Sack Bunch (Sponsored & Giveaway)

The following post was sponsored by baby deedee. Thanks, baby deedee!

Before purchasing our house we had it inspected (obviously) and were told our heater was unusable - even toxic - laced with asbestos and DO NOT TURN ON YOUR HEATER UNTIL YOU REPLACE YOUR HEATER NO HEAT FOR YOU COLD BRRRRR NO HEAT BAD HEAT NO.

To back up, our home is ORIGINAL. Everything from the plumbing to the electric in the house is circa 1928. AKA, we'll be spending the rest of our lives working on things. (Our electric is insulated with cloth. Which... huh.)

Anyway, we decided since we had to drop a grip on replacing the heating system that we might as well put in central air-conditioning so we don't spend another summer hanging out with extended family on the bed. Which is fun and all, but... you know. It's our bed.

Anyway AGAIN (sorry) I've spent the last few weeks hanging out with heating people and collecting quotes and forwarding everything to Hal. In the meantime, Fall in Los Angeles, is of course brutal. JK. It's not brutal. But it does get pretty cold at night and even though Bo and Revi have a floor unit in their room, I have spent the last month trying to understand how to control its temperature.

Every morning it's either too hot or too cold and NEVER has it been just right. Which is annoying. HOWEVER, earlier this summer Baby DeeDee hooked us up with a couple of cozy sleep sacks so, I've been keeping the temperature warm but not HOT and tucking them into their sacks before bed so they have some extra som'n some'n to keep them comfortable and warm and safe and happy.

Voila, the baby deedee sleep nest that is so cozy you will want to crawl inside it with your child and just hang out. With your child. In a sack.

Of course, there's still Fable, who has ALWAYS insisted on sleeping ON TOP of her covers because she doesn't like the "feel of blankets" (I have no idea how this is a thing) so if Baby DeeDee could come up with a preschool-aged version, preferably in pink princess print, I'd be super grateful.

In the meantime, I can sleep easy knowing Bo and Revi are cozy in their sleeping bag bedtime ensembles and soon enough, we will have heat. We will! We even hired someone today! SERIOUSLY! I am very excited! We will have central heat and then I won't be writing in the wee hours of the night in three sweaters and a beanie! And yes, I live in Los Angeles but I am terrible at temperature change! Please laugh! I will stop using exclamation points now! (No I will not, actually!)

ED: trying to take pictures of babies while they're going to bed is impossible so I took these photos of Bo & Revi in their sacks yesterday afternoon so you can see how cute they look as caterpillars/eating a pen/trying to levitate a pillow.

!!!

I have a BabyDeedee sleep sack (color of your choice!) up for grabs this week! To win? Tell me something cozy. My cozy? I am sitting under a blanket in a sweater with a sweater under that and slippers and I have tea and a dog at my feet and a heat pad on my back because I throw my back out every other week these days (ahem, growing babes who like to be held at the same time) and that is just the way it is now I guess. I'll pick one winner next Friday, November 16th via disqus randomizer. 

In the meantime, you can find baby deedee on twitter here and facebook here. They're also offering GGC readers a 20% off coupon until November 30th. Just use code GIRL at checkout! Good luck to all and have a great weekend. 

GGC

P.S. Thank you all for your comments, shares, wisdom and conversation this week. You guys are amazing and I am so incredibly fortunate to be in your company.

***

UPDATED: Congrats to Cassie T. for winning the sleep sack! And thanks to all for participating! You're amazing! Stay cozy!

and now, a video of babies hugging

... because, yeah. 

P.S. This was the first time Revi ever hugged Bo. In the past, it's always Bo hugging Revi, Fable, Archer, the UPS guy, invisible nobodies. Bo has always been "the affectionate one" until recently, when out of nowhere, Revi became the captain of the Cuddle Squad.

Saluting Captain Reverie L. Tacklehug!

Aye aye.

GGC

morning afterthoughts

Last night my mom posted the following image on facebook, which she reposted via George Takei's page.

At the moment, it has been liked over 83,000 times, shared 105,000 times which says something, I think. And regardless of whether you agree (and I know some of you don't, and that's okay), I wanted to pass it along.

Because so much has been said on both sides, not only last night and this morning but for the past several months, years, forever since the beginning of time - vitriolic, terrible things. By voters and the media and even the candidates themselves.

I learned, yesterday, that one of the women I love and respect most in my life voted for Romney. She is as pro-choice, pro-woman, pro-peace as anyone I've ever known.

She didn't vote for Romney because she was against me, or against herself or against any of you - she voted because, after weighing her options, she felt Romney was the better choice economically for this country. And that was important to her in this election. So, after going back and forth, she voted Mitt.

And that was her choice.

It was her choice.

Just like Barack Obama was mine.

Just like yes on 37 (we lost) and yes on 34 (we lost) and yes on 30 (we won) were mine. 

We are fortunate enough to live in a country that is pro the right to CHOOSE who to vote for. There are people, as I write this, dying for that choice. Wishing and praying and being tortured for that choice.

And whether your choice was Barack Obama or Yes on Prop 34. Whether you "won" or "lost" you likely also "won" and "lost" and that is amazing. It's amazing that we have days like yesterday where we can show that we care and explain to our children why we do - why they will too - and how fortunate they are to have that option. How fortunate ALL OF US ARE.

I voted Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004 and remember how disappointing it felt to wake up the morning after in a country that didn't get me.

"I'm moving to Canada!" I said in 2000.

And then again, in 2004. "I'm SERIOUSLY moving to Canada, you guys!"

It sucked and I meant it. And my roommates meant it and we all meant it.

I realize that there are many people this morning who feel that way.

And I woke up this morning with them in mind as well as those who like me feel empowered and relieved and grateful -- grateful to have elected a leader that best represents them, grateful to have a voice and a platform to share it, to have a readership full of respectful readers from both sides and a family made up of incredible women who can vote for different candidates and at the end of the day, still love and respect each other as much as they did the day before.

THAT is America. THAT is feminism. THAT is why I voted. THAT is why my ancestors immigrated here from Germany and Poland and Hungary and and and...  THAT is why my family was able to survive and thrive. That is why I'm here. That is why many, if not most of us are here.

my great grandmother, Belle (third from left) with her parents and nine siblings, 1916

my girls; this morning

AMERICA, you guys. We are HERE. We are citizens of this place where we win and we lose and we come together to help each other and we rebuild and we stand in lines because we MATTER.

We matter and I believe with all my heart, so do our choices. As voters and parents and human beings,  we can choose to support one side without ripping into the other. We can celebrate our wins without booing those who voted against us, speak our minds without criticizing the minds of those who think differently, hold hands without rolling our eyes.

And to quote Thomas Jefferson (thanks, George Takei and thank you, Wendy Woolf) I believe that not only is it  possible to stay friends with those who share a difference of politics, opinion, religion and philosophy, it is our duty as citizens of the world and mentors to tomorrow's leaders.

Because if we can't get along as adults how can we expect our children to?

They're watching us.

They're listening and they're watching and they're learning how to be adults. So let's show them. Or at the very least, humor them with grace. 

GGC