Mama in the City

Just before I turned 30 I entered a cool on line give away from a blog called Koo & Poppet, it was for a sweet handmade bear with personality and I ended up winning. I had had a funny inkling that this bear would be coming to us. I really hadn't won too many things in my life and this totally made my birthday day! Shortly after finding out about the win our special handmade bear arrived to our apartment for a Mr. Ben. Just like the picture it was perfect and fun; his name is Tom Tom and he likes Benjamins and dislikes getting lost.



I have talked about this local shop before and you can read about that here and here. When Ben turned one my older sis gave him a totally lush Koo & Poppet blue velvet pillow with a "B' and a 'bear'. It hangs out in Ben's room and he pretends to sleep against it and loves to pet the bear.

I am a big fan of babywearing and if you have read this blog for the last while this is not news to you. We have multiple Gorgeousbaby slings in our house and Ben pretty much hung out in them for most of his infancy. I have nothing but good things to say about babywearing and about Gorgeousbaby slings.

The thing I really love about this company is that they are local and the business is owned by mom Christina Fast. I am all for supporting local business and businesses that are environmentally and socially responsible -- which Gorgeousbaby is all about! Did you know they send off their extra scraps of fabric so that they can be used for baby quilts for the special care nursery over at Children's Hospital?

Recently Gorgeousbaby had a booth at the Vancouver Baby & Family fair and were selling their fabulous slings. I had a few friends email me to tell me, 'I saw Ben on the packaging for Gorgeousbaby!!!!' It is true, our little babe is featured on their packaging and we are pretty proud of him. It is a photograph that my husband took when Ben was about 4 months old and still cried ALL THE TIME. He was having a peaceful moment of much needed sleep while I wore him in my sling in our last condo in Coal Harbour.

I happen to have a niece who is in love with Disney princesses and everything about them. She loves them so much that come Halloween I am pretty sure the little miss will be hoping to dress up just like one of her favorite princesses. My sister never pushed her daughter towards loving princess everything but the girl did end up gravitating towards the pretty images and the pink and purple colours and fancy outfits.

It is eye candy for the little ones and someone has done a very good job of marketing these princesses to all of our young girls. You can pretty much find any item with a Disney princess on it at the shops. Good job Disney marketing; you have captured the hearts of young girls and the wallets of their parents.

Now, my husband is anti Disney and his main reason is that he grew up in Florida and Disney World was over exposed for him because it was right there in his back yard. Our family will never end up at Disney Land or Disney World, at least not with him coming along.

He found this little picture of the main Disney princesses on one of the social book marking sites that he reads daily. Of course I don't have a problem with little girls enjoying fun and fancy images and make believe but I do have an issue behind the images when you really dissect the whole Disney princesses and the messages behind them.

Of course I would never dress up my daughter as a sexy nurse or intentionally dress her up as Snow White knowing that her 'burgeoning sexuality' is such a threat it could get her murdered. What do YOU think about Disney princesses and the message they give our girls?

Ahh! It is so nice to be home tonight and,as I type this blog post, my husband is cooking dinner (thanks honey!) and I am relaxing on the couch after working all day. I missed my boy Ben and am really looking forward to hanging out with him tomorrow and doing some mum things with him. My baby is turning into a full fledged boy and these pictures show that. His little baby face has changed and I see my husband in him a lot lately.

Today is a wet, grey rainy day in Vancouver. Which is not uncommon for this time of the year but still a little bit disappointing considering the amount of time we stroll outside and head to the park. So, what is an apartment baby suppose to do in order to have a little fun in the day even with the rain is coming down? There is only so much fun to be had cooped up in the apartment all day. I think this afternoon I will put Ben in his swim suit and head to the indoor pool in our condo and get a little wet...inside!



Overall I don't mind the rain and it is something that you get used to when you live here. You have your rain boots and an umbrella and you just accept that the bottom of your pants might get a little damp. However, the fact that it is raining does ultimately lead to less stroller walks out and about in the city and more inside time and careful planning of potential outings. So, even though the rain is coming down outside we still want to venture out of our apartment and have our daily outing.

