Rage

Those (expletive) little (expletives) down at the dealership have incurred my wrath. They have been slow to respond, rude and sent my car home in worse shape than I brought it in for the five long years of my warranty. I generally dislike them. In fact my entire family (Mom, Dad and Sister) drives the same kind of car and have all had so many bad experiences they refuse to return. At one point they did my sister's oil change without putting any oil back in and killed her engine. Bad things happen there.

It's one thing to be a jerk or a scam artist it is another entirely to endanger the lives of my kids. I'm so angry I can barely see straight. It was one thing to spill oil all over my engine during an oil change and send me home to discover thick black smoke pouring out of my hood on a holiday weekend. That was bad. This is worse.

I got pulled over and warned because my headlight was out. When Mike attempted to change the bulb it was fine. He replaced the fuse and on it went. I drove the car for 30min and then it was out again. It shouldn't have been shorting out like that, but it was. Want to know why? Because when the dealership replaced my serpentine belt they hooked a cluster of wires that controls my electrical systems. In the weeks since it has rubbed all the wires exposed causing shorts and a serious fire hazard! I can not imagine what kind of moron would make such a careless mistake nor can I fathom someone malicious enough to purposefully do such a dangerous thing just to secure more business.

They have ignored me struggling with my wheelchair and toddler, called a day later than promised, tried to charge me for things I never requested and even made and admitted careless mistakes before, but this is too much. They couldn't pay me to bring my car back in there. If they wanted to pay me to fix this I'd refuse. They will NEVER touch my car or the car of anyone I care about again, ever. I get ulcer pains at the mention of their name.

That's Crown Buick GMC Suzuki Service Center at 5326 34th Street North St. Petersburg, FL 33714. Stay Clear. The sales staff was kind to me all those years ago, but I would have saved myself a considerable amount of stress and money by skipping the warranty and steering clear of their train wreck of a service center. At this point for the sake of my safety and sanity I will never do business with them again.

Drop Rail Cribs

Drop Rail Cribs

How can it be after decades of use that drop rail cribs are illegal. I am enraged first as a woman under 5feet and as a disabled woman. Why wouldn't they demand the cribs conform to a higher safety standard instead? Or at the least wait until a safer alternative that doesn't require lifting 10-30lbs of baby over a solid rail. I don't know what short and or disabled mothers will do? What are the options if you're not capable of lifting your baby over a solid rail. Letting the baby sleep in your bed? Not so safe. Mattress on the floor, again not so safe. What if you climb a step ladder lean down to put the baby in and slip. Either injuring the baby or cracking your own ribs? Is there no advocate for mothers?

I'm really distraught about this. My physical limitations make my independence as a parent difficult enough. Now popular opinion has caused the government to go to an extreme. If I were pregnant now I would be lost. I'm so sorry that babies got hurt, but we're not talking about lead paint here. We're talking about a staple of baby care.

Houses

I have lived in 4 cities and within those cities moved apartments anywhere up to 3times. I have moved ALOT. However, I have never moved as part of a group. It was always just me packing, apartment hunting and unpacking. Now that my quick trip to Florida has hit the 3yr mark and I'm a mother it's time to move. Mike's house, much like my pre-pregnancy bathing suit, is too small. We've got 4 people in what is technically a 2bedroom house. Also, sharing one bathroom with two boys, enough said. Now that our lease is up at the end of September and we've officially let the landlord know we've out grown the place we've start looking at houses. Specifically we're looking for, a 3-4bedroom 1.5-2bathroom house, I just happened to watch that show "Raising Sextuplets" the other day and they were house hunting because they were moving to Florida. It started off with some dispute about what they could afford and then once they actually started looking things escalated horribly because they couldn't agree on a house mainly because of varying ideas of what is baby safe. It's been less rocky for us. Mike's been in this house for 8yrs and is a little weary of leaving such low rent behind. Overall though we agree on a reasonable range for our new house. We do however, just like the reality shows folks, differ on our favorites. He loves a house he found 30min away with a sprawling backyard and a dock. I two major reservations 1)the distance (I have friends and medical apts here) and 2) Safety (I don't really trust either kid around a dock). Mike thinks a pool would be great I think it would be more trouble than it's worth and a safety issue. Mainly we're on the same page about things though. Everyone needs their own space. There must be some room to place outside for the kids and a much bigger kitchen. This is just the next step. This is the next place we get comfy for a while and after this house we'll find the forever house, I hope.

