Testing out the new seats. It is an adjustment because we don't have the infant carriers to set the girls in while we free ourselves to get the other girl. J doesn't like it. At all. I don't mind it, but then I don't have to carry the girls into my parents' house at 7:30 every weekday morning. The girls like them, I think, because it allows them to look outside the windows and it gives them a lot more room. I L.O.V.E. the Britax and it was worth every minute of the wild goose chase to purchase them. Now I know what everyone raves about. If you are in the market for a car seat and haven't purchased one yet: GET A BRITAX.

ETA: The car seats in the photo are actually the Graco Comfort Sport, which are wonderful car seats in their own right. Here is the Britax Roundabout.

53 hr. 36 min. Avail.

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M.O.M. Consumer Tip #2

Pre-bean, anything below seventy-five hours available would have sent me into a tizzy. I mean, what if there were a seventy-five hour 24 marathon? What if F/X held a three day tribute to Julian McMahon’s hotness? Couldn’t chance it. I was so OCD about deleting shows from my DVR that I would do it during every commercial break, driving J nuts in the meantime.

Now, I’m thrilled that I have fifty-three hours plus. I feel like the Oprah of DVR hours, willing and able to throw my leftover hours to the little people who need them more than I do. Once, earlier in the year, I was down to twenty-three hours. I had been saving all of the Grey’s episodes, as well as every Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown and Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. I was frantic. Granted, the last time I was in Europe, I was five and the only things I ever made from a Sandra Lee recipe were the cheesecake pops I made for Mr. & Mrs. C last holiday season. But I still needed to have them and I will watch them eventually.

It’s hard to watch anything nowadays. I tell people that I get my news from Best Week Ever or the weekend edition of the Freep. What election? Who’s even running? When the girls and I are home during the day, we watch Sesame Street or a Noggin show. That’s where a quarter of my used hours go. You never know when an emergency happens and you need to queue up last week’s Sesame to narrowly avert a complete meltdown. If we’re not watching the kiddie shows, we’ve got my favorite Sirius Satellite stations on and HRP is (im)patiently teaching me a bit about rhythm. It’s either “The 90’s and Now” or “80’s Hits”.

So, now, we’re very stingy with our time. When someone recommends a good show, I’ll smile and nod and quickly put it out of my mind. No room for that. Our television viewing begins at approximately 8:45 p.m. and ends at 11:00 p.m. every weeknight. With the exception of Mondays, when I host a chat for M.O.M.s and Thursdays, when J watches a horribly violent UFC show that I refuse to see, we generally enjoy the same shows. The weekends are a gamble and we are lucky if we can catch the whole Lions game. We’re always playing catch-up. Right now, we’re catching up on Prison Break. We’re in the third episode of the second season. As soon as we’re done with the episode, delete.

Honestly, I don’t know what we ever did without the DVR. If you don’t have one, get one.