Traveling back from the CABoom show on Monday, I was faced with a moral dilemma as we waited for our bags to arrive. There was a dad standing there with his adorable little girl asleep in her infant car seat carrier. Handsome dad, adorable sleeping baby, what could be wrong? Well, the problem is that her legs were dangling way over the car seat edge. I see this all the time, and it drives me a little nuts that parents just don't seem to note the height and weight limits of their car seat carriers, which usually don't go much beyond six months.

The dilemma  do I avoid playing the part of 'nosey lady' or do I step in and say something out of concern for the child? I decided to say something and luckily the dad was very nice about it. I simply said that I work with children's products and suggest that he check the label on his carrier to double check the size restrictions. To my shock the child was a full year old  which is well-past when it should normally be in use for most older carriers (some of the new carriers do go up to a full year, but they are very few).

As we gathered our bags and headed out the door, I thanked him for being so understanding about my suggestion. He said 'I guess after four children, you just think you have it all figured out.' Classic mistake!

Which leads to the point I did not make to him ... I am sure that car seat was at least eight years old, which is way longer than it should be used. I have been told that the warranty and usefulness of car seats expires after about six years* due to ordinary wear and tear. Also, technology improves all the time, so newer models should have better features.

To any and all parents out there, PLEASE check the size limits on your car seat carriers. They often have a length and a weight specification, but it is usually whichever comes first. For Kelly, she hit the height requirement around six months. For Anton, it was the weight requirement at about four months. We had an older carrier, so newer carriers probably last longer.

You also can find information on the National Transportation Safety Board Web site .

Thanks for listening to 'Ms. Nosey'!

*The NHTSA has some great information including these parts of a brochure on child safety and car seats.

Tip #2 gives specific use information.

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/newtips/pages/Tip2.htm

Tip #5 gives specifications for reuse and length of use:

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/newtips/pages/Tip5.htm

I was at the fabulous CABoom V Design Show in Santa Monica, CA this past weekend. Even though it was a few days away from St. Patty's, there was a definite Green feeling. Easily half of the booths focused on "green" products. Our designs were a perfect fit. In fact, nearly every parent at the show has been a customer for one or more of our products or they were when they walked away.

Ours was one of only about eight juvenile products booths (others include Orbit, Pixel, Clek, Boon, DucDuc, etc.) The rest was all grown up stuff, so I spent part of the day on Saturday walking around, enjoying the amazing products. I am also in active shopping mode because we are up-fitting new office space for later this Spring. Our hope is to have it as green as possible, while staying within budget. So far we are eyeing a carpet provider who will recycle the existing flooring, a contractor who works 'green', and various natural and recycled material. I found all sorts of inspiration at the show. Three of my favorites were:

loll designs ... my new friends from my home state of Minnesota. These guys create recycled outdoor furniture that is really nice and yet looks easy for us to keep clean. We will finally have a space to eat outside, so I want something that will last for a while.

Reiss f.d. manufactured in my new home state of North Carolina, this is a collection of bentwood products. Like many people here, the designer is a Svan customer. We will probably be his customer soon as well. I hope to get at least one piece for our lobby.

Neoporte. Okay, they aren't as green as the others, but they are just plain cool! Neoporte creates custom doors and glass. My hope is that they can fashion a special piece in our entryway that will create a great feeling as you enter the space. My dream is that they can etch my kids' handprints into the glass somehow, like my parents did when they laid concrete at our house when I was a child.

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What a perfect name for my illness - Momnesia!

The Today Show had a piece last week on 'Momnesia'. I was thrilled to find out that this was not a figment of my imagination. I really am losing my mind, one child at a time. Okay, so apparently it is more about lack of sleep, as the average new mom loses 700+ hours of sleep in the first year. (Wow! No wonder those cat naps never seem to get me caught up!) Apparently there are other factors including chemical changes that cause this phenomenon, but they are mostly temporary - stress and the lack of sleep last forever.

This concept is based on Dr. Louann Brizendine's book 'The Female Brain'. You can check out her Web site at LouannBrizendine.com. According to the Today show's mom-expert (mom of seven kids, bless her!), exercise helps, but who has the time?

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We had a big first this past weekend, I took my kids to a climbing gym for the first time. We have a brand new climbing gym in the area and I was super excited to check it out. It is called the Triangle Rock Club . The walls are nice, the routes are fresh, and the staff was cool.

Not sure exactly what the guys thought when I pulled up with two kids in tow. There is some natural contradiction when you see the vanity license plate 'CLIMBING' on a station wagon. Yes, I am in denial about the fact that I haven't really climbed since I got pregnant with Kelly in 2001!

After filling out piles of disclaimer forms, the visit was near-perfect except that I learned a very good lesson. Never bring two children, one who just turned 3, to a climbing gym by yourself! Imagine this ... I am strapped into the rope, belaying my six year old. She is about 15 feet off the ground and starting to get nervous when her brother takes off to the other side of the gym. What do I do? It's not like I can drop everything to chase after him!

Luckily, the gym wasn't that big or crowded and the staff helped keep him in my line of sight. But this was one of those one-chance only deals. They won't be so kind next time. (Not that there will be a 'next time' that I go alone!) Rule #1 to climbing with kids, bring at least one adult per child!

Chaos aside, it was the best! Kelly has gone on a few climbing towers at local fairs and at a recent hockey game, but she has always lost her nerve about 10 feet up. This time was different. She came down twice at about 15 feet, then she made it to the top three times. She kept going after it, even though she was nervous. She never just 'ran up' the route, she needed some prodding each time  but it was all her own doing and every time she came down, she jumped back on again. I was so proud of her for pushing her own limits. Anton was great too. He made it halfway up, but was not sure exactly how to get down, so it was better that he didn't go farther.

The little prodding I did makes me nervous. I found myself in that classic parenting dilemma of wanting to make sure I walk that fine line between encouraging my kids to work hard, and not stressing them out. I haven't figured it out yet, so far it is going case by case.

For local climbers, Go! It's what we have been waiting for! I really hope that I can go again soon, and climb myself this time.