Guess What?

Hannah is going to be a.......


I just found out early this week, while Dan was out of town, and I told him by having Hannah wear this shirt to pick him up at the airport on Tuesday night. Didn't take him long to figure it out either. I just told Hannah to tell Daddy to look at her new shirt. We are very excited and expect this little one to make an appearance around the end of June 2009. I will have an exact due date in a few weeks. Keep checking back for updates.

Halloween pics coming soon...

Fun with characters

Last Saturday, Hannah and I went to see Curious George at Barnes N Noble. She really enjoyed seeing George while stories were being read about him. After story time, we got to take pictures with George. At first, Hannah would only sit on the edge of the reading area and wave at George.
She finally asked me to go up with her for a picture.

Today (this Saturday), Daddy, Hannah and I went to see Bob and Larry from the VeggieTales at Lifeway Bookstore. Hannah had a great time with them and even gave them hugs and kisses.

While Bob and Larry got a break, we were surprised by the Chick Fil A cow! Hannah saw him Friday night at the Westland High School football game also. She really like the cow too.
I forgot to add that during Bob and Larry's break, we were eating nuggets that Chick Fil A brought and while Hannah had a mouth full of food, the cow walks up, Hannah sees him and yells "Mommy, moo cow!" and spits her chewed pieces of chicken and saliva ALL.OVER.ME. That part was great! At least Dan was amused.

Hannah quotes

When we told her the plan for the evening, Hannah replied excitedly, "OH, OK, Great!".

When putting on her shoes today she insisted she do it herself, "I do it!", then when she was successful said, "SEE?!" (with that smart alack look on her face - some of you know the one).

Just a few minutes ago she walked up to me randomly and just said, "I love you Mommy". Every time I would reply, she would repeat it (with her really sweet look and a crooked smile). It really made my day!

I love this little girl so much, she melts my heart, even after driving me nuts so much.

Ok, back to add more stuff.

While I was cooking tonight, she asked if I was cooking potatoes, I replied "yes" and she said "Ok, great, woo hoo!" Maybe her Daddy told her to praise me when I attempt to cook...ha.ha.

Now she's adding the woo hoo to everything. I can't believe the change in her attitude when gets a full nap during the day. She is being so pleasant.

We've had a really great day and all this funny talk is really making me laugh.

WOW!

This is why I keep Hannah rear-facing! This is a link to a great blog written by a grandfather:
http://forum.carseatdata.org/convertible-seats/1827-rear-facing-is-best-true-story.html

His grandson was recently involved in a collision and suffered severe injuries that could have been avoided if he were rear-facing. His blog really breaks it all down and gives great information and links. He asked us all on car-seat.org to spread his story and the rear-facing message. I felt strongly that I should. I downloaded his before and after pics so that readers of my blog can see without having to register at the other site.

This is Joel before his accident:

This is Joel after:
He can wiggle his fingers and toes, but cannot raise his arms. He is undergoing severe physical therapy for head, brain, and spinal injuries.

Some great points from the blog and links:

Car accidents are the #1 KILLER of all children. Greater than all childhood accidents combined.

Children under the age of 2 years are 75% less likely to die or sustain serious injury when they are in a rear-facing seat. This finding was true regardless of direction of the crash, even those crashes with side impact, which typically are the most severe.
Why? Because a child's head is 25% of their body weight. When their heads fly forward in an accident, there spinal cord can only stretch 1/4 of an inch while there vertebrae can stretch much further. This leads to internal decapitation.

There has never been a reported case of a broken leg caused by rear-facing. Even if there were, a cast is better than a HALO (like the one Joel is wearing).



I just read this blog tonight while surfing through my car-seat forums (yes, I read car seat forums). It was too touching not to share. This is a cause that is close to my heart and one that I wish got more attention from Doctors, Paramedics, and lawmakers. In countries where children rear-face the longest amount of time, the death rate from auto accidents are the lowest. In our country, where our children rear-face the shortest amount of time, the death rate from auto accidents are the highest.

We have to change our attitudes about our children when it comes to the most dangerous activity we participate in on a daily basis. We also have to stop being worried about how fast our children will "grow up" and move on to the next step. It permeates every aspect of our lives, but the car is one place that it does not belong. Every step "up" in car seat is a step down in safety.
Rear-facing is safer than forward-facing.
Harness is safer than booster.
High back booster is safer than no back booster.
No back booster is safer than seat belt until a child passes the 5 Step Test.
These are milestones that we should not be in a hurry for our children to reach and we certainly shouldn't rush into the next step before our children are ready. The results can be deadly.

Here is my disclamer: I am aware that there are parents who make the choice to forward-face their children after knowing the facts, and that is their parental decision to make. I'm sure I make many parental decisions others would disagree with. However, most parents (in the general US population) are not aware of the facts and blindly trust that lawmakers and Doctors know best, when in fact, it is just too inconvenient to change these archaic laws. This is what I am hoping to change. More awareness is always a good thing!