Tag Archives: Familyu

Surreal Feeling of Parenting

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If you are not a parent I’m not entirely sure that you will know what this feels like. I don’t mean that in any way disrespectfully either. Just that for this particular blog, it really is only since becoming a parent that I have really noticed this.

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Since becoming a parent I have become such a sad sap it isn’t even funny. I swear that I am one of those people who now cries at any animated movie no matter how small the inconvenience is. I tear up and think about things and it makes me feel like trash only because I would poke fun at my mom who also would get sappy about things too. Before becoming a parent I would never feel this way or even admit to it but here we are.

Another thing is that I find myself feeling an overwhelming sense of relief or even sense of serenity. I know that makes me also sound like a weirdo but it’s not. I mean sometimes I am sitting on the couch. One of my son’s is playing with his blocks in front of me. We have the TV on for background noise, and then we have my other son trying to bit his teether toys furiously like he means business. I just look around and I feel a sense of happiness that I dont think I can even describe because it doesn’t even feel real. I feel a sense of wow and wonder that this is actually my life. That this is something I could never have imagined how it felt until I was in the moment. I still can’t believe that after over 2 years, maybe 3 including pregnancy, that I have been a mom and my life has been changed.

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Another thing that I know people talk about often is this, Time passes sooo fast with children. I know you know people with kids and have heard at some point, whether a parent or not, you may even have heard your own parents say it, is that “before you know it, they will be growing up like weeds”, “Or off to college soon with them in the blink of an eye” or something along those lines. THIS IS TOTALLY TRUE!! Which is mind blowing right. It really is.

When we had our first child, we knew time was passing fast. When you had to change clothes or even go up diaper sizes you would think to yourself holy moly, there is a lot of time that passed we are already changing up! Well, let me tell you this, when you have more than one kid, you will notice that that time is then going twice as fast as it was with just one child! Maybe I find this is because my second son is growing so quickly and at the time of reading it is 5 months old and next month we start baby foods. I feel like we just had him!


There are even times now when both of the boys are asleep when my spouse and I are laying on the couch and we have to look at each other and wonder, “Wow, we made them” as we look at their monitors form their rooms, which is still hard to grasp. Like we made two human beings. Two little pieces of both of us mixed together they are us. I always knew when I was younger that I would have kids one day. I knew that I would be a mom. It was just a feeling that I knew. And again, I want to state if anyone not a parent is reading this, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to have children! There is enough pressure for couples to have a family that I do not want to be someone who does that. There is people who want kids and others who do not and there is nothing wrong with that.

I also know a lot of parents feel this strange passing of time due to the amount of parents on my Facebook that when their child’s birthday comes around they comment about how they maybe turned around and they already have a 10 year old! which is again, mind blowing when it comes to things also too. it really is that when you decide to have kids that time has a new meaning. I feel like days in particular happen fast too. There is a lot of times when I turn around and feel like the day has flew by and my spouse is already home from work.

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Being a parent changes you. Or I should say, being a good parent changes you, we know there is a lot of bad ones out there which I would assume their lives don’t really change at all. Being a good parent makes you want to do better, be better, get better. I have been a parent for over 2 years, including pregnancy though I would say closer to 3. I know that I have been changed by my kids and remembering who I used to be and how I dont do some of the things I did before is tough. But there is still many many days when I sit around and think in awe how great my life is. How thankful I am to have 2 children and hopefully we plan for our 3rd and final one towards the end of the year. I am starting to think that this feeling doesn’t ever fade either, It hasn’t since my oldest was born! And it still feels like he was just a little baby and in the hospital and how excited and nervous and happy I was holding him! Even if not he is Mama’s big big baby now!

Hello June, I’m BACK!- June 2022 Update –

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Okay. First let me say I am sorry there was no update for May. I really thought about it and I just felt like I needed to skip a month. As you know I tend to write my blogs ahead of time. That is what I did here. And by the time I felt line writing the update we were closer to June than May and well, here we are!

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Blogging has been going okay. I have been pretty good aside from my self care Thursday which I will be starting back this week as I also took a break from that too. I need to also schedule tweets of popular blogs a bit more frequently on my twitter so that I keep getting my link out to people with new hashtags.  Also, call me crazy, but I am low key planning blogs for 2023 including some months where there will be nearly a blog every day with different subjects. I feel like 2023 may be a great year for me to really hammer down and try to get things happening in terms of content creation and making a living doing this.

Poetry is also starting back up. I can confidently say that I was very much into writing poems in April that come May I burned myself out. Thankfully I started to type things up already so I am a bit ahead and behind at the same time. June the goals are to finish writing all the poems for the 3 poetry books. And have all of them typed and put into Kindle in order to get prepped for publishing.  I feel like taking the step back was needed and I can keep following through. I need to make a to do list also for what I need to do to publish the books.

