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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Christophe's birth and my passage to motherhood

Tomorrow will mark Christophe's 1st Birthday. The other day, Christophe found his birth book from the midwives clinic, so I started looking at it and thought it would make an interesting post to mark this occasion.

These are the statistics from Christophe's birth:

Presentation: Vertex
Position: LOA
Complications: None
Medication given: Vancomycin
Induction: None
Augmentation: Artificial rupture of the membrane (breaking the water)
Method of delivery: Spontaneous
Placenta: Spontaneous delivery
Episiotomy: No
Laceration: 2nd degree
Delivery Anesthetics: No
Fetus gestational age: 37 weeks 6 days
Admitted to hospital: March 1/08 at 1:45am
Membranes ruptured: March 1/08 at 6:00am
Onset of Labour: March 1/08 at 9:30am
Complete cervical dilation: March 1/08 at 11:30am
Delivery of infant: March 1/08 at 1:05pm
Delivery of placenta: March 1/08 at 1:12pm
APGAR score at 1min & 5 min identical:
Heart rate:2
Respiration:2
Muscle tone:2
Reflex irritation:2
Skin color:1
Total:9
Resucitation: none
Sex: male
Weight: 7lb 15oz
Head: 35.5cm
Length: 51cm
Vitamin K: given
Erythromycin eye ointment: not given

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Toy Thursday - Non-toxic toys

Instead of talking about one toy this week I want to bring up the subject of what is a non-toxic toy. In another post I will look at what makes a toy green; so this post is strictly about chemicals and toxins.

Everyday we make purchases and decisions on behalf of our little ones from what clothing will they wear; to what will they eat; to what will they play with; and everything else they do. Our children are our responsibility and it's up to us to ensure they are safe.

You would think that if a toy has been approved for sale in Canada that it is safe for play; think again everyday toys are recalled. The recalls catch the toys that don't meet the governments standards but are the standards high enough?

Let's look at various toxins that can be found in toys: (because Christophe keeps me extra busy, I am going yo divide this post in sections each one talking about a toxin)

This weeks toxin is - LEAD

We all know lead is bad, it can be found in your water supply, old construction materials, and paint in your home, it has also been known to turn up in painted toys and kids jewelry.

"Scientists have found there is no safe level of lead for children - even the smallest amount effects a child's ability to learn. Children are more vulnerable than adults to lead. Lead impacts brain development, causing learning and developmental problems including decreased IQ scores, shorter attention spans, and delayed learning" 1

Because lead is a natural element it is found in almost everything around us, trace amounts are probably in all toys. What you want is that your toy does not leach lead. Well this should not only apply to toys but to everything in your home; but we are talking about toys.

How do I avoid lead toys, unless you personally test all your toys for lead there is no way of being 100% certain that your child does not own a toy that contains lead but there are ways you can reduce the chance of this happening.
  1. avoid buying no-name brand toys
  2. avoid buying toys from the dollar store - they are notorious for recalls
  3. do not buy second hand toys that have metal bits or paint unless you know the manufacturer. This way you can look up the toy to see if it has ever been recall
  4. do not buy metal jewelry - especial cheep jewelry - for young children. Over 20% of children jewelry contain lead.
  5. buy a home lead kit test and test some of your toys, the results may surprise you. (I hope that you do not find any lead in your toys buy I would not count on it)
  6. my last tip is use your common sens, check up on the company see if they have had recalls in the past for lead, if so how many, how long ago. If the company has a bad reputation and lots of recalls I would personally avoid purchasing from them.
Number 5 said to get a lead paint test kit, these can be purchased at most reputable paint stores.

Additional reading:
Lead saftey in Toys
A third of toys contain detectable lead
Consumer Product Recalls
Product Recalls
Healthy Toys


I leave you with this question: Have you ever had experience with lead in toys? do you have tips on how to help to avoid lead in toys?

1 - Healthy Toys

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wordless Wednesday


http://www.wordlesswednesday.com

Tasty Tuesdays - Mustard Oil Dressing

As most of you know we make all our own food at the Wiseman house; that means no store bought dressings my Mustard Oil Dressing is an easy tasty dressing that anyone can quickly whip up. The mustard serves as an emulsifier so that the oil and vinegar do not separate.

