Ode to a perfect husband

It kind of hit me recently; I’m REALLY lucky. I have a great family. We had a great week end, we had a great week before the week end… Stephen comes home every afternoon, he’s always there for me and for the kids. So to my amazing husband and to all great husbands out there, here goes a big thank you! Thanks for taking care of us, making us feel special no matter how un-special we feel sometimes. Here is a small “ode” to my husband… And I wrote ode but it won’t be an ode… It’s mainly going to be like a big thanks message type of thing, anyways, just enjoy it Stephen.

Thank you for loving me, for always being there, for always listening, for always motivating and cheering me up. I know you will never let me down, that in the best or the worse you will be there ready to listen to any silly or deeply serious thing I have to tell you. I know you will be ready to deal with any situation as long as we do it together. I just know you are there, and it means a lot to me, because that’s the only thing I need… I need you to be there, and know that I am here.

Thank you for working so hard for us, for giving me the opportunity to stay at home with the kids, to have a stable job and put your priorities straight. I appreciate all your efforts and hard work to give us everything we want and need. I know it’s not always easy, that it’s difficult to work long days and that it’s hard to come back home to a needy wife and two kids. You’re doing so damn good though, you’re so young and you've achieved what people spend all their lives looking for… You’re successful, you’re stable and you’re present… You’re able to jungle everything at once and that means a lot to us.

Thank you for being ALL there for me. I know when you talk to me, when you look at me and when you interact with me in general you are all there for me. I know there is nothing else on your mind, I know there is no one else other than me. I bet it’s not always easy, but you’re all there… I feel like you’re all mine and only mine, and that feels great nowadays. It’s so rare to find a partner that is fully there for you, that always has been and that will always be. Thank you for promising me the future.

I could go on… About how great you are, how smart you are, how charming you are, how generous and how handsome you are… I am just thankful that I found you, I have no idea what I did to deserve you, I just know that you’re mine, and I’m yours, and that’s how it goes… I’m so thankful for all the things you do, for the way you act and for the beautiful family we are raising. I love you baby, with my heart, feet and nose. 

This happened to me at McDonald's... Be the example for your child

I went to McDonald's today with the kids. It's a street corner away and there is a park. The kids love it, they get to play and see other kids while immunizing themselves (ha.)

We walked there, I got a coffee, the kids went to play, everything was fine. It was really busy today but that's fine, more friends as my son would say. Now, my son is almost 3, he's been potty trained for about 2 months and didn't have any accidents since about 6 weeks (day and night!) Now I'm sure you see where this is going...

I'm watching my youngest play when my son comes down the slide and I can see by his grey pants that he pees himself. Other kids that are playing or eating at tables nearby also see that. My son comes to tell me and says "mommy, I peed, sorry. Let's go clean." And he ties to drag me along. At the same time other kids that are about to go into the playground see him and start laughing. My son understands they're laughing at him and saying silly stuff like "he pees his pants! What a baby!!" And then a mom jumps in. Her son was about 8 and laughing at mine pointing him and saying "baby baby!!!" The mom starts saying "this is just gross, I can't let my kid go play in there now, doesn't your son know to go to the potty? You didn't plan ahead and being him to the potty first? If his mom isn't able to plan ahead I understand how he isn't able to say he has to pee before peeing his pants!"

Oddly enough, I didn't get upset. I was mainly astonished. Had she really said that? I replied something like "I find it much more gross that your son is mocking a not even 3 year old and that you aren't reacting." Then we left... Well after telling the staff that my son had peed in there.

When I got home it kind of hit me... My son's behaviour reflected mine, he was calm, realized he had done a mistake, came to tell me, apologized, offered to help me clean. That's what I taught him to do when he makes a mess. That other kid, he did exactly what his mom does. He made my son feel bad for an accident. That's what he's been shown and that's how he reacts in those situations.

So parents, your kids really learn from you. When you're yelling at someone, when you're frustrated, when you throw things, they are watching. Same for when you're polite, gentle, loving and calm. You are their examples, they look up to you every day. So be good!

It’s been a while

It’s been a reaaaallllyyy long time actually. I've been busy, very busy! First Stephen and I took some vacations. We took a week off as family vacations and then he had to go away for a week on a business trip, so I went along and had 5 days of vacation to myself!!! It was great but boy did I miss the kids. That means that both kids are not weaned, and to celebrate the fact that my boobs have been producing milk non-stop for 3 years and are finally retiring, I pierced them! They look awesome. I’m glad I decided to stick with breastfeeding and I’m proud that I breastfed both kids at once for many months but I’m pretty happy that I have my breasts back (to myself anyways).

So that’s that, it was nice, I enjoyed it a lot, we went to the zoo, to towers, to beaches, pools… The kids were exhausted by the end of every single day. Then, when I was alone I took long walks by the beach, read books (almost finished Under The Dome), went shopping, ate at amazing restaurants and drank lots of exotic coffees. It was nice really… Emma also had another eye doctor appointment, she’s doing great. Now she’s being patched one hour a day and her glasses prescription has gone down. That’s great news… Noah is just…talking. He loves trucks, cars… Since I’m learning how to drive, he wants to drive too, he knows his pedals, and he can reach them, sadly he cannot see past the steering wheel, so, we don’t let him drive ha.

Now totally off topic, but I've been working on losing weight for the past 9 months (almost). I reached -65lbs lost… That means I’m under the 200’s lbs and I’m far enough from them that I know I’m not going back up there. I just want to take a few lines to encourage other moms out there trying to lose weight and get back into shape. First, diet is 90% of it. I actually mean those 90% (I’m not making it up) look it up “how much does a diet affect weight loss?” So if you exercise like crazy but don’t eat well… I got bad news for you… You will lose, maybe but nearly as much as you could. So start by your diet, figure out what you want to do as a diet, and take one that you actually enjoy. If you want to have a bit of everything, go with calories and proportion counting. If you would rather give up junk food (and stick to basics), check out paleo, if you want would rather eat a lot but be restricted in what, check out Atkins or Keto… Listen, whatever you want, there is a diet for you, just Google it…

Then, once you’re good with your diet (2-3 weeks to really get established) start working out. It can be going to the gym, cardio, running, swimming… Whatever the hell you’d like. I personally took up running 6 weeks ago.  I am doing the C25K and I’m at week 5 (had to repeat a week.) It really makes you feel great… I’m really proud of myself. That being said, the first 15 days of working out are easy… You’re still super motivated, then your motivation drops… It’s hard to explain but it just does. I’m sure it’s not true for everyone but I know it happened to me and reading about it online confirms it’s more common than we’d like… It’s that phase where you’re working hard but not seeing results… So you feel like giving up. Well don’t… It takes about 12 weeks for you to fully see results, so don’t you give up right away.

So anyways, that’s all for now. I’ll keep on being happy, on raising happy kids, on having a happy husband and on reaching a healthy weight goal. Good luck on all of your mommies out there to reach your goals, whatever they may be!