Stroller Make Over

We bought our stroller second hand and we really love it for many reasons. I think the bright orange colour has been really fun but it's not as exciting anymore once the colour starts to fade, our sun canopy was pretty dull looking before I replaced it.  I realize it's just a stroller and it really does not matter but I look at it as a very functional accessory ( I don't carry a purse much anymore). I washed the orange seat and bought a blue seat cover and canopy, I think it looks great! Fun and fresh colours in this gloomy pre-spring weather. The basket is orange as well but still drying after it's wash so it did not make the picture.  If anyone out there is picking a stroller for their baby on the way or looking for an upgrade I highly recommend Bugaboo strollers. You can replace every part of the stroller if need be plus you can get fun new colour when you want to. They may be a bit pricier (craigslist offers better deals on bugaboo's of course..) then other strollers but I would say it's worth it! //Nina

Pic's for previous post

 Greasy Sunscreen Sam

 Cool with sunglasses!

Summer tease

Sunday we had a summer day here, well, almost anyways. The sun was shining and it was really warm especially off the water. We lathered up Sam in sunscreen and had lunch on a patio in yaletown before going on another bike ride. It was a wonderful day, a day that brought back distant memories of a warm summer breeze lightly sweeping across you face and cool drinks in the sun. Today though, we are back to miserable Vancouver winters- RAIN. It normally rains a ton here during the winter but this year has been worse than usual, I am totally fed up by it and can not wait for more days like this past sunday. If you are on mother natures good side, please put in a good word for Vancouver for us! //Nina  Pictures will come tomorrow- it was going to take an eternity to upload tonight for some reason and I am tired and want to go to bed : )...

Bike Adventures

Today we bundled up, went for a bike ride downtown and stopped at the new cactus club in english bay for lunch. Sam loved biking, every time I would speed up a little he started laughing. He was so cute and it was so much fun biking with him. Here are some pic's from our bike adventures. //Nina

Black and Blue

Sam fell today and hit himself on our coffee table pretty bad. We have been meaning to put it in storage and replace it with a soft storage ottoman but we procrastinated and now Sam has a black eye. After todays fall I took it out right away, that was the last straw. He does look tough though : ).  The table is from Colin's parents and we really like it although Colin does has a scar on his forehead from a fall he took on it when he was Sam's age, like father like son I guess.. I must apologise for the grammar but I am simply too tired to put any time into my writing. Here are some pictures of my little wild child. //Nina

Lazy Morning

Banana, blueberry and cinnamon apple pancakes. Does not look that good but they were scrumptious.

 Sam with his backpack packed on his way to Grandma and Grandpa's.

 Waiting for his slow moving adults...

 Morfar reading to Sam

On our way to daycare,  Sam ready for St Patricks Day celebrations by wearing green!

Sam decided to give me a sleep in this morning by waking up at 8am. Amazing, I felt so well rested when I woke up that I made pancakes for breakfast.  Surprisingly, Sam did not like them. Most people have pretty much the same thing for breakfast everyday, it's the one meal that people don't like changed as we are such creatures of habit and routine. Sam is no different, he spat out the pancakes but happily eat his healthy oatmeal, yoghurt and banana. Funny little boy, oh well, more for us.  We went for dinner at my in laws today and Sam was very excited at this outing. He loves it there. Once we came home Sam's morfar put him to bed and now we are being antisocial on our computers. I am savouring this quite moment by blogging and soon I am off to bed for some reading. //Nina

Morfar and Sam

 Morfar came with a suitcase filled of gifts for Sam...

 Backpack for daycare, totally cute!

 A flute he wants mamma to play over and over

 steering wheel for his stroller- loves wheels in general!

 New fancy pots and pans for his kitchen was a huge hit, he plays with his kitchen and these new pots endlessly.

 Cuddles in Morfar's lap is great after he woke up a little tired after his nap

 Another musical instrument from Morfar, fun for Sam loud for us..hehe

 Morfar, Mamma and Sam took a ride of the seabus and below morfar is giving Sam a great ride in the park.

My dad is here visiting for a few weeks and Sam has been very busy putting on a show for him since he got here. He's loving the extra attention! My dad is quite a bit taller than me and Colin so when he carries Sam he sits much higher and can see way more, therefor Morfar has come to carry Sam quite a bit when we are out and about.  He arrived late at night when Sam was sleeping and I had to go to work early the next morning so I missed the first meeting. I was wondering if Sam was going to be shy, scared (sometimes he is of strangers) or if he would recognise him from their weekly skype chats. Colin told me he was a little shy but that he could tell that he recognised my dad as he warmed up really fast and became buddies right away. It's very cute to see them together, Sam really monkey's around in front of him then looks to see if Morfar is watching and waiting for his reaction to his funny faces and such. It's really funny. Here are some photos of Morfar's first few days. //Nina

Zombie parents

 Sam and his mousy

 Going for a stroll

 Look at this bush!

 Daddy look-a-like!

