Hello, Bees, and thank you for a very warm welcome! It’s a nice feeling to have to know there are not only interested readers out there, but also that there are so many who are willing to comment! Thank you for being an engaged, interactive community to which I aim to thoughtfully contribute, but also to learn from! A smattering of bees (@Andrea, @MamaMoose, @Arden) have commented on my introductory post, asking what is my Babymobile.

Well, what on earth is a Babymobile?

It’s the term I coined our brand-new Hyundai Sonata, which we bought solely because of Baby. I called it Babymobile*, like the Batmobile, because the Sonata really is quite the sleek street machine! I thought I was being so clever with “Babymobile,” but I guess this is a perfect example of when the Mister teases me that I have a whole made-up vocabulary in my head that only I get. If there is anything you ever don’t understand, just ask!

When I was 6 months pregnant, we traded in our only car, my prized Acura RSX, a flashy, little 2-door I’ve had since I was 24. I could have picked almost any car, but at that ripe, irresponsible age, all I was thinking about was, Does it have a sunroof, and is it fast?

{ me and my Acura RSX, just before trading it in }

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It pained me to have to say goodbye to my baby, which had seen six years of girls nights out, cruising down the beach, had zipped me to and from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale to visit my parents on weekends, and had safely taken us from Florida to Chicago in a new chapter of our life together.

The Mister had finally convinced me that, with a real baby on the way, it was time to upgrade to a grownup car possessing four doors. These were our basic requirements, in order:

  1. Not an SUV or mini-van
  2. High safety ratings
  3. Big trunk space
  4. Roomy interior

It’s a good thing one of us is practical, hmph.

Though I miss my Acura, I’ll admit that the Hyundai Sonata** is a very respectable vehicle for getting Baby around. After the original Babymobile (a pre-owned 2011 Sonata) was stolen, we replaced it with a brand-new 2012 model that had just come out (this time in black) because we liked the Sonata so much! The in-laws had strongly pushed us to get an SUV, but we were/are vehemently against it in favor of a roomier mid-size sedan.

{ Babymobile 1.0 }

Best perk about the Sonata? The 2012 comes standard with Hyundai’s Blue Link security system so we can play Big Brother, like say if it is being driven away without our knowledge, you get what I mean? And, it gets pretty good gas mileage at 24mpg City/35mpg Highway––a plus for all those cross-country road trips the Mister is envisioning for our family in the future. #KillMe

{ Babymobile 2.0, bringing home baby from hospital! }

What do you look for in a Babymobile? Did you upgrade to a bigger vehicle when you started a family?

* Unfortunately, unlike the Batmobile, our Babymobile is not as good at fighting crime, clearly, as it was a victim of being stolen off our very own street after only two months in the city! Worse, this happened just four short weeks before my due date.

** This post is not endorsed by Hyundai.