Finger Food Fun

We started giving Jane finger foods (cheerios and such) when she was around 7 months old... starting with a little toast, over-cooked veggies, cooked fruit (like apples), mushed banana and so on (you get the picture).

Since then, Jane started going through this independence stage about two months ago - not wanting to eat anything from the spoon, unless she's holding the spoon herself... I have numerous food groups on my ceiling because of this.

As a result, I've been focusing a lot of attention on finding a wide variety of finger foods to fill her belly... at first, I will admit, it was challenging. However, with a little help from Wholesome Baby Foods and some common sense, it seems to be working out ok so far.

I thought I'd share a few of my favourite finger foods and by my favourite, I mean Jane's! :) I'm not going to list out the obvious foods, but some things I never thought of initially or that I've found good tricks for - everyone knows how to cut up carrot!

Fruits:

• Blueberries - WARNING: if you do not have a full-body bib, designate blueberry eating clothes as they stain everything. We use frozen wild blueberries which are juicier than fresh, so that makes a difference too. The frozen are sweeter and smaller as sometimes the fresh can be as big as a grape.
• Watermelon - seedless. I cut it up into 1cm x 1cm blocks.
• Avocado - is this a fruit? Again cut up into a little bigger than 1x1cm blocks as avocado is so mushy when it's ripe.
• Pear - Jane loves super ripe Danjou pears. They are super soft and sweet.
• Apples - I'll peel an apple, chop it up and throw it in the microwave for 30 seconds and this makes it soft enough for toothless chewing.

Veggies:

• Sweet potato - I buy fresh sweet potato and the packaged sweet potato fries too - sometimes I'm just too lazy to make my own. I don't bake the packaged ones, I throw a few on a plate and in the microwave for 1 minute and this makes them hot and soft. Cut 'um up and voila, she loves them.
• Frozen sweet peas - I hated peas. YUCK. Then my sis introduced me to President's Choice frozen sweet peas (Canadian only). They come in a white bag in the freezer aisles and they are Jane's absolute favourite snack. I just throw 'um under some hot water to thaw them out.

Proteins and Carbs:

• Tofu - I buy firm tofu from Costco. I chop it up into bite size pieces and toss it in graham cracker crumbs because they are a little sweet or wheat germ... something to give her a little traction so she can pick it up easily. You don't have to warm/cook tofu, it's fine as is. Tofu (and edamame - below) are great alternatives to chicken/beef if you're too lazy too cook - and a lot cheaper too!
• Cheesestrings - quick and easy, avoids having to chop up cheese - I just peel it into four sections and break it apart. She loves cheese.
• Macaroni and Cheese - I over-cook some whole wheat macaroni, toss it with a little butter and some parmesan cheese. Always a hit.
• Beans - I love beans... not like mushy beans or baked beans or anything like that. Just plain beans - in quesadillas, salsas, soups, etc. So I always have leftover from my recipes. I rinse 'um (usually black beans) and Jane loves 'um. They really have very little flavour but are full of protein and fibre.
• Eggs - what I didnt' know about eggs was that once babies reach 9-12 months, you can introduce eggs but eggs YOLKS only (the yellow part for those who are having "one of those days"). It's the egg whites that have the vlutalutenens (I just made up that word) that babies are allergic too. ha ha ha. The best way to avoid egg whites it to hard boil your eggs and pop the yolk out, cut it up and voila, that's all.
• Edamame (a.k.a. soy beans) - both a veggie and a protein, you can usually get them frozen and shelled. They are a good size (a little larger than peas) and with a little salt, I love 'um and so does Jane.

Some other tips that have worked for me is tossing veggies (like sweet potato) in a little brown sugar - it adds a little sweetness and sometimes that's all it takes for them to shovel in the veggies. Also, just make variations (less oil, less sugar, less cheese, less spice) of the same things you're eating - like grilled cheese sammies, quesadillas, chicken dishes, etc. Whenever I'm cooking dinner, I always modify a small portion of what I'm cooking so Jane can eat it as well - this saves me having to cook two separate meals at lunch and dinner.

