4 MONTH OLD BABIES

Kissing Babies at the Piggly Wiggly

“The charmingly eccentric and infinitely lovable characters from Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly are back…”(Louise Shaffer, author of The Ladies of Garrison Gardens)

In Second Creek, Mississippi, Hale Dunbar is taking on the solidly entrenched mayor in the upcoming election. Hale may not have much political experience, but he has something better: he’s being backed by the Nitwitts—the town’s most influential and enjoyably eccentric posse of widows. As the campaign unfolds, everyone is about to discover what’s more important than coming in first—close friends, second chances, and true love. And of course, a good slogan.

“The charmingly eccentric and infinitely lovable characters from Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly are back…”(Louise Shaffer, author of The Ladies of Garrison Gardens)

In Second Creek, Mississippi, Hale Dunbar is taking on the solidly entrenched mayor in the upcoming election. Hale may not have much political experience, but he has something better: he’s being backed by the Nitwitts—the town’s most influential and enjoyably eccentric posse of widows. As the campaign unfolds, everyone is about to discover what’s more important than coming in first—close friends, second chances, and true love. And of course, a good slogan.

Children swimming in the Barwon Darling river Brewarrina, NSW

Australia's Aborigines are bouncing back.

For the first time, the modern indigenous population outnumbers the
estimated population at the time of white settlement.
Unfortunately, the world into which this new Aboriginal generation is
being born is sometimes difficult and often dysfunctional.
The life expectancy for an indigenous child in Australia today is 17
years less than a non-indigenous child born alongside them.
This is because the social landscape that modern Aborigines inhabit is a
blighted one, worn out by multi-generational defeats, failures and
neglect.
In the cities and rural towns, where many were relocated by government
policies of assimilation in the past century, and where others have
moved in search of work, ghettoes abound.
In regional and remote areas, where many have remained on and around the
former religious missions and government reserves, basic services such
as clean drinking water and sewerage are often unreliable.
And as the 21st century dawned on Australia's bush and her outback, the
drought has made a hard land even harder.
The statistics are severe.

The most comprehensive government report on the plight of Australia's
Aborigines, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage, found in 2007 that the
median household weekly income of indigenous people has risen 10 per
cent in a decade, to $340, compared with $618 for non-indigenous people.
But in spite of more than $3 billion in annual federal spending on
indigenous Australians, the imprisonment rate for indigenous women
surged 34 per cent between 2002 and 2006. For men it increased 22 per
cent. Indigenous imprisonment rates rose 32 per cent overall from 2000
to 2006 and are now 13 times higher than the rate for non-indigenous
Australians. In health, indigenous infant mortality rates have improved, but are
still two to three times the national average, while there has been no
change in the numbers of low birth weight babies and hearing problems
among children, which is in
epidemic proportions in remote communities.
And barely a week goes by in Australia without a fresh tale of child
abuse and neglect in indigenous communities, a predicament that led the
government of former Prime Minister John Howard to rush through a suite
of draconian and controversial measures to make children safe in
Northern Territory communities that became known as ``The
Intervention''.
But the desperate coincidence of an exploding population and imploding
infrastructure is rarely as stark as it is in drought-ridden western New
South Wales, where the birthrate among Aboriginal women is twice that of
non-Aboriginal women, despite persistent high mortality rates and record
rates of incarceration.

For some young Aboriginal parents, issues such as alcoholism,
unemployment and limited education are still barriers.

keeping up with my monthly silhouette pregnancy series
I still feel pretty great going into my 8th month, I am super anxious at this point, more so because we do not know the sex! My weight did not change since my last midwife visit last month. I think because I have been doing a lot of walking, daily. Baby is super active, when (s)he is not up under my ribs, baby is way down low and causing pressure and pain. Even so, I LOVE being pregnant!

The Dinos at Play 8 Piece Baby Crib Bedding Set includes quilt, dust ruffle, fitted sheet, window valance, diaper stacker and 3 fabric wall hangings. The bumper is sold separately. The quilt measures 37 inches x 44 inches. The dust ruffle has a 14 inch drop, and the fitted sheet is designed to fit a standard size 28 inch x 52 inch crib mattress. The 2 smaller wall hangings each measure 10 inches x 8.5 inches and the larger one is 10 inches x 9.5 inches. The valance is 53 inches across with a 15 inch drop, and accommodates a 2.5 inch valance rod. The diaper stacker measures 25 inches x 12 inches, and is 9 inches deep. The sheet is made of 100% cotton, exclusive of decoration. The dust ruffle platform and the front cover of the quilt are 100% polyester. The top cover of the diaper stacker is also 100% polyester. The other pieces are 65% polyester and 35% cotton. Any filling is 100% polyester fiber batting. Care instructions: machine wash cold separately, do NOT bleach, tumble dry low and remove promptly, and iron on low when needed.