After 12 Years of Being a Mom...

I finally got my "Mommy Badge!"
Years and years of being a soccer mom coupled with 2 children under 2 changes your way of thinking. Things that used to be uncool are suddenly the hottest thing going. Things like diaper bags and baby wraps and fancy strollers....and....MINIVANS!!

Yep, it was inevitable and today it happened. We bought a minivan. And the scariest thing is that I LOVE IT!! I don't know why we didn't do this sooner!

A little background...we have been driving a Toyota Highlander for several years. It HAS a third row seat, but I don't think it was ever intended to be used by anyone taller than 3 feet tall. Since Noah came along and two massive car seats took over the whole back seat, Tyler has been sitting in the tiny, tiny third row. He's been a good sport about it, but it's been painful for me to see him back there with his knees touching his ears.

Additionally, when the third row seat is up, it leaves no room for our beloved stroller, BOB (who will be introduced in a blog to come). We have a luggage carrier that we sometimes carry the stroller in on top of the car, but lifting a 30 lb stroller up on top of an SUV isn't easy (well, Aaron does it, but I'm SURE it's not easy). We've been meaning to trade the Highlander in for a while, but we've been preoccupied with house stuff and haven't gotten around to it. Last weekend, Tyler had a soccer tournament and because we all needed to be in the car and BOB needed to go with us, we rented a minivan. The convenience and comfort was undeniable even in a base model clunker from the rental agency. So when we got home we started searching for a used minivan with the features we wanted at a good price. Today, we found it. We had to have it transferred from another store, but it is everything we were looking for...

It's a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country with leather seats, Stow and Go 2nd and 3rd row seats (this feature is GREAT!!), power doors, navigation system, and built-in DVD player (the kids have already tried this out and love it -- well, Tyler and Grace do...poor Noah still faces backwards so he'll miss out on that for a while). Because the thought of sitting with the kids in a car dealership throughout the buying process was a little too much for me, I charged Aaron with finding the perfect minivan for us and I am THRILLED with what he found. When I got in for my first ride, I really felt more like I was in a luxury car than a minivan. I can't believe we waited this long to make the switch!

Though he picked it out, Aaron is in denial that we have moved to this stage of our lives. He's moping around in a state of mild depression because he's now a minivan owner. He says it's not very masculine, that anything named "mini" can't be masculine. I told him we could call it a MANivan if it would make him feel more manly, but he was not amused. Sorry honey...when it's time to trade the Maxima, I promise you can get the biggest, manliest pick-up truck you can find! ...(and then you can use it to tote home all my great shopping finds!!)