The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe

Training Pants training

2012-01-24T23:39:00.003-05:00

Until last year, cloth diaper manufacturers seemed to give little thought to training pants, which is surprising given the tendency for many parents to rely on training pants as a way to transition children from diapers to underwear. Training pants provide protection when a child who is potty learning has an accident (and unless you wait to train him until he is 18 years old, there will be accidents. Lots of them!).

When parents come into the store for potty training advice, we take them on a tour of all of our training pants, we have a pretty good selection, and different training pants are better-suited to certain situations. Regardless of their differences, something they all have in common is limited absorbency. Since training pants are not meant to hold more than one pee, you should not treat it like a diaper -- your little one cannot wear the same training pants for 2-3 hours with multiple accidents. For this reason, you want to introduce training pants only when your little one is ready for toilet training, and more importantly, when you are ready for toilet training. The onus is on you at the beginning to do all the work (unless you wait to train him until he is 18 years old) -- if you're not willing to put in the effort, it may be best to wait rather than push on with toilet training.

Limited absorbency aside, training pants can be easily pulled up and down, making it easy for little ones to use a potty or toilet unassisted, and they are typically lined with fabric that holds moisture, meaning a child will feel wet when has an accident; feeling wet is a great motivator for children to use a potty or a toilet! These similarities aside, there are subtle differences between different types of training pants that make them better-suited to different stages of potty training.

One-piece, non-adjustable training pants, like those manufactured by Bummis, are durable, and they work well. A downside to these training pants for some parents is that they fit poofy (no, it's not a 'real' word, but I bet you know what I mean, right?), however, as long as the legs and waist fit snugly, the poofiness is only an aesthetic issue. The Bummis training pants are ideal for a child who is new to potty training, they will hold an accident well, and they will buy you some time (if you're at the grocery store, for example, and you don't have a change of training pants with you). However, if your child poops in the training pants, taking them off can be tricky (your little one will stand up, while you gently slide the training pants down -- it's about as pleasant as it sounds!).

Bummis training pants are sized, when a child sits at a weight range that is between two sizes, we generally recommend parents buy the smaller size, since they are not adjustable. If you size up, the training pants may not fit properly, and training pants are (hopefully!) a short-term piece of clothing, so you shouldn't buy them with the mindset your child will wear them for a long time.

Side-snapping training pants make changing poop accidents a little easier -- rather than pulling the training pants (and the poop!) down, you simply open the sides of the training pants to take them off. Both Cotton Babies and GroVia have recently released side-snapping training pants, both of which are one-size affairs, the flip trainers fit 20-50 lbs and the GroVia trainers fit 18-35 lbs. A one-size training pant takes the guesswork out of sizing, if a child takes longer to toilet train overnight, one-size training pants can accommodate a larger child (the GroVia trianers can be extended with larger side-flex panels).

Some training pants, like the daytime trainers manufactured by Blueberry diapers, are only partially waterproof, these trainers must be changed relatively soon after an accident, the wetness will eventually wick throughout the training pants if they are not changed quickly. These training pants are meant for children who are almost fully potty trained -- they provide a little more absorbency than underwear, offering a little protection when needed (on Grandma's new sofa, for example). Since these trainers are not fully waterproof, they are not suitable for nighttime use.

In terms of how many training pants parents should buy, we generally recommend purchasing 3-5 pairs. It's very easy to treat training pants like diapers, when your child is wearing underwear, there is more incentive to offer the potty on a regular basis (if they have an accident in underwear, it's more work to clean up than simply changing their training pants).

Good luck!

flip potty training pants review

2011-12-10T14:39:00.033-05:00

Barb, one of the moms who works at the Ottawa store, recently reviewed the flip training pants for us. Barb has tried many (many!) nighttime combinations with her child, if anyone's opinion on these trainers counts for something, it's Barb's! We stock a good selection of training pants as it is, but the training pants we have stocked up to this point were generally best suited to daytime use. When parents come into the store looking for an overnight option for potty trained kids, they need something that fits, and more importantly, something that will not leak.

The flip training pants are sold in a boxed set that includes a one-size cover (fits 20-50 lbs), five organic cotton inserts, and set of waist panels (see a video of how the inserts and cover work together here). The cover itself can be adjusted in the rise, the stretchy waist panels allow parents to adjust the width of the cover. Cotton Babies sells additional sets of stretchy waist panels in different colors, they are not sized differently, they are available purely as an aesthetic measure to create different color combinations. The flip training pants (cover and inserts) are manufactured in the United States.

My daughter pees like crazy at night, so much so that she can pee right through a disposable training pant, leaving it a sodden stinky mess, with wet bedding far more often than I would like to deal with. At five years old, and weighing more than 40 lbs, we have had a hard time finding resusable nighttime training pant options that work. I’m quite happy to say the new flip training pants work overnight for her.

I prepped the training pants' inserts by boiling them in a large pot for approximately five minutes with a bit of laundry soap; constant stirring prevented the nylon hook and loop closures on the inserts from resting on the bottom of the pot (the nylon would melt against the hot surface of the pot), followed by a hot wash and machine dry. The inserts took a fairly long time to dry, but that seems to be par for the course for extra-absorbent materials. It’s probably not necessary to prep the inserts before daytime use, but I wanted to be sure the inserts would hold up overnight.

For overnight use, Cotton Babies recommends pairing up the training pants' organic cotton insert with one of their

biodegradable inserts. I used this combination on the first night we tried the flip trainers, I'm happy to report that we experienced no leaks! Since I would prefer a nighttime solution that does not involve a single-use product, the next night I paired the training pants' organic cotton insert with a 3-layer AMP hemp insert. This combination was bulkier, but it also worked really well, the hemp wasn’t even saturated. I have also tried pairing the flip organic cotton insert with a 2-layer AMP bamboo insert, that allowed for a much trimmer fit (shown at left), and still no leaks.

My daughter could easily pull the training pants up and down, which is important for children who are working on daytime toilet training. In terms of the weight range, since we needed to add extra absorbency, I'm not sure she will fit in the training pants as long as the manufacturer suggests. For children at the upper end of the recommended weight range, pairing the organic cotton insert with a disposable insert allows for a much trimmer fit, which would certainly allow the training pants to fit longer.

I’m not wild about the contrast design of having the stretchy waist panels a different colour than the main part of the cover, but I’m really happy to have something that works. I like the fact that I can separate the inserts from the cover for laundering. I would like to be able to purchase additional covers separately, with only one cover in the pack, I have to handwash the cover between uses. Only having one cover is better-suited for daytime potty training, it would be convenient to simply replace the cotton insert with each accident, rather than replacing the entire training pant, especially when you're out of the house.

Overall, I would recommend the flip training pants to parents who are potty training their kids, I will happily continue using it with my daughter.

The flip training pants are introductory priced at $29.95 until December 31st, 2011. Their regular MSRP is $42.95.

Buy Nothing Black Friday

2011-11-24T20:12:00.009-05:00

Did you know you're supposed to buy nothing black tomorrow? I kid, I kid. As you may or may not know, tomorrow is Black Friday in the good ol' U.S. of A. For those of you who don't know, the day after American Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday shopping season for our neighbours to the south. Traditionally considered the busiest shopping day of the year, an astounding $45 billion (billion with B, folks!) was dropped on Black Friday last year. Stories of mayhem and violence are commonplace as consumers compete to take advantage of bargain basement prices. In what might be described as a 'ying' to the Black Friday 'yang', on the same day, some folks observe Buy Nothing Day as a "day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption."

Slowly but surely, the Black Friday tradition has been creeping across the border, to the point where the phrase 'Black Friday' is being applied to sales held by Canadian retailers. Over the past few weeks, I have been mulling over whether or not to participate in a Black Friday sale (which actually translates into a Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday affair for a lot of businesses), in the 11th hour, I've decided I won't.

Although it would be probably be better for my business' bottom line if I did, I try not to encourage our customers to make needless purchases, and following from that, it makes little sense for me to participate in what can only be described as an orgy of needless consumption. As a retailer and a consumer, I identify more with Buy Nothing Day, though as much as the idea of closing our doors for one day might appeal to me, it wouldn't serve the business well to turn away customers in an effort to make a statement.

In an attempt to strike a balance between Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day, we'll donate 20% of all of tomorrow's sales to a charity in India that provides care for destitute individuals. There are many organizations like this all over the world, however, this organization has sprung from one man's selfless dedication to caring for a group of people largely ignored by the rest of society. Watching the video does a great job of putting life into perspective -- there are certainly more pressing issues than a cheap flat screen TV. In a tip of the hat to Black Friday, all of tomorrow's purchases will go into a draw, and three purchases (one from Ottawa, one from Waterloo, and one online) will be refunded as a gift certificate (for example, if you make a purchase of $100, and your name is drawn, you will receive a $100 gift certificate).

Wherever your allegiance lies tomorrow, have a great day!

SkyMall awesomeness

2011-09-23T19:45:00.008-04:00

Did you know there's no easy way to get to Louisville, Kentucky? In the span of seven hours, I zipped from Ottawa to Toronto to Cleveland to Louisville. Most of the trip was pleasant enough, however the plane from Cleveland to Louisville was a hot mess, it was absolutely filthy, the flight attendent spilled hot coffee on me (then awkwardly tried to towel it off), and I sat next to a man who managed to spend an entire hour hawking lougies.

But I was okay with all of that, do you know why? I had a copy of SkyMall magazine in my hands. Yes, it had some unknown red substance splashed on the front, and some of the pages were stuck together, but it was mine, all mine! Not to disappoint, the magazine catalogued a vast array of random gadgets and gizmos that somewhere, for some reason, some people must buy to fill some purpose. What purposes, you may ask? Spying on your spouse. Massaging assorted body parts. Growing hair. Not walking your dog. The list goes on.

What caught my eye this time around, you ask?

Why go to your beer when your beer can come to you. For realz. If this doesn't scream 'lazy', I don't know what does.

On a related note, someone has finally solved the age-old dilemma of how to get wine out of a bottle, and into a glass. And holding wine. They solved that problem too. My parties are going to get *so*much better!

The only thing better than a head massage is a head massage anytime you want one. Wear it at Starbucks, I dare you!

Put $5.00 away five days a week for a year, and you'll have $1300.00! You can only do it with this box. Note: $1300.00 not included.

Am I the only one who finds it disturbing that they make this shirt in an adult size?

Finally, I can find out what I would look like with a mustache. Finally.

Fucking gravity has finally met it's match.

Honey, you know what would really pull this room together? A life-sized sculpture of a woman with a lamp on her head.

This puts the 'scare' in scarecrow.

Temperature Regulating Blanket, also know as a regular, ol' blanket. Color me crazy, but don't all blankets keep you warm?

Not Vegas, baby!

2011-09-22T20:00:00.004-04:00

My bag is packed, and tomorrow I'm flying out to the 9th annual ABC Kids Expo, one of the largest juvenile product shows in the industry. I make the trip every year to meet personally with suppliers, and to get a peak at what's new & exciting. It's a fun (albeit exhausting) few days, it's definitely something I look forward to every year. In previous years, the show was held in Las Vegas (baby!), but this marks the show's debut in Louisville, Kentucky. I'll admit that I'm a little disappointed about this year's venue, I'm not a gambler, but Las Vegas is a fantastic place to people watch ("Is that his girlfriend or his grand-daughter?" "Are those real?"). The show's organizers have worked hard to get attendees and exhibitors alike jazzed (yes, I said jazzed) about the show, we'll see if Louisville is everything they promise.

In previous years, my husband has attended the show with me, and what I mean by that is while I'm hiking through rows upon rows of juvenile gear, he's lazing about by the hotel pool drinking margaritas. He's not coming this year (suffice it to say, he was not jazzed at the idea of making the trek to Louisville), he'll be home with the kids as I go it alone. I'm a little nervous and excited at the prospect of being totally and completely alone. In my 37 years on this planet, I have *never* been alone, I basically went from living with my parents to living with my husband, this will be a new experience for me! I certainly hope this solo trip goes better than the last, it will be très embarrassing if I end up crying in public. Again.

I've already mapped out a premilinary list of vendors I want to visit, some good, and some bad. It is a little hard to navigate the show virtually, while the vendors are broken into separate categories, with names like Buckley Boo, Piggy Wiggles, Inchbug, and KooChoo, figuring out what I want to hit is a time-consuming process. Outside of the show, I'm not sure what I'll do with my free time, but having zero responsibilites will be pretty sa-weet! I'll be posting pics and uploading videos from the show to our Youtube channel, as in previous years, I'll be giving away the goodies I receive at the show, stay tuned here or on our Facebook group for further details. Giddyup!

Baby Boom (again), baby!

2011-09-09T21:20:00.005-04:00

As promised, here is a list of this some of this year's Baby Boom sales to whet your appetite!

Beco Gemini $109.00 (regular price $139.00) This carrier is great for carrying little ones on your front or back, what sets it apart from the most SSCs on the market is how well it allows a parent to wear a little one in a facing-out position. Yes, facing in is ideal, but some babies simply want to see the world. Limited quantities!

Sleepy Wrap $40.00 (regular price $60.00) This is hands-down our favorite carrier for newborns. It provides fabulous support both to the baby and the wearer, and it's 'poppability' makes it ideal for taking babies in and out of the carrier quickly and easily. The sale-priced carriers are in old packaging, they are final sale. Limited quantities!

CountrySave detergent $6.00 (regular price $10.99) This is the top-rated detergent for cloth diapers as suggested by a number of leading diaper manufacturers. It is scent-free, and it leaves no residue. CountrySave contains sodium percarbonate, which is a laundry booster, it makes the detergent clean more effectively. Limit: one box/customer, while quantities last.

Amber necklaces $10.00 (baby), $16.00 (adult) (regular price $16.00, $24.00) Whether or not you believe in their analgesic properties, these necklaces are darn cute! Amber has been used in Eastern Europe for hundreds of years as a natural form of pain relief, if your little one is suffering as her teeth break, this necklace may make life a little easier for both of you. Limited quantities!

Nneka nursing pillows $55.00 (regular price $62.00) Handsewn in Quebec, these pillows are filled with buckwheat hulls, providing firm support. You can shift the buckwheat in the pillow to ensure the pillow helps position your baby properly at the breast, you can even remove some of the buckwheat to help with positioning (you don't need the baby sitting under your chin!). The pillows cotton cover is washable, which is important when you consider how dirty it may get. In addition to using the pillow for breastfeeding, you can use it to support your pregnant belly, or it can be used to help support a learning-to-sit baby.

Piddle Pad $8.00 (regular price $9.99) The manufacturer has redesigned the pad, rebranded it as a 'deluxe' piddle pad, and raised the SRP to $13.00. We're clearancing our remaining 'regular' Piddle Pads, they're a must-have for when you're toilet-training a toddler, they will save your carseat from the inevitable accidents that can't be avoided (unless you avoid the car altogether).

Family Stickers These are new to us, to celebrate their arrival, if you buy two stickers, you'll receive a third sticker for $1.00. Yes, they're kitchy, but they're cute!

Baby Cubes $5.99 (regular price $7.49) These 2 oz. containers (BPA and Pthalate-free) are sold in sets of 8 with a storage tray. They have hinged lids, so you won't have to fumble around to match lids with bottoms.

Fuzzibunz perfect-size diapers $15.00 (regular price $23.95) We have some discontinued colors instock, aqua and sage, size medium only. We have a good number of them, if you're not picky about color, you can build a great stash for a great price. No quantity limits, while supplies last!

bumGenius 4.0 stay-dry diapers $19.00 (regular price $23.95) We just inventoried our stock and realize we have an abundance of moonbeam diapers, with snap closures. If you're considering making the switch to cloth diapers, these diapers are just as easy to use. They are trim, they will keep your little on dry, and they fit up to 35 lbs. Limit two diapers/customer, while quantities last.

Bummis 'Beautiful Basics' prefold set $18.00 (regular price $21.95) We love us some prefolds around these parts, and we're willing to bet you will too if you give them a shot! This set contains three prefolds and one cover. Get your feet wet with cloth diapers for under $20.00, come on, take a chance!

Sales are valid at the show only, we don't want to bring anything back with us, as noted, some items are available in limited quantities (we'd love to pack the entire store, but we just can't).

We have an assortment of other goodies with us, if you're coming out tomorrow, please stop by and say hello! This show is a great opportunity for us to connect with local parents, and it's a great way for growing families to connect with the services and boutiques available in the city of Ottawa. You can find us at booth #1 and #2, we are conveniently located on your way in and your way out!

I fought the Diva Cup (and the Diva Cup won)

2011-09-02T17:07:00.041-04:00

We stock a selection of reusable menstrual products (pads and cups), naturally, customers contemplating the switch to reusables have questions about how everything works. With respect to LunaPads, most women ask questions about how the different pieces fit together. Given the crowd we attract, I usually liken the system to cloth diapers -- you have AIOs and AI2s -- the pad and the liner are akin to a cloth diaper cover and an insert. When women pick up the Diva Cup, they only ask one question, "What's it like to use this?", the question is often accompanied by a raised eyebrow, and a knowing exchange of glances between us. Their real question is: "How does this fit up there?" "Will it get lost?" "Does it hurt?" I am upfront and I admit that while I have not used a Diva Cup personally, I have many friends who do, and they all swear by it, proclaiming:

it's comfortable to use while playing sports

you can leave it in for up to 12 hours before emptying it

it can lessen the cramps associated with menstruation (have I ever mentioned how awesome menstruation is? Women are so lucky. So. Lucky).

For months, I've been meaning to make the switch, but the timing has never worked out. I finally remembered to pick one up at the start of my most recent cycle, and I plucked up the courage to give it a shot, I mean, how hard can it be, right? Right? I figured I'd pop it in, and write a review that went something like this:

"ZOMG, I cannot believe how long I lived without the Diva Cup! It was *so* easy to use, and it works so well! Every woman should have one, why, I'm going to lobby the Harper government to hand them out to every girl as she transitions into womanhood, I mean, it's just so great! So. Great! Long live the Diva Cup, Diva Cup forever!"

Of course, everyone had warned me that making friends with my Diva Cup would take a bit of practice (and patience), however, I was confident we'd hit it off instantly. Sadly, my love affair with the Diva Cup has gotten off to a bumpy start.

When it came time to try out the Diva Cup, I got myself settled into the upstairs bathroom, the kids were downstairs ~~watching TV~~ playing harmoniously together, mommy needed a little privacy to wrap her head around what was about to go down (er, go up?). Like most women, I had my fears about how things would work out. I was worried that once inside, the Diva Cup would float upwards through my innards, like my vagina is a portal to some sort of blackhole and the Diva Cup would get lost for years, never to be seen again until I cough it up like a hairball. The wonderful instructions that accompany the cup kindly explained that my vaginal walls are only 3-4 inches in length, proving my 'lost in space' fears to be unfounded. As an aside, the Diva Cup instructions also pointed out that the average monthly total flow output is in the neighbourhood of 1 to 1.4 ounces -- just enough to fill a shot glass! Total!! Is it just me, or does that estimate seem, well, a little low? Judging from the apparent carnage I seem to suffer through every month, if I were to estimate what my average monthly flow output is, I'd put it closer to a liter, not unlike what must ooze out of a severe gunshot wound, but perhaps that's just me.

So there I am, Diva Cup in hand, I've reassured myself that it's not going to get lost, but now I'm starting to freak out about how big it is. Prior to this moment, I had been mentally preparing myself for the size/fit issue, but I've birthed four babies, one of whom was so big he practically walked out of my vagina with a cigarette in one hand, a bottle of JD in the other, and he was all 'sup, bitches? to the midwives, so really, I've got this, it will be OK. But there I am, doing the Diva Cup origami as is kindly suggested by the Diva Cup instructions, and no matter how I fold the damn thing, it's just so fucking huge!

The Diva Cup instructions, which are starting to get on my nerves, kindly suggest that I should 'relax' my vaginal walls before inserting the cup, and I'm starting to feel like maybe I should have taken her out to an expensive dinner beforehand and told her she looked pretty, because I can tell she's as nervous about this as I am. So I take a deep breath, and shove it all up there, but the cup unfolds before I've got it in place, and the idea of pushing it up further while it's unfolded kind of makes me want to cry. I withdraw, apologize profusely to my vagina, and read the bloody instructions again, which suggest it's completely normal for the cup to unfold while it's being inserted. Oh, well isn't that great, I was kind of hoping that it would unfold after I was done launching it up into my nether regions, but I guess that's too much to ask. I take another deep breath, apologize to my vagina again, who is now about as relaxed as a virgin on her wedding night, and we give it another go, this time with moderately more success. I manage to launch the cup further up into my nether regions than the first time, but I don't feel it unfold. No worries, I'm actually quite OK with that, let's push on, shall we?

I'm not quite finished yet, because now I need to rotate the cup 360°, which at this point, is about as appealing as a root canal performed by a drunk monkey. So I grab the cup's stem, twisting it slowly, beads of sweat dripping off my brow, and I think I can feel my vagina quietly weep each time the cup moves (not that it was particularly painful, but my vagina at this point was decidedly unrelaxed). After the cup has been rotated, I tentatively stand up, and take a few steps. While having the cup in place certainly wasn't uncomfortable, I could feel the sensation of something being up there, quite frankly, it felt like I had a thighmaster launched up my hooha. To say I had the gait of a cowboy who had just rode in on the Pony Express is an understatement, every step I took was more bowlegged than the last, as my brain worked overtime to convince my vagina that it was playing host to an uninvited guest. At this point, my vagina and I decided we'd both had enough, issuing the Diva Cup its eviction notice. My vagina and I both released a sigh of relief as the cup signalled its exit with a defiant 'pop'.

With what I have to assume is the worst of it out of the way, I will give the Diva Cup another go next month, things can only get better, and besides, I like a challenge. The idea of using the cup is so appealling, perhaps the next time we attempt to make friends, I will buy my vagina a box of chocolates and a dozen roses to help her relax beforehand.

(la la la la la la) Tonight.

2011-08-04T06:44:00.010-04:00

Sooo, the big day is here. What big day, I'm sure ~~most~~ all of you are asking? Tonight is the long-anticipated (for me, anway) NKOTBSB concert in Ottawa. Originally, there was no tour date scheduled in this fair city of ours, and like a lot of other ~~people~~ middle-aged women (enough of us, anyway), I whined about it, and the powers-that-be listened, and they managed to fit us in at the end of the tour. Sooo I wrangled up a group of friends, bought a block of tickets, and since February, I've been looking forward to today. As the day has drawn closer over the past few weeks, I will admit, I've sort of been puzzled about what to expect. You see, my last experience at one of these events occurred almost twenty years ago. That's T-W-E-N-T-Y years, aka, a really long time, ago. Two decades, if you need further clarification. Between now and then, the times have a changed.

Twenty years ago, I would have spent the night before the concert sleeping over at my friend Tammy's house with a posse of hardcore NKOTB fans. My homies, if you will. We would have laid out our best NKOTB paraphernalia (tour jackets, t-shirts, the whole nine yards!). The binoculars would be packed (not for watching the concert, but for stalking Danny, Donnie, Joe, John, and Jordan), we were our own personal paparrazzi -- unsuccessful as we were, we tried our best, we didn't have tmz.com back then!. The day would start very early as we'd stake out our spot around the concert venue, hoping to catch a glimpse of our idols outside of the show (we never did, I assume they had better things to do than mingle with their worshippers). Inside the actual show, I can't remember specifically what we did, but I think it involved swaying, screaming, and quite possibly biting nails. Not really sure, to be quite honest, it's all a blur. I do recall the sensation of ringing ears that I left every show with, it's a wonder we all didn't end up deaf.

Of course, today, I won't be lollygagging about like I used to pre-concert, I simply can't. I have to make the kids' lunch, get them up, get them dressed, make them breakfast, take them to daycare, go to work, pick them up from daycare and bring them home, do some laundry, tidy the house somewhat for the ladies who are coming over tonight, order some pizza, and make margaritas. Pre-concert rituals aside, I wonder what will happen inside the actual concert venue. What kind of crowd will be there? Young people (God, no! The horror, the horror!)? Will we all just sit there, and kind of sway a bit? Will it be awkward? Far from making me feel young again, tonight's concert has really just served to remind me of how different my life is now as opposed to twenty years ago. It doesn't help that the members of NKOTB have hardly changed, like Peter Pan, they all seem to be frozen in time, the years have certainly been kinder to them than I.

On Twitter last night, Jordan Knight tweeted (I hate saying that, it's such a ridiculous expression!) that there will be an afterparty in Ottawa tonight. Basically, it's a chance to pay to mingle with Jordan Knight and Donnie Wahlberg at a local bar after the show. Tickets range in price from $40 to $150 for 'unlimited access' (I'm guessing the promoter's idea of 'unlimited access' would vary from my idea of 'unlimited access'). I entertained the idea of buying a ticket to the aftershow for an entire millisecond, but quickly decided against it for a number of reasons:

it requires driving down to the market, parking my mini van, and going to a club after 11pm at night. The insanity!

the bar advertises a 'stylish and sophisticated' dress code, whatever the hell that means. Specifically, they advertise a policy that (among other things), bans loose clothing, which pretty much bans my entire wardrobe.

the idea of paying to be in someone's presence kind of horrifies me. Given how my one and only experience of meeting a celebrity went, I'd be wasting my money, clearly.

Today has already started like any other day starts, and it will likely end as any other day ends (with the exception that my husband is in charge of bedtime, that alone is reason enough to celebrate). I am looking forward to spending time with a group of lovely ladies this evening, while the 18 year old in me still harbors a tiny bit of hope that one day my path will cross with Danny, Donnie, Joe, John or Jordan, the 37 year old in me recognizes tonight for what it is -- a sweet trip down memory lane.

The myth of the 'perfect' parent.

2011-06-19T09:29:00.039-04:00

Earlier this week, I suggested new titles that can follow Adam Mansbach's Go the F*** to Sleep book. Like most parents out there, I laughed (and laughed!) when I heard Samuel Jackson read the book -- it was fucking hilarious! Clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks so, with 400,000 (and counting) copies in print, a lot of other parents appreciate the comic relief Mansbach's book provides, allowing us to crack a smile at a situation that does not feel funny in the moment. Humor aside, I think the book acknowledges a reality that most of us rarely admit: parenting *is* hard (and exhausting, and frustrating, and I'll stop now before this post gets too depressing). I think it's refreshing to acknowledge something that is universal to all parents, and I think it's important. This book challenges the myth of the 'perfect parent', and that's what makes it so great. For once, the pressure of being perfect has been relaxed a little, and it feels good.

I came across a blog post last night that suggested not everyone sees the humor in this book, while I didn't pay too much attention to the blog post itself (the auther is entitled to her opinion), the ensuing discussion caught my attention. There were a few commenters who agreed with the author, but the majority did not (no surprise there!). What caught me offguard were the disclaimers most (all?) women seemed compelled to inject into their comments, that while they might *feel* frustrated with their children, they most certainly would never act on those feelings, they would never want to make their children feel like a burden. Sure, we can laugh at the frustration we all feel internally, but heaven forbid any of us externalize it, I mean, can you even imagine? Once again, the myth of the 'perfect parent' has been restored, phew!

Well, I'm going to go on public record and admit that not only do I feel frustration in certain situations with my kids, but sometimes (now, brace yourself!), I act on it (the horror, the horror!). I am not a perfect parent, in fact, I am far from it. Sometimes I yell at our kids. Sometimes I say things that I regret (and yes, I often feel absolutely horrible about it afterwards). As much as I wish I could count to ten and breathe deeply when I feel the frustration coming on, I don't seem to be equipped with that particular coping mechanism. When I was pregnant with our first child, if anyone would have ever told me how impatient I could be as a parent, I would have never (ever!) believed them.

I think it's an absolute shame that parents, particularly mothers, hold themselves up to a standard of perfection that's unattainable (and it is). If anyone suggests they never get frustrated with their kids, they're either lying, or they don't spend a whole lot of time around them (Gwyneth Paltrow, I'm looking at you!). I think it's good to be honest about everything parenting entails, the good, the bad, and the ugly, Mansbach's humorous approach to bedtime woes is a great way to ease new parents into the reality that parenting is not always fun or easy, for that reason, I think it would make a fabulous shower gift -- watch out Sophie the Giraffe, you've got competition!

F***, parenting is hard!

2011-06-16T14:30:00.018-04:00

Kudos to Adam Mansbach on his runaway bestseller, "Go the F*** To Sleep", a hilarious read that details the frustrations all parents (with the exception of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, I'm sure) have experienced at bedtime. To be blunt, bedtime can be hell. To be more precise, bedtime can be f***ing hell. I was reminded of that last night when two of our four children managed to stay wide awake until 10:30, bombarding me from their beds with all sorts of excuses in an effort to prolong the inevitable:

"I'm thirsty."
"I'm not tired."
"I'm too hot."
"I had a bad dream."
"I need to pee."
"S/he (points finger at the other one) is being too loud."

And the list goes on (and on, and on!). Between my trips upstairs to beg & plead with Owen and Grace to just go ~~the fuck~~ to sleep, in an effort to stop myself from seething in anger (and I was, I spend the whole day looking forward to bedtime, it's what keeps me going, people!), I thought of other book titles for the inevitable "F***, Parenting is hard!" series that I assume has already been picked up for a multiple motion picture deal (starring Johhny Depp, of course).

Leave my S*** Alone.

Apparently, what's mine is theirs. Not so, my little friends, not so. You would think that people who guard their own possessions with the ferocity of a rabid dog would get this, but it doesn't work that way, nosirree! We recently hosted a birthday sleepover for my oldest daughter, without my knowledge, my makeup (which I hardly ever use, but that's beside the point) was used to facilitate 'makeover time'. How well do you think ten year old girls treat shit that's not theirs? Not very well, as it turns out. What's mine is mine, leave it the f*** alone!

Flush the F***ing toilet already!

In an effort to conserve water use in our household, we've tried to teach our kids "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down," emphasis on the word tried. What we actually seem to have taught them is "Don't flush the toilet until the toilet paper is level with the toilet seat, mom will clean it all up anyway." On a regular basis, the leaning tower of toilet paper is topped off with a turd, like a cherry on an ice cream sundae. A thoughtful touch, no?

Shut the F*** Up.

