Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged car, Car Seat, Cars, Carseat, Child safety, Gold, graco, Group 1-2-3, Nautilus, poem, Review, safety, Test, Tester on August 24, 2010| 2 Comments »
Graco have a Carseat
that takes you through the years
Your child will be comfy
as you change through the gears
Highly recommended
for children big and small
Simple to put together
Easy to clean for all
Everywhere you go
your child’s safe and sound
The recline is not perfect
the only downside we found
The cupholder’s a win
with the two year old
Testing the Nautilus
We certainly struck Gold!
Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged Car Seat, Cars, Carseat, Child safety, driving, Fitting, graco, Group 1-2-3, Nautilus, safety on August 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I have been lucky enough to have been testing the Graco Nautilus Group1-2-3 Carseat, so I thought I would do a summary type review of all aspects! My 2 year old toddler, ‘Legs’ as he is known to us, has been the guinea pig sat in the chair, so here goes – review a go-go!
Set Up
Once the box had arrived and was opened, it was a very simple setting up procedure, a couple of clicks and we were ready to go!
Fitting
Actually getting the seat into our car was a minor challenge due to the size of our car, but once in the door the fitting was easy as 1,2,3
Comfort
Legs loves his chair (which he still calls his ‘new chair!’) and the other day on getting in it he said ‘ooo comfy!’
Safety
All seems great, and so far (thankfully) we haven’t had the opportunity to fully test the safety of the seat (and am hoping we won’t have to)
Cleaning
If you have read my previous ‘Forced Post’ you will know that I had to clean the covers of the chair, and it all went very well!
Traveling
We haven’t had a problem with the chair whilst travelling, it is comfy, secure and loved by Legs!
Added Features
Cup Holder – Winner, Legs was most impressed with the cup holder when the chair arrived and still is! It has held cups, food, sunglasses and even Timmy the sheep has sat in it for a ride!
Storage Compartments – very nice and will hold small objects
Recline – Unfortunately doesn’t recline quite as much as I would of liked, when legs has fallen asleep in the chair, his head tends to fall forward and it has not been possible to get it to stay against the back/headrest
Overall
Positives
1. Looks good 2. Simple set up and fitting 3. Comfy 4. Grows with the child (up to 12 years old) 5. Easy to clean 6. Easy to follow instructions
Negatives
1. Recline does not recline as much as we would of liked! 2. The straps got a bit twisted sometimes (although also rectified themselves!)
Thumbs up all round from Mummy, Daddy and Legs!
Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged Car Seat, Carseat, Child safety, cleaning, graco, Group 1-2-3, Nautilus, Review, safety, travel sickness on August 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Now this is going to be a very short review, mainly because it wasn’t something I was going to blog about until I was forced into dealing with a situation which gave me an opportunity to talk about it!
Sunday was a beautiful day, as a family we went to Rutland Water and played in the sun, ate lots of good (and some naughty) food and generally had a fabby time!
The journey home was not so great, unfortunately the food, the excitement, the heat and the traveling all added up to one thing – a poorly little boy and an expelling of the aforementioned food! This inevitably led to us needing to stop in a lay-by, for a quick wipe around with the magical wet wipes, a change out of clothes into daddy’s spare t-shirt and a hope that the rest of the journey would be ok!
So how did the Graco Nautilus Carseat cope – well; brilliantly actually!! It was wiped down very well by the wet wipes, certainly enough for us to re-strap in the little man to make it home! Then at home (following the instructions) the padding was removed and cleaned using a cool wash, and it came up sparkling, well not sparkling as such, that may have been strange as it didn’t start that way, but it was brilliant, the padding is all now back in place smelling as fresh as the day it was delivered!
A big ★★★★★ for the ease of cleaning this seat!!
Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged Car Seat, Carseat, Child safety, driving, graco, Group 1-2-3, journey, Nautilus, safety, thumbs up, travel, travelling on July 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Here it is; the post about actually using the Graco Nautilus 1-2-3 car seat!
So we were all packed up and ready to go – a trip to the farm! Coats on, shoes on, nappies, drinks and the kitchen sink packed (well with a 2 year and 4 month old, you do need everything!) and we headed for the car with the 2yr old singing ‘my new seat, my new seat!!’
Fixing him into the seat was easy, arm in, arm in, buckled together, click in and tighten – nothing unusual or difficult to it, just belted up and ready for the off!
Next step – the most important step of the day – placing his drink in the cup holder
So we had one belted in happy little boy with his drink ready, and the journey began! It takes about 20 minutes to the farm and they were no complaints on the way there about the seat at all, when asked if he was ok, his response came back ‘my am happy!’
So we arrive, loosened the straps and got Legs (his nickname) out – all happy and raring to go! A lovely walk around the farm ensued, it was a wonderful day in the sun, feeding goats, seeing reptiles, playing on tractors and eating ice cream, when it came time to go, Legs was strapped back in for the return journey!
Only one slight hitch – all of that fresh air induced a need for sleep into a previously very energetic little boy – so a few minutes down the road he fell into slumberland, unfortunately the seat stayed upright on trying to recline the seat, so it wasn’t the best for sleeping in! However, I don’t know if this is because of the seat or our car!
So that was it a journey made in Legs’ ‘new chair’, he loves it – especially the cup holder, which we have found can also be used for food, sunglasses, toys and various other things – the chair gets a big thumbs up!!
Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged blogger, Car Seat, Carseat, graco, Group 1-2-3, guest, Mum, Nautilus, safety on July 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »
As I am currently testing the Graco Nautilus group 1-2-3 carseat, I have been blogging about my time with it, to complement my journey this is a guest post from Kay Wilkinson, a fellow blogger and a fellow mum!
Kay has written a short post from her perspective about buying a car seat – Enjoy!
Carseats: A few dos and don’ts!
First time mums are bombarded with ‘must buy’ items for their new babies – cots, safety gates, bottles, baby-gro’s, gro-bags, baby bath products, towels…..the list is huge and can be quite bewildering. Every mum wants to do the right thing for their baby, and to make the right choices. I know it worried me sick that I might miss something when I was pregnant with my first child.
Speaking from personal experience I bought a lot of stuff I didn’t need, and looking back it’s actually quite ridiculous that I thought I HAD to buy ‘Lavender Soothing Bath Oil’ and that if I didn’t buy new towels for the baby that the world might end.
Having said that, some items are absolutely essential and can truly be a life and death matter, i.e car seats. This is one item you cannot afford to skimp on, or not to research properly. The first rule of buying a car seat, is undoubtedly – don’t buy second hand! A car seat that has been in any kind of accident or impact will not protect your child. Basically, if you buy a cheap car seat at a car boot sale, who’s to know the history? It’s just not worth the risk.
Do make sure you find a car seat that fits your car. Car seats are definitely not a ‘one size suits all’ kind of product. The internet is your friend in this case, spend a couple of hours browsing the web and see what information / reviews you can find. Parenting and baby magazines are a great help too (and it’s always nice to have an excuse to sit down, put your feet up and do ‘important research’ whilst your other half makes you cups of tea).
Personal recommendations are worth listening to, although you do need to remember that what suits one person may not suit another. A huge, complicated to fit car seat that bolts to the car frame, is probably not suitable for someone who uses two cars and needs to swap between them, for example.
Another extremely important thing you must do, is read the instruction manual for your carefully chosen car seat. Although you may want to bumble your way through putting up flat pack furniture as ‘it’s obvious how it works’, this does not apply to your car seat. Studies have shown there are a huge percentage of car seats that are fitted incorrectly, and therefore do not work as effectively as they should. A tiny error could cost you a tiny life. You need to fit them properly.
There are so many things to look into before the arrival of your little bundle, but I cannot stress enough the importance of choosing the right car seat.
Do read magazines, reviews, go online, ask friends, ask retailers for advice – but don’t think it doesn’t matter and leave it to the last minute.
I am ashamed to say that my husband and I bickered outside the maternity unit immediately after my first baby was born. Neither of us knew how to fit the car seat properly, although we eventually worked it out after quite a few cross words and near tears from me. We’d simply overlooked it. If anything had happened on the way home, we would never have forgiven ourselves. Make sure that’s not you!
A big thank you to Kay – You can find Kay’s Blog here
Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged Car Seat, Cars, Carseat, Child safety, Fitting, Instructions, Nautilus, Parenting, Review, safety, Test on July 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »
So part two of our Nautilus journey, the fitting stage. This for me was easy, as I got my hubby to do it!
On watching him complete the task at hand, there were a few words used that he doesn’t normally say, especially when talking about assembling something:
Instructions – My hubby, in true style of most men, usually side steps the instructions preferring to guess how something goes together, however as we are testing the Nautilus he thought he would do it properly and check them out. On looking at them he swiftly got on with putting the chair together, the instructions were not too long and were easy to follow!
Easy – Having found the instruction booklet fine, we were led onto the putting together stage and after a very simple clicking in the upright position and a clicking of the headrest into place the stage was completed – Easy!
Useful – On the chair itself there are some picture instructions of putting it into the car, far more useful than trying to stand there with the book in one hand and chair in the other
Hmmmm – Well, this is where it got a little tricky, our car, in the politest of ways, is more a family car for mice than elephants, small is the correct term I suppose, but we prefer cute!! Anyway, looking at the Nautilus and the car you would think, no way! The fitting was a little tricky, but this says more about the car than the carseat. Once hubby had positioned himself right the chair was fitted and ready to go!
Done – The ‘there it’s done’ came a lot quicker than I had expected, I truely expected some grunts and groans about putting it all together, but they didn’t come!
Simples – A word that is rarely used by hubby! But it summed up the experience of putting the chair together and into the car
We are now ready for traveling, keep your eyes peeled for a trip with us very soon!
Posted in Everyday Ramblings!, tagged Car Seat, Carseat, Child safety, Daddy, Diary, Mummy, Nautilus, Parenting, Review, safety, Test, Tester, toddler on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I have been selected as a tester for the new GRACO Nautilus Carseat (Group 1-2-3), you will be able to follow my families’ journey with it here, twitter and more!
Once upon a time there was a family of four, they were selected to try out a carseat and it all began when a big box was delivered! It was like Christmas had come early – Mummy was excited at the prospect of a new item to test, Daddy was geared up to set about fitting his new ‘gadget’ and the two year old was soooo excited about his new chair that had a space for his drink!!! The baby was not so bothered by the whole thing, drifting in and out of sleep – well she is only 12 weeks old so can be excused!
So the package was opened and the delightful looking chair was revealed, Mummy’s first thought was that it was big, but actually the term should of been grown up! It is no bigger in bulkiness than the group 1 chair already used and this one covers group 1, 2 and 3 (It goes form 9 months old to 12 years!). It just looked more like a seat than a baby chair!
The two year old is very impressed and can’t wait to get it in the car to use!
Look out soon for a blog about fitting and our first journey with it!!!
Kelly Brett 