Tag Archives: kids

October 5, 2018 · 2:54 pm

Just Grab Your Nuts

Just Grab Your Nuts

I use to not be such a fan of animals but my readings on consciousness have changed that about me. They’ve taught me to observe animals and to learn. Many meditation exercises include animals such as conscious butterfly watching.

Seriously when is the last time you watched a butterfly fly?

I watch a squirrel in our backyard and I wonder. Does the mama squirrel stress out over all the chores she has to do?  Does she worry that she won’t build the shelter in time or that she won’t store enough food for the winter?  I wonder, does she doubt herself or does she believe in herself?

Is an animal even able to imagine a worst case scenario?

Probably not.

A squirrel is surely capable of fear towards something real but unless it’s dreaming I would imagine it cannot scare itself by imagining worst case scenarios for herself and her fuzzy family. She doesn’t stress too much about it she just goes out there every day, rain or shine. She climbs the trees, stores de fruit, hides the nuts. She just does what she’s got to do to prepare for winter. Every day she trusts that the sun will go down and then come up again tomorrow.

Hmm I guess these books are right. Apparently I can learn from animals.

Now this mama squirrel has to go do mama squirrel things.

But still, I cannot help but wonder. Does that mama squirrel ever feel like she needs a crazy night out to party and unwind?

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February 21, 2014 · 7:50 pm

More, More, More.

We all want the best for our children. The best school, the best education. We want them to be smart, we teach them and encourage them to do educational activities, Extracurricular activities, dance, ballet, chess, soccer. We want them to be fit, fast and athletic. We want them to look good, we take time to pick out their clothes, we buy them things even if we can’t afford it for ourselves. We want everything for them, everything we never had.
We would give them everything we have, we try our best to do this right , to keep them happy.
But lately I’ve been wondering if we’ve been focussing on the right things. Maybe there’s more we should focus on.
Are they caring enough? Are they companionate? Have we thought them empathy? Are they generous? Are they friendly?
With technology at an all time peak and human interaction at an epic transformation, I wonder everyday what I could do more to teach them to be more.
More grateful, more mindful, more human.

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July 30, 2013 · 8:26 am

A Seagull in the Garbage

It’s 8 am and I didn’t sleep for more than 45 minutes straight tonight. It was one of these nights where A3’s regular every two hour feedings woke up A2 who threw a fit and woke up A1. At about 3:40 am this morning all three were crying.

Yes A3 is 8 months old and still wakes up every two hours. How come? I don’t know. To make sure I’m a sleepless mother of three. A2 wasn’t like this. Each child is completely different. The way they eat or sleep has really nothing to do with the way you raise them. I’ve raised all three the same, yet A1 won’t eat anything unless you are very persuasive or the food is pink while A2 will steal your sandwich if you look away, like some kind of starving seagull.

Exhausted to the core, I’ve never been this tired in my entire life. I’ll rest when I’m old, I figure. They’re bound to grow up, eat, drink and poop on their own…I suppose. How do moms do it? We just do it! We don’t think about it too much, we just do what needs to be done. It is completely useless to sulk on the negative and concentrate on your fatigue. The more you think about it, the more of a presence it has in your life. I try to take it like a one shot super long shift of a job that I love.

The worst is when you’re sick. Nausea? Vomiting? Diarrhea?  Nope! Can’t call in sick for this job. You just gotta keep doing what you’re doing and tough it out. Sit on that toilet and tell a story at the same time! Hold back your nausea while feeding them and if you get really dizzy push a few toys off the couch, lie down and call out their names one by one just to make sure that one of them hasn’t figured out a way to open the front door and isn’t already playing in your garbage that’s out on the street.

Take a guess!! Which one do you think did that…A2 of course!

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July 2, 2013 · 10:13 pm

The Peasant and the Queen

It is not enough that there are babies everywhere in this house, but the babies have their own babies. Baby dolls, which have their own strollers, diapers, bottles, car seats, clothes, pacifiers, beds and even high chairs. A good friend of mine wanted to buy A1 a baby doll play pen… “Please don’t do that! I beg you” I said, thank goodness she listened.

Instead she bought her a treasure chest filled with different princess dresses.  A1 loves it; she puts on a princess dress the second she gets home from school.

Jack seriously voiced his concern about this today. “We have to do something, this is not normal” he said.

I’m pretty sure it’s normal, but I do agree that she needs to learn to be a little tougher. She walks around in dresses and requires us to adress her as “Queen A1”…and we do .

“Dinner is served, my Queen”

And she walks into the kitchen, wearing a tiara, walking on the tip of her toes, holding her dress up with the tip of her fingers and behind her follows wobbling A2, barefoot, with marker stains all over her face and clothes.  The Queen and the Peasant.

They both sit at the dinner table and the circus starts!

Feeding A1 requires an incredible talent of persuasion and negotiation.

Me: Ok, three more bites.

A1: No! One!

Me: Ok then, you eat all of it.

A1: No No!

Me: Then it’s three.

A1: No! Five!

Me: Five is a bigger number than three!

And we laugh together. Those really are the moments that make it all worth it.

Feeding A2 on the other hand, requires two spoons, incredible speed and a cleaning crew.

A3 is usually strapped onto me in a baby carrier during all of this. She eats after them. Feeding A3 requires a lab suit and a face mask to protect you from all the spitting, combined with a sword and shield to fight back A2 who comes with force for the baby food.

As if all of this is not enough, today we put in A1’s kindergarten graduation show’s DVD in during supper. Her graduation show, during which I had to hide my face behind A2’s head who was sitting on my lap. I was hiding because I got so emotional and  was crying non-stop, uncontrollably.  I was even crying when other kids were on stage. Graduations are truly bitter sweet. I’m gonna cry now…

So we decide to put in this DVD during supper today, you would think I had gotten it all out of my system that day…wrong! I started crying again. So today during supper time I had tears rolling down my cheeks and a quivering lip all the while negotiating with A1, chasing A2 and carrying A3.

A real Circus!

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June 27, 2013 · 12:36 am

A licking question

Do your children also lick something they find really cute ? Is this normal behaviour? They lick the screen of the phone all the time because of Ginger the talking cat who fluffs up real nice after you blow dry it!
Anyone know what I’m talking about?

ginger

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June 24, 2013 · 10:33 pm

The Real Reason Kids sleep with some light on.

Kids sleep with light on. Why?

When they’re very young they’re not even afraid of the dark yet. And it’s not like the young ones are getting up to go to the bathroom at night or anything. Why do they sleep with the light on?

The real reason kids sleep with some light on is so that you can see them well when you watch them seep.

So you can clearly see them and wonder where the heck they came from?

So you can clearly see their features and wonder, who exactly do they look like?

So you can clearly see how tall they’ve gotten and wonder where time went?

So you can stand there staring at them wondering how you ever kept busy before having children and wonder what the heck you’ll do to keep busy once they’re all grown up.

They’ll grow up and never truly understand or return the love.

Until they have their own. Then, they’ll understand how they’ve been loved, they will love and their children will do the same to them.

Water flows down, just as love flows down from one generation to the other.

So when your toddler or baby is calling for you…no matter how tired you are, no matter what time of the night it is and no matter how many times you’ve already gotten up…embrace it. Enjoy it. Soon enough, they’ll stop calling.

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June 17, 2013 · 11:18 pm

re-lax

A2 draws on the wall.

That wall was already ruined 5 years ago when A1 drew all over it. They can draw all they want I’ll have them paint my house when they become teenagers.

“How do you not freak out?” many ask.

Freak out? Yell? Get angry? Cry?

The world will give you real reasons for all that, but your child taking a crayon and drawing on the wall is not a reason to lose yourself.

Children will learn to read and write in school, the only thing you can ever really teach them is self-control.

If I flip out because they drew on the walls, covered the furniture in stickers or ruined the wood floors by riding tricycles in the house then how will I keep my cool when my daughter is trying to sneak in at 6 am in about 15 years or even worse, when she tells me she is pregnant before being married.

When I told my father I was pregnant before being married, he said: “Blessed art thou among women” and then he said “ I need a nap”

And blessed I was…

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June 7, 2013 · 9:39 pm

Hello Titty

I can hear my phone ringing. Where is it?

Quick! I’m going to miss the call.

I get up following the sound. I listen to the right, I listen to the left. It sounds the same! Oh! It sounds like it’s coming from the toys. I start digging in the toy chest, throwing the toys over my head. A2 would’ve loved to see this, she probably would’ve thought it was a fun game and joined right in.

Suddenly the sound is now coming from behind me. What the???

I turn around; it’s on the floor somewhere. I’m on all fours at this point. I feel like a phone sniffing dog. Phone is still ringing. Ok sounds like it’s under that little hello Kitty purse. (Or hello “Titty” as A2 calls it)

Nope.

Hunh? Ohhhhh it’s IN the hello kitty purse!

I answer.

”Hello?”

I missed the call.

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May 12, 2013 · 10:33 pm

A2 drank from the toilet. Cheers!

Kids are finally asleep. Jack’s watching the games… Seems like all my posts starts the same way.

So A2 drank toilet water today. We were at my inlaw’s house, when Jack caught her standing in front of the toilet bowl, sucking on a wet hand towel whose other end was still in the toilet. Yey!

He called for me. By the time I got there everyone was gathered in the bathroom. I asked A1 “You went to the bathroom last,please tell me you didn’t forget to flush!”. There was water everywhere and she was soaked. We started to clean up when we realized she had gotten away again. “There’s another bathroom on this floor!” Jack yelled out. We ran to the bedroom bathroom and found her there plotting her next drink.

I wish I was the one who caught her doing that. I would’ve probably left her and ran for my camera.

Oh ya, and no, A1 hadn’t forgotten to flush!  Good girl.

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May 5, 2013 · 11:02 pm

“Stop saying you’re a Hockey wife, you’re not a hockey wife.”

Game 3 of the first round is over.

Jack is in one of these moods…

“Stop saying you’re a Hockey wife, you’re not a hockey wife.”

So he says that, then the press conference starts with the Team coach and I know better than to argue with him during something he really wants to listen to.

This is what makes me a Hockey wife. You don’t need to be married to a professional Hockey player, as soon as hockey enters your wifely role in any shape or form, you are a hockey wife. During the playoffs, we can’t put the kids to bed until the period ends… not only am I a hockey wife but our children are Hockey kids!

We’re still watching the press conference, now it’s the opposite team’s coach speaking. I try to listen to what he’s saying. I understand the words individually but have to clue of the general idea. I just look at Jack’s face to know what I should feel about what he’s saying.

Same way our kids look at us to decide of their own emotions. That’s why you shouldn’t flip out when you see a spider. I did that once and saw the fear on  A1’s face. To be honest I’m not even that afraid of spiders, I’m just afraid of what one might do with that spider. I rather get over the disgust and dispose of it myself, instead of being chased around the house by a certain someone holding the squished thing in a Kleenex threatening to feed it to me.

 

 

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April 22, 2013 · 12:17 am

Distracted

It’s Sunday night and as we wait for a new episode of Game of Thrones, I’m going to blog. I want to blog more often but I don’t want to do it knowing I’m taking time away from the kids or Jack.

We’re probably going to end up buying the seasons on Blu-ray because I rarely understand something the first time. I’m not stupid, I just easily get distracted. Ok maybe a little slow at times… I don’t know, the more I mature, the more I realize I really don’t know much. I’m always learning. Well, let me be the proof that smarts or no smarts, if you’re determined, you can make things happen.

I just came back from upstairs, A1 was crying hysterically, her knee hurt. “Growing pains” as we call them. I gave her some Tempra, much lower than the recommended dose; a small dose combined with placebo effect goes a long way. I also tied a scarf around her knee. Doing that helps lessen the pain (in my books anyways), it’s like rubbing your pain, activating the sensation of touch around your pain helps lighten the message of pain to the brain by keeping your nerves busy with another signal, kind of like distracting your brain from the pain.

Today, my parents watched the kids while Jack and I went to see a play. We got there late and missed the first 15 minutes of the play. I want to take the time to write about this play, so I’m going to do it in a post on its own.

“Structure” remember ?…

But this play does deserve a post on its own.

Episode is ready.

“Valar morghulis” to all fellow Game of Thrones fans.

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April 11, 2013 · 10:18 pm

Hockey vs Hormones

Kids are asleep and Jack’s watching the game.

This morning when I changed A3’s diaper, half a pretzel came out of it. How did it get there? Probably A2’s doing. I felt really bad, imagine spending the night with a sharp edged piece of Pretzel in your underwear.pretzel

I’ve had my loved ones worry about me after the last post Face your fears and look inside. There’s nothing to worry about, I think I’m on the right track by being conscious of it all.  It being how I feel, what I think…

We’re all pretty fragile if you think about it. What are emotions? Emotions are a direct result of non-other than chemistry, hormones and neurotransmitters …

“It’s normal, you just had three kids”

Yes it’s normal that my body is out of balance and that it leaves me feeling anxious, and out of my usual self. It might be normal, but I don’t want it. I want to be in control of my own emotions and feelings.

I better learn to do what I need to do before menopause comes along with 5 times more chemical imbalances and makes me go completely insane for good. If you’ve ever felt cranky or moody because of your period cycle, because you’ve been overworked or because of lack of sleep, then you’re in the exact same boat as me, letting your body influence your mood.

Since men naturally don’t experience many drastic hormonal shifts in their life time, they are more stable in this perspective. I look at Jack, and seems like all he needs to relax and unwind is watching a good game of Hockey.

We went to a game last Saturday; it practically felt like a religious gathering.  21 273 people gathered, uniting their thoughts and positive energy towards the same goal and chanting is unison… If Hockey matters to these people as much as is matters to Jack, then it practically is a religion. In the end isn’t it the role of religion to bring beings to peace, tame their worries and bring them closer together?

This is what I was thinking about during the game… then I started staring at the building’s structure and started to worry about its stability and where we should head in case of an emergency…

Do we ever stop worrying?!

All this to say, I am now conscious of the effect of physical life events on my inner self and I want to gain full control of it. I want to be who I am no matter what hormonal phase of my life I’m in, no matter how much sleep I’ve had and no matter how much stress this life throws my way.

How? Not sure yet …

But I’ll find a way.

P.S A great win for our team tonight. Extra yey for me!

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April 3, 2013 · 10:31 pm

Be real and do your laundry

After a very long day, kids finally asleep, sunken deep into the basement couch, we realize we forgot to bring down the baby monitor. Who’s going to go get it?

I am. Be right back.

You can’t really argue over this one… every moment that passes counts. What if baby’s crying and we can’t hear her because we’re wasting time arguing about who’s going to go upstairs to get the monitor. Now that I did this one, he’ll have to do the next thing that comes up. With 3 kids in the house anything could come up any time.

Later when the washer stops I’ll ask him to empty the washer into the dryer. Last time he did, I heard him yell from the washroom “For once I’d like to open the washer and find MY clothes in there!”

It’s true, it’s never his laundry. It’s always the girls’ pink laundry.

Jack’s yelling at the TV again. Good thing I’ve got this blog. What else would I be doing while he watches the game?

What do the wives and girlfriends of the world do while the guys are watching the game? I’m sure some really enjoy it and others only pretend… Let’s not go there.

Well a confident woman doesn’t need to pretend about anything. Life is too short to pretend anything. We should focus on being real. Reality has become a rarity and it’s sad.

