The Sprog

I♥Biking: Running into friends

2013-05-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

This post over on Family Ride recently reminded me of one of the many reasons I love biking: meeting friends along the way. It doesn't happen every time I get on my bike, but it sure happens a lot. I've run into friends along the seawall, at intersections, as I rode past the Mount Pleasant Family Centre & while locking up my bike at my destination. Can't say that ever happens when I'm driving. & while riding a bike, it just seems so much easier to stop for a minute to chat.

Not having a cage of steel & glass around me helps immensely, I'm sure. Driving seems to me to be an inherently isolating activity. I think that's why I see so many drivers doing really selfish & dangerous things like running red lights, speeding, driving too close to cyclists or pedestrians. In a vehicle, I feel protected & very separate from the rest of the world. I can't hear the people walking in the crosswalk or the ones in the other cars. I can't even make eye contact as easily with all the glass & potential glare in the way.

I much prefer the 360 degree view I have on my bike. I love how easy it is to brake & pull up onto the sidewalk to say hello to someone. Cycling is social in a way that driving isn't.

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Summer Bucket List

2013-05-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: Redcorn Studios [Matt] via Compfight cc

Though today's weather isn't exactly summery, a rainy day seemed like a good time to daydream a little about what I'd like to get up to this summer. Since finding a job is proving to be rather difficult when pregnant, it looks like I'll have quite a bit of time (if not money) on my hands to do many of these things.

Travel (via transit, as usual) to Victoria to visit friends.
Edit: Whoops! Forgot #2... Heh.
Go camping: probably tent camping with a car at a provincial park--nothing too strenuous.
Stay on at least one of the Gulf Islands for a weekend or more.
Go hiking: likely not anywhere too ambitious--given my 'delicate condition'--maybe a quick one to Quarry Rock or something?
Visit Spanish Banks at low tide & play on the sand bars.
Go to the Vancouver International Children's Festival at least once.
Have a picnic dinner in a park somewhere.
Host a barbeque with friends.
Make popsicles! I keep seeing great recipes for interesting & healthy versions online that I need to try.
Go swimming in an outdoor pool like Kits or New Brighton.
Visit the PNE. Should be fun this year with a rambunctious three-year-old & me at about 38 weeks pregnant. Gulp.
See some outdoor movies. It was so much fun last year seeing The Princess Bride in David Lam Park, Monty Python & The Holy Grail & Labyrinth in Ceperley Meadows. I definitely want to do it again!

If we do about one a week, we should be able to accomplish all this in the next few months. What about you: have you made a bucket list? What are your top three things to do this summer? Share them in the comments below!

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Wordless Wednesday

2013-05-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Artist's rendering of the proposed St. George Rainway project, to daylight St. George Creek from Kingsway to 5th Avenue:

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GO VOTE!

2013-05-14T16:48:00.001-07:00

To my BC readers: GO VOTE! You've got less than four hours (less than three if you're in the eastern bit of the province on Mountain Time) before the polls close!

Remember, if you don't vote, you can't complain a bit about the results of the election. Even if you think there's no point, if your chosen candidate hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of being elected, it's still worth it. Frances Bula offers some reasons why in her article in today's Globe & Mail: In the safest of seats, B.C. constituents weigh the value of their vote.

Photo Credit: Dean Terry via Compfight cc

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I♥Biking: Grocery Shopping

2013-05-13T11:33:00.002-07:00

This morning I headed over to the quiet aisles of the 9:30am grocery store after dropping Sprout off at daycare. Parking was a breeze--got a spot right outside the door. Headed in, loaded up my cart with what I suspect was my weight in groceries (seems like just the heavy stuff was on sale like watermelons, big jars of pickles & canned beans) then brought the cart outside to pop it all in my... panniers.

Yup. I do a lot of my grocery shopping by bike. It's WAY easier than walking or taking transit--faster too. I'm pretty sure that there are few things in life I hate more than walking with bags of groceries for several blocks. If you've got a couple of panniers (those saddle bag thingies that strap onto a rear or front rack, to the uninitiated) it's pretty doable to bring home half a shopping cart worth of groceries. I also stash things in the child seat on the front--makes for a more balanced load. Sometimes I will strap light but bulky items to my rack too. Today that was a grocery bag full of corn on the cob & a bag of onions. Some days it's a couple of multipacks of toilet paper.

