New Car Seat

It is official.  Calder has outgrown his car seat.  He won't even fit in it with a coat on!  (Don't worry, Mom. He is still under the maximum weight and I warm up the van for him!)

Tomorrow, we will start the daunting task of getting a new seat.  I have done some looking online at prices and models.  There are so many different models (most with the same features) with a humungous range of prices.  Which is best?  Who knows?  I certainly don't.  And I don't think I will be more informed tomorrow after a day of scouring the stores with Hugh and Calder.

I find shopping for these types of "BIG" purchases very stressful.  How many cribs did we have to look at until Hugh found the one (and I do mean one) that wouldn't move when he reefed on it?  How many couches did we sit on before we found our furniture for upstairs?  And more recently, how many all-inclusive vacations did I look at before we booked?

The thing about all of these purchases is that even though a tremendous amount of time and effort is put in to buying them, there is still the looming feeling of, "Did I make the right choice?"  And of course, there is always, "Will I find a better deal later?"

Malcolm Gladwell (website) has written a number of very interesting books.  In Blink, Gladwell talks about how when we research "big" decisions and weigh all the options we won't actually be more satisfied with what we have decided.  In fact, when we think less about these big decisions (or in my case, purchases), we are more satisfied.  (This is really bad paraphrasing.  Gladwell has research to back his argument and I feel like he may have something here!  Read the book if you are intrigued.)

So, according to Gladwell, impulse is the way to go.  I just hope tomorrow I am able to do that (although it may be too late for this purchase since I spent 45 minutes shopping online).  I know Hugh will appreciate if I just "PICK ONE".