Products I love (as a mom)

When you are pregnant you starting compiling a list and purchase things you think you might need for your baby. Everyone has their favourite items that they can't live without and they let you know what they are. I think that there is always basic stuff you need and you learn what works best for you once you actually have your baby. And, your need change as your baby, and family grow! Here are some things that I love.

The Kushies nursing aprons - although I am no longer breastfeeding, I loved these things. So easy to fit in your purse or diaper bag and really inexpensive. There are so many different types and styles of nursing aprons out there, but I think this is the best value for sure.





My Fleurville diaper bag - I LOVE IT! I started off with a Roots diaper bag, which was great, but soon graduated to this one. It is stylish and practical. I am so happy I got it.





The Fisher Price booster seat - why did I buy a high chair again? This thing just straps on your kitchen chair, cleans really easily, takes up less room and is portable.




Baby Magoo blankets - I didn't have these for the Love Bug, but have a couple for the Missus. She loves them. They are so soft.

Kushies bibs with sleeves - once kids are feeding themselves it tends to get messy. These are inexpensive and completely cover them.






Gymboree bubble blower - this thing makes the best bubbles ever!








My Pliko P3 (Peg Perego) stroller. It was great when I had just one child. And works well with two because your old child, who may generally prefer walking when you are out, can just ride on the back when needed.








Squishy balls - my kids love them. You can get them from any toy store or even the dollar store, We have tons of them.






Diapees & Wipees - Since I used to sell them, I have a few that I use. Even my hubby doesn't mind taking it with him. It is so handy to throw in any bag or to separate different diaper sizes when you have more than one child in diapers.

Sick of being sick

It seems like the last month has been just one illness after the next in our house. It started off with the Missus being sick with a bad cold for a week before Easter. Then, Easter Monday she came down with stomach flu. The rest of the family caught it one by one and the week was a write-off. We had a week off to recover and then Love Bug got a really high fever for a couple of days early last week.

Once the fever broke I thought he was ok. But, he was miserable! He was throwing temper tantrums left, right and centre. It was crazy! Then a couple of days later I started feeling really achy. It hurt to shower. My whole body felt bruised. It turns out that the Love Bug had the flu and was probably feeling horrible (if he felt anything like I did!). He seems to be over it but I am still fighting it off right now and it has been almost a week. Now the Missus has a fever and a runny nose. It just never seems to end!

I have so much I would like to post about but just haven't had the time or energy. Hopefully I will catch up soon.

The House of Puke

That is what our house has been this week! It all started with the Missus waking up at 4am on Monday morning crying. I went in to her room, thought I smelled something, sniffed her bum, all seemed ok so I just rocked her until she calmed down. About 45 minutes later she was crying again. This time I turned on the light and noticed large wet puddles in her crib. It didn't look like barf, but it sure smelled like it!

The rest of Monday consisted of me holding the Missus while she dry-heaved or puked everywhere, then changing both her and I into new fresh outfits. She ended up having a nap over 3 hours long in the afternoon. My hubby cam home and I went to get her to find her fast asleep in a puddle of vomit in her crib. It broke my heart and disgusted me at the same time. I called my hubby to change her while I cleaned out the crib.

On Tuesday night around 9pm we heard a weird sound coming from the Love Bug's room. I went in to find him half asleep puking. I picked him up so he wasn't lying down in his own vomit. He looked at me and said "mommy, I'm sicky. I barfed all over." Yes, he did. I changed his bed and threw everything in the laundry while my husband cleaned him up. About an hour later I was running to the bathroom myself. The rest of the night was a blur. I think I spent half of it on the floor of our bathroom. I think I may have actually passed out a couple of times. When I came downstairs my husband looked at me and said "you look ghastly!"

I found out that while I was in the bathroom that night, the hubby had been making numerous trip to the Love Bug's room cleaning up barf. Good times all round! Wednesday was a complete write-off.

Then at 2;45am on Thursday morning, my husband came down with it and spent all of yesterday lying on the couch with a fever and shaking.

I think we are all on the mend now, thank goodness. Now I need to put away all of the laundry that needed to be done as a result of the illness and finish disinfecting the entire house with our industrial sized container of Lysol wipes!

Nursery School Social

Along with running the Scholastic program at the Love Bug's nursery school, I am also on a social committee organizing a fundraiser. The school is a co-operative nursery school and relies on fundraisers to operate. Part of going to a co-operative nursery school is also having the parents involved in the school, which is one of the reasons why we chose it. I like to be involved.

At first I thought joining this committee was going to be a nightmare. The first meeting was dreadful - too many people. It reminded me of group work in university (which, by the way, I hated). It started off disorganized with a few people monopolizing the conversation...and generally not throwing out very useful (or logical) ideas. The second meeting was better because some of those people were not there. And, our last meeting was great. We accomplished so much and there were only 4 of us. Sometimes I think that large groups are just not as productive (the old "too many chiefs" saying).

The event will be on Friday March 28th in the evening and will be a fun evening for little ones.

Part of the fundraiser is going to be a raffle for baskets. There will be a mom basket, dad basket, kids basket, new baby basket, etc. We have been contacting local businesses for donations and people are being fairly generous. I absolutely hate cold-calling people I don't know asking for stuff...yuk. But it hasn't been too bad so far.

I anyone out there knows of any business that would like to donate a product or gift certificate for a good cause...please let me know!