So our deal is I blog while he watches the game. That’s why I hope our team goes to the playoffs.

From laundry, to pretending, to hockey. “You need more structure in your texts” someone once told me.

I need more structure in my head!

This is exactly how thoughts go through my mind, I go from topic to topic and it’s exhausting. If I’m exhausting myself with my thoughts imagine how it must be for Jack to hear me talk about everything that I’m thinking about. This kind of thought process combined with decreased memory is a complete disaster.

It’s all good with Jack as long as it’s not during the game.

It’s easy to keep a man happy.

Ouf! Big statement I just made there and I stand by it. Most men are clear about what they want and don’t want. Now whether or not we have the will to allow it…well that’s another thing.

Note I wrote “Most men”. I know a few men who seem pretty complicated from my point of view…

Games over, home team lost…

Got to go.

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March 27, 2013 · 10:49 pm

Bump in the Night (Scary things kids do at night)

3 A’s are all asleep, Jack is in the basement cursing at the hockey game. How emotionally involved do you have to be to actually stand out of your seat and yell at the TV screen?  I can’t imagine myself doing that.

I’m sitting in the family room in the dark and A3 is falling asleep next to me on the couch. I’m typing away, I look up, I see a shadow, and my heart skips a beat.

It’s A1, just standing there staring at me.

Me: What are you doing? You scared me!

A1: I can’t sleep, what are you doing? Blog? Move I want to watch.

Me: Move? What move? Go upstairs back to bed. Or else… Or else, I won’t let you wear your pink shoes with your Easter dress and you’ll have to wear your black shoes!

A1: No!!! Plz!

She’s finally asleep, after “but I’m thirsty”, “but I need to pee”, then “Oh I forgot I already went to pee”, “but this pyjama makes me sweat” and tonight we have a new one “But these socks are too tight!”

Lately she’s been pulling this “I can’t sleep” sneaking up business. She’s so damn quiet! She scares the living crap out of us every single time. I get scared very easily, my imagination has a life of its own. That’s why I don’t watch scary movies.

 One night, a couple of years ago, in the middle of the night we heard a loud noise coming from A1’s bedroom. It woke us up “What the hell is that noise?” we wondered and quickly went to check it out.

OMG! Jack’s yelling at the top of his lungs! He’s going wake the whole house! What the hell is happening in that hockey game? (Sorry that was a side note)swing

What was I saying? Oh yeah, we went to see what was happening.  The baby swing that was set up in her room was swinging by itself, in the dark, in the middle of the night. It was the scariest thing. It kept swinging and swinging, harder and harder making a lot of noise. We were speechless just staring into that dark room. We thought surely, this house is haunted. We quickly turned on the light!

We looked at A1’s bed, it was empty!

We look back at the moving swing and we see A1 behind it, pushing wildly with all her might and a little doll neatly secured into the swing seat. She kept going for a few more seconds then suddenly stopped and went back into her bed without saying a word.

 Kids can be so spooky sometimes!

P.S I did well today: 3 meals, some exercise, even a short session of meditation.

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March 26, 2013 · 5:41 pm

+++ Why you shouldn’t clean if you want your kids to be calm

It’s the afternoon. I have A2 and A3, A1 is not home from school yet. It’s the first time that I blog while A2’s awake. Not only that, it’s the first time I actually have the laptop out while she’s around.

A3’s in ++++++++a chair and A2’s wobbling around. Every time she comes near A3 to give her a +++++++–kiss all stops and I watch her every move in fear.

Those plus and minuses are from A2, she passed by and pressed on those keys.

They’re both calm right now. Anyone who sees this post and knows the state of my home might think “Instead of blogging you should’ve picked up the mess”.