**If you like what you are reading through out these blogs, and are looking at ways to financially support the blog, please consider checking out my Ko-Fi link here. You will NEVER be pressured to contribute to towards put any type of money towards the blog however if the thought has crossed your mind, here is a great way to help a stay at home mom provide some financial relief for her family.

Weight loss is still a struggle (Surprising right?).. I went more into detail about that here in the Thursday Update if you want to read it here, instead of me repeating it here and if you are a dedicated reader it might get a little bit stale trying to read the same things over and over.

Streams have been fantastic also! I streamed over 30h in May. That was the most hours streamed in one month in easily over a year. It was so nice to actually follow a schedule and actually spend time doing something I enjoy. June will be a great month and with July, August, September I am looking forward to the increase of hours also too. I am also looking at revamping my discord server to be more “Me” focused. I have always made my server about community.  Starting the Society it was about everyone including me. I want this focus to change to be just me. It’s time that I invest in me as a content creator and not just everyone else. Of course I will still be trying to support everyone I can and there will be places to promote themselves and what not. But Id like to still change focus, clean up the server, etc.

I recently had my first ever in my entire life psychic reading by an amazing women Amanda. It was very enlightening and eye opening experience. There were some things spoken that I never post, talk, speak, even think that often about. We connected on twitter and have kept in touch. I ask her silly questions and am trying to keep myself going spiritually and grow. I cannot wait until I can do my next reading. It was a lot to process though due to the things mentioned but what an eye opening experience for me. If you too would be interested in a reading by all means check her out on Twitter, DMs are open (Dont be a creep!) And she even has an email in her bio too. Ill write a whole blog piece on my experience in the near future!! And hopefully more content on the spiritual journey I have just started also! I swear I am such a newbie I have no idea what I’m doing sometimes!

And lastly, Life! I think life is going pretty well. May was a bit of a smaller month in terms of content as I really never touched poetry, I failed a bit on weight loss, and I was a bit down in the aspects of things. That being said I am not going to beat myself up about it either because we are in a new month. What was interesting was my partner and I went out to our very first restaurant dinner though since before my oldest son was born. That is over two years! We went out for his birthday and my mom was watching the boys. It was a great experience and I was so thankful that we were able to spend quality time out. It was such a weird experience leaving them both home and not having one of them with us. I was so happy though because as much as we are home body’s and enjoy eating garlic fingers and donairs here, it really doesn’t beat the feeling of actually going out and actually sitting down in a place to eat. We need to do it more often, but not too often!

There you have it, Kind of a condensed update for the past 2 months since I was a major slacker and suck at this content creation sometimes. See you in July for the next update and I hope you enjoy the blogs lined up for the month too!

3 Shows We Avoid Watching with Our 2 Year Old

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When it comes to having your toddler or small child watching TV I think it goes without saying, you are the parent and you decide what they watch or how often they watch it. There is no right or wrong way to allow this to happen. That being said, I have seen places where they talk about not allowing any child under 2 watch TV. This might be particularly challenging if you have multiple children of various ages. Are you going to tell them no to a TV show because they have a younger sibling? Or are you going to compromise and put a TV show om for a period of time. If you decide to put a TV show on, here is the 3 shows we will not be showing in our household.

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The wiggles is a show that I honestly have not seen a whole lot about but know that once you start it can be very obsessive. This is based on the fact that whenever they were doing shows around the world pre-covid people all over my Facebook with small children would be posting how they want tickets or whatever for their little kids. For me, I am not a fan of any type of show that has adults jumping and playing and singing songs the entire time. I will admit I could be way off on this and the show might be OK but in this house we will be doing our best to avoid it at all costs. And before I hear “But Blue’s Clues has an adult doing those things” not really. It has a host yes, but the main character is a puppy ans they learn and do things. There is just something that I want to avoid and shows such as this or even the one that was popular when I was growing up “Imagination Movers” are shows that I would honestly like to avoid when it comes to allowing my child to have any screen time!

**If you like what you are reading through out these blogs, and are looking at ways to financially support the blog, please consider checking out my Ko-Fi link here. You will NEVER be pressured to contribute to towards put any type of money towards the blog however if the thought has crossed your mind, here is a great way to help a stay at home mom provide some financial relief for her family.

Baby Shark or Peppa Pig are shows we also are trying to avoid. For obvious reasons. Now as an adult, Peppa is a spunky pig. But as a child I do not want my kids to be learning how to be spunky and back talk me! Maybe when they are older and want to watch and understand that she is a bit out their in terms of defying her parents sure, but as they are learning no. Another reason why we aren’t watching shows such as Baby Shark is again the obsession it had caused. I heard this song far more often before I had kids due to everyone talking about it or videos being made with the song that I honestly am just over it! We do not need to introduce a song that will lead to an obsession. Sure, they will probably like it. But as an adult, you don’t want to make it a problem where whenever your child is upset you put it on. Or whenever you turn it off you find yourself dealing with a temper tantrum. You as the parent are in control of what your child watches. I personally do not want TV to be an obsession or a way to relieve a tantrum unless maybe your little one is sick. Even then I dont want to rely on a TV show or songs to divert a crisis. My partner and I already sing enough of the Blue’s Clues songs we really do not want to add to that list of songs by these that you hear for months and months after the first are heard!

