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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Mom Tip // Banana Popsicles

This may be the silliest post I'll ever do. But I decided to post it because it has been such a huge hit in our house.

Last year when Oscar was teething my Mom froze some banana slices. They were the best for his poor teeth. Have you ever had frozen banana? It's AWESOME. They are super cold, but still chewy. So the other day while organizing my baking drawer I found my sticks that I used for my "5 Minute Cake Pops". I decided to make banana Popsicles for Oscar. Sure enough, Oscar goes "bananas" for them. (Sorry, had to say that) He keeps asking for "Banana Popsicles" and thinks they are such a treat. Way healthier than the sugary stuff. :) Seriously - best thing ever. Just a tip for Moms out there. xo

Side note: My friend Steph reminded me to The Bluth family's Banana Stand (Arrested Development).

Ps., I felt ridiculous taking good shots of this. Seriously, here is me cutting a banana, putting it on a stick - so I used my phone. Seemed more appropriate. ;)

weekend via instagram

Happy Thanksgiving. xo

fishies

After staying indoors for the past week to help Oscar kick his little cold, we decided to head out today to burn off some energy. Our destination.... The Toronto Zoo. Favourite exhibit for me is always the water exhibits .... which made me realize how excited I am for the Toronto Aquarium to open up. (Eeeek!) Anyhow, that was today. More fun posts next week, I'm playing catchup in my shop, and trying to get the last pieces of this darn kitchen done!

Ps., The shop had a sale, there is still some things up for grab!

happy friday

I will save you from seeing the 700+ photos that I took at the cottage (yikes) but these photos above were too sweet not to post. Oscar was so excited to wear his bright yellow rain jacket. I hope you have a lovely weekend - see you next week. xo Linds (To see Oscar at the cottage over the years, I've posted some after the jump)

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first shoe shopping experience

Oscar sitting with my Mom, trying on his new shoes

Oscar had a growth spurt and outgrew his shoes overnight. So we had a little outing and went to Olly Shoes. We lucked out and had a REALLY great sales guy who was calm and knew how to approach Oscar. New experiences for toddlers can be met with great delight, or a mega freakout - so I approached this experience with great trepidation (Oscar doesn't really sit still for anyone.) I captured his first shoe shopping experience (and calm moment) with my phone. After picking out his shoes my Mom bought him a treat at Starbucks and a little new toy digger at the toy store to celebrate the milestone. :)

We picked out some Jude See Kai Run shoes. They are the exact same style that he had last year that were given to him by Fulton Sales. I was so impressed at the quality of the shoes I decided to just buy the exact same pair. Easy as pie.

A friend commented that some health professionals don't recommend using hand me down shoes on toddlers. Do you buy new shoes for your or do you buy hand me downs? I've never hesitated using hand me downs (Oscar wore a great pair of running shoes from a friend up until the Spring) but I wondered what other parents did.

happy friday

Have a great weekend from our crazy house to yours. I wanted to thank you for all of the amazing feedback that you left on my last post. I was terribly nervous to hit publish - so I appreciated not only the support but that many readers their own stories of similar realizations. I really recommend reading the comments people left, they are inspiring and heartwarming. xo Lindsay

Aubrey bought these glasses for Oscar at H&M. We now all have matching aviators. ;) Oh, and Oscar got a much needed haircut a few days after this photo was taken.

Monkey See....

I had to share this photo. This photo was snapped on Sunday when we were at the Riverview Park and Zoo in Peteborough. The photo captures Oscar's reaction to seeing a monkey for the very first time. He was SO excited. This little zoo is amazing and best of all - the park is free. Aubrey and I will likely do a day trip back because of how lovely it was. I highly recommend visiting it if you can! xo Linds

vacation mode

Oscar and I are still at my Mom's in vacation mode. As you can see from the pictures above we're having a blast (and I kind of don't want to move home) What we've been up to: Snuggling + lots of self portraits. Swimming. Exploring the Toronto Parks & ravines, and eating lots of watermelon. :) Things over at our house with the kitchen reno are progressing at a nice pace. We had the counter measured for on Friday, and we expect it to be installed in a week and a half. More pictures soon. xo Linds

Happy Birthday, Oscar

Two years ago, I became a Mom - today is Oscar's second birthday. Although there are a lot of memories and emotions that could be documented, one of my favourite memories was seeing Aubrey with Oscar minutes after his birth.

