Confession: I have way too many clothes.

Okay, so I admit; I am a clothes-aholic. I have been since I was 2 years old when I started dressing myself and found out how fun it is to express myself with clothes. That progressed to changing into multiple outfits throughout the day (and even through the night!) until I was a teenager. Thats when things really got out of hand; I started spending all of my allowance and any money I got from my job on anything fashion related.

The buck stops here, well not completely... but I am making a commitment to align my love of all things fashion with my values to love the earth, support local and STOP all of this ridiculous consuming! Honestly, one person does not need 17 pairs of jeans (even if they are different styles!). I've decided to make a change: less clothes, better quality. For years my husband has been bugging me to stop buying cheap, made in China (or Korea, Taiwan, Thailand etc.) clothes and buy good, made in North America, quality clothes. I've finally come around; I have changed so many aspects of my life to align with my values and this one area is so glaringly in juxtaposition to them. I buy clothes that I like (usually made in China), wear them a few times, then I am either sick of them or they have fallen apart.

My criteria for my wardrobe will be the following: Made in North America (or sometimes Europe), Practical; easy to walk, bike, LIVE in, Fashionable (sorry, this can't go!!!), and finally to buy/have fewer, but more high quality things. Essentially the old: quality over quantity adage. So I have cleared out the crap from my closet (around 15 pairs of those jeans that I could barely move in) to be taken to a consignment shop , and purchased 3 new things to round out my wardrobe. Surprisingly, there are quite a few shops around town that fit the criteria, here's what I got: A pair of made in Canada Second Yoga jeans, SUPER comfy and great for biking, a really great top by Ecoskin made in the USA for the fall that works for nursing, and finally, a really lovely pair of Swedish Hasbeens - they are made in Sweden, BUT they are handmade made with quality natural materials (alder wood and natural grain leather). So far I have been surprised by the plethora of stylish and sustainable clothing. I hope some of you mamas, and non mamas alike can make a change too!

An abundance of Apples.

 My friend Caroline gave me a bag of apples from her apple tree. The bag of apples sat in the fridge for a few days until inspiration hit; the arrival of my new kitchen aid mixer! My family pooled together and got me a Kitchen Aid Pro 600, bring on the baked goods. Project number one: Cheddar and Apple Scones, recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

 The unbaked dough, just cut into six pieces, egg-wash, sprinkle with sugar and bake at 375F for 30 minutes.

 We headed to the beach to enjoy the freshly baked scones, at 8:00am, it was perfectly quiet.

 The finished product.

 It went down fairly well I'd say. They turned out amazingly, super delicious and complex flavours. Just the right mix of sweet and savoury.

 We quite enjoyed our view, Lily in the foreground and the ocean in the background.

 Project number two: Lemon scented cinnamon apple sauce, also from Smitten Kitchen . Super easy, put the apples, cinnamon, lemon peel and 1 cup water, and cook on stove top for 30 minutes or until they are sufficiently mushy. When it cooled, I used an immersion blender to make it nice and smooth. Delish!

Loved by Lily (and the rest of us!)

I have a friend named Mollie. She is having a baby.

We are so excited that come October, Lily will have a playmate. Our dear friends Mollie and Logan are having a baby. This past Sunday we celebrated them and the upcoming birth of their first child with a baby shower. The shower was hosted by the amazing Amelia, who did an incredible job. These are the pennant flags that Amelia made for decorating the lovely "Nana's" garden.

 Amelia collected gorgeous tea cups to use at the party, and then take home as party favours!

 The spread was a collaborative effort, including additions from Amelia's Greek Mother-in-Law, YUM!

 Fill your tea cup with your choice of beverage.

 I made Pickles and Ice-cream sugar cookies from one of my favorite blogs; Bake at 350

 Some more delicious treats, you can never have enough.

The handsome couple, they are going to make fantastic parents.

Sun of a Bleach...

BEFORE

AFTER

I had read about sun bleaching and how amazing it is for getting things white but I was totally amazed when I tried it myself.  I put my diapers out to dry in the sun and within an hour they were completely stain free! If you cloth diaper, try drying them outside, you are further reducing your energy consumption and whitening your diapers at the same time. If you don't cloth diaper, try this with your regular clothes instead of bleach. Every little thing counts.

Summer Lovin'

Our fantastic 50 SPF sun umbrella

We brought her stroller bassinet, which worked perfectly for playing under the table during the reception.

My loves.

My solution for keeping her quiet during the ceremony, although I spent most of it looking into her eyes.

Lily with her Nana, wearing her lovely locally handmade dress.

I don't know what I would do without my Ergo Carrier, or my gorgeous husband.

We came back just in time to celebrate my birthday.

I adore summer, and this weekend was the perfect summer weekend. We drove about an hour away to Providence Farm, where our dear friends Peter and Tessa were getting married. The wedding was outside and the weather was absolutely perfect. We decided to take the opportunity to make it a mini family vacation and camped for two nights. It also happened to be the weekend of our first wedding anniversary. It was our first time camping as a family, and more importantly, our first time camping with a baby. I have to admit, it was a bit trickier than the days of just packing on the fly and heading out for the weekend. We had to be calculated in our packing decisions and make sure we had all of the baby essentials.

