Giveaway: Evenflo ProComfort Symphony DLX All-In-One Car Seat
This August, I decided to live in our summer house for the entire month. I can work from anywhere and we did just sink a bunch of money into our new abode, so I should take advantage, right?
The plan is this: Mazzy, Harlow and I will stay here all through August, Mike will only come out for the weekends since he's got one of those dated office jobs, and Ruth (our nanny) will travel out to work her regular hours so I am still able to work during the day.
It all sounds very fancy, but also really weird for a longtime city dweller like myself.
For starters, I HAVE A CAR.
I mean, we always have a car but usually it sits in a parking garage and Mike just drives us places on the weekends. I am always more than happy to be the passenger.
But now, the car is mine all week and I have to do things like drop Mazzy off at camp, pick Mazzy up from camp, go to the grocery store (one of those huge grocery stores that lures your children with toys and sugar cereals as opposed to the slim pickings at a corner bodega), buy produce from the farmstand (where they actually grow things!) and shuttle everyone around to various activities and playdates.
So working during the day is hard. Especially with the constant shuttling. I'm not quite sure how you guys in the burbs get anything done!
Since Mazzy is at camp from 9-2:00pm, Harlow is the person (besides myself) who is in the car most often. She has probably spent more time in the car this last week than she has her entire 20 month-old life.
To make sure Harlow is comfortable in her new role as my backseat co-pilot, Evenflo sent me their Symphony DLX All-In-One Carseat from their new ProComfort Series, which is sold online and at Target.
The ProComfort Series was created because Evenflo realized carseat safety is not just about minimizing the impact of an accident, it's about minimizing distractions from the road due to parents attending to children who are uncomfortable. In other words, Evenflo began to think about what caused accidents in the first place.
Baby crying due to discomfort = Driver's attention diverted = Higher potential for accident
Makes sense to me.
The ProComfort Series uses innovative gel matrix technology which reduces pressure point build-up alleviating discomfort (short term and long term) for a safer, more peaceful ride. The Series includes the Symphony DLX All-In-One Carseat which grows with your child from 5-110 lbs ($249.99), the Triumph LX Convertible Car Seat ($159.99) and the Amp LX High Back booster seat ($69.99).
It's important to note that in addition to focusing on comfort, the Evenflo ProComfort Series ensures safety during accidents by exceeding government standards to provide car seats that are 2X the Federal Crash Test Standard.
I can't really attest to the science behind it, but I can say that Harlow looks like she is now riding in the lap of luxury. You know how you when you fly coach, you have to walk through all those people in first class drinking champagne and eating mixed nuts lounging in their huge leather seats with their fleece blankets and slippers? And you're like— some people have it sooooooo good.
I think that's how Mazzy feels when she looks at Harlow in her new ProComfort car seat.
I mean, have you ever seen anyone who looks more at home in their car seat?
She's even got double cupholders! Which of course means that I am bending myself backwards way less to retrieve fallen sippy cups and water bottles. Which means, not only is my baby safer, but pedestrains and other drivers too!
So far, Harlow and I have been all over Eastern Long Island, taking car trips to various beaches, farmstands, parks, restaurants, villages, etc, etc. etc. Harlow is always content and often falls asleep if we near her naptime, which makes for an even lovlier ride.
I am excited to see what happens when we drive her on a longer trip. Maybe we'll actually attempt the family road trip to visit Mike's college friends in DC again this year?
Pray for me!
GIVEAWAY:
Today, I'm excited to give away one Evenflo ProComfort Symphony DLX All-In-One Car Seat ($249.99)!
All you have to do is…
1) Follow both Evenflo and Mommy Shorts on facebook and then leave a comment below answering the following question:
What has been your worst road trip experience? Diaper blow-outs, recently potty trained kids who can't hold it in, non-stop Frozen sing-a-longs, I want to hear them all!
2) Please like and/or share this post if you enter. It's not required, but it would be nice!
That's it! You can find the official rules here.
Winner will be selected randomly and announced on August 19th.
If you don't win, don't worry! I am giving away two more Evenflo car seats in the upcoming weeks.
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This post was sponsored by Evenflo but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
We were stuck in traffic and she was hungry and wanted to nurse- she cried for an hour straight. By the time we got home I was drenched in sweat.. and my own milk.. ugh
When my daughter was just a few months old she hated being in the car and would cry if the car was not in motion. I had never hated red lights more!
Harlow looks like one bad-ass little baby!
My worst experience was road tripping from MO to OH with a screaming 3 month old, pulling over into a (closed) mcdonalds’ parking lot at 2am trying to nurse the baby while not appearing suspicious enough to draw security’s attention… (i like both pages on FB)
My daughter has done what we’ve now called the Denver Challenge. Basically it means she screams from the time we leave our house and arrive in Denver (over an hour) and from when we leave Denver and arrive home. She’s only 8 months so that’s the longest road trip but really, two hours of screaming?!
My son is usually pretty good in the car, unless he’s too tired and in the fussy loop. When this happens, only Nick Cope songs, usually in conjunction with the youtube video, will calm the sobbing, screaming of my son. I can sing along with most Nick Cope songs now, although Devon would prefer that I don’t. Last night while driving home I got through two Nick Cope albums with a hiccuping boy who would sob between songs.
My daughter cried hysterically for 2 hours nonstop on our way to a family Christmas when she was 8 months old. I moved to the back to sit with her and I think that made her even more mad….
“Daddy put on the Lego movie song!!” Oh for the 4561238976351 time?!?!?!!!!!
We were on a four hour drive back from my sisters house and my 20 month old would throw up. We would stop clean her up and get back on the road. 20 minutes later she did it again. The se thing happened every twenty or thirty minutes for the entire ride home. Worst ride ever!
When she was younger and refused to wear sunglasses and would scream her head off because the sun was in her eyes.
