Random Thoughts From a Mommy

I feel like I post a lot of great moments with the kids. How cute they can be and showing a lot of their loving sides. And yup, those moments exist, and they are amazing. But let me take a moment to tell you how 80% of our days actually go: Al wakes, screams on top of his lungs: "I AM AWAKE!" Despite us telling him it's not time to get up yet, he repeats at increasingly louder volume until someone goes to get him. When we do finally wake up, we realize that the girls have somehow crawled into bed with us in the middle of the night without us noticing. Curse the king size bed...but bless the king size bed. Now everyone is up. Everyone is hungry. We ask them what they'd like to have for breakfast. Bacon they say. We say no. Because bacon is only for weekends. In truth, because bacon every day starting at the age of 2 will probably clog your arteries sooner than we would like. And also, because bacon gets expensive with 3 kids. The kids hum and ha about what ...

Dear Bryanna, Normally, I would've been writing this the night before or the morning of your birthday. This year, I'm sitting here after your party, hoping I'll finish this post before I fall asleep. You woke up this morning and said, "I can't believe it's finally my birthday!" And honestly, neither can we. I asked you last night if you must turn 5, you told me yes, because being 5 will be so much better than being 4. So much happened at 4. Your stutter suddenly went away not long after turning 4. It went away so quickly that we forgot you used to have one. You also managed to break your arm twice! Once in May when you were on the monkey bars and fell. You were so happy with your purple sparkly cast! Then towards the end of the summer, you were on another monkey bar and fell. Somehow fractured your elbow. Both times you dealt with the break like a trooper and you told me you'd try to "be brave and not cry". Your dad and I ar...

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. I remember January going super slow and thinking maybe it'd be a nice slow pace year. Nope! February hit and bam! We blinked and here we are. I'm a little late in writing this, but better late than never! As usual, here are our top 10 moments of 2017 (in no particular order): 10.)  #girlsflytoo This year, I got to take the girls on a a helicopter ride. We waited (not so) patiently for 2 hours in the pouring rain and the 5 minute ride was well worth it! The Sky's No Limit - Girls Fly Too is an annual event inspiring future leaders. If you have never been on a small air craft before, check out the website for the 2018 event. I promise you won't regret it! 9.) Bucket List Item It's been on Bryan and my bucket list to see Tony Robbins for a long time. So when he came to Vancouver to speak, Bryan and I jumped on the tickets. There's no question, Tony's energy is infectious and it was amazing to s...

Saw a post today in one of our local groups that Fraser Health is shutting down the Baby Daze program in September across the lower mainland. This program is dear to my heart, and so, I wrote an email to pcqoffice@fraserhealth.ca: "It has come to my attention recently that Fraser Health is undergoing some restructuring and the Baby Daze program that is currently running out of all Public Health offices is being phased out starting September. Although I have not accessed this program since I first went 6 years ago with our first baby, having heard this news was certainly disappointing. You see, 6 years ago, under encouragement from one of the Public Health nurses in North Delta, I took my then 10-day old daughter to Baby Daze. I was tired, had no make up, and was scared of what was ahead of me. We went around and introduced ourselves. The babies there ranged anywhere between 0-6 months. All the moms (and a couple dads!) have the same bewildered look on their faces. I knew ...

Have you ever had that moment? The moment you notice something unusual about your kid. Your mind starts to race. You’re searching for possible explanations and don’t want to panic. Except it’s too late. You go from 0 to 100. You’re thinking the worst, and you scoop up your kid and head to the hospital. On the drive there, you’re wondering what life could look like if you receive the worst news. You go through a run down of your day, of your week. What did you miss? Was anything out of the ordinary? You recall details, details you feel will be important once you get to the hospital so they will take you seriously. Then you try to talk yourself down. You go to the opposite extreme. What if it’s nothing? What if they look at me like an idiot and write me off? Should I even go in? I don’t want to waste anyone’s time. You go to triage, you tell them what’s wrong. You justify why you’re there, that you’re not normally crazy and panic out of the blue. You have every reason to belie...

Dear Alastair, There's something about the last that makes a parent's heart ache a little bit. There will never be another first tooth, another first step, or another first word. You savor it a little bit more, because you know the last really means the last. You cuddle a little bit more, because you just never know when any of of the kids will be too cool to have the last cuddle with you. I'm pretty sure you know this. You use this knowledge as your ammunition. You charm us out of trouble, a smile for one more treat, and you quiver those lips to delay bed time every night. It's amazing what you can do when you're the last. The excuse we tell your sisters when you get away with everything? Well, you're just a baby still! You don't know any better yet! Only you do. You know the power you hold being the youngest. You know that everyone will cater to your every need. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to curb it! At your 18-month ...

Dear Mackenzie, A few weeks ago, you were dressing yourself and taking longer than normal. I asked you to please hurry. You were distracted. I asked you again. You were still distracted by something else. Finally, I said to you, "C'mon Mackenzie, you're six!" You paused. You looked at me for a moment and said, "no, I'm not six." You said it matter of factly. I was taken back for a minute. I paused. Is this true? And of course it was true. I fast forwarded a few weeks early. You were still five. You reminded me that loving all of someone means removing expectations of being perfect. You helped me remember to slow down, to give you more respect than to treat you older than you were. And now, here we are, a few weeks later, and you ARE six. And I am left wondering why I was in such a hurry to begin with. One time, we were laying in bed, and you told me everything about heaven. I asked you how you knew what heaven was and how you knew so much abo...