When I became pregnant with my first child I immediately immersed myself in all of the information that was to be had when it came to everything “baby”, especially health and safety. Of course the one major safety issue that was prominent in my research was the importance of using car seats. Not only that but also using these seats properly. There is so much to it that you don’t even realize at first. I figured as long as I bought a good seat and strapped it in, we’d be fine. That’s not always the case. There’s so much more to keeping kids safe while driving.

Did you know that the leading cause of death for infants and children in the US is by motor vehicle accidents? These fatal injuries, in many cases, can be prevented by keeping children restrained in safety seats, properly. In a safety seat that is appropriate for the child’s age and weight.

I have quite a few friends and family members in mind that I’m going to send the following video to and encourage to visit the associated Facebook page for Evenflo’s “A Mother’s Promise” campaign. Evenflo is encouraging all parents to promise to keep their kids safe in all aspects while on the road, from making sure their children are properly restrained to putting that cell phone down while driving. Our kids deserve this promise from us.

I promise, if you are like me, you will get a little choked up while watching this touching video. It’s all about mothers making promises to do everything in their power to protect their children.

Do you have a Facebook account? Would you like to post your promise on the “A Mother’s Promise” wall? Check it out!

OMG!

My husband has been on off sick since before Thanksgiving. Hacking, coughing, chest congestion. At first I was totally understanding, I was sick too. We all were. I’ve been patiently waiting for him to get over it. But now that it’s after New Year’s and I’m still hearing the hacking, and phlegm spitting (gross, I know), I’ve over it. I can only take so many nights of laying there, wide awake, while he’s choking on his own goo before I start thinking about putting him out of his misery. I finally got him to buy some meds at Walgreens but of course those OTC things are not doing it. Not even Mucinex, which he had big hopes for.

He’s the guy who never gets sick, too. I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen him ill in the last almost 9 years of knowing him. Needless to say, I’m forcing him to make an appointment tomorrow for sometime this week if at all possible. I’m sure he’ll thank me when he goes into work again tomorrow night and realizes that working on jets and running to the bathroom every few minutes to purge phlegm isn’t an ideal situation. He needs real medicine.

And work. Oh I’m sort of looking forward to it. He’s had so many days off over the holidays that I feel like he never works. lol I probably sound like a bitch but I sort of prefer to have a regular schedule and time away from my other half on a daily basis. You can’t miss someone who is never gone.

I’m getting one, finally. Toys R Us has them online, bundled. More than I wanted to spend but oh well. I’m sick of running from store to store in search of one. There goes the last of our Christmas money.

I’m hoping the snow boarding game doesn’t suck too much. I’m not an extreme sports kind of gal but maybe I’ll like it? I’m just excited about trying the FIT part of the deal. Not that I don’t have enough exercise junk already with a gym a few hundred feet from my building, open 24/7.

Now if I could just stay out of the groceries. OMG! I am seriously hungry all of the time lately. Or maybe I’m not. I sometimes can’t tell if I actually am or if I’m just bored. Obviously that’s not cool. I need to make some magnets for the fridge with a photo of myself circa 2003/04. I was way hotter back then. That could serve as motivation, I’m sure.

I sat down today and started our tax return. Yes, weeks before we’ll even have a W2 or my 1099’s. Oh well. It’s actually pretty much done. I’ll just have to wait until I get the actual papers to fill in exact amounts and we’ll be good to go come mid-February, I’m sure. I was curious to see if we would pay or get anything back and from my estimates we’ll actually get a refund this time! I’m excited about that even though I shouldn’t be because it’s only because I didn’t make squat this last year. I get so sick of hearing about friends who get so much back come tax time. I’m figuring that they either aren’t claiming enough / having enough taken out to begin with or that they have magical tax elves. I was always told that once we had kids we would really cash in. Uh, yeah. Not. Has never happened! We have never had any difference in our refunds, kids or not. But whatever. I’ll enjoy what we get.

Oh and I’m already planning ahead! Aside from paying a bill or two I want to look into getting Aubree a twin bed. Yes, she’s still rocking her toddler bed. I can safely say that I got my money’s worth out of her convertible crib. It’s been in service now 4.5 years! People tend to talk about Ikea furnishings being cheap and wobbly but that things has survived two moves and tons of abuse. I wouldn’t even get rid of it if it weren’t for the fact that she is so tall that her head and feet are fully touching the head/foot boards when she stretches out. I would love to get a bunk bed set for them to use so we could save some space in their room but with a crazy 3 yr old boy? I think that is just asking for head injuries and ER visits, you know? I’m praying that one of these days he calms down. It’ll happen, right??

Other than dreaming about $$ that I don’t have at the moment I’ve been totally relaxing the last couple of days. Well, not totally but as close as I can get. We took the kids out yesterday for lunch, shopped a little and then had a movie night (”Wanted”) complete with wine once they had gone to bed. Today’s “fun” was a trip to Petsmart, the poor man’s zoo. I seriously almost came home with a pair of mice but of course that mean man that I’m married to wouldn’t allow it. LOL With reason, though. If I didn’t have someone guiding me I would come home with something every time I went. The cuteness kills me! I did bring a couple of fish home though. After all, that is why I went in the first place. I lost two fish that I had bought almost 18 months ago so I replaced them. It’s such a bummer when you manage to keep a fish that long and then it croaks.

Anyway, I think tonight will be a repeat of last night. Wine & a movie! I rented “Burn After Reading”. So exciting .. heh

Or something like that! Happy 2009!

We didn’t do any heavy partying here. We instead stayed up to watch the ball drop, had some take out and relaxed as much as we possibly could with the kids around. One went to bed around 7pm and the other not until after 11pm! I don’t know if it’s the fluster from the holidays still clinging to me or what but lately “relax” is not even a word that I can use in the same sentence with kids. Yikes. But I’ll save that complaining for later.

I’ve been thinking a lot today about what I would like to see this year. 2008 was not a stellar year by any means. I don’t feel like I did anything of any great importance. No weight lost, no major money made, no personal revelations that changed my entire life. We did get a huge amount of debt paid off though and that was great, but of course there’s more to be done in that arena. I did get myself out more, made new contacts and socialized more than I have in years. So those things are great but of course I want MORE.

So what would I like exactly?

Well, the weight thing is at the front of my mind and the only real resolution that I’m shooting for this year. As cliche as it is. After all, that’s just about every one’s resolution, right? It’s been nearly 6 years since I had gastric bypass surgery and I’m still no where near where I would like to be weight wise. I don’t know if I ever will be, honestly, but I’m hoping 2009 will send a little motivation my way. Even if I don’t lose a pound, I would love to feel GOOD about me and accept myself no matter what the scale says or what anyone else thinks. That is the major factor in this battle. I’ve been up, I’ve been down and I’ve never been truly happy. I’m far too concerned about what other people may think of me, what my husband thinks, what my family thinks, etc. It’s ridiculous.

So, wish me luck! I’m really not even sure as to how I will go about my mission. It’s so hard for me because I had the stupid surgery to be NORMAL and you know, dieting all of the time and being anal about everything I put into my mouth? Not normal. Not in the least. It’s just not how I want to live my life. I’ll have to take it day by day I suppose and today was good. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.