Rear Facing Car Seats!

I don't care what your state laws say, rear face your child in their car seat as long as possible! In fact, according to the Governor's Highway Safety Association, there isn't a single state that mandates rear facing after 1 year old, or 20 lbs. This is a gross oversight and, frankly, should be changed. Most people believe that "flipping" the car seat from rear to forward facing is a right of passage and a special milestone to reach at the age of 1 year old. I have spoken with people who believe that this flipping is important and exciting for a 1 year old, but guess what? Your child doesn't care! If you don't flip them they won't know they are missing anything. Let's leave it at cake smashes and new walkin' shoes for 1 year old traditions, shall we? Personally, I dread the day that I will have to flip Esme. Why? Well, here's why.

Esme reading a book while waiting
in the parking lot for Daddy.

First and foremost, the American Association of Pediatricians recommend that you keep your child rear facing as long as your car seat specifications will allow. For example, we have the Graco My Ride 65: Prentis. The specifications on that allow Esme to rear face until 40 pounds. Until the scale says 40.0 pounds we will not be flipping the seat. After 40 lbs, we will flip the car seat and it is recommended that she use the 5 point harness system until she maxes out on the weight for the seat(in our case, 65 lbs, but now they make car seats with a max weight of 70lbs). She is currently just under 21 pounds, so we have a long while to go.

Prior to 2011 the AAP had said that the minimum for flipping a child was 1 year and/or 20 pounds, which is reflected in many state laws. In April of 2011, the AAP revised their recommendation to a minimum of 2 years.

Wait, 2 years, with no weight limit? What?

The reasoning for that comes from a little lesson in human development. Babies' (and toddlers') necks are cartilaginous, meaning their necks, holding their big 'ol bobble heads to their body, are largely cartilage as opposed to hard boney material. Around 2 years old is when the important process of ossification (cartilage turning to bone) begins. Note: it is when it begins, it can take until 3-6 years to actually complete. Before ossification happens, children are at a much higher risk for severe spinal injury. One haunting term that is commonly used is "internal decapitation". This is why it doesn't really matter if your 18 month old child is the size of a 3 year old, chances are they still haven't reached that important developmental milestone.

According to the Journal of Injury Prevention (per CNN), children rear facing before 2 years old are 75%  less likely to die or be severely injured in a car accident as opposed to forward facing. I am going to say that number again: 75 percent! Furthermore, carseat.se says that out of 100 children in an accident, only 8 rear facers will be seriously injured or die. This is opposed to 40 forward facing children who will be seriously injured or die in an accident. For the record, that is a 500% increase. For illustration purposes, I made this representation of that data:

Personally, I would rather not take my chances on the wrong side of that big red line.

The two most common arguments I hear against extended rear facing are, firstly, "doesn't that put them at a greater risk of leg or hip injury?". To which I answer, "I am not sure, I do not have the statistics on that, but a broken leg or hip is much better than a broken neck. Some extended rear facing die-hards have asked, 'cast or casket?'". The second most common question is, "Well, won't they get bored facing backwards, don't they need to be stimulated more?", to which I say, "they can be plenty stimulated while rear facing. Provide books, toys, and sing songs with them in the car". Again, to me it isn't worth the risk. I would rather Esme scream from boredom on a 13 hour car ride than take the chance of a serious injury.

The fact of the matter is rear facing is safer for everybody. You, me, my grandma, your uncle, my husband's eighth cousin once removed, everyone would be better off rear facing. However, that is not logistically possible. It is possible, however to keep toddlers rear facing. Again, the American Association of Pediatricians is a huge panel of doctors (60,000 primary care providers, surgeons, and specialists) say that children should be rear faced as long as possible and definitely not before 2 years old.

I will finish this blog with two things. (1) link to crash test videos comparing rear and forward facing collisions. Please, watch the strain on the neck of the child forward facing compared to the rear facing child and ask yourself which one you would rather be your child? And (2) an adorable picture of my rear facing child, which you can try and convince yourself that she is unhappy not facing forward.

White Veggie Pizza

One of my favorite things to make is White Veggie Pizza. It is cheesey and delicious, and you can get creative with the veggies you top it with. Be warned, though! This pizza is best aside a big bowl of salad. It is very savory and a couple of pieces are quite filling. The best part of this pizza is that its so easy!


