There is a reason I'm a freak about car seat safety!

 This is my van.  It was kind of the perfect storm of crap that lead to me allowing our nanny to drive my van.  I generally don't like other people driving our cars, but I had spent over $200 on lyft rides and co-pays that week because of vertigo and we were all headed to the chiropractor after anyways, so I asked her to bring the kids and come get me. 

Let me tell you, getting that phone call of her screaming hysterically and my babies crying in the background is what nightmares are made of.  It was close to where I was so I was able to run to them.  I'm sure I looked drunk because I couldn't walk in a straight line, much less run.  All of them were screaming, but they were all conscious! 

All air bags deployed.  It was a HARD impact.  It was our nanny's fault.  I'm still not sure why she was trying to cross over 4 lanes of traffic going in 2 different directions in 5:00 traffic, but that doesn't really matter anymore. 

I was in shock and everyone was screaming.  I was most worried about Jack and his head.  I texted his neurologist, who happen to be in the building I had just left, and she called me.  She asked if he was in a car seat and if he hit his head.  He was in a 5 pt harness and he did not hit his head (though later when we went to clean out the van the foam in his head rest came apart so maybe he did hit his head?) but he said he didn't hit his head.  She managed to calm me down a little.  Technically Jack is big enough to not be in a car seat at all.  He is 57" or 4 ft 9 in, which according to Texas law is big enough to ride without a car seat.  Thank God he was secured in a 5 pt harness!  Even had he been in a backless booster, he still likely would have hit his head, given where the impact was.

  <-- This is our neurologist, Dr. Karen Keough, who we love!  A doc from Jack's clinic called that evening to check on him too. 

Maggie was probably the most injured of the kids.  She had a sore neck and a headache that evening.  Maggie is 5, weights 40 lbs and in a 5 pt harness forward facing.  She is still small enough to rear face and did until after she was 4.  Part of me wonders if she should still be rear facing, but I would keep them that way until they go off to college if I could.  Yes, it's safer!  Yes, there is science to prove that it is safer!  She is technically old enough to be in a booster, but she is hardly heavy enough.  Never move a kid to a booster before they are ready.  find out the details here.  If they can not sit properly 100% of the time, even when they fall asleep, then they aren't ready.  I do have a seat that can rear face up to 50 lbs but having 2 rear facing seats in the van makes it really hard for big kids to get past them into the back.  But she was safe and is fine! 

Abigail didn't have a scratch on her, but she is the one who is probably the most traumatized.  She still talks about it daily usually saying "car bonk, really loud, that happens.  Owie legs.  Maggie okay, Jack okay, Abby okay, Juju okay."  The thought that still haunts me is that had the accident happened a 1/2 second later then Abigail's door would have been t-boned.  

I know that car seats are a pain in the ass!  I know that they are expensive!  I know that they are heavy, believe me I practically throw my back out when I have to move them around.  BUT, they save lives.  They protect our most precious tiny people!  I see facebook posts all the time of kiddos not buckled in correctly, forward facing before 2, in a booster when they are 3, not even using a car seat at 6, the list goes on.  If you have a car seat but don't use it correctly, it won't work correctly in an accident.  Please please please make sure that you have your kiddos protected!  You can find out all kinds of info here.   

My van was totaled.  I loved that van!  But I will forever be grateful to it for protecting my babies.  Our nanny had a bruised hand, probably from the air bag, and I suspect she may have a concussion.  When we went to empty the old van I discovered that the driver seat belt was broken because the force of the accident was so much that it would no longer retract.  The whole thing makes me wish that we could all be in 5 pt harnesses!  Race cars have them, who don't cars that can go 80 mph on the highway have them?

Because we loved the old van so much and because it did such a great job protecting everyone in the accident (something we talk about frequently with the kids) we got another one.  This one is slightly newer with a few more safety features.