Mama Read It At: Today’s Parent
Posted by: Monika Rola on: March 13, 2010
Today’s Parent has a great “how to” article on figuring out your ovulation cycle and optimal time to try to get pregnant.
Good to keep in your back pocket for when you’re ready to try for baby number one, two, three, or…well by three you’ve probably got things down and need no help. 
Read it here: When Am I Ovulating?
Yer Baby’s So Fresh!
Posted by: Monika Rola on: March 12, 2010
It kind of feels like Spring this week. The weather people keep saying not to get too excited, but after months and months of cold and dark and icky weather, this mama is grabbing on to this “false Spring” feeling.
Because, among other marvelous things, Spring brings new Spring clothes!
On a recent excursion to grocery shop I got seriously sidetracked by the Joe Fresh kid collection. Today the Peanut is sporting a super cute floral print short sleeve zip-up hoodie that I just couldn’t say no to.
But this is not the first time I’ve said yes to Joe Fresh. In fact, a quick review of the Peanut’s closet reveals that a big part of her wardrobe is courtesy of Joseph Mimran and company. I love that Joe Fresh kid clothes are not fussy. Well designed but obviously focused on being worn by kids who do all the regular kid things like sit in mud puddles.
With prices reasonable enough to be justifiable even in the face of monthly growth spurts, and designs scoring on the very high end of super cute, how can a mama say no to Joe?
Check Joe out at your local Real Canadian Superstore, Atlantic Superstore or Loblaw stores. For Joe Fresh updates check out Facebook.
Misery, Thy Name is Daycare Germs.
Posted by: Monika Rola on: March 10, 2010
The Peanut begun her daycare adventures a couple months ago, with generally great results. She’s finally getting a much desired dose of other-kid-interaction, she’s picking up new skills and seems all around happy to be there.
However, as every other mama I know warned me, she has also plugged into the daycare kiddie-germ factory. She seems to bring a cold, flu, stomach bug or other lovely treats, home almost weekly. I know that every kid has to go through this phase at some point. If they are not exposed to germs in daycare they will likely go through misery when kindergarten starts, so I’m resigned to letting this run its natural course.
Except. Nobody told me that when she gets sick, so will I, and so will dada. What da??? We’re grown people with grown immunity systems that I thought could kick puny baby germs in their germy behinds. Nope! Instead, the baby germs are doing the fandango on our apparently decrepit immunity systems and we’re crying all the way to the doctor’s office.
So here I sit, with my second bout of bronchitis in a month, and that’s after two colds and a flu. I’ve invested in a humidifier, hand sanitizer, vitamins and a stash of herbal teas.
Word to the wise–before you send your kid to daycare prepare your body for the germ onslaught. You know those little viral nasties are just waiting to get the “old folks.”
Story Time Mama: Me Hungry!
Posted by: Monika Rola on: March 9, 2010
This board book, by Jeremy Tankard, is one of our favourite recent purchases. It’s a very cute story about a Stone Age boy whose parents are too busy to take notice that he needs a snack.
He takes matters into his hands and tries to hunt down a meal. As expected, all kinds of silliness ensues until it all ends with a new friendship between a very small boy and a very big mammoth.
The Peanut loves the story because its minimal and simple language leaves lots of opportunity for description and acting out of the goings on–which is a great way to blow off some energy before bed time. I like the story because the final zinger (which I won’t spoil for you) is really aimed at parents who may from time to time forget that little people are people who should be listened to.
Find it at your local book store or online at chapters.indigo.ca or amazon.ca
Rock ‘n Stroller
Posted by: Monika Rola on: March 2, 2010
In the process of figuring out the parent/baby gear must haves, from the “everyone else has one but so what” haves, many mamas -to-be struggle to figure out just how much they should spend on a stroller/pram/buggy.
Here are my two cents on the subject: Even a smart and thrifty mama is allowed a couple bigger purchases and a stroller is a very justifiable “splurge” considering that it will become a major part of your life.
