Have you seen my son’s pacifiers?

My 27 month old son is obsessed with his pacifierS.  The problem is, they keep disappearing on us.  I don’t know where they go or how they get lost, but they do.  I kid you not, but we’ve probably purchased over 100 pacifiers in his lifetime.  If you’ve ever purchased any before, you know they’re not cheap.  The going rate is $10 for 2 (on average).  So if you do some quick math, we’ve probably spent invested somewhere around $500 on these plastic and rubber gadgets. I know what you’re thinking… “get one of those clips so he doesn’t lose them” or “just stop giving him pacifiers.”   Brilliant ideas and I should know because I’ve thought about doing both of these things, but it’s easier said than done.  First of… my son is smarter and stronger than he looks. He’s pretty up-to-date on what’s in fashion and what’s not, and apparently, the pacifier clips ARE NOT!  He immediately pulls them off his shirt so what we have left is a pacifier in his mouth with a clip hanging down from it.  Not useful at all.  I can’t stop giving him the pacifiers because he’s obsessed with them, and baby #2 is expected to arrive in about two weeks time.  As if I won’t damage this kid’s self-esteem enough (he’s a momma’s boy), to take away his one other true love (sorry Dad) would truly kill him.  Not to mention, I’m pretty sure one’s love for pacifiers are hereditary.  It’s no joke!  My husband John used pacifiers until he was 4 years old!! 

My favourite things for newborn babies

I may not be Oprah (okay, I’m nowhere near like Oprah), but I have my own list of favourite things.  Specifically, for newborn babies.  With the holiday season upon us, and the birth of our second child around the corner, it got me in the mood for some shopping! Okay, I’m always in the mood for shopping, but more so now…

Here’s a list of my favourite items (along with some input from my other mommy friends) that I think every parent of a newborn should have:

1. Velcro swaddle.  Kyle was a great sleeper and I attribute this to the fact that we swaddled him consistently.  In fact, we kept swaddling him until he was 6 months old!  A bit longer than most people would like to admit to, but hey, it worked (for all of us). Another one recommended by my friend is the Miracle Blanket.

Imagine celebrating the holidays every month! Now you can, with the Baby Trunk {Review}

Opening Happiness Every Month is Baby Trunk’s tag line; and this perfectly describes their unique service.

Imagine receiving a package every month with 4 or 5 products from the best brands for your little one.  Each package is customized based on your child’s age (newborn to 3 years) and gender so they can be utilized immediately.  And who doesn’t love receiving packages in the mail.  I know I do, especially those that are surprises.  That’s how I felt when I received my first Baby Trunk package in late October.  I tore it open and found 5 items in the box that fell under the theme of “The Little Monster Box”.

The items include “Boo Bunny!” book, a race car (by Green Toys), a (organic) Giraffe Lovie Blanket, a Toy & Surface cleaner and packages of Organic Baby Food.  Total retail price of the five products is approximately $50.

Not only are these products organic and environmentally friendly, but they have all been selected and approved by mom’s, not endorsed by the companies that they are purchased from.  So you know you are receiving quality, useful products for your family.

With so many of our family and friends expecting their first (and some their second) baby, this makes for a unique and special gift idea.  I know I would love to receive it 😉 (hint, hint, wink, wink). I’ve already purchased one for a friend of mine.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go on Baby Trunk’s website (www.babytrunk.ca) and register

2. Choose a plan…. (added bonus, shipping is free!!!)

$35 / month

$105 / 3 months

$175 / 6 months (1 month is free)

$350 / 12 months (2 months are free)

3. Look forward to your Trunk delivery (or have a close family or friend anticipate the arrival of their amazing gift).

In order to receive the next Trunk in time for the holidays sign-up before December 12th, 2012.

Happy Holidays & Happy shopping 🙂

Baby-shower-palooza!

With several friends expecting between July and September, the time for the baby showers has finally arrived.  A few weekends ago,  I attended two very different, but very special baby showers.

With four of our close-friends all due within two months of each other, we decided to throw a “group” baby-shower, hosted by six of the girls in the group.

