Mama in the City

Growing up with my two sisters we were always kept in order with my Dad's safety precautions. In fact so much so that we are all a little on 'the safe side' in our adult years. Our husbands will testify to that as we three sisters tend to worry about things ahead and will guard a lit candle with our eyes. So, in honor of my Dad I am introducing occasional posts by 'Grandpa Safety'! From time to time Grandpa Safety will make an appearance and will write to all you readers about safety concerns related to babies and children. Sometimes it might be a specific product, a story or an issue current in the news. Here are some words from our Grandpa Safety! Enjoy! Please feel free to leave him a comment. ~ Mama in the City


Andrea asked for some thoughts from Ben's Grandpa that might be of interest and I am pleased to oblige. My wife and I were overjoyed when we first became grandparents some five years ago and now we are proud to have three grandchildren with Ben being the youngest one. So, what can a grandpa write about that might be helpful and won't illicit remarks such as " We don't do it that way any more ! ". Well, I thought a few comments on Canada's role in improving safety of food, consumer and health products might be helpful.

If you are looking at this web site I guess you most likely have a little one or hoping for one in the future. Making sure that your baby has the best possible food and the least exposure to hazards is a big deal for most parents. Especially right now with that topic being in the news. In Canada most parents can make a choice on such items as food and baby toys but it seems that often things slip through and the hazards are just not obvious. The Canadian government has recently announced that it is bringing in a new Canada Consumer Product Act and strengthening regulations.

Some of their press release states - "Health Canada moved to ban the use of harmful chemical additives called phthalates in children's soft vinyl toys,strict new regulations preventing toy companies from using six phthalates in bath toys (rubber duckies), animal figures, school supplies and vinyl bibs.It also moved to effectively ban lead content in children's products that come in contact with young mouths, such as pacifiers, teethers, snorkels, baby bottle nipples, and sippy cups.



This grandpa thinks these new rules are a good thing so long as they are actually enforced! Ben seems to be at the stage when he will chew just about anything and no parent should have to worry if something like a toy could make their baby sick.

I love sleep and I love a lot of it. I function at my best when I clock in at least nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. You can always count on me to want a nice afternoon siesta too. However, my baby is not a great sleeper and I am feeling it. I am tired and over tired and would like a nap and a big long lounge in bed in the morning. Ben has been a tough sleeper since he was born into this world. Never one to go the extra mile and sleep through the night or sleep away the afternoon. He was a busy baby in utero and has kept up his claim to fame once he was born.

Ben cried for so many hours as a tiny baby and we learned to cope, and just plain old survive, by co sleeping with him. He loved it and thrived! Slept and nursed! Slept and nursed! He never had any long wake up periods and was seriously content but things got tricky once the boy could move and crawl. He was sleeping but I was not and my body was just aching from sharing the bed space. Plus my husband had started to become accustomed to sleeping on the pull out couch too often. Once we moved to our new apartment we thought now would be a great time to change things up. He is in a crib in his own room and he despised it at first and let us know! Now he falls asleep easily in his crib on his own but wakes up frequently through the night. Sometimes for an easy soother replacement and sometimes for a bit longer.

Sometimes I have felt so desperate that I will admit to constantly googling the term 'my baby does not sleep through the night' or asking other mamas what their tricks were. Sadly, we have tried ALL the tricks and we have read many top sleep books and checked out various websites and listened to great advice. All of these in some combination have been a bust. We have now come to a place in our parenthood adventures where we have just accepted that this is our baby. He wakes up briefly through the night and needs to be parented a bit. It is exhausting and tiring but we realize this is such a short phase in our lives and we are up to the challenge. For now.

I sometimes wonder how different my life would be if I had a baby who slept well and slept long long through the night but we have come face to face with reality. We got the non sleep and he is full of day time energy, loves to laugh, play games and 'dance' when I sing. He just doesn't sleep all night long.

You've got to love weekends at home with nothing much on the agenda. We decided to take advantage of our lazy Saturday and head off on the aquabus to Granville Island! We left the stroller at home and Ben hung out in his sling and the dog trotted at my husbands side. Granville Island is a great destination to spend a lazy Saturday at with your family and there is so much to see and do.