A few days before Oscar's arrival Aubrey had casually said in passing that he had never changed a diaper. Perhaps he was nervous, or just commenting that he'd have to learn. But minutes after his birth I watched Aubrey from across the room putting a diaper on our little boy. I knew right there that we'd just figure it out. And since that moment Aub and I have been figuring things out together. So today I will be celebrating my sweet little boy that made Aubrey and I parents. xo Linds

a little moment

Just a sweet, quiet moment in our house one morning. Oscar took my phone off the table in the hall - He often does this and I don't mind. He plays with apps, deletes apps, makes phone calls and does weird texts. On the topic of the phone - I feel like I have that phone on me all the time. Although I removed work e-mails from going to my phone I find myself reading twitter, checking my personal e-mail, all when I could be sitting and enjoying the little moments. Over the past month I've felt overwhelmed with information and to-do lists that I sometimes look at my buzzing phone and think that I have a love-hate relationship with it. Is it possible to go back a few steps and disconnect a bit after having a taste of being connected? ;-) I'm sure it is. Anyhow, have a nice weekend. xo Lindsay

Playhouse

Oscar's (early) 2nd Birthday gift is now in place in a little magical corner of our garden. With Oscar showing great interest in playing house the past few months with blankets and forts we thought that it would be a perfect gift for his birthday - something that was just his. My Mom and I searched websites for a few months, we saw some building plans - and although they looked super cute and building it from scratch would be lovely - the price of wood would have likely made it a non-economical choice for us, and secondly - we just didn't have the time to start building one from scratch. My Mom and I and finally found this one online at Costco.ca. for $399.99 with free delivery.

I liked the features that the body is wood, and it blends in nicely with our backyard decor. We wanted something that was imaginative for him, but would fit in nicely with our garden. I don't think that once you have kids, you have to throw your love of design out the window. This one I felt was perfect, as it is tucked into a little corner of the garden - under the trees which makes it really like a house in the woods. Check out Oscar having a ball in the house. These photos are from when we led him outdoors to see his house for the first time.

If you're interested in playhouses and why we liked this one click on read more to see some of the features we like. Tons of photos, so I try to do the "read more" when something is pretty "photo heavy".

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Almost 2....

Oscar is almost 2. Two months away from turning two. Oh my. Within the last month I've seen a lot of changes. He's putting two words together. "Silly Mommy." "No Mommy." He's counting to 10, and can spell his name (which is hilarious, I must take a video). He knows his colours, and his favourite animal is still a turtle. He's also expressing himself a lot through screaming - which I've been told by other Moms, is quite normal. It must frustrating for him to not be able to properly articulate what is bothering him. Although we have tactics on how to deal with the outbursts (talking it through & patience) I have to admit, the iphone comes in handy in emergency situations (like above). The picture is just too funny. It was such a cranky moment, and I had to snap his expressive face. Love it.

Ps., On the subject of apps - right now our favourite apps are Interactive Alphabet, Little Fox Music Box, Eric Carle's My Very First App - Oscar loves the memory game and last week actually completed a full game matching animals. (It was crazy) Any ones you can recommend?

sweet new art

Awhile back I wrote a piece on ReFormed Art Cubes after spotting them online. The artist Amanda kindly offered to make me something for our house as a gift. I'm sentimental, and like to keep a lot of things, so I thought that Oscar's "take home" outfit from the hospital would be perfect.

And close up...

Isn't it a beautiful piece? She put his birthday on the piece. It's subtle, and oh-so-perfect. To see the little guy wearing it the day he was born, click on Read More. :)
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oscar

Seriously, how does he know that this would be funny? For a good 10 minutes he squished his face all over the window. I was in tears laughing. He cracks me up.

watching the trucks...

