Happy Holidays from Glow Baby

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. I look forward to an exciting 2010!

Juliet's 1st Birthday

Today is my beautiful baby's first birthday. This is my love letter to her. I can't believe how quickly this past year has flown. It's hard to imagine that a year ago today I got to meet my adorable daughter. She is always happy and full of smiles. She loves to laugh and play. Everything is an adventure for her and she is constantly exploring.

She makes me smile always and just being around her makes everything better. When I put her down for sleep at night I can't wait to see her in the morning. I love watching her grown and learn new things but I am a little sad that her baby stage is almost over.

I love snuggling with her (she will still snuggle) and I love that only I can make her feel better when she is upset. I cherish these days with her as she is going to start asserting her independance as the years go by. I want her to be independant and her own person but I hope that she always has a hug for her mommy.

Happy Birthday Juliet!

Disney Princesses on Ice - AKA Heaven for Ainsley

Friday night was a big night for Ainsley. For the first time, she went to her very first ice show with her parents all by herself (no Juliet). We had been planning on having a special Ainsley night for awhile as I feel its important that each child get their parents to themselves a few times a year. We hadn't done this since the summer when we went to Canada's Wonderland so we were due. I wanted to make sure that the outing we chose would be something that Ainsley would love so when the opportunity to attend this show presented itself I knew it was perfect.

I told Ainsley Friday morning that we had a special night planned for her and that we were going to see the Princesses. It was probably a mistake to tell her so early in the day as all she could talk about the rest of the day was going to see the princesses. I also showed her a clip of the show http://disney.go.com/disneyonice/. She didn't nap because she was so excited. She rushed us through dinner and was all ready to go out the door well before we needed to leave. Finally, to her relief we headed down to see the Princesses.

I was a little worried that the show might not live up to her increasing expectations but from the moment it started Ainsley was mesmorized. She's seen a number of Disney movies including Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Tinkerbell. She was thrilled to be able to see recognizable characters dancing on skates. She was especially excited to see Ursula from The Little Mermaid and was introduced to the Blue Genie from Aladdin who is now all she talks about.

My husband and I enjoyed the show but what was the greatest part of the night was watching Ainsley's obvious enjoyment of the show. She had a huge smile on her face throughout and excitedly pointed out the characters.

All in all this was a great night and for any of you who have little girls you should definitely check it out.

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.ticketmaster.ca/ to receive the discount enter the code MCC in the MC promotion box when purchasing the tickets. The coupon code will get you four tickets for $44 Monday - Friday (excluding Friday evening) and $4 off tickets for all weekend performances. There is a minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each during the week and $4 off on weekends. (offer is not valid for Rinkside or VIP seating and cannot be combined with other offers. Service charges, facility and handling fees apply).

The Toronto shows run from December 18th-December 27th at the Rogers Centre.

Baby's First Journal listed as Top 10 gift for pregnant women

http://blog.healthybabynetwork.com/2009/12/17/best-gifts-for-a-pregnant-woman/

Thank you to the Healthy Baby Network for including Baby's First Journal in your list!!

'Tis the Season to be exhausted

I don't know about you but I find the holidays exhausting. My family celebrates both Hannukah and Christmas and my youngest is a December Baby. Even though I usually have all my Christmas shopping done by the end of November, I find the month of December to be especially crazy.

This year I have spent weekends on planning Juliet's 1st birthday party, decorating the house, sending out Christmas cards, wrapping presents, getting new products into production, and we have yet to get a Christmas tree. That's on the to do list for this weekend. It feels like there is no down time.

Don't get me wrong, I love this time of year. I love decorating the house and now that Ainsley is older we can all get excited about Santa's visit. This year, I will be getting my tonsils out too so I will either get more rest due to this surgery or it will make the whole month seem even more hectic.

Add some sick children into the mix and I look forward to a more relaxing January. Maybe a few snow days are in order so that we can all stay home for the day and hibernate.

Friday Funny - This made me laugh

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their
tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were
growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every
morning....
Uphill... Barefoot...

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no
way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about
how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that.... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help
but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live
in a Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good
you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted
to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up
ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter -
with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in
the mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps
were 10 cents!


Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a
matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission
to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3' S or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you
had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the
DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There
were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our
favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come
undone.

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the
phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your
school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a
collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up
and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games
like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was a little
square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were
no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever!
And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and
harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!


You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was
on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to
get up and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL
WEEK for cartoons!!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we
had to use the stove! Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it
too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five
minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Long Time no Post

Hi Everyone,

I have been meaning to put up a posting for the past couple of days. Life is getting pretty hectic around here. I am working on two new products for announcement in January, I am planning for Juliet's 1st Birthday party on the weekend, preparing for the holidays and getting everything done before I get my tonsils out Dec 21st. Oh and I keep getting sick.

I have also just set up a new Facebook fan page for Glow Baby where you can get up to date info on press, new products, specials, new stores, and any interesting tidbits I find about babies, family life or life in general. I would love for you to check it out
http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Glow-Baby/194652368570.

I wish you all a fabulous holiday season with lots of joy and great memories.

Glow Baby Review Holiday Gift Guide | Love To Shop Mom

Glow Baby Review Holiday Gift Guide Love To Shop Mom

Glow Baby's First Holiday Promotion

Buy 3 Notepads Get 1 Free Holiday Promotion

Glow Baby (me) is offering a special holiday promotion this year. Buy 3 notepads and get 1 free. This promotion will start Nov 30th and run until Dec 31st. To select your free notepad you will be asked to select one from a list upon check out (in the same section as your billing details).

Use these pads to stay organized this holiday season with Glow Baby's To Do List and Shopping List.

Planning for Juliet's 1st Birthday

I am starting to plan for Juliet's First Birthday party. I love planning parties for the kids. You can get totally creative and I love celebrating them. Juliet was born December 22nd so we are competing with holiday festivities so I sent out the invitations early. I went onto Tiny Prints website http://www.tinyprints.com/ and searched their hundreds of choices. I am in love with this site and had a hard time choosing the invitations for my baby girl but I ended up choosing these butterfly themed ones.

Ainsley was a huge fan of these and I thought they were adorable. I'm huge into chocolate and pink (Baby's First Journal is a perfect example of this). I also picked out some adorable Thank you cards as well.

I am a sucker for stationary!!! The next step is to get all the RSVPs in so that I can plan the loot bags. As this party is for a one year old and although we have a few babies coming, the guests are mainly adults so I decided to add a little bit of Christmas into the mix and I will be putting together small tins of goodies for each guest to take home. Once I have decided on what I will include I will be sure to post pics and the recipes. Yum!!!

Finally some answers - Where to go for Flu information in Ontario

I'm sure some of you read my H1N1 rant a few weeks ago and one of my main issues was the contradictory information that was leaking out through media sources. It seemed as thought Public Health didn't know their right hand from their left during the first couple of weeks of their flu campaign. While my whole family got their shot, the obvious confusion definitely shook my confidence in our health system.

