My Geek Baby

I’m driving a 10-year-old car that a recent Consumer Reports lists in the “Used Cars NOT to Buy. ” I didn’t CR to tell me this, the car has had more repairs than the other two cars I’ve had (a never fail Nissan and a Mazda), so we have been studying new-car guides, test driving cars and I’ve even taken to watching MotorWeek, a program Jake enjoys on the weekends when I’m doing other things. But yesterday’s episode drew me in with a segment on moms and cars. Kristin Varela, a mom-driver who needed a new car a few years ago developed this site for people like her, who need to know that basics like miles per gallon (mpg) and safety ratings, but she also wanted to find a car where she could stuff/retrieve groceries easily in the back and have a nice surface for a road-side diaper change. Mother Proof was born. She doesn’t just review soccer-mom SUVs, but smaller cars, hybrids, something for just about every driver on the road. After a road trip with the grandparents where we fit two suitcases and the baby’s Pack-n-Play in the trunk of their Prius, comfortably fit baby’s car seat and her momma in the back seat, along with a diaper bag and a few other items, I’m pretty much smitten with their hybrid. We didn’t stop for gas once and there were still 100 miles left to go after a round trip from NJ to VA, before it needed more gas.

There are also video tips on the site as well as a Seal of Approval section: Keep Me Clean, Keep Me Safe, Organize Me, and more reviews of helpful products. I was personally impressed by the story of the mom who Zip-locked puke during a ride with a car-sick kid and the review of Potty Mitts, for keeping hands clean on road trips during treks to stinky bathrooms. Check it out.

It’s for hard for anyone, especially moms to think about how many in the world are not getting enough to eat. Today’s Washington Post published a huge article about the many causes of rising food prices around the world; gas prices, increased export taxes, heat waves, droughts and economic changes that have changed the types of food that people eat. This confluence of factors has many effects, including rice export restrictions. I was surprised to hear on the news that big box stores were limiting the amount of rice that people could buy. Never in my lifetime have I ever heard of such restrictions in the United States . It seems like something my grandmother would have referenced from the Depression. Of course back then people were trying to feed their families by the week, not store up their basements full of items like a bomb shelter.

The Washington Post also lists places where people can go to help others who are hungry. Let’s give up our expensive coffees this week and donate a few dollars. I’m not just preaching here. I donated today to America’s Second Harvest. How to help:

U.N World Food Program helps provide food to Sudan’s Darfur region
www.wfp.org

Or give to a local food pantry in the United States
America’s Second Harvest
http://www.secondharvest.org/

We are experiencing so many firsts and milestones but I didn’t realize they would happening all at once. Two words, readers. Chicken Pox. Yes, we are afflicted with the itchy virus. Apparently I’m the one person who escaped childhood without getting chicken pox. My four older siblings had it before I was born. I missed it. And then a vaccine to prevent it was created, which I didn’t learn about until I was pregnant. Indira and I were slated to get the vaccine soon (for me, once I was done nursing). But we think we may have caught it from someone with shingles (the same virus that causes chicken pox).

So here’s your public service announcement. If you’re not sure you had the chicken pox, get some blood taken at your next doc appt. For the AARP-set reading this blog, there’s also a vaccine for shingles.

No, there’s no photo montage of this…

We’re t-minus 24 hours away from this new mom returning to work and are still figuring out daytime care for baby. Although both of us staying with her during the day and tag-teaming was our original plan, it’s starting to look like an insurmountable challenge. So we’re revising our goals and looking into daycare options. More on that front, when we have it all figured out. Between my colleagues who have new babies, craigslist, sittercity, dcurbanmoms, I think we’ll find something reasonable. Affordable. That’s another question.

But before we get to all that serious business, a quick review of the weekend shows that Indie and her parents had a lovely time.

We took her out with Aunt Melinda to Rustico on saturday, during the early dinner hour when babies rule this restaurant.

Did a photo shoot of ladies who sport sweaters with birds on them.

We also took stock of the clothes she’s already grown out of. So what do you do with too-small pants?

Fashion them into pants for hobbits!

Indira was the model grandchild during our first road trip to visit the grandparents. She slept in the car and in noisy restaurants while I dined on fresh seafood. She giggled on command. And she seemed to save up her crying jags for bedtime. Well done, little one!

I grew up next to a duck pond where baby ducks often showed up in early spring. This year, they arrived in a cardboard box! No one knows why two young women would keep baby ducks, but once they were six weeks old the moms wanted to release them into the wild.

At first the baby ducks chirped and peeped in distress as the women walked away but eventually they made their way near the water. I walked toward them with bread crumbs but they weren’t about the jump into the cold water. My mom suggested I pick one up and place it in the water but I’d been pooped on once as a kid and didn’t want to repeat that. Plus, those little beaks are sharp!

The forsythia were in full bloom in early April.

Also, Indira got to spend some quality time with her great-grandmother, Mimi, the family matriarch, who turns 94 next month and can still beat the neighborhood card players in Bridge. Note to my cousin who also recently had a baby: Mimi suggested that we need to each have one more child.

Wait, I think Indira wants to say something about the trip. Thanks SuSu and Pop Pop!