Today our sweet girl turns one. Mommy and daddy love you and wish you the happiest birthday!

Happy Birthday Laurel

With just over three weeks to go until the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Bailey household is getting in the spirit. USA! USA! USA!

Tim and I have always enjoyed the Olympics, and that is pretty much the only thing on our television for two weeks every other year. We hope that's something she will come to love along with us.

Laurel's getting close to the 22 pound weight limit on her Chicco Infant carseat, so we've been patiently watching and waiting for our preferred convertible carseat to go on sale. We were lucky and caught the Britax Marathon seat marked down from $279 to $189 at http://www.travelingtikes.com/, so we snatched one up!

When it arrived we took it out of the box to let Laurel try it out. Needless to say, she found it hilarious that she was sitting in her carseat in the middle of the living room.


We are planning to leave Laurel rear-facing in her carseat until she meets the height or weight limits of the seat (35 pounds and 49"). There are so many safety benefits to continued rear-facing past the minimum legal limits of one year old and 20 pounds. Here are some from http://www.car-safety.org/ and The American Academy of Pediatrics:

• Rear-facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing carseat during a frontal crash.


• Rear-facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a child's back, head and neck; they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.


• Rear-facing carseats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than severe rear end crashes. (According to Crashtest.Com, frontal and frontal offset crashes combine for about 72% of severe crashes. Side impacts are about 24%. Rear and rear offset crashes only account for about 4%.)


• Rear-facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a child's legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.


• Rear-facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatricians, and can reduce injuries and deaths. Motor Vehicle Crashes are the #1 overall cause of death for children 14 and under.

Here are some videos that demonstrate a child in a forward-facing carseat and what happens to their body during a crash, versus a child in a rear-facing carseat in a crash.

For our family, reaching the next "milestone" by turning Laurel's carseat forward is something that can wait!

For the New Year's holiday, our family joined some good friends in Pigeon Forge for a great couple days of card-playing, football-watching and lots of feasting. On New Year's Day, some of us took the kids to the Gatlinburg Aquarium. At first, Laurel was a little intimidated by some of the large fish, but she soon got into the hang of it and helped us point out all the pretty (and scary) fishies.

2009 has been a wonderful year of ups and downs and more memories than I can recall. First and foremost is clearly the addition of Laurel to our family. We could not be more blessed in such a beautiful, cheerful, inquisitive child. She brings us more joy than I could have ever anticipated, and made what might have otherwise been a painful year, the best of our lives.

Both Tim and myself lost our last living grandparent this year when my dear Papaw Fain passed away in April and Tim said goodbye to "Chuck" earlier this very week. They were both very dear to us - strong, family-centered men of faith who faced the evils of cancer valiantly. They were both veterans of World War II, worked on the railroad, and lived healthy, vigorous lives well into their 80s. They will be well remembered and loved.

As we look toward 2010, we can't wait to see more of the person inside our sweet baby. We look foward to her first birthday at the end of this month and to all the adventures our family will experience in this new decade. To our dear readers, we wish you and your family much love and well wishes for health and happiness.