Our daughter is four months old and I'm returning to work.  We needed a car seat in my parents' car, since they'll be watching her.  Our original plan was to buy an additional base for our infant carrier.  Madelyn is in the 95th percentile for height, so it doesn't seem that she'll be able to be rear-facing much longer than the one year/20 pounds rule.  Hence our decision to purchase the "big girl" car seat now instead of just a base for the infant carrier.

We agonized over which one to go with.  I read the reviews on several sites and the overwhelming feeling was that the Britax is best.  I'd read about the short strap on the crotch buckle, and it is true.  However, I talked with one of my friends, who's six year old granddaughter uses one of these seats, and she fits, so I'm less worried about that.

When it arrived, we installed it in our car to see how difficult it would be to do it in my parents' car.  Aside from the fact that it took about 40 minutes to find the latch straps (under the cover, behind the foam blocks, third star to the right... sheesh!), and another few minutes working out the strap that attaches to the ceiling (do we want it to go under the animals in her mirror or over them?... under, definitely), the installation really didn't take that long.  I think if you've installed a car seat with the latch system before, it's not that different.  If you have too hard of a time, don't forget you can go to most police departments or highway patrol offices for assistance.

Once it was in, we put Mad in it.  Getting her in and out with that overhead strap isn't fabulous, but it's not as impossible as I thought.  Pushing on the buckle button hard enough to release the straps was tough at first.  After the first time, I was ready to go buy another base for the infant carrier and be done with it until we had to switch, but I agreed to try it out for a week.  Here are the ups and downs at the end of that week: