Momsicle.ca

Adventures of a first time mom living in downtown Toronto figuring out the ins & outs, ups & downs of raising our little lady.

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We've somehow managed to be trailing just a few months after Kate and William. Got married three months after they did and first baby four months after George. But we're winning the next one - she's due in April, our little one is expected in March! Woot!

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Kicking off 2015 with a Renovation!

It's hard to believe another year is here - 2015! It feels like it's going to be a great one!

December went out like a crazed lion over in our neck of the woods. Along with juggling an awesome beach holiday, Christmas and New Years, we also started a major renovation in our home.  We've decided to turn our three unit home back into a single family home. It's so exciting and so nail-biting all at the same time.

Like all good renovations - the scope has evolved from 1 1/2 floors to 2 and 3/4 floors. The budget has also ballooned. The only thing that seems to be holding steady is the timeline. We're hoping to have the whole thing completed before Baby #2 shows up. Yup we're hoping to be in there by mid-March.

In the meantime, the three of us have moved back into my old condo, just a few blocks from our home. So we can still make frequent visits!

We decided to move only the essentials, what this means is that we're living like college students! Clothing in bags and boxes, one loveseat, no kitchen table. Hannah has been given the one bedroom in the condo while Byron and I enjoy our mattress on the floor in the 'den' or 'nook'.

I have convinced myself that the midnight bathroom breaks are a great exercise from a floor mattress to standing and back down again being 30 weeks pregnant. It's got to be good for something doesn't it?

Before and Demo Pictures

Staircase to the Second Floor

Second Floor: Our 'New' Bedroom

Hannah's 'New' Bedroom

Baby's 'New' Bedroom

Bathroom

Third Floor - our 'Master Suite' someday

I'm looking forward to keeping you updated on the renovation and our college-style condo living!

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Tips: Beach Bummin' it with Baby

The family just got back from a vacation to Barbados - sand, surf, and sun!  And it was fantastic! 

We were a bit nervous going on holidays with our 15 month old. Our last sunny holiday with her was CRAZY!  She was almost 6 months old at that time, and the sleeping/naps were a nightmare. We like to tell people that we eventually gave in and gave her the whole hotel room while Hubby and I read our books in the bathroom at night!  Yup - you do what you have to do...

This holiday was pretty much the reverse of that one. We had such a great time - and I think it had a lot to do with Hannah's age and also A LOT of planning and strategies that I came up with beforehand. 

Here are some tips on what I've learned traveling with baby...

Airplane:

Snacks: My baby girl can eat all day, every day. I brought a bunch of Cheerios, cheese cut up, grape pieces, apple pieces, Rice Rusks and pretty much anything else I could cut up small and take along.

Meals: I packed a meal in her little thermos because the flight was so long. This thermos later became SUPER useful at the hotel. I always have a ziploc bag along with a spoon, plastic bib and cloth wipe which makes searching for items in the diaper bag so much easier.

Nap time: Toddlers are tough to get to nap in an airplane seat because they are so much bigger than a baby and it's hard to get a comfortable position for them. They need to feel secure like they aren't going to fall. I brought my K'tan wrap and side 'carried' her so her head was against my chest and she felt secure with the wrap holding her in place. Both flights she slept for an hour with a dark coat over her. 

It was pretty funny, her favourite toy on the way back ended up being the Ranch Dressing container and the bag of celery we purchased on the flight - 3 hours of entertainment!

Sleeping:

Pack 'n Play: I learned from our first hotel trip with her that Hannah does not sleep in hotel cribs. So before going I had her nap in her pack 'n play to get used to this 'new' bed. We brought it along and when we got to the hotel she was used to sleeping in it already, so it wasn't a problem.

Washroom: We requested a room with a wheelchair-sized bathroom, which they had available. This bathroom was awesome!  We set up the pack 'n play in the shower area and when we closed the door it was pitch black in there.  Hannah had all of her naps and night sleeps in there.  She slept better than she does here at home!

I had brought garbage bags just in case we had to cover any windows, but we were in luck the room was pitch black with the door closed.

Dining

Booster Chair: We had been to this resort before, and we knew that we end up eating at restaurants around the hotel, rather than in the resort.  One of our favourite spots is a place that has picnic tables, no high chairs. I had been thinking about this a lot, and found this AMAZING little folding booster off Kijiji. It's called a Smarty rise chair by Cam. This thing is seriously amazing - it's so small and easy to carry/pack. It fit under our stroller. So many people commented on it when I pulled it out for her dinners.

