Twice a year, there is a children's consignment sale in Charlottesville. I learned of it last fall when a friend took me there. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to head down to the spring sale, but I'm really glad that I did. I noticed that when I had Sierra in a size 2T jacket the other day that it is just barely too big for her, so she's going to be wearing size 2 any day now. And, she has no clothes for summer. That's the beauty of the consignment sale. You can get a lot for not a lot of money. Definitely a bonus when your child is going to be wearing the item for a matter of months before it is retired!
This particular sale actually started last weekend, so we were catching the end of the sale. This is not the best option for selection, but it was great for prices. Today almost everything was 50%. I think that whatever's left tomorrow will be 75% off. I did manage to get several summer outfits for Sierra, though, but I had also wanted to find a potty seat and there were none left. Too bad.
After spending a grand total of $33.00, we ended up with six outfits and a spring jacket. My favorite purchases? The jacket and the outfit next to it. That skirt is brand new, tags still on it for $4. And it's sooo cute! Looks like I was on a bit of a skirt kick, though. I now realize I will have to fill in some pants and maybe a little sweater or two. We're off to a good start, though!
I have been contemplating what to say about this, because I need to say something. The AP article mentions that the head of the CPSC makes no distinction as to what type of slings would be included in the warning. The problem here is that not all slings are created equal, and the warning is certainly merited, and necessary, because babies have died due to suffocation in unsafe slings. The type of sling in question is the "bag sling." One of the more common bag slings is the Infantino Slingrider. There are some major design flaws with this type of sling that render the simple act of putting it on and putting your baby inside unsafe for the baby. First, the sling is worn low, near the adult's hips, making it impossible to have constant contact and awareness of the infant. Second, the sides of the sling come up over the baby's face, leading to a decreased level of oxygen. And finally, the design of the sling itself causes the infant to be positioned chin to chest. In very small babies, this is a huge problem because they don't have the head and neck control to lift their chin from their chest. This position restricts the airway, making breathing very difficult.
What saddens and angers me is that these dangerous bag slings may be lumped into a general category with all baby slings and carriers. The reason that this upsets me is that babywearing has literally saved my sanity. Naturally, all newborns are completely dependent on their caregivers for every need. Sierra, though, has always been an intense little girl, and when she was tiny (and even when she was not-so-tiny) needed constant touch. If it weren't for my sling, I likely would never have moved from my rocking chair. I might be there still. I used (and still use) a ring sling. I have since discovered other types of safe and wonderful baby carriers that are convenient, and essential parenting tools. Let's contrast a ring sling with the aforementioned bag sling.
While a bag sling positions the baby low out of the parents' immediate site, a ring sling allows the infant to be snuggled into mom's chest, "close enough to kiss," as the slogan for Babywearing International's International Babywearing Week 2009 suggested. In a bag sling, the infant is lying on her bag, fabric positioned over the sides of her face, while in a ring sling, she is positioned fully supported by the fabric of the sling with her face free. Finally, I mentioned the chin-to-chest position that baby is forced into in the bag sling. In a ring sling, baby is tummy-to-tummy with mama or another adult, the head is supported and upright and the airway is clear.
Here is Sierra, just shy of five weeks old, resting comfortably on my chest in my first baby carrier, a Maya Wrap ring sling: And here, at 4 months, in another type of baby carrier, a mei tai: Notice how, with both carriers, Sierra is positioned upright, supported fully, and literally, right under my nose!
Yesterday was a really lovely day, and with rain projected today and tomorrow, we figured it was the perfect day and our last chance to take a family trip to the zoo in DC. Sierra had been once before, when my mom was here in October, but she's much more aware now and loves animals.
We left the house about 9:15, planning to park at the metro station and take the train to the zoo. We got to the station about 10:30, but there were absolutely no parking spaces. We drove around the parking lot for several minutes but all we saw was several other cars driving around looking for parking spaces. We left the parking lot and drove around the station. No additional parking. No street parking. There were a couple metered spots, but we didn't have enough change to use that option.