We all anticipate our childrens' first words with such excitement. First comes one word, then two, and before you know it, your little chatterbox has an ongoing case of verbal diarrhea that ensures you will never enjoy a single, solitary second of silence as long as your child is within earshot. It gets even better (er, worse) when you have more than one child (stereo!), and they all try to ~~shout at you~~ talk to you simultaneously, usually spouting a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy peppered with sobbing fits because you're listening to someone else and IT'S NOT FAIR!

Stop F***ing Fighting, You're Driving Me Crazy.

The kids are at a point where they bicker constantly. If I had to break it down, I'd say for every one minute of sibling affection, there's approximately ten minutes of sibling rivalry. What do they fight about? Oh, the usual:

"She won't stop looking at me."
"She's breathing at me."
"She's copying me." (insert echo: "She's copying me.").
"She got more than me." (sidenote: kids have some sort of portion-related ESP that enables them to detect when someone else has more of something than they do. It's kind of impressive. Annoying and impressive).

Good times, I tell you. One day, I will let them fight each other to the death. I'm just kidding (or am I?).

I could go on (and on, and on!), but I'll stop now. I love our kids dearly (don't we all?), but nothing could have ever prepared me for just how annoying they can be. They're good kids, don't get me wrong, but they're kids, and they annoy me just as much as my siblings and I annoyed our mother (something that I know thrills my mother, because she tells me it does). I think that's why Mansbach's book has struck a chord with so many parents -- no matter where you come from, or how you approach parenting, we all face the same obstacles, it's certainly more fun laughing about it than crying about it!

Teaching kids tolerance.

2011-06-09T21:18:00.015-04:00

In this day and age, stories like this amaze me.

When I went to high school, I remember learning in sex education that 'one in ten' people are gay. At the time, not knowing anyone who was gay, that statistic scared the bejesus out of me. Being gay was presented as an affliction, there was no discussion about tolerance, or resources for gay teenagers, none of that! I distinctly remember looking around me wondering which one of us was gay -- as stupid as it sounds, I worried it might be me (seriously -- I thought I could wake up gay one day, surely that's how it must work!?!). Fast foward seventeen years (ouch!), and I'm a little wiser about how the world works. As it turns out, I actually knew a few people who were gay in high school, I just didn't know it back then.

Our kids have been brought up knowing that you can't help who you fall in love with. Sometimes, men fall in love with other men. Sometimes women fall in love with other women. A close family member is gay, and I am thankful for the opportunity it has provided to teach our kids tolerance. They have witnessed different kinds of non-traditional relationships between people who love each other, and it is as normal to them as any relationship between a man and a woman. Our kids know that no matter what, we will support them in their happiness, no questions asked (as a parent, I consider this one of my top priorities!).

I think it's wonderful that a group of students wanted to volunteer their time and effort to educate people about homophobia, it's an absolute shame their school didn't recognize their efforts for what it was, a selfless attempt to promote tolerance (I think God would be proud, don't you?). I think it's incredibly courageous to stand up for what you believe in, and at such a young age! I can only hope our kids turn out so well. Hopefully the Roman Catholic school board has a change of heart about their ban on 'rainbows'. Schools should concern themselves with more than the basic 'reading, writing, and arithmatic' -- if kids can't get the support they need at home, they should be able to get it from school.

Buying used diapers

2011-05-23T21:16:00.022-04:00

A great way to save on the start-up costs of cloth diapering is to buy used diapers. No matter how you slice it, using cloth diapers is far more economical than using disposable diapers, however, paying for them upfront can require a significant investment, depending on what style of diaper you decide to use. If you do decide to go the 'used' route, here's a few tips to ensure you make a good purchase. When you purchase used diapers, they won't come with a 30 day return policy, so you want to make sure you get it right!

Buy used diapers in person. There are lots of great online venues where you can buy used diapers (Kijiji, Craigslist, and various online parenting forums), however, seeing used diapers in person gives you a chance to assess the quality of the diapers. Even though an online listing may be accompanied by pictures, it's no comparison to inspecting the diapers in real life -- things like diaper cream residue, or delamination would be hard to see in a picture. We hold regular cloth diaper swaps at our stores that give our customers an opportunity to sell their use diapers -- for those in the market for used cloth diapers, it's a great opportunity to buy well-known brands of cloth diapers.

Buy used diapers at a consignment store. Admittedly, this may be a bit of a longshot, but it's always worth looking. Most consignment shops don't know the proper value of name brand diapers, as a result, if you're lucky enough to stumble upon a name brand diaper, you'll probably get it for a song. A customer came into our store last week who managed to snag a number of almost-new bumGenius 4.o diapers for -- wait for it -- $4.00 each. Is it weird that I wanted to high-five her?

Buy name brand used diapers. If you buy used diapers that have a good reputation, there's a better chance you will be happy with them (there's a reason they have a good reputation, after all!). If you're unsure about a particular brand, go to a cloth diaper review site to see what other people think of the brand you're considering purchasing.

If the used diapers are under warranty, ask for the original reciept. It's not unusual to buy used diapers from new parents who have changed their mind about using cloth diapers. In this scenario, the diapers may still fall under the manufacturer's warranty. If that's the case, having a copy of the original receipt will assist in resolving any warranty issues that may arise. I wouldn't consider this point a dealbreaker, but it wouldn't hurt to ask the sellers if they can provide you with a proof of purchase.

In terms of evaluating the quality of used diapers, don't focus on aesthetics -- stains will not affect the function of a diaper, and they're easy to remedy. Linty velcro can be easily cleaned with a comb or a needle. Smelly diapers, however, can be symptomatic of underlying issues (detergent buildup, or urine residue), it's important to ask how the dipaers have been cared for. Used diapers should always be stripped, stripping diapers can usually remedy any smell (and residue) issues.

As far as 'what not to look for' in a used diaper, the following issues will compromise the effectiveness of cloth diapers:

Thinning fabric will absorb less. If you have to outfit each used diaper with an extra doubler (that will cost upwards of $4.00), will you still come out ahead?

Delaminated PUL will not be waterproof. Examine the laminated side of PUL covers or pocket diapers carefully. If you see a tear in the laminate (or if the laminate has pulled away from the polyester), don't buy the diapers.

Brittle or non-stretchy elastic will result in a diaper that gaps around your babies legs or waist, and it will cause leaks. You can always replace the elastic in the diapers yourself, if you take the diapers to a seamstress to repair, you can expect to pay upwards of $5.00/diaper to have the leg and waist elastics replaced, will you still come out ahead?

Non-sticky velcro will need to be replaced. Pocket diapers and All-in-One diapers are washed every time they are used, velcro closures on these particular diapers will take a licking as a result. You can replace the velcro yourself (requires a sewing machine), if you take the diapers to a seamstress to repair, you can expect to pay upwards of $5.00/diaper to have the velcro replaced, will you still come out ahead?

Diaper cream residue may be hard to see, but it can greatly affect how well a diaper works. Diaper cream residue will generally feel tacky to the touch, you can always check the absorbency of a diaper by pouring a little water directly onto the diaper. Natural fabrics should absorb easily, synthetic fabrics (like the microfleece in a pocket diaper) require pressure (put your finger into the pooled water, the water should sink through the fabric where you apply pressure). Diaper cream residue can be removed, but it can take time and elbow grease.

If you run into any of these issues, and you still want to proceed with the sale, ask for a discout on the used diapers (there's nothing wrong with bartering!). You should expect to pay at least 50% of the original value of diapers that are in good, used condition -- if you need to put time and effort (and possibly $$$) into reparing used diapers, it's only fair that their selling price is adjusted accordingly.

Happy buying!

Customers behaving badly...

2011-04-25T19:42:00.013-04:00

Alternate working titles:

"The post where I call a customer an asshole."

"You're an asshole."

"No shoes, no socks, no assholes."

"Asshola non grata."

Working in the retail industry (or the high tech industry, or the food industry, for that matter), I have encountered my fair share of assholes (the figurative kind, not the literal kind). Fortunately, they are few and far between. Most (99.99999999%) of our customers are simply fabulous, they are a large part of the reason why I enjoy what I do so much. But (but!) the handful that choose to treat employees (myself included) with less respect than what they'd show a dog, this select group of people is unfortunately the one I tend to remember the most.

I have had a few encounters with customers over the past nine years that have left me wondering what may have happened to them to let them think it is okay to treat another person with anything other than the same courtesy I assume they would expect themselves from the people they come into contact with. Over the years, I have debated writing about it, but to do so may be interpreted as unprofessional, there's an unspoken rule when you own a business that you should just take whatever abuse a customer chooses to throw your way, "The customer is always right", as they (the assholes, I presume) always say. Well today, after a particularly unpleasant exchange with a customer that reduced an employee to tears, I'm going to write about it.

This particular individual had e-mailed me last week to complain about an employee who she felt was 'rude and unhelpful'. What was the complaint? After several requests for more information, I found out she was angry because she called the store (a half hour before it closed) to ask that a tin of Nellies was set aside for her. Barb (who has never been anything but professional, courteous, and all-around-helpful to anyone who comes into the store) told her we have 'plenty instock'. That reply, apparently, constitutes a 'rude and unhelpful' attitude. I politely suggested to this individual that Barb was simply letting her know we were not going to sell out of Nellies before she arrived, and that Barb had indeed set aside a tin of Nellies for her (that she never picked up).

Fast forward a couple of days, and this individual comes into the store to pick up her tin of Nellies. With her dog. That she brought into the store a week ago, when she was told dogs were not allowed in the store, but since the store was empty, we would make an exception for her. Big mistake. It seems that once you make an exception for an asshole, you are actually giving them the green light to be an even bigger asshole. Since an employee's baby was on the floor in the store this afternoon, this person was politely asked to leave her dog outside. Given a recent incident whereby a Home Depot employee's nose was partially bitten off by a customer's dog, you would think this simple request would be met with understanding and compliance, but it was not. Nosirree, not at all. The asshole customer grudgingly took her dog out of the store, stomped back in to make her purchase, then on her way out, bent down to the baby (the baby!) and called his mother (Melissa, another staff member who has never been anything but professional, courteous, and all-around-helpful to anyone who comes into the store) a "bitch", suggesting to Obi that "you're going to have a miserable childhood with your nasty bitch of a mother".

Melissa was quite taken aback by this attack (as anyone would be), calling me in tears. Upon hearing that this individual had purchased a tin of Nellies, I assured Melissa that she had done nothing to justify this woman's tantrum, and I suggested she's likely the same individual who had complained about Barb last week. Of course, only knowing what she had purchased, I couldn't make the connection for sure, until she stomped back into the store 10 minutes later to return her purchase. This time around, she left her dog outside, and she held her tongue as there were other customers in the store (I very much doubt she would have had the balls to say what she said in front of other people). In returning her purchase, she had to fill out a form with her name and contact information, thus confirming the asshole with the dog was in fact the asshole who called Barb last week.

It absolutely blows my mind that anyone would think it's ever acceptable to talk to another person (and their baby!) in this manner. It doesn't matter if you're chatting up the Queen of England or the person who cleans your toilet, nor does it matter if you're having a really bad day and you need to let off some steam, as I would tell my own children, you should always treat others as you expect to be treated yourselves. The kicker in all this is that as she returned her tin of Nellies, this customer inadvertently left her keys in the bag she returned, so she will have to come back into our store to retrieve them (sans dog, I would hope). I let her know we have set her keys aside, she let me know she has found another store that sells Nellies, and she's going to "tell all her friends about it." It amuses me when assholes suggest they will tell their friends to shop elsewhere, as they say, "Birds of a feather flock together," if her friends are anything like her, they are not welcome in our store anyhow.

Canadian retailers are not greedy.

2011-04-15T10:04:00.020-04:00

An article published in this week's Ottawa Citizen asks the question "Canadian currency is trading at a three-year high and has been close to or above par for years. So why are we still paying so much for consumer goods?" The obvious assumption is that retailers (like me!) are simply too greedy to pass on the savings to consumers. Hardy har har, that's a good one! This question sometimes comes up in the store, and I've seen it come up multiple times on various online forums. Yes, we charge a higher price on some of the products we stock in comparison to our US counterparts, but retail pricing within Canada is a complex matter, there is certainly more to it than the strengh of our loonie. As an example, bumGenius 4.0 diapers, for example, retail for $23.85 in Canada, compared to $17.95 in the US. Why the disparity? There are a few reasons for higher suggested retail prices (SRPs) in Canada.

The first issue that results in higher SRPs in Canada is duty -- bringing products across the border often entails paying a tariff to Canada Customs. I usually pay anywhere from 12-18% duty on products manufactured outside of North America when I purchase them directly from a manufacturer located outside of Canada. In addition, I have to pay a brokerage fee at the border to the carrier who transports the package - on average, I will pay UPS $60 to broker an order.

In theory, the point of applying tariffs to goods manufactured outside of North America is to encourage companies to keep manufacturing within North America, however, I learned last year that tariffs can also apply to goods manufactured within North America. Out of the blue, I received a surprise bill for thousands of dollars (!!!) for duty assessed on previous shipments of Fuzzibunz diapers, which were manufactured within North America at the time. Despite being sewn within North America, components of the diaper were manufactured outside of North America (the fleece was milled in China). I was informed that it is my responsbility as a retailer to ensure that every single package I import is brokered properly. Forget the $60 a pop I pay UPS, that affords me zero protection, I should familiarize myself with the origin of every component of every product, and ensure products that are deemed NAFTA-compliant (as the diapers had been) are actually NAFTA-compliant, and if the appropriate tariffs are not charged, the onus is on me to contact Canada Customs to rectify the situation.

Another reason for higher SRPs within Canada is the fact that some companies rely on distributors to act as a liason between the manufacturer and the retailer. Distributors offer a number of benefits, an obvious benefit to me is that the hassle of importing packages across the border is delegated to someone else (hallelujah!). For the consumer, distributors within Canada make handling warranty issues easier. This convenience comes as a price, however, as the distributor must get paid for the work they do, often bumping up the SRP within Canada.

Lastly, the higher cost of transportation within Canada leads to higher freight costs for retailers, regardless of whether a product is imported, or purchased domestically by a retailer. US-based retailers enjoy things like flat rate shipping via USPS, Canadian retailers are not so lucky. I have heard of some retailers renting a PO Box across the US border to keep freight costs down, but the possible savings incurred by driving across the border to pick up packages would be lost when you consider the time it would take.

So there you have it. Establishing retail prices within Canada is far more complicated than simply paying attention to the strength of the Canadian dollar. Higher prices within Canada are not indicative of greed on the part of retailers, they are simply a natural result of the cost of doing business as a Canadian retailer. You can get around higher Canadian SRPs by ordering from retailers outside of Canada, although some manufacturers (like Cotton Babies, the manufacturers of bumGenius diapers) forbid cross-border selling, and you are still on the hook for duties and taxes owed. When your support Canadian retailers, you are supporting the Canadian economy, and that's a good thing.

Dear City of Ottawa,

2011-03-29T19:47:00.012-04:00

I would like a little clarification about the new 'diaper service' that is going to be implemented with the city's plans to move to a bi-weekly garbage pick-up (which I applaud). As a person who has chosen to use cloth diapers with all four of our children, I certainly hope that I am not going to end up covering the cost of special treatment for those families who make the decision to use disposable diapers. If they are going to gripe and moan about the mess they create, they had better be ready to pay for it! Are they paying extra fees to have their waste picked up?

I have contacted the city on *numerous* occassions to suggest a cloth diaper subsidy for families who make use cloth diapers. This kind of subsidy is commonplace in the UK, and it has been instituted in many municipalities across Quebec (most recently in Montreal). The city of Ottawa pays approximately $94/tonne to haul trash to the dump; When parents make the decision to cloth diaper a child, they are diverting approximately one ton of waste from our landfills. Furthermore, they can reuse the same set of cloth diapers with future children, diverting even more waste from our landfills. It stands to reason that if people are saving the city money with their responsible decision to use cloth diapers, the city should compensate them for their efforts.

If people use cloth diapers, they do not have to worry about the stink of having diapers sit in the trash for two weeks (and quite frankly, the contents of disposable diapers are supposed to be emptied into the toilet before they are tossed into the trash anyhow, I don't even see how 'stink' should be a concern if ppl are using disposable diapers in the correct manner). If you want to encourage positive change, why not consider implementing a cloth diaper subsidy that will help parents with the startup costs of cloth diapers? There are many (many!) businesses in Ottawa that sell cloth diapers, accessibility is not a concern, but ppl are often intimidated by the upfront costs, and fear of the unknown.

We are hosting an event on April 23rd that will see 35+ parents changing their babies cloth diapers at once, the "Great Diaper Change" is happening throughout the world at 12pm EST in an effort to establish a new Guinness World Record. I would love for any Ottawa city councillors who are concerned about disposable diapers and bi-weekly pickup to come out and join us, you can talk to families who use cloth diapers, and you can learn about what's involved in using cloth diapers (aside from the fact they are washable, they are just as easy to use as disposable diapers).

I certainly hope someone takes the time to get back to me about this. I have been rather disappointed in the limited responses I have ever received when I've tried to contact Ottawa councillors about this matter. Perhaps now that it's election time again, you'll have my attention. I know I won't be the only parent annoyed that I have to pay for other parents who don't consider the environmental effect of single-use diapers.

best regards,

Susie Pearson

Newborn diapering on the cheap

2011-03-18T19:34:00.010-04:00

When parents come into the store considering cloth diapers, we generally encourage them to start with cloth diapers from day one so that it's all they know (there's nothing to 'adjust to', aside from the obvious -- having a baby!). The upfront costs of cloth diapering can be daunting, although no matter how you look at it, you will alway save money in the longrun. If the cost of diapering your newborn is indimidating, you should consider preemie prefolds.

Within the past year, the folks at Bummis introduced a 'preemie' sized prefold, intended to fit babies from 4-9 lbs. The name of this new size has proven to be a bit of a misnomer, most parents tend to overlook the preemie diapers because most babies are carried to term, parents generally don't plan for the possibility of a preemie baby. Nevertheless, we still encourage parents to consider stocking up on preemie prefolds, even though they may not get used for a long time, they offer considerable bang for the buck. There is a bit of overlap between the preemie prefold and infant prefolds, which fit from 7-15 lbs, but if you have a baby who weighs less than 8 lbs, the smaller fit of a preemie prefold will be considerably less bulky on your little one than an infant prefold.

In terms of what kind of cover to use with a preemie prefold, we suggest parents consider the size one Thirsties duo wraps which fit from 6-18 lbs (you can continue to use them with the infant prefolds when you size up), or the newborn Bummis super lite covers, which fit from 6-10 lbs, and feature an umbilical scoop to prevent the top of the cover from rubbing against your newborn's cord stump (which is as attractive as it sounds). We recommend that parents have 2-3 dozen diapers on hand to reduce the workload involved in washing diapers for those first few weeks. Newborn babies poop a lot (a lot!!), the more diapers you have on hand, the less frequently you will have to wash them. 2-3 dozen diapers (and 4-6 covers) would see you washing diapers once every 2-3 days for the first 6-8 weeks, which is totally manageable.

The upfront cost for 2 dozen preemie diapers and 4 newborn Bummis super lite covers would be $73.96. You can expect to change at least 12 diapers/day for the first 4 weeks of your baby's life. A single-use diaper costs approximately .25 cents, you would spend roughly $84.00 on ~~garbage~~ single-use diapers in the same timeframe. Look at that, you've already saved $10.00! Consider the fact you can reuse your preemie prefolds with subsequent children, or that you can sell them to recapture some of what you paid (at least half!), and you're even further ahead. Furthermore, once you're done using the preemie prefolds as diapers, you can use them as wipes (preemie prefolds are actually less expensive than wipes) or doublers. Quite simply, preemie prefolds are the diaper that keeps on giving!

Who wants to sleep alone?

2011-02-27T09:55:00.010-05:00

Last week, my husband and I watched Paranormal Activity 2, a prequel to the first movie that documented a couple who were being harrassed by a demon (not really, it's a movie-not-a-documentary). The prequel lays the foundation for the 'why' of the original movie, the demon has come to claim a family's firstborn son, an infant. The mother catches on pretty quickly to their new houseguest, but despite her fear, junior naps and sleeps in a crib in a separate room from the parents. I mean, really? Really???? You have a demon in your house, and you're not going to at least co-sleep? After the movie ended (sorry, I won't spoil the ending for you, you'll have to rent it), I took Grace out of her bed and brought her to bed with us. Yeah, I know it's a movie, but you can never be too safe, right? Right???

When we brought our first baby home, we co-slept with her for a few weeks, setting up a basinette in our bedroom, she was moved into her crib in a separate room when she was about eight weeks old. At the time, we had never even entertained the idea of bed-sharing. We moved Maddy into her room because that's what we thought we were 'supposed' to do -- conventional wisdom dictates that babies sleep in cribs. I can still remember the panic I felt at having her sleep apart from us. I kept a monitor in her crib, close to her face, I turned the speaker as loud as possible so I could hear her breathing. When I wasn't satisfied I could hear anything, I would creep into her room and check on her. Our (my) plans for a restful night's sleep were sidelined by worry and middle-of-the-night feedings.

When our second baby was born two years later, we kept her in our bed from day one. Maddy was sleeping through the night at that point, and we were worried that having a baby crying in her crib in the middle of the night would wake Maddy up as well. Once we started bed-sharing, we never looked back. Having Hannah in bed with us was reassuring, and the middle-of-the-night feedings were much easier to deal with. Instead of getting out of my bed, walking to a separate bedroom, and picking a baby up so that I could nurse her in a rocking chair, I simply rolled over, unclipped my nursing bra, and latched her on. I would often sleep through her feedings, as long as my breast was within reach, she would simply latch on and off throughout the night as needed. I was never worried about her safety in our bed -- I kept a pillow between Hannah and my husband, he's a deep sleeper, I wanted to make sure there was a barrier keeping him away from her. When I was facing Hannah, I would curl myself around her, when I would turn away from her, she would always shimmy herself close to my back. I made sure our covers were always pushed down so that nothing covered her face. Once Hannah was mobile, we started putting her down into her crib at the start of the night, I would nurse her down in the rocking chair, then transfer her to the crib. When we went to bed, I would bring her to bed with us, as long as she was nursing through the night, she slept with us. When Hannah was old enough to sit up, we would put a basket of toys in the bed, and if she woke up early, she would play between us while we slept -- it would only buy us an extra 20-30 minutes of shut-eye, but any parent knows how valuable that can be! What about our love life, you ask? There are other rooms in the house. We managed to conceive two more babies. Clearly, it didn't take a hit.

At the time, we endured plenty of comments from concerned family members (aka my mother) who insisted we were forming poor sleeping habits. Our child would never learn to soothe herself to sleep, and she would never be comfortable sleeping by herself. In short, we were 'breaking' our child by bed-sharing with her. When Hannah was 2.5 years old, we were expecting our third child. Hannah weaned at night shortly before he was born, and we moved her into her own bed in her own room. Was it hard? Not at all! In fact, we had an easier time transtitioning Hannah from our bed to her own bed than we did transitioning Maddy from the crib to her own bed. Furthermore, Hannah was much more secure sleeping by herself -- to this day, Maddy will not sleep with the door shut (she won't even go upstairs by herself during the day!).

When Owen was born, he slept in our bed (the same place he was born!). We had a harder time transitioning him out of our bed, he was almost three years old when Grace was born. It took a little while to figure it out, but Owen was just lonely at night by himself. We managed to transition him into Hannah's bed, he bed-shared with her for a little while, then we put a second twin bed in her room, and they shared a room. Owen is just a kid who doesn't like to sleep alone. He's five now, and he shares a room with Grace -- Grace slept in our bed until she was almost 2.5 years old, moving out of our bed into her own was easy. She's always been an independent child (understatement of the century!), she wants to do what the big kids do.

So all of the kids sleep in their own beds now, they all have different sleep habits, but we never had to 'train' any of them to sleep. I'm a firm believer that kids are born with different sleep habits, there will never be a 'one size fits all' approach to getting them to sleep. All you can do is adapt to their needs, you certainly can't 'ruin' a child by sleeping with them. Even now, I still occasionally bed-share with the kids, not because they want to, but because I do. When my husband goes out of town, I usually end up bringing one of them into our bed. I'm a big fraidy-cat, and besides, who wants to sleep alone?

flippin' awesome!

2011-02-06T00:58:00.008-05:00

Since becoming parents over a decade ago, my husband and I have recorded very little footage of our children, and it's something that I already regret. We've purchased various devices over the years with the intent to capture memories on film, both for our sake, and our children's sake, but we never really used any of them, save for a clip here and there. I have no video footage of myself as a child, I'm envious of people lucky enough to have home movies. The closest thing I have is a grainy video from our wedding with really bad sound, as bad as it is, I still like to watch it once in a while to see and hear my Dad.

This vacation, however, all of that has changed. I purchased a flip video camera (ultraHD 8GB, $179.99) for my business for the purpose of recording product reviews and tutorials. I didn't really intend to use the camera on vacation, I'm technically-challenged (understatement of the century), and I assumed it would take a while to figure it all out. Do you want to know how quickly I managed to figure it all out? I was recording footage withing two minutes of pulling out of the store's parking lot! The flip camera is *that* easy to use. One button start & stop, what could be easier than that? The camera comes with a small user guide, but it's interface is quite intuitive, other than a quick skim-through, I didn't really bother with the user guide.

The camera is very small, not much bigger than a cellphone, so it's easy to stow in my purse, it's always charged, so I've always got it handy, 'just in case'. So far, I've recorded 72 clips (!!!). Yes, I've gone completely overboard, I've already pared some of the videos down, the camera's preloaded software is rudimentary, but it allows me to edit the videos to the best of my ability (let's face it, I'm not going to get an Oscar for anything I record anytime soon). I can trim videos (cut off footage at the beginning and the end), merge videos, add music and titles -- I really have no need to do anything more than that. The preloaded software also gives me the ability to create still pictures from video footage, I haven't had the chance to get any developed yet, but given the quality of the video footage, I expect the stills will turn out well.

Downloading footage from the flip is quite easy, an attached USB arm, combined with its preloaded software, makes the task of storing video files a breeze. I simply plug the device into my laptop, and videos are saved to a folder (named with the month and year) and removed from the camera, while recharing the camera's battery at the same time. I don't have to fuss with cables or a charger, and I don't have to worry about video files being stored in 7 million diferent folders. It's a genius device, to be sure.

The high definiton video footage recorded by the flip camera is pretty great -- incredibly crisp, with clear audio. Image stabiliazition means the resulting footage is not shaky, no matter what I'm recording (if I'm walking and recording, the footage is remarkably steady). The camera's preloaded software makes it easy to share videos on various social media websites, though I've only uploaded videos to my Facebook account manually, I do not give any application access to my Facebook profile.

As great as this camera is, there are a couple of things I would change if I could. The zoom is not very powerful, it's sort of useless (I call it the 'baby zoom' when I'm recording -- and yes, I have to narrate everything). You're better off moving closer to whatever you're recording if you can, but in some instances (on a whale-watching tour, for example), that's impossible. The camera isn't great at recording in a dark setting, the resulting footage is grainy and unfocused (not that we record a lot at night, get your mind out of the gutters!). We took the flip to a family dinner last night, the restaurant's lighting was quite dim, and the resulting footage is not very clear. The power button is easy to turn on accidentally, though if unused for a short period, the camera shuts itself off.

Overall, I'm very (very!) pleased I made this purchase. The flip camera will be a great asset to the business -- our YouTube channel will be functional shortly, I think it will be a great way to connect with people about the products we sell. As a side benefit, our kids will one day be able to view snips and clips of their childhood. If they ask about life prior to 2011, I'll just have to tell them video cameras didn't exist (it will be our secret, right?).

Babywearing in a warm climate

2011-01-27T21:43:00.008-05:00

Yes, it's an odd time of year to write about babywearing in hot weather, but this is the time of year when some of us are lucky enough to escape the frigid Canadian winter, fleeing to a warmer climate if only for a brief respite from the cold. If you walk into the Ottawa store on a particularly cold day, and I'm behind the counter, you will likely be greeted by some comment about the weather, and it likely won't be favourable. I am not a fan of winter. I don't ski or snowboard, so I view snow as a pointless inconvenience. Fortunately for me, I'm not in Ottawa right now (!!!).

My husband and I have escaped with the kids to Hawaii for a couple of weeks, a trip that's been over a year in the making has finally come to fruition, and we are enjoying the tropical weather of the Pacific islands. One of the must-haves on our packing list was our Manduca carrier; on the various trips that we have taken as a family throughout the years, slings have been an invaluable tool, a convenient way of toting our children around that gives them a birds-eye view of whatever we might be doing (on tomorrow's agenda: a whale-watching tour!). Grace is over two and a half years old, but still in need of being carried from time to time. Navigating through a busy airport with a walking two-year old would be impossible, and when we're sightseeing, sometimes she just gets too tired to walk (like today in Lahaina) -- it's nice to be able to scoop her up and pop her onto my back without missing a beat.

If you will be babywearing in a warmer climate, whether you're enjoying a hot Canadian summer, or you're lucky to be vacationing somewhere warm during a Canadian winter, there are things you can do to ensure a comfortable experience for both the babywearer (that's you!) and the babywearee (that's your child!).

Use a light-colored sling. Look around our store, and you may notice the lack of dark-colored slings. Yes, I stock a few in each brand, but I will freely admit that I often try to talk people out of buying dark-colored slings. From a practical point of view, they show dirt more readily than their lighter counterparts (a black sling with a baby prone to spit up = a nightmare!). Furthermore, dark-colored slings will feel hotter in the sun - your baby will feel a lot hotter in a black Ergo than she will in a camel-colored Ergo!

Use adequate UV protection. Young or old, when you're in the sun, UV exposure is a concern for everyone. If your baby is six+ months old, apply a safe sunscreen to any exposed skin, and put a brimmed hat on her head. If your baby is younger than six months old, consider using an umbrella with UV protection to protect her skin (added double bonus: the umbrella will protect your skin too, and it will keep you both cooler!).

Avoid being in the sun during peak hours. The sun is the strongest between 10am and 4pm. Avoid being outside with your little one in a carrier between these hours. You don't have to barricade yourselves indoors all day, use common sense to plan your outings -- go for a walk early in the morning, or before supper.

