Winter Is Coming

Winter is coming

so us moms need to get creative!

Especially when you live in Canada

and it gets SO COLD!

I am always looking for new ways to get some energy

out of the girls 

without having to bare the cold and spend

hours getting them dressed in their winter attire.

Today,

we took Ellie`s mattress and brought it upstairs

and put it over the 3 little steps between our living room and dining room.

I put slippery pants on them

and pillows at the bottom to brace their fall if they jumped too far

and off they went.

They played for over an hour

jumping and sliding,

laughing and giggling.

It was a great way to get some energy out

and have fun doing it!

 

 

Anyone else have fun indoor ideas for the cold long winter months?

I would LOVE to hear them!!!

A Skinny Girl's Perspective

You all know those women

that have a baby and then a month later are thinner than

you have been in your entire life.

I am one of those women.

I have been struggling with this for years now.

Ever since I had my first little girl.

I know,

you are probably saying

"what is she struggling with?"

but the fact is,

it is not all fine and dandy being thin.

When you lose the weight that fast,

not only do you get dirty looks from other mothers

but you are constantly bombarded with the oh so famous

angry comments followed by a "just kidding".

At first it didn't bother me.

I shook it off and held my head up.

But after having 3 babies

and still getting comments thrown at you

left, right & center,

it is getting a little harder to deal with.

I am not wanting pity.

I just want women out there to see the other side.

The side from a skinny girl

that can't control her weight loss.

There are many days that I just wish I could hold onto my fat

just so I could get away from the snarky comments 

that are always "jokes" but feel like knives digging into my back.

I have become self conscious about what I wear,

not wanting to wear form fitting clothes to avoid the stare down

from another mother.

The point that I really want to make with this blog

is that us mothers have to stick together!

We have to uplift each other no matter what!!!

Whether your friend loses her weight or not,

if she has a better delivery than you

or a smoother recovery.

It seems like our world is so concentrated on the negative,

the horror stories and who had it worse

that we ignore the people who have had it ok and we ignore THEIR stories.

 We all go through struggles

and we all have our praises.

I want us women to be able to rejoice in the praises

as much as you encourage in the struggles.

Words are like daggers,whether you are joking or not.

Motherhood is tough enough!

Let's not put ourselves down, or others

but rather

use your words to praise others and

lift them up!!!

 

Honestly

I have not written in a while here,

not sure if it is because I have been avoiding it

or because I just don't want to.

Our life has been a roller coaster

the last few months

and I feel like all I do is complain.

I am trying to look up but every time I do,

the sun blinds me and forces me to look down.

And here I am,

staring at the ground

wondering what the heck is going on in my life?

Wondering how I got here

and what is the next step?

I would be lying if I said this move was not hard.

In fact,

I have lied.

I know there have been many times where I have sucked up a happy face,

pretending it all has been perfect.

When in fact,

it has not.

Our house is a great house

and we are so thankful for it.

It has been everything we have looked for.

The girls have loved it.

The first few weeks were full of the girls

checking out every square inch.

Enjoying the different levels

and finding new play areas each day.

I thought Ellie had really embraced the move,

but now I am wondering if she had just tucked all her anxiety down

and now is starting to unleash her over reacting feelings.

The last few weeks as a mom,

I have felt defeated.

Lost.

I have screamed more times than I have been able to laugh.

I have cried more tears than I have been able to smile.

Parenting right now has not been a joy.

Honestly,

I can't put it any other way.

I have felt like I am at the end of my rope.

So many days, 

I have found it hard even just to get dressed.

To put on a nice outfit or wash my face.

It has been a struggle.

I love Ellie more than anything in the world

but she has stretched me beyond anything I have ever thought I could go.

She has pushed me to my breaking point.

Each day it has been a struggle

just to get through the day until the moment Luke walks through the door.

Ellie has started this awful whine.

All day long.

It doesn't stop when she is with me.

She whines about everything.

 It could be the smallest thing and she is instantly in tears.

Her reactions to anything and everything have been heightened 1000x.

 I have tried to stay calm,

try to understand.

But after dealing with this day after day,

my patience has dwindled.

I am trying to understand her,

figure out where she is coming from

but I just don't know anymore.