Ingredients:

● 1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
● 3/4 cup olive oil
● 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
● 1/2 tsp salt
● 1 tsp black pepper
● 1 pinch garlic powder
● 1 pinch onion powder


Directions:

In a jar with a lid, combine all ingredients. Cover and shake until
thoroughly combined. Chill until ready to serve.

Tasty Tuesday Button

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Life is Grand Award

Let's start by saying thank you to Lisa from Mom of 2 Boys, Wife of 1 for nominating me - be sure to take a peek at her blog. I feel a bit horrible as she nominated me almost a month ago; however life has been too "grand" and busy for me to keep up with many of my blogging duties.

I have to name 5 reasons why LIFE is GRAND and then award 5 others...

So, here are my reasons:

1. I have healthy baby boy that is about to turn one.
2. I am fortunate enough to be able to stay at home with my son instead of going back to work.
3. I have the best husband in the world - he is crazy supportive.
4. Health and happiness - I am finally at a place in my life that I am happy with who I am and what I do. It took many long years to get here; maybe one day I will blog about my journey.
5. This reason is purely "monetary", I am 30, own a home (with my husband), a car (an old one), and we are close to having all my student loans paid off.

Now, for my nominations:

1. Micheline from La familia Zet-Girouard
2. Kim from The "greening" days chez SHAKER family
3. The Diva from Little Rock Star
4. Shanilie from A mom's Love
5. Danielle from New Mommy Rant

Congratulations Ladies on the Life is Grand Award! You have all been a great help to me…even if you didn't know it.

Want to know how Christophe spends his days?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A refreshing change from all the plastic kids play with in the tub

This was suppose to be my Toy Thursday, but let's see it's Saturday now...

We just got a new tub toy for Christophe from North Star Toys - Busy Boat. Christophe seems to love it; as he can spend the majority of his bath trying to place the little men in and out of there spots. The craftsmanship from North Star toys is top notch. Before the boat arrived I was a bit skeptical that it would float; but it does ( the little men too ).

This is how North Star Toys describes there products: "Since 1979 our family has been making quality, non-toxic wooden toys at affordable prices for families like yours. Walnut, oak, alder and other fine woods are handcrafted into smooth, durable designs and rubbed with a non-toxic oil to allow the natural beauty to shine. Recycled materials are used whenever possible and top priority is given to environmental sustainability."

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Tasty Tuesdays - Irish Stew

This is a great stew that is perfect for the fall or winter months. I can even get Christophe to eat this one.

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 15 Min
Cooking Time: 30 Min

Ingredients:
● 6 small carrots, chopped
● 4 medium potatoes , cubed
● 1 parsnip, peeled and cubed
● 1/2 turnip, peeled and cubed
● 1 onion , chopped
● 1/2 tsp black pepper
● 2 liters water, or as needed
● 3 cubes vegetarian beef bouillon
● 1 1/2 cups green split peas
● 1 cup pearl barley or jobs tears, (can be substituted for small noodles)

Directions:

Place all vegetables into a large saucepan and saute until golden. Add remainder of ingredients bring to a boil and cook until all ingredients are tender. Approximately 30 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.

Tasty Tuesday Button

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Pregnancy - Questionaire

Here's a great questionnaire about how we became moms! If you have the time (haha), fill it copy it as a reply and fill it out so we can learn a little more about you!


1.HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU HAVE?
1

2. HOW OLD?
almost 12 months

3. NAME(S):
Christophe

4. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED OR SURPISES?
Planned

5. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
Happy, nervous and scared...

6. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
29

7. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
peed on a stick

8. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Geoff, then his parents and mine pretty much at the same time

9. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
yup

10. DUE DATE -
March 15 if I remember correctly

11. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
Only when Geoff cooked meat or fish

12. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
lemonade, eggs - both items that I do not eat normally

13. WHAT IRRITATED YOU?
Geoff

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
I will be honest I always wanted a girl, until I had a boy now I want 2 more boys...

