The Huffington Post reported today that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is preparing to issue a general warning about possible suffocation deaths from small infants being carried in baby slings. These slings have been popular for ages but there have been too many deaths caused by these slings for the government to not do something about it. The warning should come out sometime this week.
Duomo; Torino Bull (you spin your right heel on his testicles for good luck)
Castella Sforzesco, the carnival next to the Castella
Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of The Last Supper
We did finally get to see Milan, outside of runways and showrooms. I was feeling extra guilty for dragging my entire family to Milan only to be working the entire time. Once Fashion Week was over, it was all tot time (well, then I had to go to Madrid to speak at a conference). It is never easy trying to balance work with family especially when traveling, it is so tough! But in the end, it still was better to travel with them because I would not be able to be away from them that long. But between working and doing family activities, I was extremely exhausted the whole time because I had absolutely no downtime. I also felt bad treating my husband like a hired nanny so I also had to give him some free time to explore the city on his own. I can recover from exhaustion, it is certainly a small price to pay for having it all =)
For the most part, Milan is not very tot friendly, in the sense that there is not a whole lot for them to do. But the people there are extremely nice and friendly when we showed up to restaurants and places with them. We did avoid super fancy restaurants so as to not ruin some rare date where they are spending good money on a nice meal. We decided to just do the regular things like museums and cathedral visits, which were boring for them. But I figured they will need to start learning to travel like grown ups if they want to go on grown up trips. We do enough Legoland and water park trips specifically for tots, sometimes they have to go on grown up adventures too.
We went to the Castello Sforzesco, a real life castle! It was build in 1368 as a fortress and turned into a palace in the 15th century. There were all the fixings of a fairy tale castle - turrets, draw bridges over actual motes, gates with spikey pointy ends and of course a dungeon! This place was magnificent and enormous, an inspiring and impressive sight to behold. So the modern Italians decided to honor this landmark by putting a super cheesy carnival right next to it. The historical importance of the castle was lost on the tots, but the exciting carnival was not. So maybe the modern Italians had a point. This was the strangest and most ostentatiously decorated carnival with multiple themes piled on top of one another - jungle, Hawaiian, Princess, Disney, robots, pretty much everything you'll find in the Birthday theme section of Party World. But the tots LOVED it!
Obviously I have not figured out the internet situation here. It has been a whole week in Milan and other than a lot of eating, we have been hampered by illness and weather (overcast or rain in the high 40's, a couple of days of sun in the 50's). My 4 year old arrived with a mild cough, which became a severe cough when she infected her younger sister but by the time it mutated to me, it became a full-blown cold with sinus congestion and fever. I am here for Milan Fashion Week, which meant I had to hack my way to all the events while everyone looked at me with fear and scorn. The shows here are incredible and it has been a worthwhile trip since this is the bag mecca of the world, but you can read about all that on Bag Snob.
We are staying within walking distance of the Duomo, the third largest cathedral of the world. I've been to St. Peter's cathedral at the Vatican (the largest in the world) and I cannot remember how it could possibly be bigger than this. The ceiling was 100 feet high with richly colored stained glass extending the entire height. An impressive sight to behold to say the least. As expected, the area is full of tourist traps but we walk there daily because we don't know how to take the electric cars that run throughout the city. But we'll get there now that Fashion Week is over. There are 7 of us so although taking cabs is doable it's not exactly affordable since we need 2 cabs and it seems like everywhere we go amounts to 15 euros (around $20).
We did take cabs to dinner one night when it was raining, which meant $80 in roundtrip cab fares. Luckily, the dinner was incredible!! Da Gaspare on via Ravizza, 19 (apparently owned by a famous soccer player here, but don't ask me who, I couldn't exactly make out the name when it was said) is called a Pizzeria and looks like an average café but we learned quickly not to let looks and name fool us. As soon as we walked in to the fresh display of seafood, I knew I was in heaven. Razor clams grilled to absolute perfection - sweet and just tender was sooo good just in its own goodness without need of seasoning. Branzino, we've had it everyday, but here, the whole live fish cleaned and immediately grilled is probably what mermaids experience when they eat fish. Spaghetti with clams, yeah, I thought I've had this dish before but apparently I have been eating a very mediocre imitation. It is so simple with just olive oil and parsley but with the clams pan fried and the pasta soaking up with precious nectar, it was seriously life altering. It was recommended to me by a sales associate at Stefanel (a trendier version of Club Monaco), I think I will go back and ask for more!