Her highs are HIGH

and her lows are LOW

and lately she has been living in the lows all the time.

On top of all of this, 

we have yet again caught another flu bug.

What is going on?

How on earth can we have another bug?

More puking,

More laundry.

This has been our life lately.

I'm sorry,

this is depressing

but I need to get it out.

I can't just pretend.

Our house HAS been depressing lately.

We are working on trying to figure out the best way to raise our Ellie.

She is not an easy child

and I know we got spoiled having Pea first.

Ellie has got so much life in her,

we are just having a hard time being able to bring that out

rather than the sad, I'm mad about everything, continuous crying  Ellie 

that she has been the last few weeks.

I have been finding myself wishing I could go to work

and just send my girls off to daycare to let someone else raise them.

I don't want to think this way!

I want to enjoy being home with them.

Enjoy laughing and playing with them.

Hopefully soon we can get out of this funk.

I am getting tired.

Drained.

Life has been exhausting lately.

This is me, just being honest.

Our House Upside Down

We can't seem to catch a break.

This move has been exhausting.

Who thought it would be a good idea to get pregnant

and then move when you are almost in your 3rd trimester?

Stupid idea!

And then we get blown with a stomach bug

that is just downright AWFUL!

Ellie has been sick since Wednesday.

I have not cleaned up so much puke in the last 10 years than

I have in the last 5 days!

Everywhere you can imagine!

Our washer machine has had a good workout 

the last few days!

We thought she was getting better,

she hadn't puked in almost 48hrs, she had eaten a dinner & a breakfast

and then what do ya know?

She starts it up again.

The poor little thing has been in such great spirits

for most of the time which makes it a little easier.

Lots of cuddling and watching tv.

She has been drinking lots which is very good,

she is always asking for water.

Today,

Luke decided he would take Pea to church with him

since she had no symptoms of the flu whatsoever.

On the drive there, they got just around Carleton Place

and she threw up all over.

We have yet to decide whether it was car sickness or the flu.

She seemed fine after she got home and got in the bath 

and she hasn't seemed off since

so we are leaning towards car sickness

and praying that she isn't getting this nasty bug!

It's been a WILD few days

and in all this craziness....

we are moving!!!

Tomorrow is our last day in this house

and it will be a BUSY one!

Send a prayer or two up for our family

that the whole move goes smooth

and that our little ones are feeling better asap!

When it rains...it pours right?

 Always so happy, even when she is sick!

 Pea is taking it easy today and she just sat and held my hand while watching a show.

 Luke was falling asleep on the couch so the girls decided he need

cookies and a Dora baby to keep him company.

Always Behind The Camera

I am usually always behind the camera.

I have a million pictures of my girls,

but as I look through my pictures,

I barely have any pictures of my girls WITH their mommy.

One day, 

I am hoping to get professional pictures done of our family

without having to use the timer. lol

Today,

I decided we would set up the camera and take a few

mommy and girl pics so that when they look back

at the millions and millions of pictures,

at least they will see a few pictures mixed in there

of their mommy and the incredible love I have for them.

Here is our little photo shoot from today!

 

Our Whirlwind Is Calming

These last few months

have been nothing but chaos.

I don't think we have stopped at all

just to breathe.

It has been good changes,

good reasons for change,

but still,

change is hard.

We have been spending all our free time looking 

for a place to live.

If anyone has ever ventured past the wonderful 

world of Smiths Falls to look for houses,

you understand.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

The prices are CRAZY!!!

You are looking at double, sometimes triple the amount

of money for the same place.

I would have to say

it got discouraging pretty fast.

Finally,

after months of searching and running back and forth to Ottawa,

we finally found it!

A house that we can call home!!!

We will be moving in at the end of May

and I cannot wait!

It has everything we were looking for!!!

3 bedrooms plus an extra in the basement,

fully finished basement,

a decent backyard which is HARD to find in the city,

and a kitchen with NO carpet!!!

Not that most people put carpet in the kitchen anyways...

but that was one of our requirements

moving from this place that does.

It's a great little spot and I have to say I am excited to 

start this new adventure with our little family!

In crazy news....

Luke only has 1 week left at Smiths Falls Free Methodist Church.

It is quite insane to think about.