First we chowed down on the patio of Cats Social House and then headed to the public market to shop for dinner. Shopping at the public market is wonderful and you can buy so many fresh ingredients; it is also the place that our top local chefs go to buy ingredients for their restaurants. We love fresh local food and my husband is a seriously good cook. An added bonus is that the Jazz Festival has started and so we enjoyed some good music at the same time.

Tonight's menu, compliments of my husband was: seared diver sea scallops, BC chanterelle mushroom risotto with haricot vert.

Today my friend Tina and her troop of children came downtown for a walking adventure around the seawall and trips to a trio of parks. Of course it was complete with some latte sipping and screeching babies. Nearing the end of our field trip we mingled with another mama at the park. A mama with a 7 week old baby girl and a 14 month old boy. The two babies close together in age puts her into a special motherhood league of her own. Surviving each day is just amazing and I can't imagine how difficult it must be at times.

Quickly into our casual conversation the first thing she said was that her second pregnancy wasn't planned. According to my fabulous math calculations baby #1 was about 5 months old when baby #2 was conceived. Yet, here she was pushing her young boy on the baby swings while trying to latch her fussy crying newborn on to her boob at the same time. Remember how difficult it was to latch your newborn at the best of times and then add latching/nursing while standing and pushing your first born on the swing? Oh yeah. I haven't done that. Women are amazing and seriously good at multi tasking. A positive attitude also goes a long way in this situation.

One thing that I love about having a child is the sisterhood of motherhood. Mothers seem to come together and seek each other out when out in public. Of course you run into the mean mother but those people are probably always mean even outside of motherhood. When you meet another mother we all seem to ask the same questions like; how old is your baby, what kind of stroller is that, are you getting any sleep, etc. The conversation easily flows and you may never learn the other mothers name but you know about her babies, her struggles and her joys.

So, since today is 'Wine Friday' I will be raising my glass of cold white wine to all of you mothers. You rock! I hope that we can keep on supporting each other. Cheers!

One thing I have always loved is yummy smelling bath products that are gentle on my skin. If you were to come over and go through my bathroom you would find lots and lots of these products. Over time some of these products have hit the bathing beauty graveyard; sometimes they smelled like vanilla cupcakes but failed in bubble performance or left my skin feeling irritated.

My product placement this week is a double hit; I use it on Benjamin at bath time and I also use it for myself! Burts Bees Baby Bee Shampoo and Wash. It is 98% natural and how can you resist the smell when it is derived from coconut oil. Oh yeah! Makes bath time enjoyable with its thick lather and leaves my baby smelling irresistable. He used to have a bit of sensitive skin but that is not an issue when we bathe in our Burt's Bees! I also like it as a gentle facewash and make up remover. Since it is tear free it works well to easily to remove my eye make up.



Do you have a product that you think should be showcased here? Let me know and tell me why it rocks!

Before I became a mother I knew that I wanted to breastfeed my baby. During my work as a maternity RN I had taken numerous courses on breastfeeding and felt comfortable with it but also knew that it would take some work to learn. I had seen my older sister nurse her babies many times and she had made it look natural and easy. I learned that breastfeeding was portable and you could be on the go with your baby. However, one thing that she would complain about was the lack of quality nursing bras available and I soon found this to be my issue too.

After Ben was born I was ready to invest in a nursing bra that rocked and I had some requirements; they had to look good, feel comfortable and support the new found size. The bra also had to come in more than just your 'go to' white color. After all, I was still a woman and liked to feel good about myself and my undergarments definitely had a role in that. If I was wearing a frumpy poor fitting bra it would totally effect my mood. Feeling the band sliding around on my body or the fabric chafing at your skin making you sweat. Blargh! If things were fitting right and all was held in place and there was maybe a little colour then I would feel a bit better about things.

