Diono Radian RXT

Fit Chart

Rear facing 5-45 lbs and up to 44" 

Forward facing 22-65lbs and up to 57"

Booster 50-120lbs

[One thing I will add about the fit chart is that most people see that the weight starts at 5lbs and goes up to 120lbs in booster mode so they think that this is a one stop shop; the only car seat you will ever need. While I completely understand that thinking, it's untrue. The booster mode on this car seat is outgrown either right around the same time it is outgrown in harness mode, or very shortly after. No child that can fit in the harness in this seat has the need to use it as a booster so the booster feature on this seat, more or less, is useless. Sorry, Diono!]

Features

•Steel alloy frame and aluminum reinforced sides

•Safestop energy-absorbing harness system

•Adjustable head support

•Energy absorbing EPS foam on all sides

•Rear-facing tether capability

•5 shoulder and 3 buckle positions for custom fit

•Expandable sides

•12 height positions for adjustable head support

•Folds flat for easy storage or travel

Back story

We already had my daughter in a convertible car seat when we purchased this one. We thought she was nearing the rear-facing height limit (she actually wasn't. We later found out that the nurse was pointing her toes down when measuring her which added another one or two inches) but I was nowhere near ready to turn her forward facing so we went looking for a seat with a higher rear facing limit and this is what we decided on.

Installation 

When you get the box, the seat is folded. I'm not going to lie, when I opened the box and took the seat and the pieces out, I was overwhelmed. I just left it all alone and read the instructions a few times before tackling anything. It ended up being so much easier than I expected it to be.

Once I had the straps in the right slot and played around with it a bit in the house, it was time to take it out to the car. I had read reviews on the seat and what worried me the most with what I read was the installation. Quite a few people talked about it being very difficult, some even said it was impossible. This had me second guessing my install when I got done and in good in not much time at all. After double and triple checking, I decided that it was in well enough and it really was easy. I am not saying that this is the case for everyone, but I know that for myself and a few other people have agreed, it is much easier to get a tight install with this seat using the seat belt. I still can't get a really good install with LATCH, so seat belt it is. 

Using the seat / Overall impressions

For the head wings, you can only use them when the child is on the third harness slot and when the wings are level with the child's jaw. [they were level with her jaw, it just appears as if they are higher because she is leaning her head forward.]

My daughter likes this seat. I think she really likes the low sides so that she can do whatever she wants with her legs, as you can see in the picture. I don't mind this seat. I love the height limits. I love that the head wings feel sturdy and not flimsy. I love love love the colour. The only thing I must admit I do not love about this seat is tightening the harness. I will be honest and say that this is not the only car seat we own so it's very possible that I am just spoiled with how easy the others are to adjust and that's what makes me dislike this one, but tightening this is different than any of our other seats. With the others, you simply grab the strap that is between the child's legs, give it one strong and steady pull, and it tightens. With this one you grab the strap between the child's legs and instead of doing one strong and steady pull, you do a bunch of small tugs. I haven't actually counted how many little tugs it takes to get it tight but if I were to guess I'd say it's somewhere around 20, give or take a few. Being truthful, I find that annoying. For that reason, and for that reason only, we choose not to use this car seat and we purchased another one for our vehicle and this seat lives in Grandma's car.

Over all, I give this car seat four stars.

There is nothing wrong with this seat to make it get just four stars. It's a great seat that does a really good job keeping children rear facing as long as possible, and then harnessed as long as possible. There is nothing bad to be said about that. With the annoying harness, I just can't give it five stars.

Eco Nuts!

Not going to lie, I am very excited about this review. I ordered these last Thursday and have been waiting all  weekend to get them and try them out. Of course as soon as soon as they arrived, I got a load of laundry in! If nothing else thank you, Eco Nuts, for giving me a reason to be excited about doing laundry. ;) 

So what are Eco Nuts, anyway? 

Taken directly from the pamphlet that came in my box; 

Eco Nuts are completely sustainable dried berry shells that come from the Sapindus mukorossi tree in Nepal and India. These berry shells have been used in the Himalayan region for centuries, and are now gaining popularity in America, Canada and Europe as a renewable, biodegradable and organic alternative to chemical detergents and expensive "green" laundry soaps.

Eco Nuts contain saponin, a natural cleaner that works as a surfactant. When agitated in the washer, the saponin breaks the surface tension of the water to penetrate the fibers of your clothing, lifting stains from the fabric and leaving dirt suspended in the water that is rinsed away.

Eco Nuts are gentle on both clothes and skin, making them ideal for those with sensitive skin, eczema, allergies and psoriasis. Because they are so mild and leave little residue, they are perfect for baby clothes and cloth diapers. The quick biodegradability of Eco Nuts also make them great for septic and grey water systems. But don't expect these shells to foam up like commercial soaps, which have artificial foaming agents.  Foam simply does not represent cleaning power. Eco Nuts work in all washing machines with any temperature water. Eco Nuts have been sterilized for consumer protection.

Why did I decide to try Eco Nuts?