Here's what I bought today:

big jar of jam, 2 jars of peanut butter, honey, 3 cans of beans, 1 kilo of chocolate chips, 2 big jars of pickles, dried dates, 2 cans of soup (I get cravings for the Campbell's stuff, though I know it's horribly high in sodium), mustard, 3 organic romaine lettuce hearts, 3 lbs of organic onions, 1 whole seedless watermelon, 6 ears of corn, 1 lb butter, 3 bottles of Perrier (I just like fizzy drinks & this is the healthiest option. Also: on sale), 2 loaves of bread (I didn't actually buy these, the delivery man from Oliver's Bakery handed them to me as I was loading up my bike. I think they're day-olds, but hey: free bread!)

You might think it's hard work riding back up the hill home, but it's really not. The bike holds the load for you & as long as you go a normal speed--not too slowly--you won't wobble with the weight. Obviously it's a bit more work than riding home unloaded, but you just gear down a bit (I recommend mountain bike gearing if you live in a hilly area) it's fine. I've done Costco trips with my bike before (& Sprout).

Of course, if you have a bike trailer, this whole trip is even easier. Our trailer--without Sprout in it--can carry a huge amount of groceries with the added benefit that we don't have to balance it on the bike. That's my excuse for the crappy photos, by the way--I was holding the loaded bike with one hand & taking a photo with the other.

A basket on the front of your bike would work, or even a big backpack. However, when the groceries are actually strapped to you rather than the bike, it really feels like more work for some reason, so if you can--get them on your bike! However you carry your purchases, grocery shopping by bike is pretty doable if you live within a few kilometres of your grocery store. It's a bit of exercise, a nice way to get outside, enjoy the wind whipping through your hair & the greenest way to travel: no carbon emissions at all!

Do you go grocery shopping by bike? Got any tips to share? Leave tips or questions (I love questions!) in the comments below...

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To All The Mothers

2013-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: . SantiMB . via Compfight cc

Here's to all the mothers who lost babies, whether it was in the first trimester or the last, the first pregnancy or the second or the sixth.

To all the mothers who submitted to countless medical appointments and invasive procedures with unpronounceable names reduced to acronyms: IVF, ICI, ICSI...

To all the mothers who created families through adoption: to the birth moms and to the adoptive moms.

To all the mothers whose birth experiences became traumatic medicalized nightmares.

To all the mothers who spent weeks or months in the NICU.

To all the lesbian mothers still fighting to have their relationships with their partners & children recognized.

To all the transgendered mothers and trans men who've given birth.

To all the mothers who are still waiting for their children.

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Linnaeus 2.8/9

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

First time he got his own cone at DQ

Another month whipped by, sped up by being in school full-time. April 10th came & went: I completely forgot to do the monthly update on Linnaeus. Heh. So here's two months in one for you.

Sprout comes home from daycare each day with new songs & skills. He's learned his colours fairly well & regularly identifies things around him correctly. For some reason, he mixes up blue & green. He's solid on pink, purple, black, white & red though. What shocked me recently was when he casually started pointing out letters on a poster in our living room. He got to six or seven correctly & amazed me. I later asked our daycare provider if she's been working on the alphabet with hime or if they do it at StrongStart, but apparently not. The only thing I can think of is this alphabet train phone app that I let him play with. Since he first showed me the letters on the poster I've occasionally quizzed him on letters & he seems to recognize more than half the alphabet now.

The boy still loves reading books & has large chunks of them memorized. I'm beginning to wonder when he'll actually start reading himself, with the way he's learned his letters almost by himself. He particularly loves all the Dr. Seuss books that Papa reads to him nightly--he really loves the rhythm & rhyme of The Foot Book, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish & The Lorax particularly. I really hope his love of books continues beyond when he starts to read himself.

The past few weeks Sprout seems to have accumulated a lot of new songs from going to StrongStart regularly with his daycare. When not sleeping or eating, he's usually singing his ABCs, something about a bumblebee & names, Baa Baa Black Sheep, or a number of other songs I'm not that familiar with. His ability to carry a tune has vastly improved as well--he sings a bit off-key when he's focussing on the lyrics, but if he hums the songs, he hits the notes more accurately.

Sprout's appetite has been a little up & down in the past two months, partly because of two bouts of gastro bugs. His favourite food is still "Soosie!" (sushi) & he often requests it, even for breakfast. Perhaps related to regularly eating nori in his maki, he seems to have partly gotten past his leaf aversion. When we're out in the yard, he'll sometimes munch leaves of kale directly off the plants in the garden. I doubt he's gained much weight in the past couple of months, but he's definitely growing; he's already 37.5", which is apparently tall for his age.

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Preparing (or rather, not) for Baby #2

2013-05-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

11 weeks pregnant

This time around, I sometimes feel like I'm neglecting the baby that's in my belly. I did so much to get ready for Sprout's arrival, but his sister is getting nowhere near the same level of preparation.

When I was pregnant with Sprout, I swear I spent 95% of my time planning, obsessing, researching & preparing for his arrival. We painted his room, picked out furniture, decorated it & stuffed the closet with clothes & all kinds of gadgets & doo-dads that we'd be sure to need, many given to us by well-meaning friends & relatives, some bought ourselves.

This pregnancy, it took me months to get to the point where I wasn't regularly forgetting that I'm pregnant. I haven't read a single book on pregnancy or birth or registered for even a refresher prenatal education course. I think I've taken two 'belly pictures' in the past five months. I did buy some less casual maternity clothes in preparation for the job that so far hasn't materialized: two pairs of pants that I've already grown out of, a dress, a sweater, a top & a blouse.

19 weeks pregnant

But I haven't bought anything for the new baby. We got Stokke Tripp Trapp chair on consignment for Sprout, freeing up the booster for his little sister next year. I'm thinking about getting a 'skateboard' attachment for the Uppababy Vista stroller so Sprout can ride along when the baby's in the seat or bassinet. I have so far avoided buying any adorable little dresses or shoes (though I admit, I've looked) because I know that we will probably have more than we need with the promised hand-me-downs from three girl cousins.

The biggest thing is that our daughter doesn't have a bedroom in our house. In our part of the house--which is a bit over 1000 square feet--we've got two small bedrooms, then two rooms at the back off the kitchen that are each about 7'x9', closetless, with one or no electrical outlets respectively. Though this house was billed as having four bedrooms, I'd say half of them hardly qualify. Also: they're both packed to the rafters with stuff. Mine's mainly sewing/craft stuff, with a large percentage of stilting costume parts. Oliver's is, well, I'm not even sure how to categorize it. It's a storage room. So where does the baby go?

I was feeling just slightly guilty that this little girl isn't really getting the same level of attention, much less her own room, but then after reading Rachel's post over on Minimalist Mom: Do You Really Need a Nursery?, I felt a little better. I love the idea of minimalism, though it's a far cry from how we live. Still, I think it's worth striving to have less clutter & pare down a little. More importantly though, it's valuable to remember that it's not the stuff that shows we care about our children. We'll figure out where to put the baby once she arrives.

Parents of more than one child: did you find you prepared as much for baby number two? Or were you like me, distracted enough by the first one that you often forgot about the one on the way?

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State of the World's Mothers -- Infographic

2013-05-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Save The Children has just put out their annual report on The State of the World's Mothers, detailing what we've accomplished in terms of reducing maternal & infant mortality, as well as how far we have yet to go. (read the report here) Here's the infographic they've put out this year, focussing on the first day of life, statistically the most dangerous for newborns & mothers alike. I found the top & bottom ten worst countries interesting--note that neither the US or Canada ranks among the best ten.

UPDATE (9May2013): I've just received the Canadian version of the infographic (just the middle section is different). As most of my readers are Canadians & it's often difficult to come by Canadian-specific stats, I hope my American readers don't mind too much. :)

Please click on the image to enlarge in another window, as my blog can't accommodate the full-size (& thus legibile) image.

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Review: FEMmed Pregnancy Multivitamins

2013-05-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, when I was in the grips of first trimester nausea (I refuse to call it 'morning sickness', as it was ALL DAY) I got the chance to review femMED's Pregnancy+Ginger multivitamins. I found ginger tea helped me so I was eager to try a more convenient form of ginger.

I found the vitamins did help with the nausea, along with getting enough sleep & eating small meals with protein about every two hours. FemMED Pregnancy+Ginger offers similar quantities of vitamins & minerals to other brands, but with 1000mg of ginger per day. You will need to take three per day which could be a hassle to remember all of them. However, if your stomach is sensitive, taking three over the day might be easier for you. If you haven't got time to brew up vats of ginger tea & sip on that all day, these vitamins are a convenient alternative to get your ginger. Each container has 60 capsules which is only 20 days worth & at $27.95 per, that makes them significantly more expensive than a lot of other brands out there.

FemMED makes a wide variety of specialized supplements for women to target things like bone health, breast health, hormonal balance, menopause & sleep, among other things. femMED is available at Shoppers Drugmart/Pharmaprix, Walmart, Loblaws, Rexall PharmaPlus, London Drugs & Save-On-Foods as well as on femMED's website.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, but I did receive two bottles of vitamins to try out for this review. The opinions above are my own, as usual. This post is not intended to be medical advice--if you have questions about supplements & nausea (or any other health concerns) during pregnancy, please ask your midwife, nurse or doctor!