When I was heavily pregnant I went to google and tried to find the best bra; I was ready to invest and discover! All the maternity books tell you to go ahead and buy yourself a bra when you are almost near term but for me this did not end up working out. Who knew that the first initial of my last name would also be my bra size! However, I did go ahead and made several purchases of about 4 different nursing bras. From your token department store brand to more higher end brands. None of these worked and none of them felt comfortable. One friend said she went the whole first year feeling uncomfortable in her nursing bra because of the fit and the fabric and I just didn't want to have to go down that road.

When Ben was 2 weeks old I went on my first trip out by myself. I went to a very nice lingerie shop in Vancouver, called Diane's Lingerie, and asked them to show me their top nursing bra. They showed me the ones I had seen before and I started to feel a little depressed. Maybe I would also hate my bra for the next whole year? Then they brought out the bra that changed my whole world. Maybe that is a little dramatic but seriously it was like a totally normal bra. It didn't have huge humongous straps with thick padding or give the effect that just had one boob. It was smooth and clean and the fabric was wonderful! It was also an underwire and I loved that. I was so excited and felt giddy so I bought two. I guess it really is the little things that make me happy.


The bra is by the brand 'Anita' and I wore this nursing bra in black under a bridesmaid dress the following week and things looked pretty good. I can slip on tank tops and fitted shirts and no one knows about my functioning bra. Definitely a winner in my books! Click here to check out the bra.

Once in awhile a city mama needs to have an evening or two out and about on the town sans baby. Dinner out with my husband ranks high on my priority list of fun things to do. So does meeting up with girlfriends to enjoy some conversation and something delicious. When Ben was being a naughty baby, and cried all day and night, we would schedule dinners out and let my youngest sister 'shh' and sway with him while we enjoyed some of the delicious food that Vancouver has to offer. Here are my top five places to dine around Vancouver city. I have a way longer list but these are a few gems that I offer to you.


1. Afternoon tea paired with a Kir Royal or two at Bacchus Lounge. Eating finger sandwiches here gives you the feeling that you are a lady of luxury. Especially when I am spooning out jam from the little pots and sipping some lavender early grey tea. This is a weekend girlfriends date but my husband loves it too. He always hopes that ll bring him home any leftovers and I have excellent intentions but always come home empty handed. I often will celebrate something by going out for afternoon tea with family and friends. Here are my parents last Father's Day having brunch with us and two great girlfriends and me just before I got married having afternoon tea of course!


2. A close second is pizza and wine at Bacchus. Mmm. Thin crust pizza paired with some local Okanagan wines. I have this date with my girlfriend Krista every few months and we savour every little pizza crumb and drop of wine. Plus we love lounging in the plush red seats as we sway in our chairs to the live piano music.

2. Eating mussels and house made frites with my :boyfriend: at Chambar. A great little local spot with fresh Vancouver artwork on the walls. We enjoyed the art work so much that we got one of the artists to paint us a picture. Delicious selection of Belgian beers to boot! We made the painting the backdrop to many many at home pictures from sisters with their husbands to girlfriends heading out for dinner.




3. Italian Kitchen for kobe beef meatballs and spaghetti. Absolutely delicious and so incredibly filling that I always question why I finished it off. Nice city vibe for a meeting up with a group of friends. Sipping cocktails and enjoying some people watching.

4. For authentic Italian paninis we head to Scuie in Yaletown and devour their sandwiches. My favorite is the Milano which has pastrami, crem de brie, carmalized onion, tomato and some misculin. It is served toasty warm and takes me back to sitting in the pizzarias through out our vacation in Italy.

5. My last place is Glowbal Grill in Yaletown. A very favorite place for brunch, lunch and dinner. Really anything on the menu is tasty and if you are into the whole Twilight obsession you can rest easy knowing that the cast had a birthday party celebration here and might have eaten off the same plate as you.

We hadn't really talked about the how we we were getting home from the hospital once we had our baby. We don't own a car and were used to walking around town or taking taxis when we needed. Once in awhile we rented a car to go out of town and that was the end to the transportation story. It worked out perfectly and we never had an issue until it came time to bring home baby Ben.