We used it everywhere! Every breakfast we had in the hotel room - oatmeal on the balcony with Byron and I in the Muskoka chairs and Hannah in her CAM.

Food: I'm still watching what Hannah eats, and she is a big eater, so I wanted to make sure that I had food just in case she couldn't eat what we ordered.  This is where Baby Gourmet came in so handy - they make 3 delicious meals in pouches that are free of crazy preservatives and everything is organic. I brought enough along for lunches and dinners.

Before we went out, I would put the pouch in the thermos, add hot water from the kettle in our room, and close the thermos ready to eat when we got to the restaurant.  It worked like a charm! Warm soups for every meal and then she would snack on whatever we ordered.

For breakfast we had instant oatmeal in the room with a Baby Gourmet fruit pouch with yogurt mixed in. We bought a bunch of fruit for snacks too. So she ate like a queen!

Those were the main tips I wanted to share. Other oddball tips include:

Sun shirts are your best friend - she had one instead of a bathing suit. So much easier to keep the sun off of her. As is a big rimmed hat.

Sunscreen: I will say it again and again Banana Boat Baby Natural sunscreen, or any Banana Boat sunscreen is better than anything else out there. (Yes -  Coppertone stinks for actually keeping the sun off your little one!)

Zip Loc bags: Pack a bunch, it's easier to keep all your stuff together in a bag instead of having to search for items.

Thermos bag: I have a little foldable thermos bag that I always use when we have to eat out, even here at home. A bag of Cheerios, rice crackers and the zip loc with her spoon, bib and wash cloth live in that bag - I just have to add her meal and her bottles.

Swim diapers: two reusable were all we needed, they dried pretty fast.

We had an awesome time as a family on this holiday. It was so stress-free when you plan ahead of time. I hope these tips will help you on your next trip!

Bon Voyage!

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Eek! Toddler Transitioning to One Nap a Day!

So I'm pretty sure my 15.5 month old daughter is transitioning to one nap from her two.  I'm TOTALLY not ready for it - especially in the winter being more in the house than in the other months!

Over the last two weeks I've been noticing my early riser is getting up later and later - anywhere now between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Since she goes to bed between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. these are pretty awesome night sleeps. We're all enjoying them!

After being awake for about two hours she's cranky, rubbing her eyes and generally pooped. She's ready for a nap!

As was customary in our previous nap schedule, I would try to put her down again for her afternoon nap anywhere from 2.5 - 3 hours after her morning nap, but over the last two weeks I'm coming to accept that this is a waste of time.

The afternoon nap has become cry-fest 2014! Nothing soothes her or puts her to sleep. Even if she does quiet down, it's for at most 10 minutes and then she's beside herself again crying to get up.

So now we have a toddler that is trying to stay awake from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The result is one cranky little girl by 3 p.m. With no will or want to nap.

Ok - that's my rant. 

Searching every sleep website and book I have I've found out the following insightful things:

1) Apparently it's common for 15-18 month olds to drop down to one nap. This is the age when they typically give up one nap.

2) If your baby drops afternoon nap and not morning nap try slowly pushing morning nap by 20-30 min. until it lands in that magical 12:30 - 1 p.m. window of perfect afternoon nap time.

3) Accept it Mom, baby is down to one nap. The good thing is that you can get 'more done' without being strapped to a morning and afternoon nap schedule. Running two errands instead of one in the morning is now an option!

4) Often times this afternoon nap becomes (apparently) a 2-3 hour nap so you still have some time to catch up in the house and have some alone time.

We are in a serious time of transition - naps are chaos right now.  I'm hoping we can get back onto a schedule in the next few weeks for all our sakes.

I'm finding it super hard to switch from the amazing sleep / nap schedule we had going for us to this 'everyday is cuckoo' schedule. It's draining. 

Do you have any advice on how to push through this two to one nap challenge?

(Photo Courtesy of The Parent Report.com)

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Fall Cabbage Roll Soup to Warm Your Insides

Yesterday was a GORGEOUS day!  We spent so much time outside, it was wonderful!  And then we're back to fall today.  So I decided to get a super delicious soup going in the slow cooker. 

I am cabbage roll crazy! When Toronto has the Ukrainian and Polish festival weekend I don't even want to tell you how many cabbage rolls I consume!!!  This soup tastes like a deconstructed roll - it's so scrumptious!

Fall Cabbage Roll Soup (Slow Cooker)

1) In skillet, add onion, garlic, worcestershire sauce, paprika, ground beef and salt. Cook until beef is browned.

2) In slow cooker, add cabbage, oregano, basil, tomato sauce, diced tomato, water and ground beef mix. Stir to combine

3) Cook low 8-10 hours.

