Choosy Over Car Seats

If I thought messing with 2 car seats was bad enough I will soon be dealing with 3! When Brylie and Katy were infants they were required to ride rear facing until they were a year old and 20 pounds.  The laws have since changed and babies are now required to ride rear facing until they are 2 years old and 35 pounds.  That's a huge difference!  Katy is nearly 4 and is no where near 35 pounds....or 30 pounds for that matter.  Even the small age gap between Brylie and Katy has brought changes to the requirements.  When Brylie was 3 the law said that they could ride in a belt positioning booster so long as they were 30 pounds (Brylie was).  Once Katy turned 3 I was so excited to say so long to the hard to install toddler seat.  However, not only was Katy barely 23 pounds they had also again changed the law.  She would have to be 40 pounds before allowed to ride in a belt positioning booster.  Are you kidding me!?!?!  My little shrimp is almost 4 and hasn't even made the original 30 pound mark.  At this rate she might be going to Kindergarten in a toddler seat.  Since her and Brylie both used the same toddler seat it is fixing to expire (yes car seats have an expiration date on them) so it's time for a new one.

As for Brylie, she is still in her belt positioning booster.  There are 2 kinds of these particular boosters, one with a back and one without.  When we purchased one for Brylie I thought it would be convenient to get one that has a removable back for when she is older.  No that she is a bit older and the belt positioner  is not necessary I'm not 100% sold on her being in a backless booster.  They just don't seem as safe to me or maybe I just don't like the added reminder that she is getting so big.  Either way she has definitely shown her car seat great love and with it a little "wear" and is ready for a new one.  But am I really ready for her to be in a backless booster or do I still enjoy the comfort of her being in something that allows the seat belt to rest exactly where it should?   

Now on to car seat # 3.  With both of the girls I started out in the traditional car seat that inserts into a pre-installed base.  While the convenience was great for trips to Wal-Mart and other "buggy" stores they have of course decided it is no longer safe to place the infant seats in the shopping baskets.  Not only that but realistically I ended up moving on to the rear facing toddler seat by the time they were 4 months old simply because the weight of the infant car seat with an infant just becomes so heavy.  Another plus was that the infant car seats fit perfectly into the stroller without having to wake up a sleeping baby.  Then again, I can probably count on one hand how many times I actually went somewhere when I was needing a stroller with the infant seat.  I'm thinking this time I will just skip the whole infant seat and go straight to a convertible seat that will accommodate a baby from 5-40 pounds rear facing.  Decisions, decisions....

After hours and days of research this is what I think I have decided on:

For the baby I am going to go with the Graco MyRide 65 Convertible Car Seat.  The specs on it:

Graco MyRide 65 Car Seat:

Rear-facing use for a child from 5-40 lbs

Forward-facing use in a harness for a child from 20-65 lbs

Removable infant insert and toddler headrest help keep baby comfy

LATCH equipped with an easy-to-read level indicator for hassle-free installation

5-point, front-adjust harness helps you get baby in and out

Dual cup holders keep drinks within your child's reach

Approved for airplane use

Rigorously crash tested to meet or exceed U. S. safety standards and help reassure safety-conscious parents

SafeSeat Engineering means it was engineered & rigorously crash tested to meet or exceed U. S. safety standard FMVS213: Side Impact tested

EPS, energy absorbing foam for effective impact energy management

Dimensions: 27"L x 20.75"W x 26"H

Weight of seat: 15.66 lbs

So if it's a girl I will go with this one:

and if it's a boy, this one:

For Katy, I have decided on the Cosco High Back Booster.  I love that it has removable harnesses so that if she ever reaches the 40 pound mark I can easily remove them and it will become a belt positioning booster all while continuing to use the latch system.  The specs for it are:

Cosco - High-Back Booster Car Seat, Polka Dot Daisies:

• Forward-facing car seat for children 22-40 lbs
• Belt-positioning booster for children 40-80 lbs
• 5-point harness with up-front adjustment
• Removable cup holder
• 2-position shoulder belt guides 
• LATCH equipped
• Meets or exceeds Federal Safety Standards
• Assembled product weight is 12.5 lbs

 

It looks like this:

Now for Brylie.  I've decided to give up the dream of her forever being small enough to ride in a car seat.  I think the backless booster is the best choice for her.  Since she is constantly going with her friends to the movies and such she definitely needs something that is easy to move from one car to the next.  Her friends are all in a backless as well and it makes her feel grown up and not embarrassed to be in a "baby" seat.  I decided to go with the Graco Backless TurboBooster.  The specs:

Graco - Backless TurboBooster Seat, Groovy:

For children from 40-100 lbs and up to 57" tall

Top rated by leading consumer magazines and publications

Rigorously crash tested to meet or exceed US safety standards

Designed to be the kind of stylish, comfortable seat your child will actually want to ride in

Padded, height-adjustable armrests

Hide-away cup holders

Deluxe seat cushion removes for machine washing

She picked the one with the peace signs:

4 Weeks Pregnant and Drunk

Since I had absolutely NO IDEA which doctor to go with around here I had to call around for advice and do some extensive research.  After talking with a few friends who all have had multiple babies it seemed that they all use the Southeast Texas OB/GYN.  The office is made up of 10 doctors and everyone I talked to said they are all GREAT.  So I went with the "who has the best looking picture/description" method for choosing which one I would use.  After narrowing it down by the best looking candidates I began to read their background.  The winner....the author of The Hurried Women a book all about the stress of being a wife and mom.  What better choice, right?

The first thing I loved is that when I called to get set up as a new patient with Dr. Bost was that his nurse, Emily is the nicest most thorough nurse ever.  She asked me sooo many questions and took time to listen to all of my concerns.  The biggest concern of course was being on my Zoloft.  She that with Zoloft I do not risk harming the baby until I am well into my third trimester.  That was a relief but then she also said that I needed to go ahead and come off of it.  Talk about putting me into a tail spin!   For the first two days of being Zoloft free I felt like my world had turned upside down.  I have spent most of my time crying (over nothing) and my anxiety has soared.  I'm pretty sure I could snap someone in half with a simple glare and I dare anything to drop, make a loud sound, break, or just plain go wrong.  I ended up calling Nurse Emily and begged her to tell me there was light at the end of the tunnel.  She said I would need to be off of it for at least 2 weeks in order for it to be completely out of my system.  At that time if I'm still feeling this way then we can reevaluate and decide where to go from there.  She said there are two options.  The better option would be to give me something I could take only on days I'm having a bad episode day.  The other option would be to put me back on the Zoloft.  Since EVERY day is a bad day, I was really concerned of the harm I could cause to the baby if I ended up having to go back on the Zoloft.  She said that she is sure I have seen all the birth defect advertisements on tv (yes, every day) but that most of them are false accusations.  In fact, she explained to me that I am putting a greater risk on the baby by being stressed out and falling to pieces then I would if I was on the Zoloft and cool as a cucumber.  So right now I have to get through these first 2 weeks of not being on it and then we can see where I'm at.

After reviewing all my previous pregnancy records, including my miscarriage, Nurse Emily called back and said that I would need to come in immediately for blood work that would determine where all my hormone levels were at.  Ugh!  The worse part about being pregnant is all the blood work!  I really am worse than a child when it comes to needles.  But, I was brave and got all my blood drawn without crying.  A few hours after I left the office they called with my results.  My HcG levels were climbing through the roof (definitely pregnant), but my progesterone was very low.  She said that a normal progesterone level is a 20 and mine was a 12.  She explained that this causes the placenta to pull away (exactly why I went into preterm labor with Brylie and was hospitalized followed by bed rest) and can also cause me to miscarry again.  Two things I did not want to hear.  I was immediately classified as a "high risk pregnancy" and they put me on 200mg of Prometrium a progesterone supplement that I have to take twice a day.  This should bring my levels back to where they need to be and help try to prevent me from any complications.

I'm a Google guru so I immediately researched the causes, symptoms, and ways to prevent low progesterone.  I was surprised to find out that symptoms include anxiety, irritability, fatigue, and migraines....hmmm this sounds familiar.  I'm hoping that maybe this supplement will actually balance out all my emotions and prevent me from having to be put back on my Zoloft.  Maybe....