Tonight I am so fortunate to be keeping dry indoors at the hospital. Who doesn't like to work a night shift on a Friday night? A blip in the staffing schedule has me working tonight and, while there might be some obvious dread, I am trying to make the most out of my 'day off'. So, we will go to the pool and I will be reminiscing about the sun I enjoyed in Maui last month.

Over the last 4 years I have become quite the self proclaimed coffee connoisseur, AKA coffee snob. I used to swill back any old hot brown liquid and call it a day but things have since changed. When we got our first 'fancy' coffee maker as a wedding gift we would make pot after pot of coffee. Quickly my husband and I progressed to grinding our own beans and dabbling in french press coffee. The only thing we don't yet do is roast our own beans at home.

Now we have a daily coffee routine of grinding fresh beans in our burr grinder and using one of our two bodums to enjoy a nice fresh french press coffee. We are picky about what beans we use and have our ratios of fresh grinds to hot water for each of our presses. We like to buy 'The Cup of Excellence' from Caffee Artigiano but it gets really pricey after awhile at$35/lb, I know!.


Lately I have more moments of being in a hurry and don't have the time to put into making a french press and so I have been turning to a new 'go to' instant coffee. Yes, instant coffee. No fresh beans to grind, no blooming of the french press pot. Just instant coffee grinds and some hot water in a mug. It has replaced my $3.50 afternoon latte and the bad coffee that is in our staff room.

I got my husband to try it and he was all over comparing it to a 'real' cup of coffee. I think I remember hearing something like, "no strong under notes like the press but it passes". it is not in the same category as a delicious fresh french press but it is up there. It is better than grabbing a Tim Hortons drip, most restaurant coffee and all other instant coffee.



We have a stash in our pantry and I have a couple in my work bag for those moments where staff room coffee just won't cut it. I think this is a product that welcomes back 'Product Placement Wednesdays' in the perfect fashion. Let me know if you have tried this instant coffee and what you think about it.

Even with all the fun and interesting toys in our apartment there are some simple things that are just more fun. Like drumming on kitchen items with Dad. These pictures were shot by my husband while I was working and Ben was enjoying himself. Ben is a noisy boy and likes to keep busy so we indulge him and let him give it his all on our pots and pans.

Today was the day and I went out to buy my first post nursing bra since stopping breastfeeding about a month ago. I had been loving my Anita nursing bra and raved about it right here but that part of my life has cycled by and the boobs are now all mine again. I've been wearing around my old pre Ben bras and they were almost all collapsing.

I had heard many stories, from sisters and girlfriends, about the scary shrinkage that can occur when you stop nursing. Plus the droop and the sag and the overall number that pregnancy and breastfeeding does to your breasts. So far, a month post nursing, things are looking okay and actually not too scary. Sure they are not like the originals but fairly close! I was curious what kind of size changes would happen and so far nothing major.

Before Ben and pregnancy I measured in at a 34 D and as my pregnancy bloomed I was a 36 E . While I was nursing Ben for the last year I was at a 34 F in the Anita nursing bra. So, today I was curious what the bra specialist at Diane's Lingerie would have to say about things. Turns out that my post breastfeeding and post pregnancy boobs might look a bit different but I walked out wearing a brand new 34 D. Same size as before pregnancy.

So, now it is time to pack away all my larger pregnancy sized bras and my nursing bras and toss out the ill fitting ones that should not be worn. I bought 2 new ones today and I am really digging them so far. In all my talk about boobs and bras I would like to draw attention to the fact that October is breast cancer awareness month. The Canadian Cancer Society talks about it here. Some studies have reported that lactation can help prevent breast cancer too. This website has a good discussion on why this is.