4) In the last 30 min. Cook rice on stove and add to the slow cooker mix

I've added the rice early when I'm lazy - it just means it will somewhat disintegrate. So if you'd like the rice to stay whole then follow the recipe.  I also find that it becomes quite a thick soup, so I add some water to it before I serve it up.

I love this recipe - it's slowly becoming a staple in our house. I hope it warms your home as well!

(Recipe courtesy of www.simplystacie.net)

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November Baby Time Show...the Scoop

I just got back from my fourth Baby Time Show, and I have to tell you, I never get enough of this show. It changes every time, and I learn something new.

This show featured a lot of the staple vendor booths - I mean what would the Baby Time Show be without Uppa Baby, Snuggle Bugz, and Babies R Us?! But there were also a lot of new booths that were pretty awesome to see!

This is the first time I've seen Baby Gourmet, 100% organic food. They were handing out sample squeezie packs of their super popular Juicy Pear and Garden Green pouches to all who stopped by. They also have regular meal packs that I'll have to check out. A great Canadian company with non-GMO ingredients and certified organic! (www.babygourmet.com)

Big hit for my 14 month old were the Lego/Duplo booth - she spent a long time there visiting the different fun tables and buckets of lego they had. I learned there are some pretty cool shapes I'd never seen before.

She's still not a fan though of the life-sized characters - maybe next time. :)

I learned that the Diono Radian car seat is super thin and you can fit three of them all in your back seat. There goes my excuse "We can't fit 3 car seats in the back seat"! Because you can if you buy the right one! Also the seat totally folds up so it makes it super easy for travel in planes. I wish I had known this before I bought the seat we are currently using...*le sigh*

Number 1 thing I wanted to find out - What is the deal with the 2015 Baby Jogger City Select?!  What's new?  The answer is......Nothing!  Yup nothing new with the 2015, not even new colours.  So no need to wait around - may as well take advantage of the bunch of deals happening now for the 2014.

Another fantastic show - so much to see, so much to learn. So many new vendors and great inventions to help make raising your baby a bit easier.  Well worth it!

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Recipe: Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup - eases the stomach bug

It started with our little one getting sick - our first vomit moment as parents! Poor thing. We knew something was up when our usual 'eat anything I can get my hands on girl' was spitting out her lunch. Then came the explanation. She was amazing though - apart from the eating and being sick she was her normal little cheery self.

And then it hit me...24 hours of pure stomach bug took me out. My hubby had to go to work, so I was trying my hardest to 'buck it up' and be a mom. But it was a pretty low-key day for Hannah and I. Lots of book reading and sitting. Just as I was feeling better...

Hubby gets hit. He attempts to go to work only to turn around and come home a few minutes later. Another 24 hours of pure stomach bug.

It's at these moments that you have to pull out some sort of inner strength that you didn't know that you had to be a parent and a caregiver. I'm amazed at what you are able to do. By hook and by crook you make it through!

I wanted to share the first 'real' meal since our saltine diet - this recipe has been a lifesaver on many occasions - I hope you'll find it helpful too!

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

1 Tbsp Butter

1/2 Cup Chopped Onions

1/2 Cup Chopped Celery

10-11 Cup Broth (Chicken or Vegetable)

1 1/2 Cup Egg Noodles

1 Cup Sliced Carrots

1/2 Tsp Dried Oregano

1/2 Tsp Dried Basil

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/2 lb Cooked Chicken Breast

In a large pot, melt butter on medium heat

Cook Celery and Onions for 5 min. or until tender

Add Broth

Stir in Chicken, Noodles, Carrots, Basil, Oregano, Salt and Pepper

Bring to a boil

Simmer for 20 min.

Ready to serve!

So easy and very delicious. I sometimes go a bit overboard with the egg noodles because I love having a noodle'y soup.

I hope this gives you and yours the comfort it has given us!

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DIY: Drool Guard for Ergo 360

My little drooler was making quite her mark on our new Ergo 360 carrier when facing outwards. It's a bit of a bummer that Ergo had decided to make the portion near the babies mouth beige because it gets dirty and stained pretty quickly. (Note issue below)

So I decided to make a drool guard for when she is facing outwards (along with the drool pads for the shoulder straps). Now I am not at all an expert seamstress - so if I can do it, I think you'd be able to do it too. 

Here is the finished product. Next I'll show the steps on how I made it.