I have recently received information that the Ontario Ministry of Health has stepped up to become a reliable resource for up-to-date H1N1 vaccine information in Ontario.

For updated flu information you can visit http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/h1n1/public/clinics.aspx

The following link has tips for what to do if your child becomes sick. The Ministry of Health has an influenza assessment tool that can help us moms determine if our child needs medical care. The link for this information is http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/h1n1/public/tools/assessment/default.aspx

Other useful information can be found at http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/

I hope you find this information useful and that it helps get you through this year's flu season.

Disney On Ice - Exclusive Offer for Toronto Moms

The Disney Princesses are coming to Toronto! I showed Ainsley the poster and she is so excited that we will be seeing the princesses on Ice this year. She's never seen ice skating before so I think this will be a great night for us.

I have a special coupon code for Toronto Moms to receive a special discount on tickets for the show. Tickets can be purchased from http://www.ticketmaster.ca/ and to receive the discount enter the code MCC in the MC promotion" box when purchasing the tickets. The coupon code will get you four tickets for $44 Monday - Friday (excluding Friday evening) and $4 off tickets for all weekend performances. There is a minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each during the week and $4 off on weekends. (offer is not valid for Rinkside or VIP seating and cannot be combined with other offers. Service charges, facility and handling fees apply).

The Toronto shows run from December 18th-December 27th at the Rogers Centre. If you are interested in purchasing tickets then definitely try and take advantage of this great deal!!!

The Benefits of Menu Planning

I have been grocery shopping for over 15 years. It’s a weekly chore and for some it is not a favourite task. I however, love grocery shopping. It’s is partly because it is a form of shopping (I’m a bit of a shopaholic), but mainly because the little organizer in me loves the whole process that leads up to the weekly shop.

My favourite part is the menu planning. I love sifting through my many cookbooks to plan what mouth-watering meals I will be making for the week. I usually plan for three to four recipes for each week and write out all the ingredients I will need. I check the fridge and cupboards to figure out what we need to buy and what we already have. I then make sure I have the staples in the house. I always have pasta, spaghetti sauce, hamburgers, hot dogs and other kid friendly items. I then check to see what snack foods we have left and write down what we will need for the week.

This process of menu planning is very important to make sure that I have the right amount of food for my 10 month old, favourites for my 2 ½ year old, lunches for my husband and the right amount of food for our dinners. Aside from my enjoyment of menu planning, there are some very important benefits.

1. Planning saves money – If you stick to your list, you will buy only what you need. You can also plan around coupons and store specials to help with a budget.

2. Making Healthy Choices – By planning ahead and listing healthy options it is much easier to avoid the barrage of unhealthy choices you are faced with in the store

3. Efficiency – By doing a bit of prep work before your trip to the store, you can make your shopping experience much more efficient. You spend your time getting what you need, you have a focus and you won’t waste time trying to decide what to get.

4. Avoid multiple visits to the store – By menu planning, you will only need to go to the store once saving time. This also saves money as the opportunities to buy extra items are limited.

All in all, menu planning may seem like work up front but in the end it saves you time and money. It is definitely worth it!

Baby and Kids Magazine

I am very excited to announce that "Baby's First Journal" is included in this month's issue of Baby and Kids Magazine!! The article is about stylish mommy gear and there is a pic of the journals. Please check out page 19.

http://www.babyandkidsmagazine.com/digitals/2009/1109BABY/index.html

Thanks!

Wordless Wednesday - My Two Princesses

New Note Pads

I just realized that I haven't posted pictures of the new note pad series now available at www.glowbaby.ca. If you are looking for a Christmas gift for someone who likes to stay organized in style check them out.

I love using lists. They help me stay focused which is especially important when my attention is often divided between Ainsley, Juliet, my husband and the business. To make sure that everything gets done I rely on a to-do list and so I wanted to make a pretty list that would fit on the fridge so I would always know where it was and what needs to be done. It's also great for listing chores for Brett.

The Shopping list is great as I always do a list each week but I would often loose it so having the list on the fridge works well. We haven't been sick yet (knock on wood) so I haven't had a chance to use the medication pad but while it was in the design phase I desperately needed it. Both girls were sick and Ainsley can take medicine that Juliet cannot and it would have been nice to have had something to keep all this straight without having to explain this to my mom and husband multiple times.

Check them out and tell me what you think.

Have a great day!

"Baby's First Journal" featured on Today's Parent blog

Hello everyone,

I am excited because one of the editors of Today's Parent (Canadian parenting magazine) has written about "Baby's First Journal" on their blog. Please follow the link and check it out. Feel free to leave comments and let them know what you like best about the journal.

http://blogs.todaysparent.com/momonthemove/baby-journal/

I appreciate all of your support!!!

Lindsay

H1N1 - stands for I'm in hell

I am going to have a bit of a rant now due to my increasing frustration with this H1N1 vaccination roll out. I apologize but I just cannot believe how ridiculous this campaign has been handled.

Brett went today to the North York Civic Centre in Toronto for the first day of the "high risk group" clinic. It opened at noon but people lined up hours before. Brett got there at 1:30 and already the health care workers were setting up an end of the line as they would not have enough to go around.

The gov't has been warning us of the Swine flu threat for months now and urging us to get vaccinated when the vaccine became available. Yet, the vaccine is now "available" but it is almost impossible to get. Who was the brilliant thinker behind only having 10 flu clinics for a population of 2 million??? Not to mention all the red tape that doctors have to jump through to get a supply to give out to their patients.

I cannot believe the line ups or the fact that there is not enough vaccines to go around. I even called around to see if anyone had heard of a black market vaccination clinic. Now there's a thought.....

I'm hoping that the gov't will smarten up and open more clinics with longer hours and get the vaccination to the people. What use is a vaccination if only a small percentage of people can get it?

Writer quotes my opinion on today's role models for young girls - I'm so excited

I guess I am a bit of a nerd, but I volunteered my opinion on Tinkerbell's new look the other day and my concerns about role models for young girls. And I was quoted in the article!!! I am so excited. Check it out. Great article. I am starting to think about the images portrayed in the media around women and how they will effect young girls. My eldest is only 2 1/2 and I'm already worried? Yep. I went to buy Ainsley some clothes for her Barbie and struggled to find anything that didn't represent club wear.

Anyway,check out the article to see what I said.

http://www.canada.com/news/national/From+tarty+tomboy+Tinker+Bell+grows/2151209/story.html

An now I am an accountant too

I haven't posted in over a week and I apologize to my followers. I have been in the midst of learning Simply Accounting, a book keeping program that is not as simple as it sounds.

We bought this program a month ago as we decided we probably should start now when things are not too busy. It keeps track of inventory (which is fabulous) and it can be passed off to my accountant at the end of the year for tax preparation. I installed the program and quickly went to work. As I went along it became very clear to me that I had no idea what I was doing.