 You need: 

• 1 pizza crust 
• 2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 oz Ricotta Cheese
• 3 oz Feta Cheese
• 1 Cup of Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 lb Spinach
• 1 Bell Pepper
• 1 minced garlic clove
• Cracked black pepper, red pepper, basil to taste

You Do:

Step One: Drizzle Olive Oil over pizza crust, spread with clean fingers.

 

Step Two: Pinch small amounts of Ricotta onto crust.

 

Step Three: Sprinkle Feta over Ricotta

 

Step Four: Cook spinach on medium heat in skillet. Best done by adding spinach little by little. Toss garlic and bell pepper in and cook for 5 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant.

 

Step Six: Spoon veggie mixture over cheese.

 

Step Seven: Sprinkle mozzarella over veggie mixture.

Step Eight: Bake according to crust's directions or until mozzarella becomes bubbly.

This is a fun recipe to mix up! I've on occasion, gone easier on the listed cheeses and added fresh Parmesan. If you like garlic, you can add some to your olive oil. I've also grilled matchstick carrots, broccoli, and zucchini for the veggie toppings. Some nice Italian grilled chicken might be good on it too!

Banoffee!

A friend told me about Banoffee a couple of months ago. Since then I have made three Banoffee pies and they are just too delicious not to share! Yesterday/today, I made one for my friend Anna, since she was finally in town for a short visit. Here are the way too easy instructions for this dangerously delicious pie.

You will need:

• Graham cracker crust (home made or store bought)
• 3-4 large bananas
• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of cocoa powder

Step one: Clean dinner mess out of stock pot.

 Step two: Remove label(s) from can(s) of sweetened condensed milk.

  

Step three: Boil for 2.5-3 hrs. MAKE SURE TO KEEP THE CANS COVERED WITH WATER!!!!!

Step four: When boil time is nearly complete cut the bananas into pie crust.

Step five: After allowing can(s) to cool for about a half hour, remove lid and stir lumps out with a butter knife.

Step six: Gently stir toffee into the bananas.

 Step seven: Measure about two cups of heavy whipping cream into a large bowl.

Step eight: Add in 1-2 tsp of sugar.

 Step nine: Beat on high until whipping cream becomes whipped cream!

  

Step ten: Spread whipped cream over pie, garnish with cocoa powder or chocolate shavings... Banoffee!

 The really beautiful thing about this recipe is you can complicate it for organic or taste's sake, like making your own crust. Orrrr you can simplify it and make it in mere minutes with a pre-made crust, a can of Dulce de Leche (in the Mexican Food Aisle at my grocery store), and Cool Whip! The choice is yours!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Tonight for dinner I made a Cajun Chicken Pasta. I got the recipe from Six Sister's Stuff, and before you ask: no I do not work for them. Their recipes are just delicious! Here is the recipe (click to be navigated to their site) and here is a picture of what it is supposed to look like:

Magnifique looking, no? Anyway, as usual, I made a few changes to our recipe. I used whole fat cream cheese (gotta get Esme's brain cells a'growing), I made my own cajun spice (too much salt in commercial jars), nixed the mushrooms, and the big one: I used canned tomatoes because even though I know I'm not supposed to, I did. I hate cutting tomatoes more than any other vegetable, or fruit masquerading as a vegetable. Because the tomatoes were canned in tomato juice my dish didn't look exactly like the picture. However, I think it went over okay with the troops.

Yes, this pasta gets the Esme seal of approval. And Jacob's. And mine, too if you're keeping score at home.

Disposable Diaper Days

Esme had a pretty bad diaper rash a couple weeks ago. So bad, in fact that we took her to the ER because she was screaming inconsolably.We were prescribed Nystatin cream, and we put it on her twice a day (at night time and before her morning nap). We chose those times because those are her biggest stretches of sleep and since the Nystatin is so gunky we could not let it touch the diapers. If it did, it would coat them and any urine would roll off the diaper right down her leg. Our solution was to line her diapers in paper towel. It worked, as long as she wasn't very mobile. Try telling a nearly one year old to sit still! The rash went away, for the most part. However, in the past few days, the rash has been rearing its ugly head again.