I am sure we all know someone who has been effected by breast cancer. I first heard about breast cancer when I was a little girl and my parents friend was diagnosed in her late 30's. Right now my friend Lesleys mom is fighting inflammatory breast cancer. Do you know someone who has had breast cancer? Give them a shout out in the comment section.

When my sisters and I were growing up and causing our mum to pull out her hair, we used to have a white leather child's harness that was put on us. I think we just had the one among the three girls and I don't remember too much of it other than seeing an old picture or two. I have some really vague memories of my youngest sister toddling around all harnessed up. Safe and sound. Now I am a parent I am totally for using a child safety harness to keep children safe.



I will be that mum using a 'leash' on my child as he insists on walking through the city and not sitting in his stroller. I care too much about his safety to think that I can always hold on to his little toddler hand to keep him safe. It has been great using a stroller for the past year and carrying him in a sling or just holding him while we are out and about the city. However, he is growing up and I have to be smart about things.

The argument I have heard against 'leashing' up your children is, good parents should be available for their child's safety 24/7 and not rely on a leash to keep them safe. Not really that realistic in my opinion and experience. I don't think that every parent of a toddler needs to use a harness system. I do think that parents of high energy children, who will dart off to go and explore, would be very smart to use a harness system. Especially so when you are off travelling or in large busy public spaces.

I use a leash on my dog every single time I take her for a walk. Yes, I am comparing harnessing my child to leashing my dog but probably not the way you think I am. If I am to take good care of my dog I put a leash on her to ensure that she does not dart into the street and get run over by a passing car or run off while I am not looking. I care about my dog and I care about the safety of my almost fully mobile one year old. So, for me, the argument that your child is not an animal and thus should not use a leash is not really a great argument in my books.

I have had a dear friend say to me, "my child is not an animal. I would never put a leash on him". I hope that either my friend has four arms (she doesn't!) or a boy who never will dart off to try and explore things on his own. Maybe this parent won't ever be in a situation that requires the harness but I am pretty sure that Ben will want to jet off on his own and not hold my hand.



When my older sister took her 1.5 year old boy to Disneyland she bought one of those fuzzy back pack child harnesses and he was able to explore his surroundings with a safety line. This is what I believe a leash to be; an extension of your hands, a way for your toddler to feel confident and move around on their own while still connected to someone. Same with my girlfriend who has a very active 2.5 year old who once in awhile likes to get up to no good. He is just curious and busy but this can easily lead to scary situations in a busy public setting. My friend also travelled to Disneyland and instead of having her son run off (cause he just might!) she used a fuzzy dog leash and kept him safe.



A mum on a website asks this question, " My toddler thinks it's fun to run away from me on the street or in crowded places. I don't want to strap him to his buggy, but I'm afraid I'll lose him or he'll get hurt if I don't. How can I teach him to stay close?" Click HERE to read the safety response.

Some websites to check out: Small Planet Kids and The Baby Boutique

Have something to say on this topic? Leave a comment and I will respond back to you! You do not have to agree with my opinion to leave a comment!

Every Christmas my sisters and I do an annual sisters Christmas shopping trip. We get together, feel festive and do a little Christmas shopping and spend time together. We try to make a weekend out of it and swap between sisters coming to Vancouver or sisters heading to Victoria.

We have been doing this for at least 10 years now and have only had one occasion where someone was sick and the trio of sisters . Last year the entire event was planned around a crying baby Ben and my hungry motoring one year old nephew. We made it to an entire ONE shop where we bought matching pajamas and called it a day. I think there was a Starbucks visit somewhere in the middle of that.

Last years Christmas shopping trip was a little different than years before. Being able to do the shopping trip with a fussy 3 month old felt like a big success to me. We forgot the stroller and had to put his bucket car seat into a grocery cart (that I pushed around the mall). He had cried his heart out just before going shopping and slept for awhile during (in the grocery cart!) and cried more until I nursed him in the car before we left.