I really hadn't given much thought to how my baby was to get home. Obviously I had thought strolling the city after giving birth would be high on my priority list or maybe a vehicle would just appear with a proper fitting car seat already installed. However, surprisingly neither of these became an option when it was time to go home. My husband really wanted to walk home with the baby and push him in our new stroller. The idea sounded horrendous and exhausting to me and I vetoed it right away. Our compromise was for me to get in a taxi and for him to stroll with Ben home.

The mixture of being separated from my baby for the very first time and the huge waves of post partum hormones left me a slobbering mess in the back of the taxi. Luckily the cab driver did not talk to me which was perfect. I arrived back at our condo and was so happy to see my oldest sister standing out front waiting for me. It was so anti climatic to just come home all alone and it was such a nice surprise to see someone waiting for me.

A few minutes behind me was my husband and he really loved his walk home with the baby. It was the perfect sunny fall day and the baby was swaddled and having his first breaths of outdoor air. Soon they were home and I was smooching my baby and relaxing on the couch with my new family. The thing my husband didn't tell me, until quite a while later, was that he lost the baby in the condo elevator. It wasn't his fault but my baby still rode the elevators alone on his big arrival home. The elevator door had been malfunctioning and was not shutting; as they waited inside the elevator waiting to go up my husband stepped out of the elevator to see if it was out of service. At that exact second the elevator door finally closed taking the baby up to the tenth floor alone.

With some quick thinking he raced in the second elevator trying to race up to the tenth floor, hopefully arriving just in time to meet the elevator containing our baby. Somehow things aligned and it actually worked out that his elevator door opened just as the other one was going to close. He pulled out the stroller and continued to walk to our front door where I was anxiously waiting to get my hands on that newborn!

When he finally decided to tell me this story I didn't freak out but once in awhile I do hold it over his head. In the most loving way. With that I am wishing him a 'Happy Father's Day' as Benjamin's Dad

It turns out that my baby is a food snob and doesn't mind giving a critique of his nightly dinner. He turns his nose up at any baby food that comes out of a jar and will endlessly gag when being fed these store bought dinners. He prefers his food to be caramelized and fresh with perfect seasoning. You see, my husband is a fantastic cook which is one of the reasons I fell in love with him almost 8 years ago. The man can cook and seasons things to perfection. So, when Ben started to eat 'food', my husband took it as the perfect opportunity to also cook for him.

So, what does this baby consume as his nightly dinner? Well, his favorite would be roasted sweet potato with caramelized onions and organic chicken with homemade chicken stock all mixed together to make some delicious baby food. Oh and it is really so delicious that I would steal little spoonfuls away from my baby. We had been giving Ben the homemade goodness but, of course, life got busy and we ran out of all our stock and bought some jarred food. It was simple and I felt good giving him a variety of tastes.


Bad move mama! After the delights he tasted from his Dad's cooking this baby knows the difference and he was M-A-D! Tonight I was spooning out some of the bought baby food, a rendition of turkey and vegetables, and I made the poor boy almost choke to death from the horrible apparent poison I was serving up. He knows the difference now and he isn't shy in letting us know.

When I was just a single gal I would hang out with girlfriends and their babies and try my slyest to pick up little baby tips and any motherhood insights for down the road. During one particular coffee date my girlfriend pulled out a baby Safe Feeder from her diaper bag. She filled up the mesh insert with pieces of fruit and handed it to her baby. The baby took it eagerly and smooshed the watermelon through the mesh with her little gummy mouth. I had never seen anything like this and watched as the baby safely ate fruit pieces on her own and kept busy while we chatted and sip coffee. Great idea!



This same girlfriend gave me a Safe Feeder as a shower gift and we have been using it since Ben was around 6 months old. Baby Ben has been known to safely chow down on the standard fare of fresh fruit but also; halibut and chips, pizza and frozen blueberries during teething. He digs it and I can sit back and slurp my latte knowing there will be no need for baby CPR if he wolfs down a piece of food too fast. Here he is at Granville Island chowing on some halibut and chips from 'Go Fish' hanging out in his Bjorn with his Dad.



