Child Car Seat Like No Other

After four children and 11 years I finally found a car seat that I am happy with! Infant car seats are so difficult to find, as are toddler seats. Car safety is one of the most important aspects of parenthood. It seems so simple and straight forward but unfortunately it's not. All cars are different. All seat belts are not created equal. A child seat must fit on the car seat itself and you can't change the features of the seat. As I said it took me 11 years to find car child seats that meet the safety needs of my infant and toddler.

Britax is the leader in the car seat industry. They offer a full line of child car seats, convertibles and boosters with revolutionary head safety technology. Britax is the absolute top of the line in car seat safety. Simple to install, safe, comfortable and easy to use are the most common words used to describe the Britax car seat by consumers. The newer Britax models now have a new harness adjuster that changes as your baby grows. Here is my favorite feature "rear facing up to 40 lbs and forward facing up to 70 lbs!!!""

Ok I have rambled about how much I love my Britax, now I should tell you which one I have! There are some choices, however none are a bad choice! I recently purchased the newer Britax model, Britax Marathon 70 Convertible Car Seat, Onyx. Truly amazing seat with side impact protection! This feature sold me before anything else since I have my children next to the rear doors, not the middle (which is the safest place for a child to ride). Another feature which is a safety feature believe it or not is a tangle free harness. Yes this is more of a convenience but parents tend to just buckle their children no matter what state the straps may be in, food and drink stains, tangles and all! A tangled car seat harness is not safe!!! It will not hold your child safely in place during a crash if tangled so this is a great feature.

To add to my excitement about Britax, if that is possible, they are coming out with a new Britax stroller AND a super duper comfortable baby carrier (coming this summer)!!

Signing Fun

Today was a truly amazing, feel good kind of day. My children and I were lucky enough to see Rachel Coleman of Signing Time perform at a local venue. You may have seen Rachel on Public Television or on Nick Jr. Rachel is a true inspiration to families of hearing impaired children or children with other disabilities all over the nation and beyond. Through true life experiences, Rachel along with co-founder Emilie Brown (Rachel's sister), bring the world of sign language alive on stage incorporated with song and vibrant color. It was an amazing feeling, which brought tears to my eyes, to look around the gigantic opera house and see the faces of the children who truly were connecting with Rachel through ASL, American Sign Language. It was almost as if the children didn't even need to see her signing. You could feel the love through her facial expression and body language. And who could forget Rachel's sidekick, Hopkins, the awesome signing, dancing frog (my son's favorite part of the show). All of this along with my friend and her daughter being pulled up on stage during the performance made for a very memorable experience with Rachel and Signing Time.

Crawling Babies

One of the accidents we dread happening to our crawling babies, happened to me yesterday! My toddler left the basement door open and before I could react my 9 month old infant was head over heals about 5 times before he hit the basement floor. I was working at my desk and unfortunately could not get to him in time.

The vision of this fall will unfortunately be with me for longer than I want. He is fine and I think better off than I am. I am lucky enough to have two friends that are ER Nurses and I called them immediately to find out what danger signs and symptoms I need to be looking for. Everything turned out fine but it made me realize I really need to redo all the childproofing I undid when my toddler .
I went on an online shopping spree about a year ago to update all my childproofing needs for crawling babies, soon to be walking babies. The shopping cart was full of everything from gates, to kitchen and bathroom safety items, to video monitors so I could see the baby when he was awake in his room.

During our last pediatrician appointment, the doctor reminded me of safety concerns with crawling babies. I looked at him like he was crazy. Of course I am aware of safety issues, I have four children!! Guess I should have listened.

Keep your baby safe! When they are mobile they can find all kinds of dangerous mischief to get into, many times faster than you can react. Please share your safety tips. I would love to hear what other mom's may be doing to protect their crawling babies.

Looking For Spring! Have You Seen It?

After 5 straight days of rain the kids are ready to snap. It takes a toll on mom as well. It's hard enough to get out and about when you have small children at home and Mother Nature doesn't always help the situation.

Time inside can also work to your advantage, especially if you have "inside tasks" to catch up on. The not so fun stuff like laundry and spring cleaning is probably what most are trying to accomplish when caught indoors. To change things up a bit and make this time a little more exciting, you could plan your strategy for keeping the children busy this summer. Times are tough and most fun summer activities cost money. Make the most of this summer vacation without breaking the bank.

Here's a thought to get you through the wet spring. Trips to the beach can be relaxing for the kids and mom. If your children are old enough, they will most likely play on their own and who knows, maybe you can get an entire magazine article read without interruption. The younger children are just as content with you building a sand castle or digging in the sand. It's always a concern when you have fair skinned children. They want to run and play, or if they are younger crawl and maybe eat some sand! There are some great products this time of year available to help make the trip to the beach more manageable, especially if you are carting more than one child to the beach on your own. As mentioned above, protection from the sun is so important for any skin type. Even children with dark skin need to be protected.

Beach tents are perfect for babies who will be stationary in a seat, a toddler who is on the move and for older children who need shelter to eat lunch or while playing in the sand. The Genji Sports Pop Up Family Beach Tent And Beach Sunshelter
is an easy to assemble pop up tent with great reviews. It will disassemble and fold away just as easy for storage.

Now you have your sun protection, second to the sunscreen that is! More tips to come! Here is to warm, safe and happy beach combing!

Grab the towels, the beach blanket and your cooler and your off and running!

What do you bring to the beach?