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22 Weeks, or, EAT ALL THE THINGS

2013-05-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have reached that stage in my pregnancy where I am pretty much hungry from dawn til dusk. My motto at the moment is this:

Make your own 'X' all the 'Y' on MemeGenerator.net

While it's fun to have carte blanche to eat like a pig, I am not enjoying the discomfort that comes with having less room for my stomach. Feeling like my ribs are going to explode a la Mr. Creosote in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life... well, it just sucks.

But in general, I feel great these days & barely waddle at all. Having time to walk & cycle more definitely makes me feel good. I think all the sunny weather lately & participating in the David Suzuki Foundations 30x30 Nature Challenge might be having an impact too.

How are you doing these days?

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Literacy in Canada--Infographic

2013-05-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

I came across an interesting infographic on literacy in Canada. Take a look & tell me what you think in the comments below--are you as shocked as I am at the numbers?

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Vancouver International Children's Festival Family Activity Pass Giveaway

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Making some noise at Kidsfest 2012

It's nearly that time again: when the weather turns fair (or at least only rains half the time) & some of the most talented children's performers in the world congregate at Granville Island for the Vancouver International Children's Festival. The 36th annual festival takes place May 27 - June 2, 2013, on Granville Island. Kidsfest 2013 promises to be better than ever with new activities & a stunning lineup of international & local performers.

But enough preamble, right? Let's get on with the details of the giveaway. I have a family pack of four Vancouver International Children's Festival wristbands to give away to you. These wristbands will allow access to the festival & all the creative activities there:

Facepainting
Making Music with Found Objects
African Dance & Music
Shadow Puppetry
Circus Skills
Bicycle Spin-Art
A Kaleidoscopic Outdoor Weaving Experience
Origami
Magical Mystery Maze
Sock Puppet making
Twist & Toddle baby & toddler play zone (this was Sprout's fave last year)

(Just to be clear--the wristbands do not include admission to performances inside the venues) The four pack of wristbands is worth $32 total.

To enter, you have many options: the more you do, the better your chances! You can tweet about the contest, follow me & Kidsfest on Twitter & Facebook--the only required one is to leave a blog comment below about why you want to go to Kidsfest this year. Please remember that it's two steps for each action on Rafflecopter--follow/tweet/post then say you did it--to count as a valid entry. Let me know if you have any technical difficulties.

I'll randomly choose a winner on Friday morning--contest closes at 11:59pm Thursday, May 9th. I'll post the winner on the blog & notify them by the email given to Rafflecopter. The winner must contact me within 48 hours to claim their prize. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I will be receiving the same wristbands for my family to attend the festival. The words & opinions above are my own, however.

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Streetwise Cycling Skills Course

2013-05-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Are you new to cycling, or just kinda rusty? It's spring, the weather's improving--it's the perfect time to get (back) into riding your bike. If you're worried about riding in traffic or not really sure what the rules are, HUB offers a Streetwise Cyclng Skills Course for adults 16+ to get you confident on two wheels.

Through classroom & on-road training you'll learn about:

the safest place on the road to ride
how to maneuver your bike effectively
communicating with other road users
the best ways to handle riding at night & in the rain
& more

You’ll get the skills & confidence you need to love riding in the city. The next Streetwise Cyclng Skills Course is May 5th, 10am to 2:30pm at Creekside Community Centre. The best part: the course is again subsidized by the City of Vancouver, so it only costs $20! You can register here on HUB's website.

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Mother's Day Gift Idea: Blurb Designer Instant Books Promo Code

2013-05-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

With Mother's Day coming up soon, I have a great idea for how you can make something special for yours! Head over to Blurb & take a look at the Blurb Designer Instant book template. With it, you can make a professional quality photo book filled with memories for mom. Instant Books are easy to create, take about an hour, starting at just $12.99. This is definitely a present she will leave on the coffee table for everyone to see each and every day!

Start creating your Blurb Designer Instant Book today & save 20% with promo code LOVEYOUMOM valid through 5/10/13!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post & as a Blurb Affiliate, I receive a small commission if you use one of the links in the post above to make & purchase a book.

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How does your favourite label measure up?

