BPA Bottles/Meal Related Items Pulled From Shelves

This may be old news to some of you, but I had to write about it anyway (apparently stuff still happens when I'm at the beach and disconnected from the world). Toys R' Us has recently announced it will be pulling all baby bottles and meal related items containing the harmful BPA from their shelves in 2008. And Wal-Mart in Canada has already started the process of removing these items from their shelves as well.

My home and native land, Canada, recently became the first country to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles (Go Canada!). Hopefully the US government (and others) will make a similar move soon.

Another company making the move to BPA free products is Nalgene, which is good new for us adults (at least those of us who became addicted to their water bottles over the years).

Check out this site to see what baby bottles are currently BPA free.

A lot of us moms are pretty disturbed we've been feeding our babies harmful chemicals with their milk. But in the grand scheme of things, we can't beat ourselves up over everything. There's enough to feel guilty about already! At least we're moving in the right direction.

We're Back

Apparently all I had to do to make the sun shine in Cape Hatteras last week was write about it not shinning. As I logged off my Dad's very slow lap top last Wednesday, the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of our trip. We made our way over to the ocean and continued to do so every day until we left. It ended up being a sweet beach vacation with excellent company. I was only on the computer that one time, which was a nice break from the world.

The babe and I road tripped back in the sun on Saturday. We hit the road at 9:06 am and pulled into out parking spot in DC at about 4:10 pm. That included one stop at a shoe store in Nags Head (where I bought an awesome pair of Teva sandals for $30 off), one stop for lunch (Taco Bell for Mommy and grapes, bananas, milk and arrow root cookies for the babe), and lots of traffic outside the DC area. There was only one hour of screaming the whole trip which occured after we left our lunch break outside Richmond, VA. Crying fits make my kid sleep apparently, so it worked out for everyone. I'll take that any day over the insane weather I had driven through the week prior.

We're still adjusting to being back home. Just the two of us during the day is pretty lonely compared to what we got used to. Vacations have to end at some point I guess. Now I have to plan the next beach vacation. Because the babe loves the sand and collecting shells (as seen above)...and I just can't deny her those simple pleasures!

The Beach

I made a lot of promises to the babe last week as we played in the dirty sand box at one of our local graffiti covered parks. I told her all about the beautiful beach she'd be visiting in a few days. I told her about the silky sand she could make castles with. I promised it would blow her mind.

On Sunday morning, I packed the babe (and a ridiculous amount of supplies) in the car and drove for close to 6 hours (in the rain). I passed flipped over cars and drove through some pretty serious weather. Luckily we picked up my outlet shopping Mom about half way along and she was able to entertain the babe until we pulled up to the beach house. I had to peel my fingers of the steering wheel and take a deep breath when we arrived.

We are now at the beach in Rodanthe, North Carolina with my parents, aunt and uncle and their friends from Toronto. This was meant to be the babe's first beach vacation. A week in the sand and sun. But it looks like I brought the crappy weather from DC down to NC. It has been raining since we got here (except for a pocket of blue sky here and there). I have taken the babe to the beach in front of the house once. She got to play with her new plastic toys for about half an hour before we had to run in when more rain started to come down on us.

Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful and we plan on spending the day at the beach. We are staying on the "sound" and are a 10 minute walk from the ocean. I can't wait for the babe to see it. For that matter, I can't wait to see it myself.

Despite all the bad weather, it has been amazing to have 6 grandparents around to help entertain the babe. She loves the attention (and poker chips apparently) and I don't know how she'll ever survive being at home alone with me again. Hopefully the weather won't follow me back to DC.

Actually, as I look out the window, I see some blue sky and a little sun struggling to come out. Fingers crossed it will stay for more than a minute.

The Show

Another first last night. I went to a concert. At night. Without my child. It was awesome. My friend Kim, of Creating Ms. Perfect fame, and I headed over to the Birchmere to see Kathleen Edwards (another Ottawa native). I had not been to a show since October 2006 (Emmylou Harris, also at the Birchmere), and it was so cool to be in a room full of adults listening to some rockin good tunes. If I were a rock star, I'd like to be like Ms. Edwards.

