Is It Me, Or Am I Starting to Sound Like a PSA?

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a public service announcement lately, with all of my posts on preparedness and self reliance.
I've got a couple things to say tonight, so this entry might feel just a touch random, so bear with me....
Our area is known for having a lot of older homes, and in the recent months, there have been several fatal home fires, including one that took the lives of two very small children. It made me sick to hear that two beautiful, innocent little children were taken in such an awful, painful way, and what made it even worse is that the apartment building lacked smoke detectors.
My husband and I made it a goal to add more smoke detectors to our home, but we were unsure as to how we wanted to do them--do we hardwire them so when one goes off, they all go, or do we do battery powered, etc--and it didn't get done, and didn't get done. It took another (non-fatal) house fire, literally a block away from our former rental home, to make me realize we needed to do this and do this NOW--we can improve them later. Something is better than nothing.
So, we bought two more smoke detectors, and also another fire extinguisher, bringing our total to three smoke detectors and two extinguishers. I feel like a huge load is off of my mind. That is perhaps my worst nightmare--losing my family--and I encourage you all to check your smoke detectors, or buy them if you don't have them. The picture of those two now-dead girls from our town still haunts me and makes me sick inside.
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On another subject, my rockin' friend Tara posted a fabulous blog entry about accepting your children as they are, and I have been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. I struggle sometimes accepting it when my children aren't following what *my* plan for them is--if they aren't pottytrained fast enough, or sitting up soon enough, or crawling, or writing their names...whatever. It can bring me such anxiety worrying about each and every little thing, and stressing about whether or not they can do this or that. And the thing is--it's totally selfish of me. I am focusing on MY time table, and not what they need. If I could just relinquish my expectations and accept them for who they are, we all would be less stressed and on edge sometimes. Sure, it's OK to make sure they are developing correctly--that we know--but there is a difference between concern and impatience. I really, really, desperately need to work on this, on improving my relationship with them, on developing patience, and loving them as they are. I do love them, obviously, but I need to be less selfish.
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UPDATE: This week in "fail": While re-organizing my kitchen this morning (2/20/12), I found an unopened smoke detector, probably at least three years old, on the top of my fridge, which I hadn't cleaned in, oh, three years or more. So much for good intentions three years back... At least I have them up and functioning now.