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And, last, but certainly not least. The number one show we will never ever ever play in our home, is Caillou. This kid is a straight up brat. As a teenager or older child we actually made fun of how Caillou was. He whined and cried whenever he did not get his way. His parents kind of let him do it. And when he had a sister Rosie come along it was just the same! This is basically the exact opposite of what type of child we hope to avoid when it comes to raising our children. Not to mention the fact that he still never changes through all of the seasons. Be still wants everything to be about him with everyone around him. His grandparents, neighbors, friends and everything else. The fact that this show has finally also been cancelled due to the fact that the kid is a menace. Apparently some episodes are even banned by PBS due to the fact that the kid is a big old meany. Sure, as kids grow up they have to be able to learn things and explore how to properly behave but when it comes to Caillou there really is no learning in the many episodes where he properly learns to behave with nearly a melt down every single show.

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I am sure there are plenty of other shows out there that can be really off putting and parents avoid at all costs. These are just the shows that I will continue to try my best to avoid at all costs. And mentioned in the blog post here where I talk about the top 3 shows we watch, we really limit our TV time with my son. TV shows are not babysitters and if you are going to put something on to grab your child’s attention for a few moments than that is totally fine. My son watches a bit of TV every day but it is never excessive. It is mostly before bedtime or even the occasional moment when I am prepping food or trying to get him to watch something while I run up and down the stairs to switch over loads of laundry on different levels.

Do you allow your child or toddler to watch TV?
Is there any shows that you choose not to allow to be shown in your house?

Let me know in the comments below, I know there must be some I missed!


January 2022 Update

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The past year there has been so many things happening. I honestly have a hard time to really run down things. I will say that I just had to go for it and if you notice that I missed anything I still feel like there was so much that I had to touch base on there has to be more. Let’s just jump in!

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Moving across provinces was such a welcomed change for our lives being back home and owning a nee house again. That being said we never did expect that we would be stuck without any of our belongings for over 4 weeks but there we were. The good news is that we were home and had our own place. Especially in today’s market for home buying which I wrote a whole blog post on here, we got incredibly lucky to have found a house to begin with. We are also very thankful that we will NOT be moving again. This is our forever home. And it couldn’t be anymore perfect!

*** If you would like to support this blog financially you are more than welcome to do so by clicking this link here to bring you to my Ko-Fi website. Supporting the blog via tips is NEVER pressured however if you feel so inclined to help out in another way this is a perfect way to do so! You can see some behind the scenes items as well as insider info on the store updates and uncensored blogs also coming soon!

We had another BABY! And what a whirlwind it was. Ending in a c section which we never ever expected but that was just how it went. I tell you all about the birth story here. We are so content with having our 2nd child that it is so hard to believe we have had him nearly 6 weeks already. The time is yet again flying by as usual when you do have kids. It is so hard to believe how this birth ended and how many surprises it had like Felix becoming breech and not knowing until into active labour. Then making decisions and having to think fast. It really is crazy to think how much has happened. Here is hoping that when we have number three it goes a bit more like our first Vincent and no c section is required.

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Content creation in 2022 will also look a bit different. As my family grows and my priorities are changing I am trying to really hammer down on managing my time better and hopefully making some type of an actual stay at home wage. Even if it does not happen over night I would like to eventually make a fee hundred dollars per month to help pay for things while staying with my kids.

Streaming is dropping down to 2 days per week. Monday and Fridays will be my stream days. Mostly art will be streamed however if I have to feel the baby there will also probably be games like TeamFight Tactics, or plants vs zombies or just mouse games. I want to showcase more of my artwork and do two things at once since I want to grow a business also. If bonus gaming streams happen so be it but for not those will be the 2 days that I am live!

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My business of crafting and sewing also is starting you van find it in the following pages where I will periodically update when new items come up. I am so excited to start this I really hope folks like what I am offering too. I hope anyone from all walks of life will be able to find something that they like or want to have in their life.

You will also notice in blogs going forward that I will have a small paragraph for people if they wish to tip myself and support the blog financially. I was always scared to do this because I thought that I was not big enough as a blogger to do this. I am finally confident enough to be taking my shot. I will probably go back to a fee popular blogs and also put the paragraph into those blogs too. There is by no means any pressure to support financially and there is lots of other ways to support the blog for free like following, commenting, liking or sharing it with friends and family. Financial support option is just there in case someone would like to and are financially stable enough too. It will never be a requirement to read the blogs. There will however be some uncensored ones coming into the new year when topics pop up however there will never be a requirement to read the 3 days scheduled per week blogs.

