A BIRTHDAY and a little catching up!

There has been quite the delay in posts lately on this blog. Heath and I have been SOOO busy that we havent even been able to think straight! To start off the load of picture I have put up we will begin with Easter! Isnt my little guy cute! He looks like the old man from UP with his bow tie. The next exciting thing we have on the list is my graduation! I graduated in Public and Community Health Education, and was given the opportunity to walk this April. I have two classes left to finish off my degree and it feels WONDERFUL to be (almost) done! I am so proud of Heath and what he has accomplished with school. He works full time and has never taken a semester off from school (besides the semester we had Arland). He always takes 15 credits on top of working full time with his work. What can I say my husband is determined! He plans on graduating in a year this next April! We cant wait for that! My plans after graduating are far from exciting. I currently plan on catching up on some much needed time with my son and I will continue to look for opportunities to grow within my degree. After graduating Heath and I took a much needed vacation to California! We went on a five day cruise to Catalina island and Mexico! It was a blast and it was so nice to relax and enjoy some one-on-one time. The photo below is of Heath on Catalina island and yes it was so hard to be away from Arland for that long...but he was in GOOD hands (thanks mom and Whitney!) We couldnt have done it without them! Because Heath and I are now just enjoying the summer festivities we have been able to do many more things with our little rascal! We took Arland to see the baby chick at IFA and we are spending alot of our time in our yard playing with the sprinkler and planting flowers! We love having time to be together again!

It is also THIS handsome guys birthday today! Happy Birthday Heath! I love you and I am so glad that I can call you mine! You are the best husband and father anyone could ever ask for!

Graduation is in 2 1/2 weeks....... It CAN'T come any faster!!!

30 Days till this people......just saying...!

the love of a dog

I just loved this picture and it makes me think of my little boy and his dog (Paze). He sure loves her, he follows her all over the house and loves to touch her ears and tail. In the morning while Arland is sitting in his high chair he cries until Pazely is let in. He wants her right by his side wherever he goes. There is a bond between a boy and his dog that is unbreakable!

Accomplishments

It has been quite a while since I have written on this blog and alot has happened since then! First off I found out that I will be walking for graduation in APRIL!!! WOO HOO I seriously have never been so relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel. School has taught me so many things about people, communication, responsibility and the importance of learning. The things that I have learned in school I will take with me for the rest of my life and you can never receive TOO much education. It is important to always be learning. If you are not learning then you are not growing and it is important to grown and gain more knowledge in life...because in the end that is all that we can take with us. In the beginning I thought of college as a means of something to do. I didnt know who I was or what my educational purpose was but as the years have gone on and the experiences and the places and people I have met have shaped who I am today. I know that I love to help people take care of themselves and taking care of people starts with prevention. I love Health and I love how amazing the human body is and if you take care of your body, your body will take care of you. It has been hard getting to this point in my education but now that I am here I am so thankful for all the bumps I had along the way. My support system has been amazing starting with my husband. He is the most supportive person that I know and he has always been a strong supporter in my education. He wants me to grow and be independent and financially stable if the time happened to come that he couldn't take care of our family. Heath has been there for me through the long nights of writing papers and putting together presentations. He has watched arland through the night so that I could get things ready for the next day. He has been my confidant and emotional stability through meltdowns and great achievements. He has been my everything through this journey and I couldn't have done it without him. Second of all my family, they have been there for me from day one and never gave me the option to NOT go to college. They always said that it was school or complete poverty. Well did I really have a choice? They made it known that if I didnt have school or my education I would disappoint my self in alot of ways, and they were right. I would never want to disappoint myself. My dad has been a great example of how to give a project your all and go above and beyond. He has showed me that with hard work and studying I still may not pass a test or an assignment but that doesn't really matter because I am good at alot of other things and that I can still pass the class. In the end I have had the greatest experiences going to school and I would never trade it for anything.

And it helps too that Heath and I are going on this ship in 38 days!!!! FUN IN THE SUN!!!



Arland and I went to the zoo with Whitney and Adie this last week! It was fun to see them look at all the animals!


Mommy and Arland on the train!


And the cutest picture of the week! Heath sent this to me while I was in class. I love these two!

Oh how I love this little boy, he sure is getting more snugly too!

Seat Belts



Lately I have been thinking about the controversial issue of seat belts and children in car seat. This topic mostly stems from my most recent interaction with my child and the fact that he no longer fits in his infant car seat. I have been researching and reviewing different brands of car seats in hopes to find one that will best protect my little man from a crash if in a situation that it ever occurs. In recent visits to the pediatrician I found myself asking the doctor what recommendations he has for car seats and how a child should be sitting in the car. Whether a child should be rear facing or forward. You see my little guy has LONG legs and being rear facing can seem a little cramped at times. I want him to be comfortable in the back, this got me thinking about when I should make his car seat rear facing, after all he is a year now and alot of my friends have chosen to make their childs car seat forward facing. The conclusion that I have found sums up to this:

"The American Academy of Pediatrics stated that they are now officially recommending parents keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. They're also advising that most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are 8-12 years of age."

The AAP's policy will appear in the April edition of Pediatrics (their peer-reviewed scientific journal) and is based on research such as a 2007 study in Injury Prevention showing that children under 2 are 75% less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing. According to a post from The New York Times, here's the problem with putting young children in a forward-facing seat:
“A baby’s head is relatively large in proportion to the rest of his body, and the bones of his neck are structurally immature,” said Dr. Dennis R. Durbin, scientific co-director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “If he’s rear-facing, his entire body is better supported by the shell of the car seat. When he’s forward-facing, his shoulders and trunk may be well restrained, but in a violent crash, his head and neck can fly forward.”

In the instance of a crash a babies head is more likely to fly forward causing the neck to have major damage and other life threatening issues. So when it comes down to comfort and safety I choose SAFETY and I hope most of you will as well. Look at the research and make the decision for your self and when you feel the time is right you can make the decision to go forward facing.