My Little Pony

     MY LITTLE PONY came to our mall for a live action event. I wrote it down and invited my mom to come along. When this was planned, I did not know that it was on a PA day. We arrived an hour early and hung out.
     We picked up a paper pony ears hat that she refused to wear, some stickers and a paper ruler. We then went to play with Play Doh. It was her first time using it and was unsure. Once we got home, she loved it.
     It was go time. It started and she couldn't take her eyes off the stage. She didn't quite know what was going on and didn't freak out. LARGE ponies were infront of her and not on the t.v. Eventually, she got into it and would dance holding my hands or making me wiggled her.
     It was a 30 min show which is perfect for little people and the big people in the costumes. Afterwards, she got spoiled.
Both my mom and I bought her a pony. When we went to pay for them, she had a melt down due to no nap and over stimulation. Once we got home, I only gave her Rainbow Dash (Pinkie Pie is for her Christmas stocking). Since we've been home, she's not really let go of her (just long enough to eat, play and pick things up off the ground).

     It was a super great afternoon. We will be back for more events like this at our mall.

A year and a half

     With everything that has been going on, I have been slacking. Plus, trying to blog from my phone during naps or at night isn't working out so well when it fails to publish and save. Many things have been going on.

     18 Months

          We had our 18 month appointment on Aug 19th and it was hard. We saw a new resident and a new nurse practioner. Our doctor switched sides of the office and got all new staff, the people I have seen for 20 years and I had hoped my daughter would grow to love, no longer see us. However, in a town where many people are doctorless, we still have one, so I shouldn't complain.
         The 18 month appointment was a check on her development and milestones versus health. It was an hour of questions and forms and judging. Yes, my daughter is tiny (23 lbs at 18 months) and doesn't talk and co-sleeps..but she is happy, eats like a horse and has never really been sick. They suggested speech therapy once she is past 2. Due to her walking early (10 months), her speech could be delayed and take a while to catch up. Instead of waiting that long, I self referred her to Early Expressions and she has an appointment in May 2015 (unless she gets a cancellation call). We are working with her and making her ask for things: "up please" "milk please" "I love you too" "good job" are just some of the mini sentences I am sure she has said, even if I can only understand.

The rest of the days

         The rest of the days have been spent learning and loving.We were even in a wedding, and she was the prettiest flower girl ever (and so well behaved). We have been working on colours, names of things, stacking, manners, and semi-attempting potty training. We have been going for walks, spending time outside and with friends and family. We have been on trips and just been enjoying the end of Summer. She has also been busy growing teeth. Kaelynn has 6 now and her canines are trying to pop through. It's amazing she has teeth now and so horrible on her bad days.

       I am feeling quite terrible that she seems to be scared of Hallowe'en. We took a walk one day with a friend and stopped in at Spirit Hallowe'en. As soon as we entered, she seemed tense. And then I made a mistake...

I stepped on a robot, thinking it just talked, and then her head went POP! She screamed and ran away. I picked her up and she cling onto me for dear life. Nothing would make her feel better, except for a Flounder (The Little Mermaid) trick or treat pail that I made her give to the cashier instead of buying. Even after we had left, I could still feel her clinging onto me. She now seems to be afraid of anything to do with it. Target and the Dollarama's sections seems to scare her, even cute little felted bats and glittery pumpkins. Daddy didn't seem to believe me until he walked down the spooky aisle of the Dollarama with her. She refused to touch anything and then she had a melt down once she saw the severed limbs. I know reassurance and exposure help with fears, but it's hard. Hopefully, she will be good for Trick Or Treating around the neighbourhood - especially since I DIY'd a pretty cute costume.

 

19 Months

      19 months was not much different than 18, but more of her huge personality is coming out. She's definitely the boss of the house. She is loving to her stuffed animals and babies. She offers them snacks and takes them on adventures when we go out. Her behaviour towards the cats is not so nice; she tries to step on them and gets mad when they touch her toys or come near her. She is more than happy to feed them in the morning though, going so far as to lead me to the bathroom and point at the cat food container.

     

 

                       We have some fun things coming up

                       This afternoon, we are going to the mall to see My Little Pony perform. I told her what the plan was this morning, and in her Spotty AMP diaper, she tried to lead me to the stairs all excited...until I told her we had to wait and get dressed.

                      October 4th, we are going to the Battersea Pumpkin Festival. I hope it's super fun. I have never been, but have heard great things from others.

Family Trip

      Yesterday, we took a trip to Quebec with friends to go to Mont Cascades.
Kaelynn traveled well and only got upset when she was tired. I felt so bad when she kept putting her arms up to ask for "out".

     We arrived, got changed and away we went. First stop was the wading pool. Kaelynn and daddy went in, to get her used to it. I then took her down a child slide. I let her go and followed down after her, bracing myself against the walls of the slide with my knees. An 18 month does not have enough weight to go down, so daddy suggested I just scoop her up. That worked, only I gave myself an amazing plastic burn on my wrist.

     I went down some slides and then switched off with daddy. While I was riding Black Magic and The Mammoth, daddy took Kaelynn to the splash pool and paddling pool. At the paddling pool, she LOVED the stairs.

     Lunch time.

     We decided to try to take her down the bigger rides. Success. No one stopped us and no one got hurt. First stop, Mammoth.
I carried Kaelynn up the hill, daddy and Mike rolled the giant tube up. There was a French family ahead of us, arguing with their possibly 4-5 year old son who didn't want to ride. We all went first. Mommy and baby climbed into the circle, then the guys. Mommy seatbelt engaged and we were flying down. Not a peep was made from Kaelynn.

