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Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Last Few Weeks in Pictures...

Every day I take picture thinking I am going to blog about the picture... I often never do because life just gets busy. So here is a quick look at some of the things that happened during the last 2 weeks that I wanted to blog about.

Baby Gets a Back Pack

My favorite pans for C Monster ripped at the knees when C Monster took a dive on the side walk.  C monster knees were fine but the pans had a great big hole in them.  He had these since he was 9 months old (We used to roll them a lot).  They were bought at Wall-mart in NB then C Monster had a poopy explosion in the store.

I took one of the pant pockets and transformed it into a backpack for baby.  C Monster was oh so delighted when he saw it.

Mama Gets New Boots

It has been since C Monster was born I was looking for rain boots.  I have thick legs so I have a hard time finding boots that work for me.  I also wanted real rubber boots not some of those boots you can get these days loaded with all sorts of chemicals.  I also wanted something that looked good on me.  I decided almost a year and half ago I wanted low Hunter boots but well they are not cheep - I finely went out and splurged on them.

In the picture to the left  C Monster is modeling them for you.

Canned Eggplant 

I finely got around to can eggplant and pistou in oil.  You place raw eggplant with spices and onions in sterilized jars and add lots of olive oil.  Wait one month then enjoy.  I also may pistou with basil from my garden that I also canned.  Once I open these and try them I will let you know how they turned out and post recipes if they were good. 



Which Towel is Yours?

A little while back I blogged about reusing our towels more then once. The problem with this is how do you tell your apart from Geoff's or C Monster's - all our towels are white and match.  I used some clothespins and labeled them with our initial and some identifying stickers. When we hang our towel to dry we add the pin to the side.  Problem solved you always know "which towel is yours"


Hole No More
As much as I will be the first to admit I love to shop, I also hate getting rid of something that is 100% still usefull or tossing out something that is broken - because I know no one else would want to use it.

So when C Monster bran new organic sheet ripped only a few months after we bought it I was not ready to down cycle it to something else. I decided to patch it -  I found this extra cute dinosaur patch for only a couple bucks on Etsy and sowed it on to the sheet.  Since the whole was on the side of the sheet I did not need to worry about the treads being uncomfortable under you when you are sleeping.

C Monster quite likes his "new" dinosaur sheets - that is a bonus too.

Sippy Cups

OK so we are in the hunt for a new drinking cup for C Monster.  Our main requirements are:
- does not leak when tipped over
- C Monster can not shake out the contents
- not made from plastic (at least the inside parts that touch the liquid)
- shock resistant - i.e. not made from glass

The reason this came to is that we have owned many different cups for him. (see past post) but still have not found the perfect cup.

Cup number 1 - The Kleen Kanteen is great as he can drink from it, he likes it cause it looks like ours and now he even uses a sports top like ours - however he can also shake the water out all over the place when he wants to.

Cup number 2 - The Born Free we converted 2 baby bottles that we never used into a sippy cups again the issue is C Monster can shake out the contents also they are glass and well he got mad one day a pitched one - you can guess what happened after that.

Cup number 3 - The Foogo it's leak proof, shatter resistant, made from metal and so on but their is just one problem - we have owned 3 in a year and half and all of them have broken. The first one lasted a long time about a year or so - after a year the lid stopped closing and then yesterday the plastic base fell off.  The second one we had cracked at the base after about 3 months and started leaking water.  The 3rd one's lid broke just 2 weeks after we bought it.  I had call Foogo and they said they would send me a replacement lid - that was over 3 months ago now and well I do not have a replacement yet and don't think I will ever get one.

And yes for any of you wondering I am going to send a link to this blog post to Foogo.

Any other cup we tried with him can't really be counted as they were tried when he was only 12 months old and well he has changed a lot since then.

Do you have a favorite Sippy Cup? if so please share with me.

Looking Forward To?

Having a sippy cup that I like  - I know I am not very creative today

Friday, June 11, 2010

Pizza pizza - has no change tables

Ok so I am sitting at pizza pizza waiting for G and C to be done in the washroom. C is getting his diaper changed in a not so clean washroom that has NO change table in the washroom.  I repeat Pizza Pizza - a restaurant that is loved by all toddlers has no change table.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

To Breastfeed in Public or Not

Most of you are aware that C Monster nurses, he is now 2 and 1/4 and still loves his breastmilk or lolo as we call it in our home.

I decided just before he turned 2 to call my milk lolo that way when a 2 1/2 year old screams at the top of his lungs "I want lolo" when you are in the middle of the grocery store you do not have to worry about what others might say.  I know I really should not worry about what others say but I do.

When C Monster was about 18 months old a stranger addressed him while he was nursing and told him he was to old to be doing that - I corrected them immediately.  When C Monster was 18 months old it did not phase him one bit I am not even sure he knew what the stranger was talking about; however now that he is older and understands a lot (more then I sometimes realize) I don't want this situation to repeat itself again.

