Tag: Parenting

Posted in Parenting Hacks

Milk Management System

Posted on by ottawaem
Boss Baby Drinking a Bottle

One of our better parenting decisions early on with Tiny Human #1 was have M give a night bottle to allow me an extra couple hours of sleep.

This means there are usually 2-3 bottles of milk lurking in our fridge, identical bottles with an identical amount, making it hard to know which bottle to use first. That is until we instituted:

The Banzet Milk Management System

I place a rubber band around the oldest bottle in the fridge so M knows which bottle to use first. BUT what if you don’t give a bottle everyday (which we don’t). I pump a bottle everyday but M doesn’t necessarily give Tiny Human #3 a bottle everyday.

Milk only lasts in the fridge for 4 days. I have started to use coloured stickers to mark each bottle and just jot down on a sticky note the date I pumped the bottle.

I admit it is a little Type A but it does keep us organized.

Posted in Parenting Hacks

Surprisingly Useful Baby Appliance

Posted on by ottawaem
How could you not love that smiling face?

After often seeing it listed on Top Ten Lists of the most unnecessary baby gear, I feel the need to come to the defence of one of our most surprisingly useful pieces of baby gear, The Baby Bullet.

While the Baby Bullet was handy for preparing and storing baby food, the device really came into its own when Tiny Humans 1 and 2 became toddlers. In fact it is one of the few pieces of baby gear we received as a gift for Tiny Human 1 that we have used consistently ever since.

Why has a baby food blender taken up valuable cupboard real estate for the past 8 years?

  • The Blender Bowl is the perfect size for 2 Tiny Human size portions of smoothie.
  • The Blender Cup is the perfect size for 1 Tiny Human portion of smoothie.
  • The Grinding Blade is great for making up to one cup of oatmeal or rice flour.
  • The Snack Cups are easy for tiny hands to open in their lunch box. We use them to take berries, cereal or small crackers to school OR if they are really lucky small amounts of Smarties or marshmallows. We have also brought them with us travelling to hold single servings of rice cereal or to hold left overs to snack on later.
  • The Silicone Mould is is useful for freezing left over juice for smoothies. I also recently realized that the mould is the perfect size to make egg bites in the Instant Pot.
  • The Spatula is small enough to get into the corners of jars to get out that last little bit of food.

I admit I rolled my eyes when Tiny Human received the blender for her first Christmas. We were still living in the condo and space was at a premium but the happy little blender has proved its utility time and time again.

Posted in Parenting Hacks

Save the Couch Cushions

Posted on by ottawaem

A couple of years ago I wrote about my tips for coping with a sick Tiny Human. One of the tips I found was to place a vinyl tablecloth on your couch for easy clean ups. But what about the everyday mess that comes with Tiny Humans, especially Tiny Humans prone to spitting up (looking at you Tiny Human #3). I realized while folding laundry on the couch one day that the Len Mattress Protectors from IKEA are the same size as our couch cushions. I just slip the mattress protector between the cushion and the foam to place an extra layer of protection between the couch and the Tiny Humans.

Posted in Parenting

How could I forget about Day 3

Posted on by ottawaem

Tiny Human #3 is now just over a month old and the newborn fog is beginning to lift. It’s been 5 and half years since we last did the newborn shuffle. I wish I could say we are older and wiser but most days it feels like we are just older.

I was caught off guard on Day 3 when my hormone levels dropped, my milk started to come and the sleep deprivation reached its peak. The same thing happened with Tiny Humans #1 & # 2 as M reminded me as I fell asleep standing up. Pandemic newborn parenting means more time for cuddles but it also means every doctor visit or trip to the store is extra complicated.

Tiny Humans #1 and #2 have really impressed me, I thought the novelty would wear off but Tiny Human #1 in particular has been a huge help. She loves giving Tiny Human #3 a bottle and changing his diaper. They both love giving him cuddles or entertaining him in his bouncy chair. Even the St. Lucian Lad is stepping up. He is learning to walk alongside the stroller and is quick to alert us to Tiny Human’s cries.

We have gotten smarter about a couple of things:

  • We bought a changing mat that fits in the bassinet and my parents bought us one that can go on the floor to eliminate the chances Tiny Human #3 will take a tumble while being changed.
  • Thanks to a well timed Black Friday sale/early Christmas gift, I invested in a good breast pump giving me a much needed break.
  • I upgraded my nursing pillow, my previous nursing pillow was not only flattened by serving as a lounge cushion for pandemic studying, but it was also HUGE. This pillow is just the right size for me and perfect for propping up Tiny Human #3 for bottles.
Posted in Parenting

Big Paws to Fill….