Through friends and my own research I've found several recipes for muffins and other things (e.g. black bean brownies) that are made with fruit and veggies (as alternatives to butter and eggs). I shared the recipe for the Cauliflower Banana Chip Muffins I made a few weeks ago. This week, I tried out Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins (thanks for sharing Lindsay) and they are just as good (actually better because I put more chocolate chips in them :p).



If you click the link above, you'll get the original recipe, here's what I used instead and they turned out fab:

Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins for Baby and Momma

3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup shredded zucchini (1 large)
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flax. Combine the egg, applesauce, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done. Makes 12 muffins.

I love these and so does Jane - you can't taste the zucchini at all - if you I would have pretended I didn't make them and would definitely not be sharing the recipe! They make a great snack for both of us!

If you haven't discovered cheerios, you are missing out. Most Moms know this "trick" but a 1/2 cup of cheerios can give you an hour of freedom. They are also perfect for keeping kids busy while in their strollers or out on the go. Cheerios are a Moms best friend, I bring them every where.

Ok, that's all I got today - to be honest, I completely forgot about the blog this morning as I was working on my photography assignment! I'm losing it! :p

Winner posted for our Clorox Green Works Giveaway in sidebar! :)

The Lowdown

Is lowdown a word? It's not coming up red on my screen... more importantly, I'm not sure I'm using it correctly as I'm about to give an update on what's going on in my house. I think that's "the lowdown" or is it the "downlow"? Hmmm, downlow comes up red and sounds gangsta. I'll stick with lowdown. FYI... the above paragraph basically summarize the thoughts that go on in my head every minute of the day. I question everything I say and do these days because my MOmMy bRaIn does not seem to be clearing up. Although, from job interview experience, it does seem to be temporarily disguised at least for short intervals. :p

Here goes...

I'm still jobless. Am I stressed about it? Heck yeah. I haven't been applying for jobs all over the place but, fact is, that's because there aren't that may jobs to apply for! (If the following sounds arrogant, I apologize, I don't mean it to sound that way - you know me). I'm pretty confident in myself. I am also pretty confident that I can be great at whatever I do and I can pretty much learn to do anything. I'm smart, I'm ambitious, I'm a go-getter, I'm creative, I'm a great communicator... Obviously I have some "weaknesses" (chocolate for one :p) but so far my biggest challenge in finding a job seems to be that I'm either over-qualified or under-qualified for every job that is out there and there are so many people looking for jobs right now that employers don't have to take a chance on someone who's not the perfect fit... cause they can probably find someone else who is perfect. I've yet to find the perfect job. I've found jobs I would love to do and am confident I could do well, however, my resume doesn't "say" that I have the skills to do the job, even though I feel I do. As if job hunting wasn't complicated enough, add in my beautiful 10 month old. If and when I get interviews, I have to find someone to take care of Jane which is made difficult by the fact that we don't have a lot of options (thankfully friends have been able to step up so far). Aside from the immediate issues of babysitting, Jane was registered for daycare in May... daycare definitely puts time pressure on as if it wasn't already on anyways. Thankfully, I've been able to push our daycare back until June but now I worry what will happen if I get a job mid-May! This is why it's ideal NOT to lose your job while pregnant or on maternity leave... most people don't have to worry about this stuff. They have a set "return to work" date and can coordinate accordingly. I hate that I'm sounding like a whiner right now because I know, compared to a lot of others, I am very lucky. We are not in a life-or-death situation, not financially in ruins, etc. I know I am very lucky.

Janers is doing fabulously. She is such a happy child, always laughing, always smiling. We took a chance and went out to dinner last night (for the first time in months) and she was awesome. Last time we took her out, she was too small for the highchair so we had to take turns holding her and walking around - not your ideal enjoyable dinner situation. This time I pre-packed every one of her favourite finger foods, put her in the high chair and she was as happy as a lark. She had everyone in the restaurant wrapped around her finger... was so nice to get out and now I'm confident about doing it again, whereas after our previous experience, I was avoiding it like the plague.

