight to the minivan...impressive. My friend in Oz had twins about three months ago and they ahd to buy heaps of stuff. Double everything!

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  7. Mini vans are very good in use. You have bigger size, but you don't feel it, like you drive just a car

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  8. It's a good idea to have a minivan. For me it's like golden middle between a big van, which is not practical in all situations, and ordinary car, which can be too small for your needs.

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  9. I like your decision about buying minivan. When I moved to other country and first time I often moved from one apartment to other, I understood that I need minivan instead of car.

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