One peice of advice to new business owners - Recognize when you don't know what you are doing and ask for help. I knew I was in over my head but it wasn't until I went for "accounting classes" at my accountants that it became evident that had I continued on my own my book keeping would have been a TOTAL disaster.

It took two three hour classes but now I am confident that I am doing everything I need to be doing. I have a life-line if I encounter a unique situation which is a relief. Even though I have paid for the time of my accountant to set me up, in the long run I have probably saved money as they won't have to fix my mess.

I have been busy for the past week inputting all the expenses and sales since the business started in March. I am at August now so I am getting there. Sigh......

I never wanted to be an accountant but it looks like I will be now. I am also the PR department, Sales department, Shipping department, Creative Department.......

I am Glow Baby and I am proud of my accomplishments thus far.

My First Press Release

I have been working on my first press release for the past couple of months. I can't believe it has taken me so long but I have never done this before so I wanted to do some research before attempting my own. There is so much information out there that it's tough to weed out what is useful information.

Thanks to all the mompreneurs who answered my questions and shared their own press releases with me. It is so helpful to hear from other women going through the same things as me. If only I had a huge PR budget and could hire an expert. For now though, I have to be a jack-of-all trades and rely on the goodwill of others.

I am proud of myself for this accomplishment. It feels huge as it has been looming on my to-do list for months but it is finally complete. Here is the link to the release.

http://www.prlog.org/10373197-glow-baby-introduces-babys-first-journal-musthave-for-expecting-parents.html

Please feel free to pass on to anyone you think would be interested to learn more about Glow Baby and Baby's First Journal.

My Babies are getting older

I cannot believe how quickly this past year has flown by. I am starting to plan Juliet's 1st Birthday Party and I started to realize that she will be leaving the baby stage very soon.

She's starting to pull herself up and will probably be walking within the next 2 months. I have started to wean her as well. She had pancakes yesterday for the first time.

I have mixed emotions about this. I love watching Juliet learn new things every day. She's a big explorer and it's great to see her explore her world and learn new things. The perplexed look she gets on her face sometimes is adorable! On the other hand, the snuggly hugs she gives me and the cute baby sounds she makes will end as she gets older and that makes me sad.

I have the same thoughts as Ainsley gets older too. I just cannot believe I have a 21/2 year old and an almost 1 year old. I am going to be a bit mushy now so please excuse me. I am a proud mommy and I am so thankful that I have two wonderful, adorable, kind and smart daughters. I can't wait to see what they do in the future but I am trying to cherish every moment of the present as they are the most special people on earth to me.

Market Moms Shopping Event - Uxbridge, ON

Hello everyone,

I am very excited to announce that Glow Baby will be attending the Market Moms Event in Uxbridge on November 7th!! I submitted Glow Baby to a contest Market Moms hosted to help feature new businesses and I won!

There will be some really great vendors in attendance at this show. It will be a great opportunity to get some of your holiday shopping done. I know I will be visiting the booths (while my husband helps out at my both).

If you live in the GTA check out the event at www.marketmomsonline.com.

Would love to see you there.

Lindsay

The end of the nap

I find myself coming to terms with the fact that it looks like Ainsley has dropped her nap. For the past few weeks, it has become harder and harder to get her to nap but she had been sleeping most days. This past week, she has not napped once. This is one stage I had hoped she would not hit for at least another 2 years.

I love nap time. This is the only time that I get completely to myself. The past couple of days I have kept Ainsley in her room to play quietly. So far, she has been playing nicely by herself so at least I still get some time by myself.

I miss the days of 2-3 hour naps. I hope this is just a phase but I don't think so.

Balancing Act - 24 hours are not enough

Life has gotten pretty busy for me lately. Glow Baby is taking off and I've had a lot of great response to "Baby's First Journal". I am now working on journal #2 "Baby's First Foods". It is pretty exciting to have people embrace my journal and my hard work is starting to pay off.

While things are getting busy on the business side, life is also getting busier on the family side. Juliet is getting older (she's 9 1/2 months already!!) and she is so much fun to be around. Ainsley is also getting older (she's 2 1/2) and she is starting to drop her nap (Booo!!). A huge part of my day is spent seeing to their needs. I'm still breastfeeding Juliet so that is added to the equation.

My days are a blur. I get up, feed Juliet, take Ainsley to school, put Juliet down for her nap, (1 hour break to work if I'm lucky). Then we go pick up Ainsley from school, have lunch, play, feed Juliet, put Juliet down for her nap. Play with Ainsley and then hope and pray she goes down for her nap. Lately, Ainsley has not fallen asleep for her nap until 3pm and then Juliet gets up shortly afterwards leaving the evening hours the only other time to really focus on work.

Trying to fit everything in is getting tough and I rely heavily on my own organizational skills and ability to prioritize to get through my days. I am feeling pretty exhausted this week. I need a vacation but will have to wait until I finish breastfeeding. If only there were a few more hours in the day then maybe I could find some me-time.

Feature on Peekaboo Picks

Hello again everyone,

I am very excited that "Baby's First Journal" has been featured in Peekaboo Picks newsletter. Check it out http://www.peekaboopicks.com/2009/09/22/happy-fall/.

The Bump Blog Awards

Hello everyone,

The Bump http://www.thebump.com/ has just announced they have started their Blogger Awards. Please vote for me for the Best Working Mom Blog (for WAHM).

Thanks so much!!!

My Favorite Toddlerisms

Anyone who has had a toddler knows that the words that come out of their child's mouth is not necessarily the perfect pronunciation of that word. I love these interpretations of what Ainsley hears and thought I would write down a few partly because they are cute and partly because I don't want to forget.

Here are my favs for this week:

Actual Word V. Ainsley's Word

Smarties V. Parties
Music V. Me-Cass
Aunty Amanda V. Aunty Panda
Juliet V. Julielette
Tinkerbell V. Tinkerbelt

I love these special little words.

"Baby's First Journal" is going to the Type A Mom Conference

"Baby's First Journal" is on its way to the Type A Mom Conference. I responded to a tweet by Amy from Mom Made That and she has been nice enough to include a few copies of the journal at the market place event happening at this conference. I am very excited to have this opportunity for exposure of my journals to other mom bloggers.

I wish I could travel down myself, but as I am still breastfeeding, this year is not an option. Maybe next year?

Check out the link for some great products that Amy is taking with her. http://whrrl.com/experience/story/18424741

For more information on the Type A Mom Conference please visit http://typeamomconference.com/.

For more information on Mom Made That please visit http://mommadethat.com/

Site Focuses on Helping Small Businesses Breakthrough the Internet Noise

I was on one of my mom entrepreneur networking groups and found this new site. Tweet-A-Day Giveaway promotes giveaways for free to help small business grow.

Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com sends out a daily email and daily tweet on giveaways is targeting the need of micro, small and medium businesses to breakthrough the internet “noise” by offering an easy way to get their promotional giveaways listed and out to the public.

Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com is unique from other giveaway sites and blogs because it drives traffic to the company’s site not just the promoter’s site. Tweet-A-Day does not manage the giveaway or ask visitors to enter to win on their site like other giveaway sites do. Tweet-A-Day sends visitors directly to the site of the company offering the giveaway. Doing this brings more traffic to the company’s’ site. In addition, the company doing the giveaway does not have to send in the product for “review”.

Tweet-A-Day founder, Gina Robison-Billups, recognized the need for this service when she was promoting her own giveaway for MomsMakingaMillion.com. It was very difficult to find sites to contact. The submission links for most of them didn’t work, and their promotion of the giveaways just drove traffic and comments to their own sites, not hers. In addition, Moms Making a Million didn’t have a product to review with a picture because it’s a service. Service providers are left out in the cold when it comes to giveaway promotional opportunities.Tweet-A-Day Giveaway is also free. There are no advertising fees for posting giveaways, and no shipping of free products for review – a practice that has been recently scrutinized for tax implications and conflict of interest issues.The program is still in its beta phase, but the first week has seen real results. The Tweet-A-Day giveaways were re-tweeted to 12,000 twitter-ers in it’s first week of operation, and many of the companies offering giveaways have reported results and sign ups.

Visitors wanting to receive daily giveaways through email or Twitter can register alerts through http://www.tweet-a-daygiveaway.com/ or at http://www.twitter.com/tweetgive

About Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com
Pure, simple, free, and easy promotion – Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com gives small business a place to promote their giveaways and to breakthrough the internet noise.
Media Contact: Gina Robison-Billups, tweetgive@gmail.com

Check them out. Great concept. I will definitely be following.

Birthing from Within - A wonderful approach to labour

My prenatal class did not really prepare me emotionally for my labour or the post natal period. What it did was intellectually prepare me for delivery but we did not discuss what our labour plans looked like and how we would deal with a labour that did not go as planned. This cursory approach would be fine for someone who had a textbook delivery but for me, my worse case scenario happened and I was not prepared emotionally for this.

I believe that if I had done additional research into prenatal classes in Toronto and the different philosophies out there, I would have been in a better frame of mind.

I recently came across The Nesting Place http://www.thenestingplace.ca/ which is run by Amanda Spakowski who is also a doula. I met with her and we discussed her philosophy of Birthing from Within. As it says on her website "Birthing naturally means birthing in the way that comes naturally to you". This was a refreshing thought as Amanda prepares her parents-to-be for their ideal birth but also for the unexpected. The question of "How would you deal with your worst case scenario" is asked and parents have time to answer this question which in turn prepares you to handle the unknowns of labour.

What was also interesting in my conversation was Amanda's deep understanding of the difficulties of the post partum period and I was happy to learn that this is discussed in her classes as well.

Amanda addresses what you need to know about your delivery including:

•The stages of labour and labour support
•Specific techniques for pain coping, including compassionate use of epidurals and other medical support
•How to communicate with your health care provider
•Handling the unexpected during childbirth, physically and emotionally
•Birth art to explore feelings, fears and positive intentions
•Becoming a parent – the partner’s perspective
•Preparing for postpartum
•Caring for your new baby

I wish I had found her classes before I had my girls.

For more information on the Birthing From Within philosophy please visit http://www.birthinfromwithin.com/.

Wordless Wednesday - Mmmm Brownies

My weekend alone with Juliet

For the first time since Juliet was born, I had the opportunity to spend the whole weekend alone with her. Brett and Ainsley went up to the cottage and so I was a parent of an only child again.

Boy, is having one child easy. I had forgotten what it felt like to only have to focus on one little person. So Juliet and I went on walks to get coffee. We had a girls night in and I actually got chores done and the house did not look like a disaster zone.

Nights were tougher as I never sleep well when I'm by myself in the house despite our alarm system. I have an active imagination and I'm a bit of a worrier.

All in all we had a peaceful weekend together and Juliet started to crawl!!!

I definitely missed Ainsley. She called me each night and told me about her day. Thankfully she is getting old enough to be able to sustain a fairly decent phone conversation. I was very happy to see her upon her return today and I gave her TONS of hugs and kisses.

I think its important to spend quality one-on-one time with each child as they are both unique and deserve the undivided attention. I will definitely be planning more Juliet and Mommy days and Ainsley and Mommy days soon.

As a side note, I need a Mommy day!!! That's my next step. I'm thinking of an over night spa day once I have weaned Juliet. Ahhh....sleeping in....I have forgotten what that feels like.

Natural Mommie Review

A big thank you to Amanda from Natural Mommie for her review of "Baby's First Journal". Please check it out at http://www.naturalmommie.com/2009/09/glow-baby.html .

4BabyandMom Review

"Baby's First Journal" has gotten a fabulous review from Lauren at 4BabyandMom. Check it out at http://4babyandmom.blogspot.com/2009/09/keep-organized-after-baby-babys-first.html.

Thank you Lauren!

Birth Story - Ainsley

Birth stories are very powerful. Every mom I know has shared their's with me and I have shared mine with them. There is even a TV show that revolves around the birthing experience.





When I was pregnant with Ainsley, my eldest, I fantasized about her delivery. I dreamed about going into labour, calling my loved ones to come to the hospital, and delivering her naturally and quickly. I figured it would hurt and that I would have my epidural, push her out and then cuddle her and all would be well.





I started to get an inkling that my dreams would not come true when I had my 32 week ultrasound which indicated that she was face up. I googled this and found out that being face up during delivery made a natural delivery more difficult and often came with back labour. I read this and thought that won't happen to me. The baby will turn.





When I finally went into labour 2 days before my due date I was so excited!!! My water broke at 10:30pm just as we were getting ready to go to sleep. I then googled what this meant. The website said my contractions would start probably 12-24 hours later. I decided to have a shower and then try to go to sleep. Well, 40 minutes later my contractions were 4 minutes apart and Brett and I were heading to the hospital.





Thank goodness we went when I did because within 20 minutes of arriving at the hospital the contractions went from uncomfortable to down right unbearable. I was having contraction on top of contraction (they never told me about this in my prenatal class) and I couldn't get away from them. Yes, I was having back labour.





When the doctor came to check if my water had indeed broken, I asked if my baby was face up and she confirmed that indeed that was the case. That is when I had a sickening feeling that a natural delivery may not take place.





Soon after this I was begging for the epidural and as soon as it went in about 45 agonizing minutes later I started to feel much better. I was also 8cms. I was hopeful that maybe things would go as planned and quickly. However, when I was 10 cms, Ainsley was not making her way out and no matter how hard they tried to turn her she wouldn't budge.





I pushed for two hours and would have kept going but when they came in to check on me after pushing I could see in their faces when I asked if they thought I could deliver her naturally, that they really didn't think so.





So my dream scenario did not happen. In fact, my worst case scenario happened and I was not prepared. I had come into the hospital saying that my birth plan was to avoid a c-section and that was what I ended up having.