She's been pulling herself up on everything for the last four weeks or so. Always wanting to stand and getting a lot sturdier on her legs which is just so cute. My favourite thing right now is that, when we're playing together on the floor, every once in a while she'll scurry over to me (I'm lying down), stand up against me and snuggle into me. It's like the happiest moment of my life every time she does it! To those Moms out there with young babes, it's hard not getting any affection back when you're giving so much... it's so worth it when it starts coming back to you, so worth it. I don't know if she's anywhere near walking yet. She still seems very cautious about it all, which, I'll admit, I kind of love. The stress level automatically increases when they start crawling, then they start standing up and it goes up again, then walking... oh my! My Mom is visiting this week and says that she can see why Jane's not taking steps as of yet - apparently her legs are insanely long. You don't notice these things when you're the parent, it's just normal to you. My Mom says her legs are so long that it's throwing off her "center of balance". What that means to me? Peace of mind. Most parents are trying to promote the physical milestones - racing to get their kids crawling and walking. I'm not trying to stunt it but I'm not forcing it at all... I love it when Jane reaches milestones but I must say life was sometimes easier when I could set Jane down and not worry that when I turned my back she'd be crawling up the stairs!

The other benefit of having my Mom here is that she was able to shed some light on Jane's waking during the night this morning... obviously I didn't wake my Mother when Jane woke, but a Mother is always a Mother and my Mom can probably hear a baby waking through several layers of concrete, let alone a measly wall. She said it sounds like she's got a little discomfort, like teething or something. Which is kind of what I thought. Jane's got five teeth through now with at least two more sitting at the gums (how do you say that? Every time I type "gums" it says it's not word but gum doesn't sound right). I've always thought that her waking was teething but you feel like an idiot blaming it all on teething, especially for three months straight. I don't know. That's the hardest part... going into her room at 3am thinking "what the heck is wrong". You never know. Is it teething? Is it that she is only crying to get a reaction out of me? Is it that she's hungry? Is she cold? Is she hot? Does she have gas? Is she constipated? Is she sick? Does she have a feaver? Should I leave her for a bit? Should I go in and give her her soother and see if that works? Is she only spitting out her soother so I respond?... it never ends.

It's snowing here today. No, I'm not kidding. It's freakin' mid-April, we were wearing shorts two weeks ago and it's snowing now. The tulips are covered in snow. Fab.

I've been taking a photography course which I'm loving. Ever since Jane arrived I've become obsessed with photography (thus, the four hundred pictures I post on facebook everyday). I'm going to start taking pictures for friends of their babes and so on and really looking forward to that. It's nice to have that to keep me busy aside from being a Mom (as if that's not busy enough). :p

I'm sure there's a bazillion other things that I should update you on but I can't remember them and I've only got 20 mins before Jane wakes up (actually, before I wake Jane up). I know, what I have referred to as the sin of parenting, waking a sleeping child. However, we're going to try halving the length of Jane's two naps (which are usually about an hour and a half each) during the day to see if that helps sleeping through the night. I'm on the fence about this one and I so enjoy my "breaks" during the day, however, if I ever find a job when I find a job, it will be nice to get a full nights sleep and let someone else worry about getting a break! :p

Happy Monday!

Oh, FYI... just got some feedback with a little curiosity of whether the blog will end when I get a job - here's my answer. No. I will do my best to keep up with daily posts, although, I cannot guarantee it. However, I love this blog. I love writing and I love meeting and sharing mommyhood with all of you. It will never end (insert scary villain laugh here). :p

Feedback Feedback

Hey y'all - sorry for the late post, I hate being late! It's one of my biggest pet peeves. When Jane was born, I made a point to get ready for everything as early as possible so I could avoid being late for things... obviously, sometimes you can't help it (e.g. when she'd poop all over her outfit as we were walking out the door) but 90% of the time is good enough! :p

It's been a week since I posted my request for feedback on the blog from everyone - thanks for taking the time, I know it wasn't likely as fun as reading my usual ramblings but it was super helpful to me! If you haven't done it, it's not too late - there's not cut off on telling me what you think!

