The Scientist Behind the Mom

Vancouver Olympics 2010

2010-02-15T19:40:00.000-05:00

Everyone is a fan of the Olympics, everyone has something or someone to cheer for. The whole world watches. This year we're on home turf as we host the 2010 Olympics games in Vancouver, BC.

In our house we watched the opening ceremonies on TV, and followed allong on Twitter (#olympics). This made for a very interesting running commentary to go along with the fantastic job that the organizers of the ceremonies did. Here are some of the comments, which brings you along with the ceremonies.

Fri at 9:55pm - The Monacan delegation is comprised entirely of Bond villains

Fri at 10:02pm · The Swedish flagbearer has beautiful eyes and a MAJESTIC mullet.

Fri at 10:09pm · Ikea is a country?

Fri at 10:10pm · Why is Batman playing fiddle in front of the moon?

Fri at 10:47pm · I didn't know Wolverine could do Riverdance.

Fri at 10:53pm · Waiting for Superman to emerge from the Fortress of Solitude

Fri at 11:06pm · Slam poetry on the Olympics?

Fri at 11:12pm · Wonder how the crowd will react when they all get sprayed with maple syrup at the climax. Real maple syrup.

Fri at 11:17pm · Perhaps now is a good time to point out Canada has more relaxed marijuana laws than US. Make more sense now?

Fri at 11:18pm · "With glowing heart..." Is Iron Man gonna be there? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!

Fri at 11:27pm · Good to see Clay Aiken make it on stage at the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics.

Fri at 11:35pm · Is that Al Pacino singing?

Fri at 11:35pm · This just in: Olympic torch pillars being recalled by Toyota.

We had a great laugh at some of those, and more!
Every night now we sit down in front of the TV to watch our athletes and once we get the baby to sleep, we can watch them and cheer in silence!!! We still follow along on Twitter too, love seeing the commentary!

http://www.vancouver2010.com/

Thirsties Duo-Diaper Giveaway

2010-01-25T21:19:00.000-05:00

If you want to add to your diaper stash, visit Organic Girl's blog (now!) and enter into the Thirsties Duo-Diaper giveaway. Ends today (Jan 25 2010)! Act quick!

Daddy Diaper Event

2010-01-23T21:12:00.000-05:00

If you want your cloth diapers tested and reviewed by the most critical people, have them reviewed by daddy. That's just what the gal over at Mama Dweeb is doing this February. Her husband is reviewing all of the diapers she receives from her sponsors - on camera. I can't wait to see the reviews!

Here's the link to the event on her blog:

Movies for Mommies

2010-01-22T21:15:00.000-05:00

A few months ago one of my mommy friends invited me to go see a movie. A movie! How exciting! Oh, but I can't, I have a baby who won't take a bottle... No problem she said, this a movie for mommies!

There are a few theaters in Ottawa (and in other cities) that offer showings a couple times a week in the afternoon, where they dim the lights, lower the volume, have a change station and have room to park your stroller so that you and baby can catch a flick. Car seats also fit in the theater seats which is great cause babies tend to nap during the movie. This is a great set up if you need to get out of the house and want to watch a movie. Don't worry about a fussy baby, every mom has been there! It's a fun outing for you and your mommy friends too, and who knows, you might even get some shopping done while out!

Check out these two websites to find a theater near you offering movies for mom and baby!

Stars and Stroller

Movies for Mommies

BabyLegs Giveaway!

2010-01-21T16:04:00.001-05:00

I love being able to get things for free, which is why I'm posting this entry about a chance to win free BabyLegs! Visit Suburban Saving Mama's blog and read her review on BabyLegs (and see my post below).

Good luck!

ROTFL Mats

2010-01-19T12:23:00.002-05:00

After visiting a lot of our “baby friends” we realized we needed to join in the trend of floor mats in the play area. These puzzle piece coloured floor mats are great. They protect your floor from spit ups, drool, pee or poop during diaper free time, and just overall baby wear on your floor. If you have hard or cold floors, it helps to insulate them too.
We recently got some for Christmas and put them down in our living room (we have a very small house, so it’s really our only room) and our daughter and her friends have lots of fun playing on the cushy surface.

You can get them at stores like Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire and Home Depot and we suggest getting a bunch at the same time so that your pieces all fit and are the same colour (friends of ours noticed that they aren’t all the same at the different stores, and some brands don’t piece together well).
Have fun!

The Ride of your Life

2010-01-19T06:51:00.013-05:00

Choosing a stroller to buy can be a daunting process, almost more than buying a car. I actually think buying my car was easier. Much like buying a car though, you need to decide on what your needs (and budget) will be.

There are basically 8 types of baby strollers (for more information, go to Stroller Advisor.com )
1. Umbrella strollers - which get their name from the curved double handles and from the fact that they fold up easily and compactly like an umbrella - are the smallest, lightest and most basic baby strollers available.
2. Lightweight strollers are single mid-sized strollers. In their simplest form, they provide a seat for your child and somewhere for you to push, but can have many more features depending on the price.

3. Stroller travel systems are the ultimate in convenience for a parent with a newborn. Basically, it is a good-sized stroller with an infant car seat that clips in and out.

4. Universal car seat carriers are a metal frame with stroller wheels onto which you can clip most brands of infant car seats. 5. Multi-function strollers are stroller frames on wheels that can accommodate either a bassinet, an infant car seat or a regular child seat, depending on your needs.
6. Active strollers are specially designed for health-minded parents who regularly enjoy physical activity with their children. They include all-terrain and jogging strollers. There are also bike trailers/strollers, and child carriers for hiking and cross-country skiing.

