Category: Baby

The cleaning lady

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, General

One of my whiny complaints about mat leave is that, because you spend so much time at home, the household chores take over your life. Sometimes it feels like a mom’s life is an endless cycle of cooking and cleaning. Supposedly I am home to spend time with my kids, but I end up not spending time with them because I am trying to feed them and keep them clean. It does not help that while I am cooking and cleaning the kids get their toys (and things they consider their toys) all over the place because I am too busy cooking and cleaning to stop them. Then I get mad at them because I have to clean some more. Then they refuse to eat the delicious healthy meals I lovingly prepared and scream for cookies.

By the time I am done enough to sit down and relax a bit, the kids are already in bed. To cheer myself up I made a new rule: Whoever cleans up the Lego gets to play with it.

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It took me almost a week to put all the models together. I had been hiding the finished ones from Trevor because I wanted to complete all sets before he took them apart. He actually noticed one of the pieces in a box (I did not try very hard to hide them…) and concluded that the cleaning lady had made it. I suppose he is right, but he guessed the wrong cleaning lady.

Film – Journey 2 the Mysterious Island

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, Film

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I don’t remember ever being this excited about winter being over. I love winter but having three small kids makes it really hard to enjoy it. Skiing is out of the question and every time we go out we have to get three little people into their snowsuits. Everyone knows that snowsuits are kids’ most natural way of punishing parents. I think I am going to go and dump the lot of them into the laundry and then put them away for the season.

Then watch me wake up to another snowstorm….

Book review – “Brain rules for baby”

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, Books, General

Here is something you probably did not know about me, I sometimes read parenting books. Like any other non fiction, these can be very informative and sometimes I blindly follow their advice (particularly when it closely allines with my own theories) and sometimes I toss it because it is a bunch of self-serving trash (the author has one issue, probably all due to a trauma suffered while a spool boy, and he keeps harping on it for pages and pages).

“Brain rules for baby” is of the first kind. It makes a claim of heavily relying on current research (whether it does or not, I can’t tell not really being a follower of child brain studies) but it is intelligently written and it makes sense to me. A lot of it was stuff I already knew or intuited. There were two things that I learned from it:

Thing 1: do NOT stress the pregnant lady. If I had any reason to believe that anyone would give a hoot about my opinion I would go to the hospital and ask them to re-examine their risk informing practices. For example, I had to sign a form stating that the risk of Bad Things Happening during birth is twice as high for my subsequent deliveries because of a previous c-section. Instant stress for mom. Do you know what the change in risk was? It went to 0.5% form 0.25%. That is not sign-the-form worthy.

Thing 2: lots of empathy. I never though of saying “you are really upset that you are thirsty” when the kid is crying and we are nowhere near water, but what the heck, I am trying it now. It can’t hurt and at worst I will just sound silly.

Goodbye Prvimir!

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, Bike, Film, General

The green car has been donated, we are sitting at home waiting for it to be taken away.

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Owen is taking it much easier than I am, he is sitting with me fogging up the window and being amused at it.

We have been keeping busy. I go spinning twice a week and Owen goes to daycare five out of ten days. Trev gets on the bus in the morning and comes back after 4. Chris helps me out in the morning and works normal hours. House is in a not too bad shape though, as always, it could be better.

I manage to get out once in a while, though not as much as I wish. It has been a while since I went to the movies and it is probably be another while until I go again. I have taken to watching Netflix at night while I nurse Markus. I watched a movie I wanted to go see but could not find the time. It is called “Away we go” and it is very sweet.

I had this great plan to bike Owen to daycare until the snow hits, but me not being a morning person stopped me. I managed to get some biking in now and again. Before he left, my dad installed some cargo space on the front of my bike so I am trying it out.

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I was sad to hear that the rest of the opera season has been canceled. Boo!

Possible baby names

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, General3 Comments

We have a little bit over a month until the baby is expected and we are still not anywhere near having any idea what to call him.

Here is the brief list of names we have not discarded as of yet:

Bryce
Camden
Cameron
Douglas
Dylan
Liam
Logan
Lucas
Markus
Stuart

Overall, I am doing well but I find myself slowing down.

A bike for four

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, Bike, General

I thought I was done blogging about bikes for now. It turns out I was wrong. I am a bit of a bike head lately.

Here are some options for carrying three children on bikes:

Trailer
Cost: free – we already own it
Requires: any of our existing bikes carrying the extra seat or, more likely, the other parent pulling the third child
Total cost: none
Pros:
– the price is right (free!!!)
– rain and UV cover for two out of three children
– indispensable for recreational cycling with children younger than 4
– nice cargo space
– folds and hangs nicely in the garage or basement, fits in the car trunk
Cons:
– inconvenient to use in non-recreational setting (like backing up or parking)
– fussy to attach (takes about 10 min to get it ready)
– children 4 and up are heavy in it and may not want to ride for too long
Predicted use:
– once a month for 30km rec ride between May and September – 5x30km
– occasional (say, twice a month) shopping trip – 10x15km
– occasional walks, skating on the Canal + 5x10km
Total: 350km per year over next 3 to 4 years, very limited use afterwards

