Om at Home Coffee

Rylan has yet another fundraiser. I hate fund raising. At this stage in Rylan's life, it's more me that's raising the funds than her so it's kind of annoying.

Although her latest fundraiser is kind of cool, if I have to admit it.

Grosvenor Nursery School is selling Om at Home coffee. It's all organic, fairly traded and mountain grown. The company is actually just a little factory in Toronto, so it's kind of nice to support the little guy who is also supporting the little guy. (They support small independent coffee producers and cooperatives.) Their packaging is biodegradable and compostable, how cool is that?!

I'm really looking forward to trying some of this coffee now that I've become a coffee drinker.
I think I'm going to get a bodum too. Is it December 1st yet?!

Winter Coats and Car Seats

It's that time of year again. The flip flops are getting buried deeper and deeper in the closet and big, warm, bulky coats are creeping closer to the front. Which is why I'm bringing up the whole "car seat safety" point all over again.

I've been over the importance of having your car seat(s) properly secured into your vehicles, how tight is actually tight enough when strapping your kids into your properly secured seat and now I want to demonstrate the importance of removing bulky winter wear BEFORE putting your child into their car seat.

This is Rylan. Rylan is strapped into her seat wearing her winter coat.

I can only fit one finger between the middle buckle and her chest. It's tight. Which is why she's pouting... and yelling, "It's too tight!" :)

Now see what happens when I take her coat off and do not adjust her straps.

There is way too much give in these straps. No matter how tight you try, they will never be tight enough with a coat under them. During a collision, the coat/snow suit becomes compressed. There have been cases of children having been ejected from their car seat during a collision while their coats remain in the car seat. I don't mean to frighten anyone, I just want to make sure that all of the babies I know, and know of, are safely strapped in this winter.

What is recommended is putting your child in the car in what they would normally be wearing indoors. Strap them in (tightly!) and cover them with a blanket, or I just put their coats back on them backwards and tuck it around their legs. I have been working on plans for a car seat safe coat, hopefully I'll get one finished soon so I can show you.

I know my kids complain that they are strapped in too tightly every time I put them in their seats. It's tempting to loosen it off for the sake of a quiet car ride, but not a risk I'm willing to take. I usually give the straps a little jiggle, and let them think that it's been loosened. Works like a charm! So far!

Please, spread the word about this. Let's keep our kids safe this winter!

It's Almost Hallowe'en!

Rylan 2009

I love Hallowe'en!! It is one of my favourite times of year.
Every year (for the last 8) we have a Hallowe'en party, and every year we try to top the previous year with better food, better costumes and better decorations.
I don't know what happened with this year, but it's 2 days before our party and I'm not really feeling any motivation to decorate, bake or costume make. :(
My house has a couple of strands of caution tape up (thanks Rylan!), the menu is not planned at all, and my costume is far from done.
Last night I decided to dedicate today to Hallowe'en prep. It's almost 11 o'clock and I'm in my PJs on the internet! I have done 2 loads of laundry, but that doesn't really help with the party!
I decided to look through old Hallowe'en party pictures (what I have on this computer) for some inspiration and motivation.

2008

Queen of Hearts and Alice

The Paper Bag Princess, Ronald the Prince and the Dragon (and Lily's Bee-hind!)

The Obama's, McCain and Palin

McCain left his mark EVERYWHERE in our house. I'm still finding these! This is the one that was taped to our bedroom ceiling. I'm pretty sure we also framed one behind our new rooms in the basement.

Our youngest party-goer yet! Emma, only a few days old.

2009

Cupcakes

Chocolate pretzels




Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice!!!


Juno & Bleeker


This photo sort of creeps me out.

I think it worked!! I'll post some post 2010 Hallowe'en pictures after Saturday... everything is top secret!! :)

Rylan's First Day of Pre-School!

She woke up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy.
Ate her breakfast at the counter, Carla did her hair all pretty.
Brushed her teeth in the bathroom with her kidde toothpaste.
This way when she left out the door her breath didn't smell like waste.