The c-section was not great for a number of reasons (other than having major surgery). I didn't get to see Ainsley for about an hour after the delivery which is a long time to wait to see your new baby. My milk didn't come in right away so she lost a lot of weight and so breastfeeding also did not go as I had fantasized. My body felt alien to me. I was swollen and in pain. It was hard to not be able to get up to change my new baby's diaper because it hurt so much. I felt inadequate.





I mourned the loss of a natural delivery for months and to this day I still feel a little bit sad that I will never experience that. I intellectually know that I am lucky to have had a healthy baby and to have recovered well from the experience. However, emotionally I was not prepared for this eventuality. We never talked in our prenatal class about how we would feel if our births did not go according to plan. We didn't discuss what would happen in the post-partum period (other than depression) and how we could deal with these situations.





If I could do it all over again with what I know now, I would have searched for a prenatal class that talked about our hopes and dreams but made us look at our fears and how we would deal with them should they happen.

Healthy Baby Network - Cool new products for mom

Good afternoon everyone,

I am very excited today as "Baby's First Journal" has been listed as a Cool new product for mom on the Healthy Baby Network. Check them out at http://www.healthybabynetwork.com/newsletters/Aug_2009.aspx.

I am working very hard at getting the word out about "Baby's First Journal" and it is always nice to see people embracing this journal.

Thanks to Theresa who included us on her list.

Lindsay

Wordless Wednesdays

Great Blog post about women Entrepreneurs

I contributed tip #24 so please check it out. http://budurl.com/WomenEntrepreneurs

The posting is about why Women Entrepreneurs are taking the lead.

Lindsay

New Review of Baby's First Journal

Hello everyone,

"Baby's First Journal" has been reviewed by Tatiana - here is the link:

http://averygoodyear.net/reviews/babys-first-journal-by-glowbaby/

Check it out and let your friends know. There is a giveaway of one journal with this review.

Thanks!

Lindsay

Mompreneur Resources

I've been writing a lot about my girls and being a parent but this blog is also about my new business too. So I thought I would compile a short list of resources that I have found very helpful over the last few weeks. Starting your own business has a steep learning curve and I have found some wonderful women who have been happy to share their experiences.

Women Entrepreneur Groups:

These are fantastic places to meet other entrepreneurs who are happy to share their knowledge. My fav's this month are:

1. The Mom Entrepreneur Online Support Group http://groups.google.com/group/mom-entrepreneur-support-group?hl=en
2. Connect2Mums http://connect2mums.ning.com/
3. Mom Bloggers Club http://www.mombloggersclub.com/

Some Great Resources for PR Information:

1. http://www.marketmommy.com/
2. www.wikihow.com/Write-a-press-release
3. http://www.thebusinessofbeingamom.com/

Links for media requests:

1. http://www.helpareporter.com/
2. http://www.pitchrate.com/
3. http://www.reporterssource.com/

I would also like to thank those individual women entrepreneurs who I have found through these various groups and twitter. Your advice and wealth of knowledge has been invaluable!!!

We mompreneurs must stick together.

Stay at home moms never get sick days

Ever since becoming a mom, I find I am sicker more often. I think this is partly due to the germs children spread amongst themselves and then to their parents. However, I think I get sick more often due to the fact that I am chronically sleep deprived.

My sleep-deprivation started the moment Ainsley was born and I have never been able to catch up since. This state leaves me open to all of the germs Ainsley brings home with her and then some. What compounds the problem and leaves me sicker for longer, is the fact that I do not get a sick day.

No longer are there days where I can lounge in bed or on the couch watching TV and taking naps to get over an illness. These days, I'm lucky if I can get a 9 hour stretch of sleep at night to get better. My days are filled with meeting the demands of a toddler and an infant who don't care that mommy doesn't feel well.

I just hope that as the girls get older and I get more sleep, my immune system will get stronger or I will be able to find the time to rest and recuperate.

Top 5 Must-Haves for Baby (and Top 5 Useless Products)

I decided to compose my top 5 Must-Haves for expectant parents. I bought a lot of stuff when I was expecting my eldest and while some were lifesavers, some things were hardly used.

Top 5 Must-Haves:

1. Sling/Baby Bjorn - The baby bjorn saved me with both girls (especially my eldest). Ainsley would only sleep during the day in the baby bjorn for the first few weeks and when I had Juliet, I needed my hands free. My advice would be to wait until your baby is born and then pick out which carrier your baby prefers. I bought a sling for Juliet and she hated it so I sold it.

2. Breastfeeding pillow - if you are going to breastfeed, a good pillow is essential for saving your back. I started with a jolly jumper pillow which was too soft. My Brest Friend was fantastic. It gave me great support and was very firm.

3. Baby's First Journal - now I know this is my product but a journal to log your newborn's feeds, sleeps and diapers is essential for the first few months. I would have been lost without this. It definitely, helped me get to know my daughters' needs quickly.

4. A good diaper cream - even for kids with the best skin, a diaper rash is sure to appear at some point. The best cream I found is A&D Cream which is not sold in Canada. I actually make the trip to the US periodically and buy tons as I have found nothing else that works quite as effectively.

5. Large Receiving blankets - Swaddling your child in small receiving blankets is impossible. I actually made my own 1 meter by 1meter and it was the perfect size. This didn't cost much. I just went to a fabric store. You can buy larger swaddling blankets in stores but you have to look out for them.

Now for the Top 5 Biggest Wastes of money (for me):

1. The Swing - borrow one if you want to try it, neither of my girls liked it

2. Bumbo Chair - neither daughter like it - another one to borrow

3. Cradle - We bought a pack n'play which is very useful so we could have just used this instead of the cradle

4. Burp clothes - my girls did not spit up - they threw up - A folded up receiving blanket will do just as well and even better for the big spit ups

5. Bottling supplies - we bought all the bottle paraphenalia and had at least a dozen bottles, but them my eldest didn't take the bottle - my advice is to buy a few bottles and then if you child will take the bottle then invest in more

Posh Little Baby Names - Trendy Baby Boutique Shops - Baby Gifts

Posh Little Baby Names - Trendy Baby Boutique Shops - Baby Gifts: "Featured Fab Finds From Our Baby BlogBaby's First Journal
Wednesday August 05, 2009
Are you a new breastfeeding mom finding yourself using trying to subtly 'check' which breast is the fullest thinking to yourself Which Side Did We Do Last Time? If you find yourself nudging each boobi [ ... ]


Read Featured Blog"

What do you track when your child is sick?

Hello Readers,

I am brainstorming for new products to add to the Glow Baby line and I've been asked by a few people to create a sick log for their children. I have been lucky enough to not have gone through any serious illnesses (neither of my daughters have had a fever yet) so I am asking other moms to weigh in on this.

What do you track when your child is sick?

What would you want to see included in a sick log?

