Earth Sea Mama

Its been a long time...

2012-09-04T09:14:00.001-07:00

Its been a long time since I have sat down and wrote anything on here! Life has been so busy! After our wedding in July I went back to work part time...at the same time I am running my home business Earth Sea Baby! It has been quite successful so far, I am very pleased :) We moved into our apartment this past month...we had been looking for a suitable place for 2 months! We finally found a beautiful 3 bedroom duplex in a prime location only 3 minutes away from my Husbands work! We are pretty much all settled in now :) Baby F is all grown up and running around the house now! He now goes to a private day care 4 days a week while I am at work, he loves going and playing with the other children he is very social. I have been busy hunting for used toys and things to buy for Baby F for Christmas! We did buy him one NEW toy...but we decided because he is so young and does not care if it has been used...we might as well do Christmas cheap this year because soon enough he will be asking for IPod's & Laptops! This month we transitioned Baby F from our bed to his own room in his own TODDLER BED! The transition went smooth and he sleeps most nights in his bed until 4:30am then I take him into our bed until 6am :) We did his room in Disney Cars theme! I will post photos soon.
- Earth Sea Mama

We Got Married!!

2012-07-17T07:51:00.002-07:00

We Got Married!!! On Friday, July 13th :) & The Wedding was beautiful we could not have asked for better weather!!! I have been so busy with Baby F's 1st Birthday, Wedding planning & the launch of my small business Earth Sea Baby...that my blog has suffered :( I really hope to get blogging back on track soon...now that the wedding is over hopefully I can put more time towards Earth Sea Mama :) Just wanted to share some photos from Our Wedding!!!

-Earth Sea Mama

The First Birthday Party

2012-06-27T15:35:00.001-07:00

Baby F's first birthday went great! We had a small family party with my brother and both sets of parents. I made a robot cake...from a box mix because I am not really into baking. My brother helped me with the decoration and it turned out great. My Mom made homemade sweet and sour meatballs and some pasta salads :) everything was mega yummy! Baby F got some money for his birthday so I will be setting up a bank account for him soon. We got Baby F a vtech ocean spinning top...I forget the exact name of it now but I will probably do a review on it later. He also got some stacking toys and a few clothes from my parents, my brother got him a wooden toy that has wires with beads on them...wow I am not sure what is wrong with my brain today I can't remember the names of anything lol and My fiance's parents got Baby F a set of 2 toy cars. Baby F has enough clothes and a lot of toys already so we made sure to let everyone know he didn't need much. I think he had a fantastic first birthday he really seemed to enjoy eating the entire head from his robot cake lol.

I hope to do some more posts here but right now I am having trouble finding the time. I have launched my home business ...Earth Sea Baby you can find us on Facebook ....I don't have much stock yet but I am working on building it up and I have sold a bunch of wood nursing necklaces already :) and with our upcoming wedding...I just have to much on my mind to sit down and write.

Our Baby Boy Is 1 Year Old!!!

2012-06-21T21:54:00.001-07:00

I just had to share a quick pic from today!! Check back for a more detailed birthday post coming in the next day or so,

Baby F's 1 Year Photo Shoot By Earth Sea Mama

2012-06-16T09:12:00.001-07:00

I Got Featured!!!

2012-06-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

I am very proud to say Earth Sea Mama was featured on bloggers.com as an Editors Pick today!! Just had to share with all my wonderful readers :)

North States Superyard Play Yard Review

2012-06-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I sat down and wrote a review on here! I am in full wedding planning mode! Our big day is July 13th! And our little Baby F...turns 1 year old in less than 2 weeks! I have been so busy with everything and trying to enjoy my last few weeks of Maternity leave I really have slacked off on the blogging. I decided to do a review about a product we have purchased since the big move! The North States Superyard Play Yard.

I wish that we would have invested in one of these right from the start...The Graco Pack & Play really did not have enough room to keep Baby F happy...but the Superyard Play Yard is 18.5 Square Feet of space and you can also purchase 2 additional panels to make it even bigger. The North States Superyard has been a great purchase! It fold up easy for moving it around...much easier than setting up a Pack & Play. Its great for outdoors, indoors and for pets too so it really is a versatile piece of baby equipment. You could even block off your Christmas tree from pets and kids!! We purchased the Superyard from Sears for $100 plus tax and it was worth every penny.

Just my advice...skip on buying a Playpen and just buy a Superyard! You will love it.

Our Cloth Stash

2012-05-26T16:21:00.001-07:00

Our cloth stash is up to 24 diapers!! Only waiting on 4 more to arrive :)

My Engagement Ring

2012-05-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

We got engaged on September 1st 2011 :) My Fiance presented me with a beautiful Silver & 1k Sapphire Engagement Ring! I Asked for a Sapphire instead of a diamond because I LOVE THEM! He had the ring custom made for me and I loved it. Unfortunately it turned out I was allergic to silver and my skin broke down the ring causing one of the triquetra knots to crack. My Fiance had the ring re made in two tone gold and had the setting changed and it finally arrived today :) I didn't think I could love that ring any more than the first version but the new one is just amazing and I LOVE IT!! I just had to share. I love my amazing Fiance <3

Earth Sea Busy Busy Mama

2012-05-20T19:27:00.002-07:00

We are finally starting to settle in here but I know it will not be for long. We are currently living with family so in the next month or 2 we will be getting our own home and will be moving yet again! Baby F will be 11 months old tomorrow and as mentioned in my previous post I am in party planning mode! And of course of wedding is in the middle of July so I am busy busy with wedding planning as well! I had my first dress fitting last week and it will be finished by July 1st!!

A few of my cloth diaper orders have arrived (8 diapers total for now) so I washed them up and have started to use them and so far so good! I like them so much I have decided to order more and sell them! I posted ads on local classifieds and created a Facebook page business! I also plan on setting up a table at the local flea market every few weeks to sell there. I will sell a few other baby accessories and also will be making natural wood teething rings. I am very excited to start my home business venture! ...and hopefully I will be able to make some extra cash so I can work less and spend more time with Baby F...my maternity leave is over at the first of June :(

It has been so wonderful these past few weeks to be able to take Baby F and our dog outside in the nice weather to play in the yard! They both enjoy being outside so much...Its great for us to be out of the big city. Here is a pic of Baby F outside today modeling one of his new cloth diapers! LOL he is soooo cute!

First Time At The Beach

2012-05-17T19:12:00.002-07:00

I just had to post a pic of Baby F's first trip to the beach :) He loved it so much!

-Earth Sea Mama

1st Birthday Party Planning

2012-05-14T18:17:00.001-07:00

Baby F will be celebrating his 1st birthday next month! I have been pinning ideas for a few months now and decided what kind of cake I will make for him :) I ordered some cute invitations today ... we are having close family and a couple friends over for a BBQ ...location is not set yet lol because we are living with family still. I think we will avoid balloons because they could be dangerous in the hands of a baby I will probably stick with colorful paper streamers. I will be making up a handful of treat bags for the children attending...so I have to figure out what we will be putting in them. I am planning on keeping it small and simple so it is enjoyable for Baby F and not overwhelming. If you have any 1st birthday ideas please share them below in the comments section.

Adjusting to life in Nova

2012-05-07T10:18:00.001-07:00

It's almost been a couple of weeks since we moved and my Fiance made his cross county drive safe and sound! We are staying with my Fiances parent's until he gets a job and we rent or buy a home. We are still in the process of getting settled in here trying to sort things and decide what needs to be stored and what we need right now. It is not an easy task but with family around to help it is easier :)

My Mother saw my wedding dress for the first time in person today...she had only seen pics online before. We will be going to have it altered soon because it is at least three sizes too big lol...better than being to small I suppose! I am getting very excited about all the wedding stuff now that I am seeing it all come together. I saw the location for the first time ths weekend and have been discussing various wedding ideas with My Mother and Future Mother In Law :)

Life has been very busy these past few weeks and I have yet to find the time to return to my regular postings but I thought I would give you all a quick update and share a cute pic of Baby F eating cake lol.

The First Homemade Prefold Cloth Diaper

2012-05-01T22:52:00.001-07:00

First off I will start by saying this diaper was sewn by my Mother! I have not sewn since high school and I can't remember being any good at lol...but with my Mothers help I hope I can learn. This was a trial run done with no pattern only some measurements as a guideline. I can not remember the exact dimensions right now because it is almost 3am lol but I will do a more detailed post with more photos soonish.

This diaper is made from 2 layers of ordinary white diaper flannel that was pretty inexpensive to buy at our local fabric store and it has an insert sewn in the middle that consists of 2 layers of terry cloth ....also purchased from the fabric store. Things have been pretty busy around the house but we sat down tonight and Mom sewed 2 prefolds as a trial run and we started on some cloth wipes as well.

I am really not sure how aborbant these will be but I hope to test them tomorrow ...if needed I figure we can always stuff them with additional inserts that would be easy to make. I ordered some snappi's online but I want to start cloth diapering sooner than later so I posted an ad online and found a lady that was so kind to give me 2 extra snappi's that she had in her stash along with 3 covers :) So that will get us started!

I am getting so excited about all this fuzzy bum stuff :) I have so many ideas ... I just need to learn to sew an find the time. I will post a photo below.

Earth Sea Mama life in Nova!

2012-04-30T08:29:00.001-07:00

Things have been going well for me and Baby F....although we do miss Daddy very much he will be here with us in a few more days! Last night Baby F got a terrible diaper rash so I got some cream from the pharmacist ...it could be caused by yeast because he just finished antibiotics for a sinus infection a few days ago :( Seeing the rash really made me want to switch to cloth diapers again...I have some on order from China but they might be awhile so I am considering trying my hand at sewing so prefolds and wool soakers from thrift store fabric! I will deff need my Mother's help lol My future sister in law might also be hooking us up with some AIO cloth :) I am probably going to switch to cloth wipes using tea tree oil and water...I would like to get out to pick up some fabric for those this evening. I don't have a drivers license yet...so I also need to get on that...there is no public transit here so its a high priority.

Anyway just a quick update :)

My Playtex Baby

2012-04-27T20:34:00.001-07:00

Had to share this adorable pic of Baby F wearing his bib that was sent to us from Playtex Baby along with lots of other great Playtex products :)

The Flight

2012-04-25T05:40:00.001-07:00

We just left Calgary via West Jet Airlines. I checked 3 bags and Baby F's carseat. We gate checked the stroller and I carried on one small suitcase, my purse and Gemma (our chihuahua). Getting through security was pretty difficult, I had to take the baby through put him in his stroller then go back for the dog...but we did manage. After security I stopped to buy a liter of Evian and a Mars bar to snack on later. After security we did not have to wait long to board because people with babies are among the first to board. A flight attendant helped me to the plane carrying my small suitcase and purse while I pushed the stroller and carried Gemma, at the plane she too my bags to our seat and I folded our stroller while another flight attendant held Baby F. Once on board it was difficult to maneuver while holding Baby F and make sure I had everything situated. We are in the window seat and as I type this I can see the northern lights! Take off was terrifying ...but not for the reason you may suspect...as soon as they dimmed the cabin lights I was able to get him to latch on and fall asleep :) no fuss no crying ...it was perfect. Gem was fussing prior to take off and as we are going down the runway she stops so I thought great this is going to be an amazing flight...I had crazy thoughts in my head like she can't possibly be this calm...she must have escaped ...but im a tad OCD and tried to ignore my thoughts. Then the family sitting in front of us is saying whos dog is that???I figure they just hear her whining ....and then she holds up Gemma...she had in fact escaped her new Bergan carrier!!! I did not know what to do...we were about take off...I was holding a sleeping baby...the lady said she would hold the dog until I could put her back in and she would not tell anyone but I was worried about take off with Gemma not in her carrier ...I still had no clue how she had escaped. The old man next to us said he would hold Baby F while I took Gemma and put her back into her carrier.... long story short Baby F did not make a peep the entire flight...but I am sure all of the passengers wanted to stab me because the dog barked and whined the entire time! I did not get much rest on the flight maybe an hour of sleep. In typed the first half of this post during the flight and I am finishing it up now that we are settled and Baby F is down for the night :) I am typing this on my tabet and dont have access to a deskop at the moment so please forgive any spelling and punctuation errors lol. I will include a few photos from today below :)

Tomorrow Is Moving Day!

