Talk to me about carseats

[mrsp419]

My girls are 9 months now, and still easily fit in infant bucket seats.  I love the ease of being able to strap them in the seats in the house, carry them out to the car, and then snap them in my Joovy.  However, as they are too heavy to carrying them out at the same time now, it takes me multiple trips to get them into the car, along with my other two kids.  Also, my infant seats are coming up on expiration, and the twins are not really digging staying in them, even in the Joovy Roo.  It may be time for them to be in convertible seats, and then I can take them around in my SBS stroller... but I know I would be trading some convenience of those bucket seats.  I am wondering when you mamas transitioned your twins to convertible seats, and what kind of system you used for getting them safely in and out of the car.  Did you do it one at a time (like one baby was in the house while you carried the other out and fully buckled her)?  Did you carry them both out at the same time and have one on your hip when you put the other in the seat?  Does anyone have a convertible seat to recommend that is easy for you to buckle/unbuckle with one hand if you are holding a baby in the other?  

ETA- they still fit comfortably in their infant seats (and are well below the weight/length limit), so if this is something I want to stretch out as long as possible, please let me know!

[anakah]

We kept our twins in their infant bucket seats until they were 18 months old. They were/are teeny tiny though and didn't reach the height limit until then. We would only carriy the buckets to/from the house and car though and used our sbs stroller while out. I really did not want to give up the convenience of buckling them in the house. When we finally switched to convertible seats they were fairly steady walkers so I would walk them both to the car, put one in, walk around to the other side and buckle, and then go back to the first kid to finish buckling. We have Diono radian r120's.

[anotherdreamer]

No experience yet, but we will be switching our twins soon. My girls are 8.5m and DD2 is one inch from her seat height limit. We have been waiting as long as possible because using the carriers with the SNG has been such a life saver. They are much heavier now, but wrangling our toddler and two wiggly babies makes me exhausted just thinking about it.

So far with DH we have done hand offs, he had the stroller ready and I got the girls out, he strapped them in the stroller, then we got our toddler out. I think if I ever brave it alone (the twins don't worry me- my 3y old with poor listening skills and mischievous-heart-attack-inducing manner does) I would probably get one at a time in, which would mean lots of trips back and forth to the house. Getting out, I would have to get each twin out first, strapped into the stroller one at a time, and then get my older toddler. I'll be following to see what others do though!

[ashb62]

We never used the bucket seats. We couldn't fit three across in our old car with buckets, so we've had convertibles from the beginning. We have an attached garage, so getting them in and out at home isn't a big deal. I leave one gated in a safe area and carry the other to the garage. Strap him in and go back for the other.

To transfer to stroller, I just get the stroller out, push it to one side of the van and strap a baby in. Then push it to the other and strap the other baby in. Then reverse to put them back in. If I can't get the stroller close enough to the car, I'll sit or stand one in the floor and block him with my body while I strap his brother in. I've also strapped one in the Ergo and carried the other. That way I have both hands to strap in. You could also use a lightweight umbrella stroller to transfer back and forth. Push one and carry the other.

There of lots of options. You'll figure out what works best for you.

[twinmomma]

I would just do one at a time before they were walking. I'd carry one out, strap her all in, then go back in the house to get the other. The one in the house would be in a swing/seat or in a play yard type area to stay safe. I live in the suburbs so it wasn't a big deal to me to leave one in the car for a few seconds. I never bothered with an elaborate system of two at once. Wasn't worth it.

[anakah]

oh yeah, as ashb62 said, I used a cheapie umbrella for daycare pickup. DH dropped off and I picked up so instead of buying 2 more bases for the buckets, we just put convertibles in my car since we were going to have to buy convertibles anyways. I would put one in the stroller and carry the other out to the car. The twins rode around primarily in DH's car on the weekends so the only times I had to do this was daycare pickup.

[carrotcake]

We waited to switch them until 15mo or so. We had street parking until they were 13mo and now we park in our driveway.

I didn't want to switch until they were steady walkers and could walk to the car. I would put one in the front seat passenger side while I buckled the other one in. Then get to the second one. Now I'll either do that or put one in and not buckle him, put the other in and then buckle them both.

We have radians. We have to fit three across.

For second seats that don't need 3 across, we have a Britax roundabout and an Evenflo Sureride.

[kels09]

We switched the boys at 14 months. We put them in their stroller to get to the car, buckle them in and put the stroller in the car. In cold weather we put one in then the other. One waited in the pack play in the front room until the other was buckled in.

We have the britax marathon click tights and they are not easy to click in or take off. I have to use two hands to click them in.

[macchiatto]

We switched to convertibles when my boys were 7.5 months old. One of my twins could have made it to about a year but my heavier twin was over 21 lbs and we had the Snugride 22s. It is less convenient but you get used to it and figure out your tricks.