We were driving from PA to FL and my son was about 9 months old. We tried to do most of our driving at night, but once morning hit and he woke up, we had to stop practically every hour and give him time out of the car. Once he decided he’d had enough of the seat he would scream until we’d have to pull over for everyone’s sanity.
Kiddo had been potty trained 2 years but had the big D on a road trip. I was in the bathroom of a convenience store with the clerk knocking and asking “is everything okay in there?” while I gagged and tried not to clog her toilet with TP. I also had a 2 month old and thankfully had thought to wear my sling in – I pushed him around to my back and tried not to knock him into the low shelving.
Oh and I didn’t buy anything at the convenience store, like everyone knows you’re supposed to. I just left it with a horrible smelling bathroom (since I bagged and tossed the pants) and then stayed awkwardly parked in out front, nursing the baby and feeling traumatized.
My now 4 1/2 year old stepson started getting carsick when he was around 2 1/2 or so. He lives in another state so pick-ups and drop-offs lead to a several hour car ride for him. After a year he seemed to be over the carsickness. Seemed to be. We were about an hour away from our destination when he started screaming like crazy. He wouldn’t say what was wrong but I figured it out and we managed to pull over in a Culver’s parking lot just in time for him to puke half in the car and half out of it.
We used to live in NYC and our family is in the Midwest (Chicago/Milwaukee). Twice a year we would drive from NYC to our parents for the Holidays… That’s 12 hours of sitting in a car and driving – and we did it with a 7 week old. Between needing to nurse her & change her diaper multiple times the already LONG drive took almost 15 hours and did I mention we DROVE THROUGH THE NIGHT?!? After that horrid experience we decided we couldn’t and wouldn’t do it ever again. We moved to Chicago 5 months later (that was our last cross-country trip).
We took a caravan family roadtrip (cousins in 3 cars) driving from Denver to and through South Dakota for a family reunion. It was so much fun. The kids never got bored, because they knew cousins were right in front of and behind them, and that they got to play at every stop. But then we hit the windy switchbacks leading through Custer State Park to the entrance of Mt. Rushmore, and my then 4 year old lost his cookies. All of them. All over the place. And we had 6 more days of road tripping ahead of us. And it STUNK. Thankfully, my Bro-In-Law behind us stopped and had lots and lots of water to help us get the clean up started, since there was no other way we were going to get it done in the middle of nowhere!
Worst trip- driving from DC to Syracuse through the PA mountains in a fog so thick, it was like driving through cloud cover- with an unhappy toddler, even unhappier in her car seat, who begged for something to drink. we only had diet pepsi, which she happily drank and proceeded to dump all over herself. Then, had to pee. NOWHERE to stop. Diet Pepsi and Pee now covered said carseat.
We haven’t gone far with our kids but we make the 5 hour trek to see the in-laws a couple times a year. The worst time was when I was pregnant and our daughter Allison was 2. We thought we were being clever when we left just after dinner. “She’ll sleep most of the time!” we said as we imagined the quiet trip. Everything started out okay. We were stopped for our second potty break (hello pregnant lady!) when we saw the storm clouds rolling in. We stayed in front of it for awhile but it wasn’t long before we were driving in a thunderstorm. Everything was pitch black in between the lightening strikes and my husband had to pull over more than once to try to ride it out so he could see. Allison screamed and cried and screamed some more. In all it was 4 hours of screaming punctuated by potty breaks which left us soaking wet and more miserable. That trip still gives me nightmares!
I want to add that I really hope my now 4 month old doesn’t get carsick! We’ll be picking up my stepson on our own in a few months and it’s six hours total!
We’ve been pretty lucky – no major mishaps. But the last trip we took our daughter, Chloe (18m) whined and cried the ENTIRE 4 HOUR TRIP. We sang to her, we gave her milk, we gave her water,snacks,toys,you name it. We stopped for breakfast and she was an angel. Got back in the car and whined and whined and whined. Hmmm…maybe she was uncomfortable? Maybe she needs a new Evenflo Pro Comfort Symphony DLX! LOL Love your blog 🙂 Thanks!
Thanksgiving trip that was supposed to take 5 hrs ended up being 10 with holiday traffic. Upset baby, whining dog and sick husband made this a trip to remember.
Oh my goodness…where do I start! Our car ride from PA to VA turned into the car ride from hell. My stomach was upset so we stopped at least 9 times on the way for me, my 2 year old had a blow out, and my 4month old needed to be nursed. My pump’s batteries died so I was basically manually pumping. Then, I needed to get in the back seat and sit on top of 2 suitcases in the middle seat to feed my son. He HATES bottles so that was a wreck in itself. Then, my 2 year old who had the blowout about 1/2 way through the trip, got CAR SICK and puked all over. Including the luggage. My son (who’s in the 104th percentile for height and weight) is just about out of his infant carrier so to win this car seat would be amazing!
Our worst was a couple years ago, my daughter was 5 and we drove home from North Carolina to New Jersey (about 10 hrs of driving, not including bathroom breaks!) and Kaylea was constipated. Hadn’t pooped in a week and so far nothing had worked. She alternated between moaning and sobbing in pain for the whole trip. She slept about a total of 20 min. We all wanted to cry by the time we got home!! Meds kicked in the next morning and all was fine (just a day late!)
Liam was a year old and we have had basically over 8 months worth of 4-6 pm witching hour(s) crying fits. For some stupid reason we decided to go visit or family 1 hour away. I should mention Liam was not a car seat loving baby. We hit the road a bit too late because we were enjoying a rare feeling of normalcy talking to friends and family. We started the trip back with Liam not really wanting to go and then the horrible almost 2 hour drive back started with Liam crying hysterically and me making my husband stop so I could give him a break and comfort him. That wasn’t working and it was just making the trip longer. I could not take him out to breastfeed and mu husband decided we needed to gel with it so we could all get home and rest. With all the stops we were making a quick trip a nightmare. Both Liam and I cried for almost the entire 2 hour ordeal, after that, no more trips during witching hour.