I don’t have a favourite brand to recommend, but here are pointers that helped me chose:
- Your baby will spend a lot of time in the stroller so choose quality.
- Before making a purchasing decision think about how many children you will aim for and how closely together. It may be worth it to buy a stroller that can expand to a double stroller.
- Rubber tires>plastic tires. At one time or another you’ll have to face the fury of Canadian winter and tiny plastic wheelies just won’t cut it. The tires should be rubber (like bicycles) and the front wheels should swivel independently of each other–this makes steering through slush, snow and icy muck much easier.
- Weight matters–you will be lifting that sucker regularly. And your tiny 8lb bundle will double that weight in a few months. And you’ll be schlepping a heavy diaper bag or food. Believe, you’ll be happy you got a light stroller.
- Can the seat change directions? A recent study points to the possibility that facing a parent in the stroller makes a baby more relaxed and interactive. Besides that possibility, the sun has a tendency to get into little eyes, so it’s great to be able to turn the seat around if you need to.
- If there is a significant height difference between adults using the stroller then adjustable height handlebars are wonderful to have around.
The great news is these features are not just available in super pricey stroller models. Totally reasonably priced strollers are incorporating many of these into their designs. Here are a few good places to start your search:
www.sweetmama.ca
www.toysrus.ca (check out the parent reviews)
Story Time Mama: The Going to Bed Book
Posted by: Monika Rola on: February 9, 2010
Bed-time at our house would not be the same without Sandra Boynton. In just over a year we’ve amassed quite the collection of her deliciously silly books, and we turn to them quite often when it’s time for our nightly story time.
The Going to Bed Book is my favourite of the bunch because its simple rhymes outline a bed time routine that we follow pretty closely with the little Peanut. Minus the exercise, the Peanut has just learned to walk!
The story focuses on a boat filled with different little animals who get ready to go to bed, going through the routine of taking a bath, picking out pajamas, brushing teeth and finally saying goodnight. It ends with the little bunch being rocked, and rocked and rocked to sleep–which is typically when the Peanut gets in for a close cuddle and some rocking of her own.
Finding at your local bookstore or online at chapters.indigo.ca or amazon.ca
Holiday Grandma Mayhem
Posted by: Monika Rola on: December 30, 2009
Baby’s first Christmas.
Thank gawd we survived it.
A funny thing happened this year. Having no real outlet for Christmas-themed mayhem, my mother seized on the Peanut and it being her fist Christmas and rode that horse all the way to crazy town. Literally.
My mother bought the Peanut a rocking horse with supposedly realistic sounds—realistic maybe for one of the horses of the apocalypse. The neighing and clippity-clopping was closer to monster sound effects from a b-movie. The Peanut screamed her head off when she was forcibly placed on the horse by grandma, and would not go near the horse again. She did happily play with wrapping paper, boxes and gift bags.
This gave me the opportunity to gently deliver the message that being not even one, baby doesn’t particularly care about the holidays and that simple, wooden or stuffed toys are a much better choice for her than overpriced animatronics. Also, one or two gifts are better than a million.
We nearly had to wrestle her to the ground to get her over the idea of having Peanut take photos with a store Santa. Somehow the rational explanation that the Peanut, being not even one, has no concept of Santa and will be scared of the strange bearded man, didn’t work. I don’t even want to say what happened when we announced we’re not even sure we’ll let the Peanut think there’s a Santa at all.
It’s tough to reign in grandma, really, really tough. Most of the time it comes down to “do I really care to fight this battle?” I’m hoping this experience will lay the groundwork for fighting the gift battle next year.
Fingers crossed.
Diaper Rashes–Tricks of the Trade
Posted by: Monika Rola on: December 16, 2009
If you’ve been on this blog before you may have come across a description of how amazingly sensitive my Peanut’s skin was when she was first born.
Her face was the worst, but her private areas were right up there in reactionary tendencies. Just look at them funny while changing a diaper and BAM! you’ve got a rash.
