Even before becoming a parent, there were always never enough hours in the day to complete everything that needed to be done and still do things that I want. Becoming a mother stretched that time out even further, but I make it work.
As a work-from-home boss, I can tell you that more often than not people assume I do all of the housework. Umm, no. I work from home, which means I have actual work to do while I happen to be home, and that does not include the laundry or the plumbing. Do I try to plan that type of thing into my schedule? Yes. Is it a priority during work hours? NOPE. Since having a baby and earning my boss mama badge, the assumptions and opinions have only gotten worse. Working from home with a baby is hella hard, and cuts into my work time like you wouldn’t believe!
This year we celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three. While it was different in so many ways, our beloved traditions lived on. Through the allergies, the nap schedule, the foiled plans because of contagious family members, and the food-poisoning (happy holidays to me!), we made it work!
Part of me knew years ago that my child’s photo albums would have mostly pictures of them alone or with their daddy, and very few with me. I didn’t plan for it, but that’s the life of a professional photographer. We are always the ones behind the camera and carriying a tripod and remote around everywhere is not exactly feasible (especially with an infant!), which means that we are often left out of the photos. So it should come as no surprise that this shoot, and many before it, did not even have one with me in it.
Having a baby in January, in Canada, is extra hard because you don’t want to go outside and also you probably shouldn’t cause it’s cold AF out there. Fast forward a year later, and now you pretty much neeeeed to get out of the house to avoid going stir-crazy with your little mover (however old they are!). Finding things to do can be a challenge, so I’ve compiled a list of kid-friendly indoor activities in Ottawa if you are looking for alternate options. Spoiler alert! One of those activities is finding some workshops to participate in–some are a one-time thing, and others are a weekly activity over the course of a month or two. This post is all about one of those workshop classes I recommended, to learn to speak & sing French with your baby, to hopefully help you decide if this one is right for you and your little one.
This post is about all of the wonderful mom hacks and awesome products that I have discovered after having a baby in January, in Canada. If you were hoping for ideas on what to do to avoid going stir-crazy, I’ve recently compiled a list of the top 10 kid-friendly indoor things to do in Ottawa during the winter so that you can adventure out into the wild without worrying about hanging out in the frigid Canadian cold. If you prefer to stay inside and avoid the cold altogether, scroll to the end of the post–I got you! Let’s start with that list of gear.
I don’t even like chicken. But I made my husband cook this for us two nights in a row, with leftovers for lunch both days. He said no the third day. Yup, that’s how good it is!
In case you didn’t know, I am a work-from-home mama. I also exclusively breastfeed my daughter, which has been somewhat of a challenge, to say the least.
When baby refuses the bottle, shove it in their mouth. Sort of. The milk, not the bottle. Let me explain the background on this one first. When my little girl was a month old, I was running on no sleep, no energy, and my husband was back at work. So, when he offered to do one of the night feeds for me so that I could get 4-6 hours of straight sleep instead of only 2-3, I begrudgingly agreed and bought myself a Haakaa to collect some of my milk. It went great! Fast forward to just over a month later, and bottles were apparently poison. Seriously, the screams coming out of this child sounded like death was imminent. As time passed, mama needed to get back to work, which meant bottles needed to happen. Hundreds of dollars spent later on different bottles and nipples, we finally found the solution. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.
This is my life now. I feel like this thing is always attached to me, and to escape it means my daughter might go hungry. My breastfeeding journey has been easy for me (minus a few minor issues along the way) so I had no idea that pumping would be this hard.
