Canadian Moms & Moms to be!

[TRINITY25_99]

Apple84 ... I STILL can't believe it ... still VERY cautious tho ... it's kinda of hard to put yourself into a extremely happy frame of mind because of my past ... I am trying though, every week that this little baby stays with me is a blessing.

 

[Vickie]

Hannah's had various winter coats/snowsuits. I really liked the Joe Fresh ones. We've also done Walmart (this year) and it is okay though I prefer the Joe Fresh brand. Old Navy had some pretty nice baby snowsuits on sale the other day when I went in that were waterproof. I wanted one for Rhys but couldn't find the right size

 

[Vickie]

ooops sorry

Welcome Trinity and congrats

 

[TRINITY25_99]

Thanks Vickie ... NP

 

[Try Rocking]

Welcome and Congratulations Trinity

Amanda I get Amira's from Old Navy, they're nice and warm and one piece. It wasn't too bad at end of season cost wise either.

 

[Vickie]

I am so ready for the weekend Sadly it's only Tuesday. I hope the kiddos are better by the weekend though we have a lot going on! And I don't want to miss any of it

 

[Sarahkka]

Amanda, I need much colder weather gear than you, so I do get teh toaster suits from MEC, but I think for your climate you could also consider layering. Get some good fleeces, a "down"/puffy vest for core warmth but easy arm movement, and the Newt suit to layer over all of it when it's rainy. They are pricier, but they wear so well. Plus, you can find them on kijiji all the time.
That's what I use, anyway!

Yay Trinity on 2nd Tri!

 

[tasha41]

Congrats and good luck Trinity!

Vickie- hope they feel better soon too. I'm also ready for the weekend and in disbelief that it's JUST Tuesday. But I guess it's practically Wednesday now since it's 10 and Thursday's the home stretch The way I get through the week while I'm off haha.

 

[Maggs]

Welcome and Congratulations Trinity!!!

 

[MommyKC]

I agree - this week is going soooo slow.

It's Wednesday but definitely feels like it should be Friday.

 

[tasha41]

Does anyone have any plans for NYE? Even if you're staying home? I would really like to have a nice, quiet night at home, maybe have another couple over after we get Elyse into bed, but I'm not sure Andrew will go for that. Well he'll have to (especially since we are going to alexisonfire December 30th!) but he is way more into NYE than I am. Aside from last year, we hadn't gone out together since 07/08 (he stayed with me then left after midnight, etc)

 

[MommyKC]

We don't have any plans. We might go to my in-laws for supper, but we rarely make it to midnight on NYE anymore. We're usually in bed.

I wouldn't mind doing something, but I also don't mind just hanging out at home too (watching movies, etc).

 

[readynwilling]

we usually just get together with tammy, andy and the girls and everyone falls asleep LOL its not exciting.

 

[Sarahkka]

I might be going to a big house party in Idaho!
No, seriously!
We are going down to visit my relatives and I just need to decide if I will do the big fancy party or not, as I'll be on my own with the boys at that point. I think I'll decide on the day, to be honest. They'll be at the end of their holiday by then, so they could be pretty overexcited and hard to manage. If that's the case, I might spend Dec.31 just driving back to Calgary and collapsing into my bed!

 

[apple84]

We're hosting a "party" and by that I mean that my brother who's coming from Atlanta and my other brother will be over doing their 12 shots of Christmas

Usually we go to my neighbour's party, but my brother specifically asked to spend it here.

 

[Try Rocking]

Probably just a quiet night at home, we might have some friends over but we the last few years we've done a fondue and watched movies and gone to bed at our regular time lol (before midnight).
It's not much but we spend it together

 

[Vickie]

nothing at all planned. Will probably just go to bed before midnight as per usual

not really that big into NYE myself and Stan doesn't seem to care either way

 

[MommyKC]

Yeah I'm not either tbh. Even when I was younger and COULD go out to parties, etc. I never did anything too crazy or exciting.

 

[TRINITY25_99]

I have a few questions for my fellow Canadian Mum's with children already. I am pretty sure that I will not be able to afford to take a whole year off,for mat leave, how much do you get from EI while on Mat Leave, %? Also, when did you start to consider looking for daycare (how much time ahead before you went back to work did you start looking). When should I start to file for EI Mat leave pay? EI is the payer not the company I work for ... correct? Sorry, I don't mean to sound "dunce" but this is all new for me, and I may be asking early early, but I am the type that like to have all her P's and Q's in order ... sometimes WAAAAYYYY ahead of schedual. LOL

 

[readynwilling]

Trinity - you get 60% of your wages to a max of $454 or something. I pretty much just maxed out at my salary. So i was receiving $411 after tax/week and getting paid every 2 weeks in the amount of $822. The money comes from EI not from your employer. When you file depends on when you take off work. In my situation i worked till 39 weeks and took 1 week vacation. Convienently enough J was born on the following monday so i just filed online when i got home. My work had already issued my ROE (and sent electronically to gov't) with my last paycheck. I didn't take the entire time either. I went back to work part time 1 month early. I worked only as many hours as i could so my wages weren't diminished. they recently changed this (i found out on a payroll training call last week) that now whatever $ you make on EI they deduct 50% dollar for dollar from your EI payment. SO if you max out at $450 and you make $300 working part time you will end up with an ei payment for the week of $300 (450-150) before taxes. If your dr writes you off early on sick leave then you file for EI when you leave work and you will tell them its sick leave and when baby is born you tell them to transfer to mat leave.

I decided to go the home daycare route and interviewed some places about 1 month before i went back. If you want to go with a "daycare facility" you need to get on the wait list early!

HTH