Now we have a second baby who actually loves his car seat and is a true cool dude on trips. It happens 🙂
My son had a blow out diaper as we were going across the Sunshine Skyway in St. Pete, Florida. Talk about the most nerve wracking drive across a huge and very high bridge!
I would say it’s a toss-up between diaper blow-outs and just fussy babies who hate their car seats in general!
We have a hand-me-down for my 11 month old right now and I’d love to win a new one for him! This one looks way more comfortable.
No road trips yet thank God but recently was visiting family in Riverdale and my 1 year old came down with a fever which we later realized was Roseola when the rashed arrived. As soon as we got him in the car he proceeded to vomit all over the seat and floor, and of course into my hands. Lovely.
We were on a road trip from Wisconsin back to Ohio (9 hour trip) and my husband thought it was a good idea to give our then 2 year old a shake in the back seat while I was using the gas station restroom. Came back to that same chocolate shake all over her and the car seat! I had to give her a make shift bath in a disgusting gas station restroom sink while she was screaming the whole time! Great times!
At 15 months I’m happy to say we have not had any horrible incidents yet. She usually sleeps in the car but an hour is about the max. We have a ling drive coming up at the end of summer…fingers crossed!!!
losing her beloved “bobo” aka pacifier anytime the child (2y/o) is w/o enough sleep equals an unnerving car ride for all those involved (usually mommy, daddy, and/or 7 y/o big sister). just yesterday, she rattled the ear drums of her father and sister on the drive back from a doctor’s appt b/c it could not be located in the backseat (where she had thrown it). I was told it was for nearly 20+ minutes before she passed out from exhaustion. plus, we’re desperately in need of a new seat and this would be perfect timing. looks very comfy and may help her to self soothe more easily when we finally take her beloved away. help…please!
Following both on Facebook. Love this! Worst road trip experience was a few years back when we went on vacation with our oldest and then only child when he was 9 months old. The 7 hour ride home + 9 month old running a fever = NOT fun! nlevdan3 at yahoo dot com
One time while driving with my daughter ( who was a baby at the time) my super normally reliable audi decided to die – in the middle of a busy highway. I panicked as there were cars approaching from behind, and all I could envision was them not realizing my car was stopped and hitting it with her inside. I hopped out of the car, and started giving it my all, trying to push it to the nearest gas station on the highway. I did okay, until I realized the entrance to the gas station was on an uphill. I must have looked petrified, because a man riding his bike down the road ditched it, and ran over to help. I was thinkng “great! Yeah, we can do this” no. Cars. Are. Heavy. Just as we started to push the car up the incline, it started to roll backwards toward oncoming traffic! The force of me trying to stop the car from going backwards knocked me back and made my shoes fall off. Two more pedestrians ran over to help, and then a minute later, another. There I was crying worried about my daughter pushing my car with no shoes, with a bunch of strangers. So thankful for those people though. I think my mom though I’d lost my mind when I called for her to please come find and help us
Just driving home from work with my 3 month old feels like a road trip because of all the traffic. Twice in just the past week, as soon as we got in the car I heard the dreaded poop dump but didn’t want to stop and change him because then the traffic would just get worse and worse.
my worst experience would have to be thinking that is I drove all night then the kids would sleep… it didn’t work out that way I got a little over half way home and my 18 month old woke up crying. at the time I was on the interstate with no where in sight to pull over and check on her… I had to keep driving about 45 mins till I got to the nearest exit. when I got stop I discovered she had peed through her diaper and her whole car seat was soaked while I am cleaning her up and trying to dry her seat out the best I could she throws up on me smh. I had to put a receiving blanket down and try to make it home with out having to stop again!!! I have not attempted to go on another road trip yet
I recently took my daughter on a 2 1/2 hour trip, it was pretty much a nightmare because she doesn’t seem to do well on any extended time in her car seat. On this trip she decided that she could figure out how to get her arms free from the straps. Here I am driving down the highway trying to make sure she’s actually secured in her seat while she’s screaming at me that she wants snacks and juice boxes and everything else under the sun! Stopped at a gas station to get her Re- secured and then her diaper completely blew out! Was never more happy to get to my destination after dealing with all that I definitely need to get a new car seat!!! One that’s comfortable and she can’t escape from!
I would have to say the worst was a 9 hour road trip to South Dakota when my darling daughter decided that she was “stuck” (read: belted in) and screamed “stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!” for pretty much the entire trip.
On a usually 3 hour trip to the grandparent’s house this 4th of July, we were caught for over 6 hours in the woods, going 10 miles an hour. Our 3 year old said she had to poop. since there were no gas stations, restaurants, or any sort of convenient anything, we pulled over onto the shoulder to try to get her to go on the side of the road. When she finally went, it was diarrhea, of course. So we had to stop every 10 minutes to change her pull ups, adding to an already stressful trip, we had two dogs in the back as well, who thought every time we stopped the car, it was time for them to get out and pee.
We drove from FL to TN, then spent most of five days looking for a house so we could move. My daughter was just over six months old, nursing and in the middle of cluster feeding for a growth spurt. I had to sit in the back with her and pretty much lean over her car seat and nurse her while we were stuck in traffic with no rest area or exit in sight while on the phone with a realtor. It was super fun. And then, what goes in, must come out…we finally arrived at a house we wanted to look at and she had a massive diaper blowout that ended with me throwing out the clothes she was wearing and washing the car seat cover in a rest area bathroom and drying it with the hand dryer. Thank God the rest of the house hunt and move went much better!
