bump camp beginnings

After having gone through the first year of motherhood together with our daughters, Jackie and I experienced all the ups and downs that new moms do. The self-doubt, the ridiculous questions, the tears, the laughter, the fear, the late night arguments with our husbands, the hours of searching Google for anything and everything. We experienced an overwhelming amount of information, and the do this and don’t do that or do this but you better not do it while you’re doing that, etc….

But somehow we made it through that first year, and it was then that we thought wouldn’t it be nice if we knew then what we know now?

We knew there were classes on how to breathe and how much it was going to hurt, and we weren’t seeking to replace birth preparation classes but rather provide something unique and valuable for expectant parents.

What if we could talk about all the things you spend hours on Google looking for. What if we could actually show you samples of cloth diapers and talk about it and take away some of the unknown and maybe inspire someone to give it a try. So we thought of all the things that we wished we had known more about before we got pregnant, like babywearing and breastfeeding and how to install a car seat!

So we got to planning our classes and were lucky enough to have so many amazing speakers agree to participate. (We truly couldn’t do it without you!!)

We were nervous for our first session, but then each class totally exceeded our expectations. We learned things that had changed since our daughters were born, we learned things we had forgotten about, and we got to watch the Moms and Dads-to-be learn. As one Mom said, it made her think of things she may have overlooked.

One of our Moms had the following to say:

“We took both classes and honestly, the health unit was fairly vague and was mostly about the actual process of birth.  The nurses information was good, but not a very comfortable environment or “open” atmosphere.  Our role as expecting parents was to sit and listen.  At bump camp, we were able to talk, ask questions and feel comfortable in a conversation fostering environment.  I’m glad I took the class at the health centre for information purposes, however, bump camp offers topics that are more modern as well as medical and ones that were more helpful.  For example, the lactation class, daddy class, baby wearing and cloth diapering were all awesome topics that were not discussed by the health unit prenatal classes.”

We could not be more thrilled to hear such positive feedback. For those who are birthing at the hospital, we absolutely recommend taking the course through the hospital, as it will provide you with valuable information to guide you during your labour and familiarize you with the facility. But should you want something fun and unique that covers a wide range of topics, that is what we do.

And of course, we love our Daddy class where we get to give Dads the real deal on what to expect…the good the bad and the ugly.  Communication between partners is so essential during the first year and we wanted to take a light-hearted approach to an area that isn’t always discussed before the new arrival. You know that baby is coming and it will be wonderful and you will be sleep deprived, but there can be so many ups and downs and the two of you may see things differently. And to get parents laughing and opening up about this stuff is so wonderful, as opposed to it coming up when Mommy and Daddy are both exhausted at 3:00 in the morning.

So thank you for voting us best prenatal class in Edmonton! We love getting to know each of our couples and their bumps, and wish each of you the best with the new additions to your nest.

And although we have taken the summer off for Bump Camp, we are super excited to announce we will have Mini Bump Camps running sometime in the next month or two. These will be a single evening class that covers one or two of our most popular Bump Camp topics. Stay tuned for more details!!

xoxo

jen

Europe you inspire me….

In my quest for finding some fabulous nursery furniture for our clients I have come across two awesome companies and designers that I would be so happy to incorporate into some nursery designs in the near future.

The first is this fantastic company based out of the Netherlands. They are Beaneasy, designers of beautiful womb-like furniture that will please mom, dad, and baby. Designed by a father who wanted to make his newborn feel “at home”, the delightfully, fun shape of this furniture is not only aesthetically pleasing in a choice of nine basic colours, they are also designed with safety in mind. To top it off, they contribute to corporate social responsible products – with every sale a donation is made to Orange Babies, an organization that helps mothers and babies in Africa find health and happiness.

Below you will see examples of “Dream”, “Hug”, and “Hide” (crib, dresser, and cabinet) in various colours. These would make a great addition to any nursery or children’s room.

This furniture just makes me smile with its cheerful colours and the curvy design.

Moving on to another collection from Europe, London to be exact, is the nursery collection from Simon Horn. This furniture design style could not be more different from the Beaneasy line. This collection was designed in the style of Louis Phillipe Epoque and as you will see reflects a elegance fit for your little king or queen.

Another fabulous point to this collection is that the crib will not only convert to a beautiful toddler bed, it will also convert to a sofa! Talk about maximizing your investment, a beautifully handcrafted crib that will grow with your child.

Both collections are available to ship to Canada.

If you are inspired by either of these designers, let us know and we can help you to create your dream nursery!

~Jackie~

preparing your fur-baby for new baby

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby….

Well we didn’t start with a baby, we started with a dog, and actually we got him while we were engaged… but you get the idea. So the idea was that we get a dog and not only will it be a nice addition to our little family we are creating, it will also help us to prepare ourselves for the idea of a baby. In our heads, there were very similar comparisons between raising a puppy and raising a baby of which I will not get into now, but I will say that we were grossly off the mark for most of what we thought this would prepare us for.

Regardless, this fur-baby did become our “pride and joy”, when people talked about their kids to us, we mentally (although, shamefully, sometimes verbally) compared their stories to our own puppy stories.  We took a million pictures of our dog, and posted a million pictures to show them to everyone. When our dog was sick I dropped everything to take care of him and spent whatever it took to help. This dog was our life.

Then I became pregnant. This dog is still worshipped and cared for, but now I started to realise that I am adding a new addition to our family. I started to worry about how this would affect our dog and how they will get along. As good parents to our fur-baby we realised that we needed to prepare the dog  for our new addition and because our dog is over 60 lbs, we thought that preparing him would lessen a negative reaction on his part.

I’m sure this can be done in a number of ways, but here are a few tips we used that will maybe help you out as well:

- When we set up the nursery, we left the nursery door open so that the dog could freely walk in and out and be able to sniff around. However, if he tried to grab any toys from the shelves or area we would immediately tell him no and make sure that he did not take them. (This tip will also work in reverse when your child is old enough to think that the kennel is a playhouse and the dogs toys make more noise.)

- After the baby was born, and before we were allowed to leave the hospital, my husband brought home a baby blanket for the dog to smell and even sleep with that night, so it became a familiar smell to him.

- When we brought the baby home we knelt down in front of our dog and let the dog smell and lick the baby’s feet in greeting.

- We took turns taking the dog for a walk so that our dog didn’t resent the baby or either of us for spending too much time with the baby.

- When rewarding our dog with a treat we also made sure to hold our baby at the same time that he was getting the treat, so the dog associated the baby with good things.

Again, these tips may not work for everyone, and I’m sure there’s a lot more you can do. Now that our daughter is older she loves to play with our dog and he enjoys her just as much!

                                                            DD – “What is she doing to us?”

                                                            Bear – “Get used to it!”

~Jackie~

These views are my own, I am not an experienced dog trainer, nor am I the dog whisperer.