Tonight is our first night sleeping in our new house, and frankly, it’s not what I expected.

The house still has a lot of incomplete elements, but it was time to start the process. I wanted to be more or less settled before my return to work.

Even though the majority of our things have been in storage for the last year, it is truly incredible to see the amount of sh*t that you can accumulate over a year. We have so. Much. Stuff. I am feeling super overwhelmed.

We’ve been so busy the last few days, Poor jack hasn’t had a normal routine at all. Hopefully tomorrow he will get to sleep in his bed, with his furniture in his new room!

I have been waiting for over a year to have a drink on the deck and watch the sun set.

We started building our forever home when I was 8 months pregnant. My husband spent every possible minute that he had last summer cutting down trees and clearing a lot. This year he has worked non-stop building, and he has missed big stuff.

He has sacrificed so much free time to complete this house for us. He’s missed steps, words, snuggles and tantrums. He has hurried home from work to tuck our boy in before heading to work on the house until late in the evening.

We are pushing to be moved in this weekend 😳 it feels so surreal to be at the finish line for this huge project.

Jack has been “helping” with the finishing touches and cleaning- let me tell you – It is not easy to work on a house with a toddler. He is wild and attention-seeking and he can somehow climb ladders now….terrifying.

Just thought that I would drop some appreciation for my wonderful husband and for my cool kid. We are very much looking forward to some down time together.

I cannot wait to live here forever.

Why is it that every time you need to go somewhere, the morning is always a total cluster?!

I had a big day planned. We are moving this week and I am trying to get the house habitable. So Jack was going to his Aunt’s house for the day. We were going to get an early start.

He slept in until 8:30. Amazing right? But at the what cost.

His diaper had exploded. All of those crystals filled with pee went everywhere. All over the blankie that he can’t sleep without, the teddy, the sheets and mattress.

My husband is working nights, so he had just gotten into bed when I barged through the room to get to the bathroom for an emergency bath. I was running like a fool trying to get a bag packed for the day, while washing laundry and scrubbing the mattress.

As you can imagine, that is not a nice way to wake up, and Jack was out of sorts and crying all morning.

It is days like this that I am truly grateful for coffee, doughnuts, and Aunts and cousins who babysit 🖤

It was our cousin’s first birthday party yesterday. Jack didn’t nap very well and it was hot- so he was very cranky. Nothing a little frosting can’t fix.

I never figured that I would be the type of mom who worried about sugar intake. I try to follow the 80% -20% rule. He eats healthy foods 80% of the time, so I don’t fret when he eats a cupcake and cookies at a birthday party.

I totally understand people who choose to monitor their kids sugar intake, and those who cook all healthy, homemade meals. I think the important thing is to do what works best for your family. Pouch dinners and cupcakes sometimes works best for us, and that’s ok.

I also firmly believe that if little boys want to go to a tutu and flamingo themed party- they can wear a tutu and a flamingo shirt.

Pink tutus are pretty and boys are allowed to like pretty things.

In the end- he wanted to take the tutu off for the universal reason that anyone wants to take a tutu off- they itch.

Jack has always been a very scheduled sleeper. We decided to sleep train him last September, when we moved him into his own crib.(A blog post for another time)

When the pandemic hit, we had just begun to transition from two naps a day to one nap. This has been a super difficult transition, because often he is ready to go back to sleep (read: totally melting down) by 10am.

I will be the first to admit- my life is so much easier with two naps a day. And when we were all stuck at home for weeks upon weeks, we very quickly transitioned back to two naps a day.

It broke up the day, gave me two breaks instead of one, and I’m pretty sure it is the only reason we made it through.

Now- I’m in a bit of a tough spot. Most days Jack is still ready for sleep around 10:30-11, but he usually only needs one nap. It all depends on the length of nap#1.

So we wing it most days, and hope for the best.

This approach really encompasses my parenting style…

Hi everyone! Blogging strong still- although I am struggling with motivation today because I’m at my parents camp. It’s hard to be on a phone here.

BUT- since we are at the beach I thought I would talk about something that makes me squirmy. Jack has a farmers tan.

When you have a baby, there are a lot of unsaid rules. Some I knew, some I didn’t, but a golden rule is: Sunburns are bad for babies. Protect their skin.

But also: they need to be outside

But also: sunscreen is also evil. Don’t use that.

This put me in an awkward position. I want to be outside, I love outside. I love the beach and the sun and the fresh air. Jack also wants to be outside. Every morning he begins to whine to go out around 8. It escalates quickly and usually we are out (rain or shine) by 8:30.

So we go outside.

He wears sunshirts, and sunscreen and big hats. And we spend so much time outside that he has a tan.

Whenever someone mentions his farmers tan- I never know what to say. I try my best to protect his skin- but there doesn’t really seem to be a “right” thing to do.

After I had Jack, my hairdresser Nikki had her work cut out for her. My postpartum hair loss was REAL. The regrowth was worse.

First, we cut bangs for the first time since I was emotionally unstable in university. She made them look great, and made me feel great.

Nikki noticed immediately that I wasn’t allowing myself to take a lot of “me time”, so she developed a crafty plan:

Blonde.

I have never been blonde. My hair has been the same old natural brown for close to ten years. But going blonde was such a wonderful adventure- and guess what?

It takes a super long time in the chair.

This means that every few months, I get three hours with a best friend to relax, catch up and be baby free for a while.

A wonderful gift from a wonderful friend.

🖤

Today my son slept until 10am. 10!! What a beautiful gift.

I was loving it. I woke up at 7:45 and thought “mmmmm a sleep-in! Thanks buddy!“

Then at 8:30, my husband and I got up and made coffee, what a treat. We watched a show (together!)

By 9:30 I was stressed

What does this mean?

Is he alright?

What kind of kid sleeps this late?!

By 10-I woke him up. He was sad. He was having a good snooze.

Why couldn’t I just leave him?!

#momziety

I realize that a lot of the “blog-worthy” content seems to be the crazy meltdowns or cranky mom moments. There are so many wonderful and beautiful and funny things about being a mom, and I really want to capture those too.

Today for example: Jack saw me giving my husband a kiss, and immediately ran to us and wanted to be picked up- so he could have kisses too.

Sunday, he didn’t nap for most of the day, until he passed out in the Moving, very loud, speedboat. IN HIS LIFEJACKET (which he hates). It was the first time in months that he has fallen asleep on me.

Or how when he’s sleepy, he snuggles his blankie on the tip of his nose.

Motherhood is a wild rollercoaster of emotions.

Some days there’s week old food on my pants and my hair has been in the same messy ponytail for far too long. Other days I am supermom because I managed to remember to put on deodorant and shoes.

Some day my kid will call me mama instead of dadadadada 🙄

Someday, I will look back on my motherhood journey and I’ll look at the tantrums and meltdowns and all of the sweet little moments that made me feel like a real mom.