Georgie Girl

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Tue, 21 May 2013 14:35:00 -0400

We have orientation at Charlotte’s new preschool today. I...

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:16:01 -0400

We have orientation at Charlotte’s new preschool today. I suggested the dress. She insisted on the jeans. We compromised and went with both. At least they match.

I’m constantly on the hunt for new recipes. I have a...

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:17:00 -0400

I’m constantly on the hunt for new recipes. I have a collection of cook books that most people would be envious of. And yet I still have a very small repertoire of recipes that I use on an ongoing basis.

I finally realized the problem. I want recipes that:

are healthy
are quick to prepare
use few ingredients

I don’t want to make gourmet food every night of the week. I just want simple, healthful meals that are quick to prepare and are made from just a few ingredients. It’s actually hard to find recipes like that. Anyway, I’m on a mission to find and file away recipes that meet my three criteria.

I pinned this Martha Stewart Tilapia and Quinoa with Feta and Cucumber just for the quinoa part of the recipe (tilapia are over-fished so not something I would eat). I made it last night.

ZOMG GIVE ME MORE RIGHT NOW.

It was that good.

And easy.

And healthy.

And quick.

And only a few ingredients.

BOOM BOOM POW I just found a new favorite dish. Thanks Martha.

(via Tilapia and Quinoa with Feta and Cucumber - Martha Stewart Recipes)

Our morning routine involves the whole family convening in our...

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:47:00 -0400

Our morning routine involves the whole family convening in our bed. First Alex wakes up (sometimes as early as 5.15am) and then we wait for the pitter patter of Charlotte’s feet across the hallway to join us at around 7am.

I played by all The Rules with Charlotte including the whole...

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:45:33 -0400

I played by all The Rules with Charlotte including the whole put-the-baby-in-the-crib-while-she-is-awake-so-she-learns-how-to-self-settle. This time round all The Rules were thrown out the window. Forget self-settling. Alex wouldn’t sleep without being snuggled up against me. We ended up co-sleeping for quite a while. Now she sleeps in her crib but I still rock her to sleep. Why? Because this time around I know just how short babyhood is and I’m going to rock the crap out of her while she’s still little :-)

Hanging out with our neighbors on the front lawn.

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:40:24 -0400

Hanging out with our neighbors on the front lawn.

Appropriate park attire.

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:13:51 -0400

Appropriate park attire.

Waiting for big sister to finish her swim lesson.

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:22:47 -0400

Waiting for big sister to finish her swim lesson.

Hi, I was not able to find your post about the bed guard rail that Charlotte has... Can you please send me the information on the rail? Thanks loads!

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:33:05 -0400

This is the bed rail we bought. I did a lot of research on it and think this is the best one out there. At the time we couldn’t buy it from an online retailer so I think we ended up buying it on eBay.

Also, it has definitely stopped Charlotte from falling out of bed many times - a worthwhile investment!

No visit to the city is complete without a cupcake.

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:36:57 -0400

No visit to the city is complete without a cupcake.

Better than an apology

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:00:31 -0400

(Charlotte pokes Alex in the face causing her to cry)
Me: (stern voice) Charlotte, we don't poke people in the face. What do you say to Alex?
Charlotte: (turns to Alex) Please can I have a hot dog?

Hi! You had posted awhile back about your baby monitor you got thru Amazon. Do you still really like it? Can you pass along the brand/type again? THANK YOU!!!!

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:54:58 -0400

It’s a Foscam. You can find them on Amazon. They are the best!

BTW, I get so many questions from people about our baby monitor so here is the original post too.

What brand is that chevron maxi dress?! You look amazing in all of them!

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:52:12 -0400

The brand is MOON. Usually it’s impossible to find any of the stuff I get in a Stitch Fix package online but I managed to find this dress for you :-)

Our house is black and white. The front door is black. Every...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:17 -0400

Our house is black and white. The front door is black. Every time I flip through the HGTV magazine (the only magazine I actually make the time to read) I am drawn to photos of houses with colored front doors. Look at this lime green one? It looks so cool. The owners of this house have a family tradition to repaint the front door in a new color every year. Such a brilliant idea. I’m not sure I will ever pull the trigger on our house though.

(via Restoring Your Home After a Natural Disaster : Decorating : Home & Garden Television)

Ready, Set, Baby!

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:16 -0400

About a year ago John asked me if it was ok if one of his hockey team mates used our apartment to film some stuff for his business. I was fine with it and never really gave much more thought to it. Then the finished product was emailed to us and I must tell you - it is excellent!

It’s essentially a guide book for a new parent.

It is a fully interactive book that features 80 instructional videos, an easy-to-navigate interface, a pop-up glossary of terms, safety guidelines, and product suggestions with links to government sites and online stores. It offers comprehensive information and advice from five leading baby experts on breastfeeding, sleep, car seat installation, baby care, infant development, and pediatrics.

Anyone recognize Charlotte’s old bedroom….

When I went through the app recently I wished so much that I had it when Alex (and Charlotte) were newborn babies. I had all the books under the sun but to have videos of experts actually showing me how to do stuff would have been invaluable. I started to watch the videos mainly to see the ones that were done in our apartment but found myself watching every single one and saying I wish I had known that. It’s definitely worth the money to download it.

You can get more information here and you can download the app here.

Vegetable Garden

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:01 -0400

A few weeks ago I spotted a photo on Instagram of my friend Lindsay building a vegetable garden. It was shortly after Charlotte’s birthday party so my last “big project” was complete and I guess I was ready for something new because my first thought was I MUST HAVE A VEGETABLE GARDEN TOO! I’ve been going on and on about it and this last weekend was our first free weekend which basically meant it was vegetable-garden-building-weekend.

John iniitally thought he would buy a pre-made raised bed from Home Depot but decided they looked a bit crap so he ended up just buying wood and making one from scratch.

We had a long dicussion about whether to buy pressure-treated wood vs untreated wood. Everyone (read: the internet) says that pressure-treated wood is the way to go for vegetable gardens because the wood won’t rot but I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of the chemicals making their way into the soil. I did some manic googling while standing in the lumber aisle of Home Depot and concluded that the jury is out about the impact of pressure-treated wood. So I decided on untreated wood. In two years when the wood starts to rot I may regret this decision….

We bought one 16 foot piece of untreated lumber (2” x 12”). and had it cut in half. These two halves would make up the front and back panels of the box. Then we bought a 12 foot piece of untreated lumber (2” x 12”) and had it cut into 4 equal pieces i.e. 3 feet long. We discarded two of the pieces. The other two pieces made up the two ends of the box.

We used 3.5” deck screws to attach everything together. We probably could have left it at that but John said to me “I tend to over-build things” so he added in decking brackets. There are tons of options with decking brackets but John chose a 10” L bracket that attached on the inside.

Once the frame was built we had the unenjoyable task of leveling the land it would sit on. There was a lot of digging involved. My respect for farmers went up a big notch this weekend! We kept putting down the level to see how even it was. OMG it was a never ending story to get it level. Anyway, here is the frame.

Then we put down some weed block. We used a stanley knife to cut it and a staple gun to staple it to the inside of the frame.

Next step was to tip a whole bunch of soil in. I decided to buy organic soil because if I’m growing my won vegies I figure they may as well be organic. We tipped 10 bags in but I had to go back for another 5 bags.

Finally, we planted our vegies. We planted green pepper, three types of tomato, lettuce, carrots, and cucumber.

Within 24 hours we had two separate neighbors come over and tell us that our vegetable garden wouldn’t survive a week thanks to the deer. So today I’m off to buy chicken wire to fashion some kind of deer-repelling device.

Happy Mothers Day everyone. Special shout out to my two favorite...

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:14:41 -0400

Happy Mothers Day everyone. Special shout out to my two favorite mothers - Tessie (my Mum) and Gran (John’s Mum).

Alex is days away from being 7 months old. Where does the time...

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:43:48 -0400

Alex is days away from being 7 months old. Where does the time go? Insert various other clichés right about here. I’ve been meaning to post about the glorious 6 month age for….well over 3 weeks, I guess. I was chatting to my friend Amy a while ago and we both agreed that 6 month old babies are the best. I remember that I adored the 6 month age with Charlotte and I feel the same way with this rascal. I look at her sometimes and think I can’t wait until you can walk so you can join in all the fun but then I scold myself - no need for this little bub to grow up too fast.

alittlebitofeverything1: msdeenyc: kinkyturtle: lacquerandcand...

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:15:41 -0400

alittlebitofeverything1:

msdeenyc:

kinkyturtle:

lacquerandcandy:

geekscoutcookies:

If you dont do anything else tonight. Press Play. I was laughing, singing and cheering.

PRESS PLAY.

YOU WILL NOT REGRET THIS

OMG!!!!! Thank you for posting this, it is glorious!!!

this is the best thing i’ve ever seen

This post alone made my insomnia worth it:) LOVE it!

All I can say is those have to be the two most fun people ever.

Love!

I know I should be doing better things with my Saturday night but it was totally worth spending 5 minutes watching these people.

Who made those gorgeous v-neck tops you received from Stitch Fix? Love them!

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:20:19 -0400

The black+white shirt is by Collective Concepts, the red shirt is by Glam, and the turquoise top is by 41Hawthorn (which I believe is Stitch Fix’s inhouse brand). I tried finding all three on the internet to link to but no such luck.