When I stumbled across Eco Nuts on the website where I purchased them, I was actually not looking for laundry detergent at all. Truth be told, I was looking for a medicine spoon. I just happened to come across them and the name caught my attention first. I read what was written about them and then Googled some reviews. I was quite happy with the reviews that I read, I was happy about the price, and was thrilled about the thought of the clothes my daughter wears not being washed in chemicals. So I added them to my cart. I will admit that I am doing it for the cost factor as well (I paid $12.99 for 100 loads) but the main reason I decided to try them is because they are organic and natural. We had been using a Free and Gentle version of a detergent on her but it still contained ingredients that I couldn't begin to pronounce. 

Opening the box

This is the box exactly as it arrived at my house. 

When you open the box, first thing you see is the information pamphlet, then the two bags, and the Eco Nuts. Realize what you don't see any of? Plastic! Another benefit.

And here are some random nuts taken out of the box. I'm not going to lie, as soon as I took them out I wondered what I was doing. I mean, they're nuts. Okay, they're berries. And I knew that before I ordered them. But seeing them and holding them for some reason made me doubt their cleaning abilities. But either way, I was about to do a load of laundry and test them out! I'm willing to give anything a chance, so here goes.

The five nuts I was going to use for this wash. Some of the berries in the box weren't whole but halves which is totally fine and you just take two halves and call it one. I just chose to take five whole ones for the first load. It says to use four or five.

It said for heavily soiled loads to place the nuts in a bag and place the bag in a cup of hot water for a few minutes before putting the bag as well as the water in the cup into the washer. While the load I did isn't really heavily soiled, it was my toddlers clothes. For anyone who has a toddler, that's all that needs to be said.

This is the load that I did for my first wash. It said not to over fill the washer which I always take care to not do anyway with my daughters clothes so this is the size I usually wash. Not too bad (at least from what you can see by looking at it) but there were three pieces of clothing that did have days-old stains on them.

Probably weird, but I took a picture of the three things that were stained. One thing I read when I was searching for Eco Nuts reviews was that it was okay on regular wash but it didn't do that good of a job on clothes that were stained. This scared me a little bit (see above: I have a toddler) but I decided to give them a go anyway. Took a picture of before so I can take an "after" picture as well to compare and see for myself how well they do with stains. The stains are about five days old and I couldn't even begin to guess what they are.

Put in the bag of nuts with the water that was in the cup into the water and turned it on and was surprised to see suds immediately. I know that suds means nothing in terms of cleaning power, but I still liked seeing some.

Once it filled all the way I closed the lid and let it agitate for about three minutes and then I stopped it to see what was going on. I was really surprised (and grossed out!) to see the water. When I'd check part way through washes when using the regular detergent it wasn't even this bad, but these clothes were really no less or no more dirty than any other load I've ever done. Though I can't say I have any idea where those Cheerios came from! As gross as it was to see, maybe these little berries do have some cleaning power! 

I really had no idea what to expect when the washer was done. Seeing the little berries made me seriously question their cleaning abilities, but then seeing that disgusting water made me realize they're obviously doing some pretty serious cleaning. I went down to get the clothes and I looked extra close at the shirt and two onesies that were stained.

Not even a hint of what was there. Not even if you try really, really hard to find it. I'm most impressed with the brown onesie. That one was the dirtiest, and the oldest stain. It came out very easily. I didn't pre-soak, I didn't use any stain treatment. I did nothing except wash with these awesome little berries! 

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase. The clothes smell purely clean. If you're after that strong chemical stink, you won't like these. I love that these smell just clean. No perfumes, none of that. They're really easy to use, natural, and clean as well (if not better) than the other detergent that we were using. I am going to do a few more loads before I rate them. Right now I would absolutely, hands down give them five out of five stars. That's exactly why I want to test them a few more times, though. I almost feel like it's too good to be true. But right now, there is absolutely nothing I don't like about them, and many many things I love about them! 

Quinny Buzz

The Quinny Buzz! 

I have been excited to post a review on this for quite some time now, but I wanted to really get some use out of it to really get to know it before I did post anything. I've had this stroller for about six months now, maybe a bit longer, so I've had lots of time to use it.

Briefly

A brief summary of my favourite things that I love about this stroller 

•The handle

•The seat

•The strap covers

The handle

My husband and I both take my daughter out in the stroller so I knew I needed something with an adjustable handle for sure. We are both about the same height, but have different preferences for where the handle can be. I love that this stroller is so easy to adjust! As you can somewhat see in the picture, in the middle of the handle there is a long grey button. You press that in, and slide the handle up or down. It is that easy. 

The seat

Okay so being one hundred per cent honest, this is the reason I bought this stroller instead of one of the other ones we were considering. This stroller can have the baby facing outward, as you can see in the picture, or they can be facing the parent. Not only can you change the way baby faces, but it is so easy to do it. All it takes is the two buttons on the side to be pressed down and then you take the seat out, and then put it the other way. Easy peasy! The seat can also be upright or reclined - in either position! And when I say reclined, that is what I mean. Before purchasing this stroller we had an umbrella stroller that also "reclined." We didn't do our research with that one, we just saw reclined and bought it. Sure it had a setting that wasn't completely upright, but it definitely didn't recline, in my opinion. This one goes almost flat, if not completely. My daughter has fallen asleep in this stroller every time that we have gone for a long walk. 

