A day in Annapolis
Somehow this weekend we ended up all alone in DC. All of our family was out of town so it was just the three of us. We usually look forward to having some babysitters when we're in town but we more than made up for it by sleeping in, napping and just generally sleeping any chance we got. To say it was glorious is an understatement. We were beyond lazy and it felt so good! No family obligations, nowhere to be and nothing to do (other than secure some food every now and then).
On Sunday afternoon however, we decided to take a little impromptu trip to Annapolis. We hadn't been there in years and with the temperatures hovering around 75 it seemed like the perfect opportunity for enjoying some time by the water.
Our first stop, of course, was St. John's College. Papa bear received his master's there and we had our wedding reception there almost five years ago! This place is so dear to our hearts. The campus is stunning and we've had many a picnic by the docks and boat house. We went down there and took in the serene landscape - sparkling water, perfectly curated lawns surrounding colorful little boats and docks. It brought us back to our wedding day and our days as young newlyweds - memories that seem both so close and lightyears away. I love places like this, that have so much meaning for you and are sort of landmarks for your life. Places where you go "gosh we've come so far..." And as always we had the whole place to ourselves, nothing but the sounds of our voices and the water gently washing over the pebbles...
After indulging adequately in our sentimentality we headed into old town. The streets were buzzing and the docks were teeming with people. We finagled our stroller through the crowds in order to get quite literally the best lemonade in all the land from Uncle Bob's Fudge Kitchen (their claim and rightfully so) and ice cream from Kilwins. It was well worth it. Once we had the ice cream and lemonade we disappeared down a side street into the quiet. We took in the lovely homes, proudly waving their American flags. We located a bench a couple blocks away from Main Street and happily sat down to devour the ice cream and let Birdie take a little nap. I sat there and wished that every day this summer could be just like this - perfectly warm, with a slight breeze and dry. But alas it's looking like this summer will be no different from every DC summer - unbearably hot, sticky and horrifically humid.
...
Now because this is real life and not a movie I will regale you with the rest of the events of the day exactly as they unfolded. I suppose some days are just too perfect so life feels like it must throw a little yuck your way to keep you humble. So... a few moments after we strapped Birdie into her car seat and headed out of old town she began to cry and flail her arms around. We figured she was tired and would nod off once we were on the main road. Just as we were about to make the turn we heard a terrible sound from the backseat and we looked backed to discover that our sweet girl had just projectile vomited over EVERYTHING. I couldn't believe a tiny human could produce so much vomit. We instantly pulled over (luckily we happened to be near a 7Eleven and papa bear ran in to buy some paper towels) and I rushed over to get her out of her car seat. I've never seen her look so sad and it absolutely broke my heart. I stripped her of her clothes and as luck would have it I had just bought some towels at Anthropologie and could wrap her up in them (everything else was drenched). After cleaning her up and the car we drove to Target so that I could get her some clothes (I know, I should have known better and had an outfit stashed in the car for these type of moments). Once we parked she ended up vomiting again. This time we were both VERY concerned. While there I called my parents and we tried to figure out what could have been the culprit. We finally decided that it had to be the baby water I bought in desperation at CVS the night before that had added fluoride I normally buy Gerber baby water but they didn't have any so I figured it can't be that bad. Turns out it is. And after doing some more research once we got home we discovered it's even worse than what we thought. I am still livid over the fact that this is marketed to babies when it's dangerous even for adults!
So there you have it! I wasn't going to talk about the fact that I've been formula feeding V since she was 4 1/2 months because most of you will think I'm a bad person (which is fine really, most of the time I think I'm a bad person so you know...) but I just couldn't not share about the dangers of fluoride in case I can save anyone else the horrors of watching your baby projectile vomit. Especially since this was the first thing that has ever made V sick. It's appalling to me that something like this can be legally sold and marketed for young children. You don't even want to know what the repercussions are for giving it to your child over a long period of time...
And there it is, in case you thought it's all flowers and fairy dust over here. Thankfully she's all better now but there really is nothing worse than a sick baby. I said a prayer that night for all the parents of sick babies as I can't even image how difficult and heartbreaking it must be.
P.S. In case you don't think I should be sent to hell and want to know more about our experience with formula leave me a note or shoot me an email! I'd be more than happy to share!