Laides, prepare to consign to your heart's content

A great list of this spring's consignment sales for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex:

Feb 2-3 McKinney www.triedandtruesale.com/
Feb 15-17 Lewisville www.bbconsign.com/
Feb 26-March 2 Fort Worth Just Between Friends
Feb 28-March 1 Grapevine Divine Consign
March 1-3 Coppell rockinghorsesale.com/
March 4-6 Plano Divine Consign
March 8-10 Dallas (Lake Highlands) www.threesistersconsignments.com/
March 9-10 Mesquite (the one formerly in Dallas) Just Between Friends
March 9-10 Arlington Just Between Friends
March 16-17 www.outgrowntreasures.com/
March 23-24 Arlington Divine Consign
March 28-31 North Richland Hills Just Between Friends
March 31 Richardson Mothers of Twins
March 31 McKinney www.sweetrepeatsmckinney.org/shopperschedule.html
April 11-14 Denton Just Between Friends

And, this year, I think I may just start doing some consigning myself. I'm still trying to work out consignment sale vs consignment store benefits.

Snow in Texas!

I was so thrilled when I opened the blinds yesterday morning and found a white dusting of snow covering our yard! It was maybe all of 1/2 inches, but it was SNOW!

The whiteness caught Peanut's eye as soon as she wandered into the living room. We all sat at the window for several minutes wondering at the 'snow'. When a small snow shower began during breakfast, Peanut exclaimed 'rain'! having just learned how to recognize water falling from the sky. No, this time its snow, we explained.

After breakfast and a proper bundling to take on the 31F temperatures, Peanut and I headed out into the yard. When we reached the front, she pointed down the street and wanted to go check on the ducks. With her shovel in hand, we walked towards the pond, stopping every now and then to wipe the snow off of neighbor's newspapers.

Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am!

I had another pre-natal appointment for Tex this morning. It was the usual drill - sit in the waiting room for 20 mins, meet the nurse for 5 mins to measure weight and check blood pressure, quick trip to the bathroom, sit waiting in the doctor's room for 15 mins and, then, at long last, meet the doctor for a quick, clinical 10 mins to measure my belly, listen to the heartbeat and answer "no, no, no" to "any cramping, any bleeding, any questions?"

"Ok, great, see you again in two weeks."

In a way its efficient and we all get to know what we need to know. I don't have so many questions this time around since I've been through this before and, fortunately, nothing unusual is happening.

My pre-natal appointments for Peanut in Finland covered the same basic health checks, but then the midwife also was interested in how was I feeling - really - and how were things at home otherwise. Were we getting everything ready? Was I eating, sleeping, emotionally feeling OK? She also usually checked my hands for signs of swelling. And, then we spent a bit more time discussing how my measurements were tracking since she hand wrote them all into my Neuvola booklet which I carried with me. I always knew exactly what month/day we were at and how much weight I had gained compared to last week and how much my belly had grown.

My two cents on the car seat bru-haha

I'm sure most parents saw the recent infant car seat testing results from Consumer Reports (CR) which failed all, but two models in their test.

The short of it - CR tested with higher standards that are currently required by the US Federal Government. However, these standards are what are required of car manufacturers. If you take a quick look, the standards overall are appalling for determining "safety":

Cars and car seats can’t be sold unless they can withstand a 30-mph frontal crash. But most cars are also tested in a 35-mph frontal crash and in a 38-mph side crash. Car seats aren’t.

When we (CR) crash-tested infant car seats at the higher speeds vehicles routinely withstand, most failed disastrously. The car seats twisted violently or flew off their bases, in one case hurling a test dummy 30 feet across the lab.

Consider the accidents you've seen, been in or heard about. How often was it at speeds lower than 30 MPH and just a direct head-on collision?

I found many articles and blog commentaries attacking CR for causing undue stress and concern among parents for using higher than federal standards in their tests, and among the experts for not revealing their methodology. Sure, you can hardly blame manufacturers for conforming with the existing standards. They have to manufacturer to some common goal. But, I don't think CR should get beat up over their tests, either.

I think the anger should be directed at updating these feeble federal standards.

Infant seats sold in England and the 24 other countries of the European Union must meet safety standards that include a 31-mph frontal crash. Many are also tested in a 40-mph frontal crash and a 31-mph side collision. The results are the basis of widely publicized safety ratings for cars. The ratings include an assessment of how a car seat performs in a specific car. Automakers are required to make those seats available for purchase.

Some FAQs about LATCH and car seats from babycenter.