Check back next Wednesday to see a new product that I love. Have something you can't live with you? Let me know and we can feature it here!

As I walk around the city, pushing Ben in his stroller, I sometimes find myself getting full of annoyance and anger. Why are people cutting me off? Walking out in front of me? Not moving off the sidewalk ramp? Argh! As I go about my day and push my precious cargo I often find myself taking on the same shoulder checks that I would do when I drive. Did I check my blind spot? Anticipate that car up ahead? Do I have enough time to make the light? I'm sure you get the idea; defensive stroller pushing.

It is surprising how many people don't seem to realize that you are pushing a BABY and not just an object on wheels. Of course I feel protective of my little cub and will yell any obscenity to show you just how much I do if you were to cut me off. I haven't really done any yelling but I do have a good list of rude words in my head just in case the moment comes. Most of the time I just become over assertive with the 'excuse me'.

The other day I was pushing Ben downtown along the sidewalk. We were waiting for the light to change so that we could cross the road. Green light and time for us to go. However, all of a sudden other people started stopping around us to get ready to cross for the other side. The sidewalk ramp was getting clogged up with people and my stroller seemed to be getting pushed to the back. I wanted to make this light but I had no path to move! I might be assuming but I am pretty sure that the sidewalk ramp is for people in wheel chairs, strollers and other wheeled things. This is when my stroller rage surges and I feel fiery with passion. Usually I do my best loud 'excuse me' and push through the crowd. I am pretty sure my husband would be embarrassed if he was with me.

I also have a beef with The Baby Gap on Robson St. and feel some stroller rage just thinking about it. Why does a baby/child's clothing store have an absolutely horrible set up of display racks in their shop? It is so badly set up that you can not physically push your stroller through the maze of racks to look at the clothing you might want to purchase. This does not make any sense to me. A children's store will usually bring parents and their children. I know this is not just my problem because I see other parents sighing or parking their child in a corner while they look at baby jeans and onesies. The result of my stroller rage is that I have been known to move the display racks to fit through the aisles and maybe making a few exasperated sighs too.

So, if you see me strolling down the street your best bet is to just move out of the way. Kidding! Kidding!

Right from the start of our relationship my husband has been a good gift giver. He seems to know that if a gift giving occasion arises I will always love a new purse. When I go out I always take a purse with me. In fact, I don't even have a real diaper bag and use a Mr. B Spy Bag for diapers, wipes and a few odds and ends.

My purse today was a Christmas gift that was well received and has been used many many times. I am sure you are wondering what is inside so here you go! I have my Matt and Nat wallet, sample Clinique lipstick in Angelic, hair elastic, house keys, some delicious smelling lemon custard hand lotion from Philosophy, cell phone, Kashi granola bar, no name sunglasses, juice box, Ben's soother. Enough to get me through a day of trekking back and forth Vancouver to baby music class and a coffee with my sister.




So, what's in your purse?

With all of the treats and adventures associated with activities right at your 'door' step will come a few cons. The main downside of apartment living with your baby is storage space for all of the things that babies seem to collect. Eventually your baby outgrows their stuff and you need to figure out what to do with all of it.

If I had a nice big basement or a garage I would promptly box these items up and store them. In case a #2 came by , or you had a baby, something like that. So far we have been quite minimal with the baby items and for the longest time we didn't even have a proper nursery for Ben. Basically his bedroom was the whole apartment and if you every visited us you would probably agree. However, now my baby is even busier and wants to be entertained and play with things; so we had to go and get a few items.



This is our cheapest and one of our top picks so far. The Ikea baby tunnel (just like they use on dog agility courses) for $29.99. A girlfriend mentioned this to me years before I had an apartment baby. It is perfect. The baby loves crawling in and out and rolling around and hiding from his mama...and we love it because you can fold it and put it anywhere discreetly.

So all you fellow apartment mamas what do you do with all your extra baby stuff?