The room is completely quiet; all we hear is A2’s toy singing. Everything sings in this house. I am sitting down next to them quietly typing away. Now if I were to start picking stuff up, washing dishes or cooking.+++++++++++++++ (Another visit)I would be moving around, making noise, water running, pots and pans clunking, I would be creating a different mood.++++ (A2)

I want them to be calm, so I should  create the atmosphere for it. Usually in the evenings, after supper time, I dim the lights and I actually put on Spa music. They can do as they wish, play, run, yell, but the background is this. I’ve learned this from my own mistakes, I use to leave the TV on, talk loud, clean up… Then I realized that all this noise was making them agitated.

It took me three kids to figure this much out.

A2’s back. She’s closing the laptop and yelling “NO!” … I gtg. She gave me enough alone time, now I’m going to go play!

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February 11, 2013 · 10:06 pm

The hare and the Anniversary Special

Hare: n. Any of various mammals of the family Leporidae, especially of the genus Lepus, similar to rabbits but having longer ears and legs and giving birth to active, furred young. (thefreedictionnary.com)

Dishes, laundry and bathing three kids leaves mommy in a cold shower by the end of the evening. No more hot water.

Right before that, A1 asked to be read a story before bed. So I started:

“ I’m gonna tell you the story of the turtle and the, the hmmm… how do we say “lièvre” in english.”

A1: What’s that mommy?

Me : It’s a wild rabbit that runs fast.

A1: Oh! A kangaroo?

Me : No. Let’s ask daddy. DAAADDDYYY

Jack answers from across the hall “What!”

Me: How do you say “Lièvre” in English?

Jack: I dunno. Coyote ?

Btw as I wrote  this Jack came up behind me and said.egg

“Don’t post this; people are going think I’m stupid… You’re still going to post it aren’t you? Your blog is nothing without me!”

And he’s right the blog is about my life and he’s a big part of it. Since we’re talking about Jack, might as well continue.

In our house weekends are so chaotic that we rarely have time to eat, so I always prepare a bowl of hard-boiled eggs so we can at least have a quick dose of protein in a snack. Jack has made it a habit to crack the egg on his head. Yes you read right. He takes the boiled egg and he smashes it on his head. It’s partly to make the children laugh but he does it even when they’re not around.

So Saturday, on our anniversary, I decided to put one non-boiled egg in that bowl.

I think you can imagine the rest…

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February 7, 2013 · 3:21 am

Why a blog?

 I haven’t blogged in a few days and it’s been bothering me. 

This is not working. Every time something happens I try to memorize it so that I can later write it in my journal. When I eventually have some time I try to read my journal (whatever I had time to write) so that I can blog about it. Since no there’s way I have time to do all that, I’m going to have to say goodbye to my notebook.

Aha! Did you think I was going to say “the Blog “just there? Well since I don’t want that to happen, I’m getting get rid of the notebook and I’m going to keep writing what I’m thinking in the moment.

Sunday night, I joined some friends at a Super Bowl party after the kid’s bed time.  On my way home I almost got into a bad car accident. The reason was simply that I was thinking about a million things at the same time, and therefore was distracted.

I’m usually good at finding fun ways to manage the kids and keeping my stress level down, but recently, after having baby # 3 I must admit it’s been a challenge. I really need to make some adjustments in order to come back to my usual self. There’s only so much I can do with the kids and the chaos but there’s a lot I can do with myself.  I guess this blog can be the first step by giving me a way to vent.

(To be continued)

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January 30, 2013 · 12:04 am

A new day, a new post?

Blogging every night will be hard. Some nights I pass out right after the last kid is in bed, other nights I pass out in the last kid’s bed. Children ask you to stay with them a while before they fall asleep. Yes, we do enjoy spending that time with them, scratching their backs and answering their multiple questions. But let’s be honest, sometimes we just need them to sleep already.

See, when you have three kids it’s a little different; your child asking you to lie down next to them until they fall asleep gives you a valid reason to leave your spouse alone with the other two.  If the opportunity to sleep on duty presents itself you do not let it pass. Plus it’s the perfect scenario. You can stay as long as you like, no one will know. Zzzzzzz

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