It’s Canada Day and nothing is happening… In this little Quebec city all of the festivities were last week for “La Fête Nationale”…. So We are going to have our own little Canada day festivities in our backyard… no fireworks though!! The neighbors would kill us!
Ah… the joys of being a proud English speaking Canadian in a small very French (99%+) Quebec town….
Hey the upside is that we get 2 long weekends in a row! Woohoo!
Why do people find the need to train their babies? Why do people expect their children to be so grown up so quickly. It is getting to be ridiculous! I mean… what do people really expect their children to be when they are born…
The images we see are so far from reality… TV always has that perfect image of a parent taking a completly awake baby and placing it in a crib, turning the light off and that’s it… When we become parents, especially when we are not around kids too often, we almost expect that this will be so… but when it doesn’t happen then we search on ways to make things best and of course get some sleep…
When Xavier was born I didn’t know what AP was, but the minute I held him in my arms things just fell into place… He slept so well cuddled between Dh and I, falling asleep at the breast each time. People around me said it was bad but I just felt I was doing the right things that ensured that everyone get good sleep. Some say that I was lucky because Xavier was sleeping through the night by 8 weeks and that I never knew what bad nights were and so I couldn’t talk about my experiences because I had never been in their position…
However, these people that were having rough nights and whose babies where not sleeping enough (or the parents where not sleeping enough) are the same parents that refused to bring their baby into their bed and insisted that they learn how to “self-soothe”… Why does a 3, 6 or 9 month old baby need to learn to “self-soothe”? If they need to have a little help to fall asleep what’s wrong with that? Why don’t use gentler ways to guide a baby into sleep…
When Colin was born I realized how much 2 siblings can be polar opposites. Colin was a very fussy High Needs baby that didn’t want to sleep through the night and often woke up 3-4 X a night… however, he slept happily between DH and I and nursed to sleep almost every time (he is a baby that often wants to be put down to fall asleep alone though, or unlatches and rolls over before falling asleep) Even on nights that he didn’t want to fall asleep right away when he woke in the middle of the night I just slept beside him while he was awake and we again never lost sleep… Are we just lucky again.. I don’t thing so.. I think we just have a method that works…
I understand that some people think that making their baby CIO (cry it out) is the only way that they will learn how to sleep, I also understand that they find it hard but they feel they have to do it… and they stand beside the fact that it does work… But the reason that it works is because the baby knows that as much as they need their parent, as much as they want to be held, as much as they are thirsty, hungry, uncomfortable or lonely, their parents won’t come when they cry…. and they are made to retreat into themselves and give up… Which is why when a baby is sick and their cries are responded to for a few nights the process has to start all over again…
The worst thing I have heard of now in this is that you can now Hire a Nanny to come over for a few nights and make your baby CIO for you… That means that Parents can snuggle with the one they love, in a warm bed together (maybe even the family cat or dog snoozing at their feet) while the little baby, the most helpless in the household is in a dark room crying with a stranger checking in on them once in a while (if they are checking in at all)… I makes me feel ill and makes me want to cry…
I don’t remeber where I hard this but it is now my Motto…
In my house, Nobody cries alone…..
I have this great Rib recipe that I got a few years ago… and finally got it perfect last night!! I have been trying for years and the taste was pretty much there but they were always dry… I tried so many things and they never worked but last night I got it and understood what was going wrong… As weird as it may sound I have a weird connection to these Ribs…
I was born in Montreal, and at the age of 2 my Mom needed to get away from my Dad and one night in the middle of the night she packed up the car and we left… We arrived in a little town in BC and she fell in love with it and we stayed… so I was raised in Nelson BC. At about the age of 11 my mom wanted to find a job and have me know my family so we headed back to Montreal…
A few weeks after I arrived in Montreal I met my Dad for the first time since the age of 2… our first meeting was a bit weird, he just showed up out of nowhere behind me in a line while I was waiting to get a hotdog from the restaurant at the pool…. Anyway…. around the 2nd or 3rd time I saw him he brought me to a great Restaurant in downtown Montreal called the Bar-B-Barn. I don’t remember having eaten ribs before going there but I fell in love with them….The Bar-B-Barn became the place that I always asked to go for my birthday and I always remember the first time that I had went with my Dad. My Dad and I have had lots of ins and outs (more outs then ins!) and now we have finally found the niche in which our relationship can work.
As for the ribs…I haven’t been to the Bar-B-Barn in years… My Birthday suppers one day transformed to a different kind of cuisine (Steak and Lobster LOL Hey! I am not paying) but I still love ribs..
