Last Weekend Away

Sensing that we are about to lose all resemblance of life and freedom as we know it, we took a quick trip over MLK weekend.  The next time we leave New York City we will have A LOT more to carry.

We chose the Jersey Shore, which isn't the best place to visit in January, but people without cars can't be too picky about where trains will take them.  We stayed at the same Bed & Breakfast we stayed in last Memorial Day weekend. The town of Ocean Grove survived Hurricane Sandy pretty well, although the boardwalk is torn up, the pier is half wiped out, and the beach is narrower.

We were lucky to be there right before the deep freeze, with temps that were actually somewhat pleasant for mid-January.  Low 50s, woohoo!

Almost 36 week belly barely contained by the coat.

And here's the torpedo belly...Not too dramatic from the front or back but a heck of a side profile.

We had the Sunday night special at a local restaurant.  Prime rib, an appetizer, dessert, and coffee all for one great price!

A big piece of meat for the dad to be!  He ate the whole thing (of course).

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, my good friends Lacy and Annabell were nice enough to host a baby shower for me!  Since we don't know Baby R's gender, the theme colors were pink and green.  Coincidentally, pink and green were our wedding colors 6 1/2 years ago so very fitting indeed!    L & A did an all-star job with the decorations, food, games, and prizes.

Nothing cuter than a clothes line of onesies!

This is only a portion of the amazing food.  Noticeably absent from this picture is some really delicious chili by Lacy.  And I could eat those mini cupcakes all day long.

And the adorable and tasty party favors...Those are chocolate chip cookies in mason jars in case you can't tell from the pictures!

I could've taken some pics of the girls and the loot, but I was too busy enjoying myself!  We got some really great stuff for Baby R (including many wardrobe additions) and I'm so thankful for good friends and their generosity.

 Randy is looking really excited about baby's new play mat!

And My First Act of Paranoia As An (Almost) New Mom...

A few weeks ago we ordered a crib and mattress from Ikea.  Not long after placing the order, I saw this article about flame retardants in crib mattresses from a Facebook post.  The U.S. requires flame retardants in all mattresses.  I'm sure this has good intentions but the chemicals used as flame retardants can be toxic and off-gas into the air and right into tiny unsuspecting baby lungs.  Further investigation turned up that Ikea was caught using chlorinated tris - a toxic compound linked to cancer risk and banned from kids pajamas in the '70s - in their crib mattresses in 2010.  Note:  Ikea stopped using chlorinated tris in crib mattresses shortly after.

I don't normally obsess about these kinds of things but it seems if I were to pick one thing to obsess about, it should be the crib mattress since baby will spend 8-14 hours a day sleeping on it for the next few years.

As a concerned consumer, I emailed Ikea to ask them which chemical compounds are used in the specific mattress we bought.  I never ended up Googling the chemicals listed in their response because while I was waiting I went all crazy and bought a babesafe mattress cover.  For the chemistry inclined crowd, the cover is made from polythene, which they say neither generates gas itself nor allows gases to pass through.

The best part is the cover was only $41 including shipping from New Zealand.  So $50 Ikea mattress + $41 mattress cover = way less than the $259 Naturepedic Organic crib mattress which is supposedly free of harmful chemicals.

For now our Ikea mattress if off-gassing near a window while it waits for its new cover.

And yes, I do realize I've probably been huffing dangerous chemicals myself from the mattresses I've been sleeping on my whole life.