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The Sweet Spot

11/27/2019

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​Jordan turned 18 months in November and this is one of my absolute favourite ages! The sweet spot of sorts in between being a baby and a big boy. Learning new things every day, interactive in new ways and still cute when they get up to no good... most of the time ;)

I find it to be a sweet spot of sorts for me, too. Maybe it's the fun developmental stage, or maybe it's a turning point of independence for baby and mama alike. Looking back, I see this stage being the time when I began feeling more myself. Or better yet - like it was the start of a new version of myself.

When Halle turned 18 months, I was already a mom of two! Just the month before, Autumn was born and Halle became a big sister. It's wild having Jordan be at the age and thinking back to then when I had a lively toddler and a baby in tow. Honestly, I found two babies to be more empowering than challenging. I find myself missing those days lately. Call me crazy, but I think my mindset back then had a lot to do with how I handled being a mom of two under two. (And maybe that's what I miss...) Can I also take a minute to acknowledge the fact that young toddlers can not talk back yet!!! Because this most definitely helped my wellbeing as well ;) hehe

Around the time Autumn turned one and a half, I was still at home with the girls. Being a mama and putting family first was very much my main focus but furthering my career was important to me, too. I was also making more time for personal care and realizing it's importance. I started my side hustle designing Keep, I was consistently exercising and running and was in the beginning stages of planning my dayhome. Life was good as it was and there was also things to look forward to. I remember having the same "sweet spot" feeling that's creeping in now. Happy with how things were while also excited for what's to come!

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It's important for me to be real and tell you some days lately feel the opposite of sweet. It takes all the energy I have to flip my perspective to positive and grateful. And some days I just can't. I'm learning to be okay with struggling. But I'm also learning I don't need to accept it. Instead, I'm leaning in to those sweet moments even harder and starting to believe now is the time to own that sweetness. Now we climb the mountain after the valley. Now the seasons are changing. Now the sweetness I desire is mine to have. It always has been!

Not sure if these words make sense to anyone but me but I feel so strongly that I am meant to share them to connect others who might feel the same. Others who are struggling, or have been, who are looking for a sweet spot. Who are looking for peace or joy or contentment or healing through whatever they are going through!

I have been clear on wanting to share this for so long, yet sometimes you need to live life's lessons before they are yours to teach. I think reaching this stage with three kids has helped me to recognize patterns in my life. It's making it harder to ignore my inner voice and harder to choose my rational brain which likes to come up with other ideas. Things I should be doing instead of blogging. Things to keep up with. Things accepted by others. The list of things goes on.

And I don't want the things!
I want the sweetness and I want to share it!

Thanks as always for reading XO

PS. Tell me something sweet you want more of in your life :)
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Summer Live List

7/30/2018

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Today I’m sharing our summer live list. Lots of things we plan (or have already checked off) to do around Calgary. Plus seasonal things you could do anywhere!

This summer has been much different than 2017. Last year brought us tons of adventure. We camped nearly every weekend Matthew was home plus some longer trips and a vacation home to Newfoundland. Weekends were all the sweeter for exploring our city with the girls because I was working full time. My dayhome was more fun during summer too because of all our extra outdoor time.

This year we haven’t done any camping and I’m really missing it. With Jordan born the end of May and nothing in the books we just haven’t gotten our trailer out this season. Instead we are back to days filled with outside time and going places to keep out of the house (read: for me to stay sane.) And of course to make wonderful memories.
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Here’s a peek in to our adventures!
  •  X As many beach days at the lake as we can get :)
  • Lake events:
    • Stampede Breakfast
    • Duck Race (Funny or not so funny story... I mixed up the dates/times for both those events #momfail)
    • Movie in the Park
  • X Canada Day at Spruce Meadows
  • Inglewood Night Market (July 13)
  • X Baby Group with Sam the Mama Coach (Friday’s 9-11 at Auburn Bay Co-op Community Room)
  • X Bragg Creek Days (July 21-22)
  • X Water Festival in Chestermere (July 28)
  • Inglewood Sunfest (August 4)
  • Sweet Summer Corn Festival (August 11 at Calgary Corn Maze)
  • Globalfest Fireworks (August 16-25)
  • Mommy Connections Teddy Bear Picnic (August 24)
  • Konmari event (August 26)
  • SUP / Born to be Adventurous Mama Meet Ups
  • Movies at the Meadows (Wednesday’s in August at Spruce Meadows
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  • Granary Road
  • Visit City of Calgary Pools / Splash Pads
    • X Ogden
  • X Okotoks Spray Park
  • X Somerset Splash Pad
  • X Ralph Klein Natural Playground
  • U-pick Farm Berry Picking
  • Iron Horse Park
  • Calaway Park
  • X Calgary Zoo
  • X Explore Neighbourhood Playgrounds (Maybe I’ll do another post with some of our favourites. Calgary Playground Review is a s great resource!)
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  • Plan TIU Meet Up
  • X Hot Mama Health and Fitness Postpartum Classes
  • X Watch Daddy’s Softball Games
  • X Drop in Play Gym at Remington YMCA
  • Play at Calgary Public Library
    • X Quarry Park
    • Fish Creek
  • See Hotel Transylvania 3 in Theatres
  • Go for Ice Cream @
    • X XO Ice Cream & Waffles​
    • Village Ice Cream
  • Hikes with kids
    • X Forgetmenot Pond
    • Elbow Falls
    • Johnson Canyon
  • X Backyard Slip and Slide
  • Trail Walks and Bike Rides
    • X Fish Creek Park
  • Road Trip to Edmonton
  • X Tent in the Backyard
  • Calgary Farmers Market
  • Decorate front porch
  • Find food trucks
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The list continues to grow but that’s what we’ve got for now. We always make time for spontaneous fun too!