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN DURING PREGNANCY?
15 lbs

16. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
No

17. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Hospital

18. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
I can't really figure it out without looking at my hospital records but I think about 12 hours maybe?

19. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
Geoff

20. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Geoff, my midwives and my Doula

21. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Completely natural.

22. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Nope

23. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
7 lbs 15 oz

24. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN?
March 1, 2008

25. DID YOU NAME THEM AFTER ANYONE?
yes, his first name is after Geoff brother's name and his middle name is my dad's middle name

Thank you to Little Rock Star for sharing this.

See Kai Run Contest

This mom Can Shop has a great contest right now to win a pair of your choice See Kai Run Shoes.

I love these shoes....

and the contest is open to Canadians.

HAPPY FAMILY DAY


In Ontario we have a new statutory holiday, Family Day. Family Day is celebrated on the 3rd Monday of February.

Happy 2nd Family Day.

The first ever Family Day in Ontario was on February 18, 2008.

In honor of Family Day lets look at a definition of Family that I like:
"two or more persons related by birth, marriage, adoption, or emotional ties."

Sunday, February 15, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOFF

Today it's my amazing husband's birthday. As much as I often complain, Geoff is the best man in the whole world (next to Christophe of course). I could not have chosen anyone better to become the father of my child.


I Love you Geoff.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

teflon out - CERAMIC IN

First of all I would like to start with that I think my kitchen is finally "plastic free". I say this in quotations because we still have a few items left...

Our mandolin; we don't use it often enough to make it worth switching. Our food processor; we could not find a viable option were food does not touch plastic; if anyone out there knows of one let us know. Our glass jars have plastic lids and some of our utensils/kitchen gadget have plastic handles but none of those touch food.

Our last switch was our kettle we traded in our electric plastic kettle for a beautiful brushed stainless steel stove top kettle. We got in on a great deal at Winners, it's from Kuhn Rikon and has such a nice heavy weight to it.

Our next step is to banish Teflon from our home. You ask me why are we banning Teflon and teflon like products from our home...

"DuPont studies show that the Teflon offgases toxic particulates at 464°F. At 680°F Teflon pans release at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens, two global pollutants, and MFA, a chemical lethal to humans at low doses. At temperatures that DuPont scientists claim are reached on stovetop drip pans (1000°F), non-stick coatings break down to a chemical warfare agent known as PFIB, and a chemical analog of the WWII nerve gas phosgene."

"In new tests conducted by a university food safety professor... A Teflon pan reached 721°F in just five minutes..."


So how are we banishing Teflon:

We started by getting rid of all our none stick pans and replacing them with stainless steel high end pans such as Lagostina and Cusinart. Winners is a great place to get these for reasonable prices. The reason why I say high end is that with past experience unless it's a heavy weight stainless steel you wont be happy with the pan after a few weeks. You need to spend the $ to get something that will last and cook well.

However Geoff wanted to keep one non-stick pan for when he cooks those really sticky items. This is when we started to research alternatives to non-stick pans. After a bit of research and a struck of luck when we were spending some gift cards that we received at Christmas we found Earthchef at Zellers. Earthchef is made from stainless steel with a non-stick ceramic coating. So far we love our pan. I have to say I was also impressed at the weight of the pan, it's nice and heavy and compares well to our $200 Lagostina pan.

Eggs still stick a bit to the pan and you need to use a small amount of oil but it's worth the trade off for our health.

Earthchef also makes baking wear. In case you did not know most of the metal baking wear is also coated with Teflon. So we got a cookie sheet and a muffin tray from Earthchef also. We also love these - no problem with sticking yet.

Earthchef is manufactured by BergHOFF in Belgium. There website claims that the product is "six times stronger than the traditional non-stick coatings"; use "recycled packaging"; "the product line offers cookware; induction cook-tops; bake-ware; roasters; cutting boards; cutlery and knife blocks".

The best thing about Earthchef (after the fact that it's safe) is the cost, our 10" pan was around $30 and our cookie sheet was around $15.