We decided that we would drive in a little closer to the city to the next metro stop. We had been there before, when we went to the Museum of Natural History and had no problems. This time, there was traffic. Creeping along, rush-hour-type traffic. At 10:45 in the morning!! AAUUUGH! We finally made it to the metro station and immediately noticed that the parking lot also had a sign out front that said the lot was full. We drove a bit further to the parking garage. Closed because it was full. Are you kidding me?!?! We decided that we would just feed the meter and guess how long we were going to be gone. I went into the metro station to get some change. It was pretty quiet at that time of the morning, and there were two metro workers standing there chatting. The conversation went something like this:
Me: (cheerfully) "Excuse me. Good morning. Is there a change machine where I could get some quarters for the metered parking?" Metro worker: "No." Me: "Is there a way to get change from the ticket machines?" MW: "No." Me: "So there is no way for me to get some change?" MW: "No." Me: "So do you have any ideas where I could get some change?" MW: "Uhhhh ... there's a Giant [grocery store] 'round the corner. Or the cabbies out front."
Gee. Thanks. (for nothing)
Well, I did go ask some cab drivers for change. I knocked on the windows of at least six cabs. Not one had change. Or, they did, and they just didn't want to help me out. Well, okay, one guy had 4 quarters, but that wasn't enough for 3-4 hours being parked at the meter. By now it had been almost an hour and we had basically run out of options. We were left with turning around and heading home. Sure, we could go find the grocery store, get some change, and come back to the metered parking. But by the time we did that, then took the metro to the zoo, we would only have a limited amount of time to spend there and we were facing heading back in rush hour traffic to get me to work on time.
I cried. It's one thing when I'm disappointed, but I really felt like I was letting Sierra down. I know she's probably not quite old enough to really understand, but we had told her we were going to the zoo, and she had spent 2 hours in the car, only to be forced back into it (she was not pleased. not that I can blame her.).
On the way home, we stopped and picked up some sandwiches and then a very helpful woman at Subway (a helpful person! first time I ran into that yesterday!) actually looked up a park for us online. It was a little bit out of the way, but the drive there was pretty and the park was really nice with a trail, a large playground, and a beautiful lake. We ate our lunch outside and let Sierra run around on the playground. We checked out the lake, which was lovely and still now, since it's still the off season. The guy working there said that on a busy summer afternoon, it's like a beehive there, with a concession stand, and boat rentals, and a boat launch. It wasn't what we had planned, and I'm still sad we missed out on the zoo, but at least we got to enjoy some time outside on a lovely day.
This morning, I got a much needed massage. It was divine. I used to get fairly regular massages, but sadly, it's just not in the budget anymore. This one was great. Ahhh!
I came home, ate a quick lunch, and then Jason, Sierra and I got ourselves ready to go to Shenandoah for the afternoon. The dogs didn't get to come this time because we were planning on doing a couple "no dogs allowed" hikes, and besides, Jason and Sierra had taken them for a long walk while I was out. So all is well.
We really love being so close to Shenandoah so that we can head out there for a hike whenever we want to. Okay, not whenever we want to (life means that sometimes other obligations must come first), but pretty regularly anyway. Last year, we hiked in the very beginning of February. This winter though, we have missed December, January, and February! This was partly due to our schedules, but was definately influenced by the massive amounts of snow we've gotten. The road through the park was closed for much of the winter, not to mention, it's really hard to hike through piles of snow. The snow has disappeared from all but a few spots around here, and while we fully expected that there would still be snow up in the mountain, I must admit, I was actually surprised by how much was still hanging around.
We planned to begin our afternoon by hiking to the top of Bearfence Mountain. It's a very short hike (less than a mile, roundtrip) but it's steep and involves some rock scrambling to get to the top. Add to this large amounts of snow to hike through (packed down from previous hikers, but soft in places due to temperatures in the 50s at the park today), and a 23+ pound human on your back (for Jason), and it can make for a sometimes trecherous hike!! Sierra has some funny commentary. We walked by this fallen tree and she said "big stick." Yes, love, that is a very big stick indeed! She also let us know when she saw a "big rock" and a "Bird. Bird fly-ying." We could always be sure when we were going "Uppa hill," and "Downa hill" because Sierra told us (just in case we didn't realize).