2013-04-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the garment factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh that left hundreds of workers dead, the question of where our clothes come from has come to the fore in the media. Nearly every major brand makes their duds offshore & most of them aren't all that forthcoming with information about factory conditions, workers' wages & environmental track record. However, thanks to a tweet I saw in my feed the other day, I've got a resource to share with you:

RT @ecouterre: Need to rank apparel brands in terms of environmental and social impact? This website has your back is.gd/x0Z2fz
— Nicole Bridger (@nicolebridger) April 29, 2013

GoodGuide has information on all kinds of products, including clothing. Their Apparel Guide gives 182 clothing companies a ranking from 0-10 on working conditions and how well they minimize environmental impacts. Look up the clothes you're wearing & use the information to push for change if you see a low rating!

& to make your life even easier, GoodGuide has a mobile app for iPhone & Android. You can use it to scan barcodes & check the ratings of products as you're shopping. Download it on iTunes or Google Play.

If you downloaded GoodGuide's app, please let me know what you think in the comments below!

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Bangladesh Factory Collapse: What Can We Do About it?

2013-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, I assume you've seen some of the media coverage of the Bangladesh garment factory building that collapsed, killing at least 348 people. I'm sure you've seen the disturbing images & video, so I'm not going to hammer you over the head with shocking pictures or try to make you feel guilty. Instead, I want to focus on what we can do here in North America. I want to offer solutions & action that can make a difference, however small.

Image modified from: foldablebags.com via Compfight cc

I've seen a lot of calls on Twitter for boycotts of the manufacturers who have their clothes made in these unsafe factories, but I don't think that's the answer here. While there's definitely a link between low wages of offshore garment workers & our hankering for fast fashion & demand for rock-bottom prices for our clothing, I don't think a boycott is going to do it.

The people--predominantly women, as I understand it--who work in these garment factories choose these jobs because they pay better than their other options, as low as the wages are. Just not buying clothes made overseas would mean fewer jobs for these women in Bangladesh, China & all the other countries where clothing manufacturers have gone. They're in the streets fighting for change in their own country, & we need to do our part here, & demand better conditions alongside them.

The anti-sweatshop movement from the 90s made a difference, helping to reduce child labour & making audits of working conditions standard practice. Audits are a good first step, however, we still have a long way to go. The clothing manufacturing industry runs with so many middle men that between the factory floor where they're sewn & the shop floor where they're sold, clothes often pass through seven hands. All those layers of people are taking their cut, which is a bit part of the reason that the garment workers are receiving a pittance, working in dangerous conditions.

So, what can we do? I think most of you readers out there are women, mostly moms. It's mothers who have the power when it comes to buying clothing. We shop for ourselves, our ever-growing children & often for our spouses too. So here are my suggestions for some concrete changes you can make.

Sign petitions & share them on social media. This one is asking for clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement.
Ask questions. Ask clothing retailers where their clothing is made, what kind of standards are upheld.
Ask about fair trade certification.
Ask about vertical integration of production. American Apparel--whatever you think of their porny advertising--runs on a model of production that reduces all the middle men. That means that the people actually making the clothes get a decent wage. Why can't this work in Bangladesh too? Let's push for companies to take a more hands-on approach & stop leaving it to layers of middle men to source their clothing. This will mean more money in the hands of women & families in the developing nations where our clothes are made.

When I say 'ask', I mean write a letter if you have time (I know you probably don't--you're a mom, I get it), or send an email to Loblaws via this link. Find the social media profiles of the companies who make the clothes you buy & post questions on their Facebook page, tag them in tweets. You've got time for a tweet, right? Ask the staff in the stores where you shop.
I know I said boycotts aren't the answer, but here are some ways to save money on clothing without buying sweatshop-made fast fashion:

Repair, don't throw away! If you've got a stained t-shirt (either yours or your child's), turn a spaghetti sauce disaster into a one-of-a-kind applique. Tutorial here. (psst, I know it says you need a sewing machine, but you really could do it by hand)
Don't buy, swap! Getting hand-me-downs for kids or hosting clothing swaps for you & your friends can mean 'new' pieces for your wardrobe without spending a dime.
Buy local, if you can afford it. I like to, but rarely can justify spending a lot on clothing for myself, let alone Sprout, who will likely grow out of it in six months.
Buy used. My favourite children's store is Wee Ones Reruns, a consignment kids shop that's right around the corner from where I live. They've got a good selection of kids clothes from birth to about age nine--good quality stuff for low prices. There are tons of consignment & thrift stores everywhere, not to mention swap meets--check out your local one to see if you can find any gems for yourself.

Okay, that's my list of ideas for you. I'm not an expert, by any means, however. Have you got any more ideas? What do you think we should do?

