I am a GENIUS!!!!!! (or at least resourceful)

We had decided not to throw the car seat out.

I kept feeling that there had to be a way to salvage it and truly disinfect it without damaging it, or without having to purchase a new car seat. We even went "shopping" for one last night and found some at decent prices. But what's the best price for us? No price at all! Trying to salvage it would be much more economical.

Anyway, I keep a very well stocked folder full of every owner's manual for every single item we have. I found the car seat's instruction manual and read that the canopy (which has mold on it) can be washed in the washing machine-therefore, it CAN be removed. I just had to figure it out.

I came downstairs and took the seat cover off (which I had previously known that I could) and then after closer examination of the car seat figured out a way to fully remove the straps!!! There is a black plastic part that attached the straps to the actual car seat that I couldn't remove successfully, so I will just pull those to the very end of the straps and make sure I don't submerge them into the bleach solution I will submerge the rest of the straps (plus, there wasn't any mold near those plastic pieces).

So, two down (the seat cover and the straps) one more to go (the annoying canopy)!

I looked on google for help on taking the canopy off. I found a cool site called www.fixya.com and found some tips on how to do it. One of the explanations didn't make much sense to me, because I couldn't figure out what parts the person was talking about, but I saved it just in case. I then called evenflo directly (because I couldn't find ANYTHING on their website to help me) and the customer service rep was very nice and explained how I could do it. I hung up and tried and of course I wasn't able to come even close to getting it off.

I examined the canopy attachments even more closely and put two and two together. With the not so very helpful help the evenflo lady gave me and with the info from www.fixya.com I figured out my own way to get it off. And I did!!!

So now, I'm off to make a bleach solution to soak the straps in for a few hours and then I will put the seat cover and canopy in the washing machine with hot water and bleach and I will have a clean and mold-free car seat! I am completely confident that I will be able to get it safe for baby Ezra.

My bean bag is lost forever, though. No biggie. We paid about $10 for it and have had it for about 5 years, if not more. We can always get another one. And its one less bulky thing we have to move across the country, right? :-)

The play mat is also a goner. But we found some for under $20 at Walmart and I can probably find some on ebay or craigslist, too. Maybe one of Ezra's grandmas will get one for him this Christmas! (hint, hint...lol)

The playpen is also gone, BUT!!!! We have a spare playpen in NJ-its a few months newer than the one we just threw out, so no biggie there.

I'm grateful for my brain power! That and some definite divine intervention/inspiration!