For those of you that know my family personally you will know that today is 'Wine Friday'. Yeah! This weekly occasion came about when my baby was around two months old. He was a very fussy baby and cried up to 8+ hours a day and smacked me right into motherhood with no transition period. Is there a transition period? I knew that babies cried. Of course! I expected it. However, I did not know any other friends who babies cried like my baby son did. You could not put him down. No stroller rides outside to calm the sweet baby. No amount of jiggling or rocking or all the 1,000 other tricks we tried. He would just cry. Seriously we tried everything you could think of. People would give us helpful tips and I would stare at them thinking, 'don't you think I have tried that?'. Seriously. It was hard. I even borrowed a rocking chair. Anything to try and help.



My husband was stellar. Donning a sling and wearing our baby to calm him down. Baby Ben loved it. Nestled right in he would soon relax and sleep. At first the sling was sort of sweet and we wanted to do it. The novelty wore off and the sling soon became a necessity in our lives as new parents. He was in a sling for a good chunk of the day and in the evening. It was the only way our crying fussy baby would sleep and stay asleep. The next step was that both of us had a sling and we had a spare in case a kind sister or friend would wear one. Which they did! You can actually do a lot of things while your baby sleeps in a sling. It was a true sanity saver.

I remember one fine night in late November as a 11 PM approached and Ben had been crying since around 8 PM. I had him in the sling and was wearing a thick pink robe. I was doing the fussy baby dance with the 'shhh shhh shhh' song. I was trying all my calming techniques to get this baby to stop crying. The dancing was working up a sweat and so was the thick robe. The body heat started to make my milk flow. So here I am. Dancing with my crying baby. Sweating like crazy with milk dripping down and out of my robe onto the hardwood. I hated this moment. I wanted it to be over. Please go to sleep sweet baby!



He did. At 1:30 AM when my husband took him out for a sling walk in the cool night air. The first few months of Ben's life are much of a blur for me because of the crying and the resulting sleep deprivation and insanity. Of course I have learned a handful of lessons from this as a parent. One lesson is that 'Wine Friday' is a perfect compensation for parenting a high needs fussy baby. It is just a bottle of wine shared between my husband and me and it was something I looked forward to all week long during those long hours of crying.

The crying was not because of reflux or other medical issues that people told us to get checked out. He was healthy. Eating well. He just cried. We learned that this was NORMAL. That some babies just cry and to go with it because there will be an end. Umm..it didn't feel normal. We already knew all about the period of P.U.R.P.L.E crying because of my job as a maternity RN. However, it is easy to talk to people about this potential period and another thing to live it. We have lived it!

P - peak pattern (crying peaks around 2 months, then decreases)
U – unpredictable (crying for long periods can come and go for no reason)
R - resistant to soothing (the baby may keep crying for long periods)
P - pain-like look on face
L - long bouts of crying (crying can go on for hours)
E - evening crying (baby cries more in the afternoon and evening)

Yep! That was my baby. Each and every letter! Ben doesn't cry like he used to but he is a really active baby. The crying started to go down when he was around 4.5 months old. He has a lot of personality. We have kept going with 'Wine Friday' and I think it will stick around. So, cheers to you! Happy Wine Friday y'all!

Today was a quiet day for us and it was rather enjoyed! In the late afternoon I decided to head out with Ben and pick up an iced latte at Cito Espresso in Yaletown. Delicious as always. Then we did our usual afternoon seawall stroll and then headed to the local grocery store to buy fresh dinner supplies. I made a stop by their baby section and I came across an interesting scene.

This is what I saw. A 50+ year old woman in cruise wear dusting her feet with baby powder. The baby powder that stocked the shelves. Brand new bottles for sale. She ended up getting baby powder all over her sandals and made a huge dusty poof on the floor. She didn't see me as I stood there watching closely. She put the powder back on the shelf and started to walk away. Leaving silky white footprints behind her with each step. Then she noticed me. She walked a few more steps and I did my best to do my secret agent staring. About four steps into her get away she doubled back and picks up the newly opened baby powder and makes like she is just 'testing it out' and will now be purchasing it.