Thanks to all who participate. I appreciate getting feedback from other moms. Please feel free to invite your friends to comment.

First Annual Mother-Daughter back to school shopping spree

Yes, Ainsley is 2 1/2 and some may say she is too young for a shopping spree. However, she is so opinionated about what she wears I decided that it might be a good idea to let her pick her new clothes.

We left this morning at around 10am and since we don't get to spend a lot of alone time just the two of us, I decided today would be a special day. We started off going to Tim Hortons for an apple juice and a bagel with cream cheese (her favorite). I had a large coffee of course.

We then headed off to Vaughan Mills, the factory store mecca just outside of Toronto. The Gap had sent me a 30% off coupon so our plan was to hit the Gap and Old Navy. Ainsley's attention span is iffy so I figured two stores would be about the max she could handle. We got to the Gap and she immediately picked out a few dresses (big surprise) but they were summer dresses so I steered her towards the fall clothing. She then picked out a pair of shoes. Dresses and shoes are her must haves. I was able to find a sweater she liked (pink) and a lounge suit (also pink) and we bought the pink shoes she liked and a purple dress.

We then headed off to Old Navy where (big surprise) she picked out pink running shoes and two skirts. I picked out a few tops to go with the skirts. I also picked out a cute little outfit for Juliet.

We then finished off our special day be heading to the Disney factory store where Ainsley picked out two princess dolls and princess pyjamas. Since coming home she has seemed to have forgotten about the princess dolls so I think they will be put away for Christmas. We then went and picked out a treat, Smarties, for the car ride home.

All in all it was a fun and successful day. She and I got to spend some time alone and she got my full attention. As soon as we got home, she put on her new shoes and skirt and is now napping in them.

I hope to do this twice a year with Ainsley and once Juliet is old enough she will get her own special day. I think its important to spend alone time with each of my girls so they get my undivided attention and we can spend some quality time together.

I look forward to the day they are old enough to go on mother/daughter spa days!!

Milestones: Child Development on a Child's own terms

I was scrolling through Mamapedia Voices today and came across a posting about sitting http://www.mamapedia.com/article/sitting. The mom was concerned that her child was 6 1/2 months but wasn't sitting yet. I can relate to her concern and wanted to write about milestones and comparing your child with others.

My eldest the first time and never did it again. Seriously. She hated being on her tummy. I was a bit concerned about this but then she started sitting at 5 months and I thought, if she can sit the rolling over thing musn't be too important. And then she sat and sat and sat and did nothing else. She was perfectly content sitting and playing and was not interested in moving. I took her to gymboree classes and tried to get her interested in crawling but she would not go on her tummy. For about 4 months, she did not have any gross motor developments.

Around 10 months she started to "walk" holding our hands and that was it. This was all she wanted to do which killed our backs. She finally walked on her own around 13months and never looked back. The first time she crawled was around 20 months (way behind according to milestones). She is now 2 1/2 and has totally caught up to her peers and I have realised that milestones are a general map for parents but should not be looked at too closely.

My youngest daughter has been rolling non-stop since 4 months and at 7 months just became steady while sitting. She is not interested in sitting. She much prefers rolling around on the floor. I look forward to seeing what route she will take in her development and now know not to worry if she takes the road less travelled :>.

The strike that may never end

It has been five weeks since the Toronto city worker strike began and it is starting to try my patience. It is not the lack of garbage pick up that bothers me (although Torontonians do pay a premium for this service). What is starting to bother me is the fact that this may be my last summer at home with my girls and we are missing out on some great activities.

I had some great activities planned for me and the girls. We were going to go to the public pools a couple of times a week (they are water babies) and we would go to the parks with wading pools. We also love going to High Park to see the animals. Ainsley was also supposed to take her first gymnastics class starting next week. It saddens me to think we have missed out on these fun activities because of this strike. If I go back to work in January then I have missed my last summer to do this with the girls.

I am really loosing my patience with those involved in this strike. Those on strike, I really wish they had some perspective and realise this is a tough economy right now and that to be blunt it is not the best time to ask for raises and benefits that most companies do not offer employees. A lot of people are loosing their jobs so honestly, people should sit tight and wait for better times to make demands. I feel sorry for those kids who rely on summer jobs to pay for their tuition. I was one of them and if I had not been able to work during the summer, I would not have been able to afford University.

I am not even affected as much as some people. I don't have my kids in daycare, nor were they enrolled in summer camps. This strike is hurting families, both those who cannot access city programs and those families on strike who are not getting paid.

I am really hoping that an agreement is made this weekend. News reports are stating that if an agreement cannot be reached by midnight on Sunday that one of the locals will walk away from the table (whatever that means).

All in all, this strike needs to end. Okay, I'm finished my rant.

Potty Training - Pull-ups

I bought pull-ups for my daughter about 6 months ago as recommended by her nursery school teacher. She had been going into the bathroom at school and trying to pull down her pants as she was watching what the older kids were doing. She wore them once at school and that was it for a long time. Every few days I would ask her if she wanted a pull-up or a diaper and everytime it was "No pull-up mommy. Diaper."

This went on for months and then last weekend we visited some friends in Milton and Ainsley and her friend Hannah watched "Elmo's Potty Time". As soon as it was over both Ainsley and Hannah spent the rest of their time together in the washroom bare bottomed trying to go potty. When we got home I asked Ainsley if she wanted to wear her pull-ups and she hasn't looked back.

This is a good thing as at least we are talking about potty training. However, she is only passingly interested in the potty and she refuses to wear a diaper at night and the wet pull-up wakes her up. Fun times.

Ainsley is a very opinionated toddler and I know there is no point in pushing her when it comes to potty training. I know that one day she will come to me and tell me she is ready. Until then, at least we've taken one step towards that day and we will just have to put up with a middle of the night wake up every now and then.

Perception changes as you grow older

Today my husband and I (yes Brett I used the word husband)took our 2 year old to Canada's Wonderland. I used to go every year when I was growing up with my uncle. I remember it took FOREVER to get there and that park was HUGE.

Today was the first time I had been to Canada's Wonderland in over a decade. Some things had stayed the same and some perceptions I had when I was little were totally wrong. The drive to the park took all of 20 minutes. Not the hours I swear it took when we went as kids. The park which had felt huge when I was little, despite expansion was a lot smaller than I remembered. Even the mountain didn't seem so big.

Some things were the same. I knew exactly where to find Hanna Barbara land. My favorite ride, the Ghoster Coaster, was still in operation although Ainsley was too small to go on it. Sigh....We had a blast on the kiddie rides and she loved the splash park which was not there when I was a kid.

Despite the fun we had, I left thinking, how did my uncle stand to take his 2 neices and 1 nephew every year. It was extremely loud and at times crowded. Waiting in line was tedious and everything cost a fortune. I think it is time I made a quick call and thank my uncle for the fun memories I made when he took me and also give him props for being so brave.

