The end is near

I just moved Logan's harness straps to the top hole. It still gives him plenty of room to grow and his seat is good until next August so I have another year plus some but it's sad that he old enough and tall enough that I'll have no choice but to move him to a booster seat. He already sits in one in Daddy's car and he sits there well but I know it's just not as safe. Think I can have the truck/car retrofitted with 5pt harnesses for everyone? LOL

Someone listened!

I look at Craigslist a couple of times a day just to see what's there. I came across an ad for cart covers and car seat covers. If you know me, you know just how passionate I am about car seat safety and car seat covers (aftermarket) are just not safe. They aren't tested with the seat, they void any warranty, they may compress in a crash and they may hinder the seat from working properly.

So I emailed the mom about them. She was really nice and open to links I may have about the dangers of them. I emailed her some info and this and this are what changed her mind. Aftermarket covers are not fire retardant. I know we all want to keep as many chemicals as we can away from our kids but these could help save your child. A fire retardant seat may give you those extra few seconds to get your child out of the car. Think about what would have happened to those seats with a homemade cover. It would have gone up in flames immediately. Thank God no one was actually in this van when this happened. I always feel a bit weird about emailing a complete stranger but in this case I actually did some good. She is pulling the covers from her website and more importantly her own dd's car seat. I'm happy I was able to help!

ETA: Andrea posted a good question in her comment-
So I'm confused, Karlise...are you saying the replacement covers you buy from Britax are bad or just the generic ones people make??? Technically anything you put on your seat yourself is "after market" - I have had to replace the seat cover on the marathon before (the one we no longer have) but I bought a replacement cover from Britax. What's the 411?

The answer is that any covers you buy from the manufacturer (ie. Britax, Graco, etc) of your particular car seat are SAFE. They are tested with that car seat.

The aftermarket products are anything NOT made by your car seat's mfg. This would include homemade and even some "name brand" items you'll find online, Ebay, and even Babies R Us. There are no laws preventing the use of these unfortunately. Other aftermarket products would include anything that didn't come with your seat and wasn't tested with your seat like the cutesy harness strap covers (and even plain ones) you can pick up at any baby store. Anything that you put on the harness or behind your baby/child that did NOT come with the seat or is not made by the manufacturer of your seat is not safe. Did that answer your question?

Stupid People

If I email you and tell you that the carseat you have for sale on Craigslist is expired and that's why I flagged it, do NOT relist it. Is a child's life really worth the $20 you want for the expired seat?! Stupid!

1st day recap

Logan had a very good day. I guess they didn't do a lot but he did bring home a couple of art projects and said he did some reading today and played outside at recess. I had quite a bit of homework with all the forms to sign and papers to read.

When I picked him up today, I went thru the car line. OMG. I'm not sure if I want to do that again. I got there a good 20-25min early and the line was already backed up. People who came later than me, got in line in front of me due to where they were waiting (side streets). I ended up putting a dvd in for Ian to watch since it was taking so long. I think perhaps Bella was watching it too by way of her mirror. ;)

When I finally got to the gates and got Logan, I discovered there's really no where to to pull over and buckle him in. I basically stopped on the grass and anyone behind me just had to go around. I can't believe all these tiny kids aren't in safety seats anymore. There's NO WAY they are big enough for the adult seatbelt.

Logan did tell me he was crying at one point because he didn't want to go to the "back" car line. He wanted to be picked up out front where I had parked this morning. He had some thought in his head that a stranger would take him. I don't know why he was thinking that though and had to explain that his teacher wouldn't let that happen. Since car line was such a bear today, I'm rethinking picking him up over there anyway. I may start picking him up out front. Ugh decisions!!

Other than car line, he had a good day and so did we. Ian only asked about him a couple of times and even napped at our new earlier time. Thanks to Hurricane Fay we don't have school tomorrow so we'll see how Wednesday goes!

I feel sick

This just made me feel so ill. Logan and I were leaving tumbling class tonight and as I was strapping Bella in I happened to look over at the car next to us. Inside was an infant carseat (rear facing only) facing forward! (I don't even know if it was strapped in or not) The family had a 9ish yr old girl, a 2-3yr old boy and maybe a 15mo old girl with them. They put the 15mo old in the carseat and the straps were SOOO freakin' loose! I could have pulled her out without a problem. I couldn't let them go without saying something and if you know me, you know it's not easy for me to talk to strangers but I will if I feel strongly enough about something.

So I said- Excuse me, did you know that's a RF only seat?
"mom"(don't know if she's mom or not): yes I know
Me: (dumbfounded) Those straps are also way too loose. In an accident, she'll fly right out of the seat.
"dad"(looks really old): I'll hold her in.

Ummmkay. You're going to hold her in...right. As he's closing the door on me (bc he obviously doesn't want to listen to me) I told them they could get a Scenera at Walmart for about $40. I went back around to Logan's side so I could buckle him in his carseat and I just want to cry for those kids. There was NO carseat for the 2yr old.

I just can not for the life of me understand how you can pay to be on an All Star Cheer squad (over $1900/yr not including travel expenses and yes, I know she's on a team) plus $40/mo for tumbling classes and NOT BUY A CARSEAT FOR YOUR KIDS. These people did not look like had much money and I'm betting they work the fundraisers to pay for the squad but I don't think there's any excuse for the lack of safety for your kids in the car.

We don't have tumbling class for 2 weeks but I know I'm going to see these people again. Why are people so dumb, ignorant, clueless, (insert word here)? Ugh.

On a good note- there have been no tears the past few practices and Logan's having a lot of fun. We don't go back for 2 weeks since the gym is closed but we'll be back the rest of August and at least part of September. We'll re-evaluate then!

As Requested

Here are some new pics of Bella, including her new carseat and her pretty new headband (minus the flowers).



Her big brothers just love her!

Dreaded day

First, we had another good night. Bella has decided that at 10pm, she'd rather be wide awake than asleep so I just hand her off to dh and he somehow gets her to sleep. I took her sometime after midnight and she slept another 2 hours or so before waking up to nurse. Of course, you know there's a catch. I can't sleep! I'm engorged and sore and sleeping on my back in uncomfortable and sleeping on my side is pretty much out of the question. Oh well, it will get better the next few days.

And now the dreaded part....I have to go buy Logan a booster seat today. :( He won't be using it very often but dh will be driving him to and from school this week and will need a seat in his car. We'll use it for Disney trips too since the Civic will get better gas mileage and there's just no way to fit Logan's Husky in the Civic with 2 other seats. I know he'll be fine but I still don't like the idea. He's so much safer harnessed. So that's what we're hoping to do today. At least I'll get out of the house for a bit. My butt is hurting from sitting in bed or on the couch. LOL Although I did get up and do some laundry yesterday. I'm even going to try Bella is her sling while we're shopping. It will keep all the germy people off of her. ;)

And a new pic from last night...

And this morning...