Grrrrrr

Call me irresponsible, but I do NOT like the new car seat law that just went into effect here in Missouri. Here's the deal...you have to be 8 years old or 80 pounds or 4'8". Jake is exactly 7 1/2 years old, 50 pounds and 4'5". So he is soooo close to meeting the requirements of at least 2 of the 3 but close is no cigar. Bruce and I decided we would just take our chances on not having car seats but I heard on the news that is a primary law and we can be pulled over and fined just for that offensive!! To the tune of $250 for each kid not properly restrained.

Now I think most of you know that Bruce and I are protective parents if not even over-protective but this is just crazy! We think the car seat manufactures and the government got together on this one. Evenflo stock must have been falling. (pictured above is the Evenflo Big Kid Car Seat which we just purchased for $39.42 at Walmart) This is the problem...Papa and Lula like to take the kids to the Palace Theater when they have kid movies. They drive a Ford Conture. This is not a big car. There is no way we are going to get three car seats across the back seat! Another problem...the kids like to invite other kids to go to Incredible Pizza, the Farm, swimming, etc. how do we cart other kids around? Sure, transfer car seats yada, yada, yada, but why? My friend told me I would feel really bad if we were in a bad accident and something dreadful happened to my kid because they weren't in a car seat. Sure, but I would feel really bad if they were on their bike and had a bad accident but I wouldn't ban all kids from bikes! Accidents happen, that's why they are accidents. They could walk around in an armour suit all day long but if accident is going to happen, it's going to happen!

Don't even get me started on government intrusion!

Maybe this stems back from memories of standing in the back seat of my dad's old Pontiac boat of a car hugging his neck while he was driving! Sure we got tossed around in the car every once in awhile for a stop short or railroad tracks, but that's what you waited for! (Maybe that's what's wrong with me now...got my head jolted around too many times.) Jake, the next generation, heard that this was they law and he has a really good attitude about going back to a car seat as not to break the law. I'm glad that he is law abiding and not rebellious LIKE HIS MOTHER! OK, I'm not that rebellious...I don't want to pay the fine so they are in car seats! 

Anyone want to buy a picnic table?

Bruce built this picnic table for us to take out to the farm for picnic's and such. He had such a blast making it, he wants to go into business full time building these! It is made of pressure treated lumber and held together with bolts. It's strong and sturdy!

If anybody is interested in a primitive outing of hiking and picnicing in the woods, let me know! We have a blast going to the mountian that we call our farm (Bruce says it's his deer farm). Slowly we getting it cleared out and building our fire pit for weenie roasts! I asked Bruce if he wanted to build an outhouse but until then... 

Get it!

Marissa gets both fists in her mouth and sometimes even a finger up the nose! She always has this shocked look on her face when I take her picture! 

Ahhhhh...

 

20 Years and counting

Yesterday Bruce and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. We spent yesterday (and the week coming up to it) talking about our wedding. I was a young bride of 18 and we were only engaged for 5 weeks (we dated for 5 months). My friends I picked to be my bridesmaids (4) asked me what kind of dresses they should wear and I told them to wear their prom dresses! They said they would not wear prom dresses in my wedding so they all got together and had dresses made the same style but different colors, blue, pink, yellow and green. It turned out really pretty for 1986. Even the little girls dresses were made the same.

The three tier wedding cake fell down. Bruce's little six year old niece at the time came to me telling him how the cake had fallen down and I didn't understand. I thought something horrible happened like Bruce left! I will never forget seeing my Aunt Joan scoop up the cake from the floor and put it all back together. It really looked OK! When I got my wedding pictures back there is a picture of me and Grandma in front of the cake and you can totally see the columns buckling! The cake didn't taste good at all...too much sugar or something and the bakery gave my mom a full refund.

Looking back now, we had no idea what we were doing planning a wedding. It was on a Sunday afternoon because Saturday evening was already booked for the church. Who gets married on a Sunday afternoon? It was nice though, we had lots of family and friends at our wedding and what a sacrifice it must have been for being on a Sunday and having to travel back home for work on Monday! Thank you!

I can't wait for 20 more years with my best friend, the father of my children, my lover, my provider, my protector, my husband, my everything!

Bike wreck

Friday morning Molly had a major bike wreck! I heard her scream and went running out the door to see blood gushing from her face. She had fell off her bike into the boat trailer and gashed (not just cut) a hole in her face right at the corner of her mouth. Ya know the lines that could be drawn from the corner of your mouth the chin? It was crossways in that line just centimeters away from her lip. I could hardly look at it because it was practically a hole through her face.

I put pressure on it and rushed her into the bathroom but turned her away from the mirror and got a wet wash cloth to try to see what kind of damage there was. It didn't look like it went all the way through but her gum was bleeding and cut but the tooth wasn't loose. I called Bruce to see where we should go...ER? Urgent Care? The peditrician? He said to call Urgent Care which I did but those people were really clueless! Just as I hung up from them the peditrician's office returned a call to me because I had called that morning to find out how much Tylenol to give to Marissa from getting her shots the day before. I quickly told them what had happen and they said come to them ASAP. I gathered up the other Molly and the other 3 kids and went screaming out the door. Later Bruce told me I left the coffee pot on, the oven on, and a roast sitting on the kitchen counter. Doesn't surprise me a lot...I was a little scared!

We got to Dr. G and he said that they could sew her up there but since it was on the face he wanted a Plastic Surgeon to do it. He called and got us in with Dr. H and sent us to his office. Once we got there they were going to do it in the surgery center of his office but when they found out she had eaten a Pop Tart about 2 hours prior to all this they didn't want to give her the local anthestic. So...off to the hospital for surgery to sew up her face.

We went to same day surgery and she was put all the way under so they could cut and shape the gash better to sew it up. She has 6 to 8 stitches. Interestingly, the doctor said that if she tans, the scar will tan darker than her face and when her tan fads, the scar will not. So we have to load the scar with sun block when she plays outside. ( So that's why all my bike scars on my knees are still there!)

She gets the stitches out next Friday. Saturday morning she was getting her tenny shoes on and I asked her what she was doing? "I'm going to ride my bike!" I'm glad to see it hasn't damaged her spirit!

Marissa update

I'm sorry I didn't get to blog this sooner. You'll see why soon with my next blog.

Marissa had a GREAT checkup Thursday! She weighs 10 pounds 12 ounces and is 22 inches long. There was a developmental specialist there who ran her through a whole battery of tests to determine where she is socially, mobility, her brain development and one other subject I can't remember. She was expecting her to test at 3 1/2 months (14 weeks) but she tested in the 5 month old range! I was in tears it was so awesome seeing her do all the right stuff. (Mainly play with toys and make eye contact when "tricked"...interesting tests) The specialist said she will evaluate her again in 3 months and is excited to see how she has come along. She said from 6 to 12 months is where they make the most changes in closing the gap. It's all so very exciting! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support gettting through this! I just wonder what God has planned for this little person!