The urge to purge

Perhaps it is because at this time last year I was very pregnant and was nesting like crazy....

Perhaps it is because we have a street sale in the fall and I want to be a seller this year, not just a buyer....

For the street sale...why did I ever have 4 ice trays, anyways??

Either way, I suddenly have the urge to purge. I am diligently going through every cupboard and drawer in the house and tossing anything I don't use regularly or have a special affinity for (such as Grandma's vintage table linens..they are not going anywhere!). My goal is to not have any overstuffed drawers/cupboards...my stretch goal is to have an empty drawer/shelf in every room. I have been at it for 3 days so far. Outstanding rooms include the office, my son's room, and the basement. I am getting more aggressive as I go. I'm on a rampage. I told my husband that if he gets caught in my path, he might be the next item to go...just kidding. He's a keeper.

I am making a number of piles:
- For the Goodwill
- For Nellie's (a nearby women's shelter)
- For the street sale
- For my sister (who has a new house to fill!!)
- For friends who are having a baby (it's still a secret!!!!)

Feeding baby

Today was one of the rare days when I had access to our car (my husband took my sister's car to work), so I went wild and went to Loblaws..wooohooo! Crazy talk, I know.

I am always looking for creative things to feed my 9 month old that don't result in leftovers that get thrown out. Loblaws is selling these salmon skewers for $2.50....the perfect amount of salmon for a few days worth a meals for the little guy!

Grandpa's birthday suprise

Isn't suprising people fun?

Yesterday was my Dad's 65th birthday, and my mom is throwing a big party for him this weekend. I decided to fly to Vancouver for the weekend with my 9 month old son and suprise my Dad. When I arrived, I quietly put 9 month old Miles in the front hall and my Mom called my Dad up to help her with a 'special package'. Grandpa was suprised indeed to see his Grandson sitting there smiling at him!!!

I had this onzie custom made in Toronto at the "T-shirt Guys", located at Logan and Dundas. I was able to custom order it to exactly what I wanted and they turned the job around super quickly. The printing is silk screened using soy based paint and the onzie is a really soft cotton. I would highly recommend this place, and they do orders of all sizes.

So fun....okay the flight was a bit of an ordeal (I missed my original flight and then mistakingly put all my babies' food in my checked luggage....space cadet moment!!!), but being here is great!!

Switch up: muffins made healthy for my baby

I have a 7 month old who is resisting solids and is eat a crazy amount of milk as a result. When I have tried purees (store bought, home made, mashed, blended, and strained, savory and sweet...I've tried it all) he just closes his lips as tight as a baloon knot and turns his head. So I am doing more of the baby led weening approach of just giving him big chunnks of food and letting him feed himself. I don't think he injests much, and it makes a terrible mess, but he seems happy.

Today I made him some mini muffins to try - they seem to be just the right size for little hands and can be frozen and just brought out one by one as your baby wants one. I used the standard Joy of Cooking muffin recipe and just swapped out a couple of key ingredients to make them baby friendly:

Original recipe:
1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp double acting baking powder
2 eggs
2-4 tablespoos of melted butter
3/4 cup milk

My adjustments:
Replaced all purpose flour with spelt flour (thanks Julie for the tip!!!)
Eliminated salt
Replaced sugar with a splash of maple syrup
Replaced eggs with 1 mashed banana (this was an Internet tip I found since babies can't have egg)
Added a dusting of ground flax
Added a dusting of psyllum husks
Added handful of blueberries

Don't over mix!
Cook at 400 degrees until a skewer comes out clean!

They are yummy for babies and adults alike!

Hi ho, hi ho, off to Joe we go

One of my favourite baby/kid products for summer is these SPF protecting one-piece bathing suits which protect baby skin from the sun's harsh rays. However they tend to be tough to find, and many of the ones I've seen are upwards of $50.

Joe Fresh is carrying them right now for $16...I bought one yesterday at the Eglinton East location. Joe stock never seems to last long, so go soon!

Controlling kid clothing chaos

When my daughter was born, I couldn't beleive how quickly she grew out of clothes. I was resistent to get rid of the clothing, but was at a loss for how to corral the growing mountain of clothing that was too big or too small.