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Blog Goals for 2022 will be simple. I would like to double everything. Double the amount of followers I have, views ai have, etc. So to start the year here are my numbers for 2021:

Followers = 278
Views = 2271
Likes: 582
Number of Blog Posts = 151

For me trying to double these numbers wont be easy but I have faith that if I stick to my schedule, write from the heart, and put time into it that it will finally start to see some reward in different ways also!

And finally, as I touched base on it before. I would like to have some financial freedom and income coming in. I will be getting some financial freedom since now they we have 2 kids the government gives double the money per month as a child benefit. However I would like to see it as more of an income across different places. Ideally if I am able to make anywhere from 50$ to $250 per month that would be very exciting. Again it is not something I expect over night to happen but with all of my different spots to earn income I really am hopefully by the end of 2022 I will have a somewhat steady and reliable income coming in.

There you have it. That is my year in reflection and some stuff I am hopeful for the future. Whether or not they happen time will tell. But I feel like if I am really able to put my mind to it that by the end of the year I will achieve some of my goals! Here is to a strong 2022 year for everyone!

We drove 14 hours with a 15 month old! (Conclusion)

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I can’t believe how late I am on this but for the record, WE MADE IT! I want to say I think ti went easier than I thought it would but I like to think that I planned a lot of things really good so that we were prepared for nearly any scenario that was possible. You can read all about the prep work we had done before the trip here and it will give you the base of where we were coming from and the goals we had set up!

We left at about 5am from my Uncle’s home. This was about 35 minutes from our home but we wanted to leave early so that we arrived semi decent time. Remember that Nova Scotia is an hour ahead of Quebec so we wanted to plan it so we were not driving in the night time (Which we made it so we arrived on time!). We also had everything out of the bedroom that needed to be packed in the morning in the hall and not in the bedroom so that way we could load the car up in order to let my son sleep a little bit longer before putting him in the car. While my boyfriend had started to pack the car I gathered out things and prepped the little cooler and things like the thermos we had for my son also too. This was the oatmeal and chicken soup for lunch so that we were able to not think so much about his foods. Once everything was set up the last thing we did was got my son up so that way he could go into the car seat. He also did not fall asleep again in it for a while.

As far as structure for naps, that was basically out the window. We aimed to stop every 2-3 hours to stretch out legs and let my dog out for a pee. The cat stayed in his carrier and was completely fine the entire time just as he was when we moved the 1st time to Quebec. The dog surprisingly never threw up which was honestly a blessing.

We would also stop more frequently to change out son’s diaper, stretch legs and have the dog out also. This was a great way to take a few moments for a snack or meal, or even a great time for us to reflect on how the drive was going. For the amount of time we did stop I think we also made good time. The weather was great everywhere, no rain. Some spots were a bit warmer than others but it was still great none the less in terms of weather, though we also had air conditioning in the car.

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The only time that my son was really fussy I would say was once we arrived into Nova Scotia. About the last 2 hours it became a bit difficult for him because he had been sitting all day, things were getting boring, he had barely any sleep except for cat naps along the way, and as anyone especially a child would be, he probably wanted to be running around! He never really cried that much he just kind of whined. At this point I just reached around behind the seat and held/placed the tablet so that he could see blues clues and watched some of that for the remaining of the time. Which seemed to have helped. We did have a few new toys to give but at this point he was not interested in them and just wanted to kind of hang out I think and watch something. Once we arrived to my parents to grab the keys in order to go to our new home and isolate, he was beyond the point of no return. The dog was crying for my parents when he seen them through the door of the car so he was crying, my parents were saying hello to their newest grandson for the first time which he was now crying immensely from being tired and new people. So we obviously cut this short and took the keys and went.

My biggest surprise as far as toys I had gotten for him was the pop toys. You know the ones people use for anxiety or to keep their hands busy with things, I had no idea how these would work with my toddler and he loved them. He would sit and pop them for way longer than I thought that he would. And the mess they made was so minimal that I was very happy with the purchase. I may even buy a few more for his Christmas stocking as well since that seems like a toy he would enjoy!

Overall I think everything went as best as it could go. My boyfriend had stated he would probably do it in 2 days and stay over night somewhere, I disagreed. For the 14 hours plus the stops and him only fussing near the end track, I think it was a lot better. Not to mention one whole day in a vehicle as apposed to 2 days in one seemed to be the way to go. It was easier to just get it done and over with and be done than it would be to split the drive up in 2 days. I was super shocked at how well my son did, I can say I did not give him enough credit for the drive before hand. Maybe because with Covid and everything we never really traveled that far of a distance or even anything remotely long before. I am just glad that everything is over and we are sitting comfortably in our new home (After the long wait for our things which you can read here)

Have you traveled anywhere with a toddler before

What did you think helped to make the drive more bearable or things you wish you had thought of

let me know in the comments below!