I'm going to be 100% honest, I'm exhausted and I'm going to rush through this post like a kid on Christmas morning as I've been awake since 3:30am (not because of Jane, because I'm becoming a stupid insomniac), she's now gone for a nap and I am going to attempt to do the same myself. Thus, there will be no proof reading, no editing, nodda... you get what comes off my fingers, straight up.

The first few questions (about you) were really just me being nosey... wanted to see who's checkin' out the blog cause, aside from those of you who have become friends, I have no idea! If you want to be my friend - email me, add me on facebook, etc. I have currently reach my in-person friend quota (if someone is voted off the island, I'll accept applications :p) but my virtual friend quota is limitless as I already spend all my free time on the computer! :p Finding out where you came from was interesting - a lot from TopMommyBlogs.com which just pisses me off as they keep refreshing their voting which means everyone's votes drop to zero and I've gotten sick of asking everyone to vote for me, so I kinda gave up - which I now see sucks as I've met a lot of great Moms that way. :(

The important "stuff" was finding out what you like and what you don't like...

I'm super flattered that most of you selected "My Life Posts" or "Advice Posts" as your favs... most of the time I feel like I'm blabbering and talking nonsense, so it makes me feel great to know that you, somehow, enjoy this. Perhaps, to you, it's like watching TMZ, it makes you feel good to know there's someone out there crazier than you! :) It's also ideal that these are your favs as they also are the posts that take the least time/effort. Most days it takes me an hour or so to write up each post - it's not so much the writing as it's the editing, adding watermarked photos, links, etc. that takes the time. Giveaway/review posts always take a lot longer as I have to try and remember what I liked best about the product - a task that is made difficult by my lack of consistent brain power these days.

Most of you selected "Giveaway/review Posts" as your least favourite, which also makes me happy... First of all, I will say that I never intended on doing a weekly giveaway. I did my first giveaways in December as a Christmas special and all of a sudden, it was product city and everyone was contact me about doing reviews. I turn down about 5 companies a day for reviews because (1) their products are totally irrelevant (ummm, I'm not reviewing books for teenagers seeing as my daughter is 10 months old and the thought scares me), (2) I don't think the product is useful and/or (3) they won't do a giveaway - I'm not a review blog, I don't want to be. If you won't offer my readers something for free too, I'm not interested.

These results made me so happy that I requested your feedback as, honestly, I thought you guys would be pissed if I didn't do any giveaways! Ah, the many pitfalls of poor communication. Last week I didn't have a giveaway product and I was worried everyone would be disappointed... it's too much pressure. So, here's my thoughts... I'm going to continue keeping giveaways to a minimum - if I have a product to share, my review/giveaway post will be up on Sunday. That way it won't take away from my regular weekly posts about tips-n-tricks and, mostly, nonsense!

Ok, glad we got that off our chests! :p

Lastly, guest posts. Some of you were nay some yay... kind of 50-50. I rarely do these anyways but, if I do, I'll make sure they are relevant. Some said you'd like to hear from my sister - well, folks, some people like to write and to some it's a chore. I've asked her before and, literally, didn't hear back about it. I will ask again, she's got some great stories to share. I'm also WAY over due for a Dissecting Daddy post and promise to do a Daddy-interview asap!

Alrighty, I have to go as Jane's finally asleep and my laptop battery has 4 mins left!

If there's anything I missed, hit me a note...

Actually, I have some ideas related to dissecting daddy posts - can y'all send me any questions you'd like me to ask my hubby about being a daddy? Something, perhaps, you'd like to ask your own hubby but (1) don't want to or (2) can't get more than a "okay" or "yeah, that's fine" out of him... comment, let me know!

xoxo

Before & After

After seeing some pictures of myself that I didn't so much enjoy, I decided to do something about it... of course, this was after I threw a "I hate Jen" pity party and ate enormous amounts of chocolate which instantly made me feel better and then worse because then, not only did I not like my hair and face, but now I was "fat" too.

