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Ideal Day

7/24/2018

Your ideal day.

What is it?

Does reading that dream up a picture in your head?

Do you even know what your dream day is? Like the one for you, not someone else’s idea of a dream day.

I’m trying to decide on mine, too.

I know the general things that make me happy. And I sort of think an ideal day isn’t anything extraordinary. It’s the seemingly ordinary things that flow and bring you joy.

A couple of years ago, when I did my “reality rain cheque,” I thought about the things that I wanted in my every day. They were read, write, move, connect and outdoors. Broad categories: yes, but simply put: things that make me happy.

When I fit these things in my day I just feel better.

Lauren Gleisberg wrote a post about a similar concept of making a happy list. She has a list of 10 things or so that make her feel good. She aims to do at least 4 of those things each day. I love that!

It’s funny because I have a running list of blog post ideas but for whatever reason this is what was easy to write right now...

I guess I’ve been thinking how my ideal day is a lot like the days I have now. Awesome, right?

...Spent with my family. Early morning me time to read and write. Time to move with the kids, on walks with the dogs or working out. Hours outside during summer days. And connecting - in person with friends, FaceTiming family or online with communities.

Yet... the hardest thing, and kind of a mind F, about it is how these days can also seem like anything from ideal. When being with the kids can actually drive me crazy. I love love being their mom and our life together but why do these times happen. How can it go from ideal to terrible like *that*? I try so hard not to “why me” or “why” these times... but it’s hard sometimes. When the messes pile up. When they argue over the most ridiculous things. When they exert their independence and don’t listen. When you can’t do the things you want to do. When your rushing or late (I have decided I hate rushing.)

Phew just typing this is making my cortisol rise.

Anyway I want to unlock more of the first option. I know we are bound to have our moments... but I also think it’s possible to structure our time to bring more peace and joy to our days.

I want to share the journey here to inspire you to think about your ideal days and how you can get closer to living them.

That’s a big piece behind my motto and behind the community and wellness vibes I wish to spread on the blog.

To challenge myself, I’m going to post something here every day for the rest of the month.

That gets my writing box ticked.

Plus gives me some time to be creative and independent from mom life.

My challenge for you is to think about your happy list or daily must haves to feel good.

Let’s start with that...

Thanks for reading XO

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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 ;)

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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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Flow vs Force

3/6/2018

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March is my birthday month and dreamy Pisces season. My sign reminds us to go with the flow — something that has always been important to me. I like when life flows and I often make decisions emotionally and intuitively because of it.

It’s funny how that works though. At the start of the month I wrote down intentions to let go of force and embrace more flow.

intentions for march

Going in to this weekend, I had high hopes and big plans. Well, not really big plans, but things I was looking forward to like my hair appointment and date night.

And then, neither one of them happened.

It had been snowing all weekend and not worth the half hour drive to my stylist. She works in a small town south of the city. I love the extra “me time,” and mountain views, the commute provides me. Either way, stormy highways were not worth the risk this week. And I decided my roots (and spending account) could wait a couple weeks...

As for date night, on top of the weather, Matthew’s back wasn’t well and we have a weekend getaway planned for mid-month. As much as I was craving dinner at Anju, our night out could wait too.

It made this weekend a little more dull but it was the perfect example of swapping force for flow.

We flowed with what came our way.

This meant slowing down and simply being together as a family. (Another intention I set for this month.)

family walk in fish creek park

Plus I finally got to work on some office and tax organization which is oh-so-easy to put off but feels oh-so-good to make progress with.

I wanted to share this post because at times, flow might not feel good. If we are longing for something, it can be hard to flow, yet it robs us of being present. When we can be okay in the flow, and okay in the present, we can be truly happy.

Then, things often come full circle flowing more of what we are wanting or needing in our life.

not bad for a self timer snap from a park bench ;)

When I was feeling stuck this weekend, for example on missing out on one-on-one time with Matthew, I had to let it go and trust our time would come. When I allowed that to happen, today, some alone time flowed in to my naptime break and we finally got to chat about some things that had been put off. It gave me such relief to get the connection and time I had been craving! And more importantly because it flowed and was not forced.

I know not everyone likes reading these posts as much as say family updates... but I think it’s so important to share. Creating space for moments like these is what makes our life great! We can all welcome more flow in our lives and trust that good things will come :)

sweet signs of spring - a gift from one of my dayhome children I said “see you later” to last week as this month marks starting at her new daycare :)

Hope you are all having a lovely week.

If you haven’t tuned in to the latest vlog, you can find it here!

Thanks, as always, for reading XO

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