Other then these great ceramic cook and bake wear items we are using glass and clay wear to do our baking; we already had tones of these that were given to me by my grandmother years ago.

We still have a few items that we need to find solutions for such as our rice cooker, waffle iron, spring form pans and decorative cake pans. If anyone out there has seen a rice cooker that is plastic and teflon free please let us know.

Quotations 1 & 2 from: Canaries in the Kitchen by EWG the article is worth a full read.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Toy Thursday - Eco Books

I am a sucker for books that help teach my kids values about the environment. Last week we were at Winners and found a book called "My Bag and Me!" by Karen Farmer. It's a great board book that tells the story of a little boy going on a shopping trip with his reusable bag. The book even comes with a little reusable bag for your child.

To top it off, the book and the bag are 100% recyclable after your child destroys it :-)

I am assuming we will give it to another child in 5 years or so when our little one is done with it instead of recycling it.

This book is rapidly becoming one of our favorites.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tasty Tuesdays - Chewy Raisin Cookies

This is a great eggless version of oatmeal raisin cookies. It uses panela that can be substituted for brown sugar and spelt flakes that can be substituted for oatmeal.

Ingredients:

● 2 sticks butter, soft
● 2 cups panela, packed
● 3 tsp. baking powder
● 1 tsp. baking soda
● 1/4 tsp. salt
● 1 tsp. vanilla
● 2 cups spelt flakes
● 1 cup raisins
● 1 1/2 cups flour
● 1 cup sugar
● 2 tbsp. water
● 2 tbsp. vinegar
● 1 cup chopped pecans or other fruit, optional
● 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine sugars and butter. Add vanilla, water, and vinegar; mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and soda, followed by salt. Combine the two mixtures together. Add raisins, and spelt; mix together well. Add pecans if desired.

Roll dough in small balls with about 6-9 cookies per greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies won't look ready at 10 minutes but take out and let sit for 5 minutes in order to be chewy.

Tasty Tuesday Button

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Toy Thursday

Make your very own robot. "Readymechs are free, flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5"x11" page and printed with any printer. You’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time."

These are great for older kids, a fun craft that almost anyone can do.

These would also look super cute lined up on a bookcase in an (older child's room). I say older child because some of them are a bit "grown up".

These can also be part "eco-friendly" if you use recycled paper or reuse paper that would have otherwise been thrown out.

Image by Readymech

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Calling out to my Toronto Readers for help

In Toronto while my son and his friends were celebrating a birthday, another child from our neighborhood was losing everything but his parents.

There was a blaze that destroyed a townhouse complex in our neighborhood. To read the full article as published by CTV click here.

The toddler they speak of in the article that was caught by that extraordinary gentlemen is a playmate of a friend. The family affected did not have any insurance...

Donations for the families effected can be made at the Lighthouse Church, 17 Rhodes.

Items they need are as follows:

  • Clothing
  • Blankets
  • Personal Stuff
  • Toys for Ana and others (she is 22 months)
  • Food (no peanut-based)

They are also hoping to present monetary donation in cheque form adressed to Helping Hands International Ministries, branch/transit #05522 and Account Number #010-4901-1

I can't help but to tear up when I try to imagine the thoughts that must have gone through that mother's head when she threw her baby out the window to safety.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Tasty Tuesday - Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week I am sharing a healthier version of Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: these are made with spelt flakes. If you have a hard time finding spelt flakes you can substitute them for quick oats. I have a hard time keeping little hands out of the cookie jar when I make these (well, big hands, as they are my huband's and my own)

Ingredients:

● 1 cup butter, softened
● 1 cup panela, packed
● 1/2 cup white sugar
● 2 egg
● 2 tsp vanilla
● 1 cup all-purpose flour
● 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
● 1/2 tsp baking soda
● 1 tsp salt
● 3 cups spelt flakes
● 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the spelt flakes and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.


3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tasty Tuesday Button

Monday, February 2, 2009

Happy Groundhog Day

This is hoping that it's a good Groundhog Day and that the little fellow does not see his shadow. I personally believe that this is a silly tradition and we should leave the little groundhogs alone.

Image by Dash Tapper