Archive for May, 2008
Step two: packing for a six month old baby for an uncertain amount of weeks, in variable climates, sleeping in a van at night with no running water. This was the biggest challenge of all and I won’t say I was completely successful at it either. I packed a lot she didn’t need and forgot a few things too. Sun screen and sun hats, pajamas and onesies, long pants to keep the sun off those little white sausage legs, sweatshirts to keep her warm on chilly nights, wash cloths for sink baths and burp cloths for everything else, and that’s just what was in her suitcase. We had a diaper changing station set up for quick changes anywhere anytime. No cloth diapers on this trip; all paper, all the way.
I brought a box of toys and books with a playmat and her Boppy pillow which served invaluable when we pulled over to make lunch or dinner. On a nice day, I sat her outside the van on the grass to play on her own, the dog keeping guard. Mosquitoes biting or a chance of rain, I planted her at the end of the van on the floor and out of the way. I must mention here that she was the perfect age; able to sit up and play independently but not quite mobile enough to get too far.
Where she would sleep was also an initial obstacle. Fortunately, the mini co-sleeper that we use at home was the perfect size to fit in the rear of the van when the “adult” bed was pulled out. Yes, it was more difficult to pick her up and nurse her at night, but she got her usual sleeping quarters and we got our space.
I know, I’ve said I never have time to read, but my husband and I have been pulling ourselves away from the TV earlier in the evening so we can spend some time reading. (It helps that the season has just about ended for the summer.)
I’ve just finished “Water Cooler Diaries: Women Across America Share Their Day at Work
” by Joni B. Cole and B. K. Rakhra, and I highly recommend it to anyone. This book is an account of 35 women’s ‘day in the life’ diaries for March 27, 2007 (just a small part of the 500 women who kept a diary that day) and it is fascinating to see what another women’s world is like. Especially the stay at home mom…I don’t think anyone works as hard. Definitely a must read. Other diaries come from a race car driver, fashion blogger, geologist, trauma surgeon, etc.
The 2 authors created this book from their project, This Day in the Life. Check it out!
Growing up I had a green wooden grasshopper. It was a lovely simple toy with jointed back legs that moved back and forth as you pushed it along the ground. It also had bouncy antennas that were made from small springs, perhaps from a pen, that held small wooden beads. It is one of the few cherished items that survived my childhood, albeit with only one antennae. That was the situation until a few months ago, when my sons co-opted it. I last saw it on a shelf in my living room that I thought was out of reach. Children are industrious and when there are two, they help each other get what they want.
They made off with my green grasshopper and so I went and bought myself a new wooden grasshopper off of this site. When it arrived at our home I informed them both that this was Mommy’s grasshopper, but they were un-deterred and obviously smitten. I see my new grasshopper every few days, it has not yet sunken to the bottom of the toy boxes that adorn nearly every room of our house. The new one looks pretty sturdy, so I’m hopeful that this too will survive the tortures of toddler boys, so they too can fight their children for it some day.
With dates set and plans made, I began the process of rapid preparation. It is important here to note our mode of transportation is a 1977 Dodge Santana which is a B Series conversion van. They only made this model for two years and I don’t like to think about why. After trying and failing to get into an underground parking lot, we determined that our van is about eight and a half feet tall. It has a full kitchen and sleeps four with plenty of storage space. While I’ve been meaning to update the decor since we bought it a few years back (pre-baby), it still has its original shag carpeting and classic brown, yellow and green upholstery. So, as you can imagine, traveling with the little one brought up some new concerns.
First of all, the dirt. I am of the “dirt don’t hurt ‘cuz it’s of the earth” philosophy, but it’s all those things hiding in the dirt that one considers suddenly after a baby is born; allergens, germs, bugs, toxins, etc. Once clean, we began trying to figure out how the rear-facing car seat would fit since the back “seat,” more like a couch, is sideways facing. Eric set up a system with a bonus, whereas a cushion acted as a buffer between baby’s face and the glass window. Okay, an unnecessary precaution, but to a mother, every little bit helps. I mean, this van acts like a sail on a windy day and forget about power steering or power brakes or any other safety features you might be used to. We don’t even have shoulder straps on our seatbelts. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, we had terrible gas mileage too, but we saved on hotels and restaurants, both financially and our carbon footprint (with the addition of planting a couple of trees when we got home).
I am a big Jon Stewart fan. What’s not to like, right?! So, not that I ever read Star magazine 
, but when I happened to be flipping through it, I was excited to see that they snapped a pic of him playing with his kids while strolling along NYC, and they had our Mr. B Trooper Bag right along with them. Talk about icing on the cake. Now I know he has good taste!
At my daughter’s 1 year checkup with the doctor I found I hadn’t tapered down her formula (now to be whole milk) consumption much since she was smaller to the recommended 18 or so ounces. Reinforcing, and going a step beyond that, I read an interesting article today about a new German study that showed how too much milk for 1-2 year olds can lead to overweight children.
