Stroller Thieves

The news making the headlines in Toronto has recently been around stroller thieves. Believe it or not, peoples strollers have been stollen from their front porches.

I am one of those trusting people who leaves their stroller out on the front porch. I figure, my stroller is so beaten up that no one would want it. With the recent news I have kept my stroller locked away just in case. Especially since it is a Phil and Ted which is the same make as the stroller stollen.

Do you keep their strollers on their front porch? Do you lock your stroller up?

Is stroller theft covered under house insurance????

Is it really worth it to spend $500+ on your stroller? Are they getting to expensive?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Toronto Hospitals push for breastfeeding

I am all for breastfeeding. I breastfed both my girls for at least 10 months of each of their lives. I am happy that I was able to have successful breastfeeding relationships with both of them. However, they were not easy to establish.

I have been reading the recent articles about the push in Toronto hospitals for breastfeeding as statistics say that most new moms are not breastfeeding their babies exclusively 6 months after their child's birth. While I think that breastfeeding should be encouraged in the hospital and that breastfeeding clinics are wonderful if they are able to provide support to moms; what I find objectionable is the militant approach suggested by some doctors to stop providing formula in the hospital.

I truly believe that if formula had not been available to me with my daughters, instead of a successful breastfeeding relationship, I would have given up and not had one at all. I had a c-section with Ainsley after 12 hours of labour and pushing and oodles of drugs. My milk did not come in for 4 days. Ainsley was a hungry baby and started losing weight. She had lost 10% of her weight before the hospital finally suggested I supplement with formula.

I had never considered formula at all and took it for granted that I would breastfeed. However, my daughter was hungry, losing weight and I felt like a failure. The supplementation with formula bought my body the time to catch up and produce milk. I found the whole breastfeeding process up to this point very stressful and to be able to feed my child and satisfy her hunger with formula enabled me to relax and take the time to learn to breastfeed properly.

I feel uncomfortable with nurses and doctors taking formula out of the equation all together as it is sometimes necessary. It can be helpful and ultimately, the health of your baby is most important. Ironically, after the initial 2 weeks of formula Ainsley drank, she refused to drink formula after that and we exclusively breast fed until we started solids. With Juliet, I gave her one bottle of formula a day while breastfeeding the remaining feeds. This one bottle gave me a little break and I breastfed her until 11 1/2 months.

Breastfeeding was not easy for me when I started and it was discouraging at times. There is a lot of pressure on moms to get it right. I think some of this pressure needs to be taken off of moms and it should be ok to tell them that breastfeeding is not always easy, you sometimes have to work for it, but that it is ok if you struggle because there is support out there. The key is education and making the support available.

I welcome your comments about your own experiences with breastfeeding as almost every mom I know has had some sort of difficulty.

Juliet's March Break Adventure

Well, I have been holding off posting this entry as I have not been able to find the cable that allows me t download my pics from my cell phone. My husband finally found it so I can finally share Juliet's big adventure!

On Tuesday Juliet and I dropped Ainsley off at March break camp and we headed downtown to the CN Tower. I have not been there since I was a little girl and I have actually never been up the tower. I was very excited to be invited to join the Mom Central Canada ladies and their children for a morning at the CN Tower where we got to meet DORA!!!

We got to the Tower and meet all the ladies and very excited children. We were ushered into a room where we all patiently waited to meet Dora. Juliet of course had no idea what was happening but as soon as Dora entered the room she was SUPER excited!! When it was her time to take her picture with Dora she stole the show. She danced with Dora, played coy, hugged Dora and altogether had a fantastic time.



This whole event was organized by Mega Brands which includes the Mega Blocks brand. Thanks to them after meeting Dora we were able to head up into the Tower. Juliet really enjoyed looking out over the city (her favorite past time at home is to look out the window) and we even visited the glass floor which freaked me out!

Mega Brands was nice enough to send us home with a goody bag including their Mega Blocks which have been thoroughly enjoyed by both my girls along with Dora the mermaid.

Thanks again to Mom Central and Mega Brands for organizing this wonderful outing for the moms and their children.

Ainsley's Birthday Cake

My eldest just had her third birthday party on the weekend. I can't believe that she is three years old already! Where is the time going?

This year, Ainsley helped me bake her own cake. So cute!! Really, she just wanted to lick the bowl but we had fun together. Here we are making the cake batter. I think she is already having a taste.

Making a cake is serious business so Ainsley went to change into her Princess dress.

Ainsley is here getting ready to help me put the icing on the cake.

And here is the finished cake, complete with the requested "sparkles".

The Presents my children leave me

I love watching what my girls do with their toys. They often do not play with them as one would traditionally do but this is what I find so charming about young children. They have the imagination to see how else something can be used. In addition to creative playing, the girls also find creative places to put their toys. I often find a puzzle piece in my pocket or a small toy in one of my shoes. I don't understand the reasoning behind this but apparently both my children feel these are appropriate places for these items.

Last night, when I was getting ready to go to sleep, I found quite a few presents from my girls. In our bed was a large bead necklace and a purse. Tucked in under the covers. On my bedside table I found a diaper left by my eldest for what purpose I do not know. On my bathroom counter was an action figure from the movie monsters versus Aliens. Each item was put in place by one of my daughters. Either because they felt that the item fit there or they were distracted and abandoned the toy for another.

At times it is frustrating that no matter how many times we clean up, there are always toys underfoot. However, I think it's fascinating to try and figure out what they were thinking when they put the half-eaten apple under the couch.