1. Our big beach umbrella, it was really hot and sunny, so making sure Lily had shade was essential.
2. Our highchair, somewhere that she could safely sit, play, and eat. Luckily, ours comes apart really easily, so it wasn't a big deal to pack.
3. Cloth diapers, wipes, wetbags etc. thankfully we were only gone three days, so we didn't need to put Lily in disposables.
4. Warm clothes, here on the westcoast, even in the middle of August it gets chilly at night. 
5. Lily's gorgeous merino wool and organic cotton Wee Woolies sleep sac, super warm and locally made.
6. Sunscreen, and lots of it. I love Badger brand, non-toxic and safe for babies. 
7. Obviously a good waterproof (you never know!) tent and all the other regular camping gear.         

It was so nice to get away, and have some time together as a family. We kept Lily up a little later than usual, forgot about any "routine" and just enjoyed our little family. Hopefully there will be lots more camping trips to come.

Cloth Diapering, six months in.

There is something you should know about me, I am obsessed with everything baby, pregnancy and parenting related and I have been for as long as I can remember. Even before I got pregnant I started researching what parenting decisions I wanted to make and one that I came across that really intrigued me was cloth diapering. I knew that my mom had cloth diapered us (my two brothers and I) for the most part, and that it was a pretty hard job with three kids. Let me tell you, things have really changed since the eighties in the cloth diapering world (no more pins and plastic pants). There are a plethora of choices, from the most high tech fool proof (daddy and babysitter friendly) diapers to the original pre-folds (which are really cheap absorbant and perfect for infants and toddlers alike, although a bit more work). After countless hours of research, we decided that cloth diapering was for us. There were just too many benefits to ignore. Firstly, the cost savings are huge, estimated to be about $2000 per child, depending on which cloth diapers you go with (ranging from around $150 for a "stash" of diapers lasting birth to potty training). Secondly, the environmental impact of disposable diapers is huge, www.sustainer.org states that over 80 percent of parents are using disposables, that adds up to 18 billion diapers (82,000 tonnes of plastic) a year going into the landfill. And lastly (well not lastly, I could come up with a million reasons) the health impact, it just makes sense to me to wrap my babies bum in soft washable cotton than in plastic ( not to mention the bleach, chlorine, sodium polyacrylate - the scary absorbant gel etc.). So here is my cloth diaper stash, which admittedly, is a little fancier than we might have needed (coming in at around $550, still a huge cost savings). For the cloth diaper enthusiasts, here is a detailed list: 1 little to big Little Beetle wool cover (a great option for a natural material), 1 fitted Little Beetle, 6 Grovia All in One, 7 Grovia All in Two 12 Bum Genius 4.0, 3 Bum Genius Elemental Organic and 6 Tots Bots. So far Lily has never had a serious diaper rash, and cleaning and caring for the diapers has not been a big deal AT ALL. With 36 diapers, we usually have to wash every 2-3 days. We have cloth diapered from her very first diaper and every one in between; this doesn't mean that you have to, even cloth diapering occasionally can make a big impact. Try it and you might be surprised by how much you like it. You can't deny that they are super cute. (P.S. how do I keep my diapers looking so white you ask? Why the sun!)

Baby Led Weaning: The first two weeks

So Lily is six months and two weeks old. We are past the six month mark people; it is absolutely crazy to me, six months has never gone by so fast. Even when I was pregnant with her I couldn't wait to get to six months. There are so many amazing things that happen when a baby gets to be at that stage of development, one of those amazing things being the introduction of solid foods. As we were getting closer to the date, I was starting to feel unsure; something just didn't feel right about mashing up food and spooning it to her. So I started doing some research and found that a lot of moms who "feed on demand" (simply feeding your baby when they show signs of hunger, instead of on a set schedule) start solids using the "baby led weaning method". This essentially means offering your baby a variety of "finger foods" and allowing them to move at their own pace. They begin by picking up the food and licking it then move slowly to learning how to chew the food and finally, to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. This made so much sense to me and it seemed like such a natural progression from breastfeeding on demand. In addition to being six months of age (the recommended age to start solid foods) she was showing all of the signs of being ready: sitting unassisted, being interested in food and grabbing for food. Sure enough, we have given her cucumber, yams, watermelon, apricot, broccoli, celery, carrot, pears, banana, avocado and plum. Some she has liked more than others but each time we do it, less gets thrown on the floor and more ends up in her mouth. I know some people may be worried about this being a choking hazard but I assure you, done properly there is less of a chance of choking than with the standard spooning of mashed food. The idea is that the baby learns to chew before learning to move the food to the back of their mouth to swallow it. So far, under great supervision and adherence to the guidelines of baby led weaning, we have had only amazing results. The introduction has not been stressful but instead, a really fun, amazing and memorable experience. Do some research and find out what is best for your family but this is what is working for us. I will be sure to update you along the way! P.S. get yourself an easy to clean high chair and a good bib (ours are from ikea and you can pretty much hose em' down)

And Lily makes three

Just as the sun was coming up on a calm morning in January, our Lily came into this world. She was born after 24 hours of labour at 7:27am on the morning of her due date. We were lucky enough to have a home birth, and to have the amazing support of our loving family and midwives. In total their were 8 people in our little bedroom at the time of her birth. Just enough people to have one person putting a cloth on my forehead (my mom), one taking pictures(my dad), one rooting me on (my mother-in-law), one wrapping their arms around me(my love dan), one student midwife watching intently and two midwives working their magic to get my baby out safe and happy. Overall, it was a magical experience, challenging both mentally and physically, but incredibly worth it.