Things we've learned...

Parenting is hard. We're 4 years in and I am no expert but I can tell you one thing. We struggled. The first six months of Isabella's life I wasn't sure if we'd make it through as a couple. The stress of having a baby was putting a huge strain on our relationship and we didn't see it coming.  When our second baby was born we talked about what happened to 'us' the first time around and were both terrified, but thank goodness it was easier. My friends without kids (read: the ones with no bags under their eyes, money in their pockets and all the time in the world) always ask how we manage to keep it all together.

Here's what we've learned along the way:

1. Housework is NOT worth fighting over.   Stop keeping score. Understand that sometimes you'll do more than your share and sometimes he'll do more than his.  Laundry is more a team sport now and our carpet sometimes just gets swept instead of vacuumed.  Surrender to the fact that your house may never be as clean as it was when you had no kids. Don't expect a gold star and applause for sweeping a floor, just help each other out where you can.

2. Stay on the same team. Whether you're trying to get out of the house to go grocery shopping or on vacation. Work together - you both have the same goal in mind but you might have different ways of getting there.  (Husbands - if you see your wife running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to find soothers, socks and mittens, please, for the love of god, don't stand at the front door watching her. Jump in and help!)

3. Don't expect big conversations with kids around. It can be almost impossible to even get through the "How was your day" discussion during supper with kids.  Take this time to talk to the kids, not about the kids.  Save the big conversations for naptime or when the kids aren't around, that brings me to my next tip!

4. Prioritize couple time.  It's not always easy to leave the house together alone but make time for each other in the evenings and on the weekends. Listen to your spouse, it can start to feel really isolating if your other half is too busy on facebook (or xbox) to listen for a few minutes.

5. Tell the other person what they're doing right. It can be easy too fall into a habit of criticising each other (this one is especially for you mama's!)  Who cares if he puts the diaper on backwards or picks the one sleeper you'd never put the baby in. Think big picture here - he's being a dad, let him make his own mistakes; you'll make yours too and you'll rarely have someone peeking over your shoulder to check your work. Don't assume that your partner knows how you feel. I'll never forget the time I was nursing my baby for the third time one night and my husband woke up and looked at me and said "You're such a good mom". He probably barely remembers saying it, but it's something I'll never forget.

My biggest piece of advice is be kind to each other.  Remember that it's the first time either of you has done this exhausting, frustrating and amazing thing that is parenting and it'll be easier if you lean on each other.  Looking for more advice? Check out momstown.ca's Secrets to a great marriage!

Children's Book Club - Perfect Snow

This month for our Scholastic Children's Book Club we read Perfect Snow by Barbara Reid.  Although it's January, we actually had very little snow on the ground that day.  By the evening though the snow was coming down full force, I think we had a little something to do with that!

Perfect Snow is a story about the kind of morning Canadian kids love - the Perfect snowfall! Wet sticky snowman, igloo and fort making snow! The kids in the story learn that working together is more effective than everyone trying to work on their own and they build and amazing fort and team of snowmen!

Congratulations to Brooke who won a copy of the book to take home!

Edmonton: Our Winter Wonderland!

Our theme this month was very fitting for our fair city and we had tons of fun with it! We kicked it off with Baking at Bella's where we made adorable Cinnamon Polar Bears! The kids loved decorating then eating them! Click here for the recipe!

We had our Scholastic Canada Children's Book Club at Chapters Southpark.  Although we had very little snow that morning (despite it being January!) the kids loved the book and one lucky attendee went home with a copy of the book Perfect Snow by Barbara Reid.

We had a Winter Wonderland themed Connect the Tots where the kids decorated snowflakes & we also attended Edmonton's annual Ice Festival where the kids admired beautiful sculptures and went down huge ice slides!

We wrapped up the month with a Winter Wonderland party with Edmonton & Area moms! We decorated cookies, made adorable snowflake bracelets, snowmen crafts, read stories at momstown's reading corner and what's party without bouncy castles! 

We had so much fun in our Winter Wonderland!
Join us next month for our
Mix & Match theme!

Click here to register for your free trial membership!

Social media - Are we too connected?

So I conducted a little social experiment (and maybe lost a few facebook friends).  For just one hour I changed my status on Facebook to "Exciting news...Guess What?"

