Monday, September 19, 2011

My Dirty Little Secret

Ok, so its not dirty and its not a secret. But it does have adverse reactions from A LOT of people. It is something I feel very strongly about. 

duh. duh. duh.

Car Seat Safety.

And since it is National Child Passenger Safety Week, I decided I should just man up and finish this post... that has been in my drafts for a month (or more).

I know. I'm not a mom. It's weird that I care, but I DO. Oh so much. I have a car seat I keep in my car full time in case I have to take kids anywhere. It is installed rear facing. All of the kids I watch are over 1, most over 2. See a trend? Extended rear facing. It's the way to go. The law says 1 year and 30 pounds. But that is not anywhere close to best practice. Your child is 500% safer rear facing until 2 years old. I rear face to the limits of a seat, because no matter what, they are always safer rear facing. The newest recommendation (that car seat people have known for a long time) is to rear face until 2 OR your child outgrows their convertible seat. Two years old is the new minimum. 
(in case this isn't obvious, my seat does get turned if the child exceeds the RF limits of my TrueFit)

Car seat safety is a personal decision. But your children will be safer the longer they rear face. Period. I got some flack (actually, I didn't, someone just tweeted a link to my blog, but didn't have the guts to tag me in it) for RFing a three year old... who was SOUND ASLEEP, but looked uncomfortable. First of all, not uncomfortable at all. Second of all, I'll take uncomfortable legs over a broken neck any day. 

Chest clip usage is an issue I see pretty often. It's a chest clip. I feel like that is self explanatory. But apparently some people (and advertisers - looking at you TARGET) seem to think it is a belly clip. It's not. It can cause internal damage in a crash. It needs to be over the chest. About nipple/arm pit line. Another issue I see frequently is loose harness straps. That car seat isn't going to do what it is supposed to do if the harness isn't tight. The child could go flying out of it. 

One other thing I want to mention is expiration dates. Car seats do expire and you should not use a car seat after its expiration date. Check your seat for the date of manufacture and check your manual for the expiration time. It's usually around 6-8 years. 

I read and talk about car seats all day. I am waiting on the CPST course to start. I care. I have experience. I know what I'm talking about. If I don't know an answer, I have some of the best CPSTs in the country that I can ask anything to and get that answer. Please get your car seats check by a CPST. They know what they are doing and will make your children as safe as possible. 

Here are a few links that I would love for you to check out. Get informed. Know and do what is best for your child. 



Monday, September 5, 2011

Failure. Of the temporary kind.

alternate titles: 
"The Devil is a Jerk"
"I want to Punch a Wall"
"The hate the *#&$^!&# Devil with Every Ounce of My Being"
"Thank God for Good Friends that say Yelling & Screaming is Okay"

You all know we are on the road to fostering, right? Well? That road has just hit a detour. I haven't posted much about it, because we just weren't sure, but after discussing with the director of the agency, we know that we don't have another option. 

We live in an old house. We knew that certain things needed to be done before we could get certified. We've been working on getting these things done for a long time. Well, we were told last week that WAY more than expected has to be done. Like 10-20 grand more. 

In the last 3 weeks we have found out that we aren't "updating" our roof, we are now replacing the entire thing. We aren't just putting new floors down, we are replacing the subfloor and fixing the foundation. We aren't hanging 2 new doors, we are ripping out the trim of 4 and replacing them all. The bathroom reno we've been doing? It's on hold until the floor is fixed. 

After talking to the director and praying over the situation we have decided its best to wait until the next session to get certified. We can't pass certification without all of these things done.

Now I'm going to go cry some more. 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Tyler's vlog

I convinced him. Ha! A few things. You know I have to give a disclaimer! Haha!
First, he literally just woke up. As in, he popped out of bed and I said "you wanna do a vlog? Brad did it! You have to!" haha! Second, I don't think his accent shows very well. But it's still funny. Third, this is his second try. Because sometimes he has a potty mouth. And last, it's ridiculous.

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Accent Vlog time, yo

Hi y'all! Long time, no see! Ive got to get our vacation pictures up here, but am still sorting through them! We had a blast, though! For now, I'm going to do the accent vlog that is going around. Jenna has it all on her blog, so go over there to see everyone else's!

Word of warning. Ive got a cold and it's early. I look and sound rough! Also, I just recorded and uploaded, so Im acting a fool in part. Haha! No editing. Obviously. Please forgive me. :) And I say umm. a lot.

The instructions are to say these words:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught


And answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?

What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?

What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?

What do you call gym shoes?

What do you say to address a group of people?

What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?

What do you call your grandparents?

What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?

What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?

What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

And I totally just realized I forgot to say "sure" oops!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone