why i love bs

...baking soda

in my quest to make all of the products i use in the house (and i do make all of our household cleaners, laundry detergents, dishwashing soaps and detergents), i have found baking soda to be an absolute marvel!

a few uses...

1. natural deodorant - well at least part of the deodorizing routine. you take a bit of baking soda, rub into your armpits well while showering and then rinse off. i am experimenting making balms as well for personal deodorant. works really well

2. cleaners - i use this in almost every cleaner i make - disinfectant to all purpose

3. fabric softener - wet a baby cloth, rub in bs, throw in the dryer. add essential oil too for scented laundry

4. scouring - great for sinks and other grimy spots, toilet bowls too

5. dishwashing - along with borax, this is my dishwasher detergent

6. +++ - it's in my laundry detergent and cleaners too

baking soda is just amazing - power cleaner!

st. patrick's day

luck, blessings and love to all

better late than never - callum aodhan

callum arrived 6wks early on easter sunday of 2007 - 8 april

there was no forewarning

there were no complications that would have indicated i'd have him early

there were no red flags, warning signs, premonitions

and there were no answers


he just came early


so at 48cm and 2502g, callum arrived at the general - and obviously my planned home birth did not occur

after a week in the nicu he came home

so now for a first few pics -

birth is easy for no one - this is not a home birth

callum didn't really like the monitors and squirmed a lot, here his heart monitor is flinging off - the tube is a gauvage tube - a feeding tube - callum was born before he had a sucking reflex, and used too much energy trying to eat. pumped breastmilk was fed through the tube in his nose.

callum was born unable to properly regulate his body temperature. here he is in an isolette, set at 35 degrees celsius. once they were finally able to drop it to 29 degrees, and he was able to maintain his temperature he was moved out of the incubator into a normal hospital crib.

this was the day we were told that callum would leave the nicu, no more monitors or tests or invasive tubes and bloodwork. he is a little champ. instead of the predicted 3wks in the nicu, he was out in 1wk - already impressing his parents...

and the months pass

i had stopped blogging here for so long, given that part of my employment involves constantly blogging i wasn't sure if i wanted to do so anymore

and now that i am finally catching on to this being a mother thing, i am back and ready to catch up

so much has changed - it can't be placed into a few short sentences or a blog post, but i am taking a different turn with this blog

i have really embraced as much natural living as possible, and will share it as much as possible.

i want to blog some of the experiences of the past year - good and bad - traumatic and triumphant

and of course blog about travel.

and now...getting started

gotta love a good deal

april 4th proved a good day for deals

we had our new cedars delivered
bought patio furniture
deck/fence stain and laminate for the back unit

but this didn't come easy

zellers had this amazing 2day sale which is still on today
and patio sets of 6 chairs, umbrella, and glass top table - $177...so knowing this special would run out i called all of the ottawa zellers at 830am but they were actually open at 8
almost everywhere had already sold out except st laurent blvd and teresa there was kind enough to hold a set for me
also had a midwife appt the same morning but somehow made it over in the rain after the cedars were delivered just before 10, bought the set zoomed back home to pick up steve and made it to the 11am appt
a bit of stress for a great deal

but then we went to rona
and i had insisted we start pulling up the carpet in the back unit because it is in terrible shape
so anyhow...we got our laminate (glue free stuff and all) for 5$ a box!...when it was first rung in it showed the original price of 240$ and we got it for 35$!!!!! then got some deck/fence stain in cedar...3 gallons of it for 2.50$ each instead of 20$
gotta love rona

i guess it is appropriate given it was my dad's birthday. and the scots are i suppose somewhat known for their frugality.

almost 34 wks

latest preggo pic...

and am still holding on to my belly button!