I wish every women could walk outside their own body for one day. I wish every women could see themselves the way other people see them for one day. I think we would definitely see ourselves differently after ward. We are so critical of ourselves when we look in the mirror or see ourselves in pictures. For example, take this picture of Jane and I. This was the day that I threw the pity party. I hated the way I looked in these pictures. I went through them all and criticized the messiness of my hair, the chubbiness of my arms, the fatness of my face, everything (I'm being 100% honest here people so don't bother commenting to refute my points as, to me, they are completely true - that's assuming you'd want to make me feel better of course). This was the only picture of myself from that day that I posted on Facebook and I got comments like this "must be hard being so beautiful" and "gorgeous" (from girlfriends of course). I was like WTF - I pay you guys too much cause I look like a**. But this is exactly my point, to others we look completely different than we do to ourselves... of course it helps when these people love you but you get my point.

After these pictures I did what any girl would do to redeem some of her confidence and I choose one thing about myself that I hated to blame my self-hate on... this month it was my hair. I haven't had my hair cut since Jane was 3 months old (that's 7 months for the math "experts" out there). It was long, drab, lifeless, volume-less (which says a lot as my hair is insanely thick), boring, dull, messy, crappy... you get the point. I immediately called my fabulous hair guy to book an appt.

Not only was my hour and a half long hair appt fabulous because I got a great cut and eliminated my reason for my current self-hate but it was also an awesome break for me. I mean, I take "breaks" all the time... to run, to hit the grocery store, etc. Does any of that sound like a break to you? Yeah, that's what I thought. It was awesome to sit, relax, make fun of celebrities and forget about all of the things I had to do when I got home.

I'm sure most Moms do things like this for themselves and, technically, my running would have to be my favourite "me-time" right now. But my hair appt was completely selfish, all about me, and it was AWESOME! :p I may just get my hair cut monthly 'cause it was so great for my spirit (ok, I hate this word because it makes me sound like some birkenstock-wearing-yoga-loving-natural-healer person - not that there's anything wrong with that but it just ain't me).

SO here's my recommendation for all the Moms out there, if you're not already doing it... take a couple hours each month to do something totally SELFISH! I don't mean exercise, I don't mean shopping (unless it's shopping for you ONLY and not because your hubby needs new undies), I mean something completely for you - a massage, hair appt, belly dancing class (this is my friend Steph's "thang"), etc.

I will admit, for the first time in 7 or 8 months I felt a little guilty leaving... perhaps because I knew I was being completely selfish or the fact that Jane chased me across the room towards the door and then stood herself up on the gate, peaking through the holes at me LEAVING. Regardless, I smiled, kissed her on the forehead and took off! :)

Post hair-cut, I'm back to my old self again... content with my appearance (as if anyone is ever completely satisfied - I bet even Gisele hates something, (like her elbows or something completely stupid that normal people don't even think about cause we have too much other crap to be grouchy about) and happy overall.

Here's the before and after - just to be clear, the "after" hair is prettied up and my typical day-to-day style will be much less cool.

Weigh-in Wednesday

Holy Mackerel I am so glad I took "before" pictures when I first started Weigh-in Wednesdays. When you're losing weight, like anything, it's usually so gradual (unless you're one of those crazy motivated exercising types that lost your baby weight in a week - Kristie... :p) that you never really notice the changes. I mean, you feel your clothes get looser and so on but part of you convinces yourself that it's just stretched out. It's not until I look at the photos below that I go HOLY CRAP, 18 lbs is a lot of weight! I notice it most in my waist/tummy area, especially in the profile shot... it's really no surprise that's where most of my weight was seeing as I was PREGNANT (duh!). Literally, when I took those before shots I thought it was useless. I remember I used to post pictures every few weeks and never looked any different so eventually I just gave up posting them. I'm kind of glad I did because right now I'm feeling pretty good about myself which is a pleasant surprise and a rarity for some of us post-baby Mommas (scratch that, most women are overly self-critical of themselves, it's not limited to Moms).

