Nursery {updated 'to do'}

{this is a bit of a glimpse into my head as I plan MM's little room}

• make curtains - DONE
  
• buy curtain rod - DONE
• make empty frame wall art like this - DONE
  *buy empty frames, ribbon, and white spray paint - Dollarama - DONE
  
• buy baskets for toys/things - DONE
• buy shelf to display MM's fun things - Winners - DONE
• buy white lanterns to hang above her crib - Dollarama - DONE
  
• buy paint (cool beige, ideally) - Home Depot - DONE
  
• move everything from the office (nursery) into the living room,
  rearrange, and make clean again - DONE
• hang fabric hoops wall art - DONE
• paint walls, trim, ceiling (find friends to help!!) -DONE
• buy laundry hamper - IKEA
• buy rug - Canadian Tire
• find dresser on Craigslist/buy one - IKEA?
  
• assemble crib, make up w/ bedding
  
• put up curtain rod, hang curtains
  
• hang lanterns above crib
  

CLOTH DIAPERS!!!

I'm so excited, I feel like the baby's actually coming the more prepared I become {as if she would wait for me to get it together?!}

We're still lacking a baby's room but everything else is in place, including as of yesterday, her cloth diapers! We decided it would probably be suicide to start cloth diapering from day one - you know in those weeks/month + when babies poop every 30 seconds? SO we're going with disposables for the first month+ and switching to cloth shortly after that - but we HAVE them, and that's what makes me feel less like the crazed, irresponsible mom who forgot to book prenatal classes, and more like, well a MOM.

I was going with the AppleCheeks system for several reasons including but not limited to:

• They're a Montreal company
• They're less bulky and probably the cutest one's I've seen
• They have rave reviews

However last night I had a slight change in plans when I was at the Bummis 15% off everything in our store (plus 80% off other things!!) sale on the Plateau with my girlfriend Amy. Bummis doesn't carry Applecheeks for starters, but the main deal was they carry another product called Easy Fits made by Tots Bots (a Scottish company).

The Easy Fits lacked some things AppleCheeks do have:

• not as cute colour selection and a tad more bulky
• not local

But what they lacked they made up for in spades:

• They're one-size fits-all, so with the AppleCheeks I'd have to buy size 1 and size 2 for the baby as she grows, but Easy Fit will last her the.whole.time. YES!
• They're prestuffed {AppleCheeks and most other cloth diapering systems come in 2 parts: an envelope cover/outside shell and the actual absorbent lining which you fold and insert each time, and hence must also remove each time...when it's poopy and urine-soaked... yum!}
• So with the Easy Fit I don't have to ever unstuff a soiled inner-part because it's all attached. **see clip here
• They're cheaper {AppleCheeks were $20 for the outer part and $9 for the inner part, Easy Fits are $23 even, but last night even 15% off of that ;)

Now that I think about it I should have bought way more than I did... It's suggested you have 8-14 diapers {brilliant because the AppleCheeks you would have needed as many for EACH SIZE!} and I only bought 5... I guess I'm holding out because it always chokes me up to spend so much at one time... but looking back that was a bad call since they were 15% off last night and may not ever be again...

Oh well, I'll just think about how much money I'm saving both from switching from the AppleCheeks system, but most of all, from not using disposable :)

COULD IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS?

Healthy baby, head-down position, strong heartbeat, healthy movement, sucking her thumb, perfect glimpse of her adorable face, 5 lbs 6 ounces (approx) and suggested to be born around 7lbs, set for an on-time arrival (ONE MONTH TODAY!!!) or a few days early :)

But YES, it could have been better.
Bradford is still away with work until August 1.
I miss him SO much right now...

MM loves the Gap

I've heard it all before...
"baby clothes are SO expensive!"
"why would you even go IN that store? It's so expensive"

blah blah blah.
All said by folks who don't know how to find a good deal.

Take Gap Kids. Gap for adults usually has decent sale prices, but it seems their kids clothes don't get marked down as often or as drastically.
Until today!

Everything, even sale items were 30% off, so I made a bee line to the sale rack and got THE CUTEST things for MM. Big time cute and big time cheap (but we won't tell her that!)

1. Bathing suit - regular price $22.50, bought for $2.78
2. 2 pairs of leggings/pants for this winter - regular price 2 for $22, bought for $2.78ea
3. cute top - regular price $16.50 bought for $3.48

note the flower-shaped knee pads on the orange pair!!!
They're called "crawlers" so baby's knees are protected,
and I bought for this winter,
in a size up so she'll actually be crawling near that time.
SO CUTE.

wherein I vow to never be like THAT Mom

Obviously I know everything changes when the baby in your belly becomes the baby in your arms. The baby that's able to grow up, misbehave, scream, embarrass you, etc.
MM won't always just be the silent kicks I feel around the clock or the reason for my waddle-walk.
She'll actually BE my daughter, great cause for anticipation and maybe some need for a reality check.

The reason I'm throwing out this disclaimer is that I UNDERSTAND that it won't always be easy, and that moms are some of the hardest working people on the planet and that they're not perfect, and we should all give them a break.
Sometimes. I understand.
BUT. My experience yesterday definitely had be saying that famous sentence than could result in a later eating of my own words:
"I NEVER WANT TO BE LIKE THAT MOM"

The scene of the crime was on the Toronto-Montreal Via Rail last night. Leaving at 6:30pm arriving at Midnight. Why she thought her 3 rambunctious kids under age 5 would be quiet and sleep is beyond me as she brought no books, toys, or blankets for them. Plus let's face it, trains are exciting. My problem isn't that they were awake or not the perfect Ritalin-pumped obedient kids everyone wishes kids always were...
My problem is this:

This mom did NOTHING to stop her 3 kids from literally SCREAMING for most of the train ride. Many passengers were staring at her desperately as if to plead "please, Lady, just maybe a WORD of rebuke? Please?". NOTHING.

Somehow I managed to slip off into a 5 minute nap to be awoken by the boy, at the top of his lungs, screaming "CHOO CHOO!!" (I know, trains are exciting, again, but it was the LEVEL OF VOLUME escaping from this kid and the lack of it from the mom. Infuriating).

So I did it. I was the "bad guy".
I leaned over (yes I was actually sitting directly behind them. Joy.)
and said politely,
"SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, BUT COULD YOU PLEASE ASK YOUR SON
JUST TO BE A BIT MORE QUIET? THANKS [SMILE]"

Passengers all but gave me a standing ovation, but guess what the Mom said to her boy?
"MAX, SOME PEOPLE DON'T LIKE CHILDREN,
SO THEY WANT YOU TO 'SHUT UP'!"

!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it! She was making the train a complete nightmare for everyone around her, giving her kids not an ounce of discipline, spun from respect for others, while she read a book, and then blamed it on the 8-months-pregnant woman who apparently "doesn't like children".

!!!!!!

I was going to clarify that I indeed love children, but just that her kids were all not talking loudly, not yelling, but SCREAMING, and that many of us come 10pm were trying to get some shut eye... but I left it at that.
I didn't need to justify myself.
I just needed to remember that moment, because surely some day in my future my kids will be going crazy in public and I'll want to just escape and let them be someone else's problem for a minute (or 6 hours as the ride was) and the easiest thing to do would be to tone them out, ignore them, and hope they're not bothering anyone...

But the fact is, 50-odd people were bothered, and her kiddos are her responsibility. Her blessing. Her opportunity to teach them love and respect. Her little people to shape. Her kids to pack toys and books for and not to tell them that passengers "hate kids" and want them to "shut up".

Must. Remember. This. Moment.