Happy Independence Day!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

(From the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

Enjoy Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness today! We’ll be at the Family 4th Festival at Depot Park and then we’ll probably head to Cary for fireworks. It promises to be a fun day!

Edit to add that we found matching flag tees for the whole family at Wal-Mart this morning, so we will be the lame family in matching shirts. Ha!

Local Fun Stuff

Hey, fellow Sanfordians! In case you’ve been living in a cave, I thought I’d toss some stuff to do out there for you.

Tonight (Thursday 7/3) at 7PM is the Function at the Junction. I think a beach music group tonight? We’ll be there, regardless. (And if you think you recognize me, please feel free to say hi! I won’t bite!)

Tomorrow, from 2PM on, there is a family centered 4th of July festival at Depot Park. Lots of traditional stuff, including pie eating, and watermelon seed spitting, as well as lots of fun things for kids.

On July 19, Stepping Stones is having a carnival to raise money for their new playground that will be accessible to kids of all abilities. They’re accepting donations for silent auction items and selling raffle tickets as well, so if you can help out, please get in touch with Emily Page. You can get that contact info and read more here.

Finally settling into this 3rd baby thing…with BPA research and window shopping.

I know my excitement has been palpable, but I truly haven’t been able to let myself believe that things are going to be OK. Practically as soon as we confirmed viability, my husband got laid off and everything went into a tailspin. But now that all of the news, both good and bad, has had a chance to sink in and I’m starting to feel movement (Yes, already! It sounds crazy, but I’m about 99% positive that’s what I’ve been feeling for a few days now.) the reality is setting in.

And I’m realizing that a) I gave away almost all of my maternity clothes, b) most of the baby stuff, and c) I have to either re-purchase or somehow manage to beg, borrow, or steal (not really!) all of this stuff again. I do think the maternity clothes are going to work themselves out. I managed to get some pants on eBay and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that some stuff comes through on FreeCycle. I will still take whatever people throw at me, though!

The baby stuff is harder, because the safety information is constantly changing and recalls happen ALL the time, so getting this stuff used is a pain. I’m really not a snob, but it’s a gamble. For instance, a week or so before I realized I was pregnant, I’d thrown away all of my bottles and breast pump parts because I had no idea which of them contained BPA. With my first son, we used Avent bottles exclusively. I completely failed at breastfeeding and he was mostly bottle fed with formula. With #2, he rarely took a bottle but when he did, we used Avent. Now I know they’re not safe and with my plans to do a mixture of breastfeeding and bottlefeeding (using pumped milk, not formula) this time it seems like I have a lot of research to do on what is safe and what isn’t. I’m disappointed that Avent, my go-to bottle of choice seems to not have a lot of BPA free options. Luckily my Medela Pump in Style seems to only use BPA free attachments, so that does ease my mind. Now I just need to find a good hand pump and some bottles that I like and trust. Unfortunately, glass is out. I am truly the clumsiest person you will ever meet and I just know I’ll manage to break every single one of them. So I’ve been avoiding the work I needed to do this morning and researching bottles and breastpumps. My head is spinning with information and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, but I did find a few sites with good info and recommendations:

Nature Moms Blog, including info on things like BPA free pacifiers, teethers, lunchboxes, and plates, in addition to bottles. Lots of other good info on this site, as well!

Information straight from Avent regarding their use of BPA and info on the upcoming introduction of BPA free bottles.

And perhaps the most comprehensive, the Z report. That link is for their 3rd edition of BPA info, and they have nifty things like a mobile system where you can get info on the go, a wallet card you can print out and carry with you, and more.

As for the rest of the stuff we’ll need, I’m slowly trying to figure out what we’ll have to get. Definitely a new car seat (Which I absolutely will not get used…safety in the car is very important and used car seats are way too iffy…has it been in a wreck? Is it expired? Stored correctly? There are just too many questions there to take a risk.) and possibly a swing. A nursing pillow (old one is destroyed) and probably some clothes, even if it’s a boy. With all 3 being born in different seasons, not everything can be re-used. I also want to do some exploring into different babywearing options this time, so I’m on the lookout for pouch slings and a wrap or 2 to try, as well as coveting a Beco carrier for months now. Who would have thought I’d need so much for a 3rd baby???

Hey smokers, can we talk for a minute?

I know it’s an addiction, and a very tough one to break. I watched my father die of lung cancer in a matter of weeks because he could never break the habit. I fear I will watch my father in law die of a smoking related illness because he also just.cannot.quit. I know it’s hard, and I’m not asking you to quit, though I wish you would for the sake of your own health.