Worst road trip ever: driving home from Rhode Island to Baltimore, should have been a 6 hour drive. we got stopped on the highway just before a bridge because there was a car on fire on the bridge. Bumper to bumper, 5 lanes across, and we were stuck for an hour and a half at a complete standstill. It was 92 degrees out, and the infant decided to have a major blow out up the back of her onesie right before we got stuck in traffic. We got out of the car, changed her, wiped down the car seat as best we could, but what were we supposed to do with the ridiculously stinky clothes and diaper? We triple bagged them and hid from the heat in the trees and grassy area next to the highway. Finally got moving again and we got close to home- 45 minutes out, the kid starts puking. And it’s pouring rain. And we hit Baltimore traffic. Sat in that traffic while trying to catch the puke, with no extra bags or wipes because we used them all for the previous blowout.
Never. Again. I have road trip PTSD.
Oh man! We were on our way home from a day trip to Long Island NY for my cousin’s HS graduation party and of course on a Sunday night we were stuck in traffic on the expressway. Normally my kids fall right to sleep if they are in the car after 7pm but NOPE not this time. Both boys cried for the first hour of the trip. Traffic, tired mommy AND crying children = NOT IDEAL!
My son has a habit of puking about half an hour into any long journey. He puked up something bright pink all over literally everything in the middle of massive Chicago highway construction, at rush hour on a Friday as we were half an hour into our 20 hour drive to Florida. He rode all the way to Knoxville in just his diaper! Since he calls all bodily functions by their color, puke is now known as pink, as I discovered as we set off from San Antonio on Sunday – “mommy I need to do pink”.
My son had the most epic blowout on our way home one day. I could hear that it was bad and pulled over to see just how bad. He was sitting in a pool of brown ooze. Had to pull him out and attempt to clean up with just some wipes. Oh man… it was bad.
Additionally, add the fear that my toddler will puke any second – he has a history of getting car sick. Between every cough we would look back to make sure he still wasn’t covered in puke! Oy vey!
It would be amazing to win this. We live in Fairfield County and our parents all live up near Boston, so we’re frequently making 4 hour road trips with Lil and I am always concerned for her comfort and safety on a long ride.
The worst travel experience had to be sitting in holiday weekend traffic on the way home from MA with a screaming crying baby for well over an hour. I pulled over and tried to soothe her, but I was on my own and all she wanted was to get OUT and we still had a ways to go to get home. It was a miserable, helpless feeling.
Ooohh. I want one of these for the second car – they last SO long!
And…I have no had a bad road trip experience. I know, I am one of those parents you hate. But I have a baby girl arriving any day and I have no doubts that she is going to change my happy parenting life on it’s head.
So far we’ve been lucky when we’ve traveled with our little one…but KNOCK ON WOOD…because next weekend we are traveling 6 hours up north to San Jose…my little one is now 13 months…I’m not sure how he will do with sitting in the car for 6 hours….Eeeek!
We were stuck on a train, the ride is normally 2 hours but 6 hours later we were still stuck with no milk (and I had recently stopped breastfeeding) and because the entire train was trapped there was no food in the cafe car. Luckily we had enough diapers and the passengers in front of me entertained the baby but by the time we got in at 1am (we left at 5 pm) everyone was cranky.
Lately it seems like every trip in the car is miserable. My boys fight with each other constantly! It’s time to put one the very back to separate them. However, that means more work for me to climb back to buckle up. But for my sanity it might be worth it.
Worst car trip was driving from VA to MD with my first baby at 4 months old. I put him in cute clothes and he had an explosive blow out in his car seat which was EVERYwhere!! That was a tough clean-up!!
A screaming 1 year old and a 4 year old with a bladder the nice of a walnut who gets car sick. All in the same day all at the same time. So I have a screaming baby, and then a 4 year old who peed in the car and then threw up because wage was car sick. Did I mention there was not a gas station around and it was hurricane like weather outside! That is definately a trip to remember!
Once or twice a year we make the 8+ hour trip to my in-laws’ house. It is always a nightmare. The last two hours of my youngest just screaming the entire time is the worst. Just full-on screaming. When we finally arrive, she’s bright red and covered with sweat. You’d think after witnessing how she is when we arrive they’d be more willing to come to us, but nope. We’ve tried driving at night, hoping she’d sleep, but she can apparently sense when we’re two hours away and that it’s time to start screaming.
We went to the beach about (4 hours away) when my daughter was 5 months old. She developed the squirts… You know, the ones that the tiniest bit comes out and burns their little butts? Every 15 minutes we were stopping to change her diaper and slather her tushey in cream! I never thought we would make it!
Road trip with a Great Dane and a new born. In a small car. Needless to say we were right on space !!!
We live in KY and my sister used to live in Chicago. When my second was born, we went to visit. It went very well – in the beginning – too well. once we entered Illinois, the fun began. The 5 week old started screaming, the 2 year old did too. We finally got them both calmed down, I had my body twisted in only the way a mom could to keep the pacifier in the baby’s mouth. Then the lights come on. It was a “click it or ticket” weekend – they pulled us over – and because my arm wasn’t in the seat belt (due to it being stuck to a paci in my kiddos mouth) we got a ticket for not wearing a seat belt – but the cop was lenient and since we were from out of town, wasn’t requiring me to go to court. So got the ticket, paci fell out of babes mouth, two year old had a blowout in a pull up (we all know how those handle poo) and baby threw up – all while I had a flashlight in my face. Worst trip ever. I kept my sisters washing machine in business all weekend cleaning clothes and carseats.
My grandmother lives three hours away. Every time we visit my 2nd daughter does fine on the way down, but screams after 2 hrs on the way back. Like clock work she screams after the exit that is exactly one hour away. And when I say scream, I mean shrill piercing nearly glass breaking screaming for the entire hour home. EVERY SINGLE TIME! and nothing satisfies! Oh and we have had our fair share of explosive poos, all 3 of my kids find car rides to be so relaxing that they just poo nearly every time we get in- suburbia mama here and thats a lot of poo!
