Wellness | BARBARA ANN STYLE BLOG

Mama Mall: Hillcrest Glowup

Posted on October 2, 2018 by barbara solomon

Real talk. This summer was rough. As some of you know (if you follow me on IG), I broke my 5th metatarsal on my right foot pretty badly in mid-July and most of my summer dreams were crushed. I wasn’t allowed to swim, long walks were extremely painful, and driving was off-limits due to the cast (a walking one, thankfully). Some days seemed impossible. I tried to make the most of out of my quiet summer and filled my days with Sterling cuddles, picnics, reading and singing to my sweet boy.

Thankfully, now that Sterling is fully on the move, (and I am as well), one of our first big trips out of the house was visiting one of my go-to mommy malls, Hillcrest. I grew up pretty close to Hillcrest Mall located in Richmond Hill and used to love it, but I moved away after high school and hadn’t really been back many times since. But when my girlfriend mentioned that you could get the H&M Mama line there, when I was in search of pregnancy overalls, I ran there ASAP and was shocked to see how much had changed. Hillcrest was had completed about 50% of their renovations at the time and you can see the beautiful new tiles and redesign of the space.

I soon found out that along with some of the newly open shops like Aritzia, Sporting Life and Starbucks, my favourite baby store West Coast Kids would be opening their second Toronto location during summer 2018. And just like that, Hillcrest quickly became my new go-to mall.

When I got invited to preview their new wing earlier this month, I was excited to hear all about the changes and check out what other stores had opened since I’d been there last. We strolled through the whole mall, peeking into stores like Sephora and Miniso and the newly renovated Hudson’s Bay.

As for us mamas, they have all the amenities to make it your most comfortable visit. With nursing rooms, bottle warming service and free diaper kits that are available at their Guest Experience. They also have parent parking available at all of the main entrances which are crucial for the upcoming colder months. And if you need to connect with Guest Experience you can text 226-210-1015 and ask any question.

The new wing is now open and includes a giant Home Sense and Marshalls (which opened last week), and an Indigo and Old Navy that will both open in the next few months. My friends who own the contemporary store Carbon, located just down the hall, just opened this month and has a beautiful assortment of the world’s most relevant brands, catering to men and women of all ages. The Japanese-styled cheesecake sensation, Uncle Tetsu also just opened their doors early and if you haven’t tried the super soft freshly baked cakes you must.

After the tour, I headed back to West Coast Kids to pick up some essentials for Sterling that I’ll be sharing on an upcoming blog post and took in all the beautiful thing that this spacious store has.

The West Coast Kids’ grand opening is coming up and I’ll be sharing the dates and details on my Instagram account and hope you can join me there and check out the new Hillcrest Mall.

Babywearing Mama

Posted on September 7, 2018 by barbara solomon

As soon as Sterling was born, it became clear to me that I loved baby wearing. The first time I wore Sterling for an extended period of time (more than just being cozy with him at home) was during our flights to and from Miami when he was 7 weeks old. He snuggled into me so closely for those three hours, and since then we’ve both been hooked.

As much as I loved wearing Sterling, it became a necessity for me as the task of taking our puppy, Taco, out for walks fell solely on me. We live in a stacked town home, meaning a lot of stairs, so babywearing became the only way to get a newborn and puppy safely up and down those stairs.

Like most of the essentials for babies, there are so many options, but after buying and trying three different kinds, I’ve ended up using my ring sling by Canadian brand Junior Foxes the most. It was the quickest and easiest method to put him in when he was fussy and allowed me to get things done around the house.

I also fell in love with the fun and fashionable prints on these linen slings and found it nearly impossible to choose one for Sterling, but ended up picking up The Palms from their Classics Collection. The entire collection is based around their owner’s favourite tropical places to travel to.

One of the lessons I hope to teach my son is to shop local and support small businesses. I love that the owner, Milli Fox (follow her on IG for mom-entrepreneur content), a doula by trade, started this company out of her need when she had her adorable son and believes in producing locally and employs home-sewing mamas to carefully craft the Junior Foxes slings.

Do you babywear? If so which is your favourite way?

Healthy Baby & Me

Posted on May 1, 2018May 1, 2018 by barbara solomon

Brought to you by Jamieson and TheCo.

With Sterling almost 4 months old it’s hard to believe how much has changed. He’s doubled in weight, he’s sleeping through the night (most nights) and he’s smiling all time. With that being said, it’s hard to believe how much hasn’t. I’m still hungry and tired all the time and my main concern is still to keep this sweet little boy happy and healthy.

During pregnancy, most will do everything in their power to ensure a healthy baby. We eliminate some of our favourite foods (bye sushi), we get lots of sleep and take prenatal vitamins which help to ensure that you and your baby are getting the essential nutrients like iron, iodine and folic acid to help with development and overall health. I’ve partnered with Jamieson Vitamins to discuss what I took during my pregnancy and have continued to take since Sterling’s birth. Although this post is sponsored by Jamieson Vitamins all opinions are 100% my own.

I was advised that as soon as I began trying to get pregnant I should be taking a prenatal vitamin, so early last year I headed to the pharmacy and picked up a bottle of Jamieson 100% Complete Prenatal Multivitamin with DHA. With many options to choose from I selected this one because it had 150 mg of omega-3 DHA, which helps develop the baby’s brain, and only required me to take one soft-gel per day. I reviewed it with my doctor, who reassured me that it had the right amount of folic acid to help prevent neural tube defects with the baby and had all of the vitamins and nutrients I would need to have a healthy pregnancy.

Now that Sterling is here and I’m exclusively nursing him, I’ve continued to take my prenatal vitamins and began giving him Jamieson Baby-D droplets and Probiotic droplets once a day. Vitamin D is crucial for building healthy bones and teeth and to help him develop a strong immune system. The Probiotic drop is for supporting gastrointestinal health in infants. Both flavourless drops can be added to milk or formula, applied onto a pacifier or directly onto his tongue.

The early days of motherhood isn’t always easy, but Jamieson Vitamins makes it easy to ensure that I’m doing everything in my power to provide Sterling and I the vitamins and nutrients we need.

If you are interested in working together in please contact Krista at Shine Influencers (krista@shineinfluencers.com).