I finally got my new properly-fitted running sneakers on Friday and they are awesome! I ran on them the first time Monday morning and was so relieved that I didn't have any joint pain, foot pain, etc. when I was done... I specify types of pain because the rest of my body hurt like heck but not my feet and joints! :p tee hee hee.

Dan and I ate like crap last week - I've been super stressed about finding a job and sleeping like a** as a result. Excuses, excuses, I know but c'est la vie... I'm an emotional eater (who's not?). Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to see I had dropped a half pound on the scale this week... and by pleasantly surprised I mean SHOCKED. Typically, with only a half pound lost I would say I didn't lose any weight but seeing as I'm only 2.5 lbs from the goal now, half-pounds are starting to become more significant!

I got a new recipe for you this week... good for Mommy and Baby! Now, similar to my Black Bean Brownies, don't get caught up in the ingredients - be open minded.

Cauliflower Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup dried cranberries 1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used dark) 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup canola oil 2 eggs 1 cup banana puree (a.k.a. mushed) 1 cup cauliflower puree 1 tsp vanilla extract

(1) To make cauliflower puree, I boiled a 1/4 head of cauliflower for 10-15 mins until soft, threw it in the food processor (without water) and voila, that's all.
(2) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
(3) Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl, excluding your sugar - flour through to cinnamon.
(4) Mix remaining ingredients together in separate bowl with a large whisk.
(5) Combine two mixtures and stir until well mixed
(6) Spoon into muffin pan to make 16 muffins.

Each muffin is about 125 cals. They taste pretty yummy (definitely not like cauliflower - which I hate) and this is a great way to sneak veggies into food for your babes, makes a great snack for them. You should see Jane's face when she tastes the chocolate!

Here are the details in case you need to see it clearly laid out:
Starting weight: 157 lbs
Current weight: 139.5 lbs (officially saying I'm in the 130's now)
Pounds lost: 17.5 lbs
Pounds to lose: 2.5 lbs (basically like a good pee) ha ha ha

Spring Cleaning Clorox Green Works Giveaway

***CONTEST CLOSED***

Ok, if you're anything like me, it's around this time of year that my inner "Monica" comes out (a Friends reference in case it's not obvious and if you don't get the reference then where the heck were you for the entirety of the '90s?). I am a little sick and enjoy cleaning a bit too much... actually, let me clarify, I enjoy the effects of cleaning too much. It's like exercise for me - I hate it when I'm doing it but when it's done I love how it feels after ward. Right now, I'm taking an hour a day to completely neglect Jane (I'm not serious) and work on a cleaning project like cleaning all the windows inside and out or cleaning underneath the pink foam flooring that basically covers my entire main floor.

Y'all know that I've been a Clorox wipes-aholic since Jane was born. Anything that makes my life easier is essential these days and I love that I can use these to quickly clean my counters and bathrooms without having to haul out the sponges, buckets and sprays. Honestly, I feel like I need a tool belt that has a wipes dispenser because when I get on a "kick", I just walk around with my bottle of wipes looking for things to clean.

Anyways, for the first few months after I discovered them, I used the regular Clorox wipes. Then, I turned into my new, somewhat granola-y, self and converted to the Clorox Green Works products including the Green Works wipes. Personally, for me, I still use my homemade cleaners (click here for the easy, awesome recipe from Ange) on anything Jane will come into contact with (floors, toys, etc.). But when it comes to my kitchen counters, bathrooms, and any other place where the thought of what's living on the surface gives me the heeby-jeebies (no idea how to spell that), I like to use good old fashioned store bought products because it gives me peace of mind to know that there's something "special" in there that's going to make those germs run like hell.

