Home Sweet Home!

Mercer & I made it home pretty late last night. We would've been home a little sooner, but I wanted to stop by Babies R Us on the way home to attend an Earth Day presentation they were doing on green babies. It was just an "ok" presentation -- as we're doing most of the things they suggested. But there was one area which I hadn't thought about: indoor air quality as it pertains to pet dander / dust mites / HEPA filtration. (I've thought of air quality as it pertains to low-VOC paints, cleaners, and finishes in the furnishings -- but this other one is a housekeeping issue.) We'll have to work on that one a bit more!!

We do have a HEPA filter in our room where the cradle is located now, but we should probably get one for the nursery too. Todd worked on the nursery a bit while we were gone... the main thing he did was to caulk the crown moulding. I need to do some work on the paint over the next week or so and it will be shaping up.

The woman presenting on the green babies also talked about cleanliness issues -- especially as it pertains to handling of the baby. She warned against letting people handle the baby b/c you just don't know how clean they are. (She shared a scary / gross story about how her own 2 month old daughter picked up Chlamydia (an STD!) from someone who apparently didn't wash their hands prior to touching the baby. She knows it wasn't her or her husband... the hospital required both of them be tested / it sounded like they were potentially going to get into trouble b/c of it). She told us to not be afraid to ask people to wash their hands before handling the baby -- or just not letting people touch the baby at all. Ick!

I was reading yesterday in the day-by-day journal that babies have "super immunity" for the first couple of months of their lives (supplied by the pregnant mother) and that this immunity is starting to taper off. We should try to be a little more protective of the little guy now.

On a brighter note:

Mercer was adored by all of his relatives in NC this past week. Mercer & I went to the NC Zoo Saturday morning. Mom works there / there's a new Africa exhibit with Elephants and Rhinos that Mercer went to check out. He slept through most of it. It was a nice exhibit, though and we know that he'll enjoy his next visit much more!

We had my mom's family stop by on Saturday (folks dropped in throughout the afternoon) to visit... and had my dad's family stop by on Sunday. Mercer met his 3 GREAT grandparents over the course of the week. He also met (great) aunts, uncles, and 2nd (or 3rd?) cousins. Monday, we visited 2 nursing homes to visit family members... and Tuesday on the way out of town, met a bunch of mom's co-workers who have been following along Mercer's journey in the blog.

Below: My mom with little M ... My mom's mother, Inez and father, Melvin ... My mom's sister, Sandra ... My mom's brother, Eddie and his family. Mercer met my mom's other brother & his fam, but I don't have a picture with him (Mel)). He also met some of my cousins as well (not pictured either).

Below: My dad's brother, David, and his family ... My dad's sister, Becky, and her husband Tony ... and my dad's mother, Edith

We'll post pics later today or tomorrow in this blog entry and the previous blog entry too. (I still need to find that photo thing that connects the camera to the computer! Ahhhh - technology!)

We enjoyed all of our family visits (to NJ and to NC)... We're just glad to be home and Todd is glad to have us back too!