I feel lucky to live in a city with so many amenities and fun events. And to have such a beautiful “backyard” to explore.

If you’re reading from away, let this inspire you to seek out events in your town. Summer time is filled with festivals and markets. Social media makes it easy to discover new things or community groups. Days with kids are made exciting simply by packing up a picnic and heading to a park in a new neighbourhood. I know for us, being outside and “exploring” makes our day 1000X better!

If you have any fun recommendations for us with a newborn in tow, leave them in the comments :)

Thanks for reading XO

PS. More snaps from summer in this post.
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A May to Remember

6/14/2018

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Where to begin to fill you in on the last month?! It’s been a blur of events. A blissful, happy blur.


It hasn’t quite felt real.

I found myself thinking about that quote from high school English class: “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” It just seems like life is different now but not much has really changed.

Our new reality is starting to settle in though and I’m really wanting to document these memories... before the little moments are lost to my mom-brain fog ;)

I also have an ongoing list of blog ideas that I’d really love to make time to write. Truth is I actually have a lot of “down” time, thanks to nursing, that I could turn in to blogging time, thanks to smartphones. But sleep deprivation makes it hard to get in to a writing groove sometimes...

As for now, here’s a look back at the month of May aka best month ever ;)
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Matthew’s Mom arrived at the start of the month. He was working his last set of work away before baby’s arrival. It was such a relief to have her there! As soon as he left for work I started having cramps. Since both girls came a little early I was definitely anxious and nervous the aches and pains could be early labour. Matthew ended up taking some “family days” shortly after which got him home a couple days earlier than expected. It relieved us both of worry to know we wouldn’t have to scramble if he was away (again) if I went in to labour.

However, a whole week and a half was to follow making due day a real waiting game. It seemed like everyone expected me to go early. I had to remind myself that pregnancy doesn’t have an expiry date, it’s simply an estimated arrival ;) ...and this date had been the most questionable for us this time around since I didn’t have an early ultrasound. It also made us probably the most prepared this time around for labour. Which I am certainly grateful for!

We spent those days leading up to baby time celebrating all sorts of other special moments!
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The following weekend, Matthew’s dad arrived. (And so did the warm, spring weather - finally!) We booked a Mother’s Day brunch reservation for all of us. It was really nice to have Matthew home and spend the holiday with my MIL in town. Little did I know, we would have more to celebrate that day!

We had been at the mall the day before. I had seen a cute necklace at a pop-up shop that I mentioned to his mom. Matthew had run out later that day so I thought she might have said something to him to swing back and get it as a gift... (Matthew has actually never bought me jewelry so I’m not sure why I thought this... ) but, as he and the girls presented me with a small gift bag that’s what crossed my mind. As I pulled out a much fancier People’s Jewellers box I knew it wasn’t the necklace. Of course the other thing crossing my mind almost seemed too good to be true! I was thrown off, and so was he, because his idea didn’t really go as planned... yet it seemed true to our not-always-to-plan style, so it was great ;)

Halle had been ‘in’ on the gift. She was so excited for me to open it! What kid isn’t excited about presents?! She was supposed to help ask the question. Me being me, asked the girls if they wanted to help me open it. Autumn being Autumn, kind of took over and pulled it out of the bag, not knowing what was in that little box. This left Matthew standing watching the chaos of the moment and lead to me opening the box. “Are you serious?” I asked... I knew it but couldn’t believe it. And Halle promptly shouted it’s “a wedding ring!” And Matthew asked me to marry him! We hugged and kissed and it was a happy, messy blur of a moment with two giddy girls telling us we’re going to get married!
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All of which clued Nanny (Matthew’s Mom) in on what was happening. She had casually started unloading the dishwasher ha because I had suggested to the girls we sit at the table to open the gift... oops! And Poppy was sitting on the couch... hence yet another reason why my gift took me by surprise! And them too, obviously! I guess Matthew just wanted to surprise us all ;)

Anyway, it was a great moment that completely took my mind off the baby waiting game and labour nerves! It also gave us some wonderful news to share with family who would be calling on FaceTime for Mother’s Day wishes. It really made the day extra special!

The ring had to be resized to fit my finger so I was sad not to wear it out that day. We had enjoyed a lovely brunch and it was this sort of unreal sense of happiness and content.
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The celebrations continued as we celebrated Matthew’s mom’s birthday that Thursday. It was her 60th and I wish we could have thrown a bigger party. But with baby yet to arrive and all of her family back home it just wasn’t realistic. She certainly wasn’t complaining to spend the day with her grandkids though! We celebrated with take out Chinese food for supper and birthday cake.
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​Of course we wondered if baby would share her special day but it turns out he wanted a day of his own! Later that night I awoke with more frequent and intense contractions. I got in the shower around 3:30am in case this was ‘go’ time. An hour later we checked in to the hospital. Then, at 12:54pm on May 18, Jordan John was born! We were overjoyed to meet our baby BOY!


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I’ll be sharing his birth story (+ photos) in detail soon. I’m thankful to have documented both girls (
here & here) so I can reflect on the details as the years go by. I will say, my labour and delivery was another positive experience and the gender surprise made it all the better!

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We spent the rest of the month soaking up family time. Matthew’s parents helped us with some backyard projects, served us home cooked meals and spoiled our girls with lots of fun! We had Autumn’s ballet recital and enjoyed some outings as a family of 5 to the lake and the zoo.


As slow as the month seemed to start, reflecting back, it flew by! I’m grateful for all we celebrated and will share more stories very soon.

Thanks for reading XO

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