Car Seats

My husband was recently pulled over when he was driving our 4-year old son home from preschool. He was driving our vehicle of choice, the mid nineties hunter green Chevy Tahoe. The seats in the back were folded down to accommodate the latest machine we acquired. A broken brake light was the reason the police officer gave for stopping them, but the conversation ended up being about my 4-year old son sitting in the front seat. The police officer said he needed to be in the back seat, to which my husband said that it wasn't a law because it was based on height and weight requirements. Afterall, the airbag was off. The officer replied that it was safer in the back seat. My husband wisely didn't argue because no tickets were given. So on the side of the road he moved the machine around, flipped the seat up, and our son climbed into the back.

My husband is 6'8 and a slender 310 pounds. I'm 5'10 with a weight to match my big bones. Together we produce bigger than average children. My 4-year old has been called a man child and could eat most 6-year olds. Our 5-year old and 4-year old are bigger than the height and weight requirements for a car seat, and are cleared for front seat riding. However, their age makes it not acceptable.

My husbands solution to the issue is to start driving our 1966 Jeep J3000 truck with no back seat. It doesn't have air bags, and it's built like a brick shit house. I would feel more comfortable with our kids in our collection of Jeeps than a compact car.

We are responsible parents and have researched the national and individual state requirements for car seats. I did notice a pattern for the states. The less populated states have less strict requirements. The more densely populated areas have more traffic which means more probability of accidents. I also noticed some other political patterns in the states, but I won't get into it here. Iowa, being where we live, has reasonable requirements, unlike some states that have kids in car seats and the back seat until they can drive.

The commercials that advertise rear facing car seats for toddlers and beyond are a little too much. Car seat manufacturers are making a killing because what parent would sacrifice the safety of their child when they could just spend hundreds of dollars buying a car seat every other year. I don't like marketing ploys that prey on parents fears and paranoia. All three of our kids are in the appropriate car seat, but I'm still aware that accidents are inevitable.

Now go research the car seat requirements and make informed decisions, and don't judge other parents like the polite police lady.

 

 

Gender Reveal

I'm over half way through this pregnancy, which means we had the ultrasound to reveal the gender. So is it a boy or a girl? We didn't find out.

We were the only couple that didn't find out the gender during birthing class six years ago with our first pregnancy. The teacher warned us that not knowing could lead to disappointment when the baby is born. I thought the teacher was dead wrong because your more apt to be disappointed when your pregnant than when you give birth. Who could be disappointed with a newborn?

This is our fourth pregnancy, and we didn't find out the gender with any of our children. Once you know the gender then you know the name. A 3D ultrasound can show the baby's face, so where is the mystery or surprise?

As for gender reveal parties or Pinterest inspired blue or pink crafts, it's cute and fun for the day; however, it invites opinions about the  gender, name, and even the baby's personality. For example, if this baby is a boy, family and friends would predict that our only girl would be tough and spoiled. If it's a girl, she'll be the best playmate for her older sister. I'm not ready for other's opinions when I still have 19 weeks to go.

I still like predicting the gender. I usually have dreams about the baby's sex. So far my dreams have always predicted males, so I've been right the first two times and wrong the last time. What is your prediction?

 

 

Sold It!

A couple of months ago I wrote a description of our house in preparation of selling it. I even thought about blogging about it, which is what some homeowners did.

I was battling morning sickness and in the middle of painting. After all, buyers probably wouldn't be drawn to a house with a plum colored dining room. Not to mention the chipping cream colored paint on the trim. While we were preparing our house for the market, we got lucky and sold it.

Our neighbors said they had some friends that were looking to move to the area. We gave them our contact information and they called us about it. We set up a couple of times for them to come look at it, but it just didn't work out. After a couple of weeks without hearing from them, we planned to list it ourselves. So one Sunday morning when I got a message from them asking to come see the house later that day, I choked on my cereal. I ran to the shower while the boys de-toyed the house. We negotiated a price and it was their's a month later.

I dragged my feet as long as I could about moving until my husband moved our beds, dressers, TV, and a few kitchen utensils. Those first couple of days were very primitive, but my husband was right to get the ball rolling. I was dreading moving and kept putting it off. We lived in that house for ten years; we brought our babies home to it, and we fixed it up and decorated it to fit us. Leaving it also meant that we were leaving a town that I had taught in for eight years. Where our neighbors were my former students and we were within walking distance to the school and the playground. I knew we would have to move, but I was expecting a long drawn out sale process to give me time to adjust.

A friend of mine told me it must have been meant to be while another friend said how lucky we were. My husband attributed it all to karma. This helped changed my perspective, and now I'm painting the new nursery.

Garden for Children

Today is the day! The day that we have been counting down to for two weeks. The day that the special shirt and shoes can be worn. The day that some parents jump for joy while others cry. For most schools in Iowa, today is the first day of school.