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Listicles: 10 Acronyms I Use Regularly

2013-04-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Photo by SeeMingLee via Flickr

Sometimes I feel like acronyms are taking over our language. Text messaging & social media has definitely influenced the way we communicate, even face-to-face. This week's Listicles topic, suggested by Jennifer, is 10 Acronyms I use regularly. Those of you who've been reading The Sprog a while might know how much of a linguistics nerd I am--if you're new around here, welcome!--so I really had fun writing this list. The acronyms that I feel I've been using constantly lately are rather telling about what's going on in my life.

BF/EBF (breastfeeding/exclusive breastfeeding) Lately I've been reading about low milk supply & strategies to help. This is part of planning for the birth of our little girl in September. I'm hoping to avoid the BFing struggles I had with Sprout.
ASAP (I don't need to gloss this one, right?) A classic, applicable to practically everything, I feel like I've been saying & typing this one a lot lately, with assignments due a few weeks ago, new freelance writing clients, not to mention my job search for PR work. Which leads me into my next item on the list:
PR (public relations) I've just finished the certificate program in public relations, during which I probably used this particular acronym at least a gazillion times.
SFU (Simon Fraser University) just finished there & have spent at least 14 semesters there over the past decade & a half. I completed my undergraduate degree there (Bachelor of Arts in French) plus an ESL teaching certificate in 2001. After nearly a decade teaching ESL, I decided to change directions & took a number of courses in Linguistics & Psychology between 2010 & 2012. When I realized that it would take me years to get all the prerequisites & the perfect grades to get into the Speech Pathology Masters Degree Program at UBC (sorry, another acronym) I decided to rethink my plan. When I found out about the PR program at SFU, it seemed like a really good fit. So here I am, with yet another certification from SFU.
NDP (New Democratic Party) I've gotten some temporary work making fundraising calls for the NDP until the election May 14th. Every time I actually connect with a human being, I introduce myself with this acronym & ask members & past supporters for donations. Sometimes it even works!
TMI (too much information) I've seen so much news coverage of various gory tragedies lately. When I know it's fiction, like the TV show Bones, I don't mind at all. But when I know that the image is showing real human suffering, I just need to say TMI & look away. On a lighter note, this acronym also gets thrown around our house a lot when dealing with diapers. I'm going to be really happy if we can manage to have just one child in diapers by September.
TTYL (talk to you later) This is probably the only 'textism' that I regularly use. Though I am a pretty prolific texter (well, maybe not compared to some teenagers) I actually tend to type out my words in full, rarely using U, R, 2, 4, etc in place of you, are, to/too, for when I'm texting or tweeting.
RSVP-(pop quiz--can you actually tell me what this one stands for?) Not to brag, but we've been getting lots of invites to things lately, it seems.
EI (Employment Insurance) One of my goals this summer, besides finding a PR position ASAP, is to work enough hours to qualify for EI by September. Maternity/Parental EI, specifically. For my American readers, if you didn't know, Canadians get up to 50 weeks of leave after the birth of a child, care of the government EI program. To qualify, you need to have worked at least 600 hours in the past year. I'll be cutting it close this summer, but if I can qualify, it will make a HUGE difference to our family to have paid leave for a year.
TLDR (too long; didn't read) Here's hoping you didn't think this in your head before reaching #10 on my list... ;)

What are you favourite or most overused acronyms right now? Are there any that drive you crazy? Share them with us in the comments below!

If you liked my list, check out some other takes on the topic by visiting Stasha's Linky over at NorthwestMommy.com. Just click on the Monday Listicles button over there to the right & you'll be treated to some funny new blogs, I promise!

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It's a...

2013-04-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

...girl!

Congrats to Chloe, who guessed right, then got picked by the random number generator. She'll be getting a set of cards soon & we'll donate $50 in her name to BC Women's Hospital this weekend. This baby pool was fun--thanks to everyone who played along.

We're pretty excited to be having a girl. I've always wanted a daughter & it'll be nice not to be 'outnumbered' by a house of boys. As much as I'm not a typical 'girly' gal, I am looking forward to dressing her, too. Boys' clothes are just so boring unless you spend a mint.

Now that we know the gender it'll make the process of naming a little easier. When we were making lists of potential monikers the last time around, it seemed easier to think of female names than male. This time, partly to save myself some work, partly just because I was too busy, we haven't really started the process yet.

I know it's different for everyone & some people still prefer the old-fashioned way of finding out the gender when baby is born, but I feel like it's easier for me to connect with this little fetus knowing whether it's a girl or boy. The downside will be finding room for the avalanche of hand-me-down clothing that I know is coming from her slightly older cousins: Skylar, Kira & Natalie. ;)

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And the Vancity Prize Pack Goes to...