My husband, myself our 2 year old and 3 month old were taking a 3 hour trip through a winding canyon with no cell service or services when a hour and a half into the trip our 2 year old daughter got car sick and puked curdled milk all over herself and her car seat. It was late June and about 90 degrees out. We stripped her down and used every wipe and bottled water we had to clean as much puke up as possible. We didn’t want to litter all the wipes or her clothes so we put them in the trunk of the car. We had to ride the rest of the way with the smell of hot vomit lofting throughout the car. After we got to our destination and cleaned up, we had to take her car seat apart and wash it in a natural spring. Needless to say we did not pack enough adult beverages or wipes for the weekend.
Last year we had a snow storm that knocked out power to our house for 4 days! At the time I had an infant and a 2 year old, so we packed our family up and stayed at a hotel. On the last day after we checked out of the hotel we were on our way back to house to check and see if the power was back on. My 2 year old threw up drenching himself, the car seat, and the floor in vomit. The whole town including our house still didn’t have power and we were out of clothes for him, so we had to drive an hour to my moms house with my poor son sitting In his own throw up and crying all the way there. Worst 4 days ever!
It’s a tie for me,one trip when I was driving by myself from KS to TX with my 5 year old (3 at the time),got caught in a really nasty storm at night should of waited it out, but drove straight through it (not my best move as a parent).Second,is most recently, driving from CO to AZ with a 4 month old wanting to nurse every 2 hours, and being sleep deprived. Took us wayyy longer than it should of to get there. Fun times! 🙂
My son is about six months old and only driving tWo hours away he kept screaming until I’d take him out of his seat. I thought something was wrong and was scared at goo first but every time his butt touched the seat he cried.
My son (around 1 at the time) got in to a box of animals crackers that was next to him in the back seat. When we arrived at our destination he and everything near him was covered in crumbs.
We went from Minnesota to Ohio and back within 4 days for a wedding with a 13 month old. No amount of food, distractions, or sitting back there with him was enough to get him to stop crying between rest stops from eastern Illinois to western Wisconsin. Next time, we send a representative for my family instead of all going. The groom never even said goodbye to us as we left and he hugged the people right next to us…that were in our car.
My kids are pretty good in the car but my bother used to get car sick ALL THE TIME. After one really bad incident my Dad pulled over to clean up my brother/the car. He stripped my bro down and sat him on the trunk of the car. Promptly after that a cop pulled up behind him and started questioning my Dad why he had a naked baby on the trunk of the car. He took one look at the puke all over the car and my brother told my Dad he obviously had the situation under control and hightailed it to his car and drove away. Lol.
My worst road trip was when my daughter was 5 months old. She hated the car seat with a screaming crying hysterical passion. My son always loved the car seat when he was a baby so much so that I made 2 cross country trips alone with him at the ages of 10 months and 2 years and it was super easy. From the moment we brought her home from the hospital Haylee decided that the car seat was the devil and she wouldn’t ever be stuck in it… Ever. We were makin a family trip from San Diego to Fresno to see family. We made sure to leave at nap time hoping to get a decent part of the drive out of the way with a sleeping baby. From the moment the buckle clicked the noise began. It started out slow and whiny and turned into a full blown wail that would rival a banshee. Finally she gave in and slept… For 1 hour. It was 1 blissful hour of silence and driving while our 6 year old played on his leapfrog and our dog napped in the back with them. Then she awoke… The psycho crying screaming child. We pulled over, changed her, fed her, played a bit then knew we had to get on the road. The click of the buckle cues noise. This continued for what seemed like forever. What should have been many a 6-7 hour trip became almost 11 hours…
We took an entire-family-multi-vehicle road trip to Key West ( starting from Yorktown Heights, NY ). Lead Driver Daddy decided taking the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way home was a great idea. If you’ve ever driven the Blue Ridge Parkway, it’s nothing but sharp turns with a sheer drop off on one side. My brother finally couldn’t take it anymore and vomited in the plastic tank of souvenir live hermit crabs we were bringing home from the Keys. There was no where to pull over for miles. We were mopping up the car and the poor hermit crabs with sippy cups of water and diapers.
I haven’t been brave enough to take a really long road trip with my 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old yet. We do venture to our cabin 45 minutes away. The worst time was when my then 10 month old SCREAMED the whole way. 45 minutes was long enough!
As a new mom to an 11 Month old, we’ve not had any harrowing experiences as of yet. The worst has been when our little boy was a bit smaller he hated being in the car and would scream and cry the entire ride – in one case he cried for almost an hour on the way to his grandparents house, nothing we did seemed to help, he was beyond just being in the car. Figures once arrived he promptly fell asleep! That said, we’re embarking on a road trip to my home state on the East Coast next weekend with our 11 Month old, our cousins and their 7 Month old. 10-11 hour car ride ahead of us! Praying we’ll have a smooth ride!
My son was about 14 months or so and he had peed out of his diaper some how and got his shorts wet. Being the prepared Mom that I am, I forgot to pack him an extra set of shorts. So we change his diaper, and put him back in his car seat. About 30 minutes later I start to smell something horrible. We turn around and he had pooped out of his diaper and it was EVERYWHERE. On his legs, on his shirt, all over his car seat(including under the cover), on his paci, in his hair, on his face… you get the picture, needless to say when we got home he got taken to the shower fully clothed and was rinsed off/cleaned that way and then we took a water hose to his car seat… it was absolutely disgusting.
This summer we drove to the beach. It took 8hrs to make the typical 5hr drive. Towards the end of the trip, my one yr old started loosing it. This resulted in us playing switching drivers and rearranging the car in the middle of the parking lot, mean interstate, so that I could sit in the back with him.