Our morning was spent watching the activity on the front lawn. I was excited for the walkway, Oscar was excited for all of the trucks. I thought the series of photos I snapped for our personal album were too sweet not to show. Look at his hilarious wild curls at the back of his head. (I've given Oscar at least 8 hair cuts already. ;) )

16 months

Oscar is 16 months tomorrow. I am rather shocked when articles make reference to my "toddler". Surely they are mistaken. I can't believe he is a toddler.

He's at the stage where he is asserting his opinion. Like refusing to allow me to put pants on him.(Hence the missing pants above) or deciding half way through our walk that the stroller is not the mode of transportation he wants - so he starts to whip toys out from the stroller and I know that a meltdown will soon follow. I end up carrying him home to avoid nice old lady neighbours commenting that "The pour child is likely hungry*". (Um, no. He is not hungry, he is just super pissed off at me because I won't let him run into the street...But thank you for your help)

But as quick as he is to turn red and throw himself against a couch in protest to something, he is just as quick to run over with a book and snuggle. He wakes up with me up by putting a toy lion in my face and with a little voice says "ROOOOAR". He's loving the vintage Fisher Price toys I've picked up at Value Village and also on Etsy, where I found this awesome Fisher Price train.

I wanted to say that many of you have commented on my Oscar posts sometimes, offering comforting words. You may not know they are comforting, but to know that for example sleep issues are just at our house, makes everything seem "normal".

No Sew Tent

I have had an obsession with teepee's and I really wanted to get one for Oscar. Buying one turned out to be expensive , and the DIY method seemed difficult [I don't own a sewing machine]. So I was kind of bummed we wouldn't have one. A few weeks ago, I happened across this post on the blog "Cakies" where Rubyellen made an A-Frame tent. Although her version was 99% perfect, her version still required sewing. So I modified her idea to be a no sew alternative to a teepee and her A-Frame idea. And this is what I made....

I LOVE it. So it's REALLY easy to do. (And so does Oscar as you can see above.) Before I get into my instructions, if you do decide to tackle this project you should see Rubyellens step by step as it is awesome. So my version of the project is broken in to 3 Parts [1] The Frame [2] The Cover and [3] Bunting Flag.

Read more after the jump

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a quiet moment in the morning...

Oscar, 15 months

The above photos were taken a few mornings ago when I was feeding Oscar cheerios with a big spoon. He grabbed the spoon from my hand, and proceeded to feed himself. I grabbed my camera and snapped the process of him putting the spoon in the bowl and successfully getting cherrios into his mouth. I just let him do it, and watched quietly as he figured it all out. I won't lie - There was a pang of sadness as it was an obvious indication that he's growing up. But that was overshadowed by my excitement that he is learning, and wants to try to do things on his own.

Monte Chair

When I was designing my nursery I came across Monte, a Canadian manufacturer who makes gliders that fit into more modern home decor. It was refreshing to know that there were companies out there that took modern approaches to baby items. Although we didn't get our glider from them we bought our son Oscar this little Cubino chair from them for our TV room. Oscar is already in love (see him pictured above in it)

I fell in love with the the charcoal and green colour combo as it was soft, and soothing and went with the rest of our decor in our house. Monte Cubino Chair $109 + Shipping

August 31st Update: This got blogged about on Style at Home's Blog here too. [Same post]

Family Photos, a home visit....

As I posted about in June, Aubrey and I comissioned Leigh, the owner of Tynan Studios here in Toronto to take some family photos of the three of us. Leigh came over for a second round of photos photographing Oscar in his natural environment.

These photos melt my heart, his sweet ruffled hair, bohemian shirt, and my favourite print from Sarah Jane in the back, and his beautiful Jenny Lind Crib from Dear-Born Baby. After these shots we headed to our garden where the beautiful green of the willow tree gives the backdrop for an amazing photo. I love this one of me tossing Oscar up into the air.

For Oscar, he did a lot better at the second round of photos at our house. If you're doing a family photo session I would kind of encourage you to consider the "home" visit or doing a shoot close to home, and the extra cost for travel expenses for the photographer are probably well worth it. Oscar is a pretty expressive guy, so him being in his "natural" environment resulted in some great photos. I get to go see them all in person at a preview in August, and then we have to pick some and decide where in our house they will go. Anyhow, I just thought you'd love to see these photos. I LOVE them.