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

I find that when you visit a foreign country, how enjoyable your experience is greatly depends on where you sleep. I’ve heard, “I don’t care what my hotel room is like because we’re only there to sleep.” Nope. That doesn’t ring true for me. Call me what you will... a hotel room snob... whatever, but I like to stay in a place where I know my kids will be safe, where I can walk around barefoot, have a lovely shower or bath and sleep in...

I just spent nearly three weeks in Portugal and quite a bit of time visiting its beautiful beaches. I couldn’t help but notice how many women were breastfeeding babies of all ages. I have to admit that I’ve never witnessed so much extended breastfeeding as I did while on the beaches of Portugal. Babies from birth to what looked to be as old as five. Women openly breastfeeding their babies. No covering up. No embarrassed looks from them....

Touring the beaches of Portugal has been a wonderful experience and driving through pine trees and eucalyptus seems to be just what the doctor ordered. I’ve found that people in Portugal are extremely tolerant of children. Back home I sometimes feel like I need to be too controlling of my kids and how they behave, but here in Portugal, I feel like a little like a helicopter parent. I find that rather than people looking at my kids and...

Jet lagged children are really never a great way to start a holiday. On our second night in Portugal we all slept 14 hours without interruption. For that, I thank God and black out shutters. As soon as I get back to Canada I NEED to invest in these. After a few days of visiting a couple of my mother’s siblings and walking the cobble stoned streets of Caldas da Rainha we already felt like we needed a mini break. It can be stressful to be...

Our plane landed in Lisbon on a beautiful morning and right away I felt at home. That’s strange to say, seeing as I was born in Canada and I am Canadian, but there is something about being in a country where my parents were born that makes me feel strangely at home and welcomed. I’m not sure that many Portuguese would agree with me. I think that people like my parents, who have emigrated and planted roots in foreign countries are not...

I’m so not a packer. I love to take trips. Leisurely resort vacations, a weekend in a busy city, weeks touring Europe. I’m even starting to enjoy road trips. I love visiting other places — near and far. I’m a great flyer. You may not want to hear this but I have a theory — if the plane goes down, we are all going to die so why stress about it? Nice right? My family and friends don’t appreciate this much. But it works for...

This post is part of YummyMummyClub.ca's support of the Dove® Celebrate Mom Contest. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. This post reflects my personal opinion about the information provided by the sponsors. You can nominate inspiring moms here: www.CelebrateMom.ca   I was asked to participate in the YummyMummyClub.ca's  promotion of the Dove Celebrate Mom Contest and looked around for inspiration. I...

There’s a Portuguese song that was written by a legendary Portuguese fado singer named Amália Rodrigues in the 70's that goes like this, “Cheira bem, cheira a lisboa.” Translation: It smells good, smells of Lisbon. One of my favourite lines from this song is that Lisbon smells of flowers and the sea. I love that. I can only speak for myself when I say that every time I’ve gotten off of a plane in Lisbon this song always comes to...

For the record: I am a 37 year old mother of two and I have no idea how birds and bees procreate. There I said it. No shame in that. Knowing (or not knowing?) is half the battle. Thanks GI Joe. Anyway, I have yet to be asked how babies are made by my two lovely children. One time I had a conversation with my son when he was five years old while we were brushing our teeth. It went like this: Andreas: “Mommy how do babies come out of...

I love daycare. Being self employed I didn’t have the luxury of even entertaining the thought of staying home with my children. My husband and I are both integral parts of our business and we both need to be available to work full time. After the birth of my son, I returned to work three days a week after about three months. I did however work from home as much as I could during those three months, usually with my baby boy stuck to one boob...

You can’t go to the bathroom without a baby/toddler/small child either sitting on your lap, sitting on the floor of the bathroom, or sitting right outside of the bathroom door. Note that they are only outside the door because you yelled at them to just give you “ONE MINUTE ALONE!” You think you’re lactating even though you haven’t breastfed anyone for two years. (Is this just me?) You wipe your kid’s nose with your hand. No...

I was coming out of the gym this morning and ran into a mom from our daycare and school. Me: “Good Morning” Her: “Hi! Did you just workout?” I was disgustingly sweaty — I don’t shower at the gym, mostly because my house is a block away and also because I am a child and the women’s change room is a little scary to me. I once saw a naked woman having a pretty serious, in depth conversation with another naked woman after they...