No More Judgement

Love or hate her, Gwyneth Paltrow has a point in this week's edition of her goop newsletter.

I've said it before, Moms need to stop being so judgmental and start supporting each other more. Whether your reality is as a Mom with a 9-5, or you stay at home with your children, or work from home like I do, we are all just trying to do the best for our families. And you know what, there are different ways to parent too. So you don't always feed your kids organic and you let them watch tv, maybe you breastfed for over two years and chose to cloth diaper, it's all good. So long as your goal is raising happy, healthy, well-adjusted children it doesn't matter how you get there.

Another article (from a blog called Real Life Parenting) I came across on Facebook this week resonated with me and goes along with this whole 'no more judgement' thing. We are all guilty of pulling out our phones to zone out for a bit, even with our children in tow, but is this always so bad? I used to judge that iPhone Mom at the park, but as I've grown as a Mom I've realized that even when you are not physically playing with your children you are inevitably engaged with them. Kids demand (and deserve) our attention, and they get it, all day long. Eloise has my attention at midnight when she has to pee, has a nightmare or comes into our bed. She has my attention when she wakes up in the morning and we talk about what we are going to do that day, while I brush her teeth and get her dressed. Eloise has my attention when I prepare her breakfast and lunch, snacks and dinner, when I sit down to make sure she is eating and on car rides as I engage in endless games of Eye-Spy. Combine parenting with work and Moms deserve judgement free, kid free quiet time, even if only to check in on Instagram for a few minutes. 

There is No Maternity Leave

A video put out by American Greetings had Facebook buzzing this week. It starts as a job interview for a Director of Operations requiring approximately 135 hours per week, many of those spent standing and doing hard labour. The role offers no breaks, no vacation and eating is only permitted after Associates finish their meals. The Director of Operations must do their job - sometimes supporting Associates all night long - AND maintain a happy disposition. Any guesses as to the job they're advertising for?

I have to give it to American Greetings, this one got me. It is hard doing what we do as moms. You give yourself over completely to the needs of other people and if you work too, then it's impossible not to feel pulled in all sorts of directions. I do what I do, the way I do, because I love it. But I am also self employed because the flexibility of it offers me to care for my family. I am a mom and a business owner all at once, and even when it's hard I know I am pretty darn lucky.

With Baby Two's imminent arrival I've had lots of questions about my time off and how long I will take maternity leave. Well, there is no maternity leave. I plan to take a few weeks off while Chris is home so we can learn to be a family of four but then it's back to work, albeit at a limited capacity. My official start date back is June 22nd - starting out easy styling a Bridal Shower - but the following weekend I'll hit the ground running with a full, 12-hour wedding day. The other question people have been asking is how I plan to continue working the way I do with two children and I honestly don't know the answer to this. I believe it is going to work out, so it just will. (Right?)

Guest Post: 12 Creative Ways to Announce Your Baby's Birth

{tiny prints}

It's baby season here and in five more weeks there will be three new bundles of joy to celebrate. My childhood friends are expecting their first babes just a few weeks apart (incredible since these two have been BFFs for about 20 years) and another girlfriend is expecting her second, a baby girl!

{tiny prints}

Tiny Prints offered to do a guest post on birth announcements which I thought was timely considering that these moms will definitely want to share their exciting news. Tiny Prints makes sending birth announcements effortless, but if you're looking for ways other than paper to commemorate your baby's birth have a read of their great announcement ideas below.

12 Creative Ways to Announce Your Baby’s Birth

If you’ve recently welcomed a bundle of joy into your home—or are about to—it’s time to consider how you want to announce it to the world. First think about the basics, like who you want to send the birth announcements to and what information to include. Next, get creative with the style of the announcement. It’s fine to go with a photo card announcement, but use a fun template and design that speaks volumes about who you are and what your baby means to you.

Whether you want to create DIY announcements or purchase pre-made cards, you only get one chance to herald your baby’s birth. Here are some ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

·       Chocolate bar: Print your baby’s name and birthdate on the candy wrapper. In addition, make the wrapper pink or blue, depending on your baby’s gender.

·       Photo collage: Take various pictures of your baby and cut them into letters that spell the baby’s name. Use photo editing software to complete this task, or ask a designer friend to help.

·       Coffee mug: For close relatives or friends who are coffee lovers, consider creating a mug with the baby’s picture, name, and birthdate.

·       Footprints card: A baby’s first footprints are precious, so share it with all your friends. Take the footprints, then make copies and include them on the front of a card.

·       Customized digital announcements: Instead of sending birth announcements in the mail, consider email. The option is ideal for busy parents, considering that sending them out will take less time than sending snail mail.

·       Bookmark: Compile four of your favorite baby pictures and arrange them in a digital file one on top of the other so they resemble photo strips you get at a photo booth. Print and laminate them to make adorable bookmarks.

