I really do love Atlanta. But when I heard the news this morning about all of the gifts being stolen from City Hall East that were being stored by the Empty Stocking Fund for needy children, that old familiar thought of moving up to Canada hit me again. Sort of like when Bush got reelected.
Now I keep thinking about 48,000 little kids who may or may not get Christmas gifts this year, all due to some greedy and horrible people who found an open window to the warehouse and made off with gifts valued at roughly $50,000. It's really just awful. I also think about all of the well-wishers who sacrificed money and time to accumulate that many gifts, and about how little time it probably took for those thieves to get away with all of it.
Honestly, my husband and I end up driving up and down Ponce de Leon on a pretty regular basis, and I have turned into one of those people who discreetly locks the car doors every time we are on Ponce. It does fascinate me though, looking at all of the shady business going on in broad daylight, and the women that are CLEARLY not walking up and down Ponce for the exercise, and wondering why things work like that. My husband and I talk about how neat it would be to live in Midtown, and be right in the middle of everything, but the truth of the matter is, we don't want to deal with all of the yuckiness. Lake Claire is still an in town neighborhood, but we don't have to deal with being afraid to run from the car to the door, and we don't get asked for change every time we step outside. We're not going to run to the suburbs now that the baby is on the way, but I am glad we are in a safer neighborhood in town. And I can understand more why some people choose to raise kids in the suburbs. It would certainly be easier.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Baby Music
My husband and I share a lot of love for music. We like all kinds of music, but lately, we've been trying to figure out what the best baby music is. Of course, there's always the classical music, and we got a Baby Einstein CD at a shower, and of course have lots of Debussy in our iTunes, but we are also looking in our own favorites to find what kinds of things we'll play for the baby.
Usually, it works like this: We're in the car, driving to somewhere, and one of us puts in a new CD.
"This would be good baby music, don't you think?"
"Um, I guess so. Well, actually, I think it definitely would. I think I'd like it if I was a baby."
We actually make a lot of hypothetical important parenting decisions this way. It's pretty effective so far, and we have amassed a fair sized mental list of music that the baby will be forced to listen to before it is old enough to tell us it hates it. Most of the music is either upbeat and poppy, like Of Montreal, and we feel will be fun to dance with baby to it, or is relaxing and pretty, like Bonnie Prince Billy (sort of folksy alt-country), which we will play when it's time to quiet down and get ready for bed. In any case, we'll have to see what actually works. We had hoped that Animal Collective would be a family favorite, but when we went to see their show at Variety Playhouse a few months back, the baby exhibited some distress calls. Mainly kicking me in the ribs repeatedly when the music got too loud. But don't worry, I did my research, and as long as you don't go to rock shows every day, you should be fine... Let's just hope I didn't scar the baby before it's born from liking music.
Usually, it works like this: We're in the car, driving to somewhere, and one of us puts in a new CD.
"This would be good baby music, don't you think?"
"Um, I guess so. Well, actually, I think it definitely would. I think I'd like it if I was a baby."
We actually make a lot of hypothetical important parenting decisions this way. It's pretty effective so far, and we have amassed a fair sized mental list of music that the baby will be forced to listen to before it is old enough to tell us it hates it. Most of the music is either upbeat and poppy, like Of Montreal, and we feel will be fun to dance with baby to it, or is relaxing and pretty, like Bonnie Prince Billy (sort of folksy alt-country), which we will play when it's time to quiet down and get ready for bed. In any case, we'll have to see what actually works. We had hoped that Animal Collective would be a family favorite, but when we went to see their show at Variety Playhouse a few months back, the baby exhibited some distress calls. Mainly kicking me in the ribs repeatedly when the music got too loud. But don't worry, I did my research, and as long as you don't go to rock shows every day, you should be fine... Let's just hope I didn't scar the baby before it's born from liking music.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Indie Craft Experience
On Saturday, my husband and I went to the Indie Craft Experience in the Capitol View neighborhood in Atlanta. It took place in a really neat building called The B Complex, which is a gigantic warehousey type space used for all sorts of artsy purposes. It really is a beautiful space. Lots of neat details, and just an overwhelmingly large space.