Pattern: The hardest part of this whole project was creating the pattern. I had a few ideas of how I could make the drool guard but decided on a pattern that folded around the upper/front part of the Ergo and had two longer straps that would velcro to the back.  (For creating my own patterns I find that mactac - or shelf cover (sticky stuff left on), from the dollar store works really well since it bends and moves, but is strong enough to cut and keep it's shape.)

The pattern looked like this:

Fabric:

There were two different types of fabric that I needed. First I bought 1/2 a yard of quilted mattress cover fabric. This is plastic on one side and has quilted cotton on the other side. The quilted cotton added a nice 'poof' to the project, while the plastic keeps the drool from going any further than the drool catcher.

I chose cute fabric next - it doesn't have to be flannel, but I just thought the flannel was nice and soft since this would be against baby's face. About 1/2 a yard of this as well.

When cutting the fabric place your pattern on the fabric and cut one quilted cotton and two fabric pieces. So that you have three pieces in total.

Sewing:

Placing the fabric correctly before sewing is SO important. I have spent a lot of time undoing stitches, so please learn from me! 

Put the patterned sides of the fabric against each other - so that pattern is against pattern. Then take your quilted cotton and put it on either side. The most important part is that the patterned sides of the fabric are facing each other so that when you flip them inside out, they are both on the outside.

Next sew the pieces together, leaving a small section open. This section should be big enough so that you are able to flip the entire project inside out.

Once the project is inside out, I decided to top stitch around entire liner just to give it a finished look and also to sew closed that hole I had left for flipping the project inside out.

Velcro:

At this point - pat yourself on the back! You have one step left! Adding the velcro is super easy.

Just place the drool cover over your Ergo 360 and put the straps together like it will be when the velcro is attached.

I took a pencil and made a mark in the fabric just to identify where the long strap ends. This way I knew where to add the velcro.

Pin your velcro down onto the straps and sew it securely onto the fabric.

Your velcro should end up with the hook on one side and the latch on the other so that it can be attached together.

And just like that - you have a drool catcher for your Ergo 360!

Just for kicks I also made drool guards for the straps. These are SO easy I won't go into major detail.

Make a rectangular piece of fabric - using the same system you did with the drool guard. Fold it around the strap of the Ergo to figure out where the velcro should go and sew the velcro on!

Voila - designer drool guards and your Ergo 360 saver!

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Apples...Apples...Apples!

We're in the heart of apple season - and this family doesn't have to trek out to the orchard. The orchard is our front yard...and by orchard I mean one very fruitful tree!

We were so excited when we purchased our house two years ago - it had a 30+ ft. apple tree right in the front yard.  30 FEET!  The thing towers over our house! It's massive! And we LOVE it!

The fruit has just ripened and we have apples galore this year!  This weekend we all rolled up our sleeves and got our 'apple on!'. My hubby picked over 300 apples. We put a bunch in bags and dropped them at neighbour's houses - share the wealth! And we still had tons to play with.

Hubby got juicer going and juiced a bunch. I made a huge batch of apple sauce and some apple crisp. Saturday we had a full on assembly line and turned out nine apple pies - homemade crust and all!  The freezer is packed!

Hannah helped us by choosing her favourite apples and finding the bruised ones...or rather bruising some to be baked. (We had an ongoing lesson of 'gentle' this weekend!) She also discovered that these buckets of beautiful red balls were edible. I kept thinking we had a bunch of apples with squirrel bites in them...when actually they were Hannah nibbles!  Food finally at her level in the house!  She's loving it!

With the fridge and freezer filled - we'll be calling Not far from the Tree, a non-profit that comes to pick the apples and donates the apples to a shelter or home in the area, to come and get the rest!

I love apple season!  It's like the segue to the fall! 

Hope you're enjoy the fruit of the season too!

Happy Apple'ing!

[momsicleca-blog]

First Traumatic Mothering Experience

I'm sure there will be a lot of traumatic experiences being a mom. Kids fall, get hit, scratch things, break things, etc. But I don't think you're ever quite prepared for the first time an accident happens. 

Mine happened yesterday in the park with my little one and I'm still trying to get the images out of my head.

We arrived at the park and left the stroller in our usual spot. I reached into the basket for Hannah's favourite shovel, started to unbuckle her from the stroller and pull her out when all of a sudden a huge bee - guys I'm talking HUGE with a shiny black bum - started to come around us.  I swatted at it, annoyed to be swarmed as we arrived. But the stupid thing didn't let up. Suddenly it was going for Hannah.

Here is when I started to freak.

I see this black thing going for her face, and not just her face - her eye!  I'm holding her in one arm and swatting as best I can with my left hand over and over again at my poor little pumpkin's face, trying to get the bee away from her eye.  It didn't even phase the bee!