In the end I decided to use canvas sweater bags. They have a clear top allowing you to see the contents of the bag and are the perfect size for small clothes - you'd be amazed at how many onzies you can fit in one sweater bag! I have mine sorted by the standard sizes (e.g. 0-3mos, 3-6mos, 6-12mos, etc) and labelled using a folded piece of paper on top of the clothing.

I originally was buying the sweater bags at IQ Living on the Danforth, but they no longer carry them. I am sure they are avilable at home organization stores, but I don't have any close to me, so I am now buying these ones on Amazon. Let me know if you know of where I can buy these in Toronto!

I know that this is a bit geeky, like a dewey decimal system for kids clothes, but it works! When my son was born and I wanted to quickly find some gender neutral newborn onzies, it was eaaasy peasy!

Valentine's gifts for a foodie father

My husband and I tend not to buy expensive Valentine's gifts. Instead, we like to give gifts that are personal and sentimental. So here is what we gave my husband:

1) A framed piece of art: kids' handprint/footprint.

To make this, I used a piece of canvas paper (available at any art store, like Deserres on the Danforth), and two different colours of acrylic paints. To finish it off, I wrote each of the kids' names and age with a silver pen. I still need to take a picture of the final product in the frame...it turned out quite well. The kids loved doing this, though it was obviously a bit messy!

Note- I initialy tried using finger paints since I thought the clean-up would be easier, but they don't have enough pigment to make the prints stand out.

2) My husband is an avid cook. He had admired this cookbook in the window of Circus books (a great used bookstore at Jones and Danforth) so my daughter and I snuck back and got it for him. The cheese cloth is to age his own beef...apparently you can buy unaged beef and age it yourself in the fridge quite easily with a zip lock container and some cheese cloth. Who knew?...I'll let you know how it turns out!

What did you give your sweetheart? Did you receive anything special?

Magic mittens

These mitts will change your life....I swear it! I learned about them from my friend Erin. They are a modern version of those old school mitts with the string that went through your coat from one hand to the other.

Made by Thinsulate, the mitts feature long sock-like stretchy cuffs that protect little arms from wind and snow, fit snuggly under coats, and prevent mitts from falling off. There is an infant version that has no thumb hole. They are adorable.

Best of all they are made right here in Canada.

I know that you can find these mitts at Fab Baby Gear and Hundred Mile Child on the Danforth, as well as Baby on the Hip, and they retail for around $30. This is the second winter that my daugther has worn hers, and I think they'll fit next year too, so they have some longevity.

Get your babe a pair just in time for tonight's snow storm!

Carrier friendly coffee

I often hit the pavement with my baby in a carrier (I am partial to the Trekker, which I blogged about here). Though I'm tempted to grab a coffee at my local coffee shop, the thought of spilling a hot drink on my little one's face or head makes me nervous.

I recently learned that Starbucks has a universal option called "kid's temperature", which is hot enough to make your beverage enjoyable, but will not burn your baby if you happen to spill.

If you're at a non-Starbuck's coffee shop (I hit the new Crema on the Danforth the other day - it's FABULOUS!), just ask for your latte between 120 and 130 degrees and you'll be baby safe.

Make that a vente for me please!

A table for tots

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was lucky enough to inherit some furniture from a relative. One of the items was an miniature antique table and chair set. It came with 2 chairs, and I happened upon a third matching chair at Goodwill a few weeks later. It was meant to be!

Not only is this a charming and sentimental set, but it is used incessantly at our house. We've had it in our daughter's bedroom, in the basement, and now it sits at our front window on the main floor. It is used as the 'kiddy table' when we have dinner parties, as a colouring table while I'm making dinner, and as a stool to see activity outdoors including people going to and from the subway at the end of our street, and the garbage and recylcing trucks on Wednesdays!

Below are some other options from Ikea that I spied this weekend.

Do you have furniture in your house that does double duty?

LATT set from Ikea- $24.99



Kritter chair from IKEA - $19.99






Mammut table from IKEA - $49.99

delightful diapers for a precious planet

Did you know that in their first year of life babies will use almost 3,000 diapers? This fact made me start thinking about using cloth diapers when my daughter was born. I started doing research and was pleasantly suprised to learn how far cloth diapers have come since our mothers' time....no more diaper pins!

I oped for Bum Genius diapers. They come in a rainbow of fun colours, stand the test of time (I used mine with my daughter and now my son), and are impressively leak-proof. They also are adjustable so they will snugly fit your little one from infancy up to toilet training.

I bought mine at Baby on the Hip and Moms to be and More, but they are available at a number of other Toronto retailers as well (though MTB&M was where I found them the cheapest when I was looking a few years ago).

They sure look beautiful all stacked and folded....if only they were so lovely when they went into the laundry!

Bedtime bible

My first baby was a horendous sleeper. It would take us hours to get her to fall asleep, and then she would wake up five to eight times a night. My husband and I felt angry, helpless, and nauseous most days.
I remember reflecting on how funny it was that when I was pregnant I thought that a Bugaboo would make me a happy mom, and it iturns out I would have happily taken the lamest stroller on the market if my child would only sleep.

When my daughter was around 5 months old we made the difficult decision to do some hard core sleep training. We heard a lot of tears, but within a week, we were blessed with a pretty good sleeper. It was nothing short of amazing.

Since then, this book has been my bible. It has seen us through teething, illness, the move to a 'big girl' bed, and the unthinkable soother elimination. Now, it is my go-to resource for sleep training my son.

I like this book because it offers a range of approaches, appealing to both the timid and the brave when it comes to listening to your child cry. It also covers most every situation and stage...and most of all, the strategies work and I have my evenings back to blog!

I also know a number of Moms who have successfully used the The Sleep Doula's services. They say its the best $200 they have ever spent.

Wishing you a blissful night of soundly sleeping children....

Easy nursery art

In advance of my son's birth in August, we moved my 2 year old daughter out of the nursery into a 'big girl room'. The nursery has some floating Ikea shelves in it that were filled with special mementos of my daughter, but have sadly remained virtually empty since my son moved in. ....it's the plight of the second child to not have as many keepsakes, I suppose!

Until I come up with some more special items to fill these shelves, I've come up with a temporary alternative. I collected a series of special books that we've received and put them up on the shelves. I like all the colour they add, and the way they can easily be switched around as the spirit moves me!

....and yes, I need to find a more visually pleasing clock. I love Tivoli's Model Three Clock Radio but am waiting patiently until one shows up on Craigslist.

This magnificant mess

Do you ever feel like you can never get ahead of the mess of children?

Every night I head to bed with the main floor cleaned and organized for the day ahead. ...and a mere 15 minutes into the start of the next day, it looks I've had 30 two year olds rampage my house. I guess my 2 year old is 'efficient' at creating mess. We're out the door most days early in the morning, so I barely have time to brush my teeth, let along do any clean up, until nap time in the afternoon. But it is so satisfying when at 3pm I get to enjoy a clean living room again....and then my daughter wakes up and we start the cycle all over again!...I think I hear her now.

Goodwill intel...on the down low.

After blogging about my favourite Goodwill location here, I received an email from a friend with intel on another prime location, this time in the west end of the City.

Now before I go on, I must provide some context on my source. She is not your typical Goodwill shopper. Her idea of a deal is a $100 t-shirt at Saks, and her husband is staunchly against second hand goods, disallowing them from crossing the threshold of his home..ok I'm exagerating, but you get the point.

All this is to say that I took her seriously when she emailed me and said that the best source for top quality kids clothes, including like-new Gap kids items, is the Goodwill at 871 Islington Ave, just South of the Queensway.

Start the car and don't pass go!

Spices, spatulas and strollers?

We were childless when we bought our house, and as a result didn't intimately understand the overwhelming amount of 'stuff' one accumulates with babies. While we have a decent amount of interior space, we have no outdoor storage for our:

- Running stroller
- Single everyday stroller
- Double everyday stroller
- Red wagon
- Umbrella stroller
- Trike
- 2 adult bikes
- Sleds
- Patio furntiure (requires winter storage)
- etcetera etcetera....

That's right...no shed, no garage, no covered deck.

So as a result my strollers live in my kitchen, and I end up washing my floors each and every time I bring the dirty snowy strollers in and out.

I know that every house has its quirks and quarks, and that this is just something I have to live with. What beef do you have with your house?

Light in her loafers....or boots

Last year my mom bought my daughter the most amazing boots, called Holeys. They are extremely lightweight, made of a material similar to Crocs, so wee ones don't have trouble walking in them. They are also warm, waterproof, and colourful! I decided to post about them since every time my daughter wears them out other Moms ask me where I got them.

They are available in Toronto at Tajo Shoes (1723 Bayview in Leaside), as well as a few other locations.

I am hoping for more puddles, and less snow!!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Even though it hasn't been too cold this winter so far, I still find these months difficult when I'm trying to get 2 kids out the door in the morning for activities. My husband takes our car to work, so I'm carless during the day, instead relying on my UppaBaby and 2 feet.

My favourite baby product of the moment is the 7am Enfant Revolution stroller blanket. It is essentially the best quality universal stroller sleeping bag you can find. It is windproof, down-filled, fleece-lined and cosy from your baby's toes right up to the top of their head thanks to the 'hood shape'. This bag is convertable to various sizes, so it works right up to age 3 or so.

These bags are incredibly warm. I put my kids in without shoes or a coat and they stay toasty warm.

They retail for almost $200 CDN, but once and a while pop up on Kijiji and Craigslist. I have bought 2* of them from Craig this year for $100 each.

* I had 5 stroller bags altogether. Crazy, I know. But one of them was the UppaBaby Ganoosh, which I thought was horrible so I sold it on Craigslist recently. It is way to thin for a Toronto winter. I would not recommend it. So now I have 4: 2 for my UppaBaby stoller (1 for each kid), one in my running stoller, and 1 in the stroller that our nanny uses with our daughter and her friend. I am all set for a cold spell!

Dare to share

When I was about 9 weeks pregnant with my first child, I confided my news to a friend. After congratulating me, her first question was what daycares I was on the waitlist for.

My first response was that she was insane, given that I was barely pregnant.

My next response was to call all the daycares in my area and get on waitlists (turns out I was the insane one!).

But as I thought more about it, I realized that daycare wasn't going to work for us once I was back at work. My work hours were long and unpredictable, while my husband's work is outside the city and he is constantly held hostage by traffic.

So we started thinking about getting a nanny. But when we looked at the economics, it was going to be almost double the cost of putting our daughter in daycare....so then we thought about a nanny share, which turned out to be the perfect solution for us.

We share our nanny with another family, which has worked brilliantly. Our daughter now has a "BFF" and the cost is comparable with daycare.

If you are considering a nanny share, please get in touch, as we have thought through and been through all of the issues that arise from taxes and T4s to how to deal with family vacations, sick kids, food, and cost splitting.

Isn't it funny how child care is something almost every parent has to figure out, yet it feels like we're all figuring it out for the first time?

Goodwill for babies

While pregnant with my first born, I dutifully visited trendy baby stores around the city, purchasing all the things I *needed* for the baby. Well needless to say, I quickly realized that A) the things I thought I needed didn't stop the baby from crying or from being up all night and B) that buying baby stuff new was just plain silly.

This being said, baby #2 has been living under the 'buy as much used stuff as possible' mantra.

So while I was doing one of my regular drop-offs at Goodwill* the other day, I saw this amazing baby entertainment centre for $6.06 and quickly scooped it up. It is originally from Ikea, in excellent condition, and is quite modern looking with the bentwood frame and brightly painted dangling parts. So far it's a hit with the babe!

* Two notes on the Goodwill:
1) I have visited many Goodwills across the city, and the best one I have found is the one on Overlea Blvd across from the East York Town Centre. ...however it seems that the secret is out. The last time few times I've visited, there were folks that were obviously collectors loitering at the door where new items are brought out. Do you have a favourite locaiton?
2) I purge like crazy....it seems like every week I have boxes of treasures to donate. Most of my stuff goes to the Goodwill, but if I have new or very gently used items for women or babies, I donate to Nellie's which is a women's shelter in Toronto.