Car seats became a slight obsession for me at one point. For my first child I went with the Britax Decathlon, since it went up to 65 lbs. Then kid #2 came along, and I had a dilemma to figure out: how to get the car seats I needed without letting them grow out of them too soon.

So I found the Frontier. And it’s great. To me it seemed like the safest and longest lasting option available for several reasons:
It has the Highest Forward Facing Seat Capacity, which allows children to remain 5 point harnessed up to 80 pounds.
It breaks down to become a booster seat… so I don’t have to buy a booster seat.
My summary:
This will literally be the LAST car seat I’ll have to buy. It wasn’t cheap, but it will keep the kiddo in a 5 point harness as long as possible, then will break down to a booster. And safety aside, it looks good. It’s sleek, modern, and functional. The cupholders are all my kid needed to see, he was sold!

From the Britax website:
The Frontier combination Harness-2-Booster seat can be used for children over 100 lbs. as long as the vehicle shoulder belt guide places the belt in the proper position for the child, and the top of the child’s ears are below the top of the head restraint, and the child physically fits in the seat, and is not being used beyond its expiration date (9 years from date of manufacture).

Summer Infant Day & Night Handheld Color Video Monitor
I would have to consider the video baby monitor one of my must-have’s. It has been incredibly valuable, though not how I thought it would be. I didn’t have a video monitor for my first child. Looking back, I wish I had. It’s been so nice to be able to just hit a button and take a little peek, instead of attempting to crack the door to peek only to be busted and then deal with a baby who wants their mommy!

I didn’t think I’d need it for my son as he got older, but as it turns out that’s exactly when I needed it the most. As soon as he left his crib for his big boy bed, THAT is when I needed to be able to sneak many peeks at him. I would hear a thump and be able to see that he was okay, just dropped a book. It prevented me from disturbing him and creating a naptime nightmare by checking on him. It’s been nice to know he’s safe without constantly going in his room.

So that leads to now… I have 2 kids, 2 cameras. It comes with one, but for about $89 you can buy a second camera. The handheld monitor has an ‘A’ and ‘B’ channel you can flip between. The only downside of this is that you can only see one kid at a time. For us, that hasn’t been too much of a problem since our oldest is now old enough to just get out of bed and come get us if he needs us. The handheld monitor may have a small screen, but the portability of it is priceless. It can easily clip on to your belt and go outside, inside, etc.

Another big plus: Summer’s customer service… One of the cameras just refused to work right, so they mailed us a brand new set with zero hassle.

One reason to be careful: Cordless phones, wireless internet, etc could all cause interference. We had to find the “spots” in each kid’s room that would work. And even still we get some feedback and static. The picture isn’t nearly as clear as the box shows, but it’s clear enough.

Lots of people have caught on to the perks of shopping at CVS and Walgreens and utilizing their reward bucks programs. Right now, the promotion at CVS is perfect for pre-summer preparation.

At CVS, if you spend $25 on Aveeno products, you get $10 in CVS bucks back. I got 2 bottles of sunscreen and a bottle of baby shampoo and it worked out to $26. You’re going to have to buy the sunscreen and soap anyway, may as well do it now and get $10 of credit!