Dress yourself and your child accordingly. People are often concerned that babywearing in the summer will be too hot. It's not the sling that will make you hot, it's the little heat box nestled against you -- babies are naturally warm little creatures! Grace was born in early June, I was back to work within a week of her birth (one of the many 'benefits' of being self-employed). As a result, Grace spent the first three months of her life (the hottest months of the year) in a Sleepy Wrap all day. I dressed her in nothing more than a onesie and a diaper, on particularly warm days, she wore only a diaper; I wore light t-shirts and tank tops to keep myself cool.

Keep yourself and your baby well-hydrated. Breastfeed or bottle-feed your baby frequently, and don't forget to drink plenty of liquids yourself.

Traditionally, many cultures in hot climates around the world have employed carriers in one form or another as a method of transporting babies and children; from Rebozos in Mexico to Kikoys in Kenya, hot climates are not a barrier to babywearing. With a little planning (and a lot of common sense), babywearing in warm weather is a safe and comfortable activity. Aloha!

Homegrown lactivism

2011-01-12T14:53:00.025-05:00

Breastfeeding was back in the news last week as Michelle Obama's attempts to encourage women to breastfeed drew criticism from conservative politicians across the United States. It's wonderful to see someone as influential as Michelle Obama stand up for breastfeeding, but did you know that we can all encourage positive change?

Donate your time to an organization that supports breastfeeding mothers (La Leche League, Breastfeeding Buddies). If you don't have time to donate, consider making a small financial contribution to an organization that supports breastfeeding. Infant formula manufacturers have deep pockets to fund their research and advertising campaigns, committees that promote breastfeeding do not, every penny counts!

Donate breastmilk to a mother in need. If a mother cannot breastfeed herself, donated breastmilk is the next best option, however, there is currently only one (one!) breastmilk bank in Canada. Fortunately, a new milksharing organization called Eats on Feets pairs mothers in need of breastmilk with breastfeeding mothers. If you have a surplus of breastmilk stored in your freezer, consider donating it to someone else who could make good use of it.

Encourage and support your breastfeeding friends. Are you familiar with the term "It takes a village to raise a child"? The same adage applies to breastfeeding. Breastfeeding can be a challenge in those first few weeks, the more support a new mother has from her partner, family, and friends, the more likely she is to succeed at breastfeeding. What can you do to help? Cheer her on! Remind her why breastfeeding is important, and let her know what local resources are available. You're not being pushy, you're being supportive!

Choose your words carefully. The subject of feeding babies can be a divisive topic among mothers, there is no need for judgement or assumptions. I think it's safe to say that we all want what's best for our children, but without proper support at home, and without access to adequate breastfeeding resources, some mothers may not be able to establish a successful breastfeeding relationship with their baby, despite their best intentions. When I hear anyone use the phrase "didn't try hard enough" in relation to breastfeeding, I cringe. When you talk about breastfeeding, use positive, encouraging words.

Lobby your local MP to improve access to breastfeeding resources and government-funded milk-sharing banks. In response to the immediate success of Eats on Feets, Health Canada issued an advisory against breastmilk sharing. While we are fortunate in Ottawa to have access to a number of free breastfeeding resources, families in other cities aren't as lucky. Mothers should not be limited by location (or finances) if they need breastfeeding help. Considering the myriad of health benefits breastfeeding offers both mother and baby, rather than criticizing attempts to make breastmilk accessible to anyone who needs it, the Canadian government should consider how it can increase breastfeeding rates.

Breastfeed in public. As more people exposed to it, the more normal breastfeeding will seem. Use a cover if it makes you feel comfortable, though if you watch yourself breastfeed in a mirror, you may be surprised at how little is revealed.

Stand up for your rights. If you are breastfeeding in public, and someone challenges you about your rights, challenge them right back. Many people still don't realize what that breastfeeding mothers have rights, there is nothing wrong with educating them about it. If you meet resistance, ask to speak with management. If that doesn't work, approach the media. You're not attention-seeking, you're standing up for yourself and your baby. When the media runs a story about a woman being denied the right to breastfeed in public, it provides a great opportunity to educate the general public about breastfeeding rights.

Talk to children about breastfeeding. On at least two occassions, I've had the opportunity to explain to my children's friends how I was feeding my baby (it only took them two years to notice, lol). If your community offers a Roots of Empathy program within its school system, perhaps you and your baby can participate -- in addition to encouraging positive social behaviour, and reducing peer aggression, it's a great way to model positive parenting. If children are exposed to the idea of breastfeeding, it may affect the choices they make as parents.

It's encouraging to see increased breastfeeding rates in Canada, but there's still room for improvement.

Things that make me feel old.

2011-01-02T20:42:00.011-05:00

It's official, I can't pretend anymore that aging doesn't bother me. Today, I heard (read) the depressing news that Gabrielle Carteris, the actress who played Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills 90210, has turned fifty. That's 5-0. Eeek! Of course, it's not that news alone that makes me feel old. Rather, it's a combination of things, a collection of random happenings that, when considered independently, aren't such a big deal, but when considered collectively, eeek! I mean seriously, eeek!

The fact that someone reading this may not realize I'm not talking about today's 90210 (a bucketload of crap, for the record), but that I'm talking about the *original* Beverly Hills 90210 that aired over 20 years ago.
The fact that the original Beverly Hills 90210 is over 20 years old! I remember being glued to the trials and tribulations of Brandon, Brenda, Dylan, Kelly, Donna, David, and Andrea like it was yesterday. Yesterday!
I have grey hairs. Plural. I used to pluck them, but I've given up on that strategy, I don't want to add thinning hair to my CV of aging (of course, now I'm sort of tempting the powers-that-be, aren't I?).
My ass is flat. Like a pancake. You think these would help? It would be our secret, promise not to tell anyone, k?
My nipples have a mind of their own. Let me tell you, it's a sad day when you have to manually adjust your breasts in your bathing suit so that they're facing the same way.
I'm turning 37 this year. Sure, it seems like a random number to get upset about, but it means I'm in my 'late thirties' now. Not my early thirties, not my mid-thirties, but my late, holy-shit-I'm-so-old thirties. Oh, the humanity!
When I fill out surveys that ask for your age, I have to select the '35+' age bracket. Have they no compassion?
Whenever I go to the liquor store, I secretly pray that the clerk will card me. I would tip him if he did. Yes, I'm offering, if any LCBO clerks are reading this.
George Clooney is dating someone younger than me. I remember when I was young, and he was old. Touché, George, touché.
I know people who were born in the 1980s who are parents now.
I can remember the 1980s.
I call the 1980s 'the 1980s'.
I love pants with elastic waistbands. Like my mother and my mother-in-law. They are over 60. It's embarrassing that we could probably share a wardrobe. No offense to either of you, of course.
I wear pyjamas to the movies, confirming the obvious, I value comfort over fashion. I like to think running shoes class up the outfit, my husband disagrees. Who's right?
I cannot watch an entire movie without peeing. And trampolines are not my friend.
I play indoor soccer in a league that does not have age restrictions. 18 year old girls have boundless energy. And strong bladders.
When talking to my kids, I have prefaced sentences with 'When I was your age...'.
The upcoming NKOTBSB tour. Admit it, it's kind of depressing.
Facebook. Specifically, seeing pictures of high school friends on Facebook. I would prefer to pretend we are all still 18 years old. It's kind of sad to see the captain of the football team with thinning hair, glasses, and a paunch that suggests he's 7 months pregnant. Damn you, Father Time, damn you to hell!
My metabolism appears to be broken. Or quite possibly, stuck in reverse.
My memory appears to be broken. You know it's bad when you're watching TV, and you turn the channel during commercials, then forget what you were watching to start with. I should start writing it down.

I'm sure there's more, but I forget. Whoever coined the phrase "You're only as young as you feel" was probably 18 years old. Similarly, the person who claimed that stretchmarks are a 'badge of honor' likely has no stretchmarks. Whatever, I have to go pee.

A decade of parenting!

2010-12-27T20:26:00.011-05:00

It's hard to believe, but our oldest child turned 10 today (double digits!). December 28th, 2000 marks our foray into parenting, its seems like both a lifetime and a minute ago; I can still feeling Maddy kicking in my belly, yet it feels like she's been with us forever. When we brought Maddy home with us, neither my husband nor I had a clue what to do with her. Like others before us, we gradually figured things out, as it turns out, you can read a lot of books, but nothing fully prepares you for parenting like actually having a baby! We've both learned a lot along the way, three kids later, and I'd say we're still learning!

If you had asked me ten years ago what type of parent I'd be, I'm sure the mother I thought I'd be is far removed from the mother I've become. I'm not nearly as patient as I thought I'd be (that plan was scrapped after #2 came along), similarly, my plan for a TV-free childhood went off the rails around the same time (hmmm, coincidence? I think not!). Despite my shortcomings as a mother (we all have shortcomings, admit it!), I'd like to think I'm doing a pretty good job. I don't have particularly high aspirations for our children once they become adults, I just hope they turn out to be happy, well adjusted people who are kind to each other, and kind to others.

I hope our kids look back at their childhood with fondness, I often wonder what they'll remember. If I have any regrets, it's that we haven't taken enough pictures or captured enough moments on video. Like my own mother, I'm not a terribly sentimental person, I'm often too busy enjoying a moment to interrupt it by posing everyone for a picture. I'm trying to be more diligent about taking pictures, developing them, and organizing them into albums, not only for their benefit, but for my own. As they get older, I can feel time slipping away faster and faster, and it makes me a little sad. I'm always cognizant of the fact that one day, my babies will leave the nest, and it fills me with a bit of dread.

As per Maddy's birthday request, we spent a couple of hours at Bayshore mall this morning, where she finally realized her lifelong dream of buying an outfit at Aéropostale. All I bought her was a t-shirt and pair of jogging pants, but judging from her cheek-to-cheek grin, you'd have thought I'd just bought her a prom dress. Standing in that store, bustling with other girls and their moms, I realized I've crossed over into a new phase of parenting. My little girl is growing up. She's a good kid, if her current disposition is any indicator, she's going to turn out to be a good person. My only hope for the next ten years is that they slow down!

Yeah, so about that Paris thing...

2010-12-03T08:46:00.006-05:00

It's a long, ultimately boring story, but I didn't make it to Paris. In what can only be described as a big, massive fail by Air Canada, my intended four days in Paris became a 24 hour trip to Heathrow airport and back, complete with little food and drink, and virtually no sleep.

I was originally supposed to fly Ottawa-Montreal-Paris. When we boarded the plane in Ottawa, it became apparent the plane's door would not close, we sat on the plane for 45 minutes (we were told they were getting booking agents to the gate to handle us when we got off the plane), got off only to be greeted by no one. At this point, I knew I had already missed my connecting flight to Paris, I made my way up to the booking desk and was told to collect my luggage first before they could help me. It took a half hour to get my bag back, I went upstairs to get sorted out, an hour later it was my turn to speak with the booking agent who informed me I was flying to Heathrow, where I would catch a British Airways flight to Paris. I knew there was a weather situation in the UK, and I specifically asked if there were delays at Heathrow airport, and she told me "There are no problems." Ha. Ha. Ha. Good one.

I made it to Heathrow airport (no meal, as I might add, can't get a vegetarian meal with less than 24 hours notice!), as we were landing, I saw the light skiffing of snow, and figured everything must be running smoothly (little did I know a light skiffing of snow in London, England is apparently a very big deal). As I made my way by bus from Terminal three to Terminal five, I noticed mountains of luggage covered by plastic tarps. It struck me as odd, by the haphazard way everything was stored, I assumed it was unclaimed luggage. In hindsight, I realize it was just the airport's way of dealing with massive (massive!) delays causing a huge backlog of luggage piling up at the airport.

Once I got to Terminal five, I got to the right gate pretty quickly, only to be denied entry because my flight had been cancelled. At this point, I was told British Airways had been cancelling flights within Europe for the past two days. Fuck. Fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck. I was directed into a big line and told to rebook. While I was in that line, a British Airways employee came by with a clipboard and suggested that since I'm not British, it would be faster to declare myself at immigration and make my way back to departures to rebook my flight to Paris. So I do that, get upstairs, and holy shit, I have never seen such a mass of people in my life. I got into line, a British Airways employee was waiting at the end of the line to let everyone know "You are more than welcome to get in line, but just so you know, you will likely never make it to the front of this line before our desks close tonight." (this was at about 11am). I explain my situation, that I'm not supposed to be there, Air Canada rebooked me onto a British Airways flight, should I stay, or do I need to deal with Air Canada? He told me I'm now a British Airways customer, I have to get in line.

I was in line for over two hours (with no food or drink), I kept repeatedly explaining my situation to British Airways employees (people in blue vests who were walking around the line, not to actually do anything, but to make it appear British Airways was on the case). The last blue vest person I spoke to was actually from the baggage department, she never helps customers, so she took me to a supervisor who then informed me that since Air Canada had rebooked my flight, British Airways could not in fact help me, I had to go back to Terminal three to deal with Air Canada. So I take a train back to Terminal three, make my way to an Air Canada booking desk, and am told "Sorry, you're not an Air Canada customer anymore, you have to go back to British Airways." Faced with the decision to go back to *that* mess (two and a half hours in line got me perhaps 1/5 of the way through the queue, they were still cancelling flights, I was virtually guaranteed a 24+ hour wait in Terminal with no food or water), I rebooked my ticket home so that I was leaving Heathrow to fly directly back to Montreal immediately (the only certain decision I could make in an incredibly uncertain situation!). If I chose to get back in line at Terminal three, there was a very real possibility I would just make it to Paris in time to get back on the flight back to Canada anyhow. I had to haul ass to get on the plane to Montreal, it was already boarding.

I lucked out and managed to snag a meal on the plane back to Montreal, I slept a little bit, and I cried a lot, going away for a few days requires an enormous amount of planning and preparation, it was all for naught. When I landed in Montreal, I found out the plane back to Ottawa was delayed. Of course it was. Why wouldn't it be? All in all, it took 26 hours between when I left Ottawa and when I returned. No idea where my luggage is, I imagine it's buried on the runway at Heathrow, by the time I got back last night, flights to Paris from Heathrow were already running again, but given the incredible backlog, I wouln't have gotten out of that airport the same day, and I very much doubt my luggage would either.

I have sent my complaint to Air Canada (they don't have a phone number for customer complaints, imagine that?), I want to be reimbursed somehow for my ticket (60,000 air miles and $400), I should not be out of pocket for their sheer incompetence (had they rebooked my itinerary so that I was still flying Ottawa-Montreal-Paris, I would be in Paris right now, not sulking on my sofa in Stittsville). I held up my end of the bargain, I showed up on time, I did what I was told, and I got screwed.

bon voyage!

2010-11-29T13:07:00.011-05:00

The planets in the universe aligned *just so* last week, and as luck would have it, I'll be heading to Paris, France on Wednesday to meet up with my husband (who's there on business) for a whirlwind trip to the 'City of Light'. My husband found out he was going on Wednesday of last week, and two days later, we took a chance and booked a flight for me without having childcare lined up for the four days that I'll be gone (it was a leap of faith, to say the least). Thanks to the generosity of my mother and brother, the kids will be well-taken care of while the husband and I take in the sights of one of the most culturally-rich cities in the world.

Full disclosure, I will admit that when I first found out my husband was going to Paris, as happy as I was for him, I was not thrilled at the prospect of spending seven days as a single parent. As much as I love our kids, parenting four children in a two-parent household is challenging enough, the thought of parenting solo for a week while trying to run a business (which takes up more time than you could ever imagine!) was downright daunting. I tried to put on a brave front, but I have a terrible pokerface.

When I first found out that I'd be able to join my husband in Paris, my immediate thought was that I should really get myself a new wardrobe for the few days that I'll be there, considering how chic the people of Montreal seem to be, I can only imagine how chic the people of Paris must be! Of course, I won't actually buy a new wardrobe, I did, however, buy a new pair of gloves and a hat and scarf to match. Given the current cold snap Europe is experiencing, it seems highly unlikely anyone will know what's under my parka anyhow (hopefully they will all assume I am just as chic as they are!). To ensure I look the part from the neck up, I got my haircut on Friday afternoon, I will flat iron my hair while I'm in Paris if it kills me, though when I get back, I will likely resort back to throwing my hair up in an elastic every day (old habits die hard).

I really should have paid a little more attention to my high school French teachers. I grew up in a small town in Southwestern Ontario, I took the minimum number of French classes required of me, back then, I had never heard anyone speak a lick of French outside the classrooom, little did I know that people in Canada actually *do* speak French. It would certainly come in handy right now to be able to say something other than "Fermez la bouche" (the only thing I took away from my French teachers!). If I run around Paris telling everyone to 'shut your mouth', I won't make any friends, will I?

I'm a little (OK, a lot!) nervous about travelling alone, I will have to make my way from Charles de Gaulle airport all the way to downtown Paris. I imagine it will feel like I'm living the Go-See episode of America's Next Top Model, I only hope I don't end up crying on the street somewhere, hopefully I'm capable of making it from point A to point B without any major setbacks. If I have to rely on my limited French vocabulary, I am doomed, doomed I tell you!

After he's done working, my husband and I will have about 48 hours together to tour the city. Aside from the obvious (the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame cathedral), I'm not sure what else we should see. As it turns out, we'll be there on December 2nd, the anniversay of Napolean's French Coronation. On that particular date, the sun sets in line with the Champs-Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe, creating a spectacular halo around the Arc de Triomphe. As nice as it might have been to visit Paris in the Spring or Summer, I think it's pretty cool that we're in the city on such a historically significant date!

For those of you who have been, do you have any suggestions in terms of restaurants we should visit, things we should see that might not be listed in the latest tour guides, or any tips or tricks to getting around Paris? We won't have access to a car, which is just as well, as it seems that people in Paris drive like people in Montreal (I had to drive in downtown Montreal once, I almost had a coronary, never again!).

Assuming I make it from the airport to the hotel OK (did I mention I don't have a cell phone?), I am *so stoked* to visit Paris!

The first love(s) of my life.

2010-11-21T20:10:00.015-05:00

It was 1989. I was a 15 year old girl, he was a boy named Joe. He had big blue eyes and curly brown hair, the kind of boy any girl would be happy to bring home to meet her parents. Our love affair was short, but sweet. He would keep me company while I was doing my homework, he would even sing me to sleep, Joe was always there for me. Things were great until I fell for his friend Donnie. I fell hard. Unlike Joe, Donnie was a bad boy, I was attracted to his wild side, he was the complete opposite of Joe, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't resist his charm. Despite the love triangle, Joe and Donnie remained friends. They had to, for the sake of the band. You see, Joe and Donnie, along with Danny, Jon, and Jordan, were members of the New Kids on the Block, a boy band from Boston, Massachussets. With their hit "Please Don't Go Girl", they kicked off a worldwide phenomenon, NKOTB-mania was a force to be reckoned with, and my friends and I (Tammy and Leesa, yo!) considered ourselves their #1 fans.

With the announcement of a joint NKOTB - Backstreet Boys tour (I never caught BSB fever, my allegiance was always with the boys from Beantown), I've been reminiscing about the time I spent head-over-heels in love with NKOTB. When I say Tammy, Leesa, and I were their #1 fans, I don't think most people comprehend just what that means. We were hardcore. For two years, my life revolved around five boys from Boston, I was a girl obsessed! It all started with one t-shirt I purchased on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC. That one t-shirt snowballed into a collection of NKOTB memorabilia that included everything from more t-shirts to dolls, to comic books, to tour jackets, coffee table books, and more (much, much more!!).

Tammy, Leesa and I spent every waking second of the day thinking about NKOTB. During our school lunch, we would head to Woolworths to check out the magazine racks, devouring the latest issues of Bop, Tiger Beat, and 16 Magazine, after school we would race home to hang the latest posters in our bedrooms. While every square inch of my walls was occupied by Dannie, Donnie, Joe, Jon, and Jordan, Tammy had also NKOTB comforters and pillows adorning her bed, and NKOTB flags pinned to her ceiling. Needless to say, her house served as command-central for all of our NKOTB-related activites. At Christmas, we knitted scarves for them in their favourite colors (we didn't get a thank-you card). We wrote poems for a fan contest (we lost). In short, we devoted a lot of time and energy to being NKOTB's #1 fans!

I managed to see the New Kids in concert three times -- I caught the Hangin' Tough tour at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, the Magic Summer tour at the Toronto Ex, and the Step-by-Step tour at the Skydome in Toronto. We had tickets for a fourth concert in Detroit, Michigan, not that we had a hope in hell of making it to a concert in Detroit, Michigan, but by virtue of purchasing those tickets, we were preventing three other girls from spending time with our boys. Yes, we were sick, depraved individuals. We usually got decent tickets for the concerts, being the smart whippersnapper I am, I figured out that to buy tickets for a Toronto show, rather than calling the Ticketmaster in Toronto, it made more sense to call the Ticketmaster in Vancouver. I never had to stress out over a busy signal, and we always got decent seats. It was a genius move, if I may say so myself!

We brought binoculars with us to the concerts, not to watch the concerts, but to stalk our prey. Quite frankly, we had the makings of great paparazzi, if only there were paparazzi in the early 90s. The closest we ever came to meeting our idols was meeting their wardrobe manager 'Uncle Rob'. And by meeting him, I mean we took a picture of him. I have a feeling that if I ever had the pleasure of actually meeting anyone from NKOTB, it would have gone over as well as when I met Arlene Dickinson, though I would have been less refined. Quite frankly, I would have probably peed my pants.

Quite possibly the most embarrasing declaration of my undying devotion to NKOTB involved a very special haircut I got before the Magic Summer tour. It wouldn't have been enough to simply wear an NKOTB t-shirt to the concert. Nosirreeebob, no way. I had to stand out. And how, exactly, does one do that, you ask? Like my friend Leesa, I opted to buzz the lower half of the back of my head, and shave the initials NKOTB into my newly buzzed head. Like a true fan, I left a rat's tail. OK, you have my permission to commence laughing now. In hindsight, I realize how completely ridiculous I must have looked. At the time, however, I thought I was da bomb! Surely to God, if Donnie were to see his band's initials shaved into my head, he would drop to one knee and propose on the spot, right? Right????

As embarrassing as my antics back then may seem to me now, on the bright side, my passion for NKOTB kept my friends and I out of trouble. The tour jackets, t-shirts, and initials shaved into our heads (God, what was I thinking???) proved quite effective as a means of warding off real, live boys, we were too busy fantasizing about meeting our idols to even consider the possibility of interacting with boys in the flesh. Our "Drugs Suck" t-shirts kept us on the straight and narrow. When I think of the things our girls will get up to when they're teenagers, there are certainly worse things they could do than become a boy band groupie. If that happens, I will do my best to ensure they manage to keep their dignity intact.

Potty learning tips

2010-11-08T22:54:00.018-05:00

When parents come into the store to buy training pants, we usually spend a bit of time talking with them about the potty learning process. Although we practiced infant pottying with our babies, we still relied on the following tips and tricks when we were transitioning our toddlers to full-time underwear.

Start early.

Before starting the process of potty learning their toddlers, parents will often question whether or not they are 'ready' yet. Certainly, conventional wisdom dictates that your toddler should hit certain milestones before beginning the potty learning process, however, the reality is that children are far more capable than we give them credit for.

In other parts of the world, infant pottying is commonplace, and even within our own culture, previous generations of parents started potty learning their children at a much younger age than parents of today. No matter how you do it, you are always 'training' your child. If you wait for your child to soil a diaper, then you give her a clean diaper, you are in effect training her that diapers are used for elimination purposes. As a result, the longer you wait to potty your child, the harder it will be for her to unlearn what you have previously taught her.

Don't ask your little one if she needs to 'go', just take her to the bathroom.

Do you know what a toddler's top three words are?

1) No
2) No
3) No

Yes, all three are clearly the same word, but it doesn't matter. Toddlers like to test boundaries, and the word 'no' is a great way to test boundaries! If you ask a toddler if she needs to pee, nine times out of ten the answer will be 'no', regardless of whether or not she actually needs to pee. Rather than ask her if she needs to pee, simply take her to the toilet at regular intervals. Set the timer on the stove if you want something else to take the blame, it serves as a great reminder for you, and toddlers aren't rational people anyway.

Rely on diapers as little as possible.

Toddlers know what diapers are for, they soil a diaper, then you give them a fresh diaper -- it's not rocket science! If you continue to put your little one in a diaper, you are enforcing the idea that she should pee and poop in the the diaper. Rely on underwear as much as you can, it looks different and feels different than a diaper, and you will do a better job at staying on top of the pottying situation (the onus is just as much on you as it is on her when it comes to potty time, if not moreso!).

For those times that you may not be able to access a potty easily (like at the grocery store), or when you really don't want to chance an accident (like at a playdate at a friend's house), waterproof training pants are a great alternative to diapers. They pull up and down like underwear, so your toddler can use the toilet easily, and they will hold at least one wetting. We generally suggest to customers that they don't buy more than 3-5 pairs of training pants, the more you have, the more likely you are to treat them like diapers.

Be consistent

Make pottying a part of your toddler's day-to-day routine, so that she knows to expect it, and she gets used to the idea of using the toilet. Potty her first thing in the morning, after drinks, before and after naps, and before you leave the house.

Use positive reinforcement.

When we got to the point where our little ones were consistently using the potty when we took them to it, and we knew they were capable of going themselves, we introduced the concept of rewards to encourage self-pottying. In our case, we used Smarties (shock, horror, I know!). If you're not comfortable with the idea of using candy as a reward, use something else you know will motivate your child to self-potty (stickers, pony rides, whatever feels right!). Once our little ones had the hang of self-pottying, we would gradually wean them off the reward.

Keep calm and carry on.

OK, I'll admit it, this suggestion can be tough to follow. I once found Grace in her bedroom with poop smeared everywhere -- on the wall, on her crib, and on the carpet, she was covered up to her elbows in it. I will fully admit that I cried. I cried like a baby, sobbing big, fat hysterical sobs, tears the size of jellybeans rolling down my cheeks. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The second you make potty training a big deal, it will become a big deal. When you freak out over accidents (which are bound to happen, consider yourselves warned!), you run the risk of scaring your toddler off the toilet and back into diapers. When your little one has an accident, calmly clean it up, talk about where poop and pee belong (in the toilet!), and move on.

Yes, cloth diapers really are that easy!

2010-11-07T15:30:00.007-05:00

When I was at the ABC Kids Expo last month, I spent some time visiting with Shirley and Betsy, the marvelous ladies behind Bummis, discussing the barriers to getting parents to cloth diaper their babies. In the nine years that I've been in business, although the number of businesses selling cloth diapers has grown exponentially, the number of parents using cloth diapers has held steady, roughly 5-10% of diapered babies are estimated to wear cloth diapers. When trying to convince parents to use cloth diapers, many companies focus on educating parents about the benefits of cloth diapers, however, I believe a more successful approach to getting parents on board with cloth diapers would shift focus to ease-of-use. Most parents can't seem to get past the perceived workload, although in reality, using cloth diapers (like having children in general) simply requires a few extra loads of laundry every week.

Indeed, a study funded by Huggies confirms as much, 79% of respondents agreed with the statement "Cloth diapers are less convenient than disposables". 91% of the same respondents also indicated that they agree that cloth diapers are more environmentally friendly than disposables (no duh), and 65% agreed that cloth diapers are cheaper than disposables.

In terms of the laundry required to wash cloth diapers, it's not a whole lot different than the laundry requried to wash, oh say, every other piece of clothing you own (you do own clothing, right?):

1) You put a clean diaper on your baby.
2) Your baby poops in the clean diaper.
3) You take the no-longer-clean diaper off your baby and toss it into a diaper pail.
4) When you are close to running out of clean diapers, you take the diaper pail into your laundry room and dump its contents into the washing machine.
5) You turn the washing machine on.
6) You sit on the sofa eating bon-bons and watching Days of Our Lives for an hour.
7) You move the wet cloth diapers from the washing machine to the dryer.
8) You turn the dryer on.
9) You take a nap.
10) You take the clean diapers out of the dryer, put them in a hamper, and take them back to your change table.
11) Wash, rinse, and repeat.

Ta da! Seriously, does that seem so hard? It's not like you're out in the river, smashing cloth diapers against rocks, you know what I mean? The reality is that your washing machine does most of the work for you (no washing machine? No problem!).

I wonder if parents who use disposable diapers ever stop to think about how inconvenient using those disposable diapers must be. I can't imagine having to lug large boxes of disposable diapers home from the grocery store every week, I also can't imagine having to lug all of those soiled disposable diapers to the curb every week. Parents who use disposable diapers must be very strong, what with all that lugging! Lugging aside, dealing with the tendency of disposable diapers to leak must also be inconvenient. Always having to have a spare set of clothing on hand for the inevitable poop-between-the-shoulder-blades-blowout, and dealing with the inconvenience of poop in the high chair, poop in the carseat or (God forbid) poop on your lap. And what if you discover you're out of disposable diapers right before you put your baby in her nighttime diaper, and your husband is at work, so you have to get her dressed and pack her into the car and run out to the grocery store to buy some more disposable diapers to lug home? When I ran out of cloth diapers, I didn't have to travel further than my laundry room to restock. I must say, from where I'm sitting, dealing with disposable diapers must be an absolute nightmare!

If you're still leary about the workload involved, there are things you can do to ease the 'burden' of using cloth diapers:

buy more diapers so that you wash less frequently (don't buy too many diapers though -- ideally, you should wash your diapers every 3-5 days).
buy all-in-one diapers that go on your baby in one piece.
toss your clean diapers into a basket you keep next to your change table (no folding, stacking, or sorting by color required!).

Now that I have no babies to diaper, I have to say, there has been zero change in terms of the time I spend in the laundry room. I made it out the other side OK, I promise you, you will too!

Part II: Really? You think people need that?

2010-10-17T20:31:00.017-04:00

If you were reading this blog a year ago, you likely know I wrote about the winners and losers we uncovered last year at the ABC Kids' Expo, a buying show for juvenile products retailers. This annual show gives me a chance to meet with our suppliers face-to-face, and it enables me to examine products in-person that I'm considering stocking at our stores. I come across some real gems at ABC this year, but I also come across some real duds.

