Minivan Momma

We've been talking about and looking at minivans for a while and we finally got our new Toyota Sienna!!

I never thought I'd be so excited to be a minivan mommy, especially before I turn 30 (barely)! However, I was sold as soon as we started looking at them. They are truly designed for families. Every time I hit one of the kids' heads as I put them in carseats, or smacked Breeley's face with the door as I struggled to fit Zack's carrier in between two cars, or worried about the other child while I strapped one in while in a crowded parking lot, or had to squeeze over and between the carseats to give Zack a bottle on long car rides, I knew things would be different with a minivan, and I was right!

Here are the kids in the backseat of the Camry:


There is much more room in the minivan! Breeley can easily get in herself and LOVES to open and close the doors herself. She also loves the new view and I've barely heard a peep from her as she makes new discoveries from a higher vantage point. She also knows a DVD player is coming and points where it's going to be and stakes her claim on watching Barney. Zack, unknowingly, has appreciated the tinted windows and window shades. I like the extra room and safety features, and I know it will be nice to have extra seats so we don't have to take two cars when we go somewhere with grandparents. I also like the 14 cupholders!

Getting a new car is a long and stressful process (if you want the best deal), which Brian missed part of due to his well-timed mountain hunting adventure. He did come home from the mountains a day early so we could go pick up the car in Charlotte, a trip that turned much longer when we forgot the GPS and then were too excited to follow road signs correctly. So, the new car made a victory lap around Charlotte, and Breeley had to wait another day to see her daddy. (My parents were in town and stayed with the kids.)

I have to admit I was pretty sad to see the Camry go. We traded it as part of the deal. It was my first "grown-up" car, and now I have a "mom" car. (I'll interject with some Breeley news: two weeks ago, for some random reason, she started calling me "momma," which has now been shorted to "mom" about half the time. I'm not sure where she got it or how I feel about it!)

Here's our last glimpse of the Camry in the dark parking lot (tear):


Brian, surprisingly, has not shared my nostalgia, and has been just as excited as me about becoming a minivan family. He's always been very practical, especially when it comes to cars, which is why he drives our old Saturn to work everyday when all the other guys are driving trucks. (The Saturn gets about double the gas mileage of his truck.) He doesn't seem at all embarrassed to drive a minivan. Maybe it's because he already turned 30! :) I hate to admit being enticed by marketing, but I think this Swagger Wagon campaign helped convince us how cool it is to have a minivan!



Breeley and Zack seem to approve of the new car. Breeley claps when she opens or closes the doors, and last night Zack learned to clap as well (though not because of the car). We are hoping to be a minivan family for a very long time!