JFK with Trunki (hoping to wear them out, didn't work); Overcast but a beautiful view of Milan from our apartment
New York to Milan on a redeye. The risk associated with taking a redeye with tots does not justify the rewards, whatever those are. Saving a day? No, you are actually ruining 2 days. Our flight was at 6pm, the flight was 8 hours long, so best case scenario, say we slept the whole way, we still arrive at 2am New York time. A 6pm flight pretty much ensures that there will be no sleep and just the last 2 hours of the flight if any. Which is exactly what happened. But prior to falling asleep though, there was misery, for all on board. Tired but not tired enough to conk out means cranky incessant whining with actual crying sprinkled throughout. They were doing horrifying things: i.e. standing up on the seat facing the passengers sitting behind us and coughing right at them (I stretched my hand out to cover her mouth but not in time for that first spray); escaping her seat and clawing and crying and waking up passengers all along the aisle. I have often been complimented on how well my tots are on flights. Clearly not this time, they thought we were wolves.
We arrive with too much luggage (there were 5 of us, 3 adults and 2 tots) and 2 car seats. Cars in Italy are small. We called for a van but a small sedan arrived instead. We gave it a college try to get all people and luggage in the car, but we ended up leaving my husband behind at the airport with still more luggage for a return trip back. I couldn't leave a tot behind but both car seats would not fit, so I did the unthinkable (unthinkable if we were home), one sat on my lap. Milan Milpensa airport is an hour away from the city, and we arrived at 8am local time which means rush hour, so it took us about 80 minutes. Everyone smokes here, I am not sure if that was the cause but the car smelled like cigarettes and my older daughter got sick - car sick probably from the stop and go traffic and smell. I was afraid she would have an Exorcist moment but thankfully, it was just stomach slosh that came out. Luckily, I had a Travel John with me in case she did actually vomit.
We arrived at a friend's apartment we are staying while we're here; it is on Corso Italia, right in the center of the city. I was happy but delirious from not sleeping. Good thing I have a friend here who arrived a day earlier so she was in good shape to watch my one tot while I headed straight for the bed with the other. One long nap and a perfect meal later, I am recovered but wide-awake at 4am feeding the tots the dinner they didn't eat at dinner time. Let's see what tomorrow brings, our first full day in Milan. Oh, and there's not internet connection at the apartment so who knows when you will here from me again!
Day 2
Dylan's Candy Bar, Giant Piano in FAO Shwarz
I decided to spend the money on a car service so that we can get more done and have car seats. It was totally worth it!! The day was relaxing and we had the BEST time ever. No logistical nightmares to speak of. It allowed us to hit every place we wanted to go so to rationalize the expense I figured it would be cheaper than having to come back for a return trip. We even stopped by a street vendor for gyros and ate them in the car instead of having to stand on the street. Were were able to hop in and out and go anywhere we wanted without the headache of having to find parking (if we got your own car, which I would not recommend), getting in and out of cabs (no car seats), schlepping the entire gang through the subway, getting lost, walking endlessly, getting tired and cranky, carrying all the packages we acquired along the way and most of all, wasting time in transit. As you can see, Day 2 was A LOT more productive than Day 1 =)
FAO Shwarz - 767 5th Avenue, New York - (212) 644-9400
This is a must for tots. It's the biggest toy store in the world, and nicest!! They are known for their life size stuffed animals but they have it all. The Giant Piano (seen in the movie Big) is pretty much the most fun you can have. Don't miss the show, check for times because you do not want to miss that.
The exhaustion of Fashion Week has nothing on a weekend with tots in New York. I have been in NY by myself for a week for shows, meeting and showroom visits - like 10-12 appointments a day and I feel fine at the end of the day. My two tots and husband joined me Friday night and we spent the weekend together doing nothing but fun tots' stuff. Taking the subway to avoid cabs (no carseats!) and walking from one destination to another, along with tantrums, bathroom runs and settling fights between my 2 tots, is to say the least, draining and taxing. I spent a lot of time on this most amazing ultimate itinerary but it is very ambitious. We were not able to get to all of them because we either ran out of time or energy but I will share them all with you.