What I’m asking is some courtesy for those of us who cannot tolerate cigarette smoke. And I do realize that many many smokers *are* considerate. But for those of you who stand right outside the door of a business, getting in one last puff before you go in and *gasp* have to do without for 30 minutes while you shop, I cannot tell you how hard it is to avoid that cloud of smoke. Typically it is not a huge problem for me…I grew up with my father smoking in the house until my teenage years. (Which is when he had his first heart attack and my mom put her foot down…he smoked the rest of his life but he hid it from us.) But when I’m pregnant, the smell alone makes me very ill. And my asthma gets really bad during pregnancy and even the smallest whiff of cigarette smoke can make my lungs completely seize up and send me into an asthma attack. It was particularly bad in Gatlinburg last weekend…seemed like every other person there was a smoker and just walked around blowing their smoke everywhere. I lost count of how many times I had to use the inhaler.

It’s even worse for my oldest son. He was diagnosed with asthma several years ago and since then, we have to be very careful about exposing him to smoke. I hate having to ask him to hold his breath so we can walk into the grocery store. He doesn’t get typical asthma attacks when he breathes what we call “bad air”…instead, he ends up sick with a cough and it generally lasts up to a week or more. And just recently, it led to pneumonia. I do not know the root cause, but undoubtedly his asthma had something to do with it. And of course, “bad air” can be anything from cigarette smoke to poor air quality that day. I’m super thankful for the new flags being flown in Sanford telling us what the air quality is on any given day…but the truth is, that’s only part of the problem for us. Cigarette smoke is unavoidable in this area and I really wish people would consider the health of others even if they don’t care about their own.

So please, finish that butt in your car. Or stand well away from the doors. If you’re out at an event where there are children around, please consider leaving the area where others are. A couple of weeks ago at Function at the Junction, people sat right down next to where our family was and lit up. Why??? I always see people sitting across the road above the railroad tracks smoking, and I’m so grateful to them for it. Most of all, remember that smoke doesn’t just affect your health…it affects everyone around you who has to breathe it as well. Some more than others.

Entering the World of Webkinz

Saturday night, as my husband and I were strolling aimlessly through Gatlinburg and trying not to miss our kids (yes, we’re lame…we get 24 hours away from them and that’s all we think about!) we decided to buy each of them a small gift. My youngest was easy…we found a sippy cup with his name on it. We couldn’t find anything personalized with my oldest son’s name, at least nothing he would want. So we bought the sippy for my toddler and headed to another store where we encountered a huge selection of Webkinz. I’d heard about them from friends of kids his age, so I knew what they were. He had never mentioned them so I wasn’t sure if it was a “girl” thing or if he had friends with them or anything. But last week at a b-day party for a classmate, one of the gifts was a Webkinz and it seemed like they were all excited over it so I figured it was just a matter of time before Webkinz mania hit our house.

So here we were, faced with this Webkinz display. After much debate, we chose the black bear (Since black bears, both real and fake are all over the Smoky Mtns) and paid for our purchase. Today we finally had the time to sit down and register his new Webkinz friend at the website and were introduced to the entire Webkinz world. We had fun outfitting his bear’s house, buying food, dressing it, etc. It looks like a fun little site. And this gives us an easy “collectible” type item to tell people if they ask what he wants for b-day or Christmas!

Morning Sickness Redux

Ugh. Again with the ridiculousness of calling it “morning” sickness. I am sitting here at 11:57pm trying to ignore the nausea and the unbelievably sensitive gag reflex. The Zofran helped, for a while. But then a hideous side effect overtook me and I realized I needed to cut back and perhaps go without for a day or two at a time so that I could manage the other issue. Of course then it’s back to the constant nausea and being completely unable to make myself throw up. I took one tonight with dinner and am praying it has kicked in by morning because today has been unbearable.

At least with my previous pregnancies I would throw up and then feel relatively good for a while. This time it’s just constant queasiness that doesn’t go away. Yuck.

And perhaps the worst of it is that I have a huge bag of tomatoes that my sweet sister-in-law (who hates tomatoes herself, bless her heart!) sent back with me yesterday. These particular tomatoes are from Grainger County, Tennessee and they taste the way God meant for tomatoes to taste. There really is no comparison to tomatoes grown anywhere else. I had been craving them and now can’t even bear to look at them. If I’m feeling better tomorrow, I may just eat the whole bag before they get rotten.

Can someone please define “immoral conduct” for me?

I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much, but I’d love to know what the alleged “immoral conduct” is that the Lee County School Superintendent apparently just resigned over. (Check www.sanfordherald.com for updates.) Certainly there are crazy things running through my head, but I feel like it’s unfair to assume anything that I’m thinking is likely considering he is not in jail. But it does give me pause, knowing my child is about to start attending a Lee County school.