On what should have been a 4 hour road trip to see my mom, all 3 of my kids got car sick within the first hour. There was also bad traffic, which forced us to stop and start for a lot of the way. This, of course, made the sickies feel worse. Several times we had to pull over and clean them up the best we could with just baby wipes and bottles of water. Thankfully we had extra clothes, but we were not equipped to deal with the car seats. We arrived 6 hours later, after dark with a car full of foul smelling over-tired small children and several loads of laundry.
Before we attempted the drive back home, we prepared several buckets lined with small trash bags and packed a box with clean rags, towels, Fabreeze and anything else we could think of that would assist us in a roadside cleanup. We put a fitted sheet across the back of the front seats, towels along the floor, and a plastic tablecloth underneath the carseats to protect the back seat. I cut holes through towels and threaded their harnesses through so they would have “bibs” to protect their clothing and car seats. It looked absolutely ridiculous but it would be effective in containing the mess. Wouldn’t you know it, not one kid vomited on the way home.
We we’re moving from Georgia to Kentucky (hubby was being relocated for the army)so we’re driving with the kids on our lovely 14 hr drive and maybe 2 1/2 hrs in My daughter (14mo) at the time gets car sick from both ends and that makes her brother (5) sick so we had to pull over on the side of the high way and to try to clean up as much as possible and find the closesest store where we had to buy two new car seats and some more clothes.
The thought that comes up when road trip in mentioned is that my oldest daughter gets car sick. She usually doesn’t throw up but complains…a lot. My worst road trip, though, was when we decided that leaving at bedtime was a great idea because they would sleep during the trip. Nope! My oldest was three and was grumpy and very vocal about it. My youngest was just 5 months at most and cried the beginning of the trip. Once she eventually fell asleep, she woke up every time we hit a stop light. Now they are 6 and 3 and our 2 1/2 hr trips that we make every May and September are not so bad, especially since we now have a VAN with a DVD player! Wonderful!
Our worst road trip was just a month ago. We set out early to drive to LA from San Jose. We were looking for a coffee shop while passing through Gilroy. I was distracted by the overwhelming aroma of the garlic processing plant and didn’t notice the no u turn sign. Of course we got pulled over, while we were sitting there waiting for my ticket to be issued, we spotted the Starbucks. My first ticket in my life. We finally got back on the road and about 15 minutes in, my 4 year old vomited all over herself, toys and my backseat. We had to deal with it for about 20 minutes so I could safely pull over at a rest stop. We cleaned it up the best we could, but we still had 6 hours to go.
We were driving home to Minneapolis, MN from Devil’s Lake, ND after a week-long family camping trip. What should normally be a 6.5 hour drive took more like 8 because our then 6 month old daughter pooped every 45 minutes and would cry until we pulled over to change her… (9 diapers in 8 hours!) Of course, she also hates long car rides… All I can say is, we were thrilled to finally pull into the driveway! Luckily, our 4 year old took it all like a champ.
When my daughter was three months old, I drove from the coast of Mississippi to Oklahoma City with her. It was awful, after the first three hours she cried non-stop. I finally stopped at a WalMart and found this toy that had been recommended by hundreds of moms and used it to distract her, but when the music would wind down she’d start screaming again. Then five days later I had to drive back with her by myself. It was awful. She started screaming the moment I put her in the car seat. I had to stop every hour for at least 20 minutes just so she’d get a break from the music-cry-button-music-cry cycle.
She hated that car seat from that moment until we switched her to the older version of the Evenflo DLX convertible. Now that her sister is coming, I just want to start with the comfy convertible seat for her and avoid the awful car trip experience.
When my son was 3 1/2 months ok we moved from California to Montana. We decided to leave at 2am so that he’d sleep most of the trip. Instead of sleeping he was wide awake and crying from 2-7, then slept for a half hour and was wide awake and exhausted for the rest of the trip. It was awful!
Moms of supersize babies unite! I had to buy a new car seat when my son was 12 weeks. Because I know you will end up needing to know this, Evenflo makes a booster seat that has a 5 point rated to 65lbs/50″ tall, I’m 2″ off him outgrowing this now!
My baby is only 5 1/2 months so I have not have the opportunity to road trip with her yet. We do make the 1 hour drive to her grandparents twice a month. We have seen everything from explosive blowouts, to large amount of spit up. Once I went to unhook my sleeping angel and noticed she had a long line of snot going from her noise to leg buckle.
13 hours in the car with a 7 mo old and a 4 year old…and 10 minutes from our arrival point traffic STOPPED for over an hour…torture – pure torture
Worst road trip was when my daughter was around 5 months old and hated being in the car. We were driving home from San Diego after Easter and traffic was awful! She screamed the entire time and I almost had a breakdown from all the stress. Yuck!
We were on the George Washington Bridge in stopped dead traffic when a swat team with guns drawn ran at a car in the lane next to us. I totally freaked. My son, who was 6 months at the time slept through the whole thing. His poor parents were freaking out the whole rest of the ride home.
A nine hour road trip with my 8 month old baby and my 2 step sons, the baby wanted to either be nursed or held the ENTIRE trip.
The “longest” road trip we have taken was from Manhattan to NJ. The word longest is in quotes because the total distance was about 8 miles (maybe less!) and in traffic took us about 40 minutes. Having said that, those 40 minutes felt like an ETERNITY with our 3.5 month old! It involved tons of spit up, a diaper blow out, continuous SCREAMING and the sound of the most annoying rattle ever! (All drowning out my soulful rendition of “You are my sunshine”).
I have decided to now gleefully blame the car seat and would be kicked to win this giveaway in the hope that it will encourage us to take an actual road trip!
My husband was ill and pooped his pants in the car one time. I’m not sure what else to even say about the incident… So gross!
Worst road trip is a tie –
I *always* drive because I get very motion sick very quickly.
