Ok, I feel like I am going crazy, so I need someone to talk through these logistics with me! This will be long winded.

We know that we are going to need 3 car seats, so we are currently trying to figure out our plans for a vehicle in the future. Right now, I drive a Honda CR-V and I can't imagine ever driving anything else....I love it! I found a helpful link that gives all the guaranteed-to-fit configurations of 3 car seats in a row in my specific model of vehicle. (http://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/2014/07/3-across-installations-crv.html/ .) Great. So we have that as an option. We could get 2 Diono Radians and an infant seat; cheaper than buying a new car!

Now, when I think about upgrading to a 3-row SUV, I don't really see how it logistically makes sense, or how it really would be any less crammed than what we currently drive. It seems that the best upgrade choice (if we were to upgrade) would be a mini van. Here is why:

The whole point of getting a 3rd row is so that you don't have to cram 3 car seats in a row, right? So say, hypothetically, that the two younger children are in the middle row and the oldest child is in the back by herself. But then, she would have to CLIMB OVER the middle seat because you can't move a seat that has a car seat on it (since rear facing car seats basically take up all open space). Even if you could slide the seats back and forth, I don't think you would be able to slide it enough for the child to fit through. I guess the only option here would be to put the two car seats in the middle right next to each other, leaving one of the outside seats open so it could be moved for the older child to get to the back?

Or, if our goal was to be able to drive with other guests, we couldn't have all 3 car seats in the middle because then there would be no way for other passengers to get in the back seat. But it makes no sense to put car seats in the back when there is no guarantee of when we will be travelling with other people.

In a mini van, there are usually two bucket seats in the middle row, which would make it easy for our children or guests to get to the empty seats in the back row.

Also, with a 3rd row SUV, it seems that you are sacrificing a LOT of trunk space. We have a large double stroller and can easily fit it in the back of our Honda CR-V. I am not sure what 3-row SUVs (other than mega behemoths like Suburbans, which I am not interested in) have that large of a trunk.

OKAY. Am I totally off-base here, or overthinking this? Is there something super obvious I am missing? WDYT? If you know you will need 3 car seats (or currently do), what are your automobile plans?