Gallop, Gallop.

That's the sound of me trotting around on my high horse. Just for this post today, I promise.

Even still, I approach this in the spirit of, "to each their own". But I do feel that informed decisions are always the best approach, particularly when it comes to your child's safety, and so for that reason, as our babies approach the age of one - the traditional age at which parents face their kiddos car seats forward - I wanted to share a bit of research in support of extended rear-facing for toddlers, courtesy of a wonderful blog I read daily, Heir to Blair.

A mother that I know from my previous mom's group was telling us about her plans to face her son backwards for the foreseeable future when Ava was just a few months old, and since then, I've done a bit of research on my own and plan to do the same. If for no other reason than...why not? What's it hurting me to keep her rear-facing? Not to mention, that car seat is kind of a beast to re-install, so it's technically saving me hours of blood, sweat and tears over trying to switch it!

Anyhow, I implore you to consider the research, and, if you need more info, to check out this video:


Ok, hopping off now.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

What To Do In Case Of A Break-In.

I *wish* that this was an informative post, but rather, I'm posing the question to you, dear readers.

Let me preface this post by saying that I do not live in the hood. In fact, I live in a shiny new subdivision where I bought my house brand new not even four years ago. So why, pray tell, are we having an issue with break-ins? The only thing I can tell you is that it can happen to anyone, which brings me to my post today.

Lately, there have been five homes in my small subdivision who have had their doors KICKED IN (who is brazen enough to go that route???) and have been robbed in broad daylight. There doesn't seem to be any pre-burglary casing, or anything like that. Their M.O. simply is to kick the door in, listen for an alarm or activity, and then load up.

In a nutshell, this scares the hell out of me.

I'm home a great deal with my new, reduced schedule. And a lot of that time is spent either putting A to sleep, or writing quietly while she sleeps. Upon first listen, a burglar could easily mistake the fact that we were home. So I ask - as I pondered quite terrified while in the shower this morning - what do you do if someone breaks in while you're home?

I've always been more than a little anti-gun. I'm definitely not a card-carrying member of the NRA. But, is it time to invest (safely, of course, and in a place where A could NEVER, EVER unlock it and where the ammo would be separately stashed). If you're going to store the gun in a place where it's unloaded and locked up separately, is it even going to do any good if, God forbid, one needs to use it?

Yes, we have a dog, but he's A.) outside, and B.) a major p-word. And yes, we're getting an alarm pronto. It just terrifies me to think that someone could break-in while we're home, and I have no way of defending my daughter or myself. Even if I were to hide, how does one hide with an increasingly vocal baby?

ALL opinions, NRA included, welcome :)




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