My youngest sister was over last night and so we started talking about planning a date for the upcoming 2009 sisters shopping get together. That's how we roll! We make fun of people who plan early and than always plan early ourselves. Just talking about the upcoming holiday season got me excited. Thinking about the scents and the colours and the potential baking I might get around too got me feeling premature festivity but I'm okay with that.



Of course I am still digesting thanksgiving dinner but I am already looking forward to upcoming 2009 holiday events. I find that it is the whole 'looking forward' to something that gets me through routine days. Plus, who doesn't love a shopping trip with your sisters?

The other day I found a mass of old baby wash cloths that we used to use for diaper changes and I sighed. How much work were those baby days? So much work! I remember the mass of baby laundry that happened daily and the washer was always whirring.

My boy has been ONE for about a month now and I have to tell you, I am really loving this age. Of course I am partial to the baby days and the tiny baby with the sweet cuddles and the astonishing delight you get just by staring at your bundle. The thing is, the baby days are hard and exhausting and all consuming. There was less sleep, more laundry and just more care needed all around. If you looked rattled or fatigued at anytime you could just say, 'oh I have a baby' and that was that.

I am really digging this whole business of having a 1 year old in the house. A personality really has emerged and taken over. There are giggles and full on belly laughs in place of crying. He can entertain himself with a variety of toys or a wooden spoon and a pot and sometimes a roll of toilet paper is where it's at. Which really means there are more moments to myself and that is a nice thing.

This morning when I got home when I walked through the door from a long night shift, he was full of glee and so happy to see me. It was seriously great! So, right now I will go and we will have some good old playtime on the floor before I will leave to work my last night shift. I will wait for that happy glee and smile when I return in the morning (all tired and feeling run over). Being one is really so much fun!

While I was at work helping a bunch of new mums and their freshly born babies, my own boy was hanging with his Dad at home and at the park. My husband sends me an email each work day titled 'adorable things your son did today'. Today's email went like this:

1. learned that screaming to get my attention and then quieting down and pointing at what he wants is pretty effective

2. figured that cleaning stuff by wiping it with dish rags is pretty fun

3. sang a song in the elevator that went maa ma ma ma ma maaa ma ma ma ma ma ma mama ma ma mamaaa

...and I was sent these two pictures




I also temporarily contracted baby fever this afternoon while working. It was pretty intense but I didn't get a fever and the symptoms passed within a few hours.

Things in our household are going quite well at the moment. There is more sleep for everyone and a bit of a new routine going on with me being back at work. Before I was a mum I worked the exact same type of schedule that I do right now and I was oh so very anal about the 24 hours leading up to my first shift. There was self ordered calm the day before and I would never plan any big activity or stay out past 7 PM. Then before starting the subsequent 2 night shifts I would try to get the most sleep possible and rest, relax and not do much more than that. I would watch a lot of CSI on PVR.

If you know a nurse you might know about this 'pre work ritual', that many of us do. The only sane reason that I have with why we do this is simple; 12+ hour nursing shifts are all consuming and they don't leave you with excess time to do much of anything else during work days. You leave very early, work very hard and come home just in time to have a bath and head to bed. You do this for two days and then you get a beautiful reprieve and have a bit of time off before you do the same thing but at night.

Well, now my life has changed a little bit and it is naturally fuller and I find myself tossing out that old 'pre work ritual' as I try to make more time in the day. So far it is going great and I am really living full. Of course this insight is something you get once you have had to change and I'm not sure if I would have changed had I not been 'forced' to (forced to in a good way obviously!). So, now before my first shift I do as much as possible and before my first night shift I will have play dates and take Ben to music class or just be out and about in the city. Work is secondary now and I want to make all these fun moments with my little boy memorable and special.

Of course I can already hear my own mother telling me to take time for myself..and I do (don't worry mum and dad!). I sleep and will take naps and see my girlfriends. I just spend less time worrying about upcoming long nursing shifts and I spend less time doing this 'prework ritual' that I used to let shape my time thinking that it helped get me organized in some funny way.

