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 and Alexandra . 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

My four year-old doesn’t eat. Here’s a picture of my 2 year-old eating salad, she’ll eat anything but fast food, bless her: Let me rephrase my first sentence: My 4 year-old son doesn’t eat what I want him to. He’s a pretty picky eater. Actually, I’ve heard of kids who are pickier. Anyway, I think he’s a pain in the butt when it comes to meal times. Here’s a list of what he does eat: Veggies: Potatoes –...

I’m at the gym waiting for my spin class to start and I’ve started to wonder how I got to this point – or should I say weight. I have surrounded myself with pics of me at my ideal weight – or the weight that I’ve been the happiest at. Ironically, it’s from right before I got married. Six years ago. SIX YEARS! I don’t know why I gained 15 lbs almost instantly after my wedding - well maybe I have a few theories. This is what...

We’ve just been through my daughter’s third broken bone (or technically fractured) and she’s only four years old. Is it bad luck, genetics or that her bones aren’t strong enough? I don’t know and I’m not sure who’s going to give me an answer. She did fall about six feet from a tree fort that her dad’s building for her and her sister, so some might say (and I thought too) that the fall was worthy of something being broken,...

I got the call from the daycare. You know the call. The phone rings. You see that it’s the daycare calling and you almost don’t answer the phone. But you do. Because you’re a mom and you have to. Here’s how it went: “Hi Sandy, Andreas (my 4 yo) had an accident and we have to take him to the hospital”. That’s how the call started. So, I start to panic, and say something along the lines of, “Hurry up and...

I’ve been having problems with my toddler actually eating… she’s still on formula for a few more months and I think that it’s the culprit when it comes to meal time. We use to give her a bottle while she eats as a drink because she wouldn’t use a sippy cup. Now that she’s using one (very infrequently, but I’ve seen her use it) water is being “served” with meals and bottles don’t come until I feel she’s had “enough” to...

What do you get when you cross Pringles chips, 2 bottles of milk, a two-year-old and a car drive from the cottage? You get a big mess. And Do It All Daddy comes to the rescue! We had a great weekend at the cottage, even if it was too cold for the beach and too wet to go outside. Instead we spent the day watching 101 Dalmatians, Little Mermaid, Bolt and Snow White. The sun decided to come out as we were leaving, and the drive home was full...

Wow… I’m either losing my mind or my x-baby brain is somehow getting worse. The other day I checked if the door was locked like 4 times before driving away….made coffee twice during the day (knowing we had no milk and I don’t drink it black) and was dropping everything I touched. I’m trying to determine if it’s STILL baby brain….maybe a full moon… or if I’m literally just losing it. It’s to the point that I’d probably...

Two weeks ago, my sister gave birth to her first baby, a boy. He is beautiful and healthy, and my sister seems to be doing well. Of course, family and friends all want to visit the new little person. But there's visitor etiquette when it comes to visiting new parents and their baby -- etiquette that seems to escape too many well-meaning relatives or pals. - Before you visit, call new Mom or Dad to find out the best time. Don't just drop...

Yes, that’s right, just having a freaky read of the Environmental Working Group’s annual sunscreen report. That one sentence basically distills my concerns about sunscreen into one neat statement. This is essentially the choice we all have when deciding what to slather on our little ones this summer to keep them “safe” from the sun. Just about all of today’s commercial sunscreens seem to contain Oxybenzone, a harmful,...

So… my daughter wants soooo badly to do everything herself...but she just can’t. She doesn’t crawl or walk...she “scoots”. She can brush her own hair and teeth, helps a lot when getting her dressed and it’s even to the point where she undoes her diaper for me when it needs to be changed. My almost 15 month old takes her own shoes and socks off, puts her hat on and off, lets me put chapstick on her and even rubs in the...

You might be wondering why they call me Do It All Daddy. This is my first post since the launch of the website, and you might be thinking, “If he’s the Do It All Daddy, then why isn’t he blogging often?” I do it ALL…that’s the reason. I’m too busy. Here’s a prime example of why I’m the Do It All Daddy: I’m working these crazy European hours - 2 am to 5 pm - out of my home office. By 7 am I’ve already done 5 hours...

I was recently sent a book called The Art of Motherhood from Getty Publications. I love this book. I love art, modern or classic, painting or sculpture. I especially love paintings of people and trees…I love how an artist translates facial expressions to canvas. Sometimes I get chills. Anyway, back to this book. I really enjoyed flipping through this book. It’s a collection of paintings depicting motherhood along with some fantastic...