Joshua's New Ride

Call me overprotective, but ever since I discovered how much safer riding in a car seat rear facing is compared to forward facing I have not been eager to turn Joshua's car seat around. Legally we could have turned him around at a year old because he was already 20 lbs. by his first birthday, but he has been very happy rear facing, and I had no reason to turn him around. Some may claim that a rear facing child's legs could break in a car accident if they are too long, but it's much more likely to endure a broken spine forward facing which can result in internal decapitation. So for that reason, I would much rather have my son rear facing with broken legs than for him to break his spine forward facing in a wreck.

Well, Joshua is not far from the rear facing limit of 33 lbs., and although he has five pounds to spare I gave Darrin the green light to turn Joshua forward facing because our last trip he got pretty fussy after two hours of riding in the car. Turning him around would allow him to see more out the windows as well as to watch videos with Rebekah while on the road.

Darrin turned the car seat around on Friday evening before our trip to Columbia this weekend. After Joshua's nap I took him to try out his new position and for Darrin to determine where the should straps need to go. Joshua LOVED it! He did not want to get out of his seat! The only way Darrin could get him out of it was to move him to Rebekah's seat. Even on Saturday as we left for our trip Joshua was so happy to see the world.

Saying "Wee!!!!!!!!"


Enjoying the view


We couldn't leave Rebekah out.


Saturday through Monday we spent in Columbia at Grandy's house to visit with Darrin's brother and sister and family. Darrin's sister and her family live 12 hours away, so they do not get to visit as often. It had been about a year and a half since we had seen them last time, so we were looking forward to spending some time with them for a couple of days.

Sunday we celebrated Darrin's brother, Derek's, birthday along with Joshua's. Well, Rebekah loves birthdays so much that it was everyone's birthday. Rebekah helped blow out Joshua's candles (well, there were 2 for him and 4 for her) while Derek blew out his.


Here are a few pictures from our visit.


Joshua was giving a pouty face here and trying to decide whether to cry or not.