Giselle Bundchen sticks her foot in her mouth

When I first heard that Giselle Bundchen had stated that there should be a law forcing moms to breastfeed their kids for 6 months, I thought it was a joke. I thought, that can't be right. What a ridiculous statement. Well, the joke was on me as she did in fact say this. And the kicker is apparently she only breastfed for 3 weeks. So I guess she should be arrested?

Where do I start with this unfair and ridiculous statement! To pass a law telling women what they can or cannot do with their body is something I don't agree with. When it comes to breastfeeding, there is enough guilt projected onto moms from nurses, friends, family and other moms that adding the government into the mix is just ridiculous. Obviously someone didn't think before she spoke.

I breastfed both my girls for just under a year. I was fully prepared to breastfeed my first baby. The idea of formula never even entered my mind. I was blissfully unaware of the difficulties some women have with breastfeeding and I found out the hard way that I would be one of these women. I persevered through a lot of stress and emotions but was lucky enough to end up with a positive breastfeeding experience. However, I still remember how difficult it was at the beginning while I was waiting for my milk to come in and Ainsley kept dropping weight.

I know a number of moms who had even more difficult experiences and were not able to breastfeed. I have a friend who's failure at breastfeeding affected her ability to bond with her baby and added to her post-partum depression. Statements like the one Gisele made just adds to the idea that you are not a good mom unless you breastfeed your baby. Your goal as a mom is to keep your baby healthy and do what's best for him or her. If that means formula because you are struggling with breastfeeding, your baby is not latching or for any other reason, that should be ok.

Every woman should have the individual right to do what's best for them and their baby. You will never know what another mom's situation is as you are not living their life. It is so important for moms to be supportive of one another as being a mom is tough. We have to stop beating each other up about the choices we make and realize the only choices we need to be worried about are our own.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Giselle's statement.

Productive Day

I really dreaded Brett leaving me with Juliet for his trip. Not because I don't like hanging out with her, but I really wondered how I would juggle looking after her, the business and all the household chores without him. Not to mention my parents are also out of town so I have limited babysitting options.

Well, I am super impressed with myself today. I wish Brett was here only to show him how much I got done today. Juliet and I woke up just after 7am, had breakfast and cleaned up. Then I cleaned our bathroom. Then we went out and bought diaper genie refills (there has got to be an alternative as these are so expensive) and bought Juliet new shoes. We then went to the park and had lunch.

Got home and Juliet went straight to bed as she was exhausted. I worked for two hours straight. Filled orders, answered emails and even made some sales calls. When Juliet woke up we headed to the bead store to get supplies for my new hobby (see previous post) and then we went grocery shopping.

We got home. Put away the groceries and I tidied up the kitchen. Then we had dinner, I gave Juliet a bath, put away two baskets of clean laundry, put in another load of laundry, fed Winnie our rabbit, emptied all the garbage bins in our house and took it outside. I tidied Ainsley's book shelf (it was a mess) and went through her clothes and put away clothes that were too small. I then repaired a number of books that had been ripped.

I thought that was enough for the day and now I'm blogging, tweeting and watching TV.

My goal is to have the whole house completely clean by the time they get home. I don't know how I found the time today but I hope I can keep this up all week. I am looking forward to a tidy home.

Day 1 as a Single Parent to one Child

It's wierd. It was definitely quiet last night when Juliet went to bed. I have forgotten how easy it is with just one child. There's no dividing attention. I have less dishes to do, less laundry, less stuff to pack in the diaper bag. There's no fighting over TV or toys. But it's wierd.

When Juliet woke up this morning she went straight to Ainsley's room and said "Ainsley?". She knew that Ainsley was not here and then she said "Daddy?". So I guess I'm not the only one adjusting to this change. Last night I felt a bit lonely without Ainsley and Brett but this morning I'm feeling better. I got an email saying that they had arrived safely and had a good flight (Relief). I think I was anxious about this and am now glad that they are okay. Only 6 more nights to go.

I have a plan for Juliet and I this week. We are going to do all the things that is hard to do with two children like go swimming at the pool. We are going to do a bit of back to school shopping which is great because it can be hard to tell a 3 year old that she won't be getting new shoes right now. We will go to the park, the library and I will get to spoil her a bit which I don't usually do. I am taking this time to focus completely on her and having Mommy and Juliet time.

I will also try and make some headway on tidying the house. It is time to go through the toys and take some to goodwill. This will definitely be easier with Ainsley away as she will often go into the Goodwill book and take toys out to play with. Toys she hasn't played with in ages.

But I miss her. I sometimes still feel like she is a part of me and when she is not around something is missing. I wonder if this will ever change.

My Baby's First Trip

Ainsley is going on her very first trip on an airplane this week with her dad. Brett's side of the family is having a family reunion in England and he is taking Ainsley to meet them. I thought long and hard about whether or not to join them with Juliet but I knew that it would be a stressful trip with a very active 19 month old and the thought of a 7 hour over night flight with her on my lap gave me serious anxiety. It was a tough decision, but paying thousands of dollars to be stressed out was not worth it. Juliet has never adjusted to change very well and so I felt we would have a better week staying at home in Toronto and spending quality time together. And then we could take the money we would have spent and go on a family vacation later in the year when the flight is much shorter and there is not time change.

Having made this decision not to go was very tough. The longest I have been apart from Ainsley is two nights. It will be tough to be away from her for 7 nights and days, especially since this will be her first airplane ride and she will get to experience some wonderful things for the first time and I won't be there to see her reaction. I love history and would have loved to be there with her to visit her first castle and describe to her what the castle would have been like in the old days. She loves princesses and castles and I think this will be a magical adventure for her. It makes me sad that I will not be there with her for it. At the same time I know I have made the right decision however for my own sanity.

