Half Way There

Last week marked 20 weeks. 20 more to go (give or take of course.) What does this mean? The halfway point put me in a panic because we really have not done much to prepare. Don't get me wrong, this little guy has clothes to wear for the first 24 months of his life, courtesy of my wonderful mother (can you tell he will be the first grandchild?) But he has nothing else. He won't be naked, but he has no cloth diapers or crib in which to sleep. Where do we begin?

We decided on colors for the nursery this weekend and we went to our local Sherwin Williams store - they will mix any of their paint colors in their Harmony latex paints which contain no VOCs - but it was closed on Sunday so we'll have to go back next weekend. My mother is coming next week to help shop for some essentials like a stroller, car seat, etc. I refuse to shop at Toys R Us and Babies R Us because they got a "do not buy" rating from the HRC in the 2008 Buying For Equality Guide. I just can't bring myself to shop there. At least Target gets the green light from the Buying Guide.

Then there are the items we want that I have no source for locally, like an organic crib mattress and organic crib sheets. I've already resigned to buying a crib online because I don't want a crib with any pressed wood, which contains high amounts of formaldehyde. If you are interested, see this article. Even FEMA (surprise) has admitted the trailers provided to Katrina victims were toxic to those living in them because of high levels of formaldehyde in the pressed wood and plywood used in constructing the trailers. The same pressed woods and plywoods are used in making many cribs, even higher end cribs. Do you realize how much it costs to try make environmentally sound choices for both our baby and mother nature? Geez-O-Pete! I'm getting off my soap-box now...