A Rant - Car Seats

You know what drives me absolutely crazy?  When parents don't take the time (which is like 5 seconds) to properly restrain their kids in their car seats.  Seriously people, they have made it so simple to do and give pretty clear instructions.  Their straps should not be all twisted nor should they be falling off their shoulder.  The chest buckle?  It should be at nipple line folks, not down at their belly button.  Why do it up at all if it's going to be way down there?  It can't do its job and restrain your kid when it's way down there.
I can't think of a time when you would want to be most careful and ensure they are secure then when you are driving.  Another thing (this is more prevalent in infant seats), the straps should be tight.  Tight as in, you shouldn't be able to slip two fingers under the straps.  Yes, it looks really tight but guess what?  That's the point!  For older kids, if they are telling you it's too tight, that probably means it's snug like it should be.
I have 3 kids.  I know that sometimes life gets busy and you can have a lot on your mind but if you ask me, there is no excuse.  These are your children folks.  Your precious cargo.  The little people you claim to love with all your heart and soul and could never live without. Take the time (even if it will make you late) to make sure they are in their seats properly.  This isn't rocket science.

Can you see what is wrong here?  Can you see how this baby isn't even almost restrained as he should be?  Nothing about how he is restrained in his car seat would be of any help to him should there be a collision.  Grinds my gears like you wouldn't believe.

And this....

What the hell?  How could one look at this and say, "Ok,  You are all tied up and safe to go."  I get that they can be tricky in the winter with big, bulky coats but I have a simple solution.  If you can't do the straps securely, take their coat off.  In fact, this is recommended.  Cars have heat.  Cover them with a blanket.  I know you can work with a winter coat in a car seat.  I'm not a rookie.  I have 3 kids.  I know you can work around it.

I try not to be judgmental when it comes to parenting because I know how hard it can be.  I know how stressful it is.  I know that we don't all parent the same and different things work for different people.  I judge this.  When I see your kid in their car seat like this, I'm judging because I don't think there is any excuse.

I might get some flack for writing this but so be it.  It's my blog.  I can write what I want. 

Day Family Pictures 2012

This past June my side of my family got together for family pictures.  We hadn't updated our family pictures is over 3 years so it was time. Between mine and my sisters work schedules, early June is when we were able to all get together.
Getting together 7 adults and 6 kids aged 2-15 is no small task.  Reed was a mess, as expected.  I warned them all not to expect much from him.  He did not fail to perform! Although it was super stressful at the time, when I look at him in the pictures, I laugh because some of them are actually quite funny. 

Surprise!

Well hello there!  It's been a while.  No excuse really.  I often think of something to write about but then by the time I find the time to sit down and write it's either gone or I get lost in Pinterest.  Never heard of Pinterest?  Oh my!  Might I suggest you check it out.  Beware - it can be a time sucker.  You may even need a Pintervention.  If you require an invite, just let me know and I will be sure to send you one.
A little update on the kids:
Jack is doing very well.  He was student of the month for his class in January.  I was so proud of him.  He was quite humble about it.  He mentioned it to me in passing the day after he got his award.  He didn't even bring home his certificate for almost a week.  I had to remind him to be proud of himself.

Jack also got his first real pet for his birthday courtesy of his Auntie Jody.  By real pet I mean, not a fish.  He now has a pet Hamster.  He named him George.  I wasn't really too crazy about having a pet rodent and I'm not the least bit fond of handling him but he is growing on me.  He is kind of cute.  Jack really likes him.  I have learned that when he is out in his exercise ball that he needs constant supervision.  Reed taught me this lesson pretty quick after picking him up in it and dropping him.  I have never felt so bad for a little creature before.  It really scared him.

Oliver is also doing well.  He has adjusted to going to school nicely.  It wasn't like this at first but he has settled quite nicely and is learning quickly.  I find it really sweet to watch him make and play with friends at school.  He is quite the social little guy.  It really makes me happy to see that he talks to and tries to play with the boy with special needs in his class.  Despite the fact this boy has very limited language, Oliver approaches him most morning to say hello and ask him to play.  He never plays because he stays next to his Mom or his EA until it's time to line up and go inside but Oliver continues to do it most mornings.  Bless his heart.