Scientists found that toddlers eating lots of mostly-dairy animal proteins at 12 months are more likely to have higher BMIs and more body fat at 7 years. They think it can cause an over release of hormones and create extra fat cells. The recommendation? Two daily 1-cup servings of whole milk or yogurt between ages 1 and 2. My daughter loooves her dairy in almost any form and between the yogurt, milk and cheese, is going about 1.5 cups beyond this. Hmmm, looks like we should taper the milk some more!
Note from Dana: I’m very excited that Johanna DeBiase agreed to blog about her 5-week trip on the road with her six month old daughter. She and her husband are certainly braver than I am in taking on this endevour. She’ll be posting every few days over the next couple of weeks. She’s a fantastic writer and mom and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
When we decided to take off on a road trip for a few weeks, the last thing we considered is how we would make it work with our six-month old daughter, Flora, and eleven year old dog in tow. Instead, we were anxious to get away from the seven foot piles of snow outside our door and the slow accumulation of resulting mud in our driveway. Generally, we act first and think later with the faith that everything will work out for the best, which, I’m happy to say, it always does.
Our destination: south and sunny. One of the best features of my life is that my husband, Eric, is a freelance journalist which means he can take his work anywhere and even create more work while we’re traveling (this might be better for me than him). With mobile broadband and a cell phone, we could basically choose our journey. Eric wanted to do some coverage of hurricane recovery in rural areas of the gulf coast region. I had never been to New Orleans. In between our home in the Sangre de Christo Mountains of Northern New Mexico and the bayous of Louisiana is one big land mass called Texas which would soon become our mission to explore.
I took a little walk downtown with my husband and Hannah yesterday (we live near a quaint little town that is wonderful to walk around in during the nice weather), and as I passed a parking lot on one of the side streets, I heard a ‘Can you please help me?’ come from one of the cars. As I looked over, a woman that was easily in her mid 80′s was sitting in a car. When I walked over, she proceeded to tell me how she had been sitting there all day and was hoping I could help her get her son on the phone to come help her get home. Children of any age, take note. The following story is not the way to ever treat your parents (or anyone for that matter)!
She has bad knees and can’t drive (there was a wheelchair in the back seat) and she said someone-she couldn’t remember who-drove her downtown so she could spend a few hours people watching. She said she nodded off while being driven down her and was angry that they dumped her in the parking lot facing a hotel that was currently under construction while she was still sleeping and just left her there. She kept saying ‘Why do they think I’d want to look at this??’ She has no cell phone and no way to walk anywhere. This poor woman! Besides the obvious, what if she needed a drink, had to go to the bathroom, etc. What kind of person would just dump her there??
She gave me her name and a number to call with my cell to see if I could find her son. The first number she gave me was a local business that had no idea who she was, etc. In talking to her more I found out her son was a city attorney that worked at city hall (about a 2 minute walk from where we were). I got the number from information and called city hall. I asked for her son and they put me in touch with his administrative assistant. I explained the situation and that I was with ‘Angie’. She sighed and said ‘oh, he drove her there this morning’! It was 2:30 in the afternoon. I couldn’t believe it. She continued, ‘oh, I’ll tell him to go get her. Tell her he’s coming. She’ll be fine.’ I couldn’t believe it. This woman is obviously a bit confused and her son just left her in this parking lot for who knows how long?
She assured me she was fine when I told her and insisted that I didn’t have to wait. When I suggested we’d be happy to wait with her, she really didn’t want us to bother. We walked up the street, but came back about 20 minutes later to check on her. Thankfully, the car and Angie were gone.
I know her son’s name, and in telling this story to my girlfriend, she thought I should report him for elder-abuse. I’m going to hold off, but I am very disturbed by this story.
Happy Mother’s Day to Angie. I don’t wish that kind of son on anyone!
Ever since Al Gore made everyone more aware of the importance of living greener (and made it hip to boot), there has been an increasing availability of children’s clothing that is made out of environmentally (and baby) friendly fabrics. Organic Cotton is one, but Bamboo and Soybean fiber are two other wonderful options.
Sorry for the long post, but thought the information is worth the reading.
Organic Cotton
Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic farmers fertilize their fields by rotating their crops, using composted manure, and planting crops which naturally feed nitrogen to the soil. (source: the soil association). Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic producers use only methods and materials allowed in organic production.
The softness and quality of the fabric is one of the top reasons people choose organic cotton for their delicate baby’s skin. The cotton that is grown in conventional ways is compromised and weakened by the chemicals used in growing, processing and dying of the cotton. These chemicals break the fiber down and create a weaker, inferior cotton garment, that is why you get a softer, stronger, better cotton using organic.
• Eighty-four million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 14.4 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2000 (5.85 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton second behind corn in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA)
• Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton the same year (142 pounds/acre), making cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans. (USDA)
Check out these brands of Organic Cotton clothing: Krawlers and Sage Creek Organics
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