Terrible Parenting: Lessons learned

Raising kids, you have to learn as you go. I have no previous experience raising a three year old. It is all new to me. Every phase, every lesson, every food preference is a surprise. It is almost as if Liam is teaching me how to parent at each new stage. I wish I was more prepared, but mostly I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here.

Adeleine at 8 months (corrected)

So, what's new with our little peanut? She's a BIG peanut! Adeleine weighs 18lbs now and I'm loving all the little rolls and squishy cheeks. So much so that we had a photographer come to the house to record her adorableness for posterity

Are you there, Food? It's me, Carrie.

I started really thinking about what I ate and put on my body four years ago when I became pregnant with Liam. Suddenly I was acutely aware that whatever I ate or absorbed not only affected me, but another person, my tiny baby. Not wanting to expose him to unnecessary chemicals, I converted our cleaning products, makeup/hair products and all creams/lotions/potions over to a safer version. There has been no reason to stop this practice since. We are getting along quite well with our 'different' products, organic food and healthy eating habits.  But sometimes, I'm still surprised.

The Thrills of Home Ownership

This is our first house. We used to live in a one bedroom apartment. 670 square feet for 7 and a half years. It suited us just fine until Liam came along and began to roll into the furniture. So we moved closer to our family and bought a lovely house. But as with any house (especially one that is 30 years old) there has been some

What's new

So spring is here! We've got quite a few little projects going on around here.

Boob

This is a post about breastfeeding, so guys, fair warning given.

I have had very different breastfeeding experiences for each child, both were a struggle at first, but then we 'got it' and amazingness followed and it was all worth it.

Adeleine at 5 months (corrected)

So, haven't posted in a couple of weeks because we've been busy getting OUT OF THE BUBBLE!!!! Yippie! Flu season finally ended and our little girl was cleared to have visitors and be a social butterfly. She attended her first few family gatherings and it was

Favourite Natural Products

We are big on natural products. Chemical-free, fragrance-free, non-toxic, biodegradable, phosphate-free, sls-free, these are the buzz words on many of the products that we buy. But we don't buy them just for the cutesy buzz words on the labels. We buy them because

Sleep, or lack thereof

Liam was a good sleeper from 2-6 months old. He would sleep 11 hours straight. Amazing, amazing, amazing sleeper. Adeleine is doing the same now - finding her thumb in the middle of the night and self-soothing back to sleep without a peep - good girl! With Liam I thought getting kids to bed was no big deal, they just sleep. What are people complaining about? Ha! I was so naive.

Adeleine's NICU Story: Part 6

There's more? When does this ride end?

Part 6: Weeks 9-15

The "feeders and growers" room was great, more space, less stress, a more relaxed atmosphere with pumping room that had a comfy couch and chair and could seat up to 4 pumping mommies.  The pumping room was where the mommies would pump (obviously), talk, laugh and cry while sharing their stories about premature or sick babies. Then we'd take a deep breath, open the door and