July 29, 2008, 9:57 PM
Amanda had been gone for just over a week and I think I am officially in withdrawal! This may seem excessive, but we usually talk (either in person or on the phone) on average about 5 times a day. It is to the point that my husband does not even answer the phone anymore and just says "It's Amanda." every time it rings. I miss my 'other' kids too. I am sure Amber is going to come back from holidays with a full head of hair and be crawling all over the place. And I hope I am still "my Tasha" to Caius when he gets back--I might have to win his love again with more of my chocolate chip cookies. Only 24 more days till my peeps are home again!!On our home front it has been an exciting few weeks. Calis officially started walking just over 2 weeks ago and, oh my god, has not stopped!! I swear he did laps in the house for almost 3 hours the other day. The funniest was when we were out for dinner a few days ago and he kept going round and round in little circles for no apparent reason in the middle of the restaurant. I am not a fan of 'leashing' children, but if this is just the beginning of his mobility, then I can start to see the merit of these devices!
I have also recently become somewhat of a diaper hyena. I am always on the look out for new diapers (for the site and for ourselves) and having discovered Hyenacart has opened me up to a whole new world!! I don't know if there is such a thing as the perfect diaper, but if it is out there then I am going to find it for us all!!
FYI--I am 30 weeks pregnant this week! I have my days where I just want to stay in bed all day, but other than that I am feeling pretty good and judging by all the movement and kicking going on baby is doing just fine and is not tired at all!
That's it for now--my laptop is about to run out of battery....
Natasha~
July 26, 2008, 8:32pm EST
For anyone who is thinking about driving across the country (or taking a significantly long road trip), I totally recommend it!! There were times where sure, I wanted to throw myself out of the car just to escape for a few minutes, but for the most part, it was really great!
We left Edmonton on the 18th and drove to Saskatoon where we stayed the night. We had overestimated where we could get to each day - realistically with 2 kids 2 & under, 12 hours of driving a day wasn't practical for us. We averaged about 8 hours of actual driving, and 10-11 hours of being en route. We would drive until about 11:30 each morning (sometimes a bit later) and eat lunch for an hour or so, giving Caius time to run and Amber time to rock on all fours. We would then take a shorter afternoon break, and end around 6-7pm each night. We ALWAYS went to a hotel that had a pool. This was an absolute must. We would all go for a swim and wind down after the day in the car and we will do the same on the way back.
We got to Guelph on the 22nd (instead of the 21st) and really enjoyed our stay there with friends. The 23rd was spent driving to Montreal. (In a vicious rain storm I might add). Speaking of weather, we narrowly missed an insane hail storm with golf ball sized ice falling from the sky. The folks in Bismark, ND told us it wasn't "too bad" and they "only got a few dents in the truck this time" which blew my mind. Definitely not used to that!!
Spending 4 days in a hotel with 2 kids mind you is a totally different story. Caius is a fairly demanding child (he plays on his own for long periods of time but in between that, he can be a bit suffocating sometimes) and as such, has been tough to deal with in the room while trying to get Amber to nap. We've visited many friends while here which has been just wonderful (many of them I hadn't seen in 4 years!) but I am glad to be moving on.
We'll be at the lake starting on Tuesday for the remainder of our time here except for weekends which we'll spend in the city. We're looking forward to the water, the cottage/cabin, the nature, and having a bit of our own space too.
Amanda
July 17, 2008, 9:18pm
I am stressed out. We leave for our 5 week vacation in less than 15 hours and there is so much left to be done! Traveling with kids is a LOT of work whether you're going for a weekend, a week or a month. It seems that it doesn't matter how long you're going for; you still need the same amount of stuff.
Last year we took a fairly substantial road trip down to Boulder, Colorado with Caius when he was 16 months. We had a super fun time and really are happy that we took the plunge and drove the 20 hours there (and back). Lots of people told us we were crazy, but finances limited us, and we had a desire to see the countryside that we'd never seen before.
This year our trek nearly doubles as we travel across the upper states to Ottawa. We are going to have a bit more leeway on the way there than we do on the way back, and despite the stress I feel now as we get ready to leave, I'm excited at the propect of seeing places I've never seen before.
Hopefully this trip goes well as our next road trip is in October to California!
