Canada Moms Blog

Joining the Ranks of the Vanned

Earlier this summer, we made the transition from single-car family to two vehicles.  I'd resisted for as long as I could, but since my husband frequently takes our one car out of town on business trips.  Besides, with two carseats installed, the station wagon suddenly didn't seem as spacious as it once did.  So we finally succumbed to the siren call of the new (used) van in the driveway. 

There was a time when my husband was adamantly anti-minivan.  He ridiculed anyone who would buy one and insisted that if we ever had to go to a larger vehicle, we'd be buying a passenger van, dammit.  I quietly rolled my eyes.  I admit there is something faintly ridiculous about owning both a station wagon and a minivan, but, well, welcome to yuppie-ville, folks.

Introducing: the bottle

My first daughter, Jade, got all her milk from the boob until she was seven months old.  It's not that I was averse to the idea of bottle-feeding, but with all the broo-ha-ha about nipple confusion, we waited until she was five weeks old before giving her her first bottle.  Of hard-earned hand-expressed breastmilk, of course.  By then she would have nothing to do with a bottle.

Over the next few months (I lovingly called my daughter "the barnacle") I swore that when I had my next kid, I'd introduce the bottle way earlier, because, oh my God, Mama just needs to leave the baby once in a while. So then daughter number 2 came along and did I learn my lesson?

Nope, I did not.

Is Three a Crowd?

When my first daughter was eight months old, I was totally ready to get pregnant again.  I know it sounds crazy, but, well, what can I say, I must be crazy.  Sadly, "reason" stepped in; I felt an obligation to go back to my job for longer than just a few months, so we ended up waiting a couple of years before getting pregnant again.

My second daughter is now five months old.  I'm not quite ready to get knocked up yet, but I am thinking about the next one and the timing of another pregnancy.  Funny thing is, when I mention to friends that my husband and I want to have a third child, they invariably respond with a dumbfounded, "No!  Really?!"