I have never felt that kind of pain in my heart, and I know I was totally overreacting. John, my DH was really serious when he teased and said “Thank God! It was you that dropped him first and not me!” That was pretty funny, I can laugh about it all now.

I thought we were doing pretty good too. 7 months without any bumps. At the same time it wasn’t a negative experience, it was bound to happen eventually. Better to learn early and keep growing from there. Babies will cry from bumps, they will get hurt. We all just have to keep moving forward and grow together.

There should be support groups for this. I know there are a gabillion online forums, but it’s not the same thing. While they help after the fact, there is nothing there right at the moment your kid goes tumbling down onto the floor like Humpty f*ckin’ Dumpty. Nothing is there to actually catch your friggin’ kid, including yourself.

I did find a really helpful tip online from a doctor. He says to just not let your baby fall asleep for 30 minutes after a fall or bump. Babies are okay 99% of the time stuff like this happens, but to help ease a new moms’ nerves, 30 minutes will give you enough time to feel for any bumps, find any bruises, and God forbid, see if there is anything else more serious.

That makes good sense. I mean, our kids are gonna get hurt no matter what we do. I could try to keep mine in a big plastic bubble for the rest of his life, but I just love hugging him and kissing his chubby cheeks too damn much! (Please NOTE that no babies were harmed or seriously injured in the writing of this post ;-D)

My baby-daddy and I are constantly growing the kid library for our bub, so we made some purchases online. This book got chucked into the mix.

As soon as it arrived, I sat down with my sweet August and started to read. The beginning was fine and sweet. A random mother brings her baby boy home and sings to him:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

Sweet right? Perfect. So the kid grows into a terror toddler, then it gets weird. The mother crawls across her son’s room at night to sing to him:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

I had to stop reading for a moment because I almost peed myself laughing at this weirdo stalking her son. I mean why crawl on the floor in the middle of the night? Just shout from the rooftops that you friggin’ love your kid and get over it.

I almost stopped reading the book altogether, but I felt like I had to watch this train wreck unfold.

So the kid keeps growing. He’s now nine, doing his own thing. Then, when he’s really, really asleep, here comes psycho mom to hold him and sing:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

She really has no one to blame but herself at this point if her kid wets his bed because she keeps freaking him out with her rocking and singing to him in the middle of the night …

Then he becomes a teenager and of course whenever he’s really, really asleep, mom of the year crawls across the floor and sings:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

The teenager grows into a man and gets his ass out of the house pronto (I’d guess here, it’s a 100% to get away from all his mother’s crazy rocking and singing at night). BUT HELLS NO! Stalker Mom 2.0 gets into her car, drives miles across town to his house, sneaks into his room by climbing into a window, crawls across the floor and sings:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

She really had no one to blame here but herself if her man-boy is a total Mama’s boy.

Dare I continue to read? I turn the page and all of a sudden I got kicked in the balls. HARD. Super mom is too ill to sing to her son, so her son goes to her, picks her up in his arms and sings to her:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My Mommy you’ll be.”

My heart jumped into my throat and suddenly my eyes welled up with huge tears. NO! SHE CAN’T DIE! SHE. JUST. CAN’T. Then the son goes into his newborn daughter’s room to sing:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

The end. W. T. F!

I can’t even talk about this book anymore without balling my eyes out. Plus I’ve now made it a habit to go into my kid’s room at night and sing to him:

“I’ll love you forever/I’ll like you for always/As long as I’m living/My baby you’ll be.”

My copy of this book is drenched in mommy tears, so you’ll just have to go and get your own.

Since having a baby, I find these kinds of issues can become really contemptuous very quickly. While I think it’s important for parents to arm themselves with as much information as possible in order to make educated choices for our children, I find it completely unnecessary to judge each other. At the end of each day all we are trying to do is make the best decisions for our children. The best decisions being different ones for different kids, in a vast multitude of different circumstances. Meaning, what works for my kid might not work for your kids and vice versa. More importantly here, is that I would not push what works for me onto you. If you ask me what I do, I’m more than happy to share, but when all is said,done and researched it really is your own business what you decide to do.

Which brings me to what this post is going on about. I’ve had people make comments to me and offer unsolicited advice about my baby sucking his thumb. To which I simply decline from any comment and walk away in search of a happier place where all kids and moms can just be who they are and enjoy each moment as it comes.

These cookies are great for toddlers and super easy to make. They’re very low in sugar and fat and contain only whole grains. They are also super high fibre with the flax and oats!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 very ripe bananas

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup grated carrots

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1/2 cup  whole wheat flour

1/4 ground flax seed

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the bananas and beat for another minute. Add in egg, buttermilk, carrots and vanilla seeds and beat until combined.

3. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, flax, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add these dry ingredients to the wet ones in the mixer and mix on low speed until just combined. Remover the mixer bowl from the stand and fold in the rolled oats.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and drop 1 inch balls of the dough spaced about 2 inched apart. Gently press down each cookie so that it’s about 1/2 inch thick.

5. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

My holiday was a most enjoyable one, albeit frantically hectic with our new little in tow for his first holiday experiences. Don’t get me wrong, I love people and all that crap, but holy fack does the Christmas explode when you have a baby. There isn’t enough alcohol on the planet to survive through dinner after dinner, gathering after gathering. There aren’t enough elastic waist pants to stretch through all the eating. And so on and so on.

Funnily enough, our little one didn’t have a friggin’ clue what the shat was going on. I put up a tree in early December, all excited to see his reaction, shatter-proof balls and all, and as soon as he saw the tree he proceeded to look up at the ceiling and drool. Yay. We even bought a tree with the lights already attached, and nothing. Double yay.

He even got a Santa suit from Grandma (see here) and again – nothing. I wasn’t expecting him to start tiptoeing through the tulips or anything nearly as grand, but a surprised gasp, a smile or anything of the sort would have given me that extra “oomph” to go on. So instead we staged our very first Family Christmas pic. Here’s to a the beginning of a beautiful family tradition for many years to come.

Please note that no baies were actually eaten or harmed during the staging of this fantastic family photo. All the best to everyone in 2013 and beyond!

It was our own stupidity to have not actually made our way into the line, so when said stampede of parents ran past us to line up, we panicked and stumbled along after the herd. Lucky for us we ended up at the “20mins” marker. As we waited we kept slapping our own foreheads going “stoopid stooopid stoopid” and we continued to berate ourselves for having missed being first in line for pictures.

We watched each kid go up for their Santa photo op and every one stared blankly off into the distance as if they had no clue what was going on with the fat man in the red suit. It was pretty funny, from screaming kids, to kids not knowing what to do, we had to give it to Santa for being so patient. It must be a huge qualifier in their job interviews.

All in all I think Santa photos are really more the parents and family, because most of the kids, especially the younger ones seem to be completely bewildered by the entire experience. I’d be the first parent to admit that I’m right there with them, particularly if I had to wait more than three stupid hours of my life that I would never get back to capture a hallmark occasion. August is lucky he’s cute or else I’d be putting on a dollar store beard and a cheap pair of red pajamas to take pics on our couch at home and all his little friends would be confused about Santa having boobs. BAH-HUMBUG!

I have so many favourite soups both my recipes and others that I’ve started to lose count. I recently decided to make a list for those days when I’m feeling a little uninspired or need an idea quickly, it’s a list of only soups, by title with no recipes, just a list of their name and maybe a note or two of specific ingredients that made it memorable. It serves as a quick reminder of those recipes I don’t want to lose track of and is especially handy during times of heightened chaos.

The other day while skimming over the list I landed on this recipe from Cannelle et Vanille that I tried last spring for the first time. I remember how surprisingly amazing it was, with the fresh flavours of zucchini, peas and watercress highlighted by the aromatic flavour of coriander. I say surprising because it’s so simple but yet incredibly refined. The 3 main ingredients: watercress, zucchini and peas are a perfect match, not one getting more attention than the other. I love it when a dish highlights all of its ingredients so seamlessly. It’s what makes it memorable and this is one memorable soup.

I make a lot of soups not just because I love them but for their convenience when feeding those smaller ones without a full set of teeth. For the most part, I try to make the same things for him that we eat, it makes life so much easier and soups are still a great option. It’s no surprise that Rain loved this soup, he smacked his lips saying “mummm mummm” after ever bite, dipping his little pieces of toast in it himself.

Later that evening we had this soup with another favourite recipe curtesy of cannel et vanille and there was just enough left over for Rain to enjoy again the next day for lunch.

Zucchini, Pea and Watercress Soup – Adapted from Cannelle et Vanille

olive oil
1-2 celery stalks, diced
1 medium leek, white part only
1 garlic clove, minced
2 medium zucchinis, diced – I used one yellow and one green
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
vegetable broth to cover
1 cup fresh peas, frozen is ok too
1 cup watercress, stems removed
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup whole-milk yogurt
Mint, to garnish

1. In an medium sized pot heat the olive oil and sauté the celery, leek, and garlic until translucent.

2. Add in both zucchinis and cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the coriander and sauté for a minute more – just until you can smell the coriander becoming fragrant.

3. Pour in vegetable broth to just cover. Place a lid on your pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Add in the peas and watercress and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

5. Season with the salt, lemon juice .

6. With an immersion blender puree the soup until smooth.

7. Add in the yogurt, garnish with mint and serve warm.

I’m still on the fence whether we will do stockings with Rain – mostly it will probably depend on how much time I have left in the next week or so.

While the jury’s out on that one, I decided to put together a little guide on smaller gifts I found this year for Rain’s advent calendar that would be great stocking stuffers!

1.Stockmar Beeswax Crayons.

2. Wooden Windup Trucks.

3. Bird Whistles. 

4. Wooden Toy Fruit.

5. Jacks.

6. Sheriffs Badge.

7. Pocket Dolls.

8. “My Little Legs” baby Leg Warmers.

9. Cool Felt Cat Mask.

10. Little Miss Princess.

11. Stickers are always awesome!