Soon-to-be moms in order of due date

We made brunch reservations at a local restaurant called Joy Bistro in Lesliville (btw – great brunch spot for those of you in the area).  We decorated the tables and enjoyed some girl time while cheering (sans alcohol of course) the moms-to-be.  As for the gifts, we all put in money towards a gift-card and we bought each lady a onsie with the baby’s last name.  Everyone just loved this personalized, unique gift (from www.kids-spot.ca).

All of the ladies

After brunch, I quickly headed up to my second baby shower.  The theme was “high-tea” and was hosted by my friend’s mom and mother-in-law.  The beautifully decorated back-yard looked very elegant and sweet.  With tables, chairs and tents set up, servers went around filling up people beautiful tea-cups with different tea and ensured that our platters were full of the delicious food that was served throughout the event.  Specifically, the menu included: Mini Scones, Quiches, gourmet Tea sandwiches, miniature Desserts & Fruit Plate.

Various games were played throughout the event including; 1) Guess how many tea bags are in the jar (total was the month and day the baby is due) 2) match pregnancy terms to candy name, 3) guess how big the belly is using string, 4) baby clip game where you can’t say the soon-to-be mom and dad’s name or baby 5) a scratch card game and 6) poppy diaper game lottery.  The detail put into these games was amazing.  My best-friend and I told each other that we want a due-over on our baby showers (and yes, we each hosted one another’s shower).

At the end, the amazing cake was brought out.  It was too cute and very special (hello – a baby in a tea cup).  Of course, each guest left with a parting gift.  A tea bag holder with a tea bag that was created especially for the shower.

What a special filled day for all of the soon-to-be moms.  I can’t wait to meet all of the little ones and for Kyle to have some new friends* 🙂

* Special congratulations to Andrea and Mike on the birth of their son Grey (July 7th, 2012).

We missed the (baby) boat

My husband and I apparently missed the baby boat.  Or in our case, we jumped ship too early.  As it turns out, we know 17 couples that are expecting their first child between now and August.  Apparently the Mayans had it all wrong.  2012 is the year of the baby!  I guess this shouldn’t surprise me since we attended 12 weddings in 2009 (including our own), 14 weddings in 2010 and 7 weddings this past year.  As well, we’re (hopefully) expecting to receive some additional baby news from more of our friends.  Let the baby showers begin 🙂

Kyle (12 weeks pregnant)

Granted, of the 17 couples we know, six are acquaintances, four live out of country and one lives out of province.

There are of course pros and cons to this.

Cons:

Kyle will be between a year and a half to almost two years older than most of these babies.  That means, after their birth, it’ll be another year and a half at least until Kyle will have more “play friends”.

Pros:

1. We don’t need to look for new friends!
2. Our friends will finally understand what my blog posts and baby ramblings mean.

   

   http://www.lunch.com

Of course I’m just kidding.  It will all be positive!  We’re so excited and happy for our family and friends to begin this new journey of their lives.  We love every second with Kyle and we wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.  If anything, this is making me think that we should start thinking about baby #2 soon!*

PS. As of posting date, three of our friends had their baby. Congrats to Sari and Scott on the birth of their son, Katie and Pete on the birth of their daughter and Carmi and Jeremy on the birth of their daughter.

*John just fell off his chair reading that!

Ladies, can you keep a secret?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  It’s something that you’ve probably heard about but never knew anyone who experienced it.  It’s a dirty little secret that no one talks about, but it happened to me.  It’s called the baby blues, and yes, I had them!

When I was about 4 months pregnant, my husband and I thought it would be a great idea to renovate our house.  Sorry, did I say renovate? I meant tear-down our house.  Gut it all out and leave nothing but the outside walls.  I bring this up because doing this made me happy.  During the 6 month process, which ended the day we brought our son Kyle home from the hospital, I was maybe upset for a total of 2 days.  I was never really stressed or overwhelmed, even though we had to change contractors half way through and almost nothing went according to plan.  I was just excited to have the house of my dreams and nothing, not even crazy pregnancy hormones, could get in the way of that excitement.  Which totally ill-prepared me for what was about to come next.