As a teacher, I loved going back to school. I looked forward to all the new school supplies, the new bulletin board design, and the new students. Even the old students had a fresh start. The smell of waxed floor, shop, and dirt (from the attached greenhouse) was always a welcomed calling card.

 

 

When I left teaching I didn't miss any of it, but that was when I had a 3-year old, a 2-year old, and a brewing baby in utero. I had a year of babies with more potty training talk than any contemplation of school.

Last year both boys went off to preschool-3-year old and 4-year old. It was tough, but they were only there half days every other day. Today my 5-year old started Kindergarten, which means he will spend more time at school than at home. I coped by avoiding to buy school supplies for as long as possible, which my mother-in-law did mostly. My husband took care of the uniform, which meant he ordered 5 pairs of the same pants and shirts from Amazon.

When my Kindergartener asked me how many days until the first day of school, I knew I had to start sharing his excitement. He was happy to tell his little brother that he was going to the big kid classroom with bigger toys.

So everyone in the family woke up bright and early this morning, and both boys dressed in the school uniform. My preschooler doesn't start school for another week and doesn't have to wear the uniform, but he wanted to be like his "best big brother." He even wore his backpack to help drop off his brother. When it was time to say goodbye, my Kindergartener could not wait to play while my preschooler cried.

I made the usual "first day of kindergarten" sign and I looked up kindergarten to check my spelling. The first definition that came up was "garden for children." I will now think of it like that.

Baby #4

When asked why we keep having babies after a friend confirmed that he was never having any, I pointed to my belly and said that this is our way of contributing to society. We had a good laugh about it; however, when I was teaching that was the goal, so why shouldn't it be the goal as a parent? If children are the future, why not have a whole house full of them. Well, not like the lady that lived in a shoe.

Sixteen weeks has flown by. It seems like just yesterday my doctor was congratulating us after telling me that this fourth baby would just walk out. After I gave him a good frown, everyone laughed.

This pregnancy has been very much like the others, in which it has me vomiting with just the smell of men's aftershave. I will spare you the more gruesome details of my first trimester, and hope for a nicer second trimester. This baby is making a very plump appearance in the start of the second trimester, which wasn't the case with my other babies.

The boys and girl were told about their new sibling with an ultrasound picture in the play place at McDonalds. My oldest immediately rubbed my belly and started talking to the baby like his best playmate. Now both boys rub my belly, talk to my belly, and give it kisses. I frown at my husband when my oldest tells me he should carry his 1-year old sister around because I shouldn't be carrying around two babies. I wonder where he got that idea.

Almost halfway through the pregnancy has me wondering about the gender. We won't find out, but I like to guess. What's your guess?

Bunny Burial

"Should we feed him to the cat or let the angels take him?" My 5-year asked when our bunny died. I expected him to be upset with tears, but his eyes were dry waiting for my reply. My 4-year old was in much the same condition. I think I was more upset then they were. I told them we would bury him and let the angels take him. I think they were expecting the bunny to magically disappear with the angels. They didn't ask questions, but instead went to get their shovels for the burial.

The morning routine for the boys has been to go outside immediately upon opening their eyes. Sometimes they remember to get dressed, but they always remember their rubber boots. The morning of the bunny burial the boys had been playing with their bunnies, gently of course. They put them back in their cage and we went back to unpacking. The cage was located in full sun, but it was a cool morning so I wasn't concerned. By mid morning we went back outside to move their cage into the shade, but it was too late. The male bunny, Thumper, died and the female was huddled around the water bottle in sad shape. She recovered nicely, but the damage was done. I explained to the boys why Thumper had died. They accepted my explanation, and started looking for an appropriate  place to bury him.

Now that we only have one bunny, the boys spoil her. They insist on carrying her around everywhere. They even sing her a goodnight lullaby that I sing to them.

We Bought a Farm

With chickens in our backyard and pigs at my parent's place, it became clear what we were missing-a farm. After slowly driving by countless properties for sale and some suspicion of stalking, my mother-in-law emailed us about an acreage with a square farmhouse for sale. We went to look at it the next day.

A row of giant pine trees blocked the view of the property from the gravel road, so our stalker tendencies wouldn't have proven valuable. The white square farmhouse came into view once we turned into the drive. It had three porches with rocking chairs and a swing. The roof was green metal with a lightening rod that looked like it belonged on a barn. The detached two stall garage came into view with a giant shed behind it. As we toured the property, the ponies and kitties entertained our kids. Along with the play set and trampoline the owners had for their grandchildren.

I had told my husband that when we looked at a place we would just know or we would see a sign. Our sign was in the back shed. The owner had a 1951 Kaiser Sedan. This car was special to us because we almost named our second son after it. Our AMC collection of cars would fit nicely in that same shed. My husband gave me a big smile, and I knew that we would make an offer, which we did later that day.

Three months later and it's officially ours. We are in the process of moving and putting our current house up for sale. The long absence from the blog has ended. I'm more excited than ever to share our adventures now that we bought a farm.