Do you have a prework ritual or do you go with the flow?

This past weekend my family of three went out for brunch to one of the restaurants in Yaletown. I noticed many single ladies wearing their best weekend outfits for co-ed group brunches out. The girls all had glossy hair and planned out outfits from head to toe that were all in perfect fall colours.

As I dined on a delicious egg benedict with prawns and avocado a Coach purse caught my eye. This thirty something gal was rocking a new Coach purse. I haven't added to my purse collection in over a year, not including the nice Christmas gift my husband gave me last year. I have a few over time shifts at the hospital ahead of me if I want to consider a luxury item.


The chocolate bag really caught my eye and I ended up looking at other purses and bags that I could fawn over. Even though I am still on a shopping strike for large 'extra' purchases I still enjoy looking!

Dear Readers,

Hello new and old readers of Mama in the City! How are you doing? I have had a bunch of new readers come to this site and thought it might be time for a little refresher and update! If you feel like coming out of the closet and 'delurking' I would LOVE a comment from you. Say hello in the comment section of this post if you feel brave.

I just finished up a busy, tiring and wonderful year off of work and on maternity leave and I am NOW a full time working mum to a one year old feisty boy named Ben. I work as a labor and delivery RN at our city hospital and, besides the usual aches and pains that most work brings, I really dig my job helping women have babies. After a successful year of breastfeeding my baby I like to write and promote breastfeeding and the ease that it can bring to a busy life. So, you will read about breastfeeding here on this blog from time to time.

My husband is a wonderful photographer and about 99% of the images I post are his. He has a photography website HERE and I think he pretty much is awesome at what he does. He is a very hands on Dad and will be parenting Ben while I am at work and working while I am on my days off.

My boy Ben just turned one and he is almost ready to walk. He can stand up on his own and take up to 5 steps with a gleaming smile across his face. He is pretty proud of himself and likes to coo and clap his hands when he notices that you are watching him do his latest trick. He has at least 9 teeth and maybe more as it feels like he is teething all the time. The boy has the hearty appetite of a teenager and know the sign for 'more' only in context to food. He loves all things musical and is generally a happy boy.

Just when you think it sounds like I am bragging about my wonderful life I will let you know one thing. Sleep in our house is still a gong show and it has been that way since Ben was born. We don't believe in all night 'cry it out' marathons in our house and so we suck it up and parent him 24/7 as he needs it. We had our BIGGEST success the other night as he slept from 8 PM to 5:30 AM. In one year this is the longest stretch where we didn't have to parent Ben back to sleep. It used to be a whole lot of baby dancing and slinging as he was a fussy high needs babe who cried and cried and cried. He used to co sleep with me but now Ben sleeps in his crib in his room and requires a little 'shhh' and maybe a pat on his back when he wakes up at night.

Any questions for me leave them in the comment section. Do you have a topic you would like me to write about? Tell me about it in....comment section! You can also contact me through email by clicking on the 'email' button on the top right hand side.

Happy reading!

Sincerely,
Mama in the City

Going back to work full time thing, and being the mum to a young boy, had me wondering how I was going to balance life and live to blog about it but I survived heading back to work and I am feeling pretty good about things right now. I know that I have only survived my first 2 shifts at the hospital but it's a start. And guess what? I am really loving being back into the whole labor, birth and babies area. I am loving it so much that I might have accidentally gushed a little too much over someones newborn babe and I might have shared a few too many details about my own labor with my patients but.... I survived!

My husband has been the parent on duty while I am at work and tomorrow I will be on duty, before I head to my night shift, while he works. It's a whole balance and trade off thing and we are in this together. Somehow this will all work out (I hope!).







While I was working my boy figured out that feeding yourself is so much more fun than someone feeding you. So, Ben gave it a try and loved it. Here he is having his lunch of chicken and carrots made by his Dad. Thankfully my husband has his camera ready to go and can capture all Ben's moments for me to see.