·       Movie-like poster: Create a birth announcement that makes your child a star. Pick a fun movie and change the title—like Sleepless in Seattle, but replace Seattle with your city. Then, include quotes about how great your baby is that mimic endorsements from movie critics. Place a picture of baby front and center, then list his or her name as the “STARRING” role.

·       Social media site: Post information about your baby’s birth almost instantly using your favorite social network site. After the initial event, post a creative video of the baby. This time, you’ll need to use some video editing software and may need to enlist a friend’s assistance.

·       Slideshow: Compile a series of your favorite photos in a slideshow and email it or post it to a social network. You can send it out after a few weeks or wait until a few months after the baby is born to showcase early changes and growth.

·       Address labels: If you do decide to go with photo cards, spice up the creativity of your birth announcements by ordering personalized address labels. These labels can give fun hints about what’s inside the envelope.

·       Blackboard picture: If you’re an artist, a fun way to announce your baby’s birth is to draw in chalk on a blackboard a picture of the stork making a delivery. Lay the blackboard on the ground and position your sleeping baby so it really looks like the stork is carrying him or her. Snap the photo and that becomes the basis for your photo card announcement.

·       Ornaments: This is an especially popular idea if your baby is born around the holidays.

The ideas for birth announcements are numerous, so don’t let lack of sleep after your baby comes keep you from getting creative with yours. If possible, think about how you want to announce the big event before your baby is born. Do what you can up front, so you can just pop a picture and actual stats onto the announcement when it’s time. Having a baby changes your world in a beautiful way—find an announcement that fully expresses your joy.

Thanks, Mom

Thanks, Mom, for your everlasting love & support. Happy Mother's Day!

Mommy okay?

Last night I came back from a three-day trip to Whistler for wedding site visits. It was a fun but whirlwind trip - 10 venues! - and a great opportunity to increase our knowledge of what Whistler and Pemberton can offer our clients.

This trip was also first time I've been away from Eloise that she really seemed to get it. Chris said she kept repeating, "Mommy okay? Mommy soon?" and when I arrived home last night Eloise stroked my face and said it again, kissing me. It's like she worried I wouldn't come back.

I always a struggle with the best way to leave Eloise when I go somewhere. It breaks my heart to see her scream as she watches me walk away but I also feel guilty when we distract her so I can slip out. We've had success having Eloise press the garage door open and closed as I get in the car but even this doesn't always ensure a smooth exit. I think we're getting to the age where she needs reassurance that I'm only gone for a while and will come back, so perhaps more explanation is the solution.

How do you leave without leaving your kids upset?

Good Mom, Bad Mom

Sometimes I feel like a pretty excellent mom. Eloise is happy, well behaved, our fridge is full of homemade goodies, she eats well, sleeps well and we spend the days reading, colouring and playing outside. Other times I guiltily put on the tv to distract her while I work, make her Annie's for dinner since it's the only thing I can ever guarantee she'll eat and sleep in her bed all night long.

Last week was quite possibly one of the most harried I have had in a very long time. Mornings were spent rallying between Eloise and my makeshift office (aka my computer on the desk in our living room), rushing off to pick up Molly, then heading straight to events in the evenings. Eloise's crankiness and demands from being sick and my exhaustion were not compatible.

Last week was definitely not one of my shining moments as a mom week but I feel like I am slowly redeeming myself. We had a tv free day at home yesterday, I made the most perfect Julia Child-esque omelette for lunch, and even restocked the fridge. Today went to gymnastics and music, came home for a two and a half hour sleep, had lunch at the table and I made a pot of chicken and rice stew for dinner. Eloise said, "Mama cut a leek," unprompted while watching me prepare dinner from her favourite vantage spot on the counter. Not bad for a child who's just come off a few-day stint of Mary Poppins and Eloise at the Plaza on repeat.

But want to take a guess what she ate for dinner? It wasn't the stew I prepared with organic veggies and chicken. It was yogurt. At least it was Greek.

What to Pack When You're Expecting

If last year was the year of weddings, this one is most definitely the year of babies. Several of my good friends are expecting their first babies between now and August and I am beside myself excited. I am delighted to soon have more friends to share in the experience of motherhood, especially since some of us have been friends since we were preschoolers.

I have many words of advice to share with all these expectant mothers but none more repetitively than, "pack your hospital bag early." I know it seems obvious, but if there is one thing that can make a difference to a soon-to-be or brand new mom at a place as unpleasant as the hospital it is having a few creature comforts from home. I can vouch for this because I outright ignored the warning of my prenatal masseuse to have my hospital bag ready to go. In fact, when I did go into labour at 36 weeks I was in complete denial so I just stuck my toothbrush in my purse and grabbed my pillow to head to the hospital 'just in case'. Eloise was born that night of course and we ended up staying at the hospital (around 40 minutes from home I might add) for nearly five days. I didn't even bring a bra!

