The Vibe

(This is not my actual car, but looks identical, picture from Earthy Cars Blog)

Yesterday I decided was a good day to put the carseat in the car and get it out of the house. I went to put it in and it didn't fit... I thought, well that is impossible. I'm pretty sure car seats should fit in cars, especially my Pontiac Vibe. So I fought with it for a few minutes until I just got mad and decided I was going to go the firestation to have someone show me how to install it. (Ben installed the base, I was just attempting to get the seat attached to the base... not supposed to be difficult.)

Well, turns out, you cannot have the base in the middle of the backseat b/c there is no latch system there (where we had it installed). I had to choose either the driver or passenger side for the nice fire fighters to install it. I opted for the driver's side thinking that would be easiest to get him in and out.

When they finished they said okay, you can move your seat back now so I squeezed myself behind the steering wheel and.... not so much. My seat could not go back with the car seat behind my seat! The 3 fire fighters couldn't help but laugh as my belly was squished up on the steering wheel! So, one said we would have to put it on the passenger side and asked me if anyone rode over there often, I said, my 6'4" husband.... He just laughed and said, well he may not like to ride over there anymore.

The car seat (facing backwards) does not let me put my front seats back to a normal riding position and I am SO sad! (All I kept thinking yesterday was, what if I was having twins still... I would have probably realized at the hospital that I would need to borrow a car to get them home!)

I love my car... LOVE IT!. I get around 32 mpg and its small, but not tiny... and a hatch back so the dogs can just hop in the back if I ever go anywhere. But now, I'm thinking how are we going to make my car work when we can't drive/ride comfortably with the car seat? Just not leave the house?

The other problem is my car is 5 years old. It has 150K miles on it, BUT nearly 95% of those are interstate miles and we have never had a problem with any of it. It should last us until 300K miles! (And prior to yesterday, I was prepared to drive it that far!) So we couldn't trade it in for what it should be worth.

I'm now a little stressed about the car situation and Ben being the free-spirit (Dave Ramsey's term for spender) of the family, would be happy for us to go get a bigger car. I'm torn though. I didn't plan for a new car and according to Dave, I should save up, pay cash for what I can afford and buy used.... well that involves planning and saving for it, which I have not done.

Ben even stopped at car max yesterday on his way home... another problem - we have a tiny, two-car garage. Currently in the garage is my vibe and Ben's rock-crawling buggy. Outside in our small driveway are his work truck and his big truck. Where on earth would another car go?! (because he says we would never get what the Vibe is worth so we should just keep it and it could be his around town car... I think he really just wants to start a collection of vehicles, lol!)

Well, since I haven't talked myself into buying a new car while typing this blog, I'm off to our 38 week doctor appointment! Wish us luck for some progress :)