Day 1
The first day was spent all on the upper west side because that's where all the tots' stuff are. It was easy to enough (or so I thought) to take the subway up there and just walk around once there. Our first stop was the marionette show of Three Little Pigs at The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre at 79th St at West Drive, Central Park (212-988-9093). We walked from the 72nd St stop but we didn't realize this was IN the park so we got lost, did a lot of traversing back and forth and was 10 minutes late. You must make a reservation (by calling) but if you're late, they give the reservation away. Luckily, the lady at the door was nice enough to let us in but it was very difficult to find a seat in the dark. It was all worth it though, the show was super cute and everyone loved it. This is a very high quality production and the Swedish cottage was actually a cottage, very quaint and lovely.
With so much debate and controversy over BPA and it's harmful affects, I decided to speak to Ron Vigdor, President of Born Free, maker of BPA free sippy cups and bottles. The importance of the discussion regarding BPA cannot be over stated. It is because of consumers like us who demand change that the industry and government has taken action. There has been decades of conspiracies to cover up this known harm because plastic is a $374 billion industry. The FDA has known about the potential danger of BPA since 1997 yet they have not banned BPA and are only influenced by lobbyists from the plastic industry. Meanwhile, children in the US have been and are still being exposed to the possible harms while more studies and test are conducted and analyzed. There are technicalities that make this issue terribly confusing but instead of waiting for the FDA to give us a clear understanding, we have decided to rely on the one rule parents have always followed - to better be safe than sorry.
Why did you start Born Free?
I saw a documentary in 2006 regarding the harm caused by BPA in plastics and it inspired me to develop products that would do good and be good.
Why is BPA so dangerous?
BPA (bisphenol-A) is an endocrine destroyer, hormone mimicker, causes cancer, diabetes, early puberty and learning and developmental delays and alters the gene physiques in the womb if ingested by the mother. It was used as a birth control substance in the early 1900's. BPA is particularly harmful to fetuses and babies under the age of 3 because of their inability to properly and fully synthesize and filter waste. The waste stays in their bodies longer and this causes more damage.
US Consumer Product Safety Commission announces the recall of 1.5 million Graco strollers for models Passage, Alano, and Spree manufactured in China between October 2004 and February 2008. This is a similar danger of fingertip amputation as the Maclaren recall in November 2009. This time is has to do with the opening and closing of the canopy. You can order the part to fix this problem by going to Graco's website. There has been 7 reports of children having their fingertips injured, 5 fingertip amputations and 2 finger lacerations.
I was not a new mom when I started Tot Snob so I never thought to do this but now that there is a newborn in my life again, my nephew, I realized that this is something that can be very helpful for new moms with mommy brain. We have all left the house without the one critical necessity (diapers, wipes, formula!). If you're in a familiar city, it is as easy as stopping at the nearest store, but if you're traveling, it could mean disaster! I have made a checklist with all the essentials. Click here to download the PDF file for your convenience. Make multiple copies or laminate one for your diaper bag.
Image courtesy of Canadian Family
This holiday season was especially memorable and meaningful for me and my family because we welcomed Milo, my beautiful little nephew, to the mix. My sister was in labor for 20 hours and ended up getting a C-section!! She didn't dilate beyond 5 cm and the Pitocin was stressing the baby out so there was no other options. During this long labor of 4 nurse shift changes and the sheer exhaustion from just being there, we all forgot about the Cord Blood collection. I know a Birth Plan is a must for some, it is just comforting to know that you have dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's but there are those free form people, like my sister who just wanted to wing it without one. Well, now she is paying the price. If she had a birthing plan, every nurse who came on shift would have looked at it and made sure the Cord Blood collection kit went into the OR with her when she went in for the C-section. During the stress of making that decision and the hubbub of getting ready to move all her stuff from the Labor and Delivery room to the OR Recovery, it was just forgotten. I should have insisted she had one, or even did one for her, being the experienced one with 2 deliveries under my belt (both of which had Cord Blood collected). If you are pregnant or know someone who is pregnant, make sure to do one, it only takes a few minutes and Baby Center has an easy check list that prints out for your convenience.
