The Annual - Rear Facing Rocks!

Once again, here I am encouraging all you parents out there to take a few mintues to seriously think about car seat safety. It's something that we often dismiss, but in just a matter of seconds our lives and/or the lives of our children could be drastically changed by a car accident. The single greatest thing you can do to maximize the safety of kids in the car is keep them rear-facing as long as possible. Previously, most convertible car seats could hold a child up to 35lbs in the rear facing position. However, three new carseat companies are paving the way and there are now 3 models that can hold children up to 40lbs. This easily enables parents to keep their kids rearfacing into the preschool years....a fantastic safety benefit.




Ninja rides in a Sunshine Kids Radian 80. It holds children up to 40lbs rear facing. He is 4 years, 9 months old and weighs 37lbs. I chose this particular seat over the others because it has a very low profile design and gives him the most leg room. For the record, bent legs or legs touching the backseat IS NOT a safety hazard, not is it generally uncomfortable for children. They are much more flexible than and adults and usually prefer to sit with their legs close to their body anyway.



Gambit rides in a Sunshine Kids Radian XT. It also holds up to 40lbs rear facing, though Gambit is 31lbs and 2 years, 11 months old. I chose this seat for the same reasons as Ninja's, but also for the added protection the "wings" give. They help protect the vulnerable head in side impact crashes.

Safe and snug in their rear facing seats. Please watch this video for some great info and pictures of children who comfortably ride rear facing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvyIv9QVRBE&feature=player_embedded

And just for fun....What I do when Gambit falls asleep and I REALLY don't want him to wake up:

Evolution of a Cupcake

The boys and I drove up to Spokane with Mammie (Antonio's mother) to spend time with her side of the family. Mammie stayed with Aunt Julie to help her with the first round of chemo, and the boys and I had a wonderful time staying with Aunt Diane and Uncle Jeff. Cousin Laura, Ryan, and Pirate friend (Mallory) were also there. The boys loved playing with everyone and running around with Cluny in the big backyard. We had a picnic at the park with most of the family and Gambit had a little fun digging into the cupcake.

Preschool Graduation

Ninja had a great time at preschool this past school year. He had so much fun making friends and learning.

Ninja with Miss Ellen. The entire year he called her "Miss Melon" and she thought it was so cute. She wouldn't let me correct him.

Miss Bridget and Ninja

Ninja and his best friend Wolfgang. Wolfie was also our neighbor and the boys would play together almost every day. Sadly, Wolfie and his family moved recently.

Ninja was less than thrilled to be a part of the graduation ceremonies. He would not go up when they called his name and refused to wear his hat that he had made.

Family Camping at the Beach

In mid-June, Antonio and I took the boys to the beach to camp for one night. I'm not a big camper, especially when it rains all night (I slept in the car), but we had a great time hanging out as a family.

Father/Son's campout - 2009

Antonio took the boys on the annual Father/Son campout with our stake. They boys had fun (even though Gambit got dirt thrown in his face) and Mrs. Mom had fun with the house to herself for a night.

Let's hear a collective..."Awwww"

Sleep is for the weak. I'm a proud weakling.

I'm a natural night owl. No matter how much sleep I got the night before, my body just goes wide awake at about 10pm. It would be great for me if I could sleep from 2am-10am. But, other demands keep on demanding that I arise at 7:30am. I don't function well for the first few hours. I'm groggy, sleepy, grumpy, and hungry, though I usually am so busy in the mornings taking care of everyone else or trying so hard not to fall asleep on my living room floor that I forget to eat breakfast. So here I am, at just after midnight, blogging away.

What I've also decided is that I am not a naturally happy person. Not to say that I'm a walking pessimist. On the contrary, I think I have a pretty good knack for being relatively optimistic. But I don't have that "happy" personality. The first person that comes to my mind is my sister-in-law Aunt Bee. She is just so happy. All the time. Maybe it's her silly little laugh that just transports you to the carefree days of childhood, or the way she embraces and enjoys life with all the wonderful and tragic things that are bound to happen. Whatever her secret is, I used to be super jealous. I always wanted to be like that instead of my reality of relying on a hefty dose of Prozac just to keep me from jumping out the window. (kidding, sort of) Then I finally chose to be okay that I'm not the bubbly, giggly girl. I'm quite satisfied with my life and what I have made of it. So instead of being happy, I'm happy just being content.

On another note, I had a wonderful and powerful experience in receiving some personal revelation recently. As I'm still processing the result of said experience, I'm not ready to blog about it yet. But I do want to say that I love Jesus! Love Him. And even though the things I am meant to do in my life might be scary, and even though I might not want to do them at all, I will because I love and trust Him. And that alone is enough to carry me through.