I love coming across funny situations like this. I am sure she thought it was such a good idea before she started. Before the huge white dusting through the baby aisle. Of course as I moved my stroller around I ended up getting the powder even more all over. This time leaving stroller tracks.

One thing that I noticed during my pregnancy with Ben was fancy strollers everywhere. All around Vancouver there were Mama's pushing high end strollers. The best of the best. Some were space age like and some were celebrity types. You rarely would see a local pushing around a Graco or whatever the top one you could buy at the local department store. These were boutique strollers! You could pretty much sort out who was local and who was visiting Vancouver. Snobby? Maybe or maybe there is something to these fancy schmancy strollers.

A group of new mothers gathering at the local Yaletown park for their stroller fit boot camp all had high end strollers. There were no inbetweens and they were all fixed up with every accessory that was offered. This is the difference between living in the city with a baby and not. Your stroller becomes an extension of you as you move around the city living your daily life.

I love my Uppa Baby stroller. It isn't your celebrity Bugaboo but it rocks. It was our first big purchase before we had Ben. It was like the token merchandise that told us 'a baby was coming'! The Uppa Baby comes with the bassinet and the next seat too. I already had visions of me pushing around the bassinet stroller and sipping lattes around the Vancouver seawall. My sweet quite baby all snuggled up in inside. Little did I know that my baby actually would despise being put down into any type of stroller and would let you know it. He much preferred being carried, held or slinged. However, my stroller was still put to good use.

We used the bassinet every night in our room. This is where he slept. In the bassinet on a stand next to my bed. Handy for breastfeeding and I was getting my use out of this bassinet! Determination I tell you. The Uppa Baby stroller makes it so easy for a tired mother to quickly maneuver the stroller. Pop the bassinet on and off. Easy! Fold up your stroller. Easy! Time to move to the next seat. Simple! No switching back and forth of fabrics. Easy to clean and keep clean.

I also loved the HUGE under seat basket. Did you know that you can easily fit 16 bottles of wine in this basket? Oodles of shopping bags. Groceries galore. Major photography equipment including a tripod.The main reasons that this stroller sung to us is the basket. It is huge!. I am in love with my stroller. It goes out with us every single day, multiple times a day. My baby snoozes in it now and we walk and walk all around the city. From one side to the next. We have put some serious miles on it.

It is not the celebrity stroller but it is a rock star in our family.

In the wee hours of the night, as my sweet baby Ben lay sleeping and the city came to a quiet lull, I would take the moment to peruse various blogs and see what other people had to say. Sometimes I would just last a moment and look at the topics that were discussed and sometimes I became a blog addict and would look for updates! pictures! give me more!

Usually the blogs I would chose to follow were about motherhood, babies, pregnancy and recently they were about a mama in the US who was pregnant with a baby that was considered 'incompatible with life'. At her routine 20 week ultrasound the baby was diagnosed with a trisomy and anencephaly. This baby may take a breath at birth but was not expected to live and most likely die during labor. This story got to me on a few levels. As a new mama and as a labor and delivery RN.

Of course I imagined myself in this situation. The 'what if's' as a mother to be and of course as the potential RN who was at the delivery of any of these babies. I would let myself think about how I would choose to handle the situation. How would I cope? Would I have strength? What could I give to the family if I was these labor nurse?

I would sit on the couch lounging with my lap top and read what this specific young mother had to say. She was nearing term in her pregnancy and ultimately knowing that her sweet baby girl was being born but there was no 'hello' just 'goodbye'.

My husband would look over at me and question what I was doing. A few little tears prickling in my eyes and I would just pretend I was fine! 'Just looking at my facebook page'. However, in reality I was becoming invested in an on line blog and it was pulling at me. I allowed myself to think about this situation on many levels and questioned myself about how I would handle this situation. What would you do if you were pregnant only to know your baby would die? You would still feel all the kicks and wiggles, all the strains and amazing moments of pregnancy only to know that at anytime your baby will die. These was no happy ending. Just sadness.

Nightly I would check up on little baby 'April Rose'. She was still alive! She was moving! Then the mother was in labor and having a home birth! The baby was born breathing! Now this sweet baby had been alive for over 19 hours! Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were following this story as it unfolded and then it vanished.

