Extended rear-facing

I have been thinking a lot lately about extended rear-facing for children while riding in a car. A friend of mine is an expert when it comes to car seats and she's the first one who told me about the safety of extended rear-facing and the danger with turning your kid forward facing too soon. I watched a video of a kid in america whose mom turned him forward facing at a year old, they got in a accident and the kid broke his neck and has to have one of those neck frame things for the rest of his life. The video was made by the little boys grandparents who said they wished they had known to keep him rear facing as he would not have broken his neck if he was rear facing.

So I began researching rear facing and rear facing carseats. Oddly, Britain doesn't tell you about extended rear-facing which I find highly annoying. The company Britax (which are my favorite carseat brand) make rear facing seats with a 55lb limit in Sweden yet they don't make them for Britain or even mention the danger of turning your kid forward facing too soon. They are supposed to be rear facing until atleast 3yrs old. Micahs current seat is made by Britax and has a rear facing limit of 28lbs! He weighs that now and he's not even 2 yet. They don't even make rear facing carseats in Britain that will do up to 3-4yrs old. So it looks like I'll have to get a Swedish one. And this next baby will be rear facing as long as possible.

Here is a great website about extended rear facing if anyone is interested.
http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/

And here is the link to the video of the little boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8

My wonderful husband!!

My wonderful husband is 30 today!! I just want to post about him cuz he's pretty special. We have been married for 5 1/2yrs now. And what an amazing 5 1/2yrs it's been!! I love my hubby bcuz he is the only person in this world that I can truly trust. He has always loved me no matter what, with all my faults and failings, with all my attitudes and grumpiness. He encourages me, challenges me, tells me the truth, forgives me when I'm horrible to him. He is a great father, he loves his kids more than anything, he is super supportive of breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping and all of my birth choices. He is my best friend and I love him more than anything. Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!!!

Poor babies!

This is totally going to be a rant, but seeing as it's my blog I'm allowed it...LOL.

Why do people feel the need to follow this "Baby wise" crap. It's just not natural at all. Forcing a baby onto YOUR schedule is rediculous. Why have a baby if you are just going to reject it's cries bcuz it doesn't fit in with YOUR schedule. A baby cries bcuz it's hungry, logical answer is to feed them. Baby cries because it's tired, logical answer is to get them to sleep, not leave them in a crib to cry on their own. How traumatizing for the poor wee toot. Sometimes a baby just wants the comfort of its mother but oh wait a minute that doesn't fit into YOUR schedule. And why the heck do people think that they must have a newborn sleeping through the night. It's a freaking baby for crying out loud, they feed often, they have tiny stomachs that don't necessarily fit into our schedules of feeding. Why have a baby if you are just going to try to fit it around YOU. The whole point of mothering a baby is meeting their needs, not them meeting yours. Get a grip people! I just feel so sad for all the babies that have to cry alone in their beds, that have to cry in hunger bcuz it hasn't been 3 or 4 hours yet, that don't get held as much by their parents bcuz advice is not to spoil them. IT IS A BABY!!!!

And someone made the comment that "a baby feels more secure when you set boundaries and limits". What a load of bull!! A baby feels secure when it's needs are met by its loving and nurturing mother and father. How can neglecting them and putting them on an un-natural schedule make them feel secure? How can leaving them to cry alone make them feel secure? How can not feeding them when they are hungry make them feel secure? How can not meeting their every need make them feel secure??? They are babies for goodness sake! A baby communicates its needs by crying, and we as mothers are supposed to meet those needs. Just let a baby be a BABY for crying out loud!

Teaching them God's Word!

I popped over to a blog today written by a lady that I know from another site. She was writing about how she teaches her children out of the Bible daily and just gave an encouraging word to other mothers to take time out of the day to teach your children God's Word. That's something I've been lacking. I teach Abby memory verses and tell her about God often and pray together often, but rarely do I pull out the Bible and actually read it to her. So I stand challenged and rebuked for not doing it, and I'm glad that I stopped by that blog. So I immediately pulled out my Bible and read a little of the story of Hannah to Abby and she loved it. She is now sitting with her little Bible asking why Hannah was sad and telling me that Hannah prayed to God and God gave her a baby. Too cute! So this is the start of me getting my priorities right.

Movement!!

I have been feeling lots of movement from the baby lately!!! Woohoo!! I felt lots of movement throughout the day yesterday, and I've been feeling it this morning. I love this stage of pregnancy. I love feeling the kicks and movement and knowing there is a little baby being created in there! Amazing! My big U/S is in a week and a half and I can't wait to see baby again.

Abby has now changed her mind and wants a boy. A friend of mine popped around the other day with her newborn baby boy and Abby was so taken with him. She sat and looked at him nearly the whole time. And now she tells me she wants a baby boy. I know she is going to be excited whether it's a boy or girl. She's gonna be mommys big helper. I can't wait to hold a newborn again, breastfeed a newborn, and babywear a newborn. I love newborns:)

Names names!

R and I finally talked about names last night. We were having a blast with it, making each other laugh with the names we were coming up with. We were being a bit silly though...lol. But honestly, this kid isn't going to have a name at the rate we are going. We have come up with 2 boys names that we really like and 1 girls name, but I'm not 100% on either of them. We are just far too picky. The names I like best, R doesn't, and vice versa. It's so hard to agree on a name. We'll have to come up with something though as this kid can't be nameless for the rest of his/her life....lol.

Abby had her first dance class today and it was wonderful. I was standing there watching her and it just made my heart swell with joy and love to see her enjoying herself and doing all the actions. She lost her focus a few times and wanted to run around the room, but I think the more she goes the more she'll pay attention.

I made my first slow cooker meal ever! It's great to chuck stuff in the slow cooker in the morning and by supper time you have a lovely meal. Takes the 4 o'clock stress out. The slow cooker was probably one of the best buys I've made in a while. I think it will really benefit our family. Anyway, I made Salsa Chicken and Kidney Bean soup thanks to a recipe I found online. It was yummy! I had two bowls and am stuffed. Big thumbs up to my slow cooker though, I think I'm in love...lol.

16 wks pg today!

I'm 16wks pregnant today!! Can't believe it's going so fast. I woke up this morning and my belly was showing from underneath from shirt and Micah started to pet my belly and said "Baby". Then Abby said "I want to kiss her" (she thinks it's a girl) and gave my belly a kiss and cuddle. Then Micah did the same. It was a wonderful start to my day.

I had a midwife appt today. Just routine bloods and stuff. I declined the spina bifida and down syndrome screening as I see no point in me getting it. I wouldn't abort the baby if it did have one of those conditions anyway so what's the point in maybe getting a letter that will just make me worry. That happened to a friend of mine, she got a letter saying that her baby was at risk for spina bifida and she went for a scan and the baby was fine. So I told the midwife, "What's the point in getting the bloods taken to determine if you are at risk for these conditions, when at your 20wk scan they can tell the same thing but more detailed." She said that the only reason why they test for it at 16wks is to give people the opportunity to abort their babies if their baby does have one of these conditions. So yeah I declined it as I wouldn't kill my baby just because it wasn't perfectly healthy. Anyway, we heard the heartbeat which was beating really fast! And my midwife said that Abby can come next time and that she will let Abby help out and stuff. Abby will be so excited as she was asking me all day if she could come with me today, but since I was getting blood taken I told her no. But atleast she can come next time:)

Abby starts dance classes next week. She is super excited. She is going to have so much fun. Well, I better run as I'm off to the grocery store:)

And I'm in the blogging world!

I have been meaning to set up a blog for a while now but keep putting it off. So finally I did it. I can't wait to get "stuck in"!