We've got all the clothes, the diapers, the potties, the toys, the music, the videos, the books, the blankets and loveys and pillows.. and that's just for the kids!
I'll blog along the way and hopefull when we arrive in Montreal I'll post the pictures from our super fabulous dye day with lots of beautiful results!
Amanda
July 8, 2008, 10:22pm
So last week I had some slight asthma issues after getting a cold. After getting some breathing help, I was given some steroids to keep the inflamation in my lungs down. Well, these steroids, they not only give me insomnia, but they also make me a touch.. hyper. I talk a mile a minute, and I was literally vibrating today!
I decided that I should turn my hyperativity into productivity today and went on a treasure hunt for dyes. I'd heard that dylon dyes were some of the best, and I finally found them at Fabricland!
I sat down with some diapers and shirts I've been wanting to dye and I had SO MUCH FUN!!! It was an absolute blast and they turned out amazingly well!
Here are my finished results:
Yellow (2), Pink (2), Light Pink (using leftover dye from bright pink), Turquoise (1), Orange (1), and a Turquoise and Orange using the LWI method.
Close up:
Caius' CBC shirt using the LWI method (it had stains on it and now it sure doesn't)! , Amber's Natural Urban Mamas shirt tie-dyed in leftover turquoise, a tank top of Amber's tie-dyed in leftover orange.
The backs of all the shirts. I love love LOVE the LWI!!
Feel free to ask me any questions about dyes - I'll try to answer if I can!
Amanda
July 5, 2008, 7:05am
I really hate mornings. I think I've mentioned it before. I think I would enjoy them more IF I slept but alas, a certain 8 month old, very cute little girl, did not have sleep in mind last night. Instead, she decided that it would be best to cry out every 30-45 minutes all night. Sometimes the soother worked, sometimes it required more in the form of mama milk. All I know is, there wasn't much sleep happening.
I'm recovering from a nasty cold (aren't summer colds so much worse than winter ones???) and it now seems as though my husband has caught it - NOT what we need! Arthur is working on a presentation and a poster for a conference we're going off to in Montreal. Yay for Montreal! We haven't been in 4 years since we left the city so I'm excited to return and see many friends.
Natasha and I both have a problem right now - we're suffering from diaper-addiction. We both love cloth diapering, and just as much, we both love cute diapers. We are searching high and low for a diaper to add to our store and as a result, we are finding some SERIOUSLY adorable diapers!!! If you have a diaper you can't live without, please please let us know!
Off to do more searching - hope everyone had a wonderful Canada Day (or Independence Day!)
Amanda
June 26, 2008 9:13pm
So here's a secret. I love being on television. I love being interviewed, being in the paper, and just the media in general. The funny part of this is that I never watch the media. It gives me anxiety attacks to hear too much about what goes on in the world so I avoid it (one of the best pieces of advice my therapist gave me!).
We've been in tv twice in a week. Huge thanks to Wendy and Marla at Breakfast Television, and to Lorraine at Global (and Schoena for putting today's all together!).
I'm babysitting my neighbour's kids right now without my kids. It's odd because it feels like a break. I'm working, writing, and oddly enough, I'm relaxing. It's a wonderful end to my absolutely horredous day which started with me not being able to find my keys (as it turns out, they had been left outside on the bbq), our car breaking down in the middle of the Yellowhead (the highway that runs north of the city of Edmonton) with Arthur and Caius in it, not getting any sleep last night, and being a stress ball until I walked into the home of my amazing accupuncturist, Rebecca. That woman has this amazing presence that can calm me within seconds. The treatment was amazing, and I felt spellbound afterwards. I feel like I'm back in order. Arthur commented that today I looked like I was lighter than I have been lately.
I've had a tough week emotionally. I'm still not entirely sure why, but I think today's treatment really helped take some of the weight off of my shoulders.
And finally, if you want to try to win some free baby carriers, check it out!
http://www.alongfortheride.biz/contest-s/49.htm
Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)
Have a great night!
Amanda
June 14, 2008, 10:12pm
Sometimes I'm not entirely sure where time goes. I swear a minute ago it was 7pm and we were playing outside. Now, the kids are in bed, my husband and I are sitting side by side each on a laptop, and we're gearing up for a trip to the mountains. Really, we should be packing, but instead, we're both working, trying to get last minute things done before we head out to the world of relaxation.