Before I get to the good stuff, I will post a disclaimer. The information contained in this blog post is based soley on my opinion. My. Opinion. You may disagree with me, perhaps you use and love a product that's listed here, I understand -- the heart wants what the heart wants. I'm okay, and you're okay. We're all okay. Okay?

I'm all for babywearing, it provides parents with a great way to connect with their little ones, and it's a practical way to tote children around, however, I don't get this. What if your child wants to sit down? What if your child wants to sleep??? I can't quite figure out what 'need' this particular product fulfills.
A one-size-fits-all sleeper? While I appreciate that it's USA-made, and I understand that babies can outgrow their clothing quickly, this is just waaaay too fussy for me. If you want to get more mileage out of your baby's sleepers, buy a size larger than you need, and fold over the arms and legs to fit.
You know when you go to the mall, and you forget where you parked your car, so you beep it and follow the honk? Now you can do that with your child too. I understand the panicked feeling when you lose sight of a young child, but the simple solution to that problem is to keep them within arms' reach at all times. I have four kids, it is possible.
Color me stupid, but I'm going to ask the obvious question: Where do Skittles fit into this scheme? Feeding kids a healthy diet can be tricky, requiring a balance of cunning and compromise, but does it really need a chart complete with stickers?
Gosh, I wonder how differently my life would have turned out if my mother cared enough to dress both herself and I in clothing that kept me in a constant state of overstimulation. Man, I probably missed out on so much in those first six months that I was stuck looking at pastel ducks. I'd probably be running the country by now. Damn you, mother, damn you to hell!
I don't care what you're doing, and how inconvenient blowing your nose may seem, but this would never, ever be okay. Do us all a favor and use a hankerchief, please?
Although it's billed as "The life-saving device that every parent needs", the manufacturer of this product should revise the aforementioned suggestion to read "The life-saving device that every parent needs, unless they live in a bungalow or higher than 50 feet from the ground." As horrifying as the idea of a housefire is, I'm not sure we all need a tethered bag to lower our child to safety.
Do you really want your child wearing this? Before you write me off as a cold, heartless bitch, to my credit, in ten years of parenting, I've never had a reason to ice a child's entire head. Have you?
Don't kid yourself, danger lurks everywhere. Everywhere! Forget radiation-proof clothing, I'm going to start wearing full body armor from now on, I'm not going to take any chances!
Now, you can be 'with' your baby, even when you're away from your baby. Of course, I get the point of having a baby monitor in the house, but I can't understand why you'd need to monitor your baby when you're outside of the house. If you hear your baby cry over your cellphone while you're at a business meeting, just what are you supposed to do about it anyway?

This is only a sampling of some of the questionable products I saw, I am actually exercising considerable restraint tonight (plus I just can't be bothered to document each and every one of them). There was an alarm you slip inside your baby's diaper that checks for pee and poop every eight seconds, there were educational legwarmers (learning through osmosis?), there was a motorized platform you attach to a stroller so that you are propelled forward while pushing the stroller (walking is for losers, apparently), and the list goes on.

While it's great to have tools that make parenting easier, I have to wonder at what point 'enough is enough'. Of course, when someone finally invents a cloth diaper that turns poop into gold, I will be all over it... maybe next year, stay tuned!

Underwhelmed.

2010-10-12T01:42:00.003-04:00

After two days at the ABC Expo, I feel quite underwhelmed with this year's offerings. There are hundreds (thousands?) of vendors, but a lot of it feels like rows and rows of more of the same. There are a *spectacular* number of cloth diaper vendors at the show this year, and I have to say, I can appreciate how overwhelmed new parents must feel when they walk into our stores. I went to the show expecting to pick up some new cloth diaper brands, but at this point, I'm starting to feel like adding more variety to our already great selection of cloth diapers might actually do a disservice to our customers.

Seeing cloth diapers in person at a show like ABC gives me a chance to properly evaluate them. I was on the fence about the new Tiny Socialite collection from the folks at bumGenius, but seeing them IRL offered some reassurance that preordering them was a smart move. While they not be to everyone's taste, the prints look quite different in person than they do online -- I like them, all of them! The Flip diaper system now includes an optional newborn insert, a smart add-on that parents can buy to make the diapers fit small newborns better.

Bummis debuted a few new prints, both in their Super Whisper Wraps and their Super Brite covers. They're also introducing a new 'economy' cover, we ordered some, though I tend to think the term 'economy' as applied to a diaper cover is somewhat of a misnomer as all cloth diapers can be considered 'economy' when compared to their throwaway counterparts. We got a preview of a prototype of a product still in development, it's always exciting to get a sneak peak of what's coming up, the process of developing a new product is not a quick one, it requires lots of testing and tweaking! Suffice it to say, when this particular product is rolled out, I think it will be well-received!

At this point, the only new product we've picked up is a line of bamboo breastpads from Bamboobies. The breastpads are trim, absorbent, and leakproof. I've had my eye on them for a while, their daytime breastpads are very discrete under clothing, and they offer a more absorbent breastpad that's great if you leak overnight. We currently stock the bamboo breastpads from Mother-ease, but they are b-u-l-k-y!

We're considering a few new products that I'm still undecided about. Tegu magnetic wooden blocks are a novel approach to traditional wooden building blocks. The blocks are magnetic, so kids can create all kinds of configurations, however, the price point is a little high. $60 for 26 assorted blocks. Too high? Just right? I know we're not a toy store, but it's nice to offer something for the big brothers and sisters out there.

Another product up for consideration (and this is where I totally have to eat crow, mmmmm!) is the Woombie swaddler. We receive requests for a swaddler quite often, and the Woombie brand is a frequent request. Yes, it looks like a straight jacket, but for a baby who likes to be swaddled, I can see the appeal. Have any of you actually used this swaddler? Thoughts? Yay or nay???

There a plethora of nursing covers here, another product that customers frequently request. I'm not opposed to the idea of a nursing cover, I think any product that makes a woman feel comfortable nursing is a welcome addition to our store, however, there are so many different kinds of nursing covers, it makes my head spin. Bibs, shawls, shrugs, and the list goes on! It's time I just pick one and order it...

A major disappointment at the show is that Infantino has debuted some new carriers, a knock-off of Ergo, and a knock-off of the standard Mei Tai. Infantino's poorly-designed bag sling was responsible for the deaths of three infants, resulting in a recall and causing people to question the safety of babywearing in general. Infantino's new slings look shoddy and in person, I hope people are able to see past the low suggested retail price and realize that you get what you pay for. As attractivec as a low pricetag might be, it's not worth compromising the safety of a child.

Today is my last day at the show, I've put in loads of reorders to our existing suppliers, and now I need to make a final decision about the products I'm on the fence about. There are many (many!) bizarre new product offerings this year, suffice it to say, there will never be a shortage of stupidity when it comes to trying to suck the money out of new parents' wallets.

Let the games begin!

2010-10-10T10:56:00.010-04:00

We landed in Las Vegas yesterday, after a smooth seven hours of travelling. First, we flew from Ottawa to Montreal, although I don't entirely believe that. I think we actually just flew to the end of the runway in Ottawa, and walked the rest of the way, judging from how short the flight was, and the distance we walked in the Montreal airport, it seemed like we walked forever! There were long lineups in Montreal, it took almost an hour to pass through customs, in that time, I noticed how chic Montrealers are. Unlike myself, who prefers to travel in comfortable clothing (the same cotton t-shirt and stretchy pants it seems I wear every day of my life), people in Montreal dress up to travel.

The flight from Montreal to Las Vegas was five hours long, with no SkyMall to entertain me, I decided to watch an in-flight movie instead. The pickings were slim (very slim), so I settled on "Sex and the City 2: two hours of your life you'll never get back". OK, perhaps I fudged the title a little, but my title is a little more accurate than their title. When a movie opens with Liza Minelli dancing and singing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" in little more than pantyhose, you know it's going to be bad (very bad). In normal circumstances, I would just stop watching a bad movie, but at 40,000 feet in the air with absolutely nothing else to do, I was sort of stuck. I would call the movie horrific, but then I'd be worried the word 'horrific' would take offense to being associated with such a craptacular movie, and it would take me to court and sue me for slander. I looked up the movie's rating on Rotten Tomatoes last night, and it got a surprisingly high 15%. Yes, it's a very low rating, but the fact that 15% of the movie reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a positive review indicates to me that 15% of the movie reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes shouldn't actually be movie reviewers because clearly they suck at reviewing movies.

When we landed in Las Vegas, we did what most Canadians do when they hit US soil, and we went outlet shopping. After all that walking ~~from Ottawa to Montreal~~ in the Montreal airport yesterday, it was quickly apparent that the one pair of shoes I brought with me are not going to cut it in Las Vegas. Walking a show that is a million square feet in size requires good shoes, I dropped the ball, and packed a pair of little black ballet flats that I think are super-cute. I had an awesome pair of Pappillios (vinyl Birkenstocks) that gave up the ghost this summer, and I was unsuccessful at finding a suitable replacement, so I took a pair of shoes that are generally comfortable in day-to-day use. Epic fail!

In Las Vegas, they sell two kinds of shoes: ridiculously tall and pointy high heels, or 'toning' shoes that supposedly work your glutes while you walk. There were eleventy million different styles of 'toning' shoes, and not a single pair of Birkenstocks to be found! I don't know who wears these 'toning' shoes, I'm someone who generally lacks style (not entirely true, I just don't give a rat's ass), and I'd be embarrassed to be seen wearing them in public. They must work really well if someone's going to put up with their sheer ugliness in order to obtain a firmer butt. I will pay close attention the butt situation here and report back!.

With no luck at the outlet shopping in finding a decent pair of shoes, we headed to Target to see what they had to offer (FYI, Target is coming soon to Canada!). While we were there, I came across Dr. Scholl's massaging gel inserts, with nothing to lose, I bought a pair. When I slipped them in my shoes, it was like the heavens opened up and angels started to sing. So. Comfortable! So in the span of a week, I picked up crocheting, found a curly hair on my chin (TMI?) and started wearing shoe orthotics. It's liked I skipped right to being 80! Regardless, I will have some bounce back in my step today when I pound the pavement at the ABC Expo.

We're off the show this morning, I have several orders I need to place, then I'll be floating around (thanks, Dr. Scholls!) trying to scope out any new products that I think would be a good fit for our store. Stay tuned for pics and news from the show!

Do you know your ABCs?

2010-10-08T22:19:00.002-04:00

The largest juvenile product show in the industry, the ABC Kids Expo will be running next week from October 10-13 in Las Vegas, and we'll be there to bring the latest and greatest back with us. This tradeshow is a great opportunity for us to spend some face-to-face time with our suppliers, who will be revealing both new and updated products at the show. Some of you may have already seen the big 'print' reveals from a few key cloth diaper manufacturers this week, but there will still be lots of fun stuff to see at the show, our friends at Bummis are teasing us with hints about new products they'll be debuting next week.

Last year at the show, we asked readers for their opinions on new products we were considering carrying -- it always helps to consider customers' perspective, I know I have a horrible case of tunnel vision when it comes to buying for the store. The Expo itself can be like a live episode of Dragon's Den, where entrepreneurs test the waters with their business ideas, like the TV show, there are hits and misses. I'll bring you the best of both worlds (and I'll do my very best to be nice about it, I promise!).

Once again, I'll be collecting swag at the show, randomly selected comments to the 2010 ABC blog entries will be selected to receive show samples.

Excuse my sarcasm. I can't help myself.

2010-10-01T13:19:00.004-04:00

sar·casm /ˈsɑrkæzəm/
[sahr-kaz-uhm]

–noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.

Well now, didn't I get my hand slapped on Facebook this morning when I posted a humorous (or so I thought) commentary on a product that I personally found silly (like you, I'm allowed an opinion, OK?). I admit, I often treat customers like friends, perhaps I should filter myself more than I do, however, I've never bothered trying. Not in-person, and certainly not online. I work a lot at the Ottawa store because I enjoy it. Being a shopkeeper, admittedly not the most glamorous job in the world, is a pretty sweet gig. No two days are ever the same, and I'm constantly meeting new and interesting people. I love it when a customer lingers at the store because we're having a good conversation.

If there's a chance we may meet, you should understand I am a naturally sarcastic person. People who know me well are quite familiar with this particular aspect of my personality, it's just the way I am. I usually do a good job of censoring myself when necessary. As an example, my inlaws (God bless them), don't 'get' sarcasm, so I don't bother. The last time I attempted sarcasm with them was shortly after I married my husband (their beloved son, obviously). They asked me why I hadn't changed my last name yet, and I deadpanned "Because it will make things so much easier when we eventually get divorced." - ba-dum-bum! You could have heard a pin drop. Instead of laughing (the expected result, I mean come on, it was funny!), the joke was followed by awkard silence. Note to self: the inlaws don't like sarcasm.

Inlaws aside, I'm aware that children don't often 'get' sarcasm. As my husband has pointed out many (many) times, perhaps sarcasm isn't the best approach when we're trying to teach our little ones, who have a habit of taking everything I say literally, not figuratively (a real problem in certain situations!). Although as they get older, I'm starting to notice Maddy and Hannah making effective use of sarcasm, when they let a zinger fly, I'll admit it warms my heart a little. OK, a lot.

So there you have it. There is no ill intent behind the things I say, in-person or online. I'm simply trying to be funny. As for the suggestion I should 'stop with the sarcasm', sorry -- no can do! That's like asking a zebra to stop with the stripes.

9/11

2010-09-11T20:07:00.008-04:00

For most people, September 11th marks a sad anniversary, serving as a reminder to be thankful for the loved ones we are blessed to have in our lives. While I still think about September 11th and remember the thousands of lives lost in 2001, it also marks the date my father passed away five years ago, in 2005. He didn't die on Septeber 11th, but that was the day we all knew our time with him was drawing to a close. I remember my father's death the same way I remember my children's births, recalling the hours that lead up to each event, thinking about where I was, and what I was doing.

For the past five years, my father had been sick, diagnosed with liver cancer when I was expecting our first child. When we were waiting for Owen to be born, it was a strange time, my father was in palliative care at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa, the days leading up to Owen's birth were a mixture of emotions, anticipating both life and death at the same time.

Owen was born at home. In a reversal of the usual events, after he was born, I took him to the hospital to introduce my father to his newest grandson. Identified as a carrier of MRSA, commonly known as a 'super bug', visits with my father required that we wear gowns, masks, and gloves at all times. The fact that my father had no skin-to-skin contact in his last days of life is something that continues to bother me to this day, he was denied the opportunity to hold his newest grandson in his arms.

The weekend my father passed was also Baby Boom weekend. On Saturday, after I worked the booth at Baby Boom, I went to the hospital to visit with him and tell him how the day went. Among the many jobs he held (we often joked he was a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker), my father was a shopkeeper for several years in England. When I wanted to open the store, he strongly advised me against it, but after he saw that his crazy daughter wasn't so crazy at all, he was happy to indulge me in my shop talk. When I went to visit him that night, he was not lucid, he seemed to be floating back and forth between the present and the past. Until that point, I had been fearful to let him touch Owen, worried the nurses would catch me and I would be exiled from his room. I slipped Owen's hand out from the sling, and my father held his grandson's finger for the first time, repeating 'this is heaven' over and over.

That was the last time I spoke with my father. The next morning, as I was getting ready for Baby Boom, we got the call that my father was dying. Needless to say, I spent the day at the hospital by my father's side. My father's eyes were open, his gaze unblinking; he was gasping for breath, his body shaking each time he took in air. At that moment, I regretted not telling him all the things I had wanted to tell him at each visit prior to that day. I never wanted to acknowledge what was happening, to admit how much I loved him and would miss him was to admit he was dying. I whispered the words to him that day, hoping he could still hear me.

My father passed away in the early hours of September 12th, 2005. I was lying in bed, I had just nursed Owen, I couldn't fall back asleep. My brother knocked on our door, and whispered the news to us. The next time I saw my father, he was finally at peace. The breathing tubes were gone, he looked like my dad again. As horrible as that time was, it taught me the value of telling your loved ones how you feel.

Baby Boom, baby!

2010-09-10T21:46:00.015-04:00

It's hard to believe a year has zipped by already, but we've set up our booth again (#1, baby!) at Baby Boom, Ottawa's own everything-from-prental-to-preschool parenting show, an annual affair held at the Nepean Sportsplex. This show is a great opportunity for new and expecting parents to see all that Ottawa has to offer in the way of businesses that cater to their crowd, from Footprints to Photographers, there is a wide array of businesses and services gathered under one roof.

This will be our sixth year exhibiting at Baby Boom, it provides us with fabulous exposure, we still rely heavily on word-of-mouth (thank-you!) to help grow our business, but this show affords us another way to connect with parents who may not be aware of the alternatives to disposable diapers, Baby Bjorns, etc. We have demo diapers and slings on-hand at the booth, and we also put on a workshop every year based on the popular cloth diapering workshop we offer at our stores on the second Saturday of every month.

In an effort to make it worthwhile for parents to visit us at the show, we offer show specials, some are available only at the show (because I don't want to truck any detergent home with me!), some specials will be offered at the show and both of our B&M store locations (Saturday only!). So here it is, your chance to preview this weekend's savings, you might want to sleep with your running shoes on today, they are *that* hot! OK, not really, but still. If you're interested, don't dilly-dally, come to the show (or the store) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Saturday morning, because stock is available in limited quantities, and I won't be restocking for Sunday (seriously, I don't want to truck anything home with me!).

Bamboozle fitted diapers $14.00 (both show and instore!)

This is one of our favourite nighttime diaper solutions, thick and thirsty, the Bamboozle is great for heavywetters! Regularly priced at $21.00, reduced to $14.00 to make way for the new stretch bamboo version of the same diaper. Pair this baby with a wool soaker for a leakproof nighttime combination that's good to your little one's delicate skin.

Fuzzibunz perfect-size diapers, discontinued colors for $16.75 (show only!)

I've been humming and hawing about putting the 'old' colors on sale, to be honest, I think the 'old' colors are quite nice, and I like variety (is there such a thing as 'too much color'? Is there?). For you bargain-hunters, I've brought a selection of discontinued colors to the show, for a one-time price reduction of 30%. Limited quantities, limit of four diapers per customer (I like to spread the wealth!). Butter yellow, sage green, periwinkle blue, royal blue, and aqua blue, in sizes small, medium, and large.

Buy any detergent at the show, receive a 50% off coupon (show only!)

Buy a bag of Rockin' Green Hard Rock 2.0 for $20.00, buy your next bag for $10.00. Buy a tin of Nellies, get a coupon you can use towards your next Nellies refill (bring the empty tin to the store), your next 100 loads will set you back a measly $7.00! Buy a box of Country Save (have I mentioned how fabulous Country Save is?), get your next box for $5.49. Coupons only valid instore, not valid online.

Amber teething necklaces - $10.00 (both show and instore!)

Skeptical? Don't take our word for for it, mosey on down to the show or the store (Ottawa or Waterloo) and see for yourself. Regularly priced at $16.00, this a great opportunity to give amber a whirl...

Adult-sized necklaces will also be marked down, regular price $24.00, sale-priced at $16.00 (why should babies have all the fun?).

Cloth diaper sample kit (show only!)

If you're considering cloth diapers, but you don't know where to start, this is your opportunity to pick up three of our most popular diapers, tax-free, and a discount. This kit comes with:

1 flip cover

2 stay-dry flip inserts

1 one-size Fuzzibunz diaper

1 EasyFit one-size AIO

6 Tiny Bubbles detergent samples

1 Thirsties duffel tote

washing instructions

a gift certificate valued between $10-$25 (you'll find out how much it's worth at the time of redemption)

All yours for the low, low price of $85, no tax (we pay the HST!). One kit will contain a 'golden ticket' of sorts, a 50% off coupon that can be applied to any purchase up to $400.00. You feeling lucky?

Organic Ergo carriers - $99.00 (both show and instore!)

OK, I don't want to brag, but this is kind of a big deal. Regularly-priced at $140.00 (and worth every single penny!), select colors will be marked down to $99.00 at the show and both stores (Saturday only). Sienna, Navy, and Sea Green (shown). The Ergo carrier is a fabulous front and back carrier, good up until approximately 40 lbs.

Sleepy Wrap carriers - $40.00 (both show and instore!)

This is one of my favourite carriers for newborns, it offers both parent and baby great support. The Sleepy Wrap can be used comfortably from birth until approximately 20 lbs (generally 4-6 months). Regularly priced at $50.00 (and again, worth every single penny!), all colors will be marked down to $40.00 at the show and both stores (Saturday only).

Do you understand what this means? You could purchase an Ergo and a Sleepy Wrap for $139.00, less than the regular price of an organic Ergo. Take care of your babywearing needs from birth through toddlerhood in one fell swoop...

Save $10.00 on the purchase of a shiny, new Beco Gemini (show only!)

We received a partial order of the new Beco Gemini today, like the Ergo carrier, it allows a front and back carry (it also advertises a hip carry, but I'm generally leary of any SSC that claims it can allow a hip carry, more on that once I've tried it out!). The major difference between the Beco Gemini and other SSCs is the fact it allows for a front-facing carry -- if this is your baby's preference (and some babies do have a preference), save some coin tomorrow at the show, and be the envy of all your friends (they sure are purdy!).

We have a selection of other goodies at our booth to give folks an idea of the broad selection of products we sell, and we'll have some free Earth Mama, Angel Baby teabag samples, free cloth diaper literature, as well as a draw for a gift basket with an assortment of products sold at the store. If you come to the show this weekend, please stop by and say 'hello'!

She's baaaaack!

2010-09-02T23:04:00.004-04:00

Aunt Flo, that is. Did you know that the return of your fertility after having a baby is often (but not always!) linked to when your baby goes for a six-hour stretch without nursing at night? Grace started sleeping through the night around eighteen months old, and sure enough, my first postpartum cycle soon followed. I had an inkling my fertility was about to return, I was moody for weeks beforehand, and I'm not talking your average, run-of-the-mill moodiness, I'm talking look-at-me-the-wrong-way-and-I-will- tear-your-fucking-head-off moodiness. For weeks. I was a real joy to be around, let me tell you!

Since Aunt Flo has returned, for the first time in my life, I have a regular cycle. Go figure, my husband gets fixed, then I'm finally fertile! Despite my lack of a regular cycle, we managed to conceive four beautiful children with the aid of "Taking Charge of Your Fertility", a must-read for all women, young and old (it should be required reading in high school!). Thanks to the information in that book, and my husband's super sperm (that's what our fertility doctor called them), baby-making came relatively easy. When it was go-time, we went, and nine months later (give or take), we were holding a new bundle of joy. Easy-peasy!

I didn't get my first period until I was 17 years old, and I would only get it three, maybe four times a year. While the Pearson baby factory was in operation for a full decade (!!!), I had (brace yourself) four periods. Now that I've had a regular cycle for six months, I have come to realize what bliss that period-free period was. This whole period business is kind of a bitch, you see.

My newfound cycle isn't textbook regular, it varies in length from 5-6 weeks, but there is one thing consistent about it, the super-awesome PMS part, Mother Nature's 'heads up' that the shit's about to go down. When I'm PMSing, I spend a few days doing the following:

eating things

yelling at things

crying at things

cleaning things (usually while crying and/or yelling at them)

There's also the awesome bloating and acne, can't forget about that! As bad as I thought things were for the fast few months, I was introduced to menstrual cramps during my last cycle. I woke up at around 2am one night to intense abdominal pain, I actually went to the bathroom to check for a crowning head, because prior to that night, the only time I had ever felt pain like that was when a baby was exiting my vagina.

As hard as PMS may be on my body, it's even harder on my poor husband. Often the lone figure in the line of PMS fire, he recently asked me "How come you're so mean to me?" We both doubled over in laughter when we watched "Get Him to The Greek", and Jonah Hill's character sheepishly asked his wife "Are you on your period?" So. True.

PMS aside, I often wonder if my uterus and ovaries are acting in collusion to ensure things never go according plan. If there's something about to happen that would be, like, a million times better if I didn't have my period, you can bet your bottom dollar I will have my period. Case in point: my husband and I are going to Las Vegas together, with no children, in five weeks for our annual pilgrimmage to the ABC Kids juvenile products show. While my husband is quite excited at the prospect of four days (and nights) of wild, unbridled passion, my uterus and ovaries and their new five week cycle have other plans. Although between you and me, that was never going to happen anyway. If I'm going to be away from my beloved children, I'm going to spend my time sleeping and eating. But don't tell him that, I will gladly let my uterus and ovaries take the fall for this one.

As miserable as I may be for the four days prior to Aunt Flo's arrival, I'll admit that I'm a little (OK, a lot) concerned about what it's going to be like when our daughters start their periods, if it's true that women who live together can have cycles that sync up, my husband and our son had better brace themselves for 3-4 days of hell every month. Considering how miserable one PMSing woman can be, I can only imagine what it will be like to have four of us under one roof. I imagine it looks something like this. Have fun with that, dude.

Increasing breastfeeding rates in Canada

2010-08-24T21:30:00.031-04:00

Giselle Bündchen caught a lot of flack recently for suggesting that all new mothers should be legally obligated to breastfeed for the first six months of a baby's life. While the suggestion that breastfeeding should be legally mandated is admittedly ludicrous, I can appreciate the sentiment behind her suggestion. Breastmilk is best, breastfeeding rates are lower than they should be, what can be done to change that?

I realize that there's a perception that things are 'just fine' with respect to breastfeeding rates in Canada, however, the duration of breastfeeding rates has been declining since 1960:

Recent Canadian statistics show that while almost 75% of mothers begin breastfeeding in hospital, only 60% and 30% are still exclusively breastfeeding at 3 and 6 months, respectively (Health Canada, 1996). By 9 months, only 18% of mothers still breastfed in a Vancouver cohort (Williams et al., 1996). Breastfeeding trends vary across the provinces; rates are higher in the west and drop off from Quebec to the east (Health Canada, 1996). Breastfeeding initiation and maintenance rates increase with increasing education and income levels. This suggests that there are many social factors that influence the method of infant feeding (Health Canada, 1996).

There are a number of things parents-to-be can do to increase the likelihood of a successful breastfeeding relationship, however, it is fair to suggest that more can be done to improve breastfeeding rates. If the Canadian government is going to recommend breastfeeding children until two years of age, it's not outrageous to suggest the government can do more to increase breastfeeding rates across the country.

Introduce information about breastfeeding into the school curriculum. Children need to know what breasts are for. Not all children are exposed to breastfeeding women and babies, introducing the idea of breastfeeding at an early age will help children develop a healthy attitude towards breastfeeding.

Encourage the use of human milk banks. Historically, babies who were not breastfed by their mothers were breastfed by relatives, friends, or hired help. Donated breastmilk is the next best thing to a mother's own breastmilk. Mothers who donate to human milk banks are medically screened, and their breastmilk is pasteurized. There is only one human milk bank in Canada -- why aren't there more?

Make formula available by prescription only. Harsh? Maybe, but it would reinforce the idea that formula should be a last-case resort. Obviously, donated human milk would have to be readily available to make prescription-only formula feasible.

Make lactation consultations a government-funded health service. Lactation consultants typically charge upwards of $70.00 per hour, however, it is money well-spent when you consider the health benefits offered to a mother and her baby by a successful breastfeeding relationship. If mothers need help, financial status should not determine who gets help.

Make ongoing, formal breastfeeding education compulsory for all physicians. I am SHOCKED at the stories I hear from women about incorrect advice received from the medical establishment. Clearly, many doctors are not capable of dispensing medical advice as it relates to a breastfeeding baby, or a lactating mother. Often the first line of defense when breastfeeding problems are encountered, they should be in a position to help, not hamper, the breastfeeding relationship.

As a first-time mother, Giselle Bündchen approached the subject with a holier-than-thou self-righteousness we have all been guilty of at some time or other. However, I think her motivation behind making the suggestion was a noble one. A positive attitude towards breastfeeding should not be mistaken as judgement against those who were not able to breastfeed their babies. The next time Ms. Bundchen chooses to speak out in favor of breastfeeding, I hope she chooses her words more carefully.

No washing machine = no cloth diapers?

2010-08-23T22:31:00.008-04:00

Occasionally, expecting parents come into the store, and comment that they *can't* use cloth diapers because they don't have laundry facilities in their house or apartment. While I can appreciate these circumstances may make using cloth diapers more challenging, it certainly doesn't make using cloth diapers impossible.

If you don't own a washing machine, you can still use cloth diapers:

use a diaper service. Not as cost-effective as buying and washing your own cloth diapers, but certainly a better alternative to disposable diapers.
invest in a mini washing machine. The Wonderwash portable washer is suited to washing small loads, making it ideal for washing cloth diapers. With its small footprint, and low pricetag (less than $50.00!), it's a worthwhile investment for anyone who lacks access to laundry facilities.
wash your cloth diapers in a laundromat. Sure, it will cost more money than washing cloth diapers in your own washing machine, but you'll still spend far less money than if you were to use disposable diapers. You can offset the cost of a laundromat by buying more cloth diapers, and washing less frequently. If budget is an issue, buy your cloth diapers a few at a time before junior makes his debut, or consider using prefolds. Line-drying your cloth diapers in your home or apartment will also offset the cost of a laundromat, while reducing the time you spend at the laundromat.
wash your cloth diapers in someone else's washing machine. Make use of the laundry facilities at a friend's or relative's house. If nothing else, it's a good excuse to visit often -- you do the laundry while Grandma enjoys the extra cuddle time with junior.
hand-wash your cloth diapers in the bathtub. Granted, this approach isn't for the faint of heart, but I've hand-washed cloth diapers on vacation, and I lived to speak about it. You can use paper liners or a mini-shower to make dealing with poopy diapers easier, and I would suggest you invest in a pair of rubber gloves, but it's definitely doable.

So there you have it. No washing machine? No problem! Not owning a washing machine is not a barrier to washing clothing (paper clothing, anyone?), there's no reason it should be a barrier to washing cloth diapers. And besides, you can always put the money you save by using cloth diapers towards the purchase of a shiny, new washing machine, right?