The Green Works wipes are the best natural wipes product I have found - claiming to be 99% natural (made of essential oils like coconut and lemon). You may ask what's the other 1%? Personally, if that 1% is the scary chemically crap that makes the germs die a painful death, then I'm content with that. Aside from the fact that they are made from natural ingredients, they are also biodegradable which makes me feel a heck of a lot better when I go on my cleaning kicks and end up tossing 10 or more of them in the green bin. I use these babies on everything - kitchen counters, faucets, cutting boards, toilets, showers, tables, my stainless steel appliances, etc. My only complaint is that sometimes it's more difficult to get the wipes dispenser to work easily for the Green Works wipes vs. the regular - perhaps because the Green Works wipes aren't as thick as the others (likely because of the biodegradability factor).

Once I started giving Jane the odd bottle, I immediately switched to Green Works Dishwashing liquid. The thought of using some perfumey, chemical-y, washing soap on her bottles creeped me out. I mean, even if you rinsed the heck out of your bottles, they still smelled like "lilies" (or whatever scent you bought) which is just scary to me because what chemical residue had to be left on the bottle in order for it to still smell like the soap? I've been using the Green Works diswashing soap since then and I've never had any complaints... I mean, I'm no seasoned dishwash liquid tester, but the stuff works! How much detail do you need?

Other Green Works products that are available include All Purpose Spray (currently resides in my cleaning cabinet), Glass Cleaner, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Dilutable Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner, and Laundry Detergent - and they are pretty cheap too. I picked up a two-pack of GIANT bottles of Green Works wipes at Zellars a few weeks ago for $5 (on sale) - shown in the picture with Jane. Obviously, I don't let Jane play with cleaners regularly (duh), I just wanted it to be obvious that (1) I own these products and (2) I buy them myself and don't just endorse whatever free stuff is sent my way! :)

Wanna give 'um a try for your Spring Cleaning this year without paying a cent???

Clorox Green Works Giveaway Details:

One lucky (ok, to clarify, you aren't really lucky because winning these products means you have to clean which sucks but you're lucky because you're getting fab products for free) MOmMy bRaIn lady will win a 946ml bottle of Clorox Green Works All Purpose Spray and a bottle of Clorox Green Works Cleaning Wipes.

To enter:
(1) Comment on this post letting me know your LEAST favourite Spring Cleaning To Do OR sharing a time-saving or unique Spring Cleaning tip.
(2) Be Canadian - sorry US/International ladies this one is for us pale-faces only! :p

For extra entries: Vote for MOmMy bRaIn on TopMommyBlogs.com by clicking the button to the left... one entry per vote per day Blog or Tweet about this giveaway (one entry per tweet)

That's all folks!

** Stay tuned for Friday when I address your feedback re: giveaways - some changes to come! If you haven't given your feedback yet, click here. I would appreciate it!

Sleep Deprivation

When you're pregnant, the number one comment you get from friends who are already parents is surrounding sleep deprivation (originally, I spelled this driprivation... which says enough right there). I think 50% of the reason I am so MOmMy bRaIned is that I haven't had a full night's sleep in 10 months and 6 days.

Yes. That's right folks. Jane has never fully slept through the night... she's slept 8pm-5am which is basically "through the night" if you ask me but no one asks me - they just look at me with sympathetic eyes and make an "ahhhh... she'll get there some day" comment. News flash, I don't need your pity people cause your baby only sleeps "through the night" because you don't put him/her to sleep until 10pm. tee hee hee. Anyways. If Jane was regularly sleeping from 8-5 I'd have no complaints but that only lasted 3-4 weeks and that was 2 months ago. Now she's going to sleep at 8, waking at 3-4ish, then again at 5:30-6ish and sleeping until 7ish.



Here's the catch-22. I am totally cool letting her "cry-it-out" (yes, eating my own words - don't bother quoting back to me that like 6 months ago I said I'd never do this) as she'll often get herself back to sleep in a minute or two. However, there are some nights where she cries for an hour. Now, to clarify, when I say she "cries", I don't let her get worked up. All Moms know the levels of cries....