I think she will have a wonderful time with my husband and his family and she is super excited. I look forward to our daily phone calls when she will tell me of her day and how much fun she is having. I also looking forward to spending some alone time with Juliet and giving her my undivided attention. I am thinking of fun and special things to do with her while her sister is away.

Mommy Connections - Sanity Saver for the new mom!!

Saying that having my first baby was a huge shock is an understatement. I thought I was totally prepared for becoming a mom but I don't think that you can ever be prepared for the life changing event of having a child. I felt lost as times and lonely and isolated. I dreaded the day my husband went back to work and had a lot of conflicting thoughts about my loss of a natural birth (I had an emergency c-section) and my role as a mom.

I had the presence of mind at the time that I needed to get out of the house even thought I knew it would be hard. So I signed up for a new mom and baby class at a centre that unfortunately no longer exists. This was the best decision I have made. By attending this class, my maternity leave was completely changed from one that could have been potentially lonely to one where I made lasting friendships for myself and hopefully for Ainsley.

In this class we talked about everything. And I mean everything. We talked about our disappointment with our births (I was releived to know I was not the only one mourning the loss of the birth we wanted) to whether our husbands were supportive or not. We talked about our fears and anxieties that came with being a new mom and nothing was off limits. When the class ended after 6 weeks we all keep meeting every few weeks to check in with each other. I am still friends with a couple of these moms and it's really neat to see how our children have grown.

As I mentioned, the company that ran this program closed as the owner had her own baby. It was really disappointing to me that this centre was no longer running classes as I would have liked to join such a class again when Juliet was born to meet peers for her. Recently I have come across an organization called Mommy Connections. They have post-natal classes similar to the one I went through. They are new to Toronto but I think that it is fantastic that they are here. I recommend every expecting parent to check them out. Their classes are a great way to meet other new moms to spend your mat leave with and at the same time gain information about your baby and resources available to you.

Mommy Connections is a modernized Post-Natal Program & Social Network featuring 6 weekly sessions of expert presenters. Sessions are designed to enlighten, support and educate, plus give new mom’s a place to go and socialize with other new moms. Topics include fitness, nutrition, safety, infant communication, and more. The first class starts on September 21st at Swansea Town Hall and costs only $60 for a 6 week program. If you know anyone expecting you should let them know about this program.

For more details go to: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Toronto-ON/Mommy-Connections-West-Toronto/116945278352604?ref=sgm&__a=8&ajaxpipe=1 or check out their website www.mommyconnections.ca

The Great Sugar Cookie Debate - To be Organic or not to be

Ainsley has been at camp this week and the counsellors had planned a great activity. They had baked some sugar cookies and the kids were going to decorate their cookies and then eat them. I thought this would be great fun as Ainsley loves to bake with me and decorate so for her to be able to do this at camp as well was exciting for her.

Then I overheard a parent speaking with the counsellor about the fact that her child only ate organic food and were the sugar cookies organic. Of course they weren't. They were pre-cut ready to bake cookies. This parent expressed her dismay over this and said her child should not eat the cookie and that in fact perhaps this activity should not happen.

Now, when it comes to parents choices about how they raise their children, I try to be open-minded and basically have the philosophy that if it works for you (as long as it doesn't hurt the child) than all the power to you. This was the first time I had encountered a situation in which a parent was enforcing their own beliefs over my child and what she could and couldn't do.

Initially I was angry that this women, because of her personal belief was going to ruin this fun activity for Ainsley. I was really annoyed that another parent was attempting to dictate what Ainsley could or could not do at camp as well as the other children. Especially since the other parents had been telling their children that they would get to decorate cookies that day. So if they were to cancel this, there would be a lot of disappointed children who wouldn't understand.

I had to go and drop Juliet off at camp so as I passed the office I overheard the counsellor speaking with her supervisor and they decided to compromise by doing the activity at the end of the morning so that the child in question could participate but the mom would arrive in time to tell this poor kid he couldn't eat his cookie.

So I thought this was a good compromise, although I did feel badly for the kid who would have to throw out his creation. So my question for everyone is this and I am interested to have opinions from both sides:

Those parents who are organic, how would you have handled non-organic cookies at camp? For parents who aren't, what would you do if an activity had been cancelled becuase of 1 parents belief?

My new hobby

My parents bought Ainsley a beading kit a few months ago and she has caught the bug! So I thought it would be great to learn how to make beaded jewellery so that she and I could do it together. I like doing crafts and now with etsy I have always thought wouldn't it be great to use my creative craftiness and start an etsy shop. I never had time to do this and I didn't really want to knit or sew which are two skills I can do but aren't passionate about it. So I thought I would take a stab at beading.



So I went and bought a book about beading and Ainsley and I went to the bead store and picked out the beads she wanted. We spent the afternoon creating bracelets and necklaces for her and this is what we made.





She has been wearing them everyday and now asks everyday to do beading with me while Juliet is asleep. There is no way I would bead when Juliet is around as that is a recipe for disaster. Now, this past weekend I had some time to myself so I created a necklace with a clasp and some more sophisticated beads. It was definitely fun to pick out the beads and create a unique necklace. I think I may start an etsy shop after all. This is what I made.





The necklace is made out of 20mm Purple/Pink Agate Coins and 20 mm Grey Agate Coins with 4mm Stone Amethyst Luster Beads. Now on to the next project.