Trail-a-bike
Options:
Single trail-a-bike can only handle one child, the remaining children would either have to ride with the other parent though we might get away with the front child seat (possibly not stable enough???). Trevor can bike on his own, but probably not far enough to bother with recreational ride for another couple of years.
Tandem trail-a-bike is an option, but due to minimum weight requirements for the adult, only Chris would be able to pull it. Additionally only about 3 out of next 7 years our boys would be the age that two of them can be riding at the same time.
Cost: $250 for single, $600 for tandem
Requires: any of our existing hybrid bikes, another parent to carry the remaining children
Total cost: same as basic cost (not anticipating accessories)
Pros:
– great for rec rides with children between 4 and 6 years old
– looks easy to store and transport
Cons:
– I am anticipating the same backing up, parking and attachment annoyances as with the trailer
– Two parents required to pull the whole family
– no rain or UV cover
– each kid would use it for a relatively short time: Trev in 2012 and 2013, Owen from 2014 to 2016 and the new guy from 2016 to 2018
– The trailer cannot be attached to Africa and my other bike has a cross bar making it very unlikely for me to be comfortable enough to ever pull it myself unless I get another bike
– Most likely it cannot be attached to a bike with a rear child seat
Predicted use:
– once a month for 30km rec ride between May and September – 5x30km
– occasional (say, once a month) fun/errands trip – 5x15km
Total: 195km per year over next 6 years (not counting next year), no use afterwards

Africa for the younger two, Trev bikes on his own
Cost: free – we already own it
Requires: Trev to be willing and able to bike on his own under my supervision
Total cost: none
Pros:
– the price is right (free!!!)
– fits nicely in the garage (if we don’t get a minivan) or basement, fits on the car carrier
Cons:
– no rain or UV cover
– limited to paths and residential roads, limited speed
– not much cargo space
Predicted use:
– daily school/daycare run in nice weather between April and October- 110x3km
– weekly fun/errands trip – 20x15km
Total: 630km per year over next 8 years (less next year), used as cargo bike afterwards (for groceries)

Extended back rack
Options:
Integrated bikes like Kona Ute or Surly Big Dummy or most normal bikes with Xtracycle attachment. Unfortunately, I cannot put Xtracycle attachment on Africa.
Cost: $1100 for Kona Ute, much more for Surley, $600 for Xtracycle attachment
Requires: if going with the attachment, a new bike I am willing to do “surgery” on – currently I do not own a bike I could attach Xtracycle to
Total cost: Anywhere between $1000 and $1500 depending on options and accessories
Pros:
– all boys fit on a single bike
– appropriate for carrying children up to pre-teen age (or more but by then they will be too heavy and too cool)
– nice cargo space
– large bike but it should still fit into the garage (with some rearrangement)
– we would re-use the child seats we already own, no additional seat required for Trev
Cons:
– because I would remove the child seats from Africa, I lose my “investment” in it as it is not a great bike outside of the cargo context
– possibly heavy with all three boys on it, should be fine on flats, but hills might be iffy
– no rain or UV cover
– transporting it in the car might be a headache
– expected travel range should be about 20km for round trip, much like Africa
– adult must hold the bike if a child is on it
Predicted use:
– daily school/daycare run in nice weather between April and October – 110x3km
– weekly groceries shopping trip – 20x15km
– bi-weekly fun/errands trip – 10x15km
Total: 780km per year over next 7 years (not including next year), limited use afterwards

Long-John with a bucket
Options:
There are a number of brands available in North America, but to my knowledge only Tall Trees carry these in Ottawa.
Cost: from what I can tell between $1200 and $5000
Requires: Rain cover, possibly an extra seat, maybe a cushion
Total cost: $3000+ (guess)
Pros:
– all boys fit on a single bike
– appropriate for carrying children up to pre-teen age (or more but by then they will be too heavy and too cool)
– nice cargo space
– no need to remove seats from Africa, the two bikes complement each other nicely
– rain cover, not sure about UV protection
– heavy enough to only need wheel immobilizer to lock up securely for shot shopping trips
– my best hope of losing the baby fat
– because of the rain cover, definition of bad weather depends on me and not the most sensitive kid
– I do not need to hold the bike while children are in their seats, leaves me free to chase the kid not yet in the bucket
Cons:
– unless we do some magic, it will not fit into the garage with two cars
– winter storage is an issue, we might not be able to bring it into the basement
– possibly heavy with all three boys on it, should be fine on flats, but hills might be iffy
– transporting it in the car is not an option
– expected travel range should be about 20km for round trip, much like Africa
– I am not sure I can lift it
– if the bucket is made out of wood, how durable is it?
Predicted use (combined with Africa as they are complementary):
– daily school/daycare run in bearable weather between April and November, possibly longer depending on how well it can handle salt and how well I can handle cold – 130x3km
– weekly groceries shopping trip – 30x15km
– bi-weekly fun/errands trip – 15x15km
Total: 1065km per year over next 6 or 7 years (not including next year), limited use afterwards

So…

Bike Cost per year Cost per 100km
Trailer only free free
Trail-a-bike $33 per year $5 per 100km
Africa only free free
Extended back rack $240 $27.5 per 100km
Long-john with bucket $461 $43.4

Conclusion so far:
Single trail-a-bike might be worth while if we intend on recreational cycling. If we can get one used, so much the better.
For utilitarian cycling Long-john has the best pros but also the worst cons and is significantly more expensive. Fortunately, we are not in the market for it for another year and a half at least which gives me plenty of time to research, test ride and re-think my choices.