Woven wraps vs. Stretchy wraps

2010-08-15T21:27:00.029-04:00

We have a great selection of slings at both of our stores, however, one type of sling is noticeably absent from our lineup. We have stocked a variety of woven wraps over the years, but we've never had much luck in terms of selling them, not because of the products themselves, but more because of customers' apprehension about what appears to be nothing more than a 'simple piece of cloth'.

Contrary to their basic appearance, woven wraps are probably the most versatile type of baby carrier currently available for sale. Despite other carriers' claims as a front/back/side carrier, woven wraps are the only type of carrier that will allow a parent to carry a baby in all three positions, both safely and comfortably. The Scootababy hip carrier is a close second -- although most soft-structured carriers (SSCs) claim to be suitable for a front/back/hip carry positions, they are really only suited to either a front or back carry. Since its shoulder straps are so narrow, when an SSC is are used for a hip carry, it can be quite uncomfortable because of the pressure placed on the wearer's trapezius muscle.

The most popular carrier we sell for newborns is a stretchy wrap. Although it looks quite similar to a woven wrap, a stretchy wrap is an entirely different beast. Stretchy wraps are less intimidating to new parents because they are tied on first, then the baby is placed into the carrier. The elastic fabric of a stretchy wrap makes this possible -- it is more forgiving than a woven wrap, which requires that a baby is placed into the carrier as the user ties it on. The benefit of being able to tie a carrier on beforehand is that a user can have the carrier ready to go at a moment's notice (immediate satisfaction!). The user can also remove the baby from a stretchy wrap without having to remove the carrier. Poppability (placing a baby in and taking a baby out of a carrier) is important when you're out and about, or if you have a fussy baby. Speed and ease of use aside, being able to tie a stretchy wrap on beforehand (at home before you start running your errands, for example) reduces the likelihood that you'll be tying your wrap on outside in the slush, rain or snow -- a drawback to wraps (both stretchy and woven) is that it's hard to avoid the wrap touching the floor as you tie it on -- better inside than outside, right? Fear not, however, most wraps are manufactured from a cotton or cotton blend, so they are quite easy to care for, simply machine wash and dry as needed.

Both stretchy wraps and woven wraps claim a weight limit of approximately 35 lbs, however, due to the give of a stretchy wrap, a weight limit of 20 lbs is more realistic. I have attempted to wear a baby who weighs 25-30 lbs in a stretchy wrap, only to have them sagging well below my waist after ten minutes in the carrier (not comfortable or practical!). Tying a stretchy wrap tighter will help compensate for a heavier child, but only to a certain degree. A woven wrap, on the other hand, is made from a significantly sturdier fabric. As a result, you can safely and comfortably carry a child who weighs 35 lbs in a good woven wrap. Keep in mind that not all woven wraps are created equal, a thin fabric will create more pressure points than a plusher fabric (anyone who has felt the difference between a Didymos woven wrap and an Ellaroo woven wrap can attest to this!).

Because they are so versatile, woven wraps have a higher learning curve, however, with a little patience and perseverence, it's easy to fall in love with this simple carrier and all it can do. A good wrap will come with clear, easy-to-follow instructions. Alternately, there are lots of great online resources that offer both written and video instructions. We often refer customers to Wear Your Baby, a fabulous website that provides instructions based on age, position, and type of carrier. If you are nervous when you start using your woven wrap, it's a good idea to wrap your baby over a soft surface, like a bed, for example, or to have a spotter close by, particularly when you are learning back carries.

While stretchy wraps tend to come in a one-size-fits-all format, woven wraps are often sized. Different ties require different lengths of fabric. A rucksack back carry requires significantly less length than a front wrap cross carry, for example. Aside from position, the user's frame also determines which size woven wrap is appropriate -- when in doubt, size up. You can make something bigger, smaller, but you can't make something smaller, bigger (I'm talking about wraps, get your dirty minds out of the gutter!).

In terms of cost, stretchy wraps usually cost less than most woven wraps, priced anywhere from $50.00 - $80.00. Woven wraps tend to cost upwards of $100.00, however, when you consider the longterm use of a woven wrap (you can comfortably expect to use a quality woven wrap for three or more years) compared to the short-term use of a stretchy wrap (typically 4-6 months), it's a worthwhile investment. If you want a woven wrap, but you can't justify its cost, you can always DIY, although it's important to note that woven wraps are typically manufactured from a fabric that has been woven specifically for that purpose, you will not likely be able to duplicate the comfort of a Didymos with fabric purchased at Fabricland -- sad, but true.

I will fully admit that before using a woven wrap myself, I regarded them with disdain. Like most people, I couldn't see past the meters of fabric before me until I actually tried a woven wrap on. The more comfortable I became using a woven wrap, the more enthusiastic I became about this 'simple piece of cloth'. Anyone who has had the pleasure of using a quality woven wrap will certainly agree with me -- it's not uncommon for 'wrappers' to own more than one! We've had many requests to stock a woven wrap again at both stores, and thanks to some gentle prodding from the fabulous Annie at PhD in Parenting, we're going to take the plunge again and bring back woven wraps to The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe. We want you to feel the woven wrap love too!

My brush with celebrity...

2010-08-06T00:11:00.022-04:00

When I went to Las Vegas earlier this week, I had a few goals, a bucket list of sorts. While I didn't drink a yard of margarita (easier said than done), and I didn't wear any makeup (apparently, applying makeup is not like riding a bicycle, you will forget how!), I am happy to report that I met a real-life, bonafide celebrity (I also didn't have to wipe anyone else's poopy bum, clearly worth noting!). On the flight back from Vegas to Toronto, I was seated next to Arlene Dickinson. Not this Arlene Dickinson, or this Arlene Dickinson, but *this* Arlene Dickinson. From Dragon's Den. I know, right?

I spotted her in the waiting area before we boarded the flight, her telltale streak gave her away. She's sporting a new, shorter 'do (it looks great!), I pulled out my laptop to confirm it was her (Google to the rescue, again), I was satisfied just knowing that I could cross that Vegas goal off my list. I sent a text message to my brother and his wife (they were flying home on a different airline, so they were seated in another terminal), since I'm so crap at texting, I was only able to muster "arlene is on my plane" before collapsing from exhaustion (am I the only person in the world who finds texting taxing?). The thought that she could be seated next to me briefly crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it, I mean, what are the odds?

Turns out, the odds are very good that when you're seated in executive class, you may be seated next to someone famous! When I got to my row, and looked down at my new travel partner, I didn't flinch on the outside, but on the inside, I was going ballistic (OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!). I casually pulled out my phone to text my brother and his wife, but since I'm so crap at texting, I gave up on that idea immediately, I didn't want to bother Arlene Dickinson with my furious pecking (seriously, I am *that* bad at texting!). I'm pretty certain the flight attendant also knew who she was, at one point, we shot each other a knowing look. I did my best to ignore Arlene Dickinson, I didn't want to bother her. In short, I tried my hardest to be the best travel partner Arlene Dickinson had ever had.

I had big plans to take advantage of the perks of travelling executive class (it's a pretty sweet gig, quite frankly), but in the interest of not disturbing my new travel partner, I politely declined the alcohol, chips, and hot breakfast that Air Canada tried to ply me with. I was on my best behaviour! At one point, my nose started to run, I went into a panic, I didn't want to waken Arlene Dickinson with my sniffles, so I willed the snot back into my head. Do you know how hard it is to will snot back up your nose, and into your sinus cavities? It's very hard! I tried my best to fall asleep, however, the buzz of sitting next to a celebrity (CBC royalty, if you will) was a powerful stimulant, and I spent approximately 3.5 hours in a constant state of giddyness.

My husband and I are serious Dragon's Den (and Shark Tank) fans, we never miss an episode. Of course, I had all these ideas in my head as to what I would say to a real life Dragon if I ever met a real life Dragon, as it turns out, what you think you might say and what you actually say are two completely different things! As we were about to begin our descent, when I was sure she was awake, I turned to Arlene Dickinson and blurted out "I can't let this flight end without telling you my husband and I are *huge* Dragon's Den fans, we love your show!". She asked me if I was in Vegas on business or pleasure, and I sheepishly replied "pleasure" because I was terrified (terrified!) to admit to her I was self-employed, and attending a tradeshow. We exchanged some friendly chit chat, I'm glad I plucked up the nerve to talk to her at the end of the flight.

Now that I've had a couple of days to reflect on my brush with celebrity, I've come to the following realizations:

there is never a good time to eat a bunch of roasted garlic cloves (my pre-flight meal). Never!
although it tastes really good, watermelon flavoured gum does nothing to cover up the stench of roasted garlic cloves. Nothing!
I would probably suck at being on Dragon's Den. Unless you like awkward pauses, stilted conversation, and nervous laughter, in which case I'd be *awesome*!
unless you meet Hannah Montana, or Selena Gomez, or some other young, bubbly Disney star, your nine year old daughter will not care. She will. Not. Care.
it is very frustrating when you're super-excited about something, and your nine year old daughter is not. Very. Frustrating.
nine year old daughters cannot fake excitement. They won't even try.
if I'm ever seated next to George Clooney on a flight, I will probably explode. For all parties involved, let's hope that never happens!

I'm fairly certain my family (especially my nine year old daughter) is sick of hearing about Arlene Dickinson. With this brush with celebrity under my belt, if I'm fortunate enough to be in the same position again, I will be better-prepared. At the very least, I will have extra-strength breathmints in my purse!

SkyMall: the mall in the sky!

2010-08-01T20:56:00.009-04:00

On my way to Las Vegas yesterday, I killed over an hour flipping through the SkyMall catalogue. Twice. If you're not familiar with it already, SkyMall is a shopping magazine located in the seat pocket that also houses the plane's safety instructions. It's like a mall in the sky... genius! The catalogue offers an eclectic mix of goodies (health meets home meets high-tech gadgets meets pet gizmos, and more!). There are so many items for sale, you can't not browse through it more than once.

There were a few items that caught my eye, in no particular order, here are my top ten must-haves from the SkyMall catalogue:

Face Trainer - Also known as the "Not tonight, honey, I've got a headache" mask.
Foot Alignment Socks - Also known as the "Not tonight, honey, I've got a headache" socks.
Pet Crate End Table - Why, just the other day, I was looking at my end table and thinking "Stupid end table. Why can't you do anything else?" Problem solved!
Brobdingnagian Sports Chair - Perfect for Bluesfest, dontcha think?
Zombie of Montclaire Moors - For the horticulturalist in your life who already has everything.
iHome Radio Spy Hidden Camera - For the pervert in your life who already has everything.
Wrist Cell Phone Carrier - Never lose your cell phone again, and look cool while you're at it.
SkyRest Travel Pillow - Because it wouldn't be awkward to sit next to this guy. Not awkward at all!
Brightfeet Lighted Slippers - Why should toddlers have all the fun?
Roll-up Electric Piano - Because idle hands are the devil's workshop!

Free at last, free at last!!

2010-07-31T10:23:00.006-04:00

Guess where I'm headed? Las Vegas! Guess who's *not* coming with me? My kids! None of them, not even one! I haven't travelled anywhere solo in over a decade (a decade!), and I have to tell you, I'm pretty stoked about the next four days. Am I a terrible mother for not even feigning separation anxiety? I couldn't even muster one crocodile tear this morning! I've stressed out more about wearing a bathing suit in public while I'm lounging (yes, I'm bragging) poolside at the Bellagio hotel (now I'm bragging some more) than I have over being apart from my lovely children (see, I called them 'lovely', surely that scores me some mom points?).

I practically leapt out of our minivan while it was still moving this morning as my husband pulled into the Ottawa Airport -- I was worried I'd turn into a pile of mush when it came time to leave, as it turns out, I was pretty ready to cut the cord(s). For the most part, the kids were OK with Mom leaving for a few days, only one cried, and I think that was more a result of being pulled out of bed at such an ungodly hour (what can I say, Hannah likes her sleep!). I'll be honest, I was expecting a little more reaction to my absence, we'll see how well they fare come bedtime when the reality sinks in that Mom won't be there to tuck them in (shock, horror!).

I nursed Grace this morning for what will likely be the last time. When our other children weaned, I never knew that our last nursing session was our last nursing session, it just sort of happened. It was bittersweet to nurse Grace this morning knowing that in all likelihood, when I come back in four days, that aspect of our relationship will be over. At this point, I don't have much milk left to speak of, breastfeeding Grace is more about comfort and habit (for both of us!). I hope she's as OK with weaning as I am, but if she wants to get back on the wagon when I come home, we'll pick up right where we left off.

I'm a little nervous leaving my husband in charge of our brood, he's an excellent, involved, father, but I don't think he fully realizes how much work he has ahead of him for the next four days. When he comes home from work after nine hours away, the house usually looks the same as he left. While it may not look like I accomplish much in a day from his standpoint, he fails to consider all the mundane chores of the day -- getting the kids dressed, feeding them, cleaning up after them, entertaining them -- wash, rinse, and repeat. I did my bit and made sure to leave with all the laundry washed, folded, and put away. Shawn, you're a good man, may the force be with you.... sucker!

I'm not completely solo for the next four days, I'm visiting Las Vegas with my brother and his wife. Other than planning a daytrip to the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam, I don't have any concrete plans per se, but I do have some goals:

I will drink a yard of margarita. Why not, eh?
I will wear make-up. I've been rocking the 'natural look' far too long, it's time for some under-eye concealer!
I will *not* wipe anyone else's poopy bum. If I fail to accomplish this goal, needless to say, this will be my first and last trip with my brother and his wife.
I will see a celebrity. No, Carrot Top does not count.
I will eat a meal without giving up a single morsel to anyone else. Grace Pearson, I'm lookin' at you, eat your own damn food!
I will have wild sex with random men. Not really, I just want to know if my husband reads my blog (is this thing on?).

I've installed Skype on my laptop so that I can chat with the kids every day without paying outrageous hotel telephone rates (a quick 'hi' and 'bye' costs, like, a million dollars!). My laptop has a handy-dandy webcam feature, so they can see me while we talk. A quick dry run last night confirmed that the webcam offers a less-than-flattering angle, the kids will get a birds-eye view of Mom's double-chin, I hope they still recognize me!

I'm sure the next four days will fly by, and of course, I'll be happy to get back to the munchkins, after all, how much R&R can one person possibly handle? I'll let you know!

Phew!

2010-07-17T13:53:00.014-04:00

Families in Ottawa can all breathe a collective sigh of relief now, knowing that they will be welcomed with open arms at Taylor's Genuine Food and Wine bar. Thank goodness for that! Why, just last night, the husband and I were lamenting the lack of child-friendly restaurants that serve Sun-Tech tomato salad with crispy pig cheeks, our kids' favourite!

All kidding aside (clearly, I'm kidding), I have been really surprised at the reaction this issue has provoked. If you're not in the know, a reservation was refused for a group of people that included a three-month old baby. Various excuses were offered as to why the reservation was refused, ranging from shielding patrons from the possibility of breastfeeding (shock, horror!), to not having the amenities to accommodate a child (did I mention the child in question is three months old?). The refused party, in return, has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (and yes, it's a completely legitimate complaint, breastfeeding rights in Ontario are protected under the HRC, you don't want to start that argument with me!).

As disappointing as the original incident was, even more disappointing was the debate it touched off among foodies, ~~the majority~~ all of whom sided with the restauarant owners. It would seem Ottawa's finer restaurants are regularly terrorized by families -- I had no idea! Although, to be fair, I likely don't patronize the same caliber restaurants as the self-proclaimed foodies, but I digress...

Anyhow, there are a few points raised by the foodies that I would like to address:

Your children aren't the center of the universe! You can't expect everyone to love them as much as you do!
Yeah, I get it, you don't like my kids. It's OK, some days, I don't like 'em either.

Why should my dining experience be ruined by people who are too cheap to hire a babysitter?
It defies logic that a person who can't afford a babysitter would buy their child a meal from a menu that offers $40.00 entrees. That theory needs a little work.

I can't bring my dog to dinner, why should they be allowed to bring their kids?
I'm sorry you can't bring your dog to dinner. Maybe it's time to make some friends. Human friends.

I don't want to sit next to a child, I'm going to have to censor myself!
If you have to censor yourself because you're sitting next to my child, your conversation isn't suitable for public consumption (I don't care to hear what you may or may not be wearing under your pants either!).

When I leave my kids at home and see other kids while I'm out, it makes me weepy, I miss them so much!
Oh come on, you're lying through your teeth! Just admit it, you enjoy your time away from your kids just as much as I do!

Business owners should be allowed to decide who is allowed to patronize their establishment.
Great idea! You're not allowed in my shop.

I had suspected the exposure would be good for the restaurant, after all, there's no such thing as bad publicity (unless you're Mel Gibson), and sure enough, Taylor's certainly seems to have generated a loyal following amongst the Ottawa Foodies bunch. Despite being given the 'green light', I would like to assure the foodies that Taylor's, much like any finer restaurant in Ottawa, likely won't be experiencing a surge in business from the under-18 crowd. Like you, if I'm going to pay for dinner at a restaurant, I want to enjoy myself. If we take the kids to a kid-friendly restaurant (think kids' menus and crayons), they'll be happy. If they're happy, we're happy! The simple reality is we don't want to rub elbows with you anymore than you do with us (no offense).

I would also like to assure the foodies that *if* we should happen to make it into your neck of the woods with the kids in tow (and that's a big *if*!), I will do my best to ensure that they are on their best behaviour. It's not special treatment just for you, believe it or not, whenever we're in public, regardless of where we are, I expect good behaviour from our kids. Now, would you pass the Grey Poupon?

My 'fun bags' are just fine!

2010-07-08T21:20:00.012-04:00

A recent article published by the UK-based "Mother & Baby" magazine has garnered a lot of attention for the author's unapologetic admission of her choice not to breastfeed her baby. In her article "I formula-fed. So what?", Kate Blundell confesses that the idea of latching a baby to her 'fun bags' is creepy,

And when you have that attitude (and I admit I made no attempt to change it), seeing your teeny, tiny, innocent baby latching on where only a lover has been before feels, well, a little creepy.

While I'm all for choice, and I would never begrudge anyone's decision not to breastfeed their child (quite frankly, it's none of my business), it's extremely disappointing to read such drivel in a publication whose sole purpose is to educate mothers and mothers-to-be. Blundell pays a little lip service to the benefits of breastfeeding, however, by her choice of words, it's clear that she doesn't really believe breastmilk is superior to formula,

...there are studies that show it reduces the risk of breast cancer for you, and stomach upsets and allergies for your baby. But even the convenience and supposed health benefits of breastmilk couldn’t induce me to stick my nipple into a bawling baby’s mouth.

Back to Blundell's original point, that breastfeeding her baby would compromise her sex life, if anyone actually believes that, I'm going to point out the obvious: it's not the breastfeeding that will affect your sex life, it's the baby who will affect your sex life! Unless you're Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and you can hand your child army off to a fleet of nannies when you retire to your chambers, postpartum intimacy will be different than pre-pregnancy intimacy, that's just a given. Parenting is tiring for both moms and dads, and there will be many (many!) times that the sweet siren of a good sleep will be more alluring than a quick roll in the hay.

Despite gestating, birthing, and breastfeeding four children, while they might not be as perky as they once were, my 'fun bags' have held up quite well, thankyouverymuch, inflating from a measly C cup to a respectable set of double D's (to paraphrase my husband, 'yowzas!'). However, as nice as they may be, I will admit that for the past ten years, the old 'fun bags' have taken a backseat in the bedroom. Considering the workout they get through the day (and how!), I like to give them the night off. The last thing I want to think of when I'm, um, *you know*, is my baby. Clearly, sidelining the old 'fun bags' has not had a detrimental effect on our sex life, given the fact I've managed to spit out three more babies since the start of my breastfeeding career.

Rather than speculating about the effects of breastfeeding on her 'fun bags', Blundell should be more concerned about the eventual effects of gravity, as you get older, your breasts get longer; your nipples will slowly gravitate towards your belly button -- sad, but true! Not to worry, however, it's nothing a good bra (or a boob job, if you're so inclined) can't remedy. You can't foil the unfoilable, and Mother Nature is pretty darn unfoilable!

I do wonder what Blundell's thoughts are on babies and vaginas, did she schedule a c-section to spare her 'fun box' the horrors of a vaginal delivery? I fully expect a follow-up article, "I had a C-section. So what?" Don't worry, there won't be a blog post detailing the state of my 'fun box', some things are just off-limits!

Excuse me, miss, I think you left your pants at home.

2010-06-24T22:08:00.012-04:00

Despite the fact that I'm almost old enough to be Justin Bieber's (great?) grandmother, I briefly tuned in to watch the Much Music Video Awards on Sunday, June 20th. Not because I really give a crap about this particular award show (or any award show, for the record), but because I was bored, and I'm too lazy to use the treadmill in our basement, and what else am I supposed to do while I'm eating chips? Anyhow, for some unknown reason, this Canadian award show was hosted by Miley Cyrus, a very American pop star, but that's not the point. The point is more about what Miley was wearing or, if you're a cynic like me, what she wasn't wearing. I watched her jump about the stage belting out her "Party in the USA" song (at a Canadian award show, but I digress), wondering what happened to teeny-bopper Hannah Montana? More importantly, what happened to her pants? As in, where were they?

Fast forward two days, and I'm in line at a local store wondering the same thing. No, Miley Cyrus was not in the lineup ahead of me; rather, another teenage girl was, and like Miley, it would appear she had forgotten to put on her pants that morning. I don't even know where to start describing what she was (or wasn't) wearing. I can tell you she was wearing impossibly tall wedges. And a hot pink tank top, with a lacey cardigan thing layered over the tank. I call it a 'cardigan' only to be kind; the same thing, if worn in a bedroom, would likely be called 'lingerie', but whatever it was, it barely covered her bum. I assume she was wearing extremely short shorts under the lacey cardigan thing, not because I saw any actual shorts, but mostly because I just hoped she was wearing them. My immediate thought was "Does her mother know she dresses like that?" That question was easily answered as this young woman was standing alongside her mother (and her grandmother to boot).

When I think back to when I was 17 years old, my perception is that girls our age were dressed more age-appropriate than the 17 year old girls of today. Of course, I spent my teenage years in a small town, it's entirely possible that I lived a sheltered life like the people in Footloose (and how the hell did Kevin Bacon ever get picked for a lead role in a movie about dancing anyway?), and while I was wearing jeans and t-shirts (can you even imagine?), everyone else was wearing hot pants and tube tops (were they?). Did you watch Degrassi Junior high back then? Remember how Stephanie would wear plain clothes to school (like jeans and a t-shirt), then she'd change into her 'sexy' clothes in the school bathroom? It was positively scandalous at the time, however, what was considered 'sexy' then would be considered downright demure next to what seems to be fashionable today. Given the lowriders, thongs, heels, and tank tops that teenage girls sport today, I wonder what will be in vogue when our daughters hit that age.

My oldest, at nine years old, is already pushing me to buy her a pair of 'short shorts' because her friends wear them. Being the mean, apparently prudish mother that I am, the answer to that request is (and always will be) "No". Wardrobe choice is not a new argument around these parts, a few years ago, I was horrified to receive a gift card for Maddy and Hannah (from my own sister, no less) to LaSenza Girl. The girls, on the other hand, were thrilled to bits. We went down to the store to see if we could find anything suitable for the girls to wear, 15 minutes and two distraught daughters later, we left empty-handed. I'm not sure why people think it's acceptable to dress children in mini-versions of adult clothing, but it's not something I'm going to allow, let alone encourage. Judging from my daughters' occassional moans & groans, you'd think I was enforcing a wardrobe of turtlenecks and culottes, however, I just want our little girls to look like little girls.

My daughters watched a portion of a rerun of the MMVA show this morning (that is until mean old mommy spoiled their fun), when they saw Miley Cyrus they commented on her choice of clothing (or lack thereof). We had a discussion about how she's still a kid, and it's not appropriate (or comfortable) to dress 'like that'. I think it's unfortunate that Miley Cyrus' parents don't sit her down to have the same conversation, however, I suppose that's none of my business. I don't think it's wrong to treat children like they're children -- there's plenty of time for them to behave like adults when they're actually old enough to be adults. Although I'm not going to lie, even now that I'm an adult, the likelihood of me prancing around in a lacey cardigan thing layered over a hot pink tank top while I may or may not be wearing extremely short shorts is less than slim to none!

Storing cloth diapers between children (figuratively, not literally!)

2010-06-12T21:28:00.006-04:00

One of the great things about cloth diapers is that they can be used with more than one child, however, in order to take advantage of this benefit, you must store your diapers properly between children to maintain the diapers when not in use.

The bulk of our diapers have lasted through all four of our children, while they have gotten thinner over the years, which is it be expected, they have held up remarkably well. In terms of storage between children, since I was such an efficient baby-making machine (with the help of my husband, of course), the diapers never went more than a six months unused between children (thanks to infant pottying, we never had more than one child in diapers at a time!).

If you're going to be storing your diapers longterm (months or years!), there are ways to minimize potential damage from storage (mold, mildew, brittle elastic, or insect damage). If you put your diapers into storage in great shape, you will increase the likelihood that they come out of storage in great shape:

strip your diapers before storing them to remove any lingering residues that may cause damage when they're in storage.
sun your diapers to remove existing stains.
clean the velcro of any lingering lint and hair

In terms of actually storing the diapers, you should keep them in a dark, dry, clean, well-ventilated area. Avoid storing them anywhere they will be exposed to extreme temperatures (like in a garage or an attic), extreme temperatures can damage textiles. If your diapers will be stored for a long time (years, as opposed to months), avoid storing them in plastic containers, which will not allow air to circulate.

If you use wool diaper covers, you will want to take extra care to avoid moth damage when they're in storage. First and foremost, clean your wool before storing it -- dirty wool is tastier than clean wool! Do not lanolize your wool cover before storing it, the lanolin can harden with time; instead, lanolize the wool after it comes out of storage. In terms of storing your wool covers, it's a good idea to enclose them in cotton (like a pillowcase, for example), with sachets of lavender, a natural moth repellent. Avoid storing your wool covers with mothballs, which can be fatal if eaten (what can I say, kids eat weird things!).

While they're in storage, it's a good idea to periodically inspect (and clean, if necessary) the storage area and your diapers. Your cloth diapers are an investment, be good to them, and they'll be good to you!

And so it begins!

2010-06-09T21:01:00.006-04:00

Boys, that is. Specifically, a boy calling a girl in our house. It seems early, but when I think back to when I was Maddy's age, I was definitely crushing on boys in Grade five -- Maddy is in Grade four, so I suppose it shouldn't come as a shock that boys no longer have 'cooties'. Quite the opposite in fact, Maddy has recently informed us that she only plays soccer at school to 'get boys'. Nice.... we're in trouble!

For the past few weeks, Maddy has been the recipient of a rash of phone calls from one particular boy. We're talking every 20 minutes, it's both sweet and sort of desperate at the same time. Initially, Maddy was cool on the phone, when she picked up, she'd ask "What are you calling me for anyway?", I'd be chastising her in the background, "Be nice!" These phone calls never last more than a few minutes, after all, there's not much to talk about when you're nine or ten years old and you've already spent the better part of the day together, and I suppose when you're calling every 20 minutes, there's generally no 'news' to report.

It's interesting to see how confident Maddy is at talking to a boy, at thirty-six years old, I don't have her chutzpah! She outright told B today "I know you like me", it was a bold move on her part, but it paid off, he confirmed as much (well, no duh!). Of course, even with this admission, nothing will come of it, there will be no 'dating' in this house for several years to come, Maddy informed B that he will have to 'wait for her' until she's 14 years old.

While 14 years old seems like it's light years away, I know it's really just around the corner, considering how lightning-fast we got from her birth to today -- it feels like the blink of an eye! I'm happy that her first interaction with a boy was a positive one, I'm glad I'm not tending to a broken heart just yet. I can remember the crushing defeat of liking a boy, and not having those feelings returned. My first brush with unrequited love came in Grade five when the object of my affection turned his attention to the new girl in school (Paul Coffell, are you out there? *This* could have been all yours!). It may be too early to predict, but I have a feeling Maddy (unlike her mother) will be the one breaking hearts when the time comes -- only time will tell!

Have sling, will travel!

2010-05-24T20:50:00.018-04:00

As we head into summer, I know many families, including our own, are planning vacations. We'll be heading down to NYC in August with the kids, I'm so (so!) very excited about this trip, I've never been before! I want to go for a picnic to Central Park, I want to take the subway, I want to go up to the top of the Empire State building... there's a lot I want to do! Obviously, I haven't started packing yet, but there's one thing I know I'll be packing, my Manduca (currently, my favourite carrier for Grace). One of the many (many!) benefits of babywearing is the portability it affords parents, and the inclusion it offers babies. As handy as these benefits are in day-to-day life, they are even more appreciated when families are on vacation.

Despite having four children, we have still managed to travel here and there over the past few years, relying on an assortment of carriers to tote our little ones around with us. From the cobblestone streets of old Quebec City, to the escalators of Las Vegas, to the steep walk down to Hanauma Bay in Hawaii (free travel advice: pay the $2.00 to take the bus back up, it will be the best $2.00 you ever spend!), our baby carriers have proven invaluable, ensuring our kids enjoyed the sights as much as we did.

At the start of our vacations, we have appreciated the hands-free aspect of babywearing, sporting a little one on my back ensured my hands were free to hold our other childrens' hands, or to give my husband a helping hand with our luggage (OK, so maybe I mostly just held the other kids' hands, but still, that's equally as important!). We also avoided the hassle of packing an oversized piece of equipment that's proves cumbersome when using public tranpsortation.

Once we were actually on vacation, our little ones were guaranteed a great view, their perch in a baby carrier offering them a bird's eye view of what's going on. Because of the portability of babywearing, we were able to do a lot more with our babies in carriers than if they had been in strollers -from the top of Mont Tremblant to the belly of a Tall Ship in Halifax Harbour, our kids have been a part of everything we do on vacation (except bike-riding, that goes without saying!).

Over the years, I have amassed many pictures of the kids in various carriers, the pictures taken on our vacations are especially dear because of the memories they evoke. Even though the kids likely won't remember their time in a carrier, babywearing will be something I look back on with fondness.