The thing landed on her eye - she was screaming, I was shrieking and swatting and swatting to get it off. I would say after about 5 swats it finally let go!

Poor girl was crying and crying - probably wondering why is my mom hitting me in the head?! I'm shaking and shaking and trying to calm her.

There was a dad sitting on the bench nearby and I said to him "Did you see that?". He looked at me like I was some kind of wacko and said no. I said "A bee just attacked my daughter's face - I can't believe it, right in her eye!". He then proceeded to look at the ground, presumably for the body of said bee.

I sat on a bench with my little peanut and calmed her down, which actually only took a minute or two. A much shorter time than it took me. I was still shaking and biting back tears of shock.

Not wanting to make a big deal about it I took her to the sandbox and sat her down to play.  She was her usual self, smacking the sand and watching the other children.

About five minutes after playing in the sandbox, the dad from the bench comes over to talk to his daughter and he points out that the bee really did sting my girl under the eye and it was swelling.  Since she was facing away from me I couldn't see it. I took a look at her eye and sure enough, swelling. Another mother in the sandbox commented on how brave she was for not even crying.

Friends - this is when I lost it.  Yup - my tears started flowing. Shock. Pure shock at what had happened and seeing my little one hurt by a terrible stupid bee in the park.  Not to mention the worry of 'is she allergic? Is the stinger still in there? What should I do?'.

I took Hannah out of the sandbox, threw on my sunglasses and headed home to put some ice on it. Thank the good Lord she isn't allergic and only had a mild swelling reaction. By the time I got home the swelling was already down. And by this morning she was back to normal.

I'll be honest I had visions of that stupid bee at her eye a lot last night. What a crazy experience. Awful. I know there will probably be a lot more to come when you have children, but I think for some reason the first one, though expected, will still shock the socks off of you.  It sure shocked the socks off of me.

What this bee, and other bees, wasps etc. don't know now is that this means war! My 'mother-bird' protectiveness is in full swing now! Watch out!

[momsicleca-blog]

Figuring out Weaning from Breastfeeding

It's hard to believe that we're rounding one year for my LO already!  Seriously, everyone says it, but TIME FLIES! 

One year for me also means trying to wean the little peanut off of breastfeeding. As I mentioned in my earlier breastfeeding post - it was my goal to get to one year and I'm very excited that, despite a bumpy road there for a bit, we did it!  But now the weaning begins.

I have to be honest, I have done a bit of research online and in my many baby books on how to wean and haven't really found any concrete ways of 'how to wean'. I have found a million suggestions like 'do it gradually' but for the most part I've been kinda just using my noggin to figure it out.  Here are some things that seem to have worked for us.

Feeding Times

Organically we seemed to have had between 4-5 feedings a day at 10 months. Five feedings would be if she woke up in the middle of the night, but for the most part she would feed after every sleep and before bed.

Knocking this down to three feedings I found getting rid of the morning feeding after nap was the easiest. Since there is a shorter period of time between breakfast and lunch. She didn't even really miss this one and I didn't have to do any snack replacements.

Afternoon Feeding

This was the toughest to date. I decided to give two weeks of transition period between removing a feeding. So two weeks after removing the morning feeding I removed the afternoon feeding. We are down to two a day - morning and bedtime. (Even if she wakes up in the middle of the night I considered this morning feed).

This was a tough one for us and took two weeks of getting used to. What I mean by 'getting used to' is after her afternoon nap she was really cranky. I replaced the breastfeeding session with a high fat snack of goat's milk yogurt, fruit, cheese, cereal, etc. I also tried to distract by getting her out of the house and hitting up the park.

At about day 12 I was about to give in and just give her a feeding again figuring I would try again later. However at day 13 she seemed to be her normal self after her afternoon nap. With the snack she didn't seem to miss the feeding as much. I'm so glad that I held off. It was a tough one - we still snuggle and read a few books at that time so she gets her cuddles.

Morning Feeding

This is the most recent removal - recent as in we are on day two!  And so far so good!  She gets up with my husband and he makes her breakfast and plays with her and by the time I get up she doesn't even seem to ask or need this feeding. I'm pretty excited at how 'easily' this feeding has been removed. (I'm knocking on wood while I type this.)

Bedtime Feeding

This is the last one to go for us. I'm planning on trying to remove it in another two weeks. In the meantime, I've been mixing up the 'regular' bedtime routine quite a bit. I've added a bath and a book reading before putting her down with a song. I've also mixed up when the breastfeeding time is. Sometimes it's before bath, sometimes it's after. As we near the time when I will completely remove this feeding I'm hoping to feed her in the living room (not like in her bedroom as before), then head for bath. Making the new bedtime routine bath, book and bed.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Replacement?