Posted on by ottawaem

It’s been a little over a week since Bajan Mutt passed away. I still listen for her in the morning and look for her in the playroom at night where she liked to sleep curled up in the girls old toddler bed.

Huey lounging on her dog bed

The loss of our beloved pup wasn’t a huge surprise, she was diagnosed with cancer in early March and we knew the treatment we were pursuing was palliative, but the speed at which she left us has thrown us for a spin.

Months ago we tried to delicately prepare our hearts for her departure, In late March we adopted a delightful little furry chap from St. Lucia and I started to let my mind wander to how I wanted her last days to go. All the French fries she could eat, sleeping on Tiny Human #1’s bed with Tiny Human #1 cuddling her and finally passing away quietly at home with all of us with her. The reality was harshly different. The heaviest load carried by M who took her to the vet for the last time.

What started out as a fairly ordinary Wednesday in COVID lockdown turned into as Tiny Human #1 put it “the worst Wednesday in the history of Wednesdays.” The girls handled everything with such grace and maturity, the tears come when they see her collar sitting on the bookcase in my room but they are also braver than me, digging through old photos to remember happy times with the dog that they will compare every dog to for the rest of their lives.

In many ways the loss of Bajan Mutt also feels like the loss of a chapter in my life. M and I had been married for 9 months when she wormed her way into our hearts. She was with us as we adjusted to life back in Canada, kept us company when one of us was travelling for work and was the back seat driver for many adventures. (Including the time she dropped her toy out the window of a hotel in Vermont or the trip to Boston where she was welcomed with her own “doggy bag” and allowed to hang out with us in the hotel lobby bar.)

She was there when the Tiny Humans were born and was the silent witness to our best and worst parenting moments. She went on her own adventures with the Tiny Humans sharing their joy as we turned off the highway in Port Hope and joining us for Tiny Human #1’s epic western road trip that included a 9 hour detour to drive around the 2013 floods in Calgary.

Her final gift to us was helping pass down some of her wisdom to our little lad from St. Lucia. He knows he has big paws to fill but I think he’s up for the job.

Posted in condo living, Parenting Hacks

Camping in the Bedroom

Posted on by ottawaem

We know it won’t last forever but for the time being the Tiny Humans are very happily sharing a bedroom. Well for the most part happily sharing a room, Tiny Human #2 is a night owl and Tiny Human #1 is exhausted by school and fancies herself a “morning person.” All this to say that light in the room sometimes causes friction. We invested in remote controlled blinds for the bedroom but that does not help with light in the room or Tiny Human #1 waking up Tiny Human #2 when she got up in the morning. On a trip to Ikea to stock up on batteries, waffles and meatballs we noticed these little tents for the head of their beds. The bottom of the tents slips under the mattress providing each Tiny Human with their own personal cocoon for blocking out their sibling. The tents unfortunately don’t stop Tiny Human #1 from waking up her sister to ask if she’s still sleeping, or Tiny Human #2 shining a flashlight in her sister’s eyes to see if they are open.

Posted in Parenting, Parenting Hacks

Call me dark hearted but I like warm tea

Posted on by ottawaem

 This post from YummyMummyClub.ca made me laugh this morning it proves the point I guess that a mother’s work is never done.  I’ll be honest one of the things I miss most about having an office to go to each morning is having the time to enjoy at least a couple sips of nice warm cup of tea to start off my day.  I’ve tried to enjoy tea at home, I really have, but it eventually ended up spilled, contaminated by random Tiny Human food or turned depressingly cold before I had a chance to drink it.

Then I discovered S’well bottles, which claim to keep liquids cold for 24 hours and warm for 12 hours.  As a huge water drinker I am always on the look out for new water bottles. (My almost 4 years of parenting have taught me that glasses of water are just asking for trouble) I pined over the bottles for a couple of months but could not justify the price tag.  I put a bottle on my Christmas list and hoped for the best.  The Tiny Humans aided by their awesome Daddy came through.  Tiny Human #1 picked out the bottle, a pattern called “Dark Hearted”a total coincidence her father assures me.

Guess what, the bottle actually works.  I can now have a cup of warm tea that lasts for hours.  I can even make tea the night before and still wake up to warm tea. While not life changing, the extra caffeine is nice, particularly when Tiny Human #2 goes on a nap strike.