2012-04-23T18:55:00.001-07:00

So Tomorrow Is Moving Day!!! At last after 3 years in Alberta :) We are moving back home to raise our Son close to our family!! We are so busy and so excited! I will post again in a few days when we get settled.
-Earth Sea Mama

Earth Sea Mama is now on Instagram!

2012-04-22T00:17:00.001-07:00

If you want to follow Me & Baby F we are now on Instagram :) just search earthseamama and follow us!!
http://instagr.am/

you can also find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EarthSeaMama
Pinterest www.pinterest.com/earthseamama/ & Twitter www.twitter.com/earthseamama

&& Check out my NEW homepage :) www.earthseamama.webs.com

Renewed Interest In Cloth Diapers

2012-04-20T01:42:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in one of my first posts http://earth-sea-mama.blogspot.ca/2012/01/disposable-diaper-journey.html we tried cloth diaper's when Baby F was born...but we used a diaper service and their diaper's were crap. Someday's I was using 15 cloth diaper's...they were always leaking...Baby F is a very petite boy so that probably did not help. Not to mention I started cloth because I wanted to save money and we were spending at least double the cost of disposables! All because of the stupid diaper service.

Now that Baby F is almost 10 months old he only uses 5-6 disposable diaper's per day so I got thinking maybe it is time to try again. Since we are moving we will probably have our own washer...here in the city we have shared condo laundry, so buying my own and washing my own cloth diaper's was never an option before.

I am planning on purchasing 8 pocket diaper's with inserts to start, just to use when I am home during the day. I prefer disposable diaper's for night time and I don't like carrying around a large diaper bag so when I am out and about I will be using disposables as well. I think I will also use a flushable liner with the pocket diaper's just to make cleaning easier. Since I will be using a combination of cloth & disposable diaper's I should be able to get away with doing diaper laundry every 3 days. My reasons for wanting to try cloth are again are to save a little money and because they really are cute!

The only thing I am concerned about is the washing process...I have done very little research and I need your help! LOL My Fiance has concerns about how sanitary it would be to wash dirty diaper's in the same washer that we wash our clothes in. So if you have any tips please post them in the comments below! Also I am wondering about detergents...I don't want to buy any expensive washing products so I am wondering if there are any cheap alternatives?? HELP :)

I am also going to post some photos below from our first cloth diaper experience...the diaper service diaper's were very bulky and I was not even using an insert because the service did not tell me that they included them for no extra charge! They only mentioned the inserts to me when I called to cancel the service because I was changing Baby F's diaper like 5 times an hours LOL...I tried the inserts before I cancelled the service but they were so thin they made no difference in absorbency.

Above: After his first bath wearing the diaper service diaper with Mother Ease cover. (I loved the Mother Ease covers.)

Above: Changing time! The diaper service diaper with the cover off...they were all ugly yellow with orange trim LOL

Above: Here he is wearing the diaper service diaper with a Kushies Brand cover...although they said they were for small infants...the cover was very large.

Baby F's Current Montessori Toy Area

2012-04-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post a photo of Baby F's current toy area inspired by Montessori concepts that I talked about in my previous blog post http://earth-sea-mama.blogspot.ca/2012/04/montessori-toys-playtime.html

I would love to have a low toy shelf for him...but we are moving across country in 5 days so its not practical for us right now but as soon as we get settled I will be setting up a shelf for him I will post photos when I do!

Nothing elaborate :) just his fav toys!

Montessori Toys & Play Time

2012-04-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I discovered Montessori concepts when researching about Montessori baby floor beds (low beds) I really like everything that I have learned about Montessori, tho I am still researching I have implemented some Montessori concepts in our home! Baby F use to have tons of toys scattered around our living room and I had noticed he would only play with one for a few moments and then move on to the next toy. I decided to remove all but a few toys from our living room and it has made a huge change in the way he plays.