In the course of chatting with our customers, I know many of you have worn your babies all over the world -- in recent months, I've heard about your trips to France, New Zealand, Hawaii, and more. E-mail me a 'babywearing on vacation' picture, let me know where you went, and what you did with your baby in a carrier, it will be posted to our Facebook group for everyone to enjoy. The picture that gets the most 'likes' (comments don't count, but they're always welcome!) will win a gift certificate for the retail value of the pictured carrier, and one lucky 'liker' of the winning picture will win the same carrier. As a result, only pictures showing carriers currently sold (but not necessarily purchased) at The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe (that's me!) can be posted, we can't give away what we don't sell! So if the winning picture features someone wearing a Sleepy Wrap, that person will receive a $50.00 gift certificate, and one of the 'likers' (chosen randomly) of the winning picture will win an actual Sleepy Wrap. Get it? Got it? Good!

Pictures can be submitted until June 26th, 2010, winners will be posted to this blog on July 3rd at 9pm sharp!

ETA: Okay, since you're all sending me such lovely pics that show carriers I can't give away, I'm going to add a twist to the giveaway -- I will gladly post pics that feature carriers that can't be purchased (or given away) at The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe (that's me!). These pics will be clearly labelled, the pic in this category with the most 'likes' gets a $25.00 gift certificate. Get it? Got it? Good!

Disposable diapers: fact vs. myth

2010-05-16T15:19:00.040-04:00

This post is part of the Real Diaper Facts carnival hosted by Real Diaper Events, the official blog of the Real Diaper Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to cloth diaper education. Participants were asked to write about diaper lies and real diaper facts. See the list at the bottom of this post to read the rest of the carnival entries.

It would seem the giant corporations behind Pampers and Huggies brand single-use diapers are starting to take notice of the cloth diaper movement, and it's potential impact on their bottom line. In an effort to assuage parents' guilt over choosing to use disposable diapers over their superior reusable counterparts, Pampers have published a list of supposed 'myths & facts' about diapers. Check out their dumb-ass list (I can say that, right?).

Myth #1: Cloth diapers are better for my baby.

Fact: Disposable diapers like Pampers were developed to offer babies benefits that cloth diapers could not meet. That goes beyond convenience to helping keep babies' skin dryer and more comfortable by reducing leaks and locking wetness inside the diaper in a way that cloth doesn't. As a result, doctors and parents simply don't see the same level of diaper rash that used to exist before disposable diapers.

Pampers diapers were developed in 1961. I think it's fair to say that cloth diapers have evolved since then, wouldn't you? If you want a diaper that keeps your baby dry, buy a pocket diaper, or line your cloth diaper with a piece of fleece. If you want a more absorbent diaper, buy a hemp or a bamboo diaper, or add a doubler to your cloth diaper. It's not exactly rocket science. If 'stays dry' and 'absorbs lots' are all they've got to hang their hat on, it's no wonder disposable diaper companies are looking over their shoulder.

If you want to ensure your baby's skin stays rash-free, change your baby on a regular basis. Regardless of whether you're using cloth diapers or disposable diapers, babies should be changed every 2-3 hours. The 'super absorption' nature of disposable diapers is actually counter-productive to this advice, super-absorbent diapers encourage parents to leave their babies sitting in a soiled diaper for longer than they should.

Myth #2: Cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposables.

Fact: In October 2008, the United Kingdom's Environment Agency published an update to its 2005 Life Cycle Assessment study on cloth versus disposable diapers. The update confirmed the earlier study's findings that there is no clear winner in terms of environmental impacts between disposable and cloth diapers in the U.K., once all factors such as water, energy, detergent, and disposal are considered.

Leave it to the disposable diaper manufacturers to find evidence to back up their claims, even if they have to rely on flawed and/or outdated studies. Yes, this particular study fits nicely with their "oh hey, we're not so bad" assurances, however, a closer look at the facts illustrates a host of flaws with this particular study's findings. If using water, energy and detergent to wash cloth diapers are a valid reason to use disposable diapers instead, we should all be wearing paper clothing following that logic. When washing cloth diapers, there are lots of ways to reduce the environmental impact of the resulting laundry:

buy enough cloth diapers so that you wash a full load every time (if you buy 24-30 diapers, you'll be washing every 2-3 days for a newborn, or every 3-4 days for an older baby).
wash your diapers in a high-efficiency machine
wash your diapers in cold water
wash your diapers in a natural laundry degergent
line-dry your diapers

When you use cloth diapers, *you* control the variables!

Myth #3: Developing countries prove that cloth diapers are better than disposable diapers.

Fact: Our product provides key benefits in terms of skin health, dryness, and even sleep. In China, for example, we've learned that babies and parents are frequently awakened during the night each time the baby soaks the bed, because the baby has no diaper or a very thin piece of cloth. As a result, studies have shown that a disposable diaper can help a baby there get a better night's sleep. In another test, we have also seen less fecal contamination spread around the home using disposables versus cloth or nothing. Clearly, we have a lot to learn about how to help with basic hygiene needs in countries that have very different access to clean water to wash with, and how to best dispose of products after use. We've also learned about hygiene for older children through our Always feminine care business – where in many parts of the world girls are forced to miss school one week each month during their period because they don't have enough pads or fresh water.

We are working in those regions to better understand what they do with products after use, and how to work with local agencies and other businesses to ensure the best long-term system to manage it.

Are they for real? If they're so confident that using disposable diapers results in better sleeping habits, they should back it up with a money-back guarantee, do they? I didn't think so. Cloth diapers are more effective than disposable diapers at night because you can adapt them to suit your baby's needs.

Regarding the use of China as an example to make assumptions about night-time diapering, Pampers should consider how cultural differences in potty training may account for how babies are diapered (and therefore sleep) at night. Traditionally, Chinese parents have not relied on diapers as a means to deal with their babies' elimination needs, instead pottying their babies from birth. The practice of elimination communication is a wonderful way to faciliate early potty learning, and it's steadily gaining acceptance throughout North America. Parents in China may choose to use not to use diapers at night because they don't need to. Babies who are pottied through the night may wake more frequently as a response to their own need to void. Yes, early infant pottying (like any potty training) results in accidents, but you clean them up, and you move on.

Suggesting that using cloth diapers is somehow less hygienic than using disposable diapers is simply false. Wash your hands when you're finished changing a diaper, store your dirty diapers in a leak-proof bag or pail, and wipe down your baby's changing surface on a regular basis to guarantee good hygiene (yes, it really is that easy).

Myth #4: Disposable diapers are harmful to the environment.

Fact: All of the component materials in Pampers diapers are gentle to consumers and safe for the environment. Pampers diapers are made of materials that are also frequently used in a wide range of other consumer products. We are committed to continuing to reduce our environmental impact. For example, Pampers has decreased its diaper weight by one-third and packaging weight by two-thirds. And innovative technologies, raw materials, and product design improvements have led to significant reductions in energy, water use, emissions, and waste at our plants. We are working so that our diapers in the future will have less impact on the environment than even today's diapers.

In terms of the safety of the chemicals used in disposable diapers, that's a matter of debate. Disposable diapers contain a number of questionable substances, they haven't been used long enough to fully understand the potential risk of putting those chemical substances into contact with baby's genitalia (you know, that part of the body responsible for procreation -- a pretty important part of the body, if you ask me!).

What resources are used to keep a baby in disposable diapers for one year?

300+ pounds of wood

50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks

20 pounds of chlorine

The fact that other products also waste our natural resources hardly justifies the environmental impact of disposable diapers. Considering the recent catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, we should all be more cognizent of how we contribute to the overall health of the planet. Every single thing we do affects the environment.

Resource consumption aside, using disposable diapers places a significant burden on our landfills, approximately 4 million disposable diapers are tossed every day in Canada alone, these diapers take anywhere from 250 to 500 years to decompose. I have cloth diapered four children using mostly the same set of diapers. When we're finished using our cloth diapers, what is in decent shape will be given away to someone else who can use them, the rest of our stash will fit easily into one (one!) garbage bag. Imagine how many garbage bags would be used to contain the 32,000+ disposable diapers we would have used had we gone that route!

Myth #5: The materials that make up Pampers diapers are depleting our forests.

Fact: The pulp used in our diapers comes from well-managed forests in North America. In some cases, we source our pulp from scrap wood chips from lumber and saw mills. Our pulp suppliers are required to be certified by an independent third party as practicing sustainable forestry. Certification includes standards and criteria for replanting trees, protecting biodiversity, water, air and soil, and for obtaining broad stakeholder input into the forest management plan.

OK, maybe, but Pampers contain a lot more than pulp, don't they? If Pampers is going to pay lip service to the trees cut down to make disposable diapers (approximately 4.5 trees per baby), they should also talk about the rest of the resources used in the production of disposable diapers. It's awfully convenient how they can pick and choose the information they want consumers to have, however, it's the only way they can make a case for their product.

Pampers wants people to believe their diapers have minimal impact on the environment, but anyone with an ounce of common sense can see through these outrageous claims. Pampers provides zero accountability in terms of facts to back up these statements, I questioned a representative from Kimberly-Clark about statements provided to a local newspaper for a recent article about cloth diapers, and I was told the 'competitive nature' of the diaper industry prevents them from disclosing details about company-sponsored studies (how incredibly convenient for them!). We all want the same things for our babies, we want them to be safe and healthy. Using cloth diapers will keep your little one clean and comfortable, they are just as good (if not better) than using disposable diapers.

The top 10 things I have to look forward to.

2010-05-15T11:19:00.010-04:00

Now that my uterus has been forced into early retirement, I've been thinking about the things I have to look forward to as our kids get older. Aside from the obvious (no more sleepless nights, no more diapers, no more toddler tantrums, lots of wild weekends in Vegas...), there are quite a few perks I hadn't considered before. So here they are, in no particular order!

1) Not wiping someone else's shitty ass (pardon my French). When your little one is out of diapers, you still have *that* to look forward to. Owen has been out of diapers for just over three years, and I still have to take care of business down there on a regular basis. It's a mystery to me how much toilet paper he can use, and still be no further ahead (is he wiping his forehead?). I'm worried I'll send him off to University lacking that one critical skill -- best of luck to his roommate, he'll need it!

2) Less peeing *around* the toilet, and more peeing *in* the toilet -- close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!

3) Living with people who chew with their mouth shut. It's like I mated with the Cookie Monster.

4) Not sweeping the kitchen floor eleventy million times a day. I have a feeling that when #3 is achieved, #4 will shortly follow suit.

5) Giving the kids chores. I didn't birth a child army for nuttin'!

6) No more tiny baby socks. I love tiny baby feet, and tiny baby toes, but they make doing laundry a bitch.

7) No one will say "*It* wasn't me." Or "I didn't mean to do *it*." Or "*It* wasn't my fault." Or "She made me do *it*." Or multiple variations thereof. Hopefully one day, they'll just say "Sorry." (or just stop doing *it*, a girl can dream, right?).

8) No more maternity underwear. Yes, I gave birth to Grace almost two years ago, but I can't help it, underwear the size of a flag is surprisingly comfortable, and as I like to point out to my husband (over and over again), "You're not going anywhere." But it's time to let go, isn't it?

9) Regaining my figure. Lost: one waist. Have you seen it? Neither have I, not for a decade at least. I'll do what I can and leave the rest of it up to Spanx (it'll be our secret, right?).

10) Grandchildren. Is it too soon to start thinking about that?

I can breastfeed here or there, I can breastfeed anywhere!

2010-05-11T21:11:00.008-04:00

If you're local to Ottawa, you may be aware that a breastfeeding mother was recently asked to cover-up as she nursed her infant pool-side at the St. Laurent Recreation Complex. The city of Ottawa was quick to offer an apology to the mother, the lifeguard who asked the mother to be discrete did so without consulting any of her superiors or co-workers first. The media has picked up on this incident, and some of the resulting comments have been unsettling, to say the least. Granted, the majority of commenters agree that women have the right to breastfeed in public, however, it's astonishing to see even a few individuals suggesting babies should be fed in bathrooms, some even comparing breastfeeding in public to defecating in public. It's hard to believe that people can be so ignorant, however, an incident like this, and the ensuing coverage, provides a good opportunity to educate the general public about breastfeeding rights.

Women in Canada are allowed to breastfeed anytime, anywhere. This basic right is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms under section 15(1) which guarantees equality. In Ontario, the Human Rights Commission covers a woman's right to breastfeed in public:

You have rights as a nursing mother. For example, you have the right to breastfeed a child in a public area. No one should prevent you from nursing your child simply because you are in a public area. They should not ask you to “cover up”, disturb you, or ask you to move to another area that is more “discreet”.

I have always considered myself fortunate to be a breastfeeding mother in the city of Ottawa. We have access to a number of free breastfeeding drop-ins througout the city, a great resource for moms who need assistance. Going one step further, Ottawa's Breastfeeding Buddies program pairs a new breastfeeding mother with a volunteer who has breastfed for at least six months.

I have breastfed our babies all over the city without encountering a single negative comment, much less a sideways glance. Perhaps the silver lining behind this particular incident is that it provides an opportunity to educate people about their rights. Breastmilk is best, breastfeeding is not offensive. If you don't agree with me, you can suck it.

Cloth diaper advocacy... you can do it too!

2010-05-10T14:07:00.015-04:00

ad·vo·ca·cy
–noun, plural -cies.
the act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending; active espousal: He was known for his advocacy of states' rights.

There is currently a campaign underway to get cloth diapers onto The Ellen Degeneres Show, a daytime talkshow featuring comedian Ellen Degeneres. The goal of Operation Fluffy is to expose the idea of cloth diapering to a wide audience. While I can appreciate the sentiment behind Operation Fluffy, I don't think the campaign itself has a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding. Why not, you ask? Quite simply, as nice as Ellen may seem, her daytime show is simply a vehicle for advertising.

Like anything on television, The Ellen Show is designed to fill the space between commercials. Watch any daytime TV show aimed at women, specifically mothers with young children, and you will notice very specific types of commercials. Without knowing what show, or what channel you're watching, I can guarantee you two things:

you will see at least one (likely more) disposable diaper commercial.

you will see no cloth diaper commercial commercials (nada, zip, zero, zilch!).

Fact of the matter is that disposable diapers are big business, the corporations manufacturing disposable diapers have deep, if not bottomless, pockets. Kimberly-Clark just released their Q1 2010 quarterly report, indicating net sales of over 2 billion dollars in their Personal Care business segment, which includes the Huggies brand of disposable diapers. As you can imagine, the advertising budget that accompanies this kind of revenue is monstrous. As a result, a company like Kimberly-Clark carries a lot of clout with respect to product placement on shows like Ellen. Rumor has it that Kimberly-Clark managed to bounce a cloth diaper manufacturer from Ellen's Mother's Day show on May 7th, 'treating' (ick!) studio audience members to a six-month supply of Huggies diapers. The folks behind Operation Fluffy are going to give the campaign another go, however, I think a different approach is warranted. Rather relying on one woman, Ellen Degeneres, to get the word out about cloth diapers, I think a grassroots approach would be more successful, with cloth diaper users advocating for cloth diapers on an individual basis, converting parents one at a time.

I have built my business for the past eight years using this approach, rather than shelling out cash for flashy advertising, I have relied on word-of-mouth to build my customer base. It's thrilling for me when customers come into the store with expecting friends, it's great to see other people showing enthusiasm for cloth diapers. Sooo, if you're as passionate about cloth diapers as I am, and you'd like to help convert the masses (one at a time!) to cloth diapers, there are a few things you can do to lend yourself to the cause:

use cloth diapers when you're out & about. Other people will take notice and ask you about them. Grab a few business cards from your favourite cloth diaper retailer (hint, hint) and hand them out if someone asks about your cloth diapers.

are you attending a baby shower? Buy an easy-to-use cloth diaper as a gift. Maybe mom-to-be doesn't know how much cloth diapers have improved since the era of pins and rubber pants, getting one into her hands is half the battle.

talk to your children about the choices you make as a parent, including your choice to cloth diaper. I used cloth diapers with our first child because I can remember my mother using cloth diapers with my younger brothers. It will take a while to reap the rewards of this approach, but I certainly hope that by the time my own children are parents, people who use disposable diapers will be in the minority.

if someone challenges you about your decision to use cloth diapers, challenge them right back! A little healthy debate never hurt anyone, and as we all know, it's easy to make a case for choosing cloth diapers over disposable diapers.

contact your local Member of Parliament and suggest that cloth diaper purchases should be subsidized by your local government. A number of municipalities in Quebec already subsidize parents' cloth diaper purchases. It costs money to cart those nasty disposable diapers off to the landfill, they are the third largest single consumer item in landfills. Fact of the matter is that using cloth diapers saves the government money.

contact local media outlets and suggest that they run a story about cloth diapers. Your community newspaper or cable channel is always on the hunt for interesting stories.

When they are fully-informed about their choices, most parents will choose to use a diaper that is less expensive, better for their baby's skin, and kinder to the environment. For this reason, disposable diaper manufacturers do not want parents to know they have a choice. These companies simply cannot make an argument in favor of their product based on facts alone, this was clearly obvious when a representative from Kimberly-Clark referred to the results of a 1993 study in a recent article about cloth diapers. Cloth diapers have evolved significantly since 1993, there are several types that boast the same features of disposable diapers, minus the disposable part. Making a sweeping statement about today's cloth diapers based on information that is almost two decades old is intended to mislead consumers.

You don't have to be a cloth diaper manufacturer or a retailer to have a voice, all you have to do is speak up. Slowly but surely, together we can make a difference.

Happy International Day of the Midwife!

2010-05-05T21:29:00.004-04:00

Clearly Hallmark hasn't done their research, because if they had, they'd know that there's a huge market for "Happy International Day of the Midwife" cards. Ok, so the the title of today's celebration could use a little work, it's a little clunky, but still. Women love their midwives, anyone who has enjoyed the privilege of midwifery care can attest to that (can I get a holla?).

Our first two babies were born in a hospital, under OB care. The same doctor followed me for both pregnancies, however, she did not deliver either of my babies. Truth be told, I don't know who delivered Maddy or Hannah. My OB seemed nice enough, my appointments were always quite brief, usually checking my weight and blood pressure. No small talk, no banter, just straight to business. Fair enough, time is money, I get that. When I was pregnant with Maddy and Hannah, I assumed that's how all babies were born, in hospitals under OB care. I didn't realize midwifery care was an option, and I certainly had no idea that babies were born at home on purpose (gasp!).

Maddy's birth was OK, as OK as anything can be that involves squeezing something really big out of something really small, if you catch my drift. Before I continue, I'm going to confess I'm not a birth junkie. Giving birth hurts. And it's extremely messy. And you try not farting when you're trying to squeeze something really big out of something really small. But I'm getting off track here. I happen to really like babies, so I put up with the whole birth thing, it's a means to an end. I had an epidural for both Maddy and Hannah's birth, as it turns out, being numb up to your chin is a great alternative to the pain associated with pushing something really big out of something really small. However, being numb up to your chin isn't so great for the actual act of pushing something really big out of something really small. Maddy was born after about three hours of pushing, Hannah's birth involved pushing for about two hours. Can you imagine how tiring it is to push something really big out of something really small for three hours? It's really tiring.

I became aware of midwife-assisted births after Hannah was born, so when Owen was conceived, I called the Ottawa Midwifery Group. I was extremely fortunate, and I was accepted as a client immediately. This time around, I wanted to know who was going to deliver my baby, and I wanted to avoid the epidural. I'm convinced that not being able to feel what was happening was the reason why I had such a hard time pushing Maddy and Hannah out.

The thing that struck me most about my care under midwives was how friendly they were. Our appointments were not strictly about weight and blood pressure, in fact, they didn't weigh me at all! They asked me if I wanted to be weighed, and I said "no", and that was it. That's how everything went at my appointments, I was presented with options, and given choices. Under the care of my midwives, I felt I was a part of the decision-making process.

When it came time to give birth to Owen, my primary midwife spent about five hours with me before he was born. It was a hot August day, we spent a lot of time on our backyard deck alternating between chatting and throwing up (me, not her). To say I'm not graceful while birthing is an understatement. I was a barfy, moaning, sweaty mess. Through it all, my midwife held my hair out of the way and rubbed my back, never missing a beat. Owen, all almost-ten-pounds of him, was born after twenty minutes of pushing. Since I had been so long without food or drink, Chantal made a point to get me a glass of water and some yogurt, spoon-feeding me as I put our new son to my breast. Her care and compassion in that moment spoke volumes about her motivation for doing what she does. Owen's birth was followed by several home visits, Chantal and Josee came back to weigh Owen, check on my recovery, and ensure breastfeeding was going well. When my six-week postpartum appointment rolled around, like most women, I was sad to say good-bye. After being under their care for nine months, Chantal and Josee were more than care providers, I considered them friends.

Like her brother before her, Grace was born at home under the care of a midwife. Most people, once they've experienced a midwife-attended birth, never look back. We are very fortunate in Ontario, midwifery care is fully covered by OHIP. When friends announce they are TTC or expecting, I am quick to suggest they consider using a midwife. If you are TTC or expecting, I would urge you to do the same. If you're unsure, at least get your name on the waiting list (there will be a waiting list, that's how popular midwives are!). Midwives are trained professionals (four years of university, thankyouverymuch!), they can attend births in a home or a hospital setting. You owe it to yourself and your baby to fully explore your birthing options.

Earth Day, bah humbug!

2010-04-22T14:58:00.007-04:00

I've never been one for observing 'special' days, if I ignore your birthday, don't feel bad, I ignore everyone's birthday (except our kids, that would just be cruel!). Perhaps 4o years ago, when it was first conceived, the original Earth Day might have had more meaning, however, like anything 'green', it has become a convenient marketing tactic. "Spend XXX and get a gift certificate." "Buy a green XXX and save 1o%." "All XXX are 15% off today." I fail to see how encouraging people to buy more things is going to save the planet. Call me jaded, but our consumerism is largely responsible for most of the ailments that plague the environment today. Rather than searching out 'green' deals today, we should all take the time to reflect on how we can change our lifestyle to leave a smaller footprint.

I don't consider myself a hardcore environmentalist. I do, however, consider myself a hardcore frugalist. I am cheap. I don't like to spend money. Save for my unexplainable Starbucks habit, a lot of thought goes into every purchase I make. I don't buy things because I want them, I buy things because I need them. Except for my Coach handbag. That was my once-in-a-lifetime-what-the-hell-was-I-thinking decadent purchase (we're all allowed one, right?). But I use it daily, and when I die, I've instructed my husband to pour my ashes into it, so it will stay in our family for generations to come. Aside from that one purchase, I generally don't buy things on a whim.

Our customers benefit from my frugalism, I do my best not to stock junk, and if you've had the pleasure of shopping while I'm working (seriously, it's a pleasure to be around me, isn't it?), you'll know I'm the world's worst salesperson, I have an uncanny knack for talking people out of purchases. It's not unusual for people to come into the store thinking they need something, only to leave the store empty-handed (seriously, I'm *that* good!). I am very good at making what you've got work!

Shopping habits (or lack thereof) aside, my frugalism benefits the environment in other ways. At the store, small packing boxes are reused for online orders, plastic bags are reused as garbage bags; repurposing packaging in this manner significantly reduce's the store's waste, and our costs -- it's a win/win situation. At home, we recycle what we can, and the city of Ottawa's Green Bin program has easily cut our household waste in half (half!). We've recently eliminated meat from our diet, did you know eating less meat is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint? I have always felt guilty about how much we rely on our vehicles as a mode of transportation, I like to think our new menu helps to offset the time we spend in the car (an unfortunate side-effect of living in the 'burbs, have I ever told you how much I hate living in the 'burbs?).

Anyhow, the point of all this is to say that even though I do what I can to lessen my own impact on the environment, I know I can do more (cue violins). Earth Day is a great opportunity for all of us to reflect on what we can all do to lessen our impact on the environment. Collectively, we can make a difference. Although I will probably never completely wean myself off my Starbucks habit , I'm going to make a habit of keeping a reusable mug in the car. When I see litter that can be recycled, I'm going to pick it up and toss it in our recyle bin -- as I'm quick to point out to my own kids "Even if you didn't make the mess, it doesn't mean you shouldn't clean it up." These two acts alone are completely manageable, they're hardly life-altering, but in the grand scheme of things, they will make a difference. So that's my plan of action for Earth Day, what's yours?

Decisions, decisions!

2010-04-21T21:42:00.006-04:00

When parents come into the store to learn about cloth diapers, we always point out that choosing the system you want to use is the hardest part of using cloth diapers. It amazes me how much thought goes into this particular decision, when I purchased our first set of cloth diapers nine years ago (shit, I'm getting old), I had two choices: prefolds or fitted diapers (one brand, lol). Some new parents are postively paralyzed with fear when it comes to the decision of what to put on junior's bottom.

We have one of the best selections of cloth diapers in Canada, occasionally, parents-to-be come into the store expecting to see one kind of cloth diaper, the old-fashioned flat diapers of yore. Sure, that would make the decision easier, but where's the fun in that? It's not like choosing cloth diapers will be the only decision you ever make, when you go to the grocery store, you have lots of decisions to make -- what kind of toilet paper? 2-ply? 3-ply? Charmin or Cottonelle? Don't even get me started on the shampoo aisle. Point is, every day, you buy things that entail making a choice, picking one thing over another.

So, how do you make a decision?

talk to your friends who use cloth diapers. You can benefit from their experience. What brands do they like? Why?
check out the awesome product review section on The Diaper Pin. You will spend hours there!
come to a cloth diapering workshop. We offer workshops on the second Saturday of every month in Ottawa and Waterloo. It's a great way to get all the information at once, a benefit of the workshop environment is that other people might ask questions you wouldn't otherwise think of, and you might even make some new friends. OK, so maybe that last point is a stretch, but still, it's possible. I have seen customers exchange phone numbers in the store before!
sign up for our loan program. You can rent a good selection of cloth diapers for 10 days for the same amount of money you would spend on disposable diapers for one week. It's popular, there will be a wait (don't say we didn't warn you!). Get a feel for what cloth diapering involves (hello, it's just a load of laundry!), and see what your preference is.
buy a few diapers to try out. All of the cloth diapers we sell are good brands, and let's face it, they all do the same thing (they hold pee and poop, it's hardly rocket science!). If a diaper doesn't work out, it's not a big deal, you can always sell what you don't want to keep.

What your decision comes down to is what you feel comfortable using, what fits your baby well, and what keeps your baby comfortable. Still nervous? Need specific advice?

you want cheap? Go for prefolds.
you want easy? Go for pocket diapers or all-in-one diapers.
you want your diapers to last through more than one kid? Go for sized diapers.

You see? It's not that hard. Realistically, most people rely on a stash that incorporates more than one style of diaper. I used mostly prefolds with our newborns, fitted diapers with wool at night, and I send pocket diapers to daycare. You can rest-assured that in the grand scheme of things, the type of cloth diapers you use are going to have a negligible impact on how junior turns out. However, recent studies indicate use of cloth diapers is positiviely correlated with a higher IQ, 97% of Mensa members were cloth diapered as babies. Yeah, I totally made that last part up, I should probably quit while I'm ahead.

Relish every moment....

2010-04-18T21:02:00.016-04:00

I'm sure all new mothers are warned that their babies will grow up quickly, when you're in the thick of things, it's hard to imagine, but trust me, it will be over before you know it. It was ten years ago this April that my husband and I began our foray into parenthood. Since April of 2000, I have been pregnant and/or nursing continually, without so much as a five minute break!

Our first child was born in December 2000, I can feel her first kicks as if they just happened, her labor and delivery are still fresh in my mind. This past weekend, as we were sorting through the kids' clothing, packing away their pants and sweaters to make room for t-shirts, shorts, and summer dresses, we started to purge the house of the baby clothing that's been in constant rotation for close to a decade. It's been a long time coming, it's a bittersweet feeling to part with something that represents such an important, yet fleeting time of our lives.

I would love to have one more baby, however, my husband didn't buy the argument that our mini-van seats seven as a valid reason to keep the Pearson baby factory open, and Dr. Weiss was recruited to shut down production (damn you, Dr. Weiss, damn you to hell!). As our kids get older, my husband looks forward to the future, however, I am left feeling nostalgic about what we're leaving behind.

Now that we have a house full of kids who sleep through the night, I have to say I actually miss those midnight snuggles that came from bed-sharing with our babies; there is something to be said for having a warm little body nestled up against you. As much as I may have lamented their clinginess as babies, I miss it it now. My oldest is constantly pushing for more freedom, it makes me anxious to comply, but it's an inevitable reality. Although Grace can drive me around the bend with her two-year old stubborness, the sheer delight she takes in the simple things in life (like pockets!) are a pleasure to witness.

While motherhood may not always bring out the best in me, I really do enjoy it. I'm not a perfect mother, our house is always messy, my chronic disorganization hardly makes me the ideal candidate to co-pilot a household of six people, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's really fun to watch the kids come into their own, and my husband is right, we still have lots left to look forward to.

So what's my point here, where am I going with this? Yes, babies can be difficult little people, I've dealt with my share of cranky babies, sleepless babies, and clingy babies, and it was all worth it -- with that little bit of bad, there's a whole lot of good. So enjoy it, relish every moment because before you know it, you will miss it too.

She's driving me crazy!

2010-04-14T14:02:00.003-04:00

Grace, that is. At the ripe old age of 22 months, I think it's safe to say she has mastered the art of the toddler tantrum. No great surprise considering she devotes hours to perfecting her form every day. Grace's tantrums are quite elaborate, generally involving some combination of rolling around on the ground, kicking the ground, hair-pulling, and face-smacking. And screaming, high-pitched screaming, we can't leave that out! Yes, very dramatic, but highly effective.

If you were at the Experimental Farm today around noon, you may have witnessed one of Grace's finer performances. I was the one wearing a long jean skirt (I can't quite pull it off like Michelle Duggar, note to self: just because something fits, it doesn't mean you should wear it), Grace was the one having a conniption fit at the playground. What was Grace having a fit over, you ask?

