yet another rear facing question

[galincognito]

we have a carseat that our dd2 is about to outgrow rearfacing by weight.  i will keep her rearfacing but i'm not sure if i should switch seats with dd1 or buy dd2 a new seat.  here's the info:

dd1: 4 years old, 33 lbs.  rf in a radian xt (seat rf to 45 lbs)

dd2: 2 years, 3 months old, 28 lbs.  rf in a radian 65 (seat rf to 30 lbs)

dd3: 2.5 months, 13 lbs.  rf in britax roundabout (seat rf to ?22 lbs) *seat expires in 2012

okay, so here are my options.

switch dd1 ff in dd2's seat, put dd2 rf in dd1's seat, leave dd3 as is.  buy a new carseat for dd3 next year.

leave dd1 rf in her seat, buy dd2 a new seat, leave dd3 as is. 

hmm, now as i start to type it out there really aren't as many scenarios as i thought!  i guess i'm over complicating it. 

anyway, i guess it comes down to buying a new seat this year or buying one next year.  either way, dd2 and dd3 will be rearfacing for a while yet.  i'm not sure about dd1.  she hasn't asked to be turned ffing and my minimum was 4 years (which she is). 

at what point would you turn dd1? 

[DahliaRW]

I would turn her unless she's against it.  It's the most cost effective.  Just switch the older two children's seats.  The Roundabout should go to 33lbs rfing.  So you have a while.  By the time you need a new seat for dd3 your oldest might be ready for a booster, so then you can pass down the radian and buy her a new seat.  Or, you could get her a harness to booster seat like the frontier, nautilus, or maestro if she's not ready to booster full time.  But, point being, you can re-evaluate when the roundabout expires and figure it out then, without spending a penny in the meantime.

[galincognito]

yeah, that's the way i think i'm going to go.  i guess i'm hesitant because dd1 is happy rfing and i'm a little leery that dd2 will want to turn if her big sister does.  either way, i'll keep her rfing; i just hope it's not an argument every time we get in the van.