So after that incident we slowly started encouraging other liquids on the go and kept nursing for at home, nursing rooms and at friends or places that I knew would not be judgmental.  Am I doing harm to C Monster with this I don't think so.  If he asks for lolo when we are out I usually try to figure out why he wants it - is he hungry, tired, hurt (beyond a kiss fixing it)  or just needs mama time. Typically it's because he is hungry - if it's for any other reason we find a quite spot and nurse - this is rare.

The reason why I started questioning if I am doing the right thing today is...  C Monster had an appointment to get a vaccine today as I always do I nurse him during and after the vaccination.  The nurse was surprised but ok with the fact I wanted to nurse my 2 1/4 year old during his shot. Christophe barely even flinched during the shot - just another breastmilk miracle.  After the nurse was done she said take as long as you need and started to close the door, I said no no it's ok we will finish nursing in the waiting room.  (I know they don't typically like it when you occupy the nursing station after the nurse is done - I think and hope she was just trying to be polite)

We sat down in the waiting room across from a family with a little new born (maybe 2 months at the tops) and started to nurse.  The father asked me if my son just got a shot and said wow he is so big we don't even think we heard him cry - what a brave boy.  I answered yes and explained that if you nurse your child during a shot they don't feel it as much.  The conversation when from there and the mother and father poured their hearts out to me on how they want to breastfeed but they can't seem to figure it out and so on.  We talked for a bit - I am pretty sure all her issues where due to a horrible latch and well by the time C Monster was done nursing and fast asleep in my arms; the mother decided to try to breastfeed her little one instead of giving her a bottle when she started to fuss and guess what she said it did not hurt, and we could all hear and see the baby girl gulp down her milk.

I gave her all the names of the various resources in the area for breastfeeding support and she said thank you and we parted ways.

Did the fact that I was nursing a toddler in public help this mother and baby maybe - would she have reached out to a total stranger otherwise maybe - we will never know.  However a situation like this make me think twice next time I ask C Monster to wait 5 minutes for us to get to a more convenient spot to nurse.

PS - if you are wondering what are the resources I gave her:
La Leche League Toronto Help Line - (416) 483-3368
Toronto East General Breastfeeding Clinic - (416) 469-6667
http://www.drjacknewman.com/

So I ask you are nursing a toddler? What do you think when you see someone nursing a toddler? Would you nurse a toddler in public?

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Cheese Crisps

I was in a crazy baking mood today: I made muffins, bread, cookies and crackers.  Well everything turned out great but the crackers were fantastic - So I just had to share the recipe with you...

Cheese Crisps
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature 
2 cup cheese, sharp cheddar or swiss 
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp ground flax meal

Directions
Cream together butter and cheese. Add remainder ingredients and mix well. Form into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet and flatten with a fork.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until pale gold around edges.

For a change add herbs such as rosemary or sage.  Or minced vegetables.

Enjoy.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Rain Rain Rain

We have been getting lots of rain these days.  I have been trying to enjoy the dry spots in-between the downpours.  C Monster wont stop asking me to go jump in puddles...



Painting

It's been a few weeks now that I am working on the back walk out.  It's all primed and ready for paint;  I went to our locale green hardware store - yes we have a green hardware store - and picked up some paint from yolo.  Will let you know what I think about them after I'm all done painting.  

Juicing

I have been trying to expand my juice repertoire.  C Monster will only eat fruit if they are dried or pulverized.  I checked out from the library the book "Juice!" - so far so good.  I have tried 3 recipes, C Monster drank 2 reused the other.

As always I only use the book or insparantion here is one of the recipes I made that was C Monster approved:
Blueberry Quinoa
Ingredients
1 cup  blueberries
1/2 bananas
1  tbsp quinoa flakes, (prepare by adding 3 tbsp boilling water and let sit covered for 5 minutes) 
1 tbsp honey
1 cup milk or yogurt
2 large handfull ice

Directions
Process all ingredients in blender until smooth

Looking Forward To

Eating my preserved eggplant (in oil) - I need to wait at least one month before trying it

Friday, June 4, 2010

Greening Your Laundry

Greening our laundry

For a long time now we have been using eco-friendly laundry soap and washing in cold water (except for diapers); but there are so many more thing we can do to green our laundry.
Last week I bought a retractable clothesline from Home Hardware.  I think the reason we never got around to this sooner is that we have been working on the backyard and house now for 8 years - everything pretty much done so we are now adding the finishing touches.  I have to say I look back at things I have done in the past that were not the best for the planet and one that stands out in my head - is taking down the existing clothesline that was up when we bought the house.

I also picked up from Home Hardware bamboo clothespins.  These are sustainable and very strong compared to your typical plastic or wood clothespin.

The last thing we decided to do is start using towels twice before washing them.  In order to tell mine, papa and C Monster's apart I decorated some clothespins with stickers.  We clip the pin on our towel to tell who's who's.

Looking forward to

Making some eggplant packed on oil and dried blueberries.