Mini-Van 101...Installing 3 Toddler Seats

It has finally happened. No longer shall I have to drive around town feeling like a circus clown driving one of those tiny clown cars where the clowns keep pouring out of it even though it seems quite impossible for that many people to have ever fit inside in the first place.

Gone are the days of being forced to drive with the trunk bungeed shut to accommodate the super-huge, extra-long, limo-sized stroller.

I will just have to find a way to break myself of worry about someone rear-ending us and totally the stroller (a bigger worry than totally the car, actually, as they aren't easily obtainable and replaceable!)

I have entered into the realm of the "Mini-van Mum." Yep, you guessed it, on Friday, I became the proud owner of a Mini-van.

You are probably groaning at the way I am embracing my fate, but seriously, when one has triplets and a 12 year old (I know he is almost 13,) a car becomes far too small for comfort.

People were forever staring at me funny whenever I unloaded my tiny trio from their car seats so artfully squeezed across the backseat of our average-sized car.

My days of having to artfully pack as much stuff and kids into a tiny car are over!

Now, if I can just figure out how the stroller wants to ride inside the van, I will be in business!

I spent a good hour or two Saturday night playing puzzle with the three toddler-sized car seats and the backseat of the van.

Yes, I had even done my homework to see how the seats might fit into the new van only to find something awful.

According to the triplet connection website, three toddler-sized car seats just will not fit across the backseat of a Honda Odyssey.

Well, after about two hours, and many scraped fingers later, I am proud to say that I have proved them all WRONG WRONG WRONG!

I, Mimi Webb, have conquered the car seat battle and now am the proud driver of a Honda Odyssey which sports three toddler-sized FORWARD facing car seats across its back seat!

Yes, the last of the triplets has finally managed to hit the 20 pound marker at 20 months and I can now turn their car seats around.

After reading how a fellow Mum had problems with her new car and her baby's car seat, I was determined to make sure that not only did they fit three across the backseat, but that they fit SAFELY!!

Let me tell you, they do not budget an inch. For some reason or another, this particular van does not have the LATCH system in place in that back bench seat, but luckily I am a whiz with a locking clip or three.

I was so afraid that I wasn't going to be able to get them all in and buckled. It is a tight fit, but those seats aren't going ANYWHERE (unless of course I want them to!)

I managed to get everything in its place, only to get inside and find an email from my Daddy asking me to use my fine new van and come and get some of Mum's furniture in it.

EEK! All that time spent puzzling the car seats into place and figuring out how to tether them to themselves for good measure and I was to take them out again?

I was a good girl, and set about breaking down the back part of the van. With Bregon's help, I removed the car seats.

Somehow, I managed to get the back bench seat to fold into the floor like it's supposed to.

I even found the release that sets the middle seats free. All in all, they were heavy as can be (heavier than Bregon or so they seemed,) but very simple to take out.

I had the van converted for cargo in something like fifteen or twenty minutes flat. For the first time, that's not too shabby.

I even managed to "Train" the built-in garage door opener to open my garage door before heading off to Daddy's.

Sadly, when I called to let him know that I was on my way over, he decided that I didn't need to come over this soon after all.

I went to all that trouble, too. Bregon and I set about putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I ran into a teensy weensy little problem this time, though. We had thought it smart to put everything on the front porch as it looked as if it might rain a bit.

This meant that I needed to carry the super heavy captain's chairs down the front porch stairs which were slightly sweaty and getting slippery from the humidity.

I must have felt safe, because the first one went so well. Unfortunately, I was too comfortable with it, and managed to slide down the two bottom steps and fall forward, pulled by the weight of that super heavy chair.

I heard a resounding CRACK as the chair hit the concrete. The chair was fine, but it sounded like the crack came from me.

Luckily, nothing seems broken. Everything burns a lot, but nothing looks out of whack. It only took me a minute to get my composure back and finish hauling everything back out to the van.

It's a lot easier putting in car seats when you have someone to help you buckle them. I would put my knee into them and Bregon would use his tiny arms to slip in between the seats and get the buckles fastened.

Somehow, we managed to get everything back together and in one piece again.

After that, I decided to lay off of the van 101 for the evening!