Tell Me How... To Buy a Car Seat

These "tell me how posts" haven't been quite as frequent as I originally intended... but I could really use some opinions on this one.  I know how to buy a car seat... but advice on which one to buy would be appreciated.

Spencer's current car seat is rated to 35 lbs. and 35 inches.  Given that, and the most current recommendation that babies should stay rear-facing 'til they're 2... and he's still in a rear-facing car seat (and no, it's not a convertible car seat- strictly rear-facing).  He's nowhere near 35 lbs (haha, thank you 5th weight percentile) but he's about 34 inches tall... meaning we need a new car seat.  Soooo... what to buy?

When we got Spencer's, we just got a rear-facing one, figuring that by the time he out-grew it, it would be used for the next kid (and yeah, baby #2 will make his appearance in less than 4 months).  But now I'm not sure what to get for Spencer.  We don't technically need a convertible one... so it seems to me that it would be best to just get a booster seat.  It's just that some of the booster seats seem so big (most are rated 30-100 lbs) and Spencer's not quite there yet.  So do we get a convertible seat?  All he needs is 5 more lbs and he'll be big enough for a booster seat.  I dunno.  So many choices...

So tell me... what have you done for your kids?  Any recommendations?  Ones you've bought that you loved?  Hated?  I'm all ears :)

Halloween

Halloween was really fun this year.  Spencer got the hang of trick-or-treating really quick -- he'd knock on the door and hold up his pumpkin.  He loved it.  We dressed him up as a little Jedi and of course, we think he was totally adorable.

Wearing the Halloween shirt he picked out.

He loved carving pumpkins.  Or rather, he loved cleaning out the guts.

 The finished products.

We took advantage of the really nice weather in October and took Spencer to Tracy Aviary.  He loved walking around, seeing the birds and chasing the peacocks.  His favorite part was feeding the ducks.