We finally made it to the top of the mountain. Totally. Worth it. The view from the top of Bearfence is literally 360 degrees. It's amazing. And since we were there in the off-season, we really felt like we were in our own private playground. We had the trail completely to ourselves, the parking lot was empty except for our vehicle, and there was very little noise from passing cars on the road below. The hike down was just as tough as the hike up: slick spots and deep snow and downward rock scrambling. We made it safely back to the car, though. We were going to try and do a second hike today that we've been wanting to check out. It starts at the visitor center and has guide posts along its 1.8 mile length detailing the "Story of the Forest." Like I mentioned, though, we had underestimated the amount of snow that would still be on the ground. As a result, Bearfence was more difficult than we had anticipated, and we did not feel like high stepping through deep snow for another 2 miles. Story of the Forest will have to wait for another, less snowy day. We did stop at the (closed for the season) visitor center just to stand on the porch and take in the view of a very snowy Big Meadow before heading home. Side note: I nearly forgot my camera. We had to turn around and get it after we had already left home. I debated whether I really needed/wanted it. Turns out, going back was the right call. I would have been so angry to see those views and not have my camera to take a picture for posterity (and to share with you)!
This morning was low-key. Sierra and I took the dogs for a walk while Jason finished up some work he had to do. Lunch was early because someone was out of bed running around by 6:10 this morning and she was getting sleepy. And then ... family nap!!
Post-nap, it was just way too nice of a day to stay inside, but we weren't in an adventuring mood, so we headed up to the playground on campus. It was take-off-your-coat weather, and Sierra tried to take off her shoes, but we told her that wasn't such a great idea on the playground. No worries, she was easily distracted by the swings! Our little daredevil loves to be pushed higher and higher on the swing, giggling the whole time. Sadly, the playground isn't built for toddlers to climb up it. There is a ladder, but no platform to get to the top of slide. It's too bad because I'm certain Sierra would have no problem getting herself there. She's not quite ready for a ladder, though, and has to be lifted up to the top. Once she's there, though, she's through the tunnel and down the slide, all by herself, landing with a bump and yelling "Up! Up!" to go again! There was plenty of running and jumping and climbing, and I hope all that activity will translate to a great night's sleep, though one just never knows with this child, so I will have to keep you posted on that one! Across the road from the playground is where the cows live. Sierra had been hearing them "moo" and yelling "MOOOO!" back at them. Before we headed home we had to go over and say "Hi Cows! Hi baby cows! Hi big cows!" Well, Sierra said that. Jason and I just watched. Now, Sierra is sleeping (soundly, I hope, and long), Jason is in Charlottesville at a hockey game and I am up entirely too late. Again. Good-night!
Then today, we were hit with spring full in the face. Now, I'm not disillusioned; I completely expect many more cold and yucky days before we really have spring, but today was a delicious taste of what's coming our way.
We headed down to UVA for the UVA-Syracuse lacrosse game because those two teams are rated #1 and #2 in the country. We knew the game would be awesome. Jason's brother, Zach, drove down from Maryland to join us. First up, lunch at Chipotle. Nothing like a ginormous burrito to start off a spectacular afternoon. We walked over to the game and the sun was shining brightly, people were happy, and the temperatures climbed about 60 degrees! Wahoo! (ha ha)
I didn't actually get to watch most of the game, as I spent most of it toddler-chasing, but what I saw was great. Syracuse started off in the lead, but then UVA made a 6 goal run, bringing the score up to 8-5. The game ended with UVA winning 11-10, and since Syracuse was #1, probably taking over the #1 rating. I don't really have a loyalty to either of those teams, but it's tough not to get caught up in the excitement of the home team. Sierra, meanwhile, ran up and down the hill where we were sitting. She spied some other little girls and ran along the fence-line to go see them. She found a pile of sand and lay down in it, getting sand in her hair in the process. She refused to take a nap, even though I nursed her (twice) and tried to walk her to sleep in the carrier. There was just entirely too much to see!! During the second half, she "flirted" with a big boy sitting near us, and banged empty plastic bottles with the kiddos sitting below us.
After a quick stop at the grocery store, Zach came back to our place for dinner and stuck around to read Sierra a couple stories and have stuffed animals stacked on top of him. Sierra is getting pretty good at saying "Uncle Zach," though it doesn't come out sounding quite like "uncle zach." Close enough that we get what she's saying, though!
We're hoping to head up and visit Zach sometime this spring, maybe see a Maryland lacrosse game, but Jason's schedule is crazy busy (as always) so we'll have to see if we can swing it!!
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