Getting Through The 1st Trimester

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Finding out that you are pregnant can be a very exciting time in anyone’s life! I know when we first found out we were pregnant with my first child, and now our second one we were excited! However I feel like my first pregnancy I was a bit lucky because I barely had any symptoms except for being tried. When I was tired I would just sleep But now having a toddler and being pregnant for the second time things are way more challenging. Here are my tips to help me get through the first trimester (With or without a toddler!).

SLEEP! In the first trimester you are probably losing a lot of sleep. Not only that but suddenly your bladder seems to be super small and you are running to the bathroom nearly every 3 hours especially in the middle of the night even if you did not do that to begin with before. Thought I was really lucky that my partner was home often I was able to sleep when I felt like it because he would watch our son. However, if he was working late I would still try to nap when my toddler did. It can be hard though because some days I would be super tired and go to sleep and would have one of those days where my son nearly never slept his nap time. However a lot of times it works really well to be able to nap when he does. It may not seem like a lot but it really is a decent amount of time to be able to sleep and not over sleep. Though be warned that sometimes I tend to find myself more tired after this. But catching up on sleep is really important if you are able to sleep during the day. I will say, going into the second trimester there is some relief in terms of when you need to run to the bathroom from your sleepy slumber but in terms of the increased bathroom visits. They will still be a lot due to the fact your body is housing a baby! Try to also drink water early in the day (Something that I do not do) And limit it late at night so that you find yourself hopefully nearly empty when it comes to having to get up to relieve yourself!

Prepping for morning sickness or food aversions was something I did with my first pregnancy and now this one even though I did not think I needed it much. I had certain staples in my kitchen such as ginger ale, little sour candies that would help with morning sickness. I also had carnation instant breakfast’s as well. They really helped in the morning when I was not interested in eating breakfast a lot and still filled me up though to be able to function at some point. I still have been pretty lucky even with this pregnancy in terms of morning sickness. Even when I did have it it was mainly after supper and by that point my boyfriend was already home and was able to take the the lead when it came to putting my son to bed and getting him ready for his sleep. Having things like this was a huge help especially the ginger cookies which I would have a few snacks on in the mornings when my stomach was just a bit more upset though.

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Make it fun and have an app or two! When I was pregnant with my son I used two in particular, they were Ovia Pregnancy and then What to Expect. These are super fun to use because you are able to pick a subject to compare the size of your baby! When I was pregnant with my son I used the “fruits and Veggies” theme for both. Every week was a milestone and it would compare the growing baby inside to whatever fruit it was comparable to! This time around I have chosen to do one for 80’s and 90s nostalgic items, and then another one in the “Fun and Games” category. This is a great way to compare the size of your baby to things you know the size of already. With baby number three I assume knowing myself I would be picking a different category to compare the size of the baby to! Another thing that is huge when it comes to these apps is every day or so it will post little tips and tricks about what is happening with the growth of your baby. From things developing and changing. Sure you may have multiple children but still is exciting to see how things develop since you may not remember when things happen as they happen.

Regardless about what you try to do when it comes to surviving the first trimester, there is really multiple things you can do to make it through. Another positive thing to remember is that even if the first trimester is rough, chances are things will slowly level out towards the 2nd trimester. I have been lucky and have found that whatever symptoms I have been feeling does normally seem to disappear a bit. However on rare occasions there are people out there who have to deal with major symptoms in the second trimester also. However, there are also medical interventions that you are perhaps able to take for things such as morning sickness if you talk to your doctor about how you are feeling.

Lastly, remember that there is also so many reasons to sick it out because at the end of everything no matter how sick you get you will have your little bundle of joy to be thankful for! When you see your child you suddenly forget all of the heartaches and sickness you may have felt as it just melts away!

Is there anything that you did when you were feeling a bit wonky in the first trimester?
Do you follow any of the tips and tricks that were mentioned above too?

Let me know as I am sure a lot of other readers would love to read about it also!

What is the “Nesting” Phase Really Like in Pregnancy

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You might be new to pregnancy, or you might be someone who knows all about it. For me, I have only ever experiences “Nesting” once. while I am currently waiting to find out if I do the same things for the second time also. Since every pregnancy is different I will be curious to see if there is anything majorly different between the two of them!

What people think nesting is, is a period of time before a baby is born where you are doing the weirdest, and over the top things. Typically people claim this is the time you scrub everything so that it is in tip top shape for when the baby arrives. This includes when you are prepping the room, hospital bag, cleaning and washing cupboards and dishes and walls. You are making sure that everything that can be is ready for when the baby is born. You are probably making sure you have more than enough clothes and then you are washing them also so they are nice and fresh for the new baby too. A lot of people would consider nesting the period in which you get that little boost of energy for a small period of time before you give birth to your child. I would say I agree with this however I dont know if at the time I knew what I was doing was nesting or if I just took advantage of the new found energy!

