Category Archives: Life

How much sleep does my baby ACTUALLY need??

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What’s the favourite topic de jour amongst new moms?  SLEEP or rather, lack of it.  We all want to know how long each other’s babies slept for and if there are any “tricks” that we can apply.  What we wouldn’t do to get one night of uninterrupted sleep!!  Whether it’s your first, second or fifth child, we can all use help in the sleep department.  Tracy Braunstein is a kid sleep expert and here she shares with us some information on the sleep needs of children and provides tips as well. Here’s to nights full of Zzzzzzzzzs.image001

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Sleep. It’s a thing you used to get a lot of before you had kids ;) Now it’s seems to be a distant memory.. but here’s the good news, it doesn’t have to be that way!

Babies and children require sleep. Lots of it. It is not a luxury, it is a biological need. When a child is well rested and getting the sleep they need, it allows them to be at their optimal. The best little people they can be. Sleep is to the brain as food is to the body. It causes memory consolidation, enhances organizational skills, planning, multi-tasking and executive functioning. When a child is not getting sufficient rest, they are more irritable, frustrated and tend to get easily angered or upset.iStock_000015093634Small Continue reading →

Five tips for brushing your kids’ teeth

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It seems that along with sleep issues, the other problem that a lot parents of infants and toddlers struggle with is teeth brushing.  Typically, kids hate brushing their teeth.  My son doesn’t mind it, but only because he thinks the fluoride-free toothpaste tastes like candy.  So really, he’s mostly eating (toothpaste), not brushing.  We can obviously use some help in this department!

Dr. Lori Goldenberg is a pediatric dentist practicing in Toronto.   She graduated from University of Toronto and trained at the Hospital for Sick Children.  Here she shares her top 5 pointers for brushing your children’s teeth.

1) Start early: get your kids used to having their teeth brushed as early as possible. It’s going to seem weird at first and you may not feel like you’re doing anything, but keep at it. You are. I started making a point of brushing my teeth in front of my daughter when she was really young and telling her about it so that she might be interested in it when the time came to brushing her teeth. There is also a really fantastic Elmo Song called Brushy Brush Brush (see link below) that I have been playing for her since she was tiny and she is in LOVE with it. The more exposure to things kids get when they are younger, the more interested and accepting of those things they will hopefully be when they are older.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxMrtK-kYnE Continue reading →

DIY Mr. Men “Big” & “Little” sibling shirts

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My friend made my sons awesome matching T-shirts featuring Mr. Big and Mr. Little from the Mr. Men book series (one of our personal favourites).  They are so cute and such a hit that I had to share it with you all.sibling shirts

Here’s the instructions on how do it yourself:

Materials/Tools:
1. T-shirt transfers (light or dark transfers depending on the colour of your shirt)
2. Printer
3. Computer with publishing software
4. Shirts Continue reading →

Paying it forward; one family at a time

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The other day, as I was getting the nursery room ready for my newborn son, I came across some unopened gifts that we received from our loving and generous family and friends.  Since he’s our second child and of the same gender, we didn’t need it all.  It took me only a second to know what I had to do with the stuff.  Instead of re-gifting or exchanging, I decided that I wanted to give it away to a deserving family.  To be honest, this idea was inspired by a fellow blogger who recently blogged about the “ding dong diaper ditch“. But also, lately, I realized how lucky and fortunate my husband and I are.  It was time to pay it forward, and I finally figured out a good way to do it!PayItForward Continue reading →

I guess my son is his own person after all…

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As soon as a child is born,one of the first questions that everyone asks is “who does s/he look like?”

When my oldest son, Kyle, was born, the answer was simple – John (my husband).  We basically made a carbon copy of my husband in miniature form.  However, the resemblance to family members doesn’t stop there. My son’s personality resembles many different people in our family that I’m often questioned if my husband is the true father or not…mini_me Continue reading →

My husband’s inappropriate use of grammar

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I have a confession to make.  I suck at writing.  The thing is, I shouldn’t really be confessing to this since I’m a professional writer now (aka, stay at home mom with a blog).  But, it’s true! My grammar is terrible, my spelling sucks (spell check and I are best friends in case you don’t know), I don’t know the rules of writing, and I definitely don’t know my idioms (yet, I somehow managed to get a decent score on my GMAT’s and do my MBA… so there’s hope for all of us.  I digress…).  That’s why I’ve enlisted the help of my husband to be my editor.  He does a great job, and sometimes, he takes his role very seriously offering input from a guy’s perspective (as if any guys are reading this).  Above all else, he corrects my grammar and my phrases.  I am ESL (English Second Language) after all.

pronounsBut the last couple of years, I’ve started to notice that my husband’s grammar skills have been declining.  Specifically, he uses personal pronouns incorrectly.  Here’s some examples:

“Did WE change the sheets on Kyle’s bed yet?”

“Did WE pack the toothbrush?”

If it’s not clear to you, the appropriate term that should be used is “You” as in, ME (his wife).

While the answer to most of these is sometimes NO, sometimes it’s a YES because I did do whatever he’s asking.  However, I wonder if, when I say YES, does he believe that he did it too?

Either way, it’s endearing, and I love it.  I wouldn’t change it, and I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better editor (and no, my husband didn’t put this last sentence in here as the editor… I promise).

 

Passover, you really need to step it up.

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While we’re raising our children Jewish (I’m Jewish, my husband isn’t), we do sometimes “celebrate” non-Jewish holidays. After-all, one set of grandparents isn’t Jewish and we don’t want to deprive them of what I’m sure was their life-long dream of spoiling their grandkids during the holidays.  So this season, the two competing  holidays that we’re celebrating are Passover & Easter.  However, I have to hand it to the non-Jews, Easter seems to have the upper hand, and here’s why.

Dinner

Easter – nice and quick one course turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Passover – nice long four course meal which includes reading of the Haggada before and after the meal. The reading adds an hour to the meal each way. While the singing is nice, it’s a little hard to keep a toddler entertained, not to mention awake, for a 4+ hour meal.

Food

Passover – no chametz! which means no rice, pasta or bread. The three most favourite food groups of a toddler.  Food consists of mainly eating Matza; or as my son calls it, big cracker.matzah - bread

Easter – chocolate & candy! Need I say more.Easter Eggs Continue reading →