This time around we decided not to take any chances and we are going to apply the ointment at every change. So what does that mean about our diapers? They are (sniff, sniff) shelved! I was at Wal-Mart this afternoon purchasing a trial size pack of diapers for the week.

My unsolicited advice to all cloth diaper mommas, especially those of little girls: have some flushable liners on hand in case of emergencies like this. Flushable liners are meant to catch feces, but I can only imagine how handy they would be in a situation like this. Unfortunately, we don't have any local cloth diaper stores around us, and I wasn't sure how long shipping would take, so disposable diapers it is!

Staples ((Peppers))

In our house bell peppers are a major staple. Not green bell peppers. Don't get me started on that! Green bell peppers are not ripe, don't taste as good, and red or yellow bell peppers have twice as many vitamin c!Anyway (I told you not to get me started!), bell peppers (in any color) have a lot of fiber, which is why some people may call them a "fat burning fruit". Yes, bell peppers are fruits not vegetables!  Along with this great quality and taste should come a high calorie content, right? Wrong! These babies are low in calories, like 50 per pepper. My most recent shopping trip I purchased 9 bell peppers. 3 red, 3 orange, and 3 yellow. Why? We eat a lot of peppers!



 Tonight, for example, we are eating a modified version of this (from Six Sister's Stuff):

I am using a low sodium soy sauce, low sodium organic beef broth, and fresh tomatoes in place of the appropriate ingredients. It is currently in the crock pot and smelling good! The peppers have yet to be added, and when they do you can bet Esme and I will be snacking as I chop them!

Other favorite recipes in our house are stuffed peppers. Honestly, I wish I could give you my recipe in it's entirety, but its different everytime. Here is my basic "recipe" though:

• 1 lb of ground beef
• 2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 cup of cooked brown rice
• 1 tbs of Worcestershire sauce
• 6 bell peppers (Fine, get green if you insist. We prefer red or yellow)
• Generous amount of your favorite shredded cheese
• Big pot of boiling water
• Italian seasonings, garlic, onion powder, and pepper to taste   

1. Cut the tops off the peppers, discard  seeds and ribs, place in boiling water and boil for about 3 minutes. BE CAREFUL when removing the peppers from the water, I once had boiling water running down my arm. Place peppers on paper towel. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown meet, drain fat.
3. Season with your desired seasonings.
4. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, and brown rice. Simmer for about 5 or 10 minutes. Do not let the mixture get too dry.
5. Stuff your peppers. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. Top your peppers with delicious cheese, bake until cheese is bubbly melted.

Like I said, I don't my exact recipe and this is pretty standard. I am sure Paula Dean or Rachel Ray has something much yummier (and complex). Sometimes I double the recipe and freeze half of the stuffing for future use. YUM!

Finally, one of our favorite sides is sauteed peppers. I cut up the peppers into thin strips (or dice them if I am feeling sassy) and toss them in the frying pan with olive oil and black pepper. I may accent it with another spice appropriate to whatever we are having as a main dish. These peppers are great with pasta dishes, baked chicken, and even with breakfast dishes like quiche!

2 Years Ago Today...

One of my favorite games to play is, "This time last year," or "This time, yesterday", or "X amount of years ago I was..." Well, two years ago I was getting married! It was a pulchritudinous (thank you Thesaurus.com for that gem) day, pretty much exactly as I had dreamed it would be! The only thing missing was a sunflower field, itself. Warning: This entry is picture and cheese heavy!                              

It is our moment to celebrate the love the unites us...

 

Sunflowers, of course!

                  Getting my hair did...                                                            DONE!

ZZZZZZip!

My cousins passing out bubbles and programs.

Here comes the bride!

                             First Married Kiss                                                First Married Hug

         

Mr. & Mrs. Christian

Strangely, my favorite picture of the day. We had just signed our marriage license.

All of our parents.

                        Centerpieces                                                                   Gift Table

Toasts

                             Last Dance                                                        First Dance (you know I led)

Winner Winners... Chicken Dinner!

Fun Game! All the married couples formed a circle around us, the DJ called out # of years until one couple remained to give us advice.

Love, all around!

Friends, cousins, fun!

My maid of honor dancing with the little girls

CONGA!