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As soon as Hubby and I found out I was pregnant with quadruplets, we knew we would need a larger vehicle. At the time, Hubby drove a Chevy Blazer and I drove a Honda CRV... neither of them is large enough to handle four car seats. We upgraded to a Chevy Suburban, which has been wonderful.
The middle row has a seat which slides forward to access the third row. Hubby took that seat out so we weren't trying to hop over that seat to put infant carriers in the last row. From the moment all the girls came home from the hospital they had "assigned" seats. It wasn't really a plan, but it just worked out that Cakes always sat in the third row on the driver's side. That's the hardest seat to access and she was the smallest and lightest. It made sense that we would lift her infant carrier there so we weren't killing our backs. The next lightest was Tortilla, so she occupied the seat next to Cakes. Roo and Sue Sue always sat in the middle row.
They never questioned this routine... until they could get in the car themselves. We all walk out to the Suburban and suddenly everyone is elbowing each other out of the way to be the first one in the car and the first one to pick her seat. There is no rhyme or reason as to who sits where. Some days everyone wants the back row, other days they all want the middle row. Today Tortilla was angry that Roo and Cakes claimed the third row seats on the way to school. It didn't appease her when I told everyone that Sue Sue and Tortilla will be sitting in the back row on the way home.
I'm trying to come up with a better system, so they know ahead of time who will be sitting where. Although I guess it doesn't really matter what system I come up with... they seem to have a system all their own.
If you watch the Wiggles, you'll know I'm paraphrasing Sam and his big red car. But, yes, it's true, I drive I big car... an SUV to be exact. Before you light your torches let me explain some things. First of all, my SUV, a Chevrolet Suburban, is the only vehicle we own that can seat our entire family. The six of us cannot fit in my husband's current vehicle. Our Suburban is used primarily when our children need to go somewhere with us. Call my Suburban a gas guzzler, but I fill it up on average, just once a month because Hubby's car is used whenever possible. Running to the grocery store sans kids? Hubby's car is used... which is a huge sacrifice on my part considering we live in a desert climate and the A/C in his car doesn't work.
If you have ever put an infant or child car seat in a vehicle, you know they tend to take up more room than just one seat. In theory, our Suburban seats eight people. With car seats we have room for the six of us and no one else. (Actually, if you sit at an angle in the third row you can squeeze yourself between the two car seats back there, but it's not a comfortable or safe way to travel). We had a lot of trouble finding a vehicle that would fit four car seats and still leave us room for "stuff" (strollers, etc). Minivans tend to have room for all the people but not a lot of space for any miscellaneous gear.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, on the heels of the GM bankruptcy announcement I've heard many automakers are going to stop making "big" vehicles. I get the environmental impact of that. A family of three may not necessarily need a huge SUV that seats 8. But a family of six (or more)... we need something we can all get around in. I'll be curious to see what type of vehicles are on the market the next time we need to buy a new car... which could be soon because we are pretty much driving Hubby's car into the ground.
(Don't forget you have until Thursday night to enter the Pay It Forward Challenge.)