There were around 70 vendors, and they all had their own unique and crafty offerings, and almost all of the vendors also have stores on www.etsy.com, which is one of my favorite online marketplaces. There were lots of vendors who targeted kids, and had really great kids stuff like toys (mostly stuffed animals) and funky baby clothes. There was one stand with really cute baby and toddler shoes. I can't vouch for quality, as I don't own any of them, but from looking and holding them, they felt very sturdy and well-made. The website for the brand is www.livieandluca.com and I encourage anyone to check it out! They really were cute shoes, and each pair is hand made. And the prices are really pretty reasonable. Once I know our baby is into a shoe size that won't change in two weeks or so, I might get a pair. They had some with little owls on them that really spoke to me...
There were a lot of kids at the festival, which I think is really neat. I was worried that I'd feel like the odd square out, being pregnant and married around a bunch of young hipsters. I'd say it was about a fifty/fifty split. Lots of families. We even made our own t-shirts, as they had a corner dedicated to stencils and fabric paint. For five dollars, you got a t-shirt and use of the stencils and paints. I did a shirt with the Indie Craft Experience logo on it, which is adorable. The proceeds went to Hagar House, one of the fantastic local charities in Atlanta. And it was definitely a huge draw for kids. There were lots lined up stamping out funky designs like electric guitars and snow flakes.
In other news, my husband and I pretty much have our nursery wrapped up. I'll be 35 weeks pregnant on Wednesday, and already people keep telling me that it looks like my belly has dropped some. I'm feeling much better than I have in quite a while, even though I still have gigantic swollen feet. I'm stomping around in fake Ugg boots from Target, hoping that my employers don't notice that they aren't really business casual. Boots aren't on the dress code for our office, although, somewhat strangely, "Western Style Boots" are alright. If I could jam these hams into cowboy boots, I'd definitely wear them with pride at work. I still have my super hip thrift store Dingos that I bought in college two years ago. It will be a while before I can get into them again...much less the vintage dresses I wore them with.
In any case, it's always refreshing for my husband and I to do something that we would have done pre-pregnancy and realize that it's still OK for us to be there. I don't think we'll be popping into The Local for a beer any time soon, but our favorite art galleries are still OK. At least for now.
There were around 70 vendors, and they all had their own unique and crafty offerings, and almost all of the vendors also have stores on www.etsy.com, which is one of my favorite online marketplaces. There were lots of vendors who targeted kids, and had really great kids stuff like toys (mostly stuffed animals) and funky baby clothes. There was one stand with really cute baby and toddler shoes. I can't vouch for quality, as I don't own any of them, but from looking and holding them, they felt very sturdy and well-made. The website for the brand is www.livieandluca.com and I encourage anyone to check it out! They really were cute shoes, and each pair is hand made. And the prices are really pretty reasonable. Once I know our baby is into a shoe size that won't change in two weeks or so, I might get a pair. They had some with little owls on them that really spoke to me...
There were a lot of kids at the festival, which I think is really neat. I was worried that I'd feel like the odd square out, being pregnant and married around a bunch of young hipsters. I'd say it was about a fifty/fifty split. Lots of families. We even made our own t-shirts, as they had a corner dedicated to stencils and fabric paint. For five dollars, you got a t-shirt and use of the stencils and paints. I did a shirt with the Indie Craft Experience logo on it, which is adorable. The proceeds went to Hagar House, one of the fantastic local charities in Atlanta. And it was definitely a huge draw for kids. There were lots lined up stamping out funky designs like electric guitars and snow flakes.
