Sandy's Blah, Blah, Blog

I started Oh Baby! Magazine with my husband during my first pregnancy. My love of writing and my obsession with magazines paired with my husband’s many skills have proven to be a great combination. I'm from Toronto - born and raised - and I've been married for eight years. Since the inception of Oh Baby! I've had two babies, Andreas (6) and Alexandra (4). What a ride it's been. I’d like to share with you my struggles with trying to find this so-called – and I think unachievable - “balance” I keep reading about… Follow Sandy E on Twitter

It’s that time of year again. Time to open up The Cottage — for a good laugh about calling it that, you need to click here. The cottage I’m referring to is my cousin’s cottage about a two-hour drive from Toronto. My kids really love being there. I love being there too, but I haven’t always loved it. You see when you have babies sometimes you’re a super relaxed parent and you just take your kids everywhere without batting an eye…...

Chocolate Bread! Yup, you read it right. I’m a huge fan of Club Med and one of my favourite things to eat while I’m there (they have it at every village) is the chocolate bread that is baked fresh and available at every meal. It’s the perfect marriage for me: bread and chocolate. Heavenly. They make white chocolate and a regular chocolate one and surprisingly I prefer the white chocolate variety which is strange for me because I...

Truth be told, I’m afraid that my kids are now spoiled. They have been to a Club Med village before… but never like this. Both kids have been to Club Med resorts — in utero… Club Med is perfect for a babymoon and we enjoyed relaxing vacations both pregnancies. My son visited the Cancun village when he was just two years old, but this was their first experience with Mini Club Med. And what an experience it was, for the entire...

Andreas & Alexandra absolutely loving Club Med in Punta Cana. It was an unforgettable vacation for the entire family.

My daughter’s JK class had a bake sale today. So even though I have a gazillion things to do, baking is something that I love doing and my little girl is all about helping out in the kitchen. Maybe, not helping, but saying, “I wanna do it!!!” about everything. Let me present to you: Easter Egg Rice Krispies Treats Easy but messy. Here goes... Shopping List: Rice Krispies (6 cups) Mini Marshmallows (5 cups) Butter (1/4 cup...

Confession: I’ve always been jealous (in the nicest way possible) of mom’s who tell the story of their baby falling asleep while playing. You know the ones: “Little Johnny fell asleep in his exersaucer today! So cute!” “Hazel was eating and just feel asleep in her peas! And she love peas!” “Bella was building a tower and I found her asleep in all the blocks! What an angel!” “I can’t believe that every day like...

I was recently cleaning out the closet and pulled my son’s old winter boots out of storage — two pairs that no longer fit him. While I tried to figure out what to do with them he was trying to put them on and giggling because they no longer fit. This year all four of us have been wearing Bogs boots. Initially, I thought that they wouldn’t be warm enough but I’m happy to say that we all have dry and warm feet. They have been...

Ahhh the push present. The first time I was pregnant and ready to give birth I liked the idea of a present for pushing. I like receiving gifts… why not? I’ve just given up a lot of stuff for nine months plus, it seemed only natural that my husband would want to shower me with gifts. I’m actually surprised that Hallmark hasn’t caught on yet. Or have they? Do they have push present cards? They could read something like: “Thanks for...

Baking with kids is great. For them. It’s not the easiest thing to do unless you are an extremely patient person. I am not that person, although Lord knows I try. In honour of Valentine’s Day I am going to share with you the easiest dessert that you can make. Yummy chocolate covered strawberries that you can make with one of your little loves! After all isn’t Valentine’s Day all about chocolate, love and all things red? Ok, it’s...

My name is Sandy. It’s not Sandra, Alexandra or Cassandra. It’s Sandy. With a Y. Warning: This may be a bit ranty. It annoys me when people call me Sandra. Especially when it’s work related. It blows my mind how nowhere on my website does it say my name is Sandra, yet I still get pitches all the time addressed to Sandra. My signature in my email is Sandy Pedrogao, so why would you reply with, “Hi Sandra”? Do your homework before...

Little bumps and bruises happen a lot around here. I am a firm believer that when watching your baby tumble, your reaction has a lot to do with how they handle their fall. For example: you’re sitting at the kitchen table and are watching your baby girl toddle around your living room. She trips over a toy and lands flat on her face. You react like this: “GASP!!! OH MY GOSH! Are you ok?” as you run over to her she starts to FREAK out....

My family is Portuguese and every year we have a "Bolo Rei" (direct translation is King Cake) on Christmas day. The cake is traditionally baked round with a hole in the middle, the idea is that it looks like a crown with lots of crystallized and dried fruits and nuts — think Three Kings. It's baked with one fava bean inside of it. Everyone must have a slice of cake (yuck... I'm not a fan, but also not a party pooper) and if you're the lucky...