We've been in Alberta almost 4 years now (one more week and it will be the 4 year mark) and no matter how many times we go to the mountains, I don't tire of the awe inspiring views. Our trips don't differ much from before we had kids - we still go animal watching, hiking and are in bed pretty early! I sleep so much better in the mountains - whether it's the air or the fact that I can't sit on my computer or the phone for hours a day - I just love it.
Hopefully my kids will sleep well in the mountains too. Caius is getting molars, and Amber cut her first 2 teeth this week. It's really not a fun house right now, that's for sure. Thankfully, we have amber teething necklaces which are making life slightly more bearable.
Have a lovely week and check us out on Thursday (June 19) at 8:10am on Breakfast Television here in Edmonton!
June 2, 2008 8:03pm
All is quiet in our household for a spell. Both the wee tykes are in bed.. for how long is a WHOLE other post, but for now, they're asleep. I love this little bit of free time in the venings that I have. Of course, most of the time I'm catching up on phone calls, work and emails but still!
Our first park day was a gigantic success! Thank you so much to all of the mommies and kidlets who came out to join us! We can't wait for the other four park days! (Our next one is at Lion's Park in St Albert at 1pm on June 19)
Here are some pictures to show all the fun we had (despite the fact that it started out cold and cloudy, it turned out to be beautiful!!)
Amber cheering on Calis:
Calis:
Caius having a fun time:
Heather & Hazel:
Noah really liked the watermelon we brought!
Luc with his backwards-zip sweater:
A little group shot (sorry we didn't get all the mommies in here! We did get the one daddy in attendance though!)
May 20, 2008 1:28pm
I love my job, I really do. I love working with a great partner, having the flexibility to stay home, and just having a fun time every day. Like today. Today Kristy from 24 Hours, a local Edmonton newspaper that comes out Monday to Friday, came out to Natasha's to interview us. We had a great time with her (even at such an early hour - wow!) and just love being able to offer words of advice.
I also love being able to have time with my kids. Sure, packing everyone up in the car to go and do deliveries can be a challenge at times, but meeting our customers and people who visit our site is awesome! The other day I met Michelle and Joelle in Spruce Grove and we chatted for such a long time! It was so much fun and I really enjoyed our talk!
If you want to meet more moms in Edmonton, come out to one of our Park days! Our first one is May 30 at 10:30am at Laurier Heights Park. We'll do some product demos, but mostly we'll be there to introduce new moms to each other, let our kids play, and make some new friends. Support circles are so important when you're a parent!
For those of you in Ottawa - stay tuned to a similar date sometime in early August!
For those of you elsewhere in Canada, plan a local Park Day for moms in your area too! Let us know when and where, and we'll post it on our events site.
Hope everyone is having a great week!
Amanda
May 11, 2008 8:35pm
Does Happiness Always Follow Sadness?
Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms we know! Mothers are an amazing group - we laugh, cry, vent and love together. We take care of each other's children when we need to. We share each other's pain. We teach each other's children whether we mean to or not. Our children are shaped not only by ourselves, but by the mothers that we spend the most time with.
To all of the mothers that have helped me on my journey to date, I thank you. Without you, I don't know that my children would be as they are today.
I had a wonderful mother's day amidst a week of sadness. One of our amazing suppliers - Hot Mama Jen (creator of Hot Mama Wraps, Hot Mama Pads, Hot Mama Nursing Pads and waterproof pads) lost her son Samuel after a 4 year battle with cancer. We have read her updates as often as we can and we cried with her as we read the final moments of Samuel's life. To Jen: We think of you often and know Samuel is watching over you and your family.
Happy Mother's Day to everyone - near and far!
Amanda
May 4, 2008 8:51pm
Happy to be Green
Natasha and I are both trying to be more "green" - the cliche word of 2008 to date. Every magazine that comes out has ways for families to go green; all the media coverage is about making a greener world. The worst part about this? We should already know it! We've known that the whole ozone layer thinning thing has been a problem for years and yet only now are people realizing that going "convenient" has we're messing up our environment now. So what can we do? Well, we can start with some basic, easy changes.
