Minivan mom

That's me. Officially. I guess that makes me old. Not to mention that my 30th birthday is this year.

I've been an SUV mom for almost 2 years now. I loved my SUV. Loved. Loved. Loved. (I may have mentioned that in my previous post :) But for practical reasons, it was time to upgrade. I wasn't planning to be a minivan mom. I wasn't completely against it, but I just didn't see any reason to get one. Oh, but there are many reasons. And I think of more every time I get into it.

Minivan makers had moms of infants in mind when they created the sliding door. I remember when Cade was little bitty, there were several times that I had to go around to the other side of the car and pull him and his carseat out (or put him and his carseat in) through that door because of someone parking too close to get the door open wide enough. That happened sometimes even in our garage. So adding an infant carseat back into the mix while juggling a toddler just makes it more logical to not have to worry about things like that.

The space. Oh, the space. There is so much room!! I feel like we can have a party in our van! Cade also really likes sitting up a little higher because he can see out better and see everything going on (not to mention there are buttons everywhere! He can't reach most of them yet, but they sure are fun to look at and talk about! :).

I was afraid I would feel like I was driving a tank, but it's been great. Granted, I haven't had to park it in the Walmart parking lot yet, but so far, it doesn't feel like this huge, unwieldy beast. I feel pretty comfortable driving it.

I believe firmly that this minivan was another God thing. It's an awesome van, and we have a full year of bumper-to-bumper warranty on it. It had sat on the car lot for 60 days, so they had lowered the price on it a couple of times, and it was actually getting ready to go to auction because they don't like vehicles to sit there for that long. We were able to get it for about $7,000 under retail value. I mean, utterly ridiculous. Especially since it's in almost perfect condition (there have definitely NOT been any kids in this van before :), and has been well taken care of. There's just no reason that it hadn't sold (did I mention that it's a Toyota Sienna?). The only reason possible is that God had it there waiting for us. I just love how He takes care of us like that.