thank yous and wishes.

First off, I want to hugely thank Grandma Jean for bringing so many pregnancy and birth items during her visit, and to both her and Grandpa Chris for the Moby Wrap and the donation which we have used some of toward a bouncer! Also, many thanks to GramZee for the maternity hoodie and new comfy shoes – both are being worn practically every day!

Now, to our baby needs, otherwise known as a baby registry. We believe that it is important to live sustainably, so we try to purchase secondhand. However, this is not always possible, so when acquiring new things we try to purchase environmentally friendly items and support independent sellers. Thus, we have NOT registered at any major chain stores (like Babies R Us, Target, and never, ever Wal-Mart), but instead have created a wishlist from many independent sellers and great webstores found on the internet. Here are some important notes regarding the items we hope to acquire (this is also on the wishlist):

1) We definitely want as little plastic as possible, but here is a cheat sheet for BPA free baby drinking and eating products: http://safemama.com/2007/11/22/bpa-free-bottle-and-sippy-cup-cheat-sheet/

2) We also hope to minimize the amount of plastic toys in kiddo's life.

3) We think second-hand items are great.

4) We know we can get lots of things we need (clothing, equipment, toys, etc.) secondhand, so if you don't want to scavenger your local baby second-hand stores, craigslist, or amazon (yep - they also sell second-hand items!), we are also taking monetary donations. Just let us know what you want the money to go toward and we will hunt it down! (Click HERE to donate with your credit/debit card or PayPal account.)

Really, for the most part these are merely suggestions to give you an idea of what kinds of fun things we think are neat for baby.

Motifs/designs/themes that we really, really love: DINOSAURS!!!, monkeys, robots, space, other science-y stuff, nature stuff (trees, bugs, etc.), owls, puppies and other cute animals ☺ Retro styles are also fun.

We recognize that our main needs are for:

- diapering supplies!!!!! (we will be doing cloth - I will do a separate post detailing our diapering needs)

- a soft structured baby carrier (Beco Butterfly II DUO in Rust with owls, please! I love it!)

- some baby health equipment (like the Nosefrida Nasal Aspirator, baby nail clippers, and an ear thermometer)

- baby feeding and drinking implements*, including storage for homemade baby foods (oh, yeah, and we will probably need a food processor for that…I’m sure we can pick up a steamer insert. Is that all we need for that?)

- pacifiers, bibs, teething toys

- baby wash cloths/reusable wipes, baby towels?

- breastfeeding stuff like comfort items (see the set from EarthMamaAngelBaby), nursing tops/bras (gift certificate?), bottles (wide neck, glass or BPA-free plastic) and milk storage in case I need to be away from baby

- baby legwarmers, t-shirts (long and short sleeved, sides snaps are great!), and clothing items to keep baby warm outside

- Pack ‘n Play with removable bassinette and changing table (many available second-hand)

*Cheat sheet for BPA free baby drinking and eating products

If there are other things that you think we should not live without, please recommend them to me or feel free to get them for us.

We will be getting or already have: bouncer, breast pump, infant car seat, tub. We can get lots of onesies for .99 or less (mostly short sleeved) and receiving blankets for $2 or less from second-hand stores. We will also be getting lots of hand-me-downs of clothes and shoes. We will eventually need a good jogger stroller, but since we will be baby wearing we may wait until later to get one (maybe next Spring? Pretty sure I won’t do much jogging until then anyway.) We will probably wait to get a high chair and swing until after we move. If you find any good deals on a travel/hook-on high chair (attaches to table) though, we could easily pack that up for later ☺

We also have a book list on the Amazon baby registry. We, of course, love books and have found so many already that we would love to have. Again, we have tried to prioritize, so please sort the list by priority to see what we really, really want and consider the rest fun suggestions. As high priorities, we are most interested in acquiring cloth and board baby books, as well as some parenting books on breastfeeding, baby foods, and baby yoga (you will see the specific books when you sort for high priority).

Picture Perfect

Click on the picture (or on the link in the post below) to see many more.

pictures. that's right.

I will type out more words later... for now, please enjoy THE PICTURES that you have been waiting for!

thanks for your patience!

Canada Bound

It appears the long wait is over. The final tally was Canada: 2, United States: 0. The mounties have done it! Both Canadian universities I applied to -- Simon Fraser and University of British Columbia -- have accepted me and offered gobs of cash to attend. The three US universities told me to get lost. With this not so subtle rejection by the country that raised me it seems that our new baby-to-be will enjoy their first few years on Canadian soil.

Erin and I are looking for an apartment on campus so that during any breaks in my schedule I can be home. I have a guaranteed income for two years as I complete the Masters in History. However, if I show excellent progress on my dissertation project (which I've already begun) I can enter into the PhD program after one year. I will then have an additional four years of guaranteed income. The offer is about as good as the one I had at Duke, plus I'll be researching a topic I genuinely love.

While we're very sad that we have to leave Seattle and the amazing family we've created here, we're also very enthusiastic about this next step in our adventure. With free health care and amazing social services for infants and new mothers, Canada is certainly a wonderful opportunity. Considering that the US is falling off a cliff economically at the moment, fleeing up north will probably become more and more popular as time goes on. So we'll check things out for you and will be very available for any future refugees that hope to experience the beautiful vistas and community oriented culture of our northern neighbors.

Have a nice afternoon, eh.