Q – My mother-in-law is driving me crazy! She has an opinion about Everything, and I feel like I can’t do anything right. I am a new mother of a 6 month old baby girl, and I’m having trouble finding confidence in myself with her around all the time. Avoiding her phone calls is only making it worse. Help!
Sick in bed, trying to entertain a toddler, and holiday gold fell onto our laps. We discovered the most amazing website. You can write a great letter to Santa, filling in the blanks and checking boxes for the most sought-after gifts (Santa will email back within 2 days). Decorate a tree, create a personalized story, digitally paint a Santa, listen to elves tell stories, or print off a good deed calendar. There are also parent and teacher sections to assist with learning. With free entertainment like this, we want the holidays to come around more often.
I think it’s been a while since the heyday of travel – when hopping on a plane was an experience in itself. I know my mom always looked forward to being able to just sit for a few hours and have someone bring her a hot meal and a glass of wine (obviously I was older by this point!) while she thumbed a book or napped. Unless you’re flying first class or by private jet, it’s safe to say those days are long gone, and now the “fun” of air travel begins before you’ve even hit the departure lounge.
I’m really not much of a spa person. I can’t relax, I get bored, and I just want my nails to dry already. I have to turn my cell phone off, and most estheticians make me feel like my skin is dry (not enough water) and I have cellulite (too much coffee). Thanks. Needless to say, I didn’t enter the Miraj Hammam Spa expecting to feel much better about myself upon departure. They proved me wrong. I entered (late) into the gorgeous space and was made to feel instantly at ease – not ostracized at all for the tardiness or for not knowing where to put my shoes when I donned the slippers one wears to the ‘baths’.
I was recently introduced to the concept of Educational Trips for kids. Mommy or Daddy takes a child away for the weekend, and they get one-on-one time and learn together. What better place than Victoria, at the Fairmont Empress Hotel? I am very much an old Canadian. I appreciate modern, boutique hotels too, but there is nothing quite like the luxury of the old Canadian Pacific chain. Sometimes wallpaper, high ceilings, antiques and superb service are just necessary. On a recent stay at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, I was reminded why I seek out these fabulous hotels, and what educational opportunities are available in every day life if you take the time to look for them.
Last week we featured the “New Parent Checklist” from Knock Knock and this week we bring you the highly useful “Don’t Kill the Kids and Other Babysitter Basics” notepad. Every time you are about to leave the kids with a babysitter, you have to go over all the tedious but important details she needs to know and worry that she won’t remember them. Even if you have the same babysitter, what she needs to know often changes. Well the “Don’t Kill the Kids” notepad is a fun form you can fill out with all the important details: where you’ll be, emergency numbers, medical information, rules, bedtimes and bedtime rituals and much more as well as a space for miscellaneous notes.
If you’ve ever tried to capture that perfect moment with a baby, you know it’s not easy (thank goodness for one thousand pics on a digital camera). Maybe we’ve all just been trying too hard.. play may be the answer to brilliance (where have we heard that before?). I never thought that my son’s true personality could possibly be portrayed through an image… until I saw the results from our amazing photo shoot with Lucy Lime Studios. His funny looks, unique expressions and his sweet innocence were wonderfully captured by Shannon Stevenson.
Squishy squishy squashie, give your clothes a washy… Maybe Barny’s not your thing, but Soap Nuts should be. Completely natural, these ‘nuts’ are actually fruit from the Sapindus Mukorossi tree, found primarily in the Himilayas. They are harvested, de-seeded and dried in the sun. When you wash your laundry with them, the saponin contained within the outer shell acts as a fantastic natural detergent. These have been used for centuries in other parts of the earth, but are only just now gaining popularity in the western world. Marketed by The Laundry Tree with a beautiful linen bag, they leave no scent and get laundry fresh and clean.
It’s a great time to put our kids in cute wool sweaters and take them out to the city park or the woods for a tromp in the leaves. Well, the good and bad news is that you’re not alone in your thinking. At a variety of parks, woods, and beaches you’ll find a lot of people out walking their dogs –– which, for a new parent, or parents of babies and young children without dogs, can be a source of some anxiety. So how do you introduce your kids to dogs while outside?