In other news, my husband and I pretty much have our nursery wrapped up. I'll be 35 weeks pregnant on Wednesday, and already people keep telling me that it looks like my belly has dropped some. I'm feeling much better than I have in quite a while, even though I still have gigantic swollen feet. I'm stomping around in fake Ugg boots from Target, hoping that my employers don't notice that they aren't really business casual. Boots aren't on the dress code for our office, although, somewhat strangely, "Western Style Boots" are alright. If I could jam these hams into cowboy boots, I'd definitely wear them with pride at work. I still have my super hip thrift store Dingos that I bought in college two years ago. It will be a while before I can get into them again...much less the vintage dresses I wore them with.
In any case, it's always refreshing for my husband and I to do something that we would have done pre-pregnancy and realize that it's still OK for us to be there. I don't think we'll be popping into The Local for a beer any time soon, but our favorite art galleries are still OK. At least for now.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I can't believe it...
I went to the doctor for my 34 week visit and had to start talking about labor! It made me very uncomfortable, as I am excited about the baby coming, but still thinking that I have at least 6 more weeks and that 6 more weeks is basically like 6 months which is basically like a year, which is basically like forever.
Now I realize that it could be as little as 3 weeks. I have begun the vital task of memorizing the "How do I tell if I'm in labor?" brochure my doctor gave me yesterday, as one of my biggest fears is calling the doctor too soon or too late. I had a woman in my pre-natal yoga class who got sent away from her doctor 3 or 4 times before they finally let her go to the hospital. She was a little bit high strung. However, I'm not going to throw stones, since between my husband and myself, we could very well get turned away 6 or 7 times. My doctor told me in a very severe elementary school teacher voice that she doesn't want to hear from me until contractions are 5 minutes apart and painful. Then she said, "remember those 3 things." I didn't ask what the third thing was, as I didn't want to admit that I was sort of tuning her out thinking, "I've got so much time, I'll never remember what she's saying now once the baby is actually coming." Oops. So now is penance, with my trying to memorize the brochure.
This weekend we aim to do a little bit more with the nursery, which is really coming along nicely. We talked about going ahead and opening some of the big boxes, like the one for our Graco travel set, with the stroller and carseat. I keep getting paranoid that there is no base in there for the carseat, but then forgetting to look. Then we need to open up the Diaper thingy. I never remember which one is which, but we have the one that doesn't require special refills, and can just use regular grocery bags. My husband is particularly concerned about our dog not being able to get into it, as she astounded us both the other night by somehow breaking into our lidded garbage can that stands a good four inches above her petite beagle frame, and feasting on roughly 11 or 12 chicken wing bones. She seems alright health wise, but the clean up was sticky and icky, and we can only imagine what might happen with baby mess...
Now I realize that it could be as little as 3 weeks. I have begun the vital task of memorizing the "How do I tell if I'm in labor?" brochure my doctor gave me yesterday, as one of my biggest fears is calling the doctor too soon or too late. I had a woman in my pre-natal yoga class who got sent away from her doctor 3 or 4 times before they finally let her go to the hospital. She was a little bit high strung. However, I'm not going to throw stones, since between my husband and myself, we could very well get turned away 6 or 7 times. My doctor told me in a very severe elementary school teacher voice that she doesn't want to hear from me until contractions are 5 minutes apart and painful. Then she said, "remember those 3 things." I didn't ask what the third thing was, as I didn't want to admit that I was sort of tuning her out thinking, "I've got so much time, I'll never remember what she's saying now once the baby is actually coming." Oops. So now is penance, with my trying to memorize the brochure.
This weekend we aim to do a little bit more with the nursery, which is really coming along nicely. We talked about going ahead and opening some of the big boxes, like the one for our Graco travel set, with the stroller and carseat. I keep getting paranoid that there is no base in there for the carseat, but then forgetting to look. Then we need to open up the Diaper thingy. I never remember which one is which, but we have the one that doesn't require special refills, and can just use regular grocery bags. My husband is particularly concerned about our dog not being able to get into it, as she astounded us both the other night by somehow breaking into our lidded garbage can that stands a good four inches above her petite beagle frame, and feasting on roughly 11 or 12 chicken wing bones. She seems alright health wise, but the clean up was sticky and icky, and we can only imagine what might happen with baby mess...