Apology to my husband Brett

So I have been blogging for a few months now and my husband Brett came home yesterday and said he had a bone to pick with me. I was wondering what that could be as I didn't think I had done anything particulary bad lately. It turns out, Brett finally logged onto my blog and read it and he objected to being referred to as "hubbie". He said that did not sound like me at all and that I had never called him that and would not like to be referred to as 'hubbie' from now on.

I was very surprised but said ok no problem. I will stop calling him 'hubbie'. So now as I am typing that I realize I should be the one to have a bone to pick with him. He's just now reading my blog????? What's up with that?

So Brett, hubbie, if you are reading this, I am glad you are finally doing so and please note this will be the last post with the word 'hubbie' in it.

Love your loving wifey.

Lindsay

Thank you Lindsay - Penny People Designs

I finally received copies of "Baby's First Journal" on Friday which was so exciting. To see my vision in print was amazing. I am so excited to bring these books to stores so other expecting parents can use them. They are now being sold at DearBornBaby in Toronto!!

The next step is the website. I sent a few copies of the books to my friend Lindsay Stephenson who owns Penny People Designs www.pennypeople.com. She specializes in customized stationary. I asked her if she would be interested in designing our website and to my delight she agreed. I love what she does. Her stationary is beautiful and she has adorable art prints perfect for decorating your child's room. Her design aesthetic was what I was looking for on my website and I was confident that she would be able to design exactly what I wanted. I was right!

I am so thrilled to announce that thanks to Lindsay, the website is up and running at www.glowbaby.ca. We still have to work on the shop portion of the website and my hubbie is feverishly reading Dreamweaver for Dummies so he can figure out how to do this. I have my fingers crossed that this will be working soon.

Here we go again - Teething Horrors

Parenthood is full of surprises. After I had Ainsley, I felt like I was on a battle field dodging one bullet after another. There was always something that threatened Ainsley's mood whether it was sleeping, eating or diapering. After 3 months I was starting to feel good. We had developed a routine, I thought I knew her pretty well and then the teething started.

I didn't know it was teething at first. Ainsley would go through fussy periods for no reason and we didn't know why. She didn't have any of the 'usual' teething signs. She didn't put anything in her mouth, didn't have a fever and she never drooled. These moods came and went over the next few months and we just told ourselves that maybe she was having a growth spurt or just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

At 7 months, Ainsley got her first teeth and for a few weeks her temperament was great. The light bulb went off. Those months of mood swings were teething related!! Ahhhh!!!! Now we got it. Then we realized she had only gotten 2 teeth and had 14 left to go!!!! Nobody told us about this!! Teething can make the sweetest baby a terror when they are in pain and there's nothing you can do about it (Tempra didn't make a difference with Ainsley and I didn't want to use any 'holistic' products out of fear of allergies).

After two years of on and off teething, we are still waiting for Ainsley to cut her final set of molars. Every once in awhile, she sticks her hands in her mouth and now that she talks she can tell us her mouth hurts.

So we have almost gotten through one child's teething process and now we are entering another. Juliet is 6 months old and she is teething with a vengeance. It affects her sleep and a usually easy baby becomes very agitated. She even tries to bite our faces: HARD!!! This time around we know what to expect and are prepping ourselves for the worst. At least this time we know we will get through it and see our happy baby again between teething episodes.

Not doing it all is OK

I think the biggest thing a mom struggles with is "doing it all". I found a post at http://www.mamapedia.com/article/how-do-you-do-it-all-8430 which asked how do other moms "do it all" as a stay at home mom. She is struggling with balancing her time with her kids and doing the housework. I am a stay at home mom as well of a 2 1/4 year old and a 6 month old. It is busy. My 2 year old is incredibly active and we cannot stay at home in the morning. I have come up with a number of ways to find some time to get housework done.

Now, this may not work for everyone but one suggestion is to have someone else come in to clean 1 or 2 times a month. Depending on where you live the cost of this can be $45-$100 per day. I have someone come twice a month and she does the dusting and major cleaning of the house. With the economy as it is, we may have to cut down to once a month but this is a necessity in our household. Another option is to share the major cleans with your hubbie over the weekend and take turns with the kids.

Another thing that has helped me is that I have found a co-operative nursery school in our area that Ainsley goes to 3 days per week. The cost is approximately $200 per month but it gives me time to get stuff done while Juliet has her morning nap and I also get to spend one-on-one time with her. Again, this may not be an option for some but a suggestion would be to try and find another mom in your neighbourhood to share babysitting so that you could get housework done.

As for the daily grind ie. dishes, laundry etc....I do dishes while Ainsley has her lunch or snacks and during this time Juliet now can eat her Mum Mum crackers in the high chair and this gives me about 10-15 minutes to rush around and do as much tidying in the kitchen as I can get done. Laundry is never ending as every mother knows but we have worked out a system that my hubbie will put the laundry through and I fold at night while I watch TV.

With these little tips/suggestions that I use, I have lots of time with my children throughout the day. My house is not perfect and I am now ok with that. It took me awhile to get to this place but I have realized that playing with my kids is THE most important thing and that they will not remember that my house was messy. They will remember the fun things we do together. And as for having guests over, if they are other moms, I don't care because most of the time their houses are just as messy as mine.

Summer Resolution

We've all heard of New Year's Resolutions. I know I've made a few. i always find the winter so uninspiring that this year I have decided to use my love of summer to focus on a healthier me. My summer's resolution is to eat better and work out regularly.

I love the summer. The fruit is great as are fresh vegetables. What better season to start eating healthier than the summer. I could eat berries or peaches all day. I have bought a new cookbook which is suprisingly good. It is the new Weight Watchers cookbook. I am finding the recipes very tasty and so is my hubbie. A good start. I love to cook but since having children it's a challenge fitting it in the schedule. However, this cookbook claims that all of their recipes can be done in 20 minutes. So far this seems to be true. I am all for speedy solutions.

As for the work out regularly. This may be more of a challenge. I am working on getting my youngest into a sleep routine which means the stroller for long walks is off limits as she will fall asleep. My solution has been to order excercise videos on line. I haven't received them yet but I fully intend to work out 3-4 times per week. If all goes according to plan and Juliet and Ainsley both nap in the afternoons then I will have time to work out. If not, I will be working out in the evenings. At least television sucks in the summer (not including So You Think You Can Dance), yet another reason summer is a better time to try my resolutions.

Well, wish me luck. I will keep you posted on my success.

Sleep - a luxury for parents

I have been searching for sites that provide information to parents and I came across www.mamapedia.com which lists questions and answers for parents. In particular I came across a whole slew of questions http://www.mamapedia.com/article/sleep-schedule regarding sleep. I felt that considering the amount of time and energy I spent on this issue when I first had Ainsley, I would share some of the tips and light bulb moments I had.