I knew I'd get a reaction and a handful of comments guessing baby news. What I got was a virtual facebook riot. Literally.  In just 30 minutes I received 8 texts, 55 comments, and a phone call from my mother asking if I was pregnant. Wow. In 30 minutes. That's almost 2 comments every minute, friends were putting their lives on hold to hear news from me. Dishes unwashed, children waiting to go to bed. I was completely overwhelmed.  We're so connected in our society that in just minutes my friends, acquaintances and family were pulled into my life.

I think this intense level of connectedness makes some people uneasy.  The thought that your private information could easily be spilled to so many people with very little effort makes a lot people want to protect themselves.  If a simple status of "Guess What??" can trigger a flurry of comment, texts and phone calls imagine what could happen if someone were to target you.  Our lives are intertwined so much so that I can't even imagine my life before these social networks existed.

The social media world has made me feel connected. I feel connected to my community, my family and friends. I've developed friendship with people that I barely know in real life, but have found commonalities with online. I feel as though I actually know the businesses I frequent, they have a personality and a story. I've connected with so many online friends and learned so from people that I will never meet. I think that's pretty incredible.

The conclusion I came to about this facebook experiment was that I'm happy all those people wanted to know my news.  I know if I was announcing bad news (which I've had to do in the past) those same people would do just about anything to help me get through it.  Maybe in this case it was overwhelming.  But most of the time I feel as though my facebook friends as well as my momstown friends are just widening my support network that is so important to me.  

And I guess I should formally apologize to my poor facebook friends who hung on for an hour while I tested my theory.  Thanks for not unfriending me : )

I locked my child in the car...and other mommy mistakes.

-Jon Rogers

After thousands of trips in and out of the car with kids, I've finally locked my child in. After buckling my daughter in her carseat I close the door and realize it's locked, I frantically run from door to door like this will be the one and only time my doors malfunction. Nope. No miracle this time. Dammit. 

Alright now what? Hmm...well she's four maybe I can get her to unbuckle herself? I plead with her. She finds this very amusing. Apparently the more I try the funnier it gets. Not going to happen. Next I call my husband. We don't have an extra set of keys so he can't help me. I was secretly hoping he turned into a locksmith overnight. No such luck. He tells me to call someone.

 "Oh hello Mr. Locksmith, yes, what time can you be here? TOMORROW?!? Umm nope that won't work." Ok calm down, I'm starting to lose it now and my daughters amusement turns to worry. I call every other locksmith in town, two could come

immediately, I basically make them race. Whoever gets here first gets my money. The guy shows up and takes 2 seconds to open the door. He attempts to make me feel better as I try to explain the situation "The car must have done this on it's own, I swear I'm not a bad mom." In hindsight this seems like a ridiculous thing to justify, even if I were a bad mom there would be no purpose in locking my kids in a car. Basement, yes. Car, no. 

After the doors are open my daughter says "mommy please don't lock me in the car again." Insert guilt here. Sorry Isla I can't promise it won't happen again but I'll try my best. Driving home I think about every other time I've done something that resulted in this tailspin of mommy guilt. Considering there was no physical damage I realize this is at the bottom of my list of mommy mistakes. We've all done things like this. So why do we beat ourselves up when they happen? I'm coming clean with my top 3 mommy mistakes, please don't judge. Actually, feel free to post your own; I know you've all got some. 

1) I pierced my daughters nipple. You may ask how does one pierce a child's nipple by accident? The metal soother clip we thought was clipped to her sleeper apparently was also attached to her nipple. Ouch. After 10 minutes of her crying we realized what happened. It broke the skin and everything. OMG. 

2) My daughter pooped out a dime (at her first day at her dayhome) The dayhome providers exact words were "I just thought you should know she pooped out a dime, is this normal?" Umm, yes coins are a regular part of her diet, tomorrow you can expect to see a penny, it's yours for the taking. 

3) Not securing my child into her car seat. Driving around town for almost an hour when all of sudden she starts freaking out because apparently I didn't do up her buckles...Oops. There are so many things on my mind it's a wonder they are fully clothed when we leave the house! 

This list could be much longer, I don't even want to count how many times they've tumbled off a couch or bed. Or all the times I've bumped their heads off walls, door frames, etc. Considering locking my child in a car for 45 minutes doesn't even make it into my top 3 mommy mistakes, I'm going to let myself off the hook for this one. I hope you can all come clean and let go of the guilt it's just not worth hanging onto and there's probably a reason they don't remember much till they're 5 anyhow : )

momstown membership - for the working mom too!