Thankfully my supportive family and friends helped by bringing the essentials but I know that I would have been happier had I organized myself. Not to mention poor Chris who arrived in his work clothes that night and slept on a mat on our hospital room floor the entire time.

So fellow mamas, not sure what to pack for the hospital? Here is a list of what I consider to be the essentials.

Holidays with Gaga

Thumbing through Brooks Brother's Holiday Giftbook over pancakes, Eloise turned to a page featuring a very well turned out 'family' sharing some holiday merriment. Then she pointed to the most elegant lady on the page and said, "Is Gaga!"

Well, now we know where to find you!

Salt Dough Ornaments

Remember making salt dough ornaments in preschool? I do. My mom still hangs them on our Christmas tree.

I thought salt dough would be an easy Christmas craft to do with Eloise so I found a recipe online and invited our friends Ashleigh & Sawyer over with the idea of doing hand prints of the kids to hang on the tree. Except Eloise would not put her hand in the dough ... "No, 's sticky!" she said.

Since Eloise wasn't in the crafting mood I used some cookie cutters and made a bunch of holly leaves, bells, trees and two random rhinos for the tree. Or maybe for gift tags.

Salt Dough

1/2 cup table salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water

Combine all ingredients mix for 5-8 minutes, until the dough has formed and is no longer sticky. Roll dough onto a floured surface, 1/4 inch thick. You'll need lots of flour for rolling. Once cut into desired shapes, bake ornaments at 200 degrees for 4 hours or until dry. I know this sounds like a long time but you want to bake them this long to avoid bubbles in the dough.

Before cutting out shapes I made a pattern on the rolled dough with a Christmas script stamp. My mom has an extensive collection of cookie cutters so I was able to sample from her stash, but you could even use a glass for a simple circle. Use a straw on skewer to make a hole for hanging.

This is one of my almost-finished ornaments. Pretty right? For the finishing touch I'm going to add some gold leaf.

Superior Sideboard

You might remember my post about searching for the perfect sideboard and my quest for the right shade of turquoise to paint it. Well, I found the sideboard at my local Salvation Army and after going back and forth between a dozen turquoise swatches I ended up going with my very first choice, Benjamin Moore's Tropicana Cabana. I'm so happy I did; this turquoise turned out to be a near-perfect match to 'Tiffany Blue', a happy coincidence I'd say. I purchased pretty ceramic knobs to replace the brass hardware at Anthropologie and I'm happy to say that the newly improved sideboard is in place and looking fine.

Here's the before:

I was sold when I saw that this solid wood piece had doors that bi-folded and then totally back on themselves. It had creepy carpeting on the inside but at $15 I just couldn't pass it up. I would love to say that I painted the sideboard myself but I have already confessed that painting is not one of my strong points. Nope, it was my mom. The sideboard turned out perfectly because of all the time she spent sanding, priming and painting. And the carpet is gone too. Thank you Mom, you really spoil me.

Here is a progress pic:

And this is the finished product (I like how the paint changes in the light):

There is ample storage for media, books and E's toys.

This is how we did it:

Sideboard: Salvation Army Thrift Shop, $16.79
Paint: Benjamin Moore Advance in Tropicana Cabana, FREE (this can was comped for a mis-tint my mom had purchased for another project, but it's usually around $50 per gallon).
Hardware: Anthropologie, $26.88
Time: About one week with prep work, priming, two coats of paint and 4 days of drying time. And FYI, my Mom's time is priceless :)

TOTAL: $43.67

Insta-shams

Here's the thing - I'm crafty but I'm a lazy crafter. I am impatient and not very good at following instructions. Most of all, I like instant gratification. This is why I'm not a very good painter.

What I do like making are pillow shams, or Insta-shams as I call them, the easiest decor project. Give me a few metres of fabric and I can whip up a several shams, have them stuffed and on the bed/couch in around an hour. I can sew of course, but I don't sew very well. My mom will tell you this because I skip steps (ahem, pinning) and didn't have the same strict instruction she did, and you know what, she's absolutely right. But I also attribute my questionable sewing partly to laziness. I may not be able to draft a pattern or drape a dress but I can roll out some mighty pretty pillow shams and a fleece bathrobe no problem. I'll leave the tough stuff to my Mom (love ya!)

I got home around eight last night with a plan to head straight to bed but was lured to the dining room table by the sewing machine which I had set up earlier today. And so I made four new pillow shams out of some gorgeous striped fabric I  have been hanging onto for years and they turned out beautifully.

Think you can't make a pillow sham? I challenge you to give my Insta-shams a try with these four simple steps:

And... TA-DA!

