Extended Rear Facing

By the law, every child has to be at least 1 year AND 20 pounds to be able to turn around to forward-facing. However, I, along with many many other mothers, want to extend it to 2 years old AND 35 pounds. We all feel that at 1 year old and 20 pounds is too young and too little. We want to raise awareness about the safety of the carseat. I have collected some good information and I would like to share with all of you.

Copied and pasted from baby-gaga.com

What seat should I use?
Infants:
~ Always use a rear facing seat. The bare minimum to turn a child forward facing is 1 year AND 20 pounds. Check your seat however, they all have different height and weight minimums to turn forward. You MUST follow the manufacturers instructions, failure to do so can result the seat not working properly because it has not been tested for anything under/over these limits.
~ You should not use products that did not come with the seat. Bundle me's, strap covers and head huggers are considered aftermarket products. They are not crash tested, contrary to what the package says, there is no standards they have to adhere to. Like snowsuits and puffy jackets, these products can give the illusion of a tight harness. In a crash, they can compress and make the straps too loose.

Toddlers:
~ Rear facing as long as your convertible allows is 5 times safer than turning forward facing right at 1 year AND 20 pounds. Up until their spinal bones fully ossify between age 3 and 6, young children are at significantly increased risk of spinal injuries, possibly leading to paralysis or even death, when forward facing in a vehicle. Research has also shown rear facing to offer significantly improved protection over forward facing in side-impact accidents.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended rear facing to the limits since 2002.
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics%3b109/3/550

More information on rear facing and why it is safer:
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx
http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about347329.html
http://www.joelsjourney.org/index.html


PLEASE DO WATCH THESE VIDEOS!!!











But, my child's feet are touching the vehicle's seat, isn't this dangerous/uncomfortable?
~ There are no documented cases of a child's legs breaking from touching the seat while rear facing.
~ Kids are notoriously bendy, they can sit indian style, frog style, hang their legs over the side or put them up the seat back. What looks uncomfortable to us, is not for them.
Photos of older kids, riding comfortably rear facing:
http://www.freewebs.com/sacredjourneys/apps/photos/album.jsp?albumID=3103947

REMEMBER: EVERY step "up" in car seats is actually a step down in safety.

~ If you do decide to turn your toddler forward facing, make sure to still follow the basic rules listed above. You can also use the top tether anchor to help reduce head excursion(flying forward) in a crash.
~ A forward facing seat is outgrown by 2 factors, when the child has hit the weight limit, or when their shoulders go above the top harness slot. Most seats are outgrown by height first.




Here's my little Leilany STILL rear facing!

Catching up!

Wow I have not written anything in so long! I dont have much of time to type everything I am on my bed right now with Tally rolling all over and Leilany napping in her crib who is about to wake up any time now! I will just try to think and try to not to miss anything while I am typing


Lets see,

My brother, Nathan, is officially a missionary now. He reported to MTC on Feb 4th and then went into the mission field on February 25th in Mississippi.

I have finally went back to school. I started my classes back in Janurary. I cant wait to get my degree!

I got my macbook! I am so exicted! Now it would be so much easier for me to keep up with my schoolwork while I am at work!

Brady got a job! It is not the best job ever but at least its something.

Brady is working on enrolling into a college right now, he just has few obstacles he has to overcome.

Tallulah finally got her first tooth. She can pretty much grab everything she could now. She likes to touch her parents' faces. Its so sweet!

Leilany now can climb out of her crib. She is such a little monkey! Her hair is now long enough to make pigtails I was so excited when I did her very first ones!

I will try to keep up as much as I can.

i made something!

deleted....

I know it has been a long time since I made a post. We just moved to Elk Grove, California and we are still settling down. Plus there are holidays so we have been busy. The move went smoothly. We traveled from Provo, Utah to Elk Grove without any problems. I spent the whole day on my birthday unpacking. We went out job searching the very next day. I applied at S.T.E.P. agency (Strategics to Enpower People) and I got a job there 3 weeks later just after Thanksgiving. You can go to www.stepagency.com if you are curious about the company. I'm so glad that I got a job just in time for Christmas. I was so afraid that I wont be able to have Christmas for my girls this year. I works from 9 to 3 Mon to Fri. Brady got a job offer yesterday so he went in today and applied so hopefully he will get a call back from that company soon.

Leilany and Tallulah are so happy to be with their aunt and uncles again. Leilany just loves her uncle, Zack so much! Sometimes she would choose Zack over me and Brady! Tallulah is doing so good. She finally able to roll over from back to tummy and from tummy to back. She prefer to sleep on her stomach at nights even when I put her on her back she would roll over to her tummy right away. Tallulah just started using her Jumparoo and loves it! Leilany is doing good as well. She has been signing pretty well. Her new words in sign language are apple and banana. Almost every night Leilany would request a bath. Its her favorite activity, I dont have to conivence her to take a bath.

Heres some pictures











My brother, Nathan, recently got his mission calling to Jackson, Mississippii and he will be leaving on Feb 4th. I cant believe he is leaving so soon!

Halloween

it has been a long and busy weekend! Halloween was great Leilany and Tallulah are so cute in their costumes. They got to spend the night at their grandmother's house that night and they came home next day passed out all tired from playing with their cousin, Michaela and hanging out with everyone at the house.

here are some pictures from Halloween


Tallulah with her cousin Milo they are only 2 days apart!
Leilany with her cousin Michaela

Kissed by Aunt Chelsea!

Tallulah in her bunny costume!

Just for Fun

I was bored other day and decided to edit some pictures here some of those I made

Moving to California!

We will be moving to Elk Grove, California on the weekend of November 7th! We are very excited to start this new adventure with our girls. We cant wait to be with our family again.

Many of you have asked why we are going to California and why California? I just have thought about it for so long and I kept getting signs that tells me its time to move. I just felt its right thing to do. I have so many reasons to move and Im not going to name it all on here.

We want to thank to all of those who supports us about the moving.