We've heard there's a silly little rumour that momstown is only for stay at home moms and we think it's time to settle this once and for all!  Did you know that we are in fact, working moms ourselves?  Both momstown Edmonton South owners work out of the home and can appreciate that working moms want to do fun things with the kids on their time off! momstown is a lifestyle and we've got something for everyone!

Here's what's available to our 9-5 moms with a momstown membership!

1. Message Board - this is the best place to get to know other local moms.  We talk about everything,  this is a supportive environment where you can ask questions, chat and get advice! I'll warn you though - it's addictive.  Our members check the momstown message board as often as they check facebook - yep, that's a lot.


2. Fun Family Events - momstown hosts holiday events from Mother's Day to Christmas and everything in between we have great events to bring the whole family out together!

3. Scholastic Children's Book Club - We meet at Chapters on a Saturday to read a story, have a snack and do a draw for a free book, courtesy of Scholastic Canada!


4. Junior Chef - Once a month we bake a special treat to go along with our theme for the month. This month we made adorable Cinnamon Polar Bears for our Winter Wonderland theme!


5. Big Cook - We've got it down to a science! Working moms need big cook meals more than anyone! After a busy day at work it's exhausting to come home and plan a big meal - we meet for a few hours and go home with up to 24 meals ready to go!


6. Working Girl's Lunch - We need to have a little fun on the weekdays too! The first wednesday of the month we meet for a lunch downtown.


7. Discounts -  We've got tons of discounts both nationally and locally, they change on a monthly basis so check back regularly!


8. Sports Saturday - we go skating, to an indoor playground or something else fun and active for the kids to run, jump & play!


9. Mompreneur Networking Night - From accounting to social media we've got a topic for you, we meet for coffee and learn from speakers and from each other!


10. Mom's night out! Meet those lovely mama's you've been talking to online for a delicious meal, a movie, a book club, bowling or anything in between! We've got at least two evening events a month for you to have some adult time with moms just like you!

Don't forget about our sister sites at momstown.ca there are
craft ideas, recipes and contests available at your fingertips anytime!

 At $45.00 a year - there is no better value!

Click here to start your 1 month free trial!



The day my toddler turned into a cat

A few short weeks ago my sweet toddler was easy going. Anything mommy wanted her to do she went right along. It was fun to put a hat on, have her diaper changed or eat her supper. She was a little bit on the slobbery side, somewhat clumsy too. She reminded me of a little puppy, easy to please, easy to love.

My cute cuddly puppy turned into a cat overnight.


My darling toddler has learned the word no. She says it loud and proud. Time for boots? That's a good reason to run. Needs a hat on? She can twist and turn her head so fast I end up just lunging for the nearest round, bald object and it ends up on the banister. The car seat, oh my. Have you ever seen a cat arch it's back? She could be a yoga master with her moves. Sometime around 18 months my little angel has decided that she eats when she wants to, comes to me when she feels like it and she has a fierce determination that would have a puppy cowering with it's tail between it's legs.

'with strong, flexible bodies, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey.'

Yep, that about sums it up.

 

10 Things I Never Thought I Would Do...

I knew some things would change when I became a mother but never would I have imagined doing any of these things! Thank you to our momstown Edmonton South members for contributing to our list, thank goodness we have each other to vent, laugh and cry with over the crazy things we do for our kids!

1. Eat something that has been in someone else's mouth.

2. Wipe a snotty nose with my bare hand.

3. Explain the use of a tampon to a 2.5 year old boy

4. Give up on closing the door when I use the bathroom

5. Talk about poop, my cervix or nipples with random strangers

6. Catch vomit in my hands because it's better than it landing on the carpet

7. Consider 3 consecutive hours 'A good nights sleep'

8. Keep my cool while my three year old has a full on tantrum in the middle of a store, then pick her up calmly and leave a cart full of groceries behind.

9. Eat a piece of oatmeal off a toddlers face only to find out that it was snot

10. After all this - love these little hurricane people enough to make multiples!!

Noon Years Eve Party with momstown Edmonton South!

Why not celebrate New Years Eve at a decent hour with the kids! The same fun can be had Midday instead of at Midnight and it will save you from having cranky kids on New Years Day!

This year we made noise makers, had a delicious potluck lunch, toasted the new year with juice and counted down to 12pm with some very excited kids! 

 

The kids had a great time making these paper plate shakers, they made a ton of noise when we did our countdown! Click here for instructions on how to make them!

After we rang in the New Year we ate some countdown cake - I do not claim to have any talent for cake decorating, this was my best attempt!

Thank you to everyone who rang in the Noon Year with momstown Edmonton South!!