The first night that Ainsley was born she slept all night. Unfortunately, the other baby we were sharing a hospital room with did not and I was cursing it and its parents for not letting me sleep. I thought my baby is perfect. She's already sleeping like a champ. Well, I was in for a rude awakening. Ainsley was not a sleepy baby AT ALL. She would sleep for 40 minute stretches as the most and she had to be in the baby bjorn, stroller or car seat and we had to be moving much of this time. The best thing I did as a new parent was enroll in a new moms class. This was the first step (although I did not know it) towards sleep success. I was able to chat with other moms and found out that the majority of us were not getting much sleep and it wasn't that something was wrong. Being able to commiserate with other moms was wonderful and it helped keep me sane in the early months. I highly recommend all new parents to take a class such as this or join a moms group for support.

In this class I was introduced to Marc Weissbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I devoured this book hoping for a ray of light on the sleep issues. I found this book very helpful as it explained what was happening developmentally with my child and thus set some expectations as to what Ainsley could do sleep wise and what she couldn't. I also read Ferber's book as well for a 2nd opinion. As a result, I was able to put together what I had learned from each book and devise a sleep solution that worked for Ainsley and our parenting style. I worked very hard on getting Ainsley to learn how to fall asleep on her own for both naps and nighttime. It was a long and stressful process. I often called my husband crying as Ainsley cried in her crib but I was determined to teach her to fall asleep on her own. It took about a month but it finally worked. The strategy I used was the gradual extinction as explained by Weissbluth. I would leave Ainsley to cry for 5 minutes and then go in and pat her tummy. I would leave her for longer and longer periods of time until she fell asleep. Eventually I could put her down for her nap awake and she would chat for a bit and fall asleep. It was wonderful!!!

This lasted until about 10 months and then she started teething. We started having trouble putting her to bed at night. When once we would get a big smile before bedtime, we were now greeted with screams and Ainsley would not go to bed before 10pm. At this time she started sleeping through the night. We finally decided it was time to let her "Cry it out" as explained by Ferber. It broke my heart to hear her cry so I went out with my moms group for dinner and Brett stayed home. She cried for 40 minutes the first night and slept through and then 15 minutes the next night and slept through. That was it. From then on she went to bed and slept through with no complaints. This has continued except for teething and illnesses.

It took a lot of advice, reading and a tough resolve but we were able to get through sleep issues and gain more sleep for ourselves. Now that she is a toddler we have other issues, but I will address those later. For parents struggling with sleep, be assured that eventually it will fall into place and that it can be a challenge but if you are committed you will have success. Happy Sleeping everyone.

Lament for my Laptop

I purchased my very first laptop last summer as I was contracted to do consulting from home and I wanted to be able to work from the cottage (I am a Canadian :>). At first it was a bit odd not working from a desktop but I got used to it so much so that my laptop and I were joined at the hip.

Then it happened.....a few weeks ago, the port for the charger started to loosen and it got harder and harder to charge the laptop. As we all know, the point of a laptop is that you can take it anywhere as you can charge it and go. So this was a big problem. I put off taking my laptop to get fixed as I was in denial and hoped the problem would somehow fix itself. I know, not likely.

So finely I realised that I must take it in and I did that a week ago tomorrow. I have been missing my laptop ever since. I still have the good old desk top but it's just not the same. I can't check my emails as much as I have to go all the way down to the basement and the computer is a lot slower then the laptop. Finding time to visit with the desktop is tough with two young children, one of which has strong opinions and often does not want to accompany me thus causing me to abort my plan.

I am counting down the days until said laptop is fixed. They told me 3-4 weeks but I will definitely be calling them at 2 weeks just to check in.

The Downside of Playdates - Germs!!!

I never thought about my children getting sick before I had them. I was lucky with Ainsley in that she didn't get her first cold until after her 1st birthday and then it was very mild. Her first real illness was the stomach flu last August which went through our household and to her grandparents and aunt.

Over the past year, we have had many playdates and have had a number of calls after the playdate warning us of illnesses. This has happened with school as well. We've been exposed to whooping cough, various gastro infections, lice, Fifth disease and now pneumonia. Luckily, Ainsley and Juliet have not caught any of the major illnesses thus far (we're waiting to see if pneumonia will strike as this happened over the weekend). Boy is this part stressful.

I hate it when the kids are sick. You can't really do much for them and they are so unhappy. Any time I hear of another kid getting sick I worry for days until we are sure they will not get the illness. Hopefully Ainsley's and Juliet's constitutions are strong and they will not get many illnesses. My doctor was quite surprised that at 2 Ainsley had not had an ear infection and had never been on antibiotics apart from the days after her birth.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

Nap Time Trials

Nap time is sacred at our house. This is the only time a mom gets to herself while at home. When I just had Ainsley, I could guarantee myself at least 2 hours in the afternoon where I could do whatever I wanted. I could catch up on my TV or do some work when I worked from home. If I was tired, I could get a good nap. *Sigh* Those were the days.

Now that I have two little munchkins, nap time has changed. Ainsley still has her 2 hour nap in the afternoon, but Juliet is not quite old enough to have a regular long afternoon nap. She still naps in 40 minute spurts and I am lucky if she naps while Ainsley is napping which would give me a 40 minute break. Gone are those restful afternoons that I used to enjoy. I can't wait to have them back. Juliet is 5 months old and I really hope that in the next month we will be in a good routine.

The worst afternoons are when I put Ainsley down for her nap and Juliet gets up from hers and then when Juliet is ready to go down again, Ainsley gets up. Today I had a 30 minute break. I'll take what I can get at this point.

Ainsley's First Fear

It was a lovely day in Toronto today and Ainsley, Juliet and I hung out in the backyard and watched Aunty Panda plant fruits and vegetables. Everything was going well until two HUGE bees joined us. For the first time in Ainsley's life she was really scared. She usually embraces new experiences. She has never been afraid of animals or insects but for some reason she is really scared of bees.

She does not get the from anything I've said to her as this was the first time I had seen a bee with her and I don't react. I asked my husband and he hasn't seen a bee with her yet either although he is afraid of bees. So I wonder if this in an innate reaction or if she heard someone at school freak out when they saw a bee. I guess we will never know but I hope she get over this fear as she would not leave my lap for the rest of our time outside. Kind of tough when you have a 5 month old as well :>.

The joy of a sick toddler

Ainsley is sick again. Poor thing. But unlike other children who I've heard will sleep when they are sick, Ainsley will cut her sleep in half. So not only is she cranky because she doesn't feel well but her crankiness is exacerbated by lack of sleep.

To combat this we have a little ritual we do for when she is sick. Ainsley gets to hang out in mommy's bed all day and watch movies with Apple juice. Now she does not usually get apple juice (we are big on water or milk) and she certainly doesn't get to watch TV all day, ever. She has her favorite movies and watches them over and over again. Last illness we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a million times. This illness it looks like a Mary Poppins marathon. I try to introduce other movies for variety but the only other movie that has stuck is Sound of Music. I guess she's a musical girl.

Hopefully this will be a short lived illness and Ainsley can get back to her fun, charming self.