Well, it started out when I tried to feed her the main part of her lunch before the snack part of her lunch (can you imagine?). The main part of her lunch was a soy dog and cheese baked into a pastry. Hardly liver and broccoli, but Grace wouldn't have any of it. Fair enough, this was our second massive (massive!) fit of the day, I wasn't up for the argument, I'd already run out of steam at this point. She'd had a good breakfast this morning, so I threw the wrap in the garbage. That was my first mistake. Grace didn't like that -- how do I know? She fell to the ground and started rolling around and screaming. OK, point taken. I don't try to pick her up when she's having a tantrum, if I do, she tries to scratch my face or slap me (nice, eh?). I waited it out until Owen was done his soy dog, then I offered him some fruit snacks, and I gave him a package for Grace, who had managed to cover an impressive 30-40 feet with her tantrum-ground-rolling maneuver (well-done!). She hopped up and started to eat the fruit snacks, score: Grace-1, Mom-zip.

The fruit snacks were happily consumed, then Grace spied me eating a banana. There is an unspoken rule in our house that if I'm eating something, anything, Grace must have a bite. It doesn't matter if it's avacado, and Grace hates avacado, she'll still take a bite (and spit it out). I'm convinced it's Grace's way of letting me know I'm her bitch. Seriously. It's some weird alpha-toddler thing, she's establishing her place in the pack. Fortunately, I had three bananas (go, me!), so I gave her one. I cracked the top open, I know enough not to peel Grace's banana, as it would make her go bananas (hardy har har). Crisis averted. For three seconds. Grace broke the top off her banana and handed it back to me to fix (dammit, nooooo!). I took it and turned around, palming the broken piece so she couldn't see it, and handed the banana back. No dice. She thew it on the ground in a pile of dirt. I picked it up and put in in the garbage. Act II of Grace's fit commenced, it involved a little hair-pulling (her own), and some more screaming that would rival anything Mariah Carey could belt out (you know, those high notes that make your eyes roll back in your head). This marked the end of our trip to the Experimental Farm, Owen wanted to see the tractors, but Grace wasn't going to have any of it, it was time to go.

I have to say, she has been our most challenging child so far. She's certainly not a 'bad' child per se, she's just stubborn as all get-out. She has never been interested in being a baby, perhaps because she has 3 older siblings to look up to. She knows what she wants, and she demands it. No pigtails (hence a blonde mop of hair always hanging in her big, blue eyes), and no dresses (do not call her pretty, you will pay for it). To put it simply, Grace is a force to be reckoned with, a blazing ball of energy who could bring most grown adults to their knees.

Fortunately, Grace's new-found toddler tantrum mad skillz have coincided with a new 3-hour afternoon nap routine, without that merciful break, I'd go mental. Of course, she's probaby just recharging her batteries for whatever tantrum she'll throw next, but whatever, I'll take it (beggars can't be choosers!). I have to say, on the bright side, our latest foray into the 'terrible twos' has made me feel a little better about our decision to have no more children. At worst, we have about two more years of this left, someday we'll be able to look back at these years with fondness. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

Drinking and being stupid don't mix!

2010-03-28T15:43:00.021-04:00

My husband lost his keys last night. Before I get into the 'how' of it all, I will tell you I love my husband. He's a great father, and generally, an all-around good guy. Except for when he drinks to excess. Naturally, this doesn't happen very often, but when he gets a chance to go for a night out with the boys (in this case, his hockey team), I usually send him off with a simple request: "Please don't do anything stupid." You may laugh, but this is a serious request. When my husband drinks to excess, he has two tendencies:

He exhibits an extreme lack of judgement.

He thinks he's invincible.

Independently, these tendencies are relatively harmless; together, they can be a menacing combination. In university, I witnessed my husband pick many a fight with drunker, larger opponents (if you're going to pick a fight, pick a fight with someone smaller than you, dummy!). While he may no longer pick fights anymore (thank God!), he has found other ways to prove his stupidity while drunk.

On more than one ocassion, I have had to leave the house on an HRM (a Husband Retrieval Mission). One of those missions ended with me seeing my brother-in-law naked, perched up on a chair in our kitchen (after I picked them both up from a hockey game, it was a double HRM -- my own husband and my sister's husband). I actually considered that particular evening to be a good night for me, not because I saw my brother-in-law naked, but because it wasn't my own husband making an utter and complete fool of himself. Yes, my husband was drunk, but at least he was drunk and fully clothed!

Anyhow, that was then, this is now, and you have the background you need to understand where this is going. Last night, my husband went to a Sens game with his hockey mates. He parked his car at a local arena and they took a bus to the game. The plan was to take the bus back to the local arena and drive home (the plan, as I understood it then, involved more watching hockey and less drinking beer, little did I know!). By the end of the evening, after consuming a lot of beer, my husband made the (seemingly) wise decision to forgo the bus ride to his parked car -- he was not fit to drive. This is the point where most people would decide to take a taxi home. Not my husband, nosirree! My husband, dressed in a zip-up hoodie and flip flops (yes, flip flops) decided it would be a good idea to walk home from Scotiabank Place (we live in Stittsville). Not a terrible idea if it you are SOBER and dressed properly. However, this was not the case. My husband took on this adventure with verve, it was sort of a man vs. nature deal -- rather than walking home along a lit sidewalk, he decided to take the shortcut. You know, the one through unmarked farmers' fields. In his flip flops.

All in all, it took him about 2 1/2 hours to make it home. His trek ended with him ringing our doorbell shortly before 1am. The girls had to get me out of bed, they were scared it was a 'bad guy' -- I showed poor judgement myself, opening the door in my underwear, though truth be told, that would likely be enough to make most bad guys run for their lives. Four kids later, and the body hasn't held up quite as I had hoped, but I digress. That's not the highlight of this story. The highlight of this story occurred around midnight, when my apparently-not-very-agile husband attempted to make his way over a fence. And got stuck.

When my husband came home last night (or should I say 'early this morning'), I didn't fully grasp what had happened. I understood he had lost his keys, he was mumbling about getting stuck on a fence -- I assumed he was talking about our fence, that he was attempting to get into our backyard to gain entry to the house. We went to bed, and he blathered on about how he had "made his peace with God" while he was on the fence, whatever that means. It wasn't until the morning that I came to fully understand what had transpired the night before. My husband did not get stuck on *our* fence. My husband got stuck on a farmer's fence, in the middle of nowhere.

How did he get stuck, you ask? While I wasn't there (it never would have happened if I was there), the way it was explained to me, he got one leg over the fence, his foot got stuck in a wire square, and he fell backwards. Basically, my husband was hooked over a fence, upside down, for about a half hour. Quite a predicament, don't you think? The keys likely fell out of his pocket as he was struggling to free himself -- getting off that fence required the mother of all situps, not such an issue when my husband was younger, but it required a significant effort last night. I have spent the day alternately quizzing my husband about the events last night, and making fun of him (seriously, how could I not make fun of him?).

While my husband was suspended from the fence, he did not scream for help (there was no point, seeing as how he was in the middle of nowhere!), and he had to use his hands to prop up his weight to ease the pressure on his caught foot (there's a Survivor challenge, a yoga pose, or both somewhere in there, I just know it!). I sort of wish I could have been a fly on the wall (or on the fence post, in this case), it would have been quite entertaining to watch. Of course, I'm glad he managed to free himself, it would have been awfully embarrassing to become a widow as a result of an act that could have garnered him a Darwin Award.

Would you like to know what my husband did after he made it off and over the fence? The obvious, of course... he marched (or limped) himself to Mac's Milk where he bought a bag of chips (battling a fence is hungry work!), then he walked home. This time, he stuck to the sidewalk, Lord only knows what else he would have gotten up to otherwise!

I hope my husband has learned his lesson, but I seriously doubt it. I am quite sure at some point in the future, he will do something that tops even this. The next time he decides to venture out of the house for a night on the town, I'm thinking of outfitting him with an HRP (a Husband Retrieval Package): taxi fare, a cellphone, a flare gun, and a foghorn (and maybe a label that reads "If found, please return to XXX"). Wish me luck!

And the verdict is in!

2010-03-27T22:40:00.006-04:00

What verdict, you ask? For the past few months, I have been debating whether or not to stock disposable inserts that can be used with cloth diaper covers to create a 'hybrid' diapering system -- part of the diaper is tossed, part of the diaper is reused.

In case you haven't picked up on it already, you should know I'm a *huge* cloth diapering advocate. Like, big time. Don't believe me? Check this. And this. And this. This is a good read, too. I firmly believe that using cloth diapers 24 hours a day, from day one, is a realistic goal for most parents. In debating whether or not I should stock a disposable option, I have worried that by doing so, new customers will interpret such a decision as an admission that using 100% cloth diapers, 100% of the time is not a feasible option (it is, it really is!). I have been thinking long and hard about this for months, and with a little prodding from one of our suppliers (in the form of free S&H), I have decided to take the plunge.

I will be the first to admit that I have terrible tunnel vision. If I don't like something, I assume that everyone else in the world must dislike it, I mean, how can they not? Case in point, I bought a new dip this week (babaganoush, if you care). My husband loves it. I think it tastes like vomit. Needless to say, babaganoush will never cross our threshold again. Sorry, husband, you know it's true. Never. Again. While I may be able to get away with this at home, as a store owner, I really should consider that not everyone may feel the same way about something as I do; I shouldn't turn a blind eye to the fact that some of our customers rely on a combination of cloth diapers and disposable diapers.

When I asked for feedback earlier this week on Facebook, I was presented for some reasons why some people may want to use an occassional disposable option:

travelling. Yes, travelling with cloth diapers is totally doable, but for various reasons, not everyone does it.

clearing up a diaper rash. There are lots of different ways to clear up diaper rash, but if you're using a cream that may potentially ruin your cloth diapers, I can dig your reasoning for using a disposable option in the interim.
clearing up a yeast infection. This particular problem can be tricky to deal with, not only do you have to clear up the yeast in your baby, you have to clear up the yeast in your cloth diapers. Using a disposable option while you rid your cloth diapers of yeast may speed up the process .
going 'out & about'. Not everyone likes to use cloth diapers while they're running errands, to each his own, right?
getting over the 'newborn' hump. Some parents don't want to deal with cloth diapers until they are settled with the new baby. The problem with that approach is you may get used to the 'convenience' of disposable diapers, and your once noble intention to use cloth diapers may fall by the wayside. A hybrid system offers you the best of both worlds until you're ready to make the switch.

We are stocking Biosoakers, brought to you by the fine folks who make GroBaby diapers. A Biosoaker is a single-use soaker that lies in a GroBaby shell (or any other wrap-style diaper cover, for that matter). When a soaker is soiled, you dispose of it, and reuse the cover with a new soaker. I have always considered the label 'environmentally friendly' as applied to any disposable item as a sort of misnomer -- using something once, then throwing it away is hardly in the environment's best interest.

Despite their single-use nature, Biosoakers differ from standard disposable diapers on a few counts:

they contain no dioxins
they contain no formaldehyde
they contain no petroleum-based plastic
they contain no fragrance, dye, and latex

Biosoakers are marketed as 'compostable' (to EU and USA composting standards) , peed-on biosoakers can be composted in your backyard composter. Pooped-on biosoakers are tossed like their disposable diaper counterparts, the manufacturer indicates they will break down faster than a standard disposable diaper, however, that's a matter of debate. Due to the nature of landfills (a bunch of garbage packed really tightly, buried under a lot of garbage packed tightly....), biodegradation is greatly impaired in any landfill.

Am I 100% comfortable with my decision to stock a disposable diapering option? Not really, but my secret hope is that it attracts people to the store who are looking for an alternative to standard disposable diapers. For those people, perhaps the Biosoakers will act as a gateway to the wonderful world of cloth diapers.

Using a diaper service vs. home-laundering cloth diapers

2010-03-22T22:45:00.009-04:00

Occasionally, when parents are considering cloth diapers, they debate the merits of using a diaper service versus home-laundering cloth diapers. If your mind is already made up, and you’ve decided to go to the diaper service route, don’t worry, you have my blessing. When you use a diaper service, you still benefit from some of the advantages of using cloth diapers:

You will divert waste from the landfill – approximately 4 million disposable diapers are tossed in Canada every single day.
Your child may toilet train earlier.
Your child will not be exposed to the chemicals present in disposable diapers.

However, if you are on the fence about it, consider this my attempt to sway you towards buying and washing your own cloth diapers – what kind of self-respecting retailer would I be if I didn’t give it a shot? How else am I expected to keep myself dripping in diamonds and fur?

Cost. The money you spend on a weekly diaper service will add up to more than what you would spend if you bought and laundered your own cloth diapers. When you consider it’s an ongoing cost (2+ years), and that you have to spend that money for each subsequent child, a diaper service will always cost more in the longrun. You buy your cloth diapers once, you keep them in good shape, and you use them over and over again until your husband visits Dr. Weiss.
Choice. When you commit to a diaper service, you are committing to the diapers they will provide you with. Part of the fun of using cloth diapers (yes, it’s fun!) is the selection. Your baby’s diaper is an extension of her wardrobe. Aesthetics aside, sometimes different diapers suit different purposes. Maybe you’d prefer to use prefolds at home, but your daycare provider prefers pocket diapers. Whatever the case may be, home-laundering affords you the flexibility of choice.
Convenience. You can wash your diapers whenever you want to. You’re leaving town on Friday to visit your in-laws for a week (*shudder*)? Wash up your diapers and take them with you. If you’re with a diaper service, you’re restricted to their delivery schedule.
Frequency of washing. Most people who wash their own cloth diapers tend to wash them every 2-3 days (say it with me, people, it’s only a load of laundry!). Diaper services pick up soiled diapers once a week. The longer a soiled diaper sits, the worse it will smell.
Lack of standards. There are currently no standards in Canada regulating how a diaper service must operate. When you wash your own diapers, you know how they have been washed.
Lack of availability. Most major cities have access to a diaper service, however, if you live in a rural area, you may be out of luck.
Maddy needs braces. Hardy har har. I’m just checking to see if you’re still paying attention.

That’s all I’ve got. If you’re lucky enough to live in Ottawa, there are two diaper services that service the region, The Diaper Service is located in Ottawa, and Sweet Peach operates out of the beautiful town of Perth. If you live in southwestern Ontario, Bear Bottoms has an extensive delivery area. Regardless of which route you choose, when you're putting your baby in cloth diapers, you're making a choice that's better for your baby, and better for the environment.

Mabel's Labels Blogher '10 Contest entry

2010-03-15T10:05:00.013-04:00

Seriously? The end of the Internet? Geesh, just as we were becoming such good friends! Oh, how I will miss you!

No more shopping in my pyjamas. My personal hygiene habits will require a serious upgrade.

No more googling random facts that don't really enrich my life, but they certainly make me feel a heckuvalot smarter! Did you know dalmations are born without spots? Neither did I.

No more People of Wal-mart. I can't stop looking. Can't. Stop. Looking.

No more Facebook-stalking the bitchy head cheerleader from high school who has five kids, is divorced, and doesn't fit into her cheerleading outfit anymore (I'm just sayin').

No more self-diagnosing every abnormal bodily function (my own, my husband's, and our children's), we might actually have to visit our doctor for a tune-up every once in a while.

No more simply 'liking' my friend's Facebook updates and photos, I'll have to pick up the phone to find out what's new, or visit them to see what they look like.

No more surfing the celebrity gossip sites to see what’s going on with Brad, Angie, and Jennifer. I’ll need to find another way to fill my time, maybe reading a book, or (God forbid) working out (the horror, the horror!).

Hmmm. That’s weird. Come to think about it, everything might turn out OK after all!

This is me, throwing my hat in the ring -- the winner of this contest earns a trip to Blogher in August, and a 1-year writing contract. I've never been to NYC, and I like writing. 'nuff said! Honestly, I think if the Internet ground to a halt, life would go on. Seriously, it would!

That's disgusting!

2010-03-13T16:52:00.009-05:00

This past week, I was introduced firsthand to the willful ignorance that some people demonstrate towards breastfeeding. An older woman came into the store to browse with her friend, if I had to guess their age, I would guess mid-50s. This woman is going to be a grandmother soon, her son and his wife are expecting their first baby in the summer. She looked at our cloth diapers, and commented on how she used cloth diapers with her babies. At this point, I liked her -- clearly she's A-OK if she used cloth diapers, right?

We talked a little bit about the cost of cloth diapers, and how you can save anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars if you use cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers. From this conversation, we (well, she) moved onto the cost of infant formula, she was shocked at how expensive it is. I mentioned something along the lines of "At least breastfeeding is free," assuming she'd be on the same wavelength, and that is where our brand-new friendship abruptly ended. Her son's wife won't be doing *that*.

I was shocked, as was her friend. Quite frankly, although I've heard about people who disapprove of breastfeeding, I've always regarded such people as a kind of folklore -- surely in this day and age, people can't be so ill-informed that they would knowingly pass up the benefits of breastfeeding without so much as trying it? I asked her why the mother-to-be won't be breastfeeding. Simple answer? Her son wants to be involved, he wants to be able to give the baby bottles. I suggested he could change diapers, or mom could express milk for the dad to bottle-feed, but nope. The idea of breastfeeding was clearly disgusting to this woman.

She then proceeded to tell me she bottlefed all of her children, and she described seeing a woman breastfeeding in the 1960's (1969, to be exact):

"We were at the Ex in the stands, there were thousands of people around, and this woman 'plopped it out' and stuck her baby on the tit."

To hear someone describe the natural act of a woman breastfeeding her child in such crude terms was quite shocking, it actually left me speechless (imagine that!). Fortunately, this woman's friend was as gobsmacked as I was, and she spoke up about her own experience. When she had her first baby, the doctor advised her to breastfeed because it's the 'best thing for her baby,' she went on to breastfeed all three of her children, for 18 months to three years of age -- at this point, it was her friend's turn to be gobsmacked!

The woman was clearly taken aback at the thought of anyone nursing a toddler, asking her friend why she would do *that*, and her friend recalled how special it was to cuddle with her babies while she was breastfeeding them, and how she missed that bond when their breastfeeding relationship was over. The woman commented again about how 'disgusting' it is that people would breastfeed in public, to which I replied that most women are discreet, to the point that it often goes unnoticed (I sincerely doubt that she's never been around a woman nursing in public since 1969, I'm sure she has, but she just didn't know it!).

Clearly, this is a woman who is not going to budge on her stance against breastfeeding, but it was refreshing to have an unlikely ally in her friend. It's disappointing that some people, though clearly a minority, view breastfeeding with such contempt -- one can only hope the mother-to-be has a change of heart before her baby is born, although without the support of her husband, it' highly unlikely.

Yes, slings are safe!

2010-03-10T21:01:00.012-05:00

Once in a while, when we're showing prospective parents the various slings we sell, someone will ask "Do babies ever fall out of the slings?", to which I generally reply "Yes, all the time, but don't tell anyone, it's bad for business!" Of course, I'm kidding, and parents always know that (hey, it's a good icebreaker!), however, I may want to reconsider that reply given the impending warning from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding the safety of baby slings.

It's a sad fact of life that accidents happen. Over the past 11 years, seven babies have died, and 37 babies have been injured as a result of being worn in a sling. Yes, these are terrible circumstances for any parent to face, however, it is important to put it into context -- millions of babies have otherwise been worn safely. At this point, little is known about the particular carriers used in these incidents, or the specific circumstances, however, a general warning about the safety of baby slings will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the entire industry. If the CPSC is going to issue a general warning about baby slings as a result of seven deaths over an 11 year period, perhaps they should ban bicycles outright, given that in 2008 alone, 18 children between the ages of 0 and 9 were killed in biking accidents, and 2,000 were injured. Come to think of it, they might want to ban cars too -- in 2008, an average of four children under the age of 15 were killed every day in motor vehicle crashes. Yes, it's a ludicrous suggestion, but to label an entire group of products as unsafe because of a few isolated incidents is just as ludicrous.

Rather than scaring parents away from a product that, when used properly, can enrich the parent-child bond, focusing on safety would be a more beneficical approach, encouraging parents to develop responsible babywearing habits. What can you do to ensure you are wearing your baby safely?

purchase a baby sling made by a company who specializes in baby slings, not a company who specializes in shopping cart covers, playmats, potties, etc.
buy a reputable sling. That $20 Mei Tai you've been eyeing on Etsy? It's true, you get what you pay for.
purchase your baby sling from a store that has staff trained to use slings properly -- DVDs are nice, but nothing beats in-person instruction.
read or watch any instructional materials that come with your sling -- they're there for a reason!
when you're wearing your baby, you should always be able to see his mouth and nose - they should not be pressed against your body, or obscured by fabric.
if you bend over while you are wearing your baby, keep one hand on your baby.
if you are wearing your baby under your jacket, do not zip your jacket up all the way to your neck -- leave your jacket partially open to ensure adequate air flow.
the baby's chin should not be touching his chest -- you should be able to fit two fingers between his chin and his chest.
when you are learning to put your baby on your back, do it over a soft surface, like a bed, and have someone spot you.
use common sense. Don't wear your baby when you're tending to a hot stove. Don't chop vegetables while you're wearing your baby on your front in a sling. Don't ride a bike while you're babywearing. Don't put your baby in harm's way!

With respect to newborns, proper positioning is key, this article does a great job of illustrating what is safe, and what is unsafe -- even if you're expecting baby #2, #3, or #4 (or #5, Donna!), it's always a good idea to refresh your memory.

We have four kids who have all been worn from infancy through toddlerhood. Babywearing has made my life easier, when I say it's the one baby product I could never live without, I'm not kidding. The fact that babies have died or been injured in slings is heartbreaking, but it is a very (very!) rare occurrence. When practiced properly, babywearing is a safe, rewarding experience for both parent and child.

meat: the moral dilemma

2010-03-02T08:38:00.020-05:00

Up until a few days ago, I was a card-carrying member of the carnivore club. A couple of weeks ago, I eliminated sugar and gluten from my diet in an effort to get my eczema and psoriasis under control. Surprisingly, revamping my diet has been fairly easy, I don't miss my old friends sugar and gluten, furthermore, I feel fabulous. Eliminating gluten and sugar has had no effect on my skin, but the way I have felt since giving them boot is reason enough to keep them off the menu (I no longer crave a nap everyday at 2pm! No more headaches!). I have long-suspected a link between my dairy consumption and my skin problems, I don't consume a lot of dairy (the thought of drinking milk outright has always turned my stomach, since I was a kid!), but I like it in my coffee, and I love cheese. I. Love. Cheese!

In my efforts to wrap my head around eliminating dairy, I have been researching food. I have borrowed the book Skinny Bitch from a co-worker, I have watched the movie Food, inc., a fascinating look at how food is produced today, and I've been, ya know, Googling (a favourite pastime of mine, if you must know!) all things food-related. I had previously read Fast Food Nation, so I had prior knowledge about factory farming, and how it's overtaking the traditional family farm as the source of most of the food on our tables. Despite what I had read in that book, for the past few years, I've still held on tight to the notion that farming in Canada must be different. I grew up in southwestern Ontario where family farms with cows grazing in rolling pastures are a common sight. Yes, I ate meat, but I have always believed that this is where cows come from -- they live out their days in a grassy field, then they are sent to slaughter (humanely, I might add, as stupid as that sounds!). Granted, this may be the case in those family farms still in existence, however, the reality is that 95% of animals raised for slaughter in Canada are mass-produced on factory farms.

Do you know what factory farming involves (warning: graphic video)? Seriously, I had no idea. I suppose the notion of 'cruelty-free' farming is a contradiction in itself (what is humane about raising an animal for the sole purpose of killing it?), but I was blissfully unaware of what I have been putting on our table, and into our bodies. Until now. I cannot condone practices that I find absolutely horrifying, and by putting money into the pockets of the companies committing these atrocities, I am condoning it (and so are you!).

I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "It's only been a couple of days, give it time, and you'll be back to your regular diet", however, I've given up meat before (for a couple of years!), the sole reason I went back was because I got pregnant with Maddy, and quite frankly, I was the world's laziest vegetarian. My diet sucked, I didn't supplement what I ate with alternate sources of protein, unless bread counts as a source of protein. I have always been the type of person to stop my car and pick up stray dogs, so really, why wouldn't I show farm animals the same type of consideration I show other animals? I play with our beta fish, for God's sake, because I worry about how lonely he (she?) feels!

The link between veal production and the dairy industry is enough to cure me of my cheese habit. As a lactating mammal myself (10 years strong!), I can sympathize with a dairy cow and calves. As much as I may bemoan my morning coffee with rice/soy/almond milk (haven't figured that one out yet), life will go on.

While I'm comfortable giving up meat and dairy for myself, my husband and our children, on the other hand, are apprehensive about my (our!) new diet, proclaiming "But we're not *that* type of people!", whatever that means. So as a compromise, to ease them into the transition, we're going to purchase what we can from a local farm, although my goal is to completely eliminate meat and dairy from our diets (me, now, them, later!). A co-worker (thanks, Christine!) pointed me to the Weston Price Foundation, which promotes the consumption of whole foods. The website links to local chapters, through which you can source locally-grown organic and biodynamic vegetables, fruits and grains; and milk products, butter, eggs, chicken and meat from pasture-fed animals.

The point of this post isn't to debate the ethics of meat consumption in general, rather, I'm looking for advice. If you have any suggestions regarding books, recipes, and local sources for meat, dairy, and eggs, please pass them on. I have been debating a change in our family's diet for a long time, getting rid of sugar and gluten, and feeling so great as a result, has been the impetus I needed to make this change. I have a whole bunch of books on hold at the library, but as with everything in life, it's always nice to get advice from real, live people.

Well, that was awkward!

2010-02-23T20:29:00.008-05:00

I just had my first sex (or S-E-X) talk with our oldest, who is nine years old. It came out the other day that kids are talking about it at school (apparently, it's *all* they talk about!), and I thought it's probably time to open a dialogue about it with her. My own parents never said a peep to me about sex, it's a wonder we have four children! I want our kids to know they can talk to us about these things, and I also want them to know it's a healthy part of any loving relationship, and if she's talking about it in the schoolyard, it's time to talk about it at home.

When Maddy first brought up 'S-E-X' the other day, she told me her friends say you have to 'do it' to get married (they're in grade four, people, grade four!). She then told me she knows that's not true because we (her father and I) are married and we have four kids, and we've never done it (!!!). I did what I could to stifle a laugh, our other children were with us at the time (4 and 7), I wanted to discuss it further with Maddy, but alone, not with an audience. She was clearly embarrassed about it, I didn't want her to be anymore uncomfortable than necessary (OK, I lie, I was also trying to minimize my own discomfort too!).

In terms of 'where babies come from', we have always been open with our kids about the science behind baby-making -- from an early age, they've known that a mommy has eggs in her belly, and a daddy has seeds in his penis. Daddy puts the seeds in mommy 'with love', a baby grows for nine months, then the baby comes out of mommy's vagina (or sometimes the baby is cut out of her belly). The only thing I've never known how to broach is the 'how' behind it all (when my kids have asked "How does Daddy put his seeds in you?", I've never managed to come up with a better answer than "With love" because I don't know how to explain the mechanics without blushing!).

If I think back to my own childhood, I can recall my first discussions about S-E-X with my friends, I was in grade five, so I suppose not much older than Maddy is now. I'll admit, I surfed Amazon looking for books yesterday, my first instinct was to order a book and give it to her -- talk about the chicken's way out! However, I suppose throwing a book at her really won't make her feel like opening up about it down the road when she needs someone to talk to. The opportunity presented itself tonight when she was in her room alone, doing her homework. I asked her if she has any questions about sex, and she turned three shades of red, her reply was a quick 'no'. I told her I just wanted her to know it's something that people do when they're in love, and that Daddy and I do it, if we didn't, we wouldn't have four wonderful children. At this point, looking thoroughly disgusted, Maddy exclaimed "I'm glad Daddy had is seeds taken out so you don't have to do it again -- you don't do it anymore, right?". I laughed and said "yes" (at this point, we were both blushing!), and tried to emphasize it's a way two people can show love for each other.

Oh, and didn't the floodgates open up then! No questions? Ha!

"What do you wear when you do it?"

"Where do you do it?"

"What position do you use?" (can you even believe she asked this? Grade four, people! And no, I didn't answer.)

"Have you done it this week? Last week? Last month?"

"Do Gramma and Grandpa do it?" (at this point, I fully sympathized with her, there are some things *I* don't even want to think about!")

Between each question, she hid her face in her pilow, or groaned 'ewwww', and told me it's an inappropriate conversation. She also told me her teacher tells them to 'visualize' things they can't understand, and she doesn't want to visualize anything anymore!

The conversation wasn't exactly flowing, it was definitely awkward for us both, however, I wanted her to know that if she has questions, I'd rather she asks me as opposed to the kids at school. I've heard horror stories from customers who are high school teachers about what happens now (two teachers have confirmed it's not an urban legend!), it would seem times have changes since we were in high school! I have no idea how I went from being the mother of a bouncing bundle of joy just nine short years ago to the mother of a child who talks with her friends about S-E-X, but I certainly don't want to bury my head in the sand and pretend she's never going to grow up! I just hope that as she gets older, and the topic gets more relevent (God, no!), she's comfortable enough to talk to me about it.

Babywearing and biking don't mix.

2010-02-20T09:12:00.018-05:00

Apparently, some things need to be spelled out for some people. I will preface this by saying I'm an avid babywearer. We have four kids, we have always relied on a collection of various carriers to tote them around. Babywearing is easy, convenient, and when done properly, safe. However, there are instances when you should forgo the baby carrier, and use a little common sense instead.

I recently stumbled across a blog entry in which the auther filmed a trip with her family to a local healthfood store. The family rode two bikes, the mother's bike was behind the father's bike, she was filming his bike ride. The father had a toddler on the back of his bike, strapped into a bike seat, wearing a helmet. He also had an infant who appeared to be less than six months old strapped to his chest, in an Ergo carrier, the infant was not wearing a helmet. I was dumbfounded.

I left a comment on her blog suggesting that it's not a wise practice, she should reconsider transporting such a baby in that manner. Not only did she disagree ("Safety is always a big concern for us and in our opinion Baby C is in the safest spot given the situation. Whether he’s riding along in a car or any other moving piece of equipment/ animal there are always risks involved. Common sense & following our intuition is how we often “roll”. Just so you know, this isn’t habit and we don’t do it on the daily … usually for a short jaunt or trail ride- when less traffic is involved."), but several other commenters agreed with her, one of whom pointed out that her mother used to do it with her. Um, yeah, OK, you mean like back when infants rode in cars on people's laps? I guess we should do that too, right?

