I Used To Be Cool

Today, I traded in my dignity for a sweet, new ride...a minivan! Yeah baby!

Let me start off by saying I was that woman who said, I will NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER own a minivan! I can recall telling Ben at one point, "mark my words...I won't do it". Ahh, those moments when you eat your words ;)

We traded in my beloved Xterra. It was my second one to own, and I cannot even tell you how much I loved both of them...until we had our second child. Honestly, with just Lucy, I never felt like getting her in and out of it was a big deal and we still had a whole empty seat next to her in the back, so no biggie. Since having Michael, there was still the middle seat, but no one could fit in it so when family came in town we always had to take 2 cars wherever we went.

Another not so great thing about loading children in to the back seat of the Xterra was the fact that the rear doors are right over the wheel wells. Putting a toddler in, not so bad...putting your infant carrier in, a bit of a challenge. One thing I have day dreamed about is the idea of being able to lay my baby out (inside the car) and change a diaper. This may seem silly, but we haven't always been in places where there is a changing station, or it isn't up to my cleanliness standards so I prefer to change the kiddos in the car. Changing Michael isn't easy, but it is doable. Poor Lucy is usually contorted all kinds of ways in order to get her changed. The final straw for me was recently when I took both kids to the doctor and someone parked too close to me. I have had people park close enough to where I have to finagle Michael's carrier in there, but I have always been able to slide him in somehow. This time, there was no way I was getting that carrier inside through the back door. So I go around to Lucy's side, get her back out of the car, and the carrier is too big to go over her car seat so I had to climb in the front seat and push that thing through the two front seats to click it into the base in the back. Talk about major frustration! And did I mention it is snowing and freezing outside, and of course both kids are screaming. Ben came home from work that day and I told him I needed a minivan with those glorious sliding doors.

I have spent the past week talking to other moms about their minivans and ya know, I have yet to talk to a minivan owner who doesn't love theirs!

The kids and I were at Chik-fil-a for lunch last week and I saw a woman pull up in her minivan with a bumper sticker on the back that said, "I used to be cool". I'm thinking that purchase may be in my near future :)

The more kids we have, the more convenience I need in my life!! This van is the definition of  convenience for me. Sure, it may not look as rugged and cool as my Xterra did, but it sure makes life a heck of a lot easier!

All hail to the minivan!!