Happy New Year! 2011 Alaskan Chat January

[roadfamily6now]

Hope you all are enjoying the last few hours of 2010.

Fireworks are allowed in Anchorage until 1am so we are going to take full advantage of that and blast some tonight! Yippee!

[ilovewest]

Just popping my head in for the first time to say hi! We'll be moving to Anchorage in April and am hoping to meet some like-minded mamas and knew this would be the place to connect. so, who wants to tell me all about life in Anchorage with a 2 yr old?

[liza-s]

Welcome Ilovewest. I have a just turned 1 year old and just turned 3 year old.  I work 3 days a week so they're in daycare and I don't have a handle on all the weekday activities. But there are tons of activities. I volunteer at a local nature center (Eagle River N.C.) and its a great place to get out with littles.  We visit the muni greenhouse to "visit summer." I also frequent the Alaska Zoo and Anchorage Museum/Imaginarium. I think we'll start going to the AK Natural History Museum now that DS is older.

April is a great time - although by then I'm always anxious for spring to "get-here-already" once the snow goes away or at least turns to mush.  I'm a birder, so I get ansy with the return migration north. In April the hawks come so that is a highlight for me.

[happyblessedmama]

oh, the greenhouse sounds fun... whereabouts in town is it? Does it cost to get in?

Sorry... I'm new to ANC myself and have my hands full trying to go to playgroups 1-2x a week, but my youngest 3 are 3, almost 2 and 4 months...so I'm not up on what's happening in town.

[brightonwoman]

subbing

[liza-s]

Originally Posted by happyblessedmama 

oh, the greenhouse sounds fun... whereabouts in town is it? Does it cost to get in?

Sorry... I'm new to ANC myself and have my hands full trying to go to playgroups 1-2x a week, but my youngest 3 are 3, almost 2 and 4 months...so I'm not up on what's happening in town.

Greenhouse is in Russian Jack Springs park. Entrance to greenhouse is off of Lidia Selkregg Drive (same road to Chalet), which is immediately west of Boniface on Debarr. They are open daily until 3 or 4 pm. Two attached greenhouses are open to the public.  Nice an warm. One room has a bird cage with lots of blue "parakeets" (I know wild birds, not these) and some pools with fish. They have a story hour with music and a craft on Wed 10am. It doesn't to much for my son, but a friends daughter loves it. My son just likes to watch the birds and fish and look for other "treasures."

[boogaloo]

I haven't been to the greenhouse.  We'll have to check it out.

[onyxravnos]

Welcome to the new years and it's awesome warm weather :joy

[roadfamily6now]

Finally made it to the Greenhouses! OMG! Lived here like 2 1/2 years and never knew that place existed. Either I live with my head under a rock or the city needs to advertise their awesomeness more!

[liza-s]

tammy -  glad you enjoyed your visit to 'summer.' Isn't it great?

[boogaloo]

Tammy - I lived here 30 years and didn't know about it!  Maybe once I get this stupid grant report done we can go.

[roadfamily6now]

DH and I thought it was awesome!  Like going to Hawaii with out the 6 hour flight.

I think our kids liked it too but unfortunately my 10 year old was in a MOOD and was not going to let anything change his mood.

We will go back next weekend maybe and see how it goes. :)

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by liza-s 

Originally Posted by happyblessedmama 

oh, the greenhouse sounds fun... whereabouts in town is it? Does it cost to get in?

Sorry... I'm new to ANC myself and have my hands full trying to go to playgroups 1-2x a week, but my youngest 3 are 3, almost 2 and 4 months...so I'm not up on what's happening in town.

Greenhouse is in Russian Jack Springs park. Entrance to greenhouse is off of Lidia Selkregg Drive (same road to Chalet), which is immediately west of Boniface on Debarr. They are open daily until 3 or 4 pm. Two attached greenhouses are open to the public.  Nice an warm. One room has a bird cage with lots of blue "parakeets" (I know wild birds, not these) and some pools with fish. They have a story hour with music and a craft on Wed 10am. It doesn't to much for my son, but a friends daughter loves it. My son just likes to watch the birds and fish and look for other "treasures."