1. Drove from Southern Illinois to Austin, TX when E was 6 months old. We made the 16 hour drive start after his bed time but he was wide awake and hungry, wet, and ANGRY when we got to Austin. During noon rush. Downtown. (The kinds of hazards I normally face when driving around at noon are combines, Tractors, Amish Buggies, Deer, the occasional cow or other escaped farm animal… not 6 lanes of bumper to bumper with a screaming baby.)
2. We go to Springfield 3 times a year. It’s about a 3 hour and 15 minute drive from home to hotel. In September last year we had work obligations that kept us from making the trip until 5:30 pm. The road we normally take is closed, so we have to go a different way. We got food about an hour from home and hoped that it would stay light out long enough for E to eat, since he was rear-facing and I wanted to be able to watch him in the mirror system). It did but not much longer than that. I didn’t know where we were going so I had my trusty phone pulled up with navigation but after we ate (about an hour and half into the trip) E got bored and uncomfortable. He started screaming. I couldn’t hear the navigation so I gave in and let him play with my tablet. An hour away from our destination, while we are driving down a completely unfamiliar road, in the dark. He vomits. EVERYWHERE. I pull off onto the gravel side road and we get him (and my tablet) cleaned up but the carseat is soaked. Luckily I had a TON of baby wipes with me to try my best to get the seat cleaned, but we had no choice but to put him back into the carseat. For the rest of the drive to the hotel it smelled SO BAD in the car. He was fine once he had thrown up but mad that he was back in the car seat and bored and uncomfortable. I had to hand wash the carseat in the hotel room bathtub and for the rest of the weekend the car still smelled like vomit. (He got sick on the way to the January meeting too, so we turned him forward facing at 24 1/2 months even though the plan was for rear facing for longer. He hasn’t gotten sick since.)
My son got sick with the flu during a 4 hour long car trip back home. The drive included a pit stop where he blew out his pants and I unfortunately forgot the diaper bag in the car. The nasty gas station bathroom was out of paper-towels, so I did the best I could to clean him off with toilet paper. I thought that the longer I stayed in the bathroom, my husband would eventually get the clue that something was wrong. Alas, after 20 minutes or so, I ran out of the bathroom with a half naked kid and dirty pants. (I probably scarred the high-school clerk for life!)
Then, another hour or so into the trip, he threw up all over his car seat. We had to pull off at the next exit and stood in some random parking lot late at night while we stripped him down and did our best to clean out the car. Of course, he was screaming the entire time and we really could have used a hose instead of a box of wipes.
The rest of the trip home was pretty chilly since we had to ride with the windows open since the smell was unbearable.
I dragged 5.5 month old daughter and mom from Houston to Dallas for a conference. On the way up, she had a huge blow-out that was cleaned up in a Wendy’s parking lot. I made the mistake of saying it was the worst blowout I had ever seen. On the way home, late at night, she proved me wrong and had the BIGGEST blowout I had ever seen. That one was cleaned up in a gas station parking lot and all clothes were thrown away. It was YUCKY!!
If you get really motion sick, I wonder if your son was having the same problem?
On a trip to Nemours Children’s Clinic in Jacksonville form Tallahassee (only a 3 hour trip) my now two and a half year old was going completely nutso crazy about being confined to his carseat so that when I tried to reach behind me to hold his little hand, I knocked over the bag of leftover chinese food from the stop for lunch at a crappy little restaurant. I had not put the lid on properly so chinese food spilled out on the floor of the minivan (luckily I keep yoga mats on the floor since I have to climb in a lot to strap not one or two but three kids in everytime). I pulled over a squickly as i could but didn’t have a single wet wipe or spit cloth anywhere – so I used a diaper (a clean, unused one of course) to clean up the spilled food (yum) and took the opportunity to settle little man back down. He chose that moment to projectile barf all over himself, me and the backrest of the seat holding his carseat. So I had to use another diaper to clean that up as best I could. The rest of the trip smelled of baby barf and stale chinese food. I could NOT get home fast enough!
My kids are both pretty good in the car. Our worst experience was probably on one of our shorter trips..just 3 hours. Our daughter (2 at the time), had just gotten over her first bout of stomach flu a few days earlier…we thought. About half an hour into our trip she loses it and vomits EVERYTHING all over her car seat, the back of the seat in front of her, down the door and on the floor and diaper bag. We had to pull off in a gas station, remove her, the carseat cover, the straps, everything from the back seat. My husband had to run into the gas station and rinse off the straps in a nasty bathroom sink. The guy behind the counter took pity on us and gave us a roll of paper towels and the cleaner he used in the store so we could at least clean out the puddle of vomit in her carseat. We ended up having to stick a blanket in the carseat in place of the cover and strap her in with only a diaper on (vomit on the diaper bag = vomit on the extra clothes) and wet straps for the rest of the ride. It was a lovely odoriferous ride for the next 2 1/2 hours home.
9 hour trip with a 2 year old and broken AC. Enough said!
A 2 hr. road trip listening to nothing but Barney the Dinosaur singing the ABC song over and over and over and over again per our demanding 22 mo old son along with our screaming 3 mo old to go along with the, already migraines that my husband and I already had…. It was a blast…. I now hate Barney. Like, a Lot!!!