7. Multi-child strollers are built for transporting twins, triplets and even quadruplets and quintuplets. They are also good for two children who are close in age or even three children of similar ages (for example, a toddler and twin babies).

8. Carriage strollers or prams are essentially a traditional solid backward-facing bassinet on a frame with four large wheels or a more modern bassinet attached to a frame with swivel wheels.

After all this information we had decided that we wanted an 'active' stroller, one that we could go hiking with, jog with and push through the snow in the Ottawa winters. After talking with friends and reading reviews, we narrowed it down to three strollers: The Phil & Teds Sport Buggy , the BOB Revolution, and the Bumbleride Indie.

As much as we liked the double feature of the Phil & Teds, we were concerned of hitting the bottom child while we walked or ran - so that stroller went to #3. Then the debate was between the BOB and Indie. After "test driving" each stroller (I strongly suggest you do this) learning how to manuver it, fold it and use all the features, AND comparing the price, we decided on the Bumbleride Indie.

Bumbleride Indie is not your average All-Terrain Stroller. Weighing a slim 20 lbs., Indie combines the off-road ability of a multi-terrain stroller with the lean agility of an urban jogger and features a 360 degree swiveling front wheel with forward and rear facing locking positions. Indie is suitable for newborns and toddlers using a multi-adjustable reclining backrest. Ready to tackle any terrain, Indie comes standard with rear suspension, a height-adjustable handle, large storage basket and removable cup holder.

With this information, we were ready to buy. The only thing holding us back was final decision on colour! We eventually went with the Seagrass (green & blue), though all of their colours were very tempting!

Why we love our Bumbleride...

We love our Bumbleride. It is nice to look at, light, easy to fold and put in the car, handles well when jogging (wheel locked), easy to manuver (one handed), easy to put the car seat on (we have the Graco SnugRide), the storage basket fits everything we need, the handle adjusts to the height you need, the backrest is very adjustable (no presets), it has an adjustable foot rest (so you can fully raise it when baby is very small to create a 'bassinet' style carrier), it has a peek window on the canopy (which is large to block a lot of sun), a 5 point harness for added security, big wheels which make pushing through snow and sand easier (through sand - we found through very soft sand pulling it backwards worked best, but on harder/stiffer/wet sand it worked find pushed normally, and in snow - lock the front wheel (less wobbling)). The Indie is also 'small' enough to bring right up to the door of an airplane (then they put it below and have it ready for you (sortof) when you arrive at your destination), just make sure to use the locking clips to lock the stroller in the collapsed form. We also like that on big car trips we can remove all the wheels on the stroller (quick release) so that it takes up less room in the trunk so that we can add more luggage. It just does everything...

I love my stroller. After reading all this, do you? :)

PS. The only down side of the stroller is the weather cover - it fits well, but in cold Ottawa winter temperatures its a little brittle. I've mentioned this to Bumbleride and they said their 2010 weather cover is a little different, so hopefully that helps some of this issue!

I. Love. BabyLegs.

2010-01-18T06:27:00.018-05:00

It started with just a couple pairs, but then quickly grew to double that. I tried to stop, but I found a good deal online. And then another, and before I knew it, I had a (healthy) collection of 16 pairs of BabyLegs for my daughter.

What are they you ask? They are leg warmers for babies. Yup, that's right. Leg warmers. They are great to keep that gap between pants and socks filled (or just to keep socks on), and they make diapers changes really easy because there are no pants to take of (and then struggle to put back on flapping legs) which keeps baby warm. They are also great if you are doing Infant Pottying (or Elimination Communication) when you have to take the baby to the potty. And they're just so darn cute. Of course there are lots of other ways or reasons to wear them. Check out their website: http://www.babylegs.com/. Here is what their website used to say:

Gapiosis: The space between the sock and the bottom of the pant, often accentuated by being held in arms or by being placed in a carrier or stroller…Sweet little baby legs all over the world are being exposed to the chilly air because of gapiosis. Protect their sweet little legs from wind burn and chill…Feet remain free to allow for successful crawling, walking, and dancing. BabyLegs also help keep socks on! They fit most kids from newborns to size 10 - BabyLegs will warm your little ones for a long time. They’re fun to use as arm warmers too!

They are great to layer under a dress, skirt, shorts, or under warm winter clothing as baby long johns! My daughter loves wearing them (I think!) and loves all the attention she gets when she has them on. And how could you not love them? They are great! We found them very useful because they fit my daughter when some pants didn't (especially the 0-3 month sizes) because of the bulk of cloth diapers, and her long legs, either the waist was too small, or the legs too long, so this solved all our problems!

BabyLegs now has another line coming out, NotSox (apparently being sold at Target in the states). Just as cute!

So, how many BabyLegs do you have? Sorry, how many pairs does your BABY have....

First Blog Post

2010-01-17T07:41:00.006-05:00

This is officially my first blog and my first post. I decided to start blogging because I seem to have a lot to say and not too many people to say it to. My daughter listens to me but doesn't really get what I'm saying, you know? But that's probably because she's only 6 months old. That means I'm half way through my maternity leave (which is why I say you can take the mom out of science [my job]...)

We like to be well researched behind things we do, whether it be buying a house (vs renting [graphs were made]), or laser eye surgery (PRK [at the time] was the way to go), or whether to go cloth or disposable diapers (cloth), and have found that our research hypotheses have always been true. A lot of what I will blog about here will be about things we've done research on, or things that we really like for babies that we find work. And for good measure, I'll throw in some other things like funny stuff that happen to us during the day.