August 2006

Rookie Moms is heading North to Canada. Our local correspondent, Kim-Anh, suggested a week’s worth of fun ideas for moms and babies in Ottawa.

MONDAY
Avoid the weekend crowds by going shopping with baby on a weekday! Many Ottawa shopping centers offer special facilities for changing and nursing baby. St-Laurent Shopping Centre, Rideau Centre, and Place d’Orleans are just some of the local shopping centres that offer private nursing rooms, some with stalls and rocking chairs.

Strollers (single and multi-kid) are available at most if not all shopping centres. And should you forget to bring anything - you can always buy it there! Shopping centres offer many interesting things for baby to look at, and can be an especially good escape from excessively hot or cold weather.

TUESDAY
Take baby to the movies and catch a flick you would otherwise miss! Every second Tuesday at the Barrhaven Cineplex movie theatre, recent movies are shown at 1pm in a special “Stars and Strollers” screening. Movies are shown at reduced volume, with dimmed lighting, changing stations, and a theatre full of understanding parents should baby decide provide ongoing commentary on the movie you’re watching.

Stars and Strollers is also available on Wednesdays at SilverCity Gloucester and Thursdays at the Coliseum.

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This sounds like a self-help suggestion, but it’s actually really fun and the best part is trading your list with your friends and/or spouse if you can convince them to do it.

Heather challenged me to do make a list of 50 things I like to do, and then she went all over-acheiver on my ass and came up with more than 100. This month when she was trying to figure out what to do on her birthday, it was exactly her flavor of a geeky challenge to see how many of her favorite things could be packed into one day.

An excerpt of my list:

have adult slumber parties at Tahoe cabins
be complimented at work for my ideas
buy craft supplies
buy food at Monterey Market for Julian
check the mail
cross country ski when it’s sunny
design things
discuss things with Ryan
eat fish tacos and have pina colada at Picante on Friday night
eat soft chocolate chip cookies
fall asleep on couch
get 10K steps in one day
get pedicure
give handmade gifts

I just learned that I succeeded in convincing my friend Sunny to make her list, and just reading her post made me excited.

Let doing these things more frequently be a recipe for “you 2.0″. (Thanks to Kammie for the expression).

What’s on your list?

Holden and I made a talking card together for Alec’s birthday. We struggled to record the audio greeting the first three times… because Holden has no patience and cannot follow simple instructions. But the end result was super cute and I’m sure Alec presses “play” throughout his work day to hear Holden’s “waa waaa da da da” (which is 11-month old for “This is a neat fountain, Daddy. Thank you for taking me on this vacation.”).

TalkingPix.com prints and sends photo greeting cards with a dime-size push-button that plays a ten-second recording. If you can figure it out, it can be a great way to get the sights and sounds of your baby into grandparents’ hands (or anyone technophobic). And it definitely has that “gee whiz” quality.

When we made our card, I had to start over about four times (once because I accidentally recorded a random grunt instead of the pleasant babble I had intended). As I mentioned, the trickiest part is recording the perfect audio — especially if you want to involve your baby or young child in the process. My tips to ensure you do better than me:

• Pre-record your “message” on a digital camera or other recording device, so nobody needs to perform on command after a very long phone tree menu.
• Know which photo you want to use and have it some place you can find it easily. It must be a .jpeg.
• Don’t be afraid to click refresh. A lot. The site seems pretty new to me and I think they’re still working out a few kinks.
• Save $2 with the coupon code below.
• Post any other tips and hints here for our readers.

Use coupon code 30013967 to save $2 on all talking photo cards on TalkingPix.com now through the end of September.