The toys currently in our living room for Baby F are 3 balls, 2 stuffed animals, a large wooden peg puzzle, a small rubber duck, a grasping ball, and a wooden train with stacking blocks. I first thought that he would miss having so many toys to play with or that he would get bored or be unhappy with the toys available for him to play with but I was wrong! Baby F now gets more involved playing with the few toys he has around him and I have found he is more content to sit on the floor and play by himself for longer periods of time. His favourite toy currently is his wooden train, he likes to tip it over and pull off all of the wooden blocks...chew on them or throw them around LOL. He also gets very involved with rolling a ball around the room pushing it away then chasing it and then pushing it again :) it is very cute.

I will include a link to another Mothers blog that I cam across that has some excellent Montessori information. This article is exactly what I am talking about http://mariamontessori.com/mm/?p=121

& here is another one I came across that provided some great info http://ourmontessorihome.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/q-a-toys-dishes-and-bedrooms-oh-my/

I can not wait until we get settled in our own home after the move...although I am not sure when that will be because we will be staying with family until we rent or HOPEFULLY buy a home! I have so many great ideas for the way our home will be set up for Baby F. I will start with the floor bed, toy shelves and I will be placing pictures and flash cards on our walls at his level so that I can point at them and say the word. I am addicted to browsing online stores for wooden toys but I have been able to control myself because I do not want to buy too many toys, I just want to keep it simple.

Above: A cute example of a Montessori Toy Shelf that I found on Pinterest

ANYWAY...there is another post I said I would not be writing until we got settled after the move LOL...but I was bored and I still have major insomnia so at least I feel like I did something productive.

Random Ramblings About Natural Birth

2012-04-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

Natural Unmedicated Birth...yea I had one. And so did MANY other women so it is really nothing to brag about. Its how most births should happen...but because of all the advancements in medicine natural child births are not the norm any more. It breaks my heart that so many Mothers don't know that they have any other option than to give birth in a hospital with a doctor. I understand in some situations medical interventions are necessary and doctors are wonderful when you have medical emergency's...but BIRTH is not always a medical emergency.

How you give birth should be you're decision. You do have options. We chose to have our son with a Midwife attending in a hospital. I could have had a home birth...but since it was my first baby I was a little nervous so we decided the hospital would be the best place for our son to be born. When we are ready to have another child we will not have as many choices as we did here in the city. We are moving to a different province that does have government funded midwifery care...but it is only in the city 2 hours from where we will be living so that will not be an option. It will be a few years before we are ready for another baby so I am hoping that the province gets its act together and funds more midwifery practices. If not...then I will hire a Doula and have a hospital birth, I will make it VERY clear to the doctors I do not want any unnecessary interventions, I will not be separated from my baby unless medically necessary and I will be leaving the hospital as soon as I am legally allowed.

I have read lots about unassisted child birth and I am just not willing to take those risks. I am hoping when the time comes for baby #2 that I will have a quick labour and easy birth since my first labour was only 6 hours with 27 minutes pushing I am pretty confident that as long as I have a healthy normal pregnancy I could achieve another natural birth.

Since I found out I was pregnant with Baby F I have learned so much about pregnancy & birth and my personal experience has inspired me. Someday when my children are grown I want to become a certified Doula so that I can help other women have more pleasant birth experiences.

LOL I know I posted last night that I would not be posting much because we are moving across country next week but all I can think about is the move and I can not sleep for the life of me so here I sit at 12:30am with Baby F in the Moby wrap rambling my thoughts for you to read.

The Next 2 Weeks...

2012-04-14T21:09:00.001-07:00

In 9 days we will be boarding a plane and making our cross country move! It is going to be a very busy, exciting and stressful time. I will be taking a blog vacay for about 2 Weeks... I might be back to posting sooner depending on how Baby F adjusts. I might pop on to my blog and post quick updates about how we are doing and whats going on but I won't have time to do reviews or informational posts until after we get settled.
You can also follow me on twitter at twitter.com/earthseamama or like me on facebook.com/EarthSeaMama

Our Little Cutie

2012-04-14T18:11:00.001-07:00

We got our photos back from Baby F's last Sears Portrait session!! I just had to share :)