2013-04-26T12:07:00.001-07:00

Aaaaand the winner is...

Jen Kossowan, also known as the camera, creativity & brains behind Mama Papa Bubba.

Congratulations! You'll be recieving the Vancity prize pack including:

One Family annual pass to Science World (!)
Branded Tiffin
MGM glass water bottle
2 shopping cart tokens
4 produce bags
MGM Kraft bag
1 Vancity pen

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest & shared their efforts to be more green!

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Review: VIP Bin Cleaning Service

2013-04-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you live in a house in Metro Vancouver, I'm sure you know about the changes coming to garbage pickup. If you missed the memo, starting May 1st, the city will be picking up green waste weekly, but only picking up garbage every other week. This means that people who aren't already recycling, composting & trying to reduce their garbage output will have to get their act in gear as soon as possible. It also means that there are going to be some smelly garbage bins out there.

Photo courtesy of WashMyBin.com

I've recently learned about a solution to the stink: VIP Bin Cleaning, a global bin-cleaning franchise business. Their cleaning process helps with the smell & bacteria, potentially alleviating pest problems--all those lovely critters that like to munch on your garbage.

Here's how VIP Bin Cleaning works: a customer signs up for service on washmybin.com and provides an address. VIP's mobile machine arrives the day of bin pickup. The bin is cleaned using recycled water in 2-3 minutes, or 5-10 minutes for first-time bins. A sticker indicating the last wash date is placed on the bin, and the customer is e-mailed. You do not have to be home during the service. Watch their video to see a demo.

Besides the fact that it leaves your bins clean, VIP Bin Cleaning actually saves water too. Their machine requires less than two litres to clean each bin, versus the average nine litres you would probably use if you were to clean your bin yourself.

Colin Bell, Owner and Chief Bin Cleaner, says, "We want to protect families from bacteria and pests with monthly cart cleaning. We clean your green and garbage carts using our advanced cleaning technology, which leaves no mess behind."

Seriously clean green waste & garbage bins

We got to try this service out last week & I was quite impressed at how clean the bins are. Fortunately for you, I forgot to take a 'before' photo, so you don't have to look at what a disgusting state our bins were in before VIP Bin Cleaning came by. I'm not sure when the garbage & green waste bins were last cleaned & they weren't new five years ago when we bought the house, so I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how they smelled. When I walked up to the bins to inspect them after I got home, the outsides were clean & I could actually smell the cherry scented disinfectant they used on the bins earlier that day.

VIP Bin Cleaning service costs $8 per bin. If you sign up for a year's service, you save a little. Getting two bins cleaned every other month is $82 a year. For stinkier or more pest-prone bins, monthly cleaning of one bin is $96 a year, or for both bins cleaned monthly it's less: $164 annually. Considering how disgusting & time-consuming the bin cleaning process is for us to do ourselves without a power washer, I think the service is really worth it.

Disclaimer: I received a free bin cleaning from VIP Bin Cleaning. The opinions above are my own.

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Wordless Wednesday

2013-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Came across a photo of my birthplace at work last week. Here's a similar shot from Wikimedia Commons:

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5 Tips to Encourage Your Kids to Read

2013-04-23T10:26:00.004-07:00

Sprout got a library card at 6 weeks old!

It's World Book Day Today, so I thought I'd share some ideas on how to get your kids to read more. These are things I've read about, things I've done myself & things my parents did with me. I'm not a librarian or an expert on child literacy, but I am a bookworm.

Read to your children. From the beginning. Even when they're newborns, they love hearing your voice. You can get special black & white books designed for their developing eyesight, but I don't see that as essential. It's the interaction with you that's more important at this stage. So far with Sprout, we've progressed from 10-page board books to Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. We read to him every night before bed, at least one book, often three or four. He has also started to 'read' books on his own, explaining the pictures or telling what he remembers of the story. He also recites bits of his favourites during odd times of the day.
Encourage your children to participate in the reading. For toddlers, you can ask them to name pictures in the book, or elicit the last word in the sentence of a rhyming book. Dr. Seuss is great for this: Me: "I would not eat them with a..." Sprout: "Fox!" Me: "I would not eat them in a..." Sprout: "Box!" For preschool age kids--maybe age three to five--let them point out letters in the words & use your finger to follow along the text as you read so they see the word & connect them with the sound. When they can read themselves, take turns reading sentences or get them to read to you as much as they like. Just keep it fun!
Buy your kids books. It doesn't have to cost a mint--used books are just as awesome. I buy lots from Wee Ones Reruns, our local kids consignment store for $2-5 each, usually. I'd say this applies mainly to younger children who will want to read the same book again & again, not so much to older kids who will read a novel once. However, there are still books you might want to have around for kids who've outgrown picture books--reference books on basic science & anatomy, collections of poetry, kid-friendly cookbooks...
Go to the library often. Lots of public libraries have great children's story times or activities for different ages of kids. Many are during the weekdays, but in Vancouver there are weekend & evening programs aimed at working parents too. Best of all--they're nearly always free! BONUS TIP: The Vancouver Public Library allows even newborns to have library cards & DOESN'T charge fines on overdues for children if taken out on their cards.
Read books yourself. Modelling is important too. Kids need to see that reading is something that everyone does. My parents did this & I have fond memories of curling up at the opposite end of the couch, each of us immersed in our own novels. At that time--about 30 years ago--I was reading Nancy Drew & Bobbsey Twins novels (not exactly great literature) but it hooked me on the world of the imagination that you enter when you get lost in a book.