Containment

So, I'm showing my age here, but when I think about baby containment I think of Rugrats. I wanted to get Riley the same style enclosure for our house. Something versatile that we could completely do without, use inside or outside and set up various configurations. I knew it was time to think about baby gates with my impending surgery, but the other day she crawled across the floor and opened a drawer. She hadn't intended to open it at all she want to pull herself up to standing and...it opened. She was thrilled! She sat there smiling and opening and closing the drawer for 10min. Thunk...ha!...thunk...squeal...thunk...hee...thunk

Time for a baby gate.

So my BabyRUS coupons had the good sense to arrive that day offering 15% of baby gates, 50% off the extension to the gate I wanted and 20% any baby item. I thought perfect I'll just order it online with all the discounts. I'm not driving very much at the moment and those things are very heavy. It was a complicated mind numbing ordeal trying to use my coupons on line. Apparently, when the website says maximum of 3 discounts per order they don't mean use can use 3 different discounts on multiple items like I was trying to do. They mean you can get the same item with the same exact discount discount 3 times. Anyone else think that's completely stupid?

So, armed with customer services' assurances that you can only stack coupons in store I decided to enlist help and pick it up in person. I'd also like to say in my defense that the flyer with the coupons specifically said "price with discount and coupon." I'm sorry to harp on all this but people who make my life more difficult really piss me off lately.

On the plus side the Super Yard comes fully assembled. I had read my friend's blog about her baby gate assembly requiring a screw driver so I was weary. Not that I'm not capable just too

tired to concentrate. So, we put it up not so much in the officially sanctioned hexagon shape, but more of a screwed up triangle.

Riley liked the novelty of it at first. She could pull herself up on it and cruise around in there. It's really sturdy unlike the empty clothes hamper she pulled down on herself trying to stand up the other day. But the honeymoon was over pretty quickly. I like that the mess is contained (aka I won't trip over it) and the baby's safe from speeding 7yr olds.

It has a "door" which requires some serious coordination to open, up on one side down on the other at the same time. We decided to actually open it as little as possible to deter Isaac from trying to get in there. So, for now I have to entice the baby to stand and then pull her out. I was advised to find a way to contain the baby before my surgery and to consult an occupational therapist before I'm discharged from the hospital so I can figure out the best way to lift the baby without derailing my healing. I'm not super optimistic about it after two days of scooping her out of her pen.

It's just another example of God's sense of humor like the baby finally rolling around and needing the crib bumpers at the same time she figures out grabbing so she can promptly rip them down. Riley because mobile enough to need containment which means she minds being contained for the first time in her life. I guess she'll be more content when we round of her little gang of babies and they can escape on fun adventures and make it back just in time for the adults to never susept..

I'd Perfer You Didn't

It may be important to note that I am not what I would consider an "over protective" mother. I am very comfortable speaking to strangers to acknowledge compliments they give Riley. I don't mind at all when the waitress holds her hand or the guy who's always at the coffee shop leans in for a closer look. Riley loves people and I'd never hide her away.

That said there are boundaries. If we are not on a first name basis I'm not going to let you hold her. She's not a puppy. We had a waitress the other night who repeatedly commented on how much she'd LOVE to hold her (insert game show buzzer noise here). I also prefer that people don't smoke around my kids (or me for that matter). I just find smoking to be a nasty, vile, irrational, unhealthy habit. So, even if I know and love you I probably won't want you to hold the baby after your cigarette.

I love it when someone sees me with my hands full, as frequently happens with a baby, and holds the door for me. I do not like it when I'm doing things my way and after politely turning down help an over insistent stranger "helps" anyway. Like today I was carrying Riley and the heavy baby bag in front of the hospital and the baby bag slid off my shoulder. I knelt carefully to the ground to resituate and a parking attendant rushed over. I explained that I was readjusting my bag, but he took Riley right out of my arms! He walked her to the car and then handed her back. Really? Come on.

I'm not super concerned with some of the things it would be fashionable to worry about. Like that Riley sucks her thumb when she's tired or watches tv. Riley has set her own pace with eating solids (within pediatrician guidelines) and hits milestones when she hits them. I try not to stress about that stuff, but occasionally something bothers me. I want to feel like she's safe. I want her to be comfortable, clean and secure most of the time. I feel like I'm pretty reasonable about these things so why, do I have to be made to feel bad and overbearing? Why should anyone care as long as I'm not making constant unreasonable demands on anyone. I don't want to be made fun of taking care of my kid.

I understand there are extremes, but I'm doing my best to nurture the independent little adventurer that I've been blessed with. I want her to experience the world and for everyone to get to see her and I don't care how other people feed, clothe, transport, bathe, or entertain their children. I'm doing it my way and we're doing fine.