What I thought about for nesting and what actually happened I think are two different things. I did not think I would really have a big nesting period when it came to having a baby. Looking back now I would say that my nesting period was about the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I started with trying to get everything in place for the baby’s room. Washing clothes, decorating everything also. We did the Harry Potter theme for my son and that was something I worked on a bit as things went but I really tied it all together when the time came. We also did really good on trying to get everything prepped and ordered in terms of tools and trinkets we needed too. Lotions, body washes, socks, diapers, wipes everything in between we would try to get ready. After that I wanted to focus on our basement. Since moving it the place was a mes and since my Uncle was off work we really tried to get it some what organized before Vincent was born. We went through boxes and labeled things and got things ready to be thrown away. Everyone knows when you have a child you have a lot of things that you acquire as the time passes and it is important to really make space for that or you can be overwhelmed.

Aside from these two major things I cant really think of a whole lot that we really did before the baby came in terms of nesting. I think I did this stuff also around 35 weeks so that I was ready and able to spring into action if something happened. I wouldn’t say I really did anything outside of the box in terms of cleaning. Our home was not really bad in terms of clean. However maybe if we were stuck waiting and were over due with the pregnancy I would have done a lot more in terms of trying to get the action moving!

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Now, I am pregnant for a second time! Currently at the time of writing this I am about 18 weeks, still a long way to go! And by the time this is released and you are able to read it I will be in the middle of a move across provinces in Canada! I think if I was to predict the future I will be doing things to be able to prep for the baby by getting their room ready, we are not trying to do anything too serious or big until we know the gender. I have a few ideas on how to do the room however other than that we are just waiting to see. Another thing would be if we are having another boy I will have to re-wash some of the things that we used for my son and prepping those to get ready for the newest addition! I would like to think at the time we will be doing things to get the house up to our standards by painting, organizing and things like that. Nesting for this pregnancy also might be a lot of prepping my son for the arrival for his new sibling! Being an only child and suddenly having to share his parents might be an adjustment for him. Especially with Covid and not really socializing with people much either. Another reason why it might be a bit different is that we will be close to my family and the opportunity for them to help us might also make nesting a bit easier or look different than with our first since we were basically here alone.

There really is no right or wrong way to nest. Maybe you wont even find yourself nesting at all! For me I didn’t really think about it at the time that I was nesting until it actually was done and over with and even a few friends pointed it out! Whenever you do, if you do notice you have this little burst of energy I would for sure use this moment to the full potential for things you might have put off til closer to the birth! I know that is what I will be doing, and Ill be updating you all on if or when I notice my second pregnancy nesting and what I have done if anything differently than my first!

Did you know when you were in the nesting period?
Did your spouse notice that this was what was happening to you as it was happening?
What kind of things did you do when you were nesting?

Let me know in the comments below! Maybe we had somethings in common!


Why Having a “Date Night” is Important

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Before my son was born, my boyfriend and I would go out for the occasional date nights, here and there of course. We did the normal pre-covid dating and pre-kid date nights like going to dinner and a movie, exploring different parts of the city, grabbing ice cream or going for walks in the parks. Since covid happened obviously that had drastically changed as well as the fact that we had a newborn at the time too. And family were not exactly close even if we wanted to.

When having a child, if you do have one already or are thinking about it, it really can change a relationship. Completely. I even talk about it so much in this particular post here. And no, not everything is pretty and nice when you have a baby now entering a relationship either.

My boyfriend and I are both gamers. We like to game. Sometimes we even game on different times and that is okay also too. During covid especially, and not being able to leave the house, things can be challenging to keep it simple. Sometimes we are in the same space for so long we get on one another nerves, sometimes we are in the best moods, and other times we just want to spend time together. The problem we were having was with different gaming times and taking care of our little baby, we were finding ourselves arguing about date nights. Sure, we never were able to go out in the non-conventional way, we were stuck inside. But that didnt make it any less important to me and to him to want to spend time together with one another. Eventually we decided on having an official date night!

In the beginning we had to play around with different days during the week to see what fit for us. It can be any day that you choose but for us we choose Saturdays. This was a weekend and a day he would not be working or the following day. Doing it through the week was challenging because he works and it can be tiring to stay up especially when I also had to get up with the baby the next day and take care of him all day, being tired does not help that situation either! Saturdays just eventually worked out for us in the end.

Now what do we do? Sometimes nothing. Sometimes we watch movies, binge a TV series that we are enjoying, sometimes we sit out on the deck and listen to music with the lights around just taking in the outdoors. Once we move it will be a much welcomed time for us to sit by the fire outside once we build a fire pit of course and if there is no fire ban also too! This is our time to really just spend time together. Sometimes I will get special candies or treats to make it a big event, Sometimes I will pick up chips or candy that are new and neither of us have tried because I think it will be a good idea for us to experiment together. Just silly little things. Sometimes we even put on a mindless show we don’t really have to focus on and we both sit on our phones showing one another meme’s or funny posts. Just different things that we like to do and together.