The fun continues in our household, Sam has had the incredibly unlucky and unfortunate side effect of  tummy cramps/acid reflux from the antibiotic he has been on. It has been so bad this weekend the doctor told us to stop giving it to him even though he had a few more days on it, at this point it was doing more bad then good. We have had two visits to the er this weekend as Sam has been in such bad pain we have not known what to do to help him, fortunately during the 2nd visit they figured out what was wrong. Since he has been off the antibiotics and has only been eating bland easy food he is pretty much back to normal. After a weekend of no sleep we are back to feeling like we did when he was a tiny little baby who liked to stay up at night...like walking zombies. Today I took Sam out for a stroll, our outings this weekend has not involved anything fun so we both really enjoyed it. Here are some pic's of Sam exploring a bush. //Nina

The responsible choice.

Yesterday the school I work at was closed to I had the friday off, Sam still had daycare so I got a kid free day. Initially I had so many ideas of what I would do, take a yoga class, go to a movie, go shopping, go for a fancy lunch etc.  But I had something incredibly boring to do instead, I made the responsible, grown up choice I guess. We are emptying our storage space and moving into a new better storage facility. Our current landlord who is borderline insane by the way thinks he can charge $200/month for a dirty, crawlspace with a door that is about 1m tall and once you get in you cannot stand up straight to boot. You may wonder why we ever moved in there in the first place and the answer is that it came free with our Tartlets Kitchen rental, well until now anyways. We have now gotten a space twice the size, clean, shiny and in a secure facility for much less. I am happy about the move but it meant that I had to go through my boxes of kitchen stuff, sort through and decide what to keep, sell and toss. It sucked, especially since there really is not much I want to get rid of. But on the upside, I found things I had forgotten I had that I can use here at home and a couple of things that could use an upgrade at work that I will bring there. Like a new still in package candy thermometer. Score! When I was done my back felt totally out of wack but luckily I had booked a massage appointment later that afternoon. The RMT adjusted my spine and worked on my sore muscles, I felt like a new person! Later that night Sam got a bad tummy ache so the entire family had a rough night with very little sleep. Poor Sam has had such a rough winter but this morning he is better and I hope his tummy wont cause more troubles today as the day goes on.  // Nina

Chocolate days

 I did a demo on marzipan fruit shaping and airbrushing for the students yesterday

 Students using up leftover by making rumballs

 Easter eggs in the making

 Airbrushing marzipan

 My colleague made a croquant box and displayed my marzipan fruit in it

 Sam post chocolate eating...cannot stand still obviously. My pretty nails made it in as well : )

On my way home from work yesterday I walked by a nail salon, my feet were so tired so I walked in and treated myself to a pedicure! It felt so good. We had just finished up chocolate days at school so when I came home I had a big box of chocolates with me home. Sam got to try the dark chocolate raspberry truffle and he loved it. Here are some pictures from work and Sam's chocolaty face.  I think the pictures prove that we just play and have fun at work...//Nina

Sam the toddler

There are hardly any calm quite moments in our home these days, since Sam has learnt how to climb on everything (I mean Everything) we are running around desperately trying for our 'NO's' to sound serious enough for him to listen. The problem with having a child that is earlier then other kids with walking, running and climbing is that they are not old enough to understand your discipline efforts or the cause and effect of falling and hurting themselves. This becomes very obvious when we take Sam to playgroups, the other children his age usually don't walk yet or are just starting (Sam started months ago) so they sit nicely playing with a toys unlike Sam who will do that for a short moment until he sees something much more interesting and literally runs for it, climbs up on it and is as happy as can be. This is all fine but the other parents don't have to run after their kids like their pants are on fire. Getting any type of conversation in is pretty much a write off for me. Today Colin finished work early and we took him to a drop in gym group where they had a bouncy castle, this was a big hit but again, he's not old enough to be in there with older kids and no kids his age are ready for it so he's left playing with mamma and daddy instead. I don't mean to complain but sometimes I miss the days of going to a coffee shop sipping my tea talking to a girlfriend while our babies slept in their strollers. I am exhausted at night after a day with him now as it's full on and non stop all day long, especially now that he sometimes only naps once. But I tell you there's nothing more amazing then getting to spend time with your kid watching all the funny things he does, seeing his personality grow and how he reacts in different situations. I am just going to have to get used to this new state of exhaustion of having a toddler and not a baby. //Nina

It's a wonderful day!

Below: The students cakes from their Entremet project a couple of weeks ago

 Below: Chocolate covered candied almonds, (Almond Dragees)

 Below: My easter themed mint chocolate truffles from today

 Below: Totally unrelated to this post but cute non the less, Sam loves to vacuum and sit on the table and eat raisins...

I do have another job, other then being Sam's mamma. Two (sometimes 3) days / week I work as a pastry chef instructor at North West Culinary Academy of Vancouver. It is the best job I have ever had, it actually beats having my own business as I don't have the stresses that comes with running the show. Take today for example, I puttered around helping students create chocolate ganaches, guided a student through the temperamental road of caramel making, guided other students of proper enrobing techniques. Then I experimented with an Ewald Notter (only one of the most amazing chocolatiers of our times) ganache recipe which resulted in amazing chocolate mint truffles. My colleague experimented with a macadamia nut praline and a blackberry truffle recipe, at 4pm we called it a day and went home to our kiddies. Today was one of those days I wonder if my boss's will realise this is all a scam and that people should not get paid to play. When I got to daycare Sam was super happy to see me which was the prefect "cherry on top" of my already great day! //Nina