Right now, BPA-free is all over the news. We're proud to tell you that our glass bottles are of course, BPA-free (there's no BPA in glass!), and we have stainless steel water bottles on the way. These are just 2 products that we're bringing in to help our world. We suggest that you not only change what your child is drinking from, but what you are drinking from too. Ditch those old scratched hard plastic water bottles and opt for a safer bottle; don't re-use one-time-use plastic bottles (like the ones that bottled water comes in) - recycle them and re-use your metal bottle. There are little things we can all do to make a difference.
Natasha and I are research-a-holics. We research all of the products that we bring you and aim to bring you the best. If there's something we're missing that you feel would benefit families, please let us know. We're all ears (and still looking for ways to better our own homes).
We are also going to be bringing Norwex (www.norwex.ca for more) to you via Lindsay (clean.green@shaw.ca), our resident Norwex consultant. It's an easy way for you to stop using chemicals in your home and start cleaning with just water again!
Speaking of happy to be green, I want to tell you about one of our new favourite lines: Happy Green Bee!! These clothes are to die for cute and on their tag, it says Don't panic, it's organic which I just think is such a great tag line! Both Amber and Calis have already been sporting the newest line as you can see from below.
I'm also adding a picture of Natasha and I with Calis and Amber on our backs at the local farmer's market (which opened today!). They're wonderfully designed with great patterns. Check them out under our Babywearing section!
That's it for now - hope you had a great weekend!
Amanda
April 24, 2008 10:21 AM
Cold and Snow
Amanda may not be a morning person (and really, who is?), but I am most definitely not a cold loving person. So, needless to say, the prospect of spending 6 hours in the -10 (-20 with windchill) weather last Sunday at Edmonton's Earth Day celebration, was not something I was looking forward to. Even that morning on our way down to Hawrelak Park, Amanda and I were trying to keep each other's spirits up. Layers were the theme of the day-- long underwear, pants, snow pants, fleece, parka, toque, mitts--let's just say it was a good thing that I did not get too far into my spring cleaning to have put away all our winter gear.
It actually ended up being a not so bad day. All of the activities and entertainment were moved into a big tent--which someone had the foresight to put up before the snow started to fall. We ended up getting some decent press--a nice little photo and write up in 24 Hours and a quick spot on CTV news, and met some die-hard Earth Day friends. Amanda and I also had our own little heater with us that day....little Miss Amber of course, all bundled up in her Llamajama woolies and multiple layers underneath. Then wrapped on Amanda for the first few hours and me for the next few in her fabulous Hot Mama Wrap--which, by the way is my favourite wrap EVER, and all of us covered with our very warm and cozy fleece babywearing ponchos.
I also have to give a shout out to all the great live entertainment that was there on Sunday. I could not imagine playing a guitar or any instrument that day without gloves, yet they all did just that. One of our favs of the day was the band Mamaguroove, who kept the place rockin' and dancing for the last hour or so, which of course kept us nice and warm. We are looking forward to next year's Earth Day Celebration, when hopefully Mother Nature will be kinder to us. Pretty please...
April 23, 2008 7:22am
Night Terrors
Caius has had some pretty brutal night terrors and I thought I'd write about it. We actually had no idea what they were until I mentioned them a couple of months ago to a friend of mine. Her daughter had had them and she suggested they might be night terrors. So, on to the internet to investigate! They were night terrors and man, that made them easier to deal with! Caius would wake up either screaming or hysterically crying. Arthur would go in and inadvertently wake him up (kids are still asleep when they're happening). That would lead to a lot MORE crying and Caius being awake for a while.
One of the suggestions we found online was to rouse the child before you go to bed. The child gets into a deep sleep and a night terror will typically happen in the earlier part of the night (it was happening about 30-60 minutes after we went to bed leading to very tired parents!) as they go into a deeper sleep. They also said not to wake the child which Arthur was more careful about.
So the rousing began. The first night, there was no terror. This had been after 22 straight nights of night terrors. We thought it must be a fluke. The second night, no terror. Since we started this evening routine, he has had 2 night terrors. The first, we thought that since he had gone to bed later that there was no point in rousing him (boy were we wrong!), and the second time, Arthur hadn't roused him enough.