Since I was too sleep deprived, confused, stressed and obsessive about every tiny thing to even consider a “diaper free” baby, I had a few good months of wrestling with the diaper rash monster.
And let me tell you, I changed those suckers often. It still didn’t help.
Enter my amazing Doula, Ms. Kara Lister (whom you should look up if you’re pregnant and living in Toronto) and her advice to blow dry the baby’s privates during a diaper change. We would wipe, then blow dry, then put on the new diaper.
The blow dryer needs to either be on a cool setting or, if yours doesn’t have the dedicated cool setting, press the “cool” button the whole time. As with many baby temperature checks, I used the inside of my wrist as a gauge. You also need to be far enough away so that baby can’t accidentally kick the blow dryer–important for safety especially if your dryer doesn’t have a cover on the end.
With blow drying, two things happened to the Peanut. The bum and the genitals became happily rash free. Also, diaper change time became a soothing ritual, especially at night. The Peanut loved the warm feel of air on her skin and the white noise of the blow dryer usually made her want to sleep.
Which as any parent knows, is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
On the rare occasion that the Peanut still got a rash, we tried all the natural solutions, lotions and potions, which I tend to love but which did nothing to help in this situation. Then we called in the old school reinforcements: Sudocrem. ( You can find it in nearly every pharmacy, grocery store and department store across Canada.)
Both the British and Polish grandma swore by this product, which apparently kept both me and the husband diaper rash free, WAY back when. I found it substantially more effective than any other bum cream on the market. It’s good to have the grandmas around!
Sleepless, But It’s Okay
Posted by: Monika Rola on: December 14, 2009
Our muffin is teething. Major teething.
So far we’ve had 4 nights in a row with interrupted sleep, crying fits, sudden rages. In other words. Major crank-fest.
We’re trying all the usual soothing techniques for her, with varying temporary levels of effectiveness.
It’s doing a number on the muffin, I know.
But it’s also doing a number on my husband and me. By night 3 it was tough to keep positive. By last night there were frayed nerves and short fuses were the only ones in supply.
We played an unspoken game of passing off the baby to the other parent and trying to disappear for at least a few minutes of alone, scream free, time. Even if it is under the guise of cleaning the garage or doing the laundry.
So after putting the little one to bed, finally, at midnight I told my husband “Right now, it really, really sucks being a parent. I am hating it.” And he said the same.
Then we felt better, hugged our baby and grabbed three hours of sleep.
The point? I think we’re finally learning that when people say that no parent is perfect, they don’t just mean that you’ll let your kid walk around in stained clothes or not stop them when they drop their food on the floor, pick it up and eat it. They also mean that you’ll have times when you hate parenthood, want desperately to just be selfish, really wish you could run away.
You won’t, because you love that tiny rapscallion who’s keeping you awake for days on end. That’s how you know it’s for keeps.
Amby Baby Recall–Something Smells Bad
Posted by: Monika Rola on: December 9, 2009
- In: Baby Care | Safety | The First Year
- 2 Comments
Still shaken up by the Amby Baby Motion Bed recall, I’ve been digging around for more information, so far not much is coming up beyond the recall notices.
One thing is bothering me at this point–The Amby Baby web site has a safety recall notice which outlines the Canadian and U.S. recalls. Free repair kits will be offered to U.S. customers but not to Canadian customers.
I am assuming this is because Health Canada is advising people to destroy their Amby Baby immediately.
This then begs the question–Health Canada is not a reactionary agency. If they think nothing will make these things safer, should U.S. customers trust their babies to the Amby Baby bed even with a repair kit?
The scariest part is that digging around parent message boards I am just now learning that deaths in the Amby had been occurring since 2008. My daughter was born in 2009, it is bone chilling to find out that there was absolute silence from the company and consumer protection agencies on this for so long!
Update: I just found a Health Canada paper saying no hammocks are safe for children under 6. So why are they allowed to be sold here?
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