Does a flight count? Like the time we all had a stomach virus and it was Christmas and the baby threw up just after takeoff (all over me and his car seat)? Worst driving road trip experience was probably with the same baby, who would have frequent nursing strikes. Loud noises? Won’t nurse all day. Immunizations? Won’t nurse for two days. Flying four hours then driving another three? That seemed like something to protest. So we spent the entire flight and drive trying over and over, rest stops and parks, meal breaks and shopping, to get that kid to eat. Also, he hated his car seat. So he screamed the *entire* time. What can I say? He’s tenacious. 🙂
When my daughter was 3 months old, we drove from South Carolina to Indiana at night in a snow storm to see my Grandma for Thanksgiving. We had to stop at a rest stop for a nursing session and my daughter did fabulous, but it was sleeting and freezing out and I didn’t want to take her into the cold and our car was packed tight, so I changed her diaper in her car seat. It was a disaster, but she laughed and we laughed and we eventually made it to Grandma’s house after a stay at a hotel and a ten hour drive that should have taken 6 🙂
Worst road trip experience was this summer. My husband and I decided we wanted to venture out to California. We live in good old Moore Oklahoma. Our son was turning one and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate his first birthday. Driving there was long of course but we made it with our sanity. Once we get there the problems began. We were a day early. Our hotel had a room available. Apparently the girl didn’t know what she was doing though. She charged us twice for the room. Not so bad. We planned for some mishaps. Next day, our week long stay at the hotel was charged. And then charged again. We were double charged twice on two separate occasions. We definitely didn’t plan for that. We were strapped for cash all the way in California. We had just enough money for gas and food to make it home. We even had to sleep in the car at a rest stop with one year old. Worst road trip ever. And yes eventually we got our money back. Just took them forever. We definitely won’t be doing that again.
My daughter was two and we were taking a trip to visit friends in Arizona (from Colorado). We had just left a rest-stop 20 minutes ago and of course she decides she needs to use the restroom. The next rest stop is 2+ hours away so we find a place to pull over and me and my own mother try to hold her over the port-a-potty we brought for just such an occasion. My daughter is very shy and refuses to pee in public and apparently the side of an abandoned road in Arizona was too public for her. After 15 minutes of screaming tantrums and her refusal to go in the port-a-potty we were back on our way with her quietly crying in her car seat NEEDING to pee desperately while we drove for another two hours to the nearest rest stop. I have never been more frustrated that my child was that stubborn. We HAD a place for her to go! She made it to the rest-stop though without an accident. My child has AMAZING bladder control.
The worst road trip with kids was the time we decided to drive from Michigan to N. Carolina the day after Christmas. We didn’t even make it out of Michigan before the highway was shut down for 3 hours due to an accident. Then, another accident in Ohio. Once we got to Virginia, there was another accident, so we took back roads, in Virginia, through the snow, on a curvy mountain road. My oldest son, who was 6 at the time, screamed and cried. We thought he was car sick, so we opened our windows and fed him pretzels. It turned out that he had a raging ear infection! The normal 10 hour drive took over 15 hours. It was horrible.
The worst non-child related road trip was when my husband I and traveled from Michigan to Tennessee which some friends who were dating. They got into an argument the day we left Tennessee to come back home, and literally did not speak to one another the ENTIRE ride home. It was miserable.
Road Trip rule #1 if you are prepared for puke it will not happen. I was not prepared. I like to refer to that holiday as Barfsgiving.
My then 3yr old & 3mo old were on the trip with me (no hubby, he had to work, so was JUST me w. the two kids). We made it to our destination 2.5 hrs. away with no trouble. After the holiday meal, which my older kid really didn’t each much of at all I found out why. She spent the ENTIRE rest of the trip tossing up anything and EVERYTHING in her entire little body. 4 days passed and we needed to leave. I was so worried about her throwing up on her newborn brother, that I moved his car seat from the middle spot next to her to the outboard spot behind me (the driver). This was a big deal b/c I could NOT have him clicked in to the infant seat base behind the driver seat, but not having him puked on won out over being clicked into the base. We used the buckle and secured his seat that way. Thankfully after 4 days my daughter had gotten fairly good with the bucket so most if not ALL of the puke made it into the bucket. FYI: there is NOTHING like the smell of vomit on a long road trip. 🙂
NOW I have 3 kids ages 4, 1, & 3 mo. ALL in car seats (two rear-facing)across the back of my TINY Nissan Sentra….so if one of them EVER barfs in the car….I’m in BIG trouble. Which brings me to ask the question….will you by any chance be reviewing and giving a way a SUV or Mini Van anytime soon? B/C until we get a bigger rig (which is in the works) I’m not sure where I’m going to fit my new Symphony DLX All-In-One Carseat that I’m going to win from you. 🙂
PS: I have liked/followed/stalked you for a while now….(I know creepy) AND now Evenflo as well.
Also wish us luck because we are taking another road trip this month out to Arizona to go to Mayo clinic- This time with my 5 month old along for the ride.
My little one is usually very great in the car! Worst car ride experience was when he was sick and was vomiting while I was driving! I was almost home, but it was soo sad! I had to clean him up and take out the car seat. I cleaned it pretty well and it only smelled for a couple of days. Hahahaha! 🙂
Oh my gosh! My younger son(the same age as Harlow) hates driving! It’s gotten better since switching his car seat foward facing but he still hates being in the car longer than 15 minutes. So we are on our way to Disneyland, the cars packed full, the snacks, toys, bribing gifts are behind my passenger seat. We left around naptime hoping he would sleep most of the 3 hour drive. Well he was fine for a while, watching the DVD with big brother but then brother has to pee. And that is when it begins. My older son gets out of the car to go into the gas station, with daddy and my 1 year old start screaming. So I hold him and try to nurse him and I’m alone in the parking lot with a child screaming like I’m kidnapping him and my boobies are hanging out because he won’t latch! I’m like panicking now because seriously I’m in a very vulnerable state, there’s some sketchy folks watching me and the keys are just sitting in the ignition. So I’m internally screaming at my husband to hurry the heck up and then finallyyyyyy he walks out, all laid back, slowly stepping over the pavement like it’s nothing! And the. Sits in the car and looks at me like I’m a rabid dog. And says “what? Did you want something to eat?” And I realize he has no idea how stressed I am. Finally I get the baby changed and in the caraeat( with some force, I think a foot was involved to keep his arms from pulling out) then he cried for the rest of the trip there. The whole time begging to get out.
My worst experience was actually last week…on the way to the airport at 3:30am, both kids car sick…total barf fest.