Weaned

Well, the Missus is officially weaned. She was actually weaned cold-turkey last week a little unexpectedly. I was going to take her to 2 breast-feeding a day anyway but the process was sped up when I needed to take some medication that prevented me from breastfeeding (more on that another day). I am doing fine and so is the Missus. The first day she kept coming up to me and whined for me to breastfeed her. But the next couple of days went smoother and now she is drinking her homo milk from a sippie cup. We are still warming it up (just slightly) for her prior to giving it to her. She seems to drink more if it is at room temperature. I am proud of her so doing so well!

Now, if only I could get the Love Bug to drink milk again. I had a conversation with MTM about her daughter not drinking milk anymore. I said at the time that the Love Bug is a milk-a-holic and drinks tons. Well, wouldn't you know that a week later he stopped. Apparently he "doesn't like milk" anymore. He will drink chocolate milk and regular milk if I put a tiny bit of my chai latte in it, but that is not something I prefer to do. Hopefully he will grow out of this phase quickly.

Cookbook Addict

I am a self-confessed cookbook addict. I got three of them for Christmas alone; Everyday Italian, Canadian Living "Make it tonight" and my most recent addition The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook.

I happen to love the recipes from Canadian Living magazine so decided to invest in a couple of the cookbooks. I find that people (well, at least my family) seem to really like the recipes that I make from them.

I am in the process of doing my meal plan for this week and will definitely be incorporating some new recipes from my latest cookbook. There are so many amazing recipes to try!

I am also going to try a some from Deceptively Delicious which I have had for a while (but just haven't had time to make the veggie purees). I am a bit skeptical of it, but know that a couple of friends have had some success. And, my toddler is VERY, VERY picky these days. He used to be a good eater and now it is so difficult to get anything in him, let alone veggies!

Wish me luck!

A birthday re-cap

Well, it was an eventful weekend. On Friday our baby girl turned one. We started the morning singing "happy birthday" to her. Afterwards, our 2.5 year old son looked at us and said "is it time for cake now?" Hmmm...I don't think we will have cake at 7:30am...although I must admit that the thought did appeal to me slightly.

At dinner time we gave her a cupcake for her birthday and she got to open one of her presents from us. My hubby went out and bought her a jewelery box that had her name engraved on it. He is such a softy sometimes!

On Saturday my hubby worked but I got ready for our big birthday party - preparing food, cleaning the house, making little thank you gift for people.

We had her birthday party on Sunday morning at 11:30am. It was primarily family, including a couple of my aunts and uncles and my hubby's grandparents. There were about 20 adults and 6 children including mine. I was ambitious and made hams, turnip & butternut squash and green beans with almonds. My mom made scalloped potatoes and my step-MIL made a salad. It turned out to be quite a nice lunch!

I had searched high and low for a pretty party dress for my 1 year old. I finally came across a pink frilly dress, which I wouldn't have pictures myself buying, but couldn't help myself. She looked so pretty! My mom put her hair in a little ponytail for part of the party.

My baby girl was extremely spoiled with present of course! But the good news is that most of it was clothes. She only received a few toys. Clothes are always welcome!

After lunch she got a piece of birthday cake which she definitely enjoyed. It wasn't as messy as the one she received on Friday, but she definitely enjoyed it!

My poor kids didn't end up having afternoon naps that day but they were both so good! Thank goodness 'cause it was a long, but wonderful day!

Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter!

I can't believe that she is one already! I found that I was extremely emotional when my son turned one. This time I think I am in denial. I have been planning a party for her since before Christmas, but I still find it hard to believe!

She was quite sick over the holidays but is feeling better now - thank goodness! She is back to her usual self crawling like a maniac, cruising around everything, and cracking herself up. Yes, even she finds herself quite amusing!

I have decided to take a few days to update on her current milestones and to reflect on her being one. For now I just want to enjoy her and her birthday celebrations.

Here is her first experience with cake.

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as she enjoyed the cake!

A Fresh Start

A new year, a new start...

After contemplating deleting this blog, I have made the decision to use it as my primary blogging place. My other blog is very personal with details and names so I am going to stop blogging there instead. I will talk more about my family and children here but will not use actual names...keep it a bit more anonymous.

bad blogger

I have been so bad at blogging lately. Usually I find blogging
somewhat therapeutic, however, I've just been too busy lately to be
able to sit down and write. Also, I feel a little guilty spending
time on the computer when there has been so much to do!

I am sitting here relaxing tonight even though we are moving on
Wednesday and we haven't finished packing yet! But, there is not much
I can do. The kids and I have moved into my mom's house (as of
yesterday) and there are in their beds. My mom and step-dad aren't
home yet, so I am here with the kids. My hubby is home so he can get
some sleep for work and to watch the house. Not a wise idea to leave
a packed house unattended...makes it to early for burglars.

I am going to do a couple of posts tonight to try and catch up a little!

When I am done breastfeeding

I have given up milk products for the last 5 1/2 months due to my baby girl's intolerance to cow's milk protein. I try a little bit of milk every once in a while, but we find that it still affects her. I love breastfeeding and feel like it is important to do, so I don't mind giving up things for the benefit of my child/children...just like you do when you are pregnant. The last 3 years I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding and I dream of the days when I am done and can eat and drink whatever I like. For now I am just thinking about being able to drink milk again and eat cheese again!

1) grilled cheese sandwich
2) brie with a baguette