I recently bought a new car seat for our one-year-old, since she's grown out of the old hand-me-down one she had before. I purchased our second
Britax product, this time a
Britax Decathlon convertible car seat. 
Yeah, they cost a little more than other car seats, but our three-year-old is still using his
Britax Marathon, so I consider it money well spent. The best thing about them, other than their superlative safety ratings, is the ease of installation. My husband can install the seats in either of our cars, using the Latch system or the car's shoulder belt, in a matter of minutes. Installing the previous car seat was an exercise in frustration, and took hours to do. We always have the car seats checked out by the local
California Highway Patrol office in Corte Madera. The CHP and many local police departments offer
free car seat inspections, and they'll even tear the thing out and reinstall for you if necessary. Make sure you
call them for an appointment first—the service is very popular. With something like 80% of all car seats incorrectly installed, it's important for your child's safety to have your car seat inspected to make sure it will perform properly in the event of a collision.
The Decathlon comes in a variety of colors and patterns, and gets high marks for sophisticated good looks (for a car seat). The Britax seats are easy to adjust, too, with a simple ratcheting system that allows you to cinch up the belts in just a few seconds.
Right now, get free shipping on any Britax product from BabyAge.com.
When my son started preschool, I realized that I needed to start putting his name on all his items if I was planning on getting them back. Some things, like his jacket, shirts, and scarf, were dark in color, which made it hard to read his name when written in with a sharpie pen. I found a really great site called 