One of my worries - and probably the worries of many moms is "Is my baby getting enough nutrients with less breastfeeding?" You might feel that you need to replace with formula or cow's milk (not recommended before a year - research questions whether it's the best option for calcium in general). Actually a lot of research that I found shows that if you are giving your child a balanced diet with fat and calcium (there are SO MANY sources other than milk - spinach is an awesome one!) your little one will be getting enough. We also added Omega 3 (fat) to our little ones diet in the form of a teaspoon in her oatmeal in the morning.

Actually one book I read couldn't understand why parents give a bottle before bed and then hope their child doesn't wet the bed! True right?!

This system seems to have worked well for me as well. My body is handling the removal of feedings quite well. It's hard to believe we're already at this stage. I hope this helps if you are in the process of weaning or gives you some tips that you might be able to implement. 

Happy weaning!

[momsicleca-blog]

The No. 1 Mat. Leave Question is...

"When are you returning to work?"

If you're currently on maternity leave and you haven't been asked this question at least two dozen times then I don't know where you have been hiding!  I think it has to be the number one question that everyone tends to ask a mat. leave mom. (Wonder if parental leave dads get this Q as often?)

For a while I would cringe thinking about my time with my little girl coming to an end and needing to fight the crowds as we cattle car into the subway and downtown to the 9-5 p.m. concrete jungle of over-air conditioned glass buildings and the buzzing overhead lights...or rather the white noise they pipe into the atmosphere to calm our frazzled nerves.

When asked I would reply "Not until August" - that usually ended the conversation, though some people would inquire further into whether I had her signed up for daycare already - since "the lists are super long". And I would hear stories about how they signed up their little one before it was even conceived and just made it in the day before they started back to work.

So here we are sitting in July, my child is starting to really look like she is almost a year old, and the question is coming at me on a daily basis.

I have a new answer though now..."I'm not going back!"

This is usually followed by raised eyebrows. Silence. A quick scramble to find the right thing to say...and the follow-up: "Well, good for you! These are the special times with your little one and if you can afford to do it, then you're lucky!"

I am lucky!  I know I'm VERY lucky!  My husband and I looked at our finances and our life choices over the next while. I looked at my career and if I was ok to leave it behind for a while, while I take on this new challenge of being a stay-at-home mom. And all the answers were - we can make this work!

Before I had my little girl I thought that leaving work at my age and being a stay-at-home mom would be out of the question. At the age of 35, I have worked hard to get where I am in business. I've continued taking courses on the side so I could continue to improve myself and continue to grow my area of expertise and my career.

I'm putting my career on hold at a level that I'm proud of. I've learned a lot. I've been challenged in many of my jobs. I've learned skills that can be applicable in many different areas. I've made wonderful connections, and hopefully, maybe in the future when I decide to go off hold, these people will remember me and I will be able to find another great job to challenge me.

For now I'm taking on another challenge - one that takes a lot of learning on the job. One that has hard days/nights and many rewarding days. I'm so excited to be able to spend everyday with my little girl helping her to grow and be the wonderful person that God wants her to be in this world. It's such a blessing!

As I'm sure I will continue to be asked on a regular basis, when I'm returning to work, I think the most important thing for me is to know that I am completely secure in my choice. I'm excited to a full-time stay-at-home mom! I also think society is (slowly) starting to recognize it might not be the easier choice. Each option has it's pro's and con's that's for sure!

Now what to do with all these business outfits and shoes...

[momsicleca-blog]

Tips: Declutter your Baby Items

Before we had our little one my husband and I were determined to be minimalists in terms of baby stuff in our house. This went out the door very quickly! Most of you are probably in the same boat - baby takes over your living space!

Over the past 10 months I have learned a few things that have helped me to keep our baby items in check a bit more in our living space.

Clothing:

Now I have to give full credit to a girlfriend of mine that shared this amazing tip with me. After having several baby showers I had SO much clothing ranging in sizes from newborn to 2 years old. I needed a system to help me organize them all.

I ran out to our local dollar store and bought a whack of those large ziploc type storage bags and sorted the clothing by sizes - filling the bags, labeling them by size and storing them in a large plastic bin.  In another plastic bin, I put toys that were too old for her or that she would be able to play with at a later time.