The crap part. It is believed to be F-A-K-E. Fake! All those woman bloggers out there started to question details and facts and all of a sudden the blog was shut down. I talked about it with my husband...could this be fake? How do we know? Are we jumping the gun here?

I followed a few blogs that talked about little April Rose and it seems that the conclusion is just this. Little baby April Rose, who was loved and followed by many, is a scam. There is no baby April born at home to a young mother who was waiting for the first and last breath of her newborn. I am trying to wrap my mind around this. Who is this person who invests their time and energy into making up a long long story about being pregnant with a trisomy baby. Retaining the support and wisdom of mothers who have actually travelled this path.

It leads me to think about the anonymous world wide web. How easy is it to pretend to be someone else. To gain attention and support. Of course many people have thoughts on why someone would falsify a sad story about being pregnant with a baby who is expected to die. Money? Attention? Whatever the case it is sad. There is no happy conclusion or end to the April Rose story and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Before I became a mother I was a downtown girl married to a downtown guy. We frequented hip new restaurants and downed cocktails with our friends. I slept in late on days off and loved my moments wandering around downtown Vancouver. Grabbing a carefree coffee with a girlfriend. Oh the life! It was wonderful. We lovingly referred to ourselves as a bunch of DINKS* and rolled our eyes at parents who always showed up late.

After a couple years of wedded bliss we thought it was in order to try for a baby. Friends were getting pregnant all over the place. Babies were being born and celebrated. It was our turn! First came a pregnancy loss # 1 at 12 weeks and then pregnancy loss # 2 followed down the road. The second loss got me into googling all the reasons why I obviously had a medical issue and would never be able to carry a healthy baby to term. It got to the point that my computer savvy husband was just about to block all blogs, websites and articles from my computer that dealt with this exact topic. I have a known tendency to not think logically and be consumed with worry.

We decided to get healthy and travel instead of working on a baby. We had plans to travel through Europe. Eating and drinking our merry way through France, Italy, England and Amsterdam. It sounded like the ultimate distraction and holiday. Who needs a baby anyways! I would have vino and Tuscan meatballs!!

Then came our surprise accident. After I spent an evening at a girlfriends 'ladies only party' and did some friendly purchasing (you know to support her and all) I went home to my husband and surprised him with the goods I purchased. Nothing too crazy y'all! A few weeks after this I started to think something was up in the pregnancy department.

Since I had been let down twice before I decided to play it safe and use DENIAL as my coping mechanism. I denied my way though most of the first trimester. Never once peed on a stick or told anyone that there might pregnancy #3 happening. I decided to just eat healthy, take my prenatal vitamins and wait in denial. Around the end of the 12th week of this potential pregnancy I used an at home doppler to 'try' and see if there was a little heart beat to be found. There was. 153 beats per minute of baby goodness. The furthest I had ever been in a pregnancy was this moment and I loved it.

We still travelled Europe that spring. Pregnant and all. It was just slightly different than previously planned. No consumption of delicious Italian vino and extra consumption of Tuscan meatballs on my part. Oh yeah! Baby Ben was born early on a Monday morning in September 2008. He came out crying loudly and never stopped. I will most certainly do a post on fussy babies/high needs babies/colic.

So, we have traded in the fancy fine dining and regular nights out in the city for now. We have become a different type of family. A family of 3 that includes one member who cries loudly and demands cheerios.

(* DINKS= Double Income No Kids)

I have joined the world of blogging. Here you will learn about all the cool fun adventures a city baby and Mum get up to.

A little story to get us all going. I live in a high condo with my husband and chubby baby who is 9 months old. We have a dog and enjoy spending family time together. Baby Benjamin and I get out and about every day. The benefit to living in a city with your baby is that every day you can have some out and about excitement that does not include packing up a car. The stroller is always out and ready for our next adventure. Lucky baby! This baby also has a bedroom with a waterfront view. He doesn't know how nice that is just yet but I will remind him enough!