That has been our church for the past 16 years

so it is going to be a little hard to say goodbye.

We met in the front pew of that church,

grew up in those pews,

climbed over and under them,

had sleepovers in that church,

and made so many memories there.

So many people in that church have watched us grow up,

get married,

start a family.

It's wild to think we are going to leave.

We are so excited about the new adventure God has for us though!

Chapel Ridge has already been so welcoming

and open to us!

I don't think God could have picked a better spot to plunk us in.

We just have to get over the nerves

and the fears and the unknown.

Another fun thing we have been battling lately

is an AWFUL mouth virus!!!

Pea & Ellie developed this crazy virus in their mouth

that was just downright disgusting!!!

At first we had no idea what it was,

Pea just started developing these canker sores all over her tongue.

She had about 10 or 12 of them.

Then the next day they turned into huge blusters,

some were bleeding and raw.

Her gums got all inflamed and swollen.

You could not brush her teeth because her gums would start bleeding instantly.

You could barely even see her eye teeth

because her gums were so swollen.

Poor little thing, didn't eat anything for 7 days. 

Ellie didn't get it quite as bad

which I am so thankful for!!!

We spent a full week in lock down, not going anywhere.

The poor girls were so excited the first day we went outside again,

they were jumping up and down as they walked.

After multiple Dr visits and a visit to the dentist,

we found out that the virus was not hand, foot mouth.

It was a cold sore virus.

Apparently it is rather common in kids 5 and under that have never 

come in contact with it before,

to react the way my girls reacted to it.

Oh the things you go through when you are a parent.

I hope no little kids I know ever have to go through this thing.

The Dr said it is worse than HFM disease

and much more painful.

Thankfully it is over,

my girls are back to eating for the most part.

Pea has lost a fair bit of weight 

but what can ya do when she doesn't eat for a week!?!?

They say once your child has this virus,

they will never have it again like this.

And because pretty much every adult has had a cold sore 

once in their lifetime,

it is not contagious for adults.

Only to children who have never come in contact with it before.

Thankfully it is over!!!

Another big thing that happened this week

is the fact that we found out we are having

A BOY!!!!

He is 100% for sure a boy!!!

There are no doubts,

he was completely open for us to see!!!

At first it took a bit to get my head around.

I think just because I am so used to girls that I didn't really think

about having a boy.

We are really excited though!!!

I will definitely need to change our house up a bit and add 

some boy things around our new place

because right now,

our house is very much owned by girls!!!

And boy clothes!!!

Although I am sure the girls will get him in a few tutus here and there.

So that is exciting news for us!!!

All in all,

our last few months have been insanely eventful 

and we are just thankful that everything is coming together!

Now if only the weather would warm up a bit!!!!

We did take the girls out the other day to Randy's house

to visit some little chicks that just hatched!

The girls were so excited, it made their entire week!

possibly month!

They held one each and were so great!

Pea was so extremely gentle with the little chick,

it was adorable!!!

I will leave you with a few pics from our little outing:

 

A Special Present

I have been keeping my eye out for a tv stand for a while.

I`ve seen this done before

and I really wanted to make one myself!

A kitchen made out of an old tv stand.

So I have been scouting Salvation Army,

looking for just the right tv stand.

A few weeks ago, I found it!

I snatched it up for $15!

We brought it home and it sat in my hallway for almost 2 weeks 

before I got the strength up to actually start.

Where do you start?

I found a couple old doors on a swap shop 

that I thought would be perfect for an oven door

and that was my starting point!

From there, my mind just started racing!!!

Oh the possibilities!

I got my handy man husband to get on board with me.

Heck, I was not going to be able to do it all alone,

so we went to the hardware store and picked up a few tools

and off he went.

We started with a few alterations

and a good coat of primer.

Then came the fun of designing it!

We found a bunch of stuff from "The Real Deal" to help us get going.

Of course thrifting was going to be the way to go!

After a lot of LATE nights and many hours,

we finally got it all put together 

and we are SO HAPPY with the results!

 We wrapped it all up for the girls to open a little bit early

for their birthday.

Their birthdays are a week apart so we figured this would be 

a good present for the both of them!

They were so excited when they unwrapped it!
I also made matching aprons for them.

And this is how it turned out...