Talkin' funky dunky polish on her toes, toes.
Night before laid out her clothes, clothes.
Boys better not be using phones, phones... yet.
Radio playing all our favourite songs.
Pullin' up to the pre-school,
Mom got a little bit weepy.

Today, Tuesday September 7th, 2010, was a big day in the McFarlane/Blay household.
Our baby girl started pre-school.

She did amazingly well. We got there a little early and had to wait for her designated drop off time of 9:05am. She looked so cute with her little french braid pig tails and mini backpack.
Obviously I brought my camera!

When 9:05 finally arrived Rylan rang the door bell and away we went!
All of us (Tony, Tatum, Rylan and I) walked down the steps to the entrance of the school.
Mrs. C was there to greet us, so we all gave Rylan a big kiss and off she went to find her very own hook and to meet her classmates.

Tony headed to work, and Tatum and I headed out with no agenda. As we pulled away, I felt some chest tightness and my eyes well up. It felt like a dream. There is no way my little Christmas baby was old enough to start pre-school!

Tatum and I stopped a Chapter's. I love Chapter's. I had a Chai tea from Starbucks to try to sooth myself and Tatum and I hung out in the newly renovated children's area for a while. It felt really weird to have only one kid with me. I forgot how easy it was!!

11:15 came quickly. (We were told to pick them up early on the first day as not to give them a sense of abandonment.) Tony met us at the school to pick her up too and we all went out for lunch to celebrate.
Rylan had a great first day. She met her friends and her teacher. She played in the sand and coloured with markers with Julianna. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

To extend rear facing... or not?

It's official... Tatum is 1! Since she has turned one, she can now face forward in her car seat in the car. Facing forward is SO convenient. It takes up way less space in the car, she can ride in the direction we're going for the first time ever, and she can peek over at her sister, who is also facing forward.

Lately I've been on a big car seat safety kick. I have done so much research and time after time I've read that 80-90% of children aren't restrained in the car properly. Is it really possible that only 10% of kids 80lbs and under are in their seats properly? What's the point of using a car seat if that many of us aren't installing them correctly?

We just bought 2 more Safety 1st Alpha Omega 3-in-1 car seats this week. PS: They're on sale at Walmart for $127! Anyway, it had been a while since I had last taken a brand new car seat out of the box to install. We used to move the 2 seats we did have from car to car, but I figured with that much seat moving, we're just asking for trouble. I thought it would increase our chances of installing them incorrectly. I pulled out the directions to the new seats, removed all of the plastic rapping and began the install. I read the entire booklet, and the sections that pertained to me, multiple times. I'm still not sure if I understand 100%. This is my 2nd year and 8th month using a car seat, I read the directions thoroughly, I'm extremely concerned about the safety of my children, and I'm still not sure if they're in right! Now I get why the majority of us can't get a seat/child in right.

I have signed up to take a car seat technician course. It's absolutely ridiculous that this many people aren't getting their seats in properly... I don't blame them, the instructions might as well be in another language! I figure that if we can get this stat reduced drastically then perhaps I won't ever come across a kid injured in an accident because his/her seat wasn't in right.

Today was Tatum's 1 year check up and I asked her pediatrician about extended rear facing. He told me that he believes that if a child's seat is in properly, forward or backwards, it won't make a difference. The key being that the seat is in as it should be. He said that if there's an accident bad enough to injure a child, that child will be injured whether they're facing forward or backward.

Now, I'm not sure if I agree with him completely. I have read so much information on extended rear facing and I was a determined to keep Tatum rear facing until she was 2.
In Sweden, they recommend keeping their children rear facing until age 4 or 5. From 1992 through June of 1997, only 9 properly restrained rear-facing children died in Sweden. The car seats approved for Canada won't accommodate a rear facing 4 or 5 year old, but will accommodate a child who is less than 30 or 35 lbs depending on the manufacturer.

Rear facing is said to be safer than forward facing in front or side impact collisions. 96% of accidents in the USA are either front or side impact. Seems like an easy decision.
When it comes to the installation of a 3-in-1 seat as a rear facing seat, the seat doesn't seem as secure in the car as it does forward facing. The tether at the back of the seat makes a big difference when it's forward facing. I feel completely torn!