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Date night is important to us especially while having a baby and during covid because at the end of the day we are always putting our son first. We take care of him, we play with him, feed him, we bathe him. Everything is about him. Not to say it would every change and now with a second and hopefully in a few years a third along the way, our children will always be first for us. However, it is very important in a relationship to remember why we are their. That is, we both care and adore one another (Even if I can be a bit rough around the edges with attitude!) and it is important to us to remember that. We want to be able to just relax for a few hours and just do “us” for a little while. Mind you, once we are home and what not we may do a few occasional actual going out dates where we go out of the house to a movie or dinner. Since we will have my parents or sister who would be able to babysit though we obviously do not want to take advantage of that! It still will be nice to occasionally go out to restaurants that we frequented enough to know what our favorite meals and desserts at them is! From going to a place for their white chocolate brownie, or a spot with the best fries and chicken fingers around! There really is any possibility to different things that we could do for a date night and we cannot wait to just be back home again either.

Date night’s do not need to be expensive. Like I mentioned, sometimes we just watch TV shows we have been binging and get fully into it together. Other times we order food when my son is asleep, and others times we sit outside enjoying the peace and quiet. Things do not need to be expensive. If you find yourself slipping out of your relationship, even before a baby or after, ask yourself, are we really spending time together as a couple? Do we need to get back to basics? Sometimes doing a simple gesture of picking up your spouses favorite treat and surprising them is just the thing you need to be able to get back to how you truly feel. Life can be busy with and without children and sometimes you just have to get back to what happened before life took over!

What do you do for date night (If you have one already!)?

Do you do anything special or the same every week?

Let me know in the comments below, Maybe I can adapt to some of the ones you do for my own date nights!

5 Tips For Getting Pregnant Easily

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Contrary to popular belief, based on movies and TV shows. Getting pregnant is not an easy feat. There actually is a lot more than just, doing the, you know, that goes into getting pregnant successfully. I am on my current and second pregnancy and from reading articles or checking out fertility apps ai may have some quick answers and tips to questions you might have to make having a baby easier.

Ladies, tracking ovulation does not just have to happen when you decide you want to procreate. There is a whole ton of apps put there that can be used to track cycles. Now, mind you an app is only as good as you use it. If you don’t use it a lot or skip months it will not be as accurate as it can be. If you want to truly know and understand when you ovulate, using an at home ovulation kit may be the way to go. That being said if you are not actively trying to have a child using the kits just for the sake of accuracy might start to become costly. Starting with tracking your first day if your menstrual cycle til the end day can help a lot in terms of knowing when you decide to go further, to start taking the ovulation kits. I have used an app for years just tracking my cycle which I am lucky enough to have it be pretty regular. But for some people who are unsure of their cycle it is a great tool to be able to know approximately how long your cycle can be to find an average length.

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This next part is way easier said than done. When trying to conceive, don’t make sex a chore. When you start scheduling or making it a big deal, to keep it blunt, it takes the fun out of it. There are many ways to drop hints and make sexual gestures to your partner that you do not need to be standing there with a clock or calendar and waiting for the perfect moment. Obviously planning is a huge part of getting a sperm successfully to an egg but that doesn’t mean it needs to be planned. Even having a secret code or something is a lot better than scheduling. And if it does not happen this cycle it will hopefully eventually happen! Making a baby does not normally happen the first month of trying.

If you are in a committed relationship, which I hope you are, I would suggest if you and your spouse plan on having any children and you are on contraceptives such as the birth control pill, have an IUD or have had the hormone shots or patches, I would suggest planning to come off of these long before trying. I also mention committed relationship because if you are someone who thinks having a baby will strengthen a fragile relationship you are wrong. I tall about how relationships change after having a baby here. Making sure you are in a good spot mentally, and physically for a baby is important. Of course, accidents do happen, but if you can prevent that it would more likely be the best. Remember, a baby will not fix your current problems, and if your relationship is already failing chances are it will put even more strain on that.

Being healthy yourself is a major issue. And yes this also includes the men also being healthy to help with better sperm quality and counts also. If you are a women that is way over weight or many health issues that are preventable, than you should be doing EVERYTHING possible to get yourself on the best shape you can. I am not the smallest person around, in fact I am probably over weight myself. However by some chance it was relatively easy for me to become pregnant. There are a lot of reasons why people are unable to get pregnant especially when it comes to health and lifestyle (that is controllable!) that if you find yourself struggling sometimes it may be best to evaluate your life. Are you eating healthy? Exercising regularly? Getting important vitamins and minerals? Another side note is that some people may not be aware, if you are planning on having a baby it is nest to take pre-natal vitamins 3 months before trying. This way your body builds up the reserves needed to have a healthy birth.