Reed.  Reed is now 21 months.  It hurts to write that.  Reed has only recently started walking.  Recently being within the last two months.  When he wasn't walking at his 18 month check up, I was a little concerned.  He took his first step within 2 weeks of his check up and by the beginning/middle of January, he decided to start walking.  Now 2 months later, you would never know he was lagging behind.
Reed is a sweet, smiley and happy boy.  He likes to wreak havoc and get into everything and anything his brothers are doing.
Reed is behind in speech.  What do I mean by behind you ask?  He doesn't talk.  At all.  He says maybe 3 words (mom, sit, said ) and these have been the same 3 words for a few months now.  He does make other sounds (ba, da, ja) and he babbles A LOT but he doesn't actually have any distinguishable words.  I'm almost concerned about this, not quite yet though.  Jack and Oliver didn't really talk until after they turned 2 but they did have other words they used (ball, cup, milk, up, please, thank you).  In his own time I suppose.
This is how the kids have been over the past couple of months.  They are growing fast.  I would like it if they slowed down just a little.  This life stuff is going by much too fast and I'd like to bottle them up right now so they stay young and sweet forever!

Gelli-Baff

For Christmas last year Jack and Oliver got some Gelli Baff.  It's a product that turns your bath water into gel and it comes with a dissolver.  I thought it looked pretty neat.  Yesterday for the first time, Jack asked to have a bath with it.  I had no idea what 40L of water is in the bathtub.  I eyeballed it.  I figured it couldn't be very much.  I think I made a pretty good estimate. 

Jack hated it from the second he stepped foot in it.  He didn't want to sit down but I managed to get him too.  I scooped some up to rub on him and he was completely put off.  He was all "get it off me!  get it off of me!" Oliver thought it was pretty neat until he realized Jack didn't think so and then that was it for him too! 

Thumb Sucking

Reed is a thumb sucker.  He always has been.  He would never take a pacifier.  I tried.  I would have preferred that he take a pacifier because I've been wondering how I would get him to stop sucking his thumb.  You can't exactly take it away.
I haven't minded that he sucks his thumb.  He was pretty much only sucking it when he is tired or is in bed.  I've noticed this past week that he's been sucking it more often.
Jack and Oliver both used a pacifier.  I took it away from them when they started to walk.  Jack was just over 17 months, Oliver was 14 months old.  Why when they started to walk?  Because to me, you aren't a baby anymore if you are walking and I'm not going to lie, nothing annoys me more than seeing a toddler walk around with a pacifier in their mouth.  It is one of my biggest pet peeves.
Reed at 15 months, has just started to pull to stand and is starting to cruise the furniture.  This to me, is the time to start weaning.  The problem is, you can't wean something that is attached.  At least with the pacifier you can go from having it during the day, to nap/bedtime only, to night time only to not at all.
Today, I decided it was time to try to nip the thumb sucking.  I'm using Ecrinal Bitter Nail Polish.  It is made to deter people from biting their nails.  It can also be used to deter toddlers from thumb sucking.  The package does say safe for children 30 months and over but I'm not waiting until Reed is 2.5.

I've always found it cute that he sucks his thumb.  The bigger and older he gets, the less cute I think it is.  I do know that my sister used it with my niece and it only took about 3 days before she stopped sucking her thumb.  I'm hoping it will be that short of an amount of time for Reed too, if it works at all.  A girl can hope, right?
Do any of you have experience with thumb sucking?  How long did your kid(s) suck their thumb?  How did you get them to stop or did they stop on their own? 