Anyhow, I found the Recipe for Bar-B-Barn Ribs on the net a few years back… it had been published in the Local Newspaper in 1990…
Here is the Recipe… The Sauce Recipe is the same as the one I found but the method is tweaked because it never turned out right and some things are added…
2 lb Ribs or more (the sauce can be stretched for a lot of ribs)
Sauce
2 c Brown Sugar
1 c Apple Sauce
1/2 c Lemon Juice
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Paprika
1/2 ts Cinnamon
1/2 ts Pepper
1/2 ts Garlic Powder
Dry Rub
2 tbsp Kosher Salt
2 tbsp Paprika
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Chili Powder
Cover Ribs with Dry Rub Let sit for about 1 hour in the Fridge,
Heat BBQ on Low Temp,
Wrap Ribs in Tin foil and place in BBQ for about 1 ½ hours
Place all the ingredients for Sauce in a Sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, continuously stirring and then set aside.
Remove ribs from tin foil, turn off one of the burners in the BBQ, put the lit burner to a medium heat and place ribs on the side that is unlit… Baste with Sauce frequently for about 40 min. Light the second burner again and finish the ribs on a Medium heat for another 10 min (to get the nice caramel colour on the ribs)
Spinkle the Ribs with a bit of Fresh Lemon…
Serve Rice cooked in Tomato sauce with a bit of added Salsa, salt and Worcestershire.
So, I finally got them perfect last night and I was actually brought back to that first time I had eaten them and thoughts of my Dad….
Isabelle came over with the 3 girls Today… 5 kids under the age of 5 can make you very dizzy!
We stayed in the house for a few minutes when they got here and then made our way to the park… the kids really had a lot of fun and We all got back to the house Starving… We made Wraps with BBQed Chicken, Zucchini, Yellow, red and orange peppers and coucous, a great spinach Salad and homemade Raisin-Bran Muffins and tons of Watermelon that turned out to be suprisingly sweet! Gabrielle (4 1/2) had about 6-7 slices of Watermelon and could have went for more!
After Lunch the kids wanted to go in the pool! Kids are Crazy!!! Today was a windy and cloudy 21 degrees (70) and the water was the the same temp at 21 (70) OMG it was freezing!!! their Lips turned blue but were full of smiles so the cold water was well worth it!!
Anyways… it is Raining now, everyone is gone and Xavier doesn’t want to nap.. I think he is getting at the age that nap time is starting to become an opitional thing… I just hope that sleep will come easily tonight…
As for the buisness stuff… I have a phone meeting with Suzanne from DT tommorrow morning and I got an E-mail this morning from the lady at Maman Kangourou asking about the region that I would like to work in to make sure they don’t have any other representatives and thankfully they don’t so I would be the first!! I really think that it is going to work out… I would be so happy if it did… I would love for babywearing to become more known around here..
Well.. Tomorrow is my meeting and then I am off to my cousins 3rd Birthday (I really am NOT in the mood) and it is St-Jean tommorow (Provincial holiday) and I am not looking forward to having drunks on the road while I make my way back tomorrow night with my family in tow…
The Pre-natal went pretty well last night… there where 5 couples that where all ears but one couple in particular…
When asked at the beginning if they where wanting to breastfeed this couple said that yes they would but would like to express to have daddy have a chance to have that bond too… So I made a point of explaining all of the things that Daddy can so even if he doesn’t nurse… (skin to skin, walking, burping, cuddling, bathing) and it seemed to make sense to him… The whole time I was talking this guy had a big smile and was nodding… During the break they told me that they have read a lot of breastfeeding and that all the things they have read where confirmed and they learned many more things… I told them that if they want to succeed they have to go into it saying that they are going to do it… and told them how when I was pregnant I decided that nothing was going to stop me from breastfeeding and I wouldn’t let myself be set up for any disaster so all bottles and samples where thrown out of the house… When I said that A light lit up in this guys face, and right away he said that that was such a great idea… that having samples around just`makes it so much easier for then to be used and for something to hinder the breastfeeding relationship… and that if you have to go out and get Formula you might think about it a bit more… (I really think that the samples they have are going to be leaving the house LOL)
Another thing they asked me about was Vit D… I told them that I have never given Vit D and that it depends on the school of thought… Though the Canadian Paediatric Society recomeds it… the actual fact is that it is a blanket recommendation that really doesn’t have too much weight especially in a fair skinned child born in the summer..
Another cool thing that happened was that the nurse asked me if I had brought my wrap and Sling because she really wanted to show it off and show off the way I wear my baby…. I told her that I have been thinking about giving some classes a the “Carrefour†and she thought it was a great idea and is going to talk to her boss about me being the “official†resource is the region… She even told me that she has gotten a few questions about babywering from people that have seen me in Public and she knew they where talking about me because they described my Ellaroo!
I am still waiting for the answer from “Maman Kangourou†but I am pretty sure to become a retailer and that way I can teach and sell…