My loving husband was on babysitting duty. It didn't go so well for him. The babe asked for mama for ten minutes straight when they got home (verbally and by signing "mother"). She proceeded to be a pain in the bottom, not eat her food, and not settle down to sleep until an hour of much drama and tears had passed. It sounds as if she took me going to a concert much worse than me going to New York City for an evening. Strange but true.

I will admit I didn't miss the babe last night. There were no tears shed when I did the hand off at my husband's office at 5:45 pm. I can easily handle evening escapades at this point. Now I have to make sure I actually make them happen every once in a while!

Curtains

I read in the Modern Girls Guide to Motherhood (by Jane Buckingham) that you should purchase curtains that do not block out the sun for your nursery. I trusted this advice and bought some boring, non-baby oriented, cream coloured curtains (I am not a decorator). I think the logic behind the theory is that it helps your child understand the difference between daytime and night time sleeping.

So far, this advice has not turned out so great for me. I have a black fleece blanket hanging over half the window (in front of the babe's crib). Very stylish. The other half is bright 24/7 as there are some pretty darn powerful street lights in front of our place. Hopefully she enjoys the orange glow. In terms of daytime sleeping, she's got to be pretty tired to fall asleep easily in there.

I think that we had it right when we chose dark navy curtains for our bedroom. Maybe that's why she likes it in there so much more than in her own room.

New York, New York

It's one helluva town.

I finally did it. After an almost two year absence, I got on the train and headed up to see my dear friends in NYC. It was my first night away since the babe's birth (actually, since my last business trip in September 2006). It was also the babe's first night alone with her Papa. And you know what, after all the fretting on both sides, we all managed to come out the other end OK (notice the notes I left taped to the cupboard door).

I spent last week getting very excited and nervous about leaving. My husband was just anxious and nervous (no excitement). We didn't know how the babe would react to not seeing me for so long, or to having her father give her a bath and put her to bed. We all get in habits, I suppose. And we all have expectations about how things will be. Well the babe amazed us both by dealing with the separation just fine, thank you very much.

I fought back tears as I left and only started feeling happy about my departure when the train pulled out of Union Station. I had Van Morison's "Into the Mystic" cued up on the Ipod (I didn't remember how to use it as it had been so long) and off we went. I had a brilliant time from my 2 pm arrival at Penn Station to the close of a marvelous dinner at midnight. Then I started to want to head home for some snuggles. But those ten hours were bliss. My activities included lunch (and Junior's Cheesecake) with my sweet friend and hostess in Bryant Park (first photo), walking up Madison Avenue (a picture of Rockefeller Center above), walking through Central Park (heaven), fancy wine (thanks, A), and an amazing dinner at Cafe de Bruxelles in the West Village with seven of my best NYC buds. I have to say it, I love New York.

Sunday morning brought the longest train ride home ever. I was in the front door by 2:30 pm (there was no casual brunching in NYC). After rushing from Union Station, I was amazed to see that both my husband and the babe seemed fine...in fact, they seemed happy! The babe wasn't even mad at me. That first hug was so yummy and I can't explain how happy I was to have her back in my arms.

It was an important step for all of us. Now we know it's possible. Mommy can leave and the world won't fall apart. Daddy can take care of the babe for extended periods of time. And the babe can be with Daddy for overnighters (she was up for a few hours in the middle of the night, but that can happen any day).

I won't let so much time pass before I visit my favorite city and wonderful friends again.

The Down Low

I was shopping at Target the other day and had the coolest experience. I was in the elevator with the babe when another woman jumped in at the last second. She recognized me and asked if we knew each other from the pool last summer. Indeed, we had had a great chat one sunny afternoon about the complexities and challenges of motherhood. She was pregnant at the time, and I remember giving her a bit of the down low on having your first baby.

After briefly chatting about her son (who is 9 months old already!) and the babe, she did something I wasn't expecting. She thanked me! She said I was the only person who had told her how badly motherhood "kicks you in the butt." It was obviously a conversation she remembered, and I was so pleased to hear I had helped her out a bit.

There are so many things people don't tell you about motherhood, and I'm glad I was able to shed a little bit of light on the experience for another woman. Hopefully this blog does that for some other folks as well.