And lastly, and certainly not least, have patience! If there is a couple perfectly healthy, each month trying they only had a 20% chance of getting pregnant. Not to mention the same perfectly healthy couple it can take them about a year to have an egg implant also. And if after about a year you still not having any success that is when I would suggest maybe going to see a fertility specialist. If you have previous issues with any reproductive organs maybe before the year is a better option for you, but the rule of thumb is after a year. And if everything else fails there is always the route of adoption even if you have not thought about it previously either.

There you have it! I know some of these may be hard to follow especially patience and not stressing or planning when to make love with your partner. But have no fear there is multiple reasons and multiple ways to become pregnant if doing it completely naturally is challenging for you. The journey have procreation ia not a short one. And it also ia never equal to anyone else’s either. Heck, even your first or second child might be completely different or one may have taken longer to catch than another. It honestly depends on so many factors that enjoying the experience with the one you love makes it all worth it!

Have you used any of these tips before?

What helped you to conceive if you have before?

Let me know in the comments below, I am sure people are eager to hear different experiences!

When My Son Goes to Bed

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When my son goes to bed, what do I do you might be wondering, Absolutely nothing! FREEDOM!

Just kidding of course. What can be done is really up to anyone. And depends on the day also. Ill write the two ways I would spend my time “kid free” once he went to sleep. I say this because as I write this I am pregnant and well, some things changed from being pregnant and when I am not and how I fill my time! Let’s start with when I am not pregnant shall we!

My son goes to bed regularly around 7pm. This is after he is done rolling around in his crib, talking to himself, potentially throwing his blanket out of the crib and whining for it, or having his soother fall to the floor and having to go in to get it for him again. A few times a week I am streaming. At the time of writing this I am streaming 3 days per week, this might change in the fall when I want to add a bi-weekly podcast into the mix but that is an after thought!Currently at the time of writing this I stream and am live playing games, or even doing art on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I typically start this as soon as he goes to sleep with my intro playing as he settles. My goal ultimately is to stream between 2.5 and 3 hours however sometimes less depending on how I feel. After if there is a few moments my boyfriend and I would watch something quick on TV. Sometimes it would be a quick show, or depending on how we feel an episode of a series that we are watching. On day’s that I don’t stream sometimes I do things like working on blog posts, writing in my novels or books, doing artwork for my house, different things as well too. This is time I try to look after myself. Rarely do I do housework unless maybe the dishes, I try to do that during the day so that tonight I can hang out and just relax without having to think about anything. I sometimes have a bath or sometimes do absolutely nothing at all!

Now, when I am not pregnant it can be a bit different in terms of things that I do once he goes to bed. The streaming never changes that is something that is good. And I do try to stick to the no housework rule. For my own sanity sake. The most I will do for housework as mentioned is the dishes however if the toys are everywhere on the floor I guess I would pick those up also! The major difference is that when my son goes to bed I would smoke a joint. I know. I am a stoner mom. However I don’t believe in smoking while pregnant obviously for multiple reasons. That is a different blog post though! Other than that I would say a lot of the things are the same. I view smoking a joint as if some people have a glass of wine. I actually talked about that in a previous blog that you are more than welcome to check out here where I talk about the difference between wine or weed and why I think one is viewed so drastically. I will also note that if my boyfriend is away for whatever reason or I am alone with my son I will not smoke in case something happens and we need to travel anywhere either. I treat weed just as I would booze. And occasionally my boyfriend and I especially in the summer time will will sit outside and have a drink together. I prefer coolers however me drinking a lot is kind of the days of my past when I was younger and doing the bar scene!

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Something that is important to remember once your child(ren) go to bed is that there is nothing “Set” that you should or shouldn’t be doing. Sometime people will do housework and relax that way, and believe me I have done that myself if my house is in a state. Once we move (If we haven’t already by the time this has come out!) I am sure I will be in the cleaning boat as we get the house to our own happy place. There is nothing wrong with doing absolutely nothing though. Use this free time to catch your breath. Being a parent can be hard especially if you are in fast a single parent too. Some days with children are easier than others. Some days you have a teething baby or you are pregnant yourself again. You really need to find what works for you because it can legit change so often. For me I try to do something relaxing and self care like, regardless of what that is. I think it is a great way for me to decompress from the day.

When being a parent we often put our children first. This is natural and normal. I know my parents did that with myself and my brother and sister. Regardless of what we were doing they would put us first and that is okay. But I know my dad would sometimes go to his friends house for a few hours on Wednesday nights after work if he was home. My mom would go bowling on Thursday nights (Which I also did however this year being pregnancy about 7 months will not be for me!) and at one point she also did water aerobics. You really have to find something you enjoy and if you are a single parent that is okay also! A lot of the things that I do once my son goes to bed is at my house or I am bringing the camera to sit on my deck and enjoy the outside.

What are some things that you do once your children go to bed?
Is there anything different or the same that we happen to do the same?

Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear what you do.