I know that there are many definitions of “immoral conduct” and though I would disagree that most of them are worth firing someone for or resigning over when caught, it seems like it must have been pretty serious stuff.

A weekend away, and some time without children.

Thursday morning we loaded up the minivan and hit the road for a mini-cation. It had been planned shortly before the job loss happened and we were unable to get our money back on the hotel. So we decided that it was better to take the trip and enjoy ourselves for a few days rather than lose the $300 we’d already paid. We headed to Gatlinburg, the incredibly trashy mountain tourist destination. (Myrtle Beach is the incredibly trashy beach tourist destination.) I do so enjoy embracing my trashy side once in a while…

Anyway, we spent basically the entire day taking our time in getting there. We drove through Cherokee and resisted stopping at the casino to take our shot at the jackpot. It was a really enjoyable drive. I loved that the street signs in Cherokee had the road names translated into the native language. I’d been there before but either didn’t notice it then or this is a relatively new feature. We talked to the boys about Sequoyah and other Cherokee history. Not sure how much they really listened, but I felt like it was good stuff to talk about while we had them held captive in their car seats.

We finally arrived at our hotel (Glenstone Lodge…great place to stay!) around dinner time and after unloading, we walked down to the “strip” and explored for a while. Had dinner at a nice little sandwich place and returned to the hotel. On Friday morning, we got up and headed to the hotel where my in-laws were waiting to spend the day with us. They had (of course!) many treats to spoil the boys with.

We walked around the area and my FIL insisted on lunch at Bennett’s, which is just OK. Typical chain restaurant food, IMO. Plus it’s got the whole “Tennessee BBQ” thing going on and we know how I feel about that. He also really wanted to eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which I just could not get behind. As much as I think Gatlinburg is a trashy tourist destination, there are some *really* good local places to eat and I hated the idea of eating somewhere that I could eat at here (well, surrounding area) anytime I wanted. So we went to Flying Horse Grill down in Pigeon Forge and it was really good…though that opinion was not shared by everyone in our party. I think the lone dissenter was just a case of sour grapes, though.

Saturday morning we got up and took the kids to stay with my mom in Knoxville. On the way back, we did some shopping because my maternity clothing situation was getting desperate. (Actually, it still is…if you know of anyone with maternity clothes they no longer need, I would LOVE to have them. I’m what’s euphemistically known as a “special size” so it’s hard to find things second-hand that fit. If you think you may be able to help out, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email. I’m happy to return anything you want back once I’m done!) I managed to get a couple of things that were marked way down, so that was helpful. We then returned to our hotel to rest a bit before our big dinner out sans children. We ate at Calhoun’s and had a delicious meal courtesy of the gift card my brother and his wife had given us at Christmas.

Sunday morning we headed back to Knoxville to pick up the kids and have a small family lunch/b-day party for my youngest. We got back on the road around 4:00 and finally made it home around 11PM last night. It took so long because we took a very long detour in Hickory to find a Backyard Burgers because I’ve had *major* cravings. I adore my husband because he was very patient through the entire ordeal…though I could tell he thought it was a wild goose chase. Still, we eventually found it and I indulged in a lemon chicken sandwich and some chili cheese fries. Just what this pregnant girl needed!

First ER visit on the eve of his 2nd birthday.

I got to experience Central Carolina’s ER for the first time tonight. We were in and out in about 2 hours, so not too terrible, considering I’ve been lucky enough to wait for 9+ in an ER with a kidney stone before every even seeing a doctor or being offered pain relief. (Seriously…Cape Fear Valley in Fayetteville is the *worst* hospital I’ve been to for pretty much anything.) My youngest fell and cut his head on the window sill on the way out of Fairview Dairy Bar tonight. We came straight home and called our pediatrician’s nurse triage line to find out if it was ER worthy. We were told the pediatrician on call would get in touch with us within about 20 minutes and let us know. As usual, nothing worked like they said it would and I finally called them back after an hour. The official word was that we should head to the ER. It was 9PM by this time, so we loaded everyone into the minivan and went over there. Waited for a while, but the treatment was uncomplicated and we were out by 11PM. So not too terribly bad over all.

And tomorrow morning, at 8:49AM, he will officially be 2 years old. I just can’t believe how fast my baby is growing up.

Apparently the crazy is unfounded!

Everything was great today and we were even able to hear the baby’s heartbeat via Doppler. It’s very early for this, so great news! I am scheduled for a nuchal translucency screen on July 7, and we’ll get to see the baby via ultrasound again then. Hopefully I’ll get a picture worth sharing then!