I think I have over thought this whole thing a bit too much... what are your thoughts?

Debt Reduction 101

Starting July 1st, we are on a strict debt reduction plan to rid ourselves of all debt aside from our mortgage. I'm kind of dreading all of the necessary cut backs, but at the same time LOVING the idea of being 100% debt free.

We don't have a crazy amount of debt, but I do have a nasty habit of buying something on the credit card with the intention of paying it all off straight away, but then don't! I hate how I do that. It's usually an internet purchase...

I will be removing my credit card from my wallet as of July 1st and sticking it somewhere far, far away and hard to access. I actually think it probably would be best to just cut it up all together.
No temptation there! We paid my way through school (3 years) and had 2 kids (back to back and EI doesn't pay that well). So we incurred a bit of debt during those times of our lives. Plus it doesn't help that I only work part time so some weeks money is great and other times it's just okay.

As for saving money, we're great at it! Thanks to ING's savings accounts, we are able to set goals and automatic have money go into it. Now the smart thing to do would be to use our savings to pay off the debt and move on... but we put in a pool instead. :s

I have been doing some reading on debt reduction and thought I would share what I have learned.

1 - pay off your highest interest rate debt first. It could be your smallest debt amount, but paying it off first will save you more money paid in interest. Once that debt is paid off, use the money you were spending on those payments and start paying off your 2nd highest interest debt. Continue to make minimum payments on other debt.

2- you should put at least 15% of your net income towards debt repayment.

3- apparently there is such as thing as "good debt". That would be using credit to obtain things such as a house and an education. You should not use credit for things that are consumed quickly, food (restaurants, groceries) and trips. Of course if you have the cash to pay for these items and are using them for convenience, that's fine. But you HAVE to pay them off within 30 days to avoid being charged interest. That's the part I suck at.

Anyway, we should be debt free in a few short months, but it's going to be tough not buying something good when I see it. I think I'll have to avoid Winners and Homesense since those places are all about the impulse buy!

Here are a couple of good links to help understand more about debt and how you can reduce it.
Calculate a plan using this tool.
and figure out a budget with Gail Vaz-Oxlade's budget builder here.

On a completely unrelated note, I never did get around to making sunscreen!

Terrible, terrible Tuesday

I don't know how else to describe the day, or more like the morning, we had today.
Today just started off differently. Normally, Tony and I lay in bed until the absolute last minute possible and are usually joined by 1 if not 2 kids. Not today. We were both up and getting ready before either child had even opened their eyes.
Tatum was the first one up so we plopped her in her high chair while I rushed around like a crazy person before heading to work. Tony had given her a few toys to play with to keep her occupied. I just happened to glance over at her when I saw this horrible look of distress on her face and she was turning a shade of red... she started gagging.
I rushed over, ripped her out of her seat, flipped her onto her stomach and started giving back blows to bring up whatever was obstructing her airway. I kept checking, still obstructed and now she was going from red to blue. Tony was just getting into the shower, so he couldn't hear me calling for his help so I grabbed Tatum and ran for the bathroom to get him. I stopped halfway to continue back blows, still obstructed. Drool with blood was pouring out of her mouth and the look in her eyes made my stomach churn like nothing before. I got to Tony and STILL hadn't removed the obstruction. Tony called 911 and I kept trying. I must say, calling 911, as a paramedic, IN UNIFORM, felt very odd! While Tony was talking to dispatch I felt her take a deep breath and then start to chew on something. I looked, still didn't see anything but decided to feel around anyway and got it! It was a piece of scotch tape... I hate scotch tape right now. All gifts from me will be wrapped with any other kind of tape!
I keep reliving this morning events over and over and it makes me sick. We HAVE to be way more careful now that Tatum is mobile and puts everything in her mouth. My heart aches every time I think of her little face... Thankfully, she's perfectly fine now!! Just keeping us on our toes!