Breathing A Big Sigh of Relief

Back in January Jack had gotten sick.  He had made a complaint about his hip being sore.  Upon examination, I noticed he had a lump on his left upper thigh.  It was about the length of a lemon.  It was hard and tender to touch.  With that, we hopped in the car and went to the clinic.  The Drs response there was "well that's not normal, is it?"  and sent us for an x-ray with went smoothly and we scheduled an appt for an ultrasound.  That appt did not go very well.  Jack was freaked right now.  He was scared,  uncooperative, completely irrational.  She told me she could get two assistants to come and restrain him.  I told her to do whatever it is she needed to do and I left the room.  I could not sit there and witness that.  I sat in the little waiting room, Reed with me and I cried.  I felt horrible.  I felt so helpless.  He didn't end up needing to be restrained but the ultrasound didn't show anything.  We were referred to a pediatrician.  I knew this pediatrician from working in the group home and he is also the pediatrician at work in the children's clinic.  He was not concerned.  He figured Jack had probably injured himself and it was healing.  Although it had shrunk a lot in size, you could tell there was something still there.  It didn't look right.  It didn't feel right.  It didn't bother him.  That is, until he got sick again.  Whenever he would get sick or have a fever it would swell and be tender to touch.  The Dr decided to send us for another ultrasound.  He warned if it didn't show anything he would want Jack to have an MRI.  I was really nervous about his having this other ultrasound done.  He was really, really good though.  No drama.  No tears.  He was a big, brave boy.  Despite this, the test was inconclusive.  This meant an MRI would be necessary.  He had his MRI Wednesday.  He was again really, really, really good.  He was very brave.  He did all that was asked of him.  Until it was sprung on me that there was a very big chance that they would need to give Jack some contrasting solution and this would be done with a needle.  He didn't like that very much.  Much to the technician's embarrassement, because Jack moved and resisted so much, she wasn't able to give him enough solution and would need to give him another
needle.  I went into the room for that.  I hugged him, and comforted him until he had calmed down and semi-agreed to let them give him another needle.  A bribe with a trip to the toy store helped.  Just sayin'...He may or may not have a new Lego Ninjago toy. 
The doctor's office called today with the results.  She named it something but I couldn't tell you what for the life of me.  All I heard was "it isn't anything that you need to worry about.  You can choose to have it surgically removed.  This is something to discuss with the Doctor."  Good enough for me!  I will see the doctor at the beginning of September for Reed's well-baby check up so I will discuss it with him then.
My understanding is that it is soft, fatty tissue.  All I really care about is that it isn't anything serious.  Let's face it, all kinds of scenarios were playing through my head.  That is enough of the game "what is freakishly going on in my kids body?

Back to Work

It's been two full weeks now since I've gone back to work and the transition couldn't have gone more smoothly.  It of course helps we only need someone to watch the kids one day a week.  We have been able to work it out so Shawn is home with the kids two of the days I work.  This really helps keep down the cost of daycare.  We have been lucky enough to find someone who has recently graduated from ECE to come to our home to look after the boys.  It's way more affordable paying her by the hour then having them in a daycare.  Way less work for me than trying to find a daycare who can take all 3 kids, into the evening, only once a week or on an as needed basis if I want to pick up any shifts at work.  I like her.  The kids seem to like her.  Jack says he likes her and that she is good to them.  She told me she would like to gain more hands on experience.  My house is the perfect place for that.  I've got 3 boys all at different ages and stages and all with very different personalities.
Work has been going well.  I like my job.  I like it's lack of stress.  I like that I don't have to take my work home with me.  I like the hours I work.  I like the pay.  I guess I even like the people I work with.  Although it can get to be a little monotonous at times, overall I enjoy doing my job.  That has really helped with making going back so easy.  I do miss my boys though.  I like when I'm busy at work because it keeps my mind occupied.  It's once I get home that I realize just how much I missed them.  Especially because once I get home, it's time to tuck them into bed.  Then I have to wait until the morning to see them.  I'm glad I get a 3-day weekend every other weekend. 
I'm really grateful that I was able to stay home for the full year with all three of my kids.  I'm also very grateful that I get to spend as much time home with my kids as I do.  My work-family scale is pretty well balanced and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  Life is mostly pretty good right now.  Jack is asking to play a game.  Why do they ask these things of me so early in the morning?  Time to go and get my ass whopped in whatever game he decides to play.  Sadly, I don't have to let Jack win most of the games we play, he can just beat me.