When baby has outgrown her clothing, I wash them, and stuff them back into a ziploc bag, label the size on the outside. Stuff the bags into an old diaper box, label the box and put it in storage. I then go to my plastic bin of ziploc clothing bags and find the next size, wash and refill her wardrobe.

From time to time I also dive into the plastic bin of toys and pull out another toy that is age appropriate to add to her toy box. I also remove toys from her toy box that are too 'babyish' for her, wash them, ziploc them and put them into the same diaper box as the outgrown clothing.

Toys:

I'm a strong believer in toy rotation. My mother loved doing this for us when we were little. I can remember an Owl Clock that I would play with for hours...get bored of, it would disappear. Then a month or two later it would reappear and I would play with it again for hours.

Not only does this theory keep your little one interested in toys that she might have gotten 'bored of' but I think it also keeps the amount of toys in your house to a minimum.

I keep her toys in a box out of her direct sight-line, and also her books. I will pull about 5 toys out at a time and leave them on the carpet for her to play with. She'll get these toys for 3-4 days before I put them all back and give her 5 new toys. It is pretty funny to watch how excited she is when the 'new' toys come out. Even a toy, that I think she's played with for hours before seems like a brand new treat when it hasn't been in her sights for a few days.

Big Baby Item Rotation:

Again - full credit to a friend on this one. Big baby items like exersaucers, bassinets, bumbo seats, bouncy chairs can take up A LOT of space in your house. And most of them have a very short life cycle in terms of how long baby uses them. I've been lucky that I have a few friends and relatives that have either had a baby before me or a few months after me.

We have decided that we are not each going to buy an exersaucer, bassinet, etc. Instead, one person who buys it will pass it on - in that case, no one has to store it. AND if you decide to have another baby it just makes its way back to you!

If you're worried about wear and tear on your items this might not be for you. In my experience, however - and I'm talking about in some cases the items I've received have come through 3 kids before I got them - these items are used for such a short period of time that it's hard to really 'wear and tear' them. I think a lot of the damage comes from the item sitting, getting dusty, being stored incorrectly, or not being used for its original intention.

I love this idea - because I know that my baby items are being used by those I love around me and not just sitting in our storage. I also love getting fun new toys from friends and family that my little one gets to play with. Telling her this was 'so and so's' exersaucer - makes the toy all the more special.

Hopefully you find these tips helpful in trying to keep your baby stuff from taking over your house!

Good luck!

(*Photo Courtesy of momsinmaine.com)

[momsicleca-blog]

DIY: Baby Food - Oatmeal

I have become an obsessive label reader! If there is anything in the baby food that isn't natural, I won't buy it.

I was upset to see all of the baby cereal's, including the organic ones, all had preservatives of some sort in them. So I decided to look into making my own. And BOY was it EASY!

Making your own baby oatmeal is so easy, it honestly feels like a crime to buy it!

Here's how:

My local store bulk store sells them. It doesn't matter what cut of oat, just buy the organic ones.

Step Two: Blend the Oats

I tossed a bunch into my Magic Bullet and made them into a powder. I actually blended them all so I won't have to do it again.

Step Three: Boil 1/2 Water

For a serving size (9 month old), boil a 1/2 cup of water in a pot on the stove. This takes about 5 min.

Step Four: Add Oats

Measure out 1/4 cup of the ground oats and add it to the water. Stir, stir, stir. To get the chunks out and to cook the oats.

Step Five: Remove from Heat

The oats will be cooked in almost 30 seconds, or when the water has all been soaked up because they are so fine.

Put the oats in your serving dish.

Step Six: Add your Favourite Puree

The oats will probably be a bit too dry. I like to add in a fruit puree and some hot water to moisten it up.

Et Voila - under 10 min. organic oats for baby!

Enjoy!

[momsicleca-blog]

DIY: Stroller Seat Liner

I've been looking into getting a stroller seat liner for our Baby Jogger City Mini GT.

After a playtime in the local sandbox, getting back into the black stroller is usually a dusty dirty mess. The stroller cover isn't that easy to take out and wash, so I figured a liner will solve the dirt problem and lengthen the life of my stroller.

Local baby stores don't seem to sell them. When I did find them, they were about $40 or more dollars. A price I couldn't justify.

So I decided to do it myself! And I discovered, it's really not that hard at all! If you have minimal sewing ability - you can make it too!

Here's how I made my stroller seat liner.

Items to purchase:

I purchased two different types of material - cotton with fun patterns and some quilting cotton from my local textile store. I only needed a half a yard of each. ($15 - I got a lot more quilting cotton than I needed, so I can definitely make another liner!)