I have never been to the greenhouse even though it is really close to where I live. I should check it out sometime. It might be something good to get Sophia out of the house while Abigail is in school.

[rabrog]

Wow, this board has slowed down since the format change.

Only 5.5 weeks to go until the c-section.  My doc will be out of town that weekend, but I love the OB doing the cx and have a great ped on for the delivery.  I'll find out the rest of the ped schedule for that weekend on Wed. at my appt.  I'm hoping to avoid one of them totally.

Supposed to warm up Wed.....here's hoping!

Jenn

[roadfamily6now]

You're almost done! 

[L&K'smommie]

Does anyone know of a place in Alaska to buy all natural latex or organic crib mattresses or twin beds?  I'm wondering if one exists or if I would have to buy one online and pay the ridiculous amounts for shipping.

[onyxravnos]

Originally Posted by L&K'smommie 

Does anyone know of a place in Alaska to buy all natural latex or organic crib mattresses or twin beds?  I'm wondering if one exists or if I would have to buy one online and pay the ridiculous amounts for shipping.

blueberry baby here in fairbanks has organic crib mattresses. not sure if that would be helpful at all though if you are in anchorage...

[L&K'smommie]

Originally Posted by onyxravnos 

Originally Posted by L&K'smommie 

Does anyone know of a place in Alaska to buy all natural latex or organic crib mattresses or twin beds?  I'm wondering if one exists or if I would have to buy one online and pay the ridiculous amounts for shipping.

blueberry baby here in fairbanks has organic crib mattresses. not sure if that would be helpful at all though if you are in anchorage...

I'm in the Mat Valley...but maybe their shipping is cheaper.  I'll check out their website.  Thanks.

[JosieAK]

I went down this path looking for organic mattresses over a year ago.  I did a lot of research.  The shipping was ridiculous with every place I contacted.  My range was around $300 that I was willing to spend.  I THINK there might have been something at Junior Towne that might have worked for us, but I was pretty picky about the chemically laden ones (even organic). I was willing to get a note from my ped. so I could order a flame-retardant-free mattress (and did get one).  There was an organic mattress over at a mattress store in a strip mall near University Mall next to Merle Norman's (sorry I forget the name), but although I loved it, the pricing was high for me.  I thought of going the wool toddler futon route, but I wasn't comfortable with the idea of something that soft for my baby to sleep on and the shipping was still very high.  Finally, I made a HUGE compromise and went with the Babe Safe mattress cover.

The idea is that babies breath the fumes from the chemicals in mattresses combined with their spit up and drool and such.  They have discovered that this and the heat from their bodies can make toxic fumes which hover around the baby (this is why I searched high and low for a mattress that was flame retardant chemical free).  This makes sense since babies lying on their backs, using a pacifier, not being in hot rooms, etc. lower SIDS risk.  Anyway, scientists in NZ said if we wrap mattresses in a food grade plastic, allow the mattress to vent from the BOTTOM and then use ONLY cotton bedding in the crib, maybe we can reduce SIDS (or cot death, as they call it there).  Anyway, they've had ZERO instances of cot death in NZ in cases where people wrapped their mattresses for the past 10 years!  So, that's what I did.  I wrapped my mattress in a $30 plastic wrap (I ordered too small, so be careful), then bought some big fluffy white cotton towels from Costco and put one on top of the mattress, then put a cotton sheet over that.  I have been very content with this choice.  It was quick and easy and cheap and no-fume and has a history of preventing SIDS.  I think that was what I kept running up against, even if I ordered an organic baby mattress and paid $200 to ship it up here, it would still have fumes.

HTH!

Oops, forgot the link: http://www.eves-best.com/babesafe-mattress-covers.htm

[brightonwoman]

ah, well, we all just got over a week of the swine flu. I've never been so knocked out by anything in my life. I lost a week and am still regaining my equilibrium here...

We watched the state of the union tonight (or listenened to it streaming anyway). All politics aside, I do think our president is a good public speaker, and of course I had to smile when he made the crack about smoked salmon. :)