The strap covers

For some reason, this isn't something you generally see on many strollers. Car seats and other baby accessories think comfort but it seems to be missed on strollers. The covers on this one are thick enough to be quite comfortable, but not so thick that they are just annoying and get in the way.

Other features of the stroller

•Removable canopy

•The front bar is removable

•The front wheel can be locked or unlocked

•The cover can be removed with ease for washing

•Frame opens automatically when you unlock it

Overall, we are happy with this stroller. At least, this time. When we bought the stroller, it broke after about four weeks of using it. I'm not sure what happened as we treated this stroller incredibly well, never left it outside, never dropped it, etc. but the hydraulics just stopped working. The frame would open about ¾ of the way and then stop. Nothing you did would get it to open any farther than that, which made it pretty much useless. While I will admit that I was ticked off (after all, I did pay $565.00 for a stroller that broke after a month!) I contacted the company, provided them with my proof of purchase and they replaced it for me and I have not had an issue with the new one. If I am going to spend that much money on a baby product I absolutely expect fantastic customer service should their product fail within the warranty time frame and that is what I received and was a very happy customer!

Over all, I'll give this stroller three stars. 

I love it. It's easy to use. It's a really pretty colour that works for a boy or girl. I get compliments on it all the time and I truly love going out with this stroller. It just loses points for having such a small basket underneath and for the canopy not really doing much in the way to keep the sun out of the child's face. I have seen much cheaper strollers with much better canopies. If it weren't for those two factors, this stroller would absolutely get five stars.

Britax Marathon 65 G3

My very first review! 

It took me a while to figure out what to review for my first product. A friend and I were talking last night and knowing how much I love car seats, she suggested that my first review be of my favourite car seat. Including the infant seat, we have owned (and still do own most) four car seats for my daughter, but it was very easy to choose my favourite! [Reviews for the others will be coming in the future.]

Seat Overview

•Rear facing 5-40 lbs and 49 inches or less

•Forward facing 22-65 lbs, walking unassisted and 49 inches or less

I did take all sorts of awesome pictures as soon as the box arrived at my door and through every step of the unboxing but I deleted them all by mistake so that is why there are very few pictures on this post. 

The first thing I noticed upon taking the seat out of the box is how soft it is! Compared to the seat we were using previously, this one has a ton of padding. I played around with it a bit and also fell in love with how easy it is to adjust it. The Quick-Adjust harness makes this seat so easy to adjust! There is no undoing the straps at the back of the car seat, pulling them out, feeding them through the next slot and then, the most annoying part, trying to get them back on the splitter plate. Britax made it really easy for us. All you do is gran the grey handle at the top of the seat, press down, and then move the head rest (the straps move with it) up or down. Easy peasy! While I only have one child, this would be an amazing feature for someone who has more than one child in the seat regularly.

Another feature I love is the SafeCell technology in the base. 

The SafeCell technology compresses and lowers your child's center of gravity in the event of a crash to reduce the chance of forward movement injuries - such as hitting the front seat in front of them.

The two final things that really stood out to me with this car seat were the LATCH connectors and the built-in lock offs. The best way to keep your child safe in the car is to install the car seat correctly and use it correctly at all times, and Britax has made it really easy to do both of those things. 

The seat comes with the premium LATCH connectors which are so easy to use. You just push them on, and simply press a button and pull back to remove them. I also really liked that there is a separate connector on each side of the car seat as opposed to just one. You connect one at a time and then once they're both connected, I pulled both sides tight, and then used all of my strength to pull each one tighter, one at a time. I have used LATCH with other seats before but none have given me an install that was near as tight as this one, and I credit that to the double connectors. 

For those who don't have the option to use LATCH in your vehicle or in the seating position you want the child, or for those who simply don't want to use LATCH or whose children are over the weight limits, Britax has made it easy to install using a seat belt as well. You pull the cover back, open the lock-off on the side where you connect the seat belt (the blue lock-offs are for rear facing and the red are for forward facing), feed the belt through the belt path, and then connect the seat belt. Once it's in, press down on the car seat, I pull on the shoulder portion of the belt to remove all slack from the lap portion. Once I have it as tight as I can get it, I press down on the lock off to lock it while still holding the belt. Once the lock off is closed, I let go of the belt and check for movement at the belt path only, front to back and side to side. You want to look for less than one inch of movement either way (this goes for LATCH install, too!) In my case there was absolutely no movement front to back or side to side using the seat belt or the LATCH, in a rear facing and forward facing position. I can not say that about any other car seat. 

My daughter really likes her seat too. And really, what more could we ask for than for our children to be comfortable and safe!?

Overall, I give this car seat 5 out of 5 stars.

Honestly it takes a lot for me to want to give something a full five stars but if anything deserves it, it's this car seat. It's easy to install, easy to use, comfortable, cute, and safe. There is literally nothing else I could ask for!