Three years and three months

This week our beautiful daughter turned 3 years old! Avery came into this world two days late but made up for it with a quick and easy labor. She was 7 lbs 9 oz and 19.5 in long - at 3 years old she is 29.5 lbs and 38 in. We celebrated Avery's birthday at our home this year, she chose a Cars theme. The party didn't have a big turn-out but all of the important people in Avery's life made it which is all that really matters. This kid is seriously spoiled, I'm glad she had a great last Christmas and birthday as an only child before its not all about her. My favorite gift was a 5ft tall wooden growth chart. My grandparents have a certain spot on their wall where they measure all the kids and grandkids on their birthday. I really want something like that for our kids but since we don't own a home yet it would be pointless to mark up a wall that we can't take with us. The wooden growth chart really takes care of that for us :) Avery's favorite gift was a tie between a doll house and a Hello Kitty airplane haha. Although she got $3 from her great-grandmother and instantly hid it behind her back to hide it from us haha.

In new baby news I am now 12 weeks. Its funny to think that Avery is 3 years and I am 3 months along. I started feeling little baby movements this week, but I only really notice them when I am not pre-occupied with life. We got the baby's new car seat this week, we went with a Chicco Keyfit 30 which was the number 1 car seat in America in 2014 and is the leader going into 2015. This baby is really lucky because we learned from a lot of car seat mistakes with Avery. We were first time parents, living in a country that has no car seat laws, with no family or friends to guide us, and no one corrected us when they noticed errors - no one wants to offend new parents by pointing out what they are doing wrong but I really wish they had.

Our of the top 10 car seat mistakes that parents make, Steven and I made 5 of them!

1. Getting a used car seat. That's exactly what we did. We bought a car seat from someone we didn't know, had no idea if it had been in an accident, and it was missing parts. Oh boy, a trifecta of stupidity. So obviously we can't use Avery's old seat for the new baby.
2. Placing the car seat in the wrong spot. One we didn't fail yay.
3. Using the car seat as a replacement crib. Turns out letting a baby sleep in a car seat (when not traveling) is bad for the baby. We would often let Avery sleep in her car seat even after we got home. Our thought was why wake a sleeping baby?
4. Incorrectly installing the car seat an/or buckling up your child. Our used seat didn't come with a manual so we didn't know that we needed a metal seat belt lock (which was also missing). We put the seat in the middle using a lap belt that didn't even lock. Even a fender bender could have been fatal, 43% of parents also install a car seat too loose.
As far as buckling up goes, we screwed this up too. Our seat didn't have a strap adjuster that would loosen or tighten the straps. Avery's straps were occasionally too loose because any time we wanted to tighten her straps we had to manually re-thread them through the back, which we did not do every single time. Buckling up properly includes: tight straps (68% of parents fail), non-tangles straps, chest clip on the chest (33% failure), and making sure the straps are at the right height (at or below the shoulder for rear-facing, at or above for forward-facing.
5. Reclining the car seat at the incorrect angle. Another thing we didn't fail, but probably would have if our seats weren't perfectly angled to handle Avery's seat.
6. Moving to a forward-facing seat too soon.  A shocking 75% of people forward-face before the recommended age of TWO. Even worse, 24% forward-face before ONE (which is ILLEGAL). We turned Avery around the second she turned 1, and we bought a forward-facing seat only so when we realized our mistake months later we were too poor to buy another seat. We were able to buy a new car seat shortly after Avery's 2nd birthday when I started working, she's been rear-facing ever since :)
7. Dressing your child in bulky clothing. We didn't fail but ONLY because we failed # 9.
8. Not using the top tether. Something else we didn't fail. Forward-facing car seats have 3 tethers, 2 at the base and 1 at the top. Only 42% of parents actually use that top tether though. Using the top tether decreases how far your child's head goes forward in a crash by 4-8 in.
9. Using after-market accessories. We used a Bundle-Me and head support with Avery. Basically if it didn't come with the car seat it hasn't been crash tested with the seat and therefore isn't considered safe. This goes for strap covers, head support, Bundle-Me, seat protectors, dangly toys, etc.
10. Putting an infant seat on the top of the a shopping cart. We never did this but I see it every time I go to the store. I always hear "well, mine snaps in perfectly." No, it doesn't. Every car seat manual (excluding Babytrend) specifically says NOT to put a car seat on top of the cart.

Our new car seat :D

Its a miracle Avery even survived to be honest. One minor crash could have easily taken her life. I wish that the hospital staff would have said something or even bothered to check. No one checked her straps, our installation, and the only comment the staff made was that she looked comfy all snuggled up in her aftermarket products. 93% of parents make a mistake when it comes to installing the seat or strapping in the newborn when they leave the hospital. Yikes, here's hoping as 2nd time and more informed parents we can avoid making those 5 mistakes again.