A great weekend!!

This weekend was so great!! It started Friday morning. I headed down to my sister's so we could hang out before John's game, which was about 40 minutes from her house. We spent a couple hours shopping, including picking out a car seat for Grace. I've never bought a car seat before. I've had hand-me-downs for the last 3 I've had. (I've had 2 infant carriers and 1 convertible car seat.) The last one I had expires in December, so I wanted to get Grace a new one anyway, and after seeing how plush the new car seats are, I couldn't put her in the old one anymore!! Hers had no padding and was probably really uncomfortable. It also was only rated for rear-facing up to 22 lbs, and I want to keep Grace rear facing longer. (I've read a lot of research that says while it is legal to turn kids around at 12 months and 20 lbs, it's not the safest option. Their neck and spine are more protected if they are rear facing. If you are interested, here's a video that shares info and crash-test-dummy tests of forward vs rear facing seats. If you have a baby or toddler, you should watch this video!!) I did some online searching, and while I would have loved a Britax, I can't spend $250 on a car seat! I got the Graco Comfort Sport. It had high ratings on the sites where I looked, and it's rated up to 30 lbs for rear facing, and goes up to 40 lbs when forward facing. My 4 year old niece isn't even 40 lbs yet, so I figure Grace will be in this for at least 3 more years. I got the girly pattern, and when Grace saw it, she giggled. It was so cute! She loves her new car seat. She doesn't fuss going into it anymore, and when she sleeps in it, she looks so much more comfortable. 

When we were at Target, I wanted to take the model car seat to my car to see if it fit. I had read some stuff online that said to make sure it fits in your car before you buy, so I thought, It doesn't hurt to ask! Someone came back to help me, and I asked her if I could take it to my car (with a Target employee of course!) to make sure it fit. I told her I didn't want to buy it, take it to my car, find out it doesn't fit and have to bring it back inside to return it. She said, "Well, I don't think we do that." So I asked if we could ask a manager. She got someone else, who said the same thing. I repeated the same thing about not wanting to return it, and I said, "I WILL buy this today if it fits. I just want to make sure it fits before I buy it to save everyone the trouble of returning it." She could see I was going to stand my ground, so she finally told the first woman who helped me that if she would go outside with me, we could take it out. (I had already tried Grace in it on the floor in the car, so I knew she fit, and I didn't have to put her in the car with it too.) After some work, we finally got it installed and decided it would fit. Yeah!! Grace got a new car seat! 

After lunch and a little more shopping, we headed to my sister's to decorate my niece's birthday cake. It was a My Little Pony cake, and it was so cute! I don't have any pictures, but I'll post them when I get them. Grace and I were walking out the door to go to John's game when he called and said the mosquitos were horrible, so we decided not to go. We got to hang out at my sister's for the evening, which was nice. 

The next day was the party, and that was so much fun! Grace had a blast swinging in the swing. She would just throw her head back and giggle. It was so cute!! She also enjoyed being around so many kids and family. After cleaning up, we headed back to my sister's. I was supposed to go back home that night, but I decided to stay the night again since it was so late and it was a long drive. The next morning, I got up and headed back home to get John. We were going on a date, so Grace stayed with my sister, and my parents brought her up to Houston to meet us later. 

Our date was so fun!!! A friend of ours gave us FREE tickets to the Texans game! The seats were AMAZING!! We were at field level, row Q! Seventeen rows from the field!! We could see everything! it was so cool being that close. It was so loud down there!! The game was really good, and the Texans won! After the game, we met my parents and Grace at a BBQ place near the stadium for dinner and then headed home. It was a great weekend!!