Then I went to the local dollar store and I purchased sticky shelf lining. The shelf lining, I found, was the perfect material to make my pattern. It was easy to cut, strong and durable. ($2)

Step One: Making your Pattern

This is the toughest part of the entire project - so take your time and measure, measure, measure!

I lay the shelving paper into the stroller and lightly outlined where all the holes would need to be in my liner.

Removing the pattern, I measured and cut the holes with an exacto knife. Once the holes were cut, I placed the pattern back into the stroller to make sure that my measurement worked.

I made it a simple rectangle and it actually worked really well!

Step 2: Cutting your Material

Once the pattern is set, next comes measuring and cutting your material and your quilting cotton.

Step 3: Sew your pieces together

I, initially put the entire pattern onto my material - drawing out lines etc. But I wouldn't do that again. First I would sew the pieces together.

Place the material face to face (ie. bright colour sides against one another), and then the third piece will be the cotton quilting material.

Step 4: Sew Material Together

Using a sewing machine, sew your pieces together, making sure to leave an opening large enough to be able to turn the material inside out.

Step 5: Trim the Corners and Flip the Material

Before you flip the material right side out, take a minute and trim the corners. This will help the material from bunching too much in each corner.

Once trimmed, then flip!

Step 6: Top Stitch

Top stitch around the entire seat liner including the opening.

Step 7: Cutting the Holes

This part is a bit tricky. You need to place your pattern onto the material and transfer where the holes are onto the material.

I used pins at the end of each hole and then pushed them through the pattern so that they were sticking out of the material.  I'll be honest. It took a bit of measuring, rulers and redrawing with chalk to make sure that I had all the holes in the right spot.

The good news is that this pattern and the liner are pretty forgiving. It doesn't have to be 'completely' correct. You do have a bit of wiggle room.

Step 8: Cutting the Holes

Ok - this was completely out of my comfort zone, and probably the only 'real' sewing that could be required - making button holes!!!

I tried my best at this - there was a bit of stitch ripping going on, but again, the pattern is pretty forgiving, so even if all the holes weren't completely the same size, it still works as a lining. 

Sew button holes around the line that you made. Then use a knife or scissor and cut a hole in the centre. (They aren't that pretty - but what can you do!)

Step 9: Put your Liner in your Stroller!

Et voila! You've made a stroller liner - easy to insert, remove and wash! Congrats!

Guys - if I can do you, YOU can do this!  Best of luck!

Many thanks to this website: http://whileshesleeping.blogspot.ca/2013/06/pram-liner-and-tutorial.html for the inspiration and the help!

[momsicleca-blog]

She May Just Surprise You...

We recently returned from a trip to Winnipeg to visit my husband's family. If you've been following my blog you are aware that our last holiday didn't fare so well with LO at night. So I was a bit nervous as we headed into this one.

Along with the night nervousness, I also was nervous about how she would do with all the new faces and places she'd be visiting See, recently she started 'making strange'. For example: Waiting in line at the grocery store when the sweet old woman in front of us turns around and smile at her, perhaps play a little peek-a-boo and, in return, receives a high-pitched scream and a fountain of tears. Yup, that 'making strange' phase.

When asked about my upcoming trip by my Toronto friends and family, I mentioned my nervousness about the nights and the 'making strange', and I would hear the same comment:

'She may just surprise you...' 

And surprise me she did!

My little screecher, became a squealer, giggler, wiggler, dancer in a new room filled with new faces. She would bop around, smile as she was passed from person to person. She learned a new (high-pitched) squeal that she shared with all who looked at her (especially in restaurants). She played with faces, with necklaces, mustaches and shoelaces of all who would let her.

In all honesty, it took me a few minutes to realize that this was my tentative, sensitive, little munchkin laying on the charm to anyone and everyone.

She did have a few moments of uncertainty with the dogs. She has never been around a four-legged animal except from the comfort of her stroller. So, when the wet kisses, the sniffs in her hair and the general curiousity from the border collie, boston terrier and yorkie came her way, she was a bit put off. But that soon passed and before you know it, she was rolling towards them for more...or egging them on...as I like to think.

The unpredictability with a baby amazes me. All the worry and scenarios I had played in my head prior to our trip were all a waste of time and stress. She continues to surprise me.

Hopefully I can take this experience away and just live one day at a time. Not worrying about what 'may' happen. I hope this resonates with you too!

Happy Holidaying!

[momsicleca-blog]

From Roncesvalles to Leslieville, this town is crawling with tykes. How the hell is Toronto going to find room for them all?

Great article about raising the next generation in the city! Enjoy!