I sent the blogger a private message detailing why riding a bike with an infant is an unsafe practice, even if you only do it occassionally, even if you choose a time of day when there is less traffic, the risk of serious injury to your baby is high if you do get into an accident. There are many reasons you shouldn't wear your baby on a bicycle:

your baby is strapped to 100+ lbs of deadweight (yes, I'm talking about you). Ever heard the phrase "the bigger they come, the harder they fall"? Think about it. Since your baby is strapped to you, she will experience the same impact as you, which will be much harder on her tiny body than on yours.
you might land on your baby. You know, because she's STRAPPED TO YOU. I have debated this point in a forum with other babywearing vendors, the majority of whom seemed to think that riding a bike while wearing a baby was likely safe (how's that for a ringing endorsement? It's *likely* safe!). One suggested that if a parent falls off a bike while wearing her baby, she will be able to manipulate her body in mid-air to land with the baby on top. Last I checked, we're humans, not cats. If you get turfed from your bike, you'll hit the ground before you know what happened, there won't be time to react.
if you fall while you're on a bike, your baby is falling from a taller height and travelling at a faster speed than if you fall while you're walking (for those of you who want to argue that you can also fall while walking and babywearing). You know how bicycles work, right? To stay upright, you have to move the bike at a pace faster than walking. So not only is your baby strapped to 100+ lbs of deadweight, the height and the speed at which she's travelling will make the impact that much worse.

Biking is a great family activity, and babywearing is a wonderful way to include your little one in the things you do, however, they don't go hand-in-hand. The possibility of taking a spill aside, cycling can be a bumpy affair, you and I can tolerate the normal jostling of a bike, however, your infant's neck is not as strong as ours, and if your bike comes to a sudden stop, your little one will not be able to control her head movement (big head + weak neck = not good!).

Even if you're the best cyclist ever to pedal across the earth, to be blunt, shit happens. When I was driving home from work a couple of weeks ago, a wheel broke clean off a car and bounced across the highway in front of my car. It was only by the grace of God that no one was hurt, but if that wheel had bounced *just so*, there would have been nothing I (or anyone else on the road at that time) could have done to avoid it.

Apologies for my preachy tone, but I think it's warranted here. I chatted with several customers in the store about this on Saturday, all of whom admitted to witnessing others babywearing while biking (and inline skating along the canal, and ice skating on the canal!). As parents, it is our responsibility to keep our children out of harm's way. No, we cannot raise our children in a bubble, accidents will happen, however, waiting until a child is old enough to properly tolerate a bike ride, and using the proper gear to minimize risk will reduce the likelihood and severity of injury.

Wear your baby on the bus

2010-02-17T20:08:00.009-05:00

Without getting into the drama of 'should they or shouldn't they', I'm going to write about how babywearing can make public transportation easier (I'm sure you're on pins and needles, am I right?). I live in Stittsville, I drive to work, so the whole stoller-on-a-bus issue generally doesn't affect my day-to-day life. Prior to having kids, when I worked in an office in downtown Ottawa (back when I wore makeup, did my hair, and shaved my legs on a regular basis... I digress!), I used OC Transpo regularly (I have OC Transpo to thank for my love affair with the Harry Potter series of books!). Since becoming a parent, I have used public transportation with our kids occassionally, and in those rare instances, I have never felt the need to use a stroller. In fact, I would say using a baby carrier instead always made the experience far easier.

So, why wouldn't I want to use a stroller on a bus? For starters, how awkward must it be to get on and off a bus with a stroller? I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest very awkward. Babywearing makes things like stairs and narrow spaces easy to negotiate. Easy on, easy off!

What about when the bus is packed full, how do you think your little one feels with people pressed up against his stroller? From their perspective, it must be a little scary to be surrounded by lots of strangers in cramped quarters (like a forest of legs!). When you're carrying your baby, you're always close by, he just has to look up and he can easily see your face for reassurance.

Slings make breastfeeding on the go much easier. Babies get hungry everywhere. If I had junior strapped into a stroller, and he decided he wanted to eat, like, five minutes ago already, it would be a struggle to get him out and latch him on on a crowded bus. When your baby is in a carrier, breastfeeding can be easy and discrete.

Lastly, I have always appreciated that when my babies were carried, it was easy to keep them away from the hands of well-meaning strangers. When sitting in an enclosed space with lots of people you don't know, especially in cold and flu season, you don't want strangers stroking your baby's cheeks.

If you're boarding a bus with a toddler, and you think he's outgrown a baby carrier, think again. A lot of soft-structured carriers (SSCs) can be used with children who weigh up to 40 lbs, the size of an average four year old. You can wear your toddler on your front, making it easy to sit down with him in your lap. It can be done, trust me!

So, all this to say if you have a current OC Transpo or Grand River Transit pass, you are entitled to a 10% discount on any instock, regularly-priced baby carrier (no other discounts apply). Transit pass must be shown at time of purchase.

Tips for convincing Dad to use cloth diapers.

2010-02-15T11:24:00.008-05:00

While we see a lot of expecting couples doing their research at our stores, it's not uncommon to see pregnant women come in alone, gathering information for their partners who are reluctant to consider using cloth diapers. We are well-prepared for this, we have handouts that detail the who-what-why of cloth diapers, a chart that breaks down the cost savings, and a glossary of terms with a chart that outlines the pros/cons of different systems. What can I say, we want you to be prepared!

If your partner is still on the fence, the following tips can help bring him over to the dark side.

Make him read this. What can I say, I think I did a pretty good job of poking holes through any argument against using cloth diapers.

Show him what today's cloth diapers look like. Like your future daycare provider, your partner may have some preconceived notions about what cloth diapers are, and how they work. If you take him to a store that sells cloth diapers (like ours, hint hint), allowing him to see and feel cloth diapers, you'll do a lot ot sway him to your point of view.

Buy him his own stash. If your partner is still hesitant about using cloth diapers because of their perceived difficulty of use, then buy some easy-to-use diapers just for him. Yes, prefolds are easy to use, however, if he's going to reach for a disposable diaper because prefolds scare him, then buying him his own diapers will be worthwhile investment. Consider a velcro pocket diaper, if you stuff it beforehand, it goes on just as quickly and easily as a disposable diaper.

Keep it simple. Oh, how can I put this delicately. There are some people out there with a lot of time on their hands. I'm not a make-work person, so the thought of folding and color-coding our cloth diapers ever time I wash them makes me shudder. Like anything in life, using cloth diapers can be as complicated or as simple as you make it. If your partner is already worried about the workload involved, make it easy on him by storing everything in a hamper. It doesn't have to look pretty, but it makes laundry day so much easier when all you have to do is pull everything out of the dryer and stick it in a hamper. So. Easy.

Point out the obvious. No matter how liberated you and your other half may be, truth is, for the first few months at least, mom will likely be the baby's primary caregiver. It's just the way things tend to work out. As a result, he will not be changing as many diapers as you will. If you're the one changing poopy bums, you should be the one to make the call as to what goes on junior's bum.

Sign up for a diaper loan program. Over six years ago, I developed the concept of a diaper loan program (a genius idea, if I may say so myself!) as a way to enable parents to seriously consider cloth diapers, giving them a chance to 'test the waters' without making a serious financial investment. A loan program is a great way to see what using cloth diapers involves (easy-peasy, I swear!), and your partner will get a chance to try a variety of diapers -- who knows, maybe he'll turn out to be a prefold fan after all!

It wasn't terribly hard to bring my husband on board with respect to using cloth diapers. The cost savings alone sealed the deal (like me, my husband is a frugal person, a man after my own heart!). Nine years and four babies later, he has never regretted the decision. Your partner won't either, I promise!

We're not going to use cloth diapers because....

2010-01-30T22:38:00.023-05:00

Go ahead, I dare you. Try to come up with a valid reason to choose disposable diapers over cloth diapers (aside from sheer laziness -- there, I said it!). It was about a year ago that we received our Sunday edition of the Ottawa Citizen, and right there on the front page, no less, a title about cloth diapers caught my eye. My heart skipped a beat (no, seriously, it did!), I sat down and began to read what I was sure was going to be a great article praising the benefits of cloth diapers. I started to read, and after the first couple of sentences it became quite clear that the author was going to lampoon cloth diapers (and how!).

A 1/4 of the front page and almost a full page inside the newspaper was devoted to the author's attempts to justify her choice to use disposable diapers. After reading this article, I was livid. This article featured very little in the way of truth, the author relied on a British study that suggested there were no environmental benefits to choosing to use cloth diapers over disposable diapers. To put it lightly, this study has been a matter of debate, however, it was a great way for the author to prop up her argument: disposable diapers are bad, and cloth diapers are just as bad: why bother?

The author of the aforementioned article used the same arguments I've heard time and time again.

Cloth diapers cost too much.

Say what? I know we've been over this before, but seriously. I get it, spending $20.00 every week seems a lot cheaper than investing in cloth diapers, but if you do the math, no matter what type of cloth diaper you use, you will always save money. Always.

Cloth diapers leak.

Sometimes, maybe, but not nearly as often as disposable diapers, which I liken to a launching pad for poop. If your baby is wearing a decent cloth diaper that fits well, you likely won't experience poop-between-the-shoulder-blades blowouts like a baby who wears disposable diapers. The texture and the bulk of a cloth diaper keeps poop where it belongs, in the diaper.

Cloth diapers are inconvenient.

If you're seriously going to use this as an argument, then I would strongly advise you to re-think the whole 'having kids' thing. Seriously. Nothing about being a parent is convenient. Pregnancy? Definitely inconvenient. Sleepless nights with a newborn? Tiring & inconvenient. Toddler tantrums? Soooooo inconvenient! Fortunately, we love our children, and we put up with it all to have them in our lives.

Cloth diapers are too much work.

Washing cloth diapers is a simple load of laundry (unless you have a frontloader, which requires a little tweaking). If you're going to use the 'too much work' argument, I fully expect you to wear paper clothes. Do you? I didn't think so. When you have kids, you do more laundry, if you know a way around it, please let me know.

Cloth diapers are messy.

Again, reconsider the whole 'having kids' thing if you're worried about mess. Aside from the fact that children in general are messy, changing poopy diapers is messy business, regardless of whether you use cloth or disposable diapers. Yes, you have to take the poop off a cloth diaper if your baby is drinking formula or eating solids, however, there are ways to make it a little less gross than it sounds. You're actually supposed to remove the poop from a disposable diaper, however, most people don't. Our landfills aren't meant to handle raw human sewage, so you should be dumping the contents of soiled disposable diapers into the toilet before you toss them. Poop removal aside, you have to wipe poop off your baby's bits and bum while she's trying to stick her hands and feet in it -- that's probably the hardest part of changing poopy diapers! No parent will ever be immune from poop.

Cloth diapers are bad for my baby's skin.

Highly unlikely. Have you ever looked at the long list of chemicals present in disposable diapers? You really think cotton is worse than that? How does male infertility sound? Asthma? There is a lot of conjecture about whether or not the chemicals in disposable diapers are safe, and there's an assumption that because a product is on store shelves, it must be safe. A quick perusal of the Cosmetic Safety Database dispells that myth. Why not err on the side of caution and put something against your baby's skin that has been used for hundreds of years with no adverse effects?

Cloth diapers are hard to find.

Well, slap me with a moldy turnip and color me flabbergasted! As if anyone could use this argument! True, when I started The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe eight years ago, there was a dearth of businesses that sold cloth diapers, the vast majority of which were strictly online. Since 2002, as the green movement has steadily picked up steam, cloth diapers have become readily available at most baby boutiques, and specialty cloth diaper boutiques are popping up everywhere. If you can't find a local source for cloth diapers, there are a plethora of online businesses catering to the cloth diapering parent, and there are lots of great educational websites with articles and forums that can help you figure it all out.

Washing cloth diapers wastes electricity and water, they're just as bad for the environment.

I'm wondering, once your baby is out of diapers, where will she be peeing and pooping? That's right, in a toilet! And what's in that toilet? That's right, water! Did you know the amount of water used to wash cloth diapers from birth to potty training in a high efficiency machine is the same amount of water used to flush a toilet five times a day during the same period? If you're going to use this argument, I assume you never flush the toilet. Between your toilet habits and your paper clothing, it must be hard to make friends!

If you are concerned about the electricity used to wash and dry cloth diapers, you can opt to wash your diapers in cold water, and line-dry them (inside or outside). Not so bad after all, eh?

So that's all I've got. You still want to argue that disposable diapers are a better choice than cloth diapers? Try me! But be warned, I like to argue (ask my husband!), and I'm pretty darn good at it.

The "dos & don'ts" of starting your own business!

2010-01-28T20:43:00.014-05:00

I frequently get requests from other women who want to start a similar business to The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe for start-up advice. I don't generally answer these e-mails, partially because I don't have the time, and partially because I wouldn't be sure what advice to give (eight years later, and I'm still learning!).

These requests have run the gamut from vague ("Do you have any tips to share?") to specific ("Here's a piece of paper and a pen, please be a dear and write down your suppliers, their contact information, and where you get your fixtures."). I'll be honest and admit that if you have specific requests like the latter person, I would suggest your preface our conversation with "Hi, I love your store, can I buy a franchise?", because that's about the only way you'll ever get the answers to your questions. A lot of thought and effort (and blood, sweat, and tears!) has been poured into this business (it's definitely my fifth baby!), and expecting me to give up the goods just because you asked is just plain absurd. Sorry, not gonna do it!

So, what pearls of wisdom do I have to offer other people who might want to consider the self-employment route?

Do your research first. Just because I can make a go of it where I am, doesn't mean you can make a go of it where you are. You need to figure out who your target audience is (income, age, education, family size, etc.), and whether or not it is large enough to sustain your business idea. Opening a natural parenting business in a town with a predominately aging population, not a good idea!
Don't expect to make money immediately. If you're in a cash crunch, and you're thinking of starting a business to add to your income, guess again! On average, it takes a new business approximately two years to turn a profit. After a year in business I was paying myself a salary of -- wait for it -- $50.00 a week. That amount has increased over time, but not without a lot of hard work.
Do figure out what you're paying for a product before you decide how much you're going to sell it for. New WAHMs (work-at-home-moms to you!) are notorious for undercharging when they first open their business. Aside from the actual cost of stock, you will have to account for all the little charges that will put a dent in your bottom line -- credit card fees, brokerage fees, duty charges, the list goes on and on! If you start out charging low prices, it will be hard to increase them when you need to (and you will need to eventually, unless you like working for free!).
Don't undercut. Some WAHMs undercharge on purpose, under the misguided notion that they will earn money based on sales volume. This plan will never work, you will work like a dog for little (or no) return. Don't undervalue yourself!
Do know what your obligations to the government are. I often joke that I'm not really self-employed, I work for the government. There's a lot you need to know with respect to GST, PST, employee deductions, and importing goods into Canada. I recently learned a hard lesson that cost me thousands of dollars -- I wish there was a 'Canadian Government for Dummies' handbook, but there's not. However, the government does offer free workshops for business owners, it would be a good idea to attend them if you can.
Don't copy, it's not nice. It's never OK to take someone else's hard work and claim ownership for it. Copying text from someone else's website and pasting it into your own website (or your newsletter, or your blog) is not cool, even if it's just a bit of text, and even if you change the wording a little. If you would like to use someone else's information, link to it, or ask their permission to use it yourself. It's called common decency. Same goes for images (even a Facebook icon!).
Do it because you like it. If you enjoy something, you're more likely to be successful at it. Passion is great fuel!
Don't do it because you want to spend more time with your children. This is a nice idea, and one of the reasons I started my own business, but in actuality, it doesn't work that way, especially if your business is successful. While my job (yes, it's a job) affords me the luxury of being at home when the kids leave for school, and when they come home from school, the reality of it is that while I'm at home, I do a lot of work. I order from suppliers, I answer customer e-mails, and I talk to (both) stores freqently throughout the day. The time I spend with the kids isn't always what I would call 'quality' time, but it's a tradeoff.
Do take time off. Have a designated 'day off', you will need it! Have you noticed our stores are both closed on Mondays -- I enjoy having one day a week when I know I won't be needed by the business. As important as it is to put the time and effort into a new business, it's equally important to put time and effort into yourself, and your family. Sounds easy, but take my word for it, it's harder than you think!
Don't treat your business like a hobby. It makes me cringe everytime I come across a person who makes this claim. A hobby is fun. You do it because you enjoy it. It gives you personal satisfaction. The same can be said for a business, however, unlike a hobby, a business is not something you do at your own leisure. You need to take it seriously, and you need to put the effort into it.
Do consult an accountant first. Yes, it costs money, but it's money well-spent. I didn't do it, but I wish I did, because getting caught up after the fact is hard! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

I know you're probably expecting to see a reference to a business plan here, but I never had one, and I still don't. I started this business based on a gut feeling, at the time, 'natural parenting' stores weren't as abundant as they are now, they were virtually non-existent. The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe was started in a spare bedroom in our home, it grew slowly, first into a stall at the Stittsville flea market (raise your hand if you visited me there!), then into a retail space not much bigger than the spare bedroom we started out in. We now operate out of two lovely storefronts in Ottawa and Waterloo, ON, we have a great staff of moms who are equally as passionate about cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and babywearing as I am.

Starting a business isn't something that should be entered into lightly, and finding the balance between home and work can be tricky, but it is very fulfilling to earn a living doing something you enjoy.

Adventures in newborn diapering

2010-01-18T20:51:00.015-05:00

If you want to be successful with cloth diapers, I firmly believe that using cloth diapers from day one will greatly increase your likelihood of success. If it's all you know, you'll get used to it pretty quickly. Starting out with disposable diapers with the intention to switch to cloth diapers once you're 'settled' (whatever that means -- it's been nine years since we welcomed our first child, three kids later, and I still don't feel 'settled'!) may not work out that way. Using disposable diapers for those first few weeks can be a slippery slope, once you're hooked on the supposed 'convenience' of wrapping up the waste and tossing it, you may find it hard to transition to cloth diapers.

From the get-go, disposable diaper manufacturers will do their best to woo you with free samples, whether it's at your pediatrician's office, or sandwiched in a parenting magazine, these companies have deep pockets, and your loyalty is worth thousands of dollars to them. It's big business to convince parents that they must purchase a product for the first three years of each child's life. Do you think disposable diapers keep your baby's bottom dry for your baby's comfort? No, they do that to ensure your baby will be wearing disposable diapers as long as possible -- when a baby doesn't feel wetness against her skin, she is likely to potty train at a later age. The longer your child is in diapers, the bigger their bottom line.

If you consider the cost of certain brands of newborn disposable diapers, you can see that one company is trying to gain customers initially by luring them in with a cheaper price:

Pampers Swaddlers $36.97/216 diapers: .17 cents/diaper

Huggies Supreme newborn diapers: $12.97/36 diapers: .36 cents/diaper

Why the disparity in price? Proctor & Gamble (the manufacturer of Pampers) is gambling that if they can get your baby into their diapers from day one, you will become a loyal Pampers user. If you compare the cost of both brands in larger sizes, you can see the initial savings of buying Pampers diapers for your newborn are eventually lost:

Pampers 'Baby Dry' size 4 diapers $36.97/140 diapers: .26 cents/diaper

Huggies 'Snug & Dry' size 4 diapers $36.97/140 diapers: .26 cents/diaper

So, what are your newborn diapering choices?

I've said it before, and I've said it again, everyone should give prefolds a chance. They're cheap, and they work. You can use infant prefolds with a baby who weighs 8+ lbs, they'll be bulky to start, but newborn babies tend to put weight on quickly in those first few weeks, so the bulk is a short-term issue. We also sell preemie prefolds which can be used with babies who weigh 4-9 lbs. At $17.00/dozen, preemie prefolds are a justifiable purchase even if you only use them as diapers for a couple of weeks, after which you can use them as wipes, or doublers.

If prefolds absolutely, positively do not appeal to you, size 0 Kissaluvs are our most popular newborn fitted diapers, fitting babies who weigh 5-15 lbs. At $14.95 each, they are significantly more expensive than prefolds, however, they are well worth the money. The elastic around the legs in combination with the texture of the cotton sherpa do a great job of keeping newborn poop where it belongs, in the diaper; the umbilical cutout prevents the diaper from rubbing against your newborn's cord stump. In terms of how long your baby can wear these diapers, you can comfortably get at least 2-3 months of use out size 0 Kissaluvs, depending on the build of your baby. My son was born weighing a whopping 9 lbs 11 oz, and he was able to wear his size 0 Kissaluvs for a good 5-6 months, until he weighed 17 lbs (he was a long and skinny baby).

If quick-and-easy is your thing, we sell Fuzzibunz XS pocket diapers, at $15.00 each, they are cheaper than Kissaluvs (Kissaluvs require a cover), however, they are not as absorbent as Kissaluvs (though with a newborn, absorbency generally isn't an issue since they are pooping every five minutes for the first 4-6 weeks). Fuzzibunz XS pocket diapers fit from 4-12 lbs, they are similar to disposable diapers in that they go on in one piece, they are trim, and they will keep your baby's skin dry.

Some people have the attitude that since newborn babies grow so fast, it's pointless to invest in newborn diapers, however, regardless of what type of diaper you put on your child, you will be spending money. Infant pottying is an option that can drastically reduce how many diapers you might use, however, I realize it's not for everyone. If you want want to use cloth diapers with your baby from day one, but you don't want to make a large investment in your newborn's diaper stash, we offer a newborn diaper rental that allows you to rent 20 size 0 Kissaluvs and 10 XS Fuzzibunz for $15/week, the equivalent to what you would spend on disposable diapers. If you were to purchase these diapers, you would spend $450.00, though if you factor in future children and/or resale value, purchasing newborn diapers is generally a worthwhile investment.

So, how many diapers will I need?

A typical newborn will require 10-12 changes a day, due to the pooping-every-five-minutes thing I tend to mention a lot (hey, I want you to know what you're getting into!). You could buy a dozen diapers and make do with washing diapers daily, however, this will make cloth diapering feel like more work than it really is. Purchasing 24-36 diapers will see you washing diapers every 2-3 days, it not only lessens your workload, it will also reduce wear & tear on your diapers (good for resale value, or if you want to use your diapers with future children).

So, is there anything else I need to know?

Meconium (your baby's first poop) is really not the big deal people make it out to be. There's a belief that meconium will stain cloth diapers, parents-to-be often ask us about it. Some parents will actually use this as an excuse not to use cloth diapers from birth, however, I can assure you, meconium, like breastfed poop, washes out fine. It's thick, it's tarry, but it washes away just fine. You don't need liners to protect your diapers, don't sweat it!

If you're using a diaper that requires a cover (like a size 0 Kissaluvs, or a snappi-ed prefold), you can get away without using a cover for the first couple of days because your newborn will be peeing such a small amount. Letting your baby go coverless for those first few days is a great way to air-out your baby's cord stump.

Your baby will likely experience some type of a diaper rash around two weeks of age. All of our babies did, and a lot of our customers' babies do. Your newborn's skin is very sensitive, and no matter how quickly you change her after a poop, it's hard to avoid poop sitting against her skin. Airing her bum out is the best way to heal her skin, leaving her diaperless on an old blanket is the quickest (and cheapest!) way to get rid of a diaper rash.

Using cloth diapers from birth is completely feasible. If it's all you know, there will be no adjustment. If you need help, ask for it, friends and family will gladly put a load of diapers into the washing machine if it means a little more face-time with junior.

So, why do you do it?

2010-01-06T22:12:00.018-05:00

I've used cloth diapers with all four of our kids, from birth. It was something I knew I would do before I was a mother. I can still remember my own mother cloth diapering my younger brother, she used good ol' terry flats and pins, it was retro all the way, baby! Of course, that was almost thirty years ago, and things have changed considerably (for the better, I might add!).

I signed up for a diaper service before Maddy, now nine years old, was born. At the time, I chose cloth diapers for environmental reasons. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that using and washing something over, and over, and over again is better for the environment than using something once, and throwing it away. Considering the average baby will pee and poop her way through approximately 8,000 -10,000 disposable diapers, the amount of waste generated by disposable diapers is mind-boggling -- they take 250-500 years to decompose, is this really the legacy we want to leave our children?

I missed the diaper service drop-off one week (seriously, will I ever be on time for anything?), so I had to wash the cloth diapers myself. It was a load of laundry -- a simple load of laundry! I did a little research and realized I could buy and wash my own cloth diapers for a fraction of the price of the diaper service, so we cancelled our contract (it was an introductory package) and the rest, as they say, is history.

Since my love affair with cloth diapering began, I've tried many different types of diapers, as many of our customers note, cloth diapers are fun. I can only imagine how boring it must be to put the same paper diaper on your baby every. single. day. To call your diaper stash a wardrobe for your baby's bum isn't far off from the truth, from leopard minky to bamboo flats to alpaca wool, the combinations are endless. Of course, I keep coming back to old faithful, cotton prefold diapers. Yes, despite the fact I have access to pretty much whatever my little heart desires, I ♥ prefolds!

In the eight years we've been in business, we have turned thousands of parents onto cloth diapers through our workshops and our loan program. Our customers have also been really great at spreading the cloth diaper love, it's fun to watch them come in with expecting friends, taking them on a tour of the different styles of diapers, explaining what they like and dislike about certain diapers (like Ruffles potato chips, betcha can't have just one!).

We held a photo contest in November that resulted in a fabulous gallery of babywearing pics posted to our Facebook page. We'd like to create a new gallery featuring pics of your babies wearing cloth diapers, please e-mail me your pics, and answer the following questions:

1) why did you choose cloth diapers over single-use diapers?

2) what's your absolute favourite cloth diaper?

3) any advice you'd like to share (OK, so you're not really answering a question here, details, details!)

Please keep your answers (somewhat) brief, contest ends on January 25th (Robbie Burns day, why not?). So, what's the give here? What am I offering you in return for your participation, on top of my (obviously) undying gratitude? The three (yes, three!) pictures that garner the most comments will receive a 50% off coupon that can be applied towards a purchase up to $500.00. Do you have a friend who wants to get set up with cloth diapers? You can give it to her! Do you need to move junior up to the next size of Fuzzibunz? Has that Beco been calling your name, keeping you awake at night? Keep it for yourself! We all know how cute fluffy butts can be, let's see what you've got!

warning: four letter words ahead!

2010-01-04T14:58:00.007-05:00

I have a confession to make. I'm a potty mouth. Big time. Like fuckin' huge! That admisson would probably surprise some people, I'm a mother of four, I operate a natural parenting business that lends itself to a hippy-dippy, wholesome image (I do wear birks, they're fuckin' awesome!). Of course, I'm not suggesting I'm *not* a wholesome person, I'm just a wholesome person who likes to swear. A lot.

If you had asked me before I was a mother if I would ever swear in front of my future children, my probable answer would have been 'no', in fact, I likely would have been horrified at the idea. However, when you've never been a parent, or when you're only a parent of one, it's awfully easy to pass judgement on other's parenting skills (I was sooooo holier-than-thou when I was a mom to one, I'll fully admit it!).

As much as I love our children, parenting is a stressful job. Fortunately for me, swearing is a huge stress-reliever (added bonus: it's free!). I come from a family of four children, I still remember my father making an effort not to swear in front of us (it didn't work), he tried to replace 'shit' with 'shovel', or 'sugar', and it was ridiculous! Both words were preceded by a long 'shhhhhhh' as we all watched my father teeter on the precipice of cussing (eventually, he would fall in). My own career as a potty mouth started long before I was a mother, I can still remember the first swear word I said (shit!), I was walking down the street with another girl (can't remember if it was a friend or my older sister), and we both took turns saying 'shit' and giggling madly. Ah, memories!

Of course, by my own standards, 'shit' is a relatively minor swear word, tame, in fact. If I'm going swear, I'm going to unload the good stuff. I like to use the eff word. A lot. I could be talking about something good, or something bad, no matter, 'Fuck' is a highly effective way of emphasizing my point, or to illustrate that I've finished my sentence (like a period, if you will):

"That cheesecake was fucking awesome. Fuck!"
"Aw fuck, we forgot your lunch, we've got to go back to get it. Shitfuckdamn!" (you like that?)

Despite the fact I swear around them like a sailor, my kids know better. Probably because since they've been old enough to speak, I have drilled it into their heads that *only* mummies and daddies are allowed to swear. In fact, I have told them that the more children you have, the more swear words you are allowed to say. Case in point, a recent exchange at dinner:

Maddy: You say the eff word a lot.
Me: I know, it's an adult word. I can also drive a car. I can also drink alcohol. Adults are allowed to do more things than kids.
Maddy: Rachel's mom doesn't swear.
Me: I know, but Rachel's mom only has one kid. She's only allowed to swear ten times a year. I have four kids, I'm allowed to swear 40 times a year.

Obviously, this explanation hinges on the assumption no one is counting how many times I swear. But still, it was a good enough explanation for her. Maddy is in grade four now, and she regularly comes home regaling us with stories about how so-and-so said the 'i word' (idiot), the 'j word' (jerk), or the 'sh word' (shut up). When I say my kids don't swear, I mean they *don't swear*. Quite frankly, I'm more concerned about name-calling than I am swearing, there's a difference!

I do censor myself where appropriate, I generally don't swear at the store, around my mom or my inlaws, or around other children. If I do happen to swear around you, it means I'm comfortable enough in your presence to indulge in my filthy habit, consider it a sign of endearance!

There was a time when I felt guilty enough about my potty mouth that 'not swearing anymore' actually made it onto my (now defunct) list of New Years resolutions, however, I have come to the logical conclusion that even if I didn't swear in front of our kids, someone else will (case in point: the kids in my daughter's class will eventually gradtuate from 'jerk' or 'idiot' to something stronger), I can't shelter them from everything. In the grand scheme of things, if you consider all of the vices I could have, swearing isn't so bad, is it?

The day will come when I hear a swear word fall out of one of our kids' mouths, but as long as they're not using their words to hurt another person, I can live with it, they all grow up eventually! My children are under strict orders not to swear until they're 16 years old (am I naive to think I can hold it off that long?). It used to be 18 years old, but I recently lopped two years off, DD#2 was quite thrilled, I can tell she's going to excel in that area, a chip off the old fuckin' block!