cdntina's Profile

With my first, I washed all of her clothing and linens in baby detergent. Then I sorted them all and folded them neatly into lovely little piles in the changing table. Then I realized that the horrible little tags would irritate her perfectly delicate skin. So I cut out all the tags. Then washed everything again. Then folded it again. Then put it all away again.

In retrospect, with my second I realized that this removal of tags was a little sort sighted, because I now had to guess what size everything was.

My second child was due Dec. 4th and I had ALL the Christmas cards written, addressed and stamped and waiting in stacks by the front door by Nov. 15th. I couldn't help myself I had to do it. I also made a spreadsheet with all of the contact information including address and phone number and whether the person/family would get the 'deluxe' or regular card.

I'm expecting our third in seven weeks and nothing really pressing has hit me yet. Although, I'm really trying to make several meals worth of every dinner so that I have at least one meal to put in the freezer. Perhaps once the older kids start school and I've got all that organized I'll start realizing that the baseboards need to be dusted or some such nonsense.

I'm trying to remember what my mother used to do. When I was growing up, my family of 8 (two parents and six kids) would go on two to three week long canoe trips in Algonquin Park in Ontario. So, except for the first few days, fresh wasn't an option, and canned goods were too heavy. We occasionally caught a fish or two, but we generally had terrible luck in that department.

I'm remembering lots and lots of peanut butter. Trail mix, crackers, dried fruit etc for snacking. And dark chocolate. The expensive kind, because it tends not to melt as easily.

Dried apples can be put in oatmeal in the morning and in a cobbler in the evening. As can raisins, apricots, dried blueberries etc, you get the idea. Bisquick is really versatile as well.

I second the beef jerky suggestion. TVP (texturized vegetable protein) is a good source of protein in the bush. And instant mashed potatoes with heaps of margarine taste reeeallly good after a 10km portage!

The best results around the campfire came from casseroles etc. made from freeze dried shrimp and fish that we found in Chinatown. We would have paella, or fish stew, or curry. You can also get powered coconut milk. Daal is really good too, especially with fresh naan or chapati made over the camp fire.

Oh, yeah, and if you decant the scotch into a tinted water bottle, the rangers don't notice ;)

This tool doesn't work very well for us at all. My husband does drive between 600km and 1000km a week which is an awful lot, but he is always going to different places. We've chosen to live where we do, because it is convenient to our family activities such as church, grandparents and chiropractor. The kids can go to the school that is closest to our house no matter where we live. And I stay at home, so commuting to school and then work and then back to school and home again isn't an issue for us.

And the location that they told us we should live is in the middle of the country and we'd have to drive 20 minutes (in a second car) just to get milk. I know this because I have a friend who lives almost exactly where the tool said we should live.

We always tell people that we birthed our second child at home because we hit and killed a deer on the way to the hospital while in labour with our first! That wasn't the only reason, but it sure was nice to be able to stay put.

About a month ago my almost four year old son came up to me and said " Mommy, I like to cuddle in your bed. Your bed is so cozy."

I told him "Did you know that you were born right there in Mommy and Daddy's bed?"

He eyes lit up and he said breathlessly "And then we had our first cuddle?!".

How perfect is that?

You could try a crisis pregnancy centre or an organization that helps teen parents.

For my daughters fifth birthday, we had each kid make a silly face or strike a pose or whatever took their fancy. While I was playing games and doing birthday cake, my mother printed out the images and ironed them on to plain white tees. The kids were thrilled and I still see the shirts on the play ground.

I made my own wedding cake but I had the caterer (my employer at the time) decorate it. But I made mine because I LOVE fruitcake, and I couldn't find anyone else who was willing to 'feed' it booze every week for 4 months.

We were married in August so I used lost of tropical fruits. I made sure that it had a bit more batter than traditional cakes so that it was lighter in texture, and I used white rum so the colour was lighter as well.

I also made a fruitcake for my best friends wedding, as well as a few more traditional cakes for friends and family.

AimeeRoo,

Koot is for Kootenays. It is a region in British Columbia, Canada.

I love this book. I gave it to my then fiance as a sort of 'test the water' conversation starter almost 8 years ago. It was one of the first times that he had ever even seen babies and real family life portrayed. He has gone from there to an expert cloth diaperer, breastfeeding supporting, co-sleeping, babywearing total crunchy daddy to two for now. He is baby addicted.

Oh, that's easy.

My 3 1/2 year old son would put his wand in his bag. This a very special wand that right now spends most of its time in his belt loop. This wand is not only a magical tool, but is magical itself. In the blink of an eye, this wand can change into whatever it S needs at the moment. It can be a sword for Sir S, or a 'pewer' (as in pew, pew, pew with my ray gun) for Super Hero S. The wand has also lent its services as a raft for bears stranded on a sinking sofa ship. The wand can become a firehose for Fireman S, or a snake that will slither up the legs of big sister. And of course, the wand is frequently used by Wizard S in his adventures.

I suppose you could say that my son would put his imagination in his bag, but no bag is that big.