Hi Friend,

The wallpaper is in and I am obsessed. We hired a guy off Thumbtack and he knocked out the whole room in one day, which meant I spent the next day unpacking boxes and setting everything back up around it. My back is still filing a formal complaint.

Separate but related, I got an iron infusion last week for pregnancy anemia, and I had no idea how bad I actually felt until it kicked in a day or two later. If you're pregnant and/or chronically exhausted, get your iron checked, it might not just be "growing a human is tiring." The infusion itself was four hours hooked up to an IV in a heated massage chair with nothing to do but read my Kindle and scroll my phone. Not the worst four hours I've had all year, honestly.

For the 4th we're heading to Waxhaw for the parade, assuming it's not miserably hot. We went a couple years ago and it was genuinely sweet, old downtown charm that Charlotte proper doesn't really have anymore. We'll obviously be hitting Waxhaw Creamery after, standing in line with what I assume will be the rest of the town.

🌱 What We’re Doing

Your week in Charlotte, planned.

Waxhaw's parade is on our own agenda this week, but it's one of 32 options on a calendar that basically exploded into fireworks. Every town within 40 minutes of us has a parade, a cookout, or a pyrotechnics show, so the hard part isn't finding something to do, it's picking one and getting out the door before the heat gets you. With the heat dome sitting on Charlotte all week, plan around mornings and evenings and skip anything that puts you outside from noon to 4.

✨ A few standouts:

• Birkdale Village's bike parade ends with an actual fire department wet down at 11:30am on the 4th, which is the single most heat-dome-appropriate event on this entire list

• Free Fishing Day on the 4th means you can borrow a rod for free at nine different spots around Charlotte if you don't own one

• Daniel Stowe's Red, White + Blooms starts at 10am and wraps by 2, so you can do the whole thing and be home before the worst of the heat hits

👉 Check out all 48 events here

🚨 On Our Radar

Quick hits you'll want to know about.

• If you don't have plans Sunday morning, Moms Move is worth your 9am. It's a walking support group for moms and expecting moms at Freedom Park, July 5 from 9 to 10:30am. Low pressure, stroller friendly, and honestly a good excuse to talk to another adult before the heat makes you want to stay inside for the rest of the day.

• Olivelli Deli's window officially opened yesterday! Sandwiches and soft serve, open Tuesday through Sunday from 8am to 8pm, breakfast sandwiches until 11am. I'm still mourning Reigning Donuts but I am a sucker for a good breakfast sandwich. 

• Bambi Baby's 50th anniversary sale is live. 10% off sitewide, 15% off orders over $1,800, 20% off over $3,200. If you've been holding off on a big-ticket nursery or gear purchase, this is the week to pull the trigger.

• Rosie's Wine Bar has their alcohol license back. Beer and wine are officially on the menu again after 26 long days. You're welcome.

• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control needs fosters and adopters fast. The Toomey Avenue shelter closes July 5 for five weeks of renovations, and they need dogs placed by Thursday, July 2 or moved to the Byrum Drive location. If you've been on the fence about fostering, this is the week they actually need you.

• Pineville Regional Library Update: The Pineville Regional Library is still closed due to damage from a car crash. Please be sure to check the library’s website for updates on their reopening before you plan a visit

Where We're Playing: Wildwoods

We paid $54 for Jamie to stare at an excavator. Wildwoods at the Whitewater Center is built more for the 3-and-up crowd than for him, but between the construction equipment next door and the surprisingly sturdy setup for kids who hate anything wobbly, we're already planning our next trip. If you go on the 4th itself, there's extra holiday programming worked into regular play time from 11 to 1.

Full verdict, plus what to know before you pay for passes, is on the blog.

Read it here

What I'm Learning as a Parent

Jamie comes home from daycare looking like he lost a fight with a marker, and for months my system was spraying stain remover on the spot and hoping I'd remember which shirts still needed checking before they went in the dryer. I never remembered. Half of them went in the dryer anyway and the stain set for good.

Here's what actually fixed it: I got one of those big mesh delicates bags, the kind meant for bras and tights, and now every sprayed or stained piece goes straight into that bag instead of loose in the laundry pile. When it's time to switch loads to the dryer, I pull the mesh bag out first, check every single item inside it, and only the ones that actually came clean go in the dryer. Anything still stained gets rewashed or sprayed again. Nothing gets forgotten because everything that needs a second look lives in one obvious spot.

For the actual spray, I'm loyal to two products and I use them for different jobs. Shout Advanced Grease Busting Foam handles pretty much everything. However, for berry stains specifically, Miss Mouth's Messy Eater Stain Treater Spray is the one to use. If you catch the stain while it's still fresh, you can actually watch it disappear in front of you, I swear.

Separate but related, since laundry always somehow becomes the topic when I get my mom friends together: I recently switched to Tide Free and Gentle powder after a Reddit recommendation, specifically because of the lipase in it. Yes, that's the same enzyme that's in breast milk, which got a very big laugh out of everyone when my friend made the connection. Powder over liquid also just cleans better in my experience, so if you haven't made that switch yet, consider this your push.

If you've got a kid who treats every outfit like a canvas, grab a mesh bag and start using it exclusively for anything pre-treated. It's a two dollar fix for a problem I'd been half-solving for months.

Help The Sprout grow. If one idea made your week easier, please forward this email or tag @thecharlottesprout so more Charlotte parents can find us. 🌱