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Pushing it...
I hate to think that I'm turning into one of those drama queen pregnant ladies, who is constantly getting out of things due to swollen feet and general exhaustion, but it's already starting. Today my husband and I trekked Outside the Perimeter for some family fun. And it was fun. We went up to Winder for the Chatagua Festival, where my nieces (both under the age of 4) were performing with their dance class. It was glorious. Watching them do their dance to the "Dancing Machine" song was hysterical. The youngest, Chloe, followed along nicely, only she reversed every step, lifting her left arm when the teacher was lifting her right, and turning the wrong way on each twirl. It didn't matter though. Most of the girls were just standing, eyes glazed, shuffling the odd tap shoe every once in a while, and looking for Mommy and Daddy in the crowd. Ella, the older of the two, was following about half of the steps, and looking utterly graceful and beautiful with all of them. As I watched, my hand automatically moved to my belly, and I pondered whether we'd have ballet classes in our future, or if it would be something with a little less pink and satin, like "creative movement" or yoga.
In the early months of being pregnant and not knowing the sex of our baby, I assumed that after a while, it would get easier, and I'd be less anxious. This is not the case. I still keep close track of the heart rate every time we got to the doctor, and mentally note if it's in the "boy range" or "girl range." For those who don't know, they say that heart rates under 140 are boy, and over 140 are girl. So far, it's been about 75% girl heart rates, and the odd few boy heart rates. Let's hope the final results are more conclusive...
Anyways, back to my whining. We spent the next hour or so wandering around the festival, watching the Native American performances, which were absolutely fantastic, and the girls got to have a pony ride. After lunch, we went to my sister's house, where I promptly fell asleep on the couch. Not too long after, my sister woke me so that we could make it to Mall of Georgia while our husbands watched football and the girls slept. We had coupons to a three day sale at Gymboree...need I say more? Hours later, we came home, and the husbands immediately fled to the nearest sports bar to watch the rest of the Georgia/Auburn game. I laid down and didn't move, my feet swollen to grotesque proportions. I thought about the tiny little ladies at Old Navy I had seen, shopping and looking fashionable and fresh. I thought about how they probably had something wrong with them, like compulsive exercising habits, or stinky feet. This made me feel better as I struggled to reach my itching left toe, which has suddenly become about 8 miles from my arm's reach.
In short, I'm exhausted. I don't know if I can do these long weekend days anymore. Tomorrow I might be doing lots of laying around. Although we are still trying to finish the nursery...
In the early months of being pregnant and not knowing the sex of our baby, I assumed that after a while, it would get easier, and I'd be less anxious. This is not the case. I still keep close track of the heart rate every time we got to the doctor, and mentally note if it's in the "boy range" or "girl range." For those who don't know, they say that heart rates under 140 are boy, and over 140 are girl. So far, it's been about 75% girl heart rates, and the odd few boy heart rates. Let's hope the final results are more conclusive...
Anyways, back to my whining. We spent the next hour or so wandering around the festival, watching the Native American performances, which were absolutely fantastic, and the girls got to have a pony ride. After lunch, we went to my sister's house, where I promptly fell asleep on the couch. Not too long after, my sister woke me so that we could make it to Mall of Georgia while our husbands watched football and the girls slept. We had coupons to a three day sale at Gymboree...need I say more? Hours later, we came home, and the husbands immediately fled to the nearest sports bar to watch the rest of the Georgia/Auburn game. I laid down and didn't move, my feet swollen to grotesque proportions. I thought about the tiny little ladies at Old Navy I had seen, shopping and looking fashionable and fresh. I thought about how they probably had something wrong with them, like compulsive exercising habits, or stinky feet. This made me feel better as I struggled to reach my itching left toe, which has suddenly become about 8 miles from my arm's reach.
In short, I'm exhausted. I don't know if I can do these long weekend days anymore. Tomorrow I might be doing lots of laying around. Although we are still trying to finish the nursery...
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