So we are a new family now without night terrors! Yahoo!
Earth Day
I have one word for earth day's festival we attended: C-C-C-C-C-Cold!!! Holy crow! You'd think that April 20 would bring nicer weather than -10 and a 4 day blizzard but no. What is up with Mother Nature?
Anyway, I'll let Natasha write all about it, but I wanted to include some pictures.
April 22, 2008 9:56 pm
Happy Earth Day everyone!! I hope that it was a wonderful day of remembering to be friendly to our Earth - today and every day!
So much to say, so little space!
Fabulous Soakers!!
I'm so excited to share with you my success story with our Llamajama soakers. Amber is a super heavy wetter and she leaked out of everything at night! It didn't matter when she woke up, she was wet. We switched her to disposables at night to get some extra leak-protection which was working.
Anyway, I tried the llamajama soaker and she hasn't leaked since! She wears cloth diapers again every night and her rainbow soaker overtop and it's been a dry-go of things since!
More on Night Terrors and Earth Day tomorrow - Amber has awoken!
I'm adding a picture of Katrina and Micah in one of our Hot Mama Wraps!
Amanda
April 13, 2008 6:18am
I am not a morning person. I love to sleep, and hate to see the clock starting with anything less than an 8. When Amber was first here she would sleep until 8 or 9. Now, I've been up since 5:30 this morning with her, and I think I hear the stirrings of Caius. Oh the joys of motherhood! (And fatherhood too since my husband gets up with the kids at least 4 mornings a week!)
We were at the 10 Crazy Chick' tradeshow yesterday and had a blast! We both had a ton of fun showing off our products and talking to moms and moms to be. We did a whole lot of babywearing demos and educated people on the benfits of reusable products. It was awesome!
The next thing we'll be at is Earth Day! We're both really looking forward to this day as it's going to be outdoors, and we know we're going to meet some really wonderful parents! Come out and see us if you're in the Edmonton area! All of the info is under the EVENTS section to your left.
And now for some more stories.. Caius' infatuation with Natasha continues. He now calls her "My Tasha" and nearly lunged out of Arthur's arms at her last week to give her a hug. The other day, we went over to Natasha's for a playdate. Natasha came out to help us get all of our gear into her house. She turned around to go back in, and Caius stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, started crying and yelling "Tasssshhhaaaaa!" as he thought she was leaving. We reassured him that we were actually going to see his Tasha and then he was fine.
Caius and Calis (Natasha's 16 month old) played so well together! Caius was making Calis laugh over and over. Calis laughed so hard that he actually snorted!!! It was great to see them playing and having a great time at such a young age.
That's all for now! I wanted to leave you with a great picture of baby Luc playing with his Tool Set from Yellow Label Kids - he's a big fan!!
Amanda
April 5, 2008 9:16pm
Welcome to our blog! Natasha and I will add to this whenever we feel like typing. Our aim is to tell you about new stuff, talk about parenting, pregnancy, and anything else that might be on our minds!
My two year old Caius in the last week has gone from saying a lot of words to repeating like a mad-man (including repeating the word "crap" after I said i) and speaking in phrases and sentences. My favourite moments have been the following:
Caius is a bad sleeper. I went in to his room around 9:30 after my husband Arthur had given up and the first thing Caius said to me is "Hi! What daddy doing?" I proceeded to explain that daddy was watching tv (which he repeated) and we went back and forth on that for a few minutes.
Caius then thought that if daddy was watching tv, he must be watching a movie. I explained that no, he wasn't watching a movie, just tv. Caius was confused by this until all of a sudden, he had a lightbulb moment and stated matter-of-factly "ohhh! Daddy watching Thomas"! Of course if daddy was watching tv, he MUST be watching Thomas the train. I burst into laughter.
Caius is also rather enthralled with Natasha. The other day she came in and he called her "my Tasha". He lunges at her when she comes in for hugs, and once, he even required phoning her before he went off to his dayhome for the day. His first love perhaps?
On another note, Amber rolled over for the first time from back to front the other day - I was rather excited!
And finally, a request: Send us pictures of your kids wearing Natural Urban Mamas products! We'd love to post them up and show the world how adorable your kids are!
Till next time,
Amanda