Have you got any tips to add to my list? What are you reading right now? (to your kids & by yourself) Leave a comment below!

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Baby Pool: Is It a Boy or a Girl?

2013-04-22T17:10:00.001-07:00

In case you missed the bump pic in my Instagram feed or the hints on Facebook or last week's Wordless Wednesday photo: we're having another baby! I'm about halfway along, as a matter of fact.

We just had the detailed ultrasound today & we're going to find out the gender, so I thought I'd do a quick baby pool for you all. It's just to guess if baby's a boy or a girl--not birthdate or weight or anything (yet).

The prize will be:

a 10-pack of my hand-made cards (blank inside) plus envelopes
a donation of $50 to BC Women's Hospital Foundation in your name

BC Women's Hospital is where Sprout was born & where I went when we lost our first baby, Arrow. It's where I've had my detailed ultrasounds the last two pregnancies & where a number of my friends have delivered their babies, some of whom were extremely premature. The support & care I've received there is second to none, so I'd like to give a little back. If you want to read more, visit the BC Women's Hospital website here.

To enter the pool, all you have to do is post a comment below with your guess of 'boy' or 'girl' by 10pm on Friday April 26. If you comment without signing in, please include your name & some way of contacting you if I don't already have it: Twitter handle, Facebook name, email, something... Obviously, you've got a 50-50 chance of getting the answer right, so it's more of a draw--I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner among the people who guessed the right gender.

Good luck, everybody!

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TOP 10 WAYS TO SPEND 30 MINUTES

2013-04-21T19:21:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! My apologies for being a bit scarce around here the last few weeks. As you might have figured out from my last Wordless Wednesday post, I have a good excuse, besides being in school & then practicum full-time. But my practicum is finished & I suddenly have a lot more time on my hands (until I find full-time work, that is) so I thought I'd jump back into Listicling again.

Photo Credit: wwarby via Compfight cc

This week's topic is an interesting one: Top 10 Ways to Spend 30 Minutes. Here are mine:

Drinking craft beer. Sadly, I haven't been doing much of this for, oh, about four months & probably won't for another four or so.
Eating dessert. Gimme cheesecake, chocolate cake, apple pie, creme brulee, bread pudding, mousse, brownies, nearly anything that's sweet & I'll enjoy that 30 minutes.
Having a bath or shower. One where I get to wash my hair, condition it, have a nice exfoliating scrub AND shave my legs, rather than having to pick just one of the former because I have to rush off somewhere. Or having to pick just one of the former accompanied by a two-year-old.
Sleeping. Though I could usually use a *wee* bit more than 30 minutes extra these days, I'll take what I can get.
Riding a bike. Anytime, anywhere, it's my favourite way to get around.
Poking around a museum or art gallery. Better yet: on a guided tour.
Sewing something. I love spending thirty minutes at my sewing machine & coming away with a finished product. I can't make anything too complex in that time, but still.
Making & eating a batch of this popcorn. Yes, it's got Nutella on it. Yes, it's INCREDIBLE & you must try making it NOW.
Having a cup of good tea. I have sadly had to quit drinking black & green tea because of the caffeine, but I still love me a good cup of rooibos, dandelion root, lemon zinger, or pretty much anything herbal.
Watching Sprout play. He's gotten much more into imaginative play lately, telling odd stories & pretending a lot. It's pretty entertaining.

Interesting to note how many of these involve me eating or drinking something... Guess that tells you where my priorities lie these days. So, tell me: what's your favourite way to spend 30 minutes?

Linking up to all the other Listiclers via Stasha at NorthwestMommy. Check out their lists too by clicking on the button to the left.

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