Ok, so now on to the being pregnant and drunk part.  I took my Prometrium just before I went to bed on Wednesday and again after breakfast on Thursday.  About an hour after taking it on Thursday I started to feel really funny.  I started out light headed and dizzy and blamed it on morning sickness.  I then suddenly began to cry (of course for no reason) and couldn't stop.  I decided to just sit down for a few minutes and recollect myself.  After sitting for probably 20 minutes just watching the kiddos play I decided to get up and continue my day.  I stood up and nearly fell over I was so woozy.  My head was spinning and it took everything I had just to walk across the room without running into something.  I tried to shake it off and thought I must be loosing my mind.  There's no way I could feel...drunk!?!  I went about making the kids their snack.  It wasn't until I tried to pour them all their drinks and couldn't even aim into their cups that I knew something was really wrong.  I called my mom who of course told me to call the doctor.  I called the doctor's office and left a message for Emily who called me back in less than 5 minutes (love her).  She said that this was a very rare side effect to the medication and I was one of the lucky ones to have it.  She said it would have to get out of my system before I felt sober again and that the best thing for me to do was to sleep it off.  Sounded good to me considering I could barely keep my drunken eyes open anyways.  The only problem was that I had a house full of daycare kids and their provider was WASTED!  I called Mitchell and he immediately left work to come home and run the newly titled Daddy Daycare.  I slept for nearly 4 hours!  I woke up feeling a lot more stable but had a massive headache.....hangover maybe lol?  Nurse Emily told me that I would have to either take 1 pill an hour before bed and then wake up a few hours before my alarm goes off to take the other (yeah right like that's going to happen) or I can just take them both just before bed.  She said taking them at the same time would make me feel REALLY drunk but I would just sleep through it.  The only problem would be if I had to get up to go to the bathroom I would probably kill myself trying to walk.  I'll take the risk of a broken bone because this momma is NOT getting up at 3:00 in the morning to take drunk pills!

Well, that has been my CRAZY week in a nut shell!  My first appointment with the nurse is on February 7th and then my first appointment with Dr. Bost is on February 20th at which I will be 10 weeks along.  I cannot wait to see my little peanut that is causing me all this drama!

Here's to a New Year and a New Baby

2012 is off to a great start and some great news!  Mitchell and I are expecting baby # 3!  We are so thrilled to become a family of 5!  It is CRAZY to think that we will actually be going back to the baby stage but it will so be worth it!  That in fact was one of the BIGGEST decision makers we had to over come with deciding to try again or not.  The girls are at the perfect age for us to do just about anything we want.  I have always said I wanted a big family and I LOVE how Brylie and Katy are BEST FRIENDS!  If we did have another then I didn't want to wait too much longer so that they could all still be pretty close in age.  Speaking of the girls, they are so super excited!  I was a little hesitant to tell them so early at first but Mitchell and I couldn't stand it.  Katy has since told everyone that she is a big sister!  I of course haven't been to the doctor yet, but we are guessing I will be due around September 17th.  We have soooo much to do this time around since I got rid of just about everything baby when we moved.  I have the swing and exersaucer and that's about it!  I do still have the bathtub, carseat, and boppy and of course some clothes but they are all PINK!  If it's a boy we will really be starting from scratch!  Oh well, it will be fun to go "baby shopping".  First things first, it looks like I will be needing a bigger car!  I can finally get my Minivan I've been eyeballing forever!  I cannot wait to be "that mom" lol!  Many more updates to come!!!!

Our Christmas Vacation

Our 2011 Christmas Vacation was full of exciting events!

 We went to the girls church Christmas performance "Arrest These Merry Gentlemen"

With the lifted Burn Ban we were finally able to have a backyard bonfire...and roast some marshmallows!

We went to Brylie's class Christmas Party (it was pajama day)

 This is Brylie and her BFF Mya

and this is Brylie and her teacher Mrs. Ratcliff...we love her!

 Here we are at Grandma and Grandpa's opening presents

 and now here is our annual trip to the Prairie Lights with my Dad...

We took the girl's ice skating for the first time.  It was a total blast!  Brylie was a natural and little Katy even eventually got the hang of it!  This is one tradition that will definitely be continued!

 Here we are at the annual Chinese Christmas with Mitchell's Dad's side of the family.  I was so excited that my Dad was able to go with us this year.

 Santa (Uncle Jeff) always visits and brings all of the kids a gift.

 Opening gifts Christmas Eve:

 Baking those yummy cookies for Santa:

Grrrr....blog issue lol.  Not sure why it won't let me space out the few pics above, but they are from Christmas morning.

The pictures below are more of all the previous events.  They came from my Grandfather's camera so they are a little misplaced:

Katy and Elfie...she was pretty inseparable from our Elf on the Shelf this year.  In fact she still talks about him...and blames things on him EVERYDAY! 

More Ice Skating:

 Brylie is dying laughing at the fact that Mitchell fell down:

I love these girls!

Well that was our Christmas Vacation in a nut shell!  We had a great time getting to just relax and be a family together without all the hustle of work and school.  We started some new traditions and carried on some old ones!