Gwoss

In Eloise's words, what I'm about to write about is "gwoss" so feel free to stop reading now. But if you're a mom (or not squeamish) then you too are well versed in the following:

I'm talking about pee and vomit.

Eloise, I'm sorry to divulge information on the internet that will embarrass you as a teen, but you are a heavy wetter. You also have a tendency to vomit everywhere if we put you in your crib and leave the room rather than rocking you to coma-sleep. It's not that we're okay with you throwing up and sleeping in it, but after a few hours of trying to get you to sleep in your crib we are exhausted and two minutes of crying really shouldn't be such a big deal. You do always manage to sleep through the night and wake up cheerful the next day. The surprise for us in the morning is a urine-dampened and/or vomit-scented baby which results in an immediate load of laundry, crib and carpet clean and a bath. (As a result Eloise's Piglet, her bed sheets and her hair are quite possibly the cleanest ever.)

Back in January we were having problems with Eloise waking up often because she was wet. We experimented with different diapers and ended up using wool diaper soakers which worked like a charm. Until now. Since Eloise sleeps 12, sometimes 13, hours a night we find that her diaper and soaker just can't keep up so we've been experimenting once again with different combinations. So far a Blueberry or bumGenius pocket diaper with two bamboo liners, an additional bamboo-terry liner and the wool soaker have worked the best but after a wet week we're back to the drawing board.

I did some research and heard about the great absorbancy of Tots Bots Bamboozle diapers so I ordered one from New & Green and a Bummis Super Brite cover for on top since we had so much success with these covers when Eloise was small (not even one newborn poop blowout!). We used a wool soaker on top of it all and I am pleased to report that Eloise and her bed were totally dry when she woke up this morning.

Unfortunately, we let her cry for a few minutes after a marathon bedtime last night and though she may not have been wet from pee, she had thrown up everywhere. Gwoss.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Last night my girlfriend Aliy came over for dinner and installed a dimmer switch for our dining room fixture. Amazing right? She is one of those people who seems to be good at everything (and know everything, her internal encyclopedia is incredible) and it got me thinking about strengths and weaknesses.

I am an excellent multitasker (why just brush your teeth when you can make the bed and get dressed at the same time?), I'm good at sewing and crafts and I am downright excellent at organizing. It's definitely not my favourite thing, but I have always been very good at cleaning too.

But I am a terrible painter. I get paint on the floor and one time I accidentally painted over an electrical outlet (Aliy saved the day by installing a new one, of course). I cannot cut hair, which is why my bangs are slightly crooked, and I can't throw a ball to save my life so I never played sports. I always mix up my rights and lefts and don't know how to properly make a pot of coffee. Math makes my head spin and I can't keep plants alive - once I killed a hearty ficus in a matter of weeks.

The beauty of knowing your strengths and weaknesses is being able to build a network of people who can do the things you cannot. I am so thankful to have friends who can build things and teach me about sports, a Mom who imparts her wisdom and a husband who makes the best cup of coffee ever.

Mom's the Word

{Time}

In the midst of a very fussy, clingy stage with Eloise, I have been thinking a lot about how I parent. Am I teaching bad habits by giving in or ignoring her needs by letting her cry? I just try do what's right for us, but with so many parenting philosophies, so much information and many, many opinions, I can't help but feel pressure to do the 'right' thing.

It turns out that I am not alone. Last weekend the Vancouver Sun ran an article about the pressure modern mothers face - the expectation that we must breast feed, get back to our pre-pregnancy weight immediately, prepare homemade, organic food and more, all while devoting ourselves to the every need of our children. My mom likened the expectation mothers have of themselves and each other to the "Martha Stewart" effect; that we must do everything perfectly, all the time, while making it look totally effortless.

I didn't feel pressured into breastfeeding and cloth diapering as was suggested by the article - both are conscious choices I made for our family - but I do sometimes feel I'm letting Eloise down by not doing some of the things other moms do. For example, not everything she eats is homemade. We feed her what we're eating and other than that I buy organic jarred baby food and snacks. Honestly though, I think pasta has become one of her main food groups and a piece of buttered toast is a hit at breakfast, lunch and dinner. I admire the concoctions that other mommies produce but I just can't seem to get it together to do the same.

On top of keeping up with other moms there are a staggering number of baby and parenting books available, all with their own ideology. My parenting style falls most in line with the Sears', a family of paediatricians who have become my go-to (their website is a fantastic resource) on everything from breastfeeding to sleep and vaccines to nutrition. Dr. Sears is a guru for many modern parents though his 'attachment parenting' is not without its critics, most recently when paired with a provocative Time Magazine cover featuring a mother breastfeeding her three year old. Have you seen the cover and what are your thoughts? Is striving to be the (super)natural mother who constantly tends to the needs of her child making us slaves or are we raising a generation of happier, healthier kids?