The Two Second Whine - Basically a screech because you've taken away something they wanted to tried to give them something they didn't want
The Drama Queen Cry (DQ) - Sometimes derived from the Two Second Whine, the DQ Cry is more like a yell. There are no tears and it can instantly be stopped through strategic distraction.
The Attention Seeking Cry (ASC) - More dramatic than the DQ cry with the intention of getting you to respond. Again, no tears are present. The Attention Seeking cry can easily be resolved by giving in - this is typically the middle of the night cry that Jane does.
The Somethin' Ain't Right Cry (SARC) - Most of the time we have no idea what the somethin' is but, regardless, this is the cry most Mom respond to immediately. There are tears, there is hyperventilation, screeching, etc. Similar to the DQ cry, the SARC can occur as a result of an extended ASC but is typically the result of something more serious - teething pain, discomfort, stress, a head bonk, etc.
* Yes, I assigned acronyms because I'm too lazy to type out three words more than once.

Ok, now that we've established this (there are probably many more types of cries but these are the main ones I can think of right now), I am comfortable letting Jane cry-it-out if it is either the DQ or the ASC cry. However, if I hear the SARC even if I know it is a result of extended ASC, I respond. To me it's completely counter-productive to allow Jane to get so worked up and stressed and assume that somehow she's going to be able to get herself back to sleep after that... I don't think so.



Here's the problem. When she starts with the ASC, I usually wait 10-15 mins to see if she'll go back to sleep. If she doesn't, I'll pop in her room (making no noise, not talking, not touching, etc.), give her a soother and leave. Most of the time this works. If, however, it doesn't (which I know right away because she'll stand up again before I even get out of the room and start the ASC again), then I have two options: (1) return to her room, give her boob for 2 mins and both of us go back to bed or (2) go back to my room and lie there awake listening to her for at least another 30mins to an hour - the "right' thing to do according to most books - I hate books. Regardless, when I'm lying there awake at 2am, all I can think is EFF I wanna go back to bed NOW and sometimes it's just not worth it to do the "right" thing. Sometimes I say "eff it, she'll sleep through the night at some point in her life and I want to sleep now" and I feed her and happily go back to bed. So, yeah, I get that I'm totally screwing myself but what do you want me to do... I like sleeping and it doesn't matter if I go to bed at 8pm, if I'm waking up every few hours, I'm not getting enough sleep.

Here's the other thing that I'm telling you so you won't be surprised by it... sometimes babies go from sleeping "through the night" to waking up several times again (and by sometimes, I mean, usually). Babies go through stages - teething, discomfort because of solids, who knows what else (they don't speak to me and I'm not an expert). Most of the time you have no freakin' clue what's going on. You can try reading books and doing all the "right" things (God that "stuff" drives me mad) or you can just follow your instincts - the "experts" who write those books don't live with you. They don't know your baby. They don't know your style. Did our grandparents have books to tell them what to do? No, they had parents. They had instincts. Every one of our own Mother's could write a parenting book and claim to be an expert - I mean, most of us turned out pretty OK (aside from my sister, ha ha ha, joking Nancy).



So, to summarize, am I sleep deprived? Technically, yes. Am I tired? Before 8pm, No. Would I like a full nights sleep? Heck yeah. Would I trade it for anything? Heck No.

A year ago, I would have been working in a chronic zombie state on this style of sleep. But, I'm used to it now. Like most Moms, I don't roll out of bed and mope around lazily with a crabby attitude complaining about how tired I am... I spring out of bed with the sound of my daughter babbling through the monitor, throw on my joggers as quickly as possible and run to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before she goes from babbling to DQ crying. And, when I open her bedroom door, I'm on - smiles, enthusiasm, exaggerated everything, etc. There's no time for drowsiness. To Jane, it's the "Mom Show" and I'm the star.

PS - Thanks to those who have provided feedback to me as requested in Friday's post - if you haven't yet, see below. I am loving hearing what you like/like-less. :) Will leave it up for another few days and then respond! :)