     While we were on a roll, we did a 2 person ride: River Rapids. Daddy took Kaelynn down. I was so scared to do that. I would have to hold onto her and not the float. What if we both got dumped out because I wasn't holding on? I know daddy did the same ride last year with a kid a bit older. They went first, Mike and I followed. Apparently, Kaelynn looked back at Daddy with a WTF look at one point. We all arrived at the bottom alive.

     Daddy went on more slides with other children and we kept trading off. We went down bigger kiddie slides and there were no more plastic burns. I took Kaelynn to the children's rainforest and she was so unhappy. Water dripped down, like a shower, from every where. I took her down some slides and at the bottom, she.got splashed in face. She was stunned, but not crying.

     She ate all the food.
*1.5 pancakes before we left
*1/2 package of cookies in the car
*1/4 bag of Goldfish
*1/2 jam sandwich
*4 green bean pods
*almost a whole container of black berries (I had 5)
*3 watermelon balls (ice cream scoops)
*1/2 of my ice cream cone
*2 chicken nuggets and 3 fries for dinner

     It was almost time to go home. I recruited 3 others and we went down Tornado Alley. This time I did not scream "let me off" or " I dont want to do this anymore". It was still a roller coaster water slide, but I was less afraid, it was quicker, and I Lamaze breathed my way through it. I probably could have gone again, if there was time.

     All in all, it was a great day and can't wait for next summer. I was thinking we could even do their birthday package.

Resolution Center

     Big big heartfelt thanks to the crew at PayPal for reimbursing me the money that was "lost" in the whole Please Mum debacle. I still have 5 days until I see any funds and can return them to the right people, but I received the confirmation email that they ruled in my favour.

     What has been happening since the last post?
     I received in the mail a large envelope from the Please Mum layers. 10 pages of their financials and 1 page basically saying I needed to contact my payment method because I would not be receiving my shipment.
    Of course, everyone who went through this is getting all the same information.

     It's a horrible situation that got resolved, but I am still sad about the amazing purchase that could have been.

Buyer Beware

     Everyone has heard the term "you get what you pay for". In my case recently, and a few others, you don't get what you paid for.

    This post is to warn others about a clothing scam that happened, and my side of things.

              PLEASE MUM, PLEASE DON'T

     A friend found a most awesome 3 season jacket on a clothing site where she made a previous purchase. I fell in love, and saw other things that I liked. Stuff was 70-90% off, which doesn't seem unusual for a website. If you ordered $75 of stuff, you would receive free shipping. Not bad..I went to some moms I knew and asked if they needed anything. We had a purchase set up.

     Before money changed hands, I Googled the company (because I had never heard of it) and found out that many stores had closed and went bankrupt. Them, having a website still made sense to me. Some companies bounce back without that being in the news, some sell off their stock online. Apparently, this was not the case.

     July 18th, 2014, I made a PayPal payment. Money left my bank account and went into World Shake Productions account. In a week, I had not received a "we mailed your stuff" email. Their website said "temporarily unavailable". I tried to call all their numbers and none were in service. I sent emails, nothing. I was not impressed, and starting to get worried. I tried calling and their website daily.
I Googled "PLEASE MUM TOOK MY MONEY" and that lead me to a Facebook group about boycotting PLEASE MUM. There was a post about how it happened to another mother. More people commented. The same week, I had placed an order and their site was down, the same week the other women did too. They all tried everything I tried. PLEASE MUM had also taken down all their social media information, as well as taking everyone's payments.

     PayPal dispute filed. 45 days.from payment, I hope to get our money back (Aug 14).


      Why is this post important? The owner has apparently done this before. After this happened, I looked into it.
     From now on, I will fully look into a company if I'd never heard about it, even if recommended by friends. In all fairness, it's not like a normal person would look into Wal-Mart/Target/etc. Yet, I still feel dumb.

Wacky Wednesday

     Today was a busy busy day.  Daddy babywore Kaelynn on his back the whole way there.
     Little Ray's Reptile Zoo was having a demonstration at the local library. I found out about this last week and had planned for it, unfortunately, many mothers did not.
     We had to be at the library at 1pm to pick up free admission tickets for 2pm. There was a line when we got there and tickets were gone in 3 minutes.
     5 tickets in hand, we popped over to the mall for lunch and a quick errand.

     2pm and we go through the door. We sit near the front with the other children. Daddy hung off to the side. I am surprised that Kaelynn seemed interested in touching the reptiles, maybe because everyone else was. My friend and her daughter showed up late, and we made room. Daddy moved to the back.
     Kaelynn spent time playing with my camera, touching the reptiles as they came around, looking out the window, and babbling at her daddy from across the room.
    I am proud that even I touched them...and they freak me out.

     Afterwards, we came home and went for a swim. Somehow in all the clothes we have, I found a swim suit to fit my friend's daughter.

     Before dinner, she fell asleep. She stayed asleep while I transferred her to her high chair. I ate and then woke her up.

    Baby girl is happy and pooped.

An experiment

     For the past 2 months, I have been using flour sack towels as inserts in my cloth diapers. I am loving them!!

     What are flour sack towels? They are 100% cotton kitchen towels. You've probably seen them in your grandmother's kitchen, maybe with embroidery on them.

     I read that you could use them as inserts, and was curious. Currently, I use microfiber and they're getting old. I was looking for a budget friendly way to replace them all. At Target, I purchased a.pack of 4 flour sack towels for about $5-6. I figured, if I did not like them, I could use them for cleaning.

               I liked them.
      I fold them in half, half the other way, and then the ends towards the middle. This gives me 4 layers and fits most of the pockets perfectly.

     If you cloth diaper and are looking for something new as an insert, I highly recommend flour sack towels.