Tag Archives: Life with Children

Easy Saint Patrick’s Day Decoration Idea’s for Your Kids.

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If you are like me, since having kids you want to do a little something for just about any holiday no matter how big or small it may be. I had decorated for Valentine’s day which was super easy and cost next to nothing from a local Dollarama, Now it is Saint Patrick’s Day! Here are some quick, and inexpensive ideas on how to decorate and spruce your home up!

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Green food coloring. I know genius right? Make everything green for your kids. Be warned though, after all that effort you may be left with the food in case your little ones are not a fan of different or odd colored food. I remember when there was green and purple ketchup. My siblings and I begged my mom to buy one to you know, try it out. We ate it once and couldn’t eat anymore because looking at purple ketchup is just weird. So depending on how your children are with food that has a color to it other than the natural one, this may be a risk! Not to mention how simple this can be, you can literally change the colored of just about anything. From milk, to eggs maybe even some noodle dishes too. Just know if you are using anything else with a color say Kraft Dinner you probably will not be getting a nice green color but you will be getting a weird brown-ish color due to the orange and green mixing!

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Another quick and relatively cheap thing to do is take 10$, though 5$ may due if you are creative, and bring it to a local dollar store where you would find low end items (and sometimes gold mines!). They probably have some sort of design into paper you can buy for a few dollars and you can stick them up around your home. Maybe they have garlands also. Regardless of what you choose or how much you spend this can be a nice way to get something to spice up the living space. I do in some sense try to look for durability because my theory is that if I was to save things from year to year I would have a great collection once they were in school. You don’t need to spend a fortune over holidays that you wish to celebrate you can slowly build a collection over the years and soon enough you will have an entire household of decorations to put up!

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What kid doesn’t love getting their hands dirty and helping their parent’s bake something that they can eat themselves? Not many right! Make something with them that they can physically help to do. Maybe make cupcakes or even a batch of sugar cookies. This is a great way to spend some time with your tiny humans by showing them a passion for cooking. If they are in school you may need to do it the evening before or on a weekend but that is totally possible. You may even have all the ingredients right in your own home too. The cost of this would be relatively low also which is a great thing if you are on a budget. Though if you are feeling a bit slack on time and unable to make them from scratch, it it also completely acceptable to buy a pre-made mix of some sort and dye it green or add some green sprinkles or what not as well to it.

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Clothing is an inexpensive way to do this also too. Chances are your little one has clothes if greens or yellow for gold. Pick out some green outfits on and leading up to saint Patrick’s day. Not only that but in school they may even have a special day where they dress all in green anyways. You could also use maybe a shirt if you by chance have a shamrock or something money related also. And no, it does not have to be the brightest green either, You can have whatever green you wish too! Even if you have a white shirt and you want to get a quick green one kool-aid or some green dye would also work too.

To tie on to school. Save their crafts! Chances are they may be making something in the classroom. How durable will it be from year to year? That is something we wont know but you can always try to save what is made from year to year. And if worst comes to worst and it doesn’t make it a year you can always get rid if it also! If your kids are. It in preschool or regular school to do this, again check out pinterest for some ideas which you could probably get the supplies for this at a local dollarstore. Pinterest has so many idea from all levels of skills and ages that there really is no excuse to not finding something that you will enjoy.

There you have it. Simple and fun ways for you to make even the littlest holidays have an impact around your home when you have little ones! I will throw a word of caution, if you do go the dollarstore route I would suggest shopping earlier. Since we all know retail places love to make sure holiday decor is out way earlier than expected, you may have to shop sooner than later or run the risk of having the isles picked over and stock low..

Setting Up Achievable Goals

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Setting up goals can be a daunting task. Setting up achievable goals can be even more complicated. Especially if you don’t properly think things through and you are stuck feeling disappointed in yourself by not properly planning. I know I have been here more than once and as a result I give up on certain ones. Or I am way to hard on myself and I am giving up before I am done. Goals can be something very rewarding especially if they are for something you are willing to wait or work for. For me, I don’t think a day goes by that I am not thinking about at least one of my goals. Or at at minimum, working towards achieving it even if for a small amount of time.

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Time frames are important for goals for obvious reasons. If you don’t plan it right and you don’t make it in time, you will not succeed. Sorry if that seems to be a bit blunt, it is supposed to be. For example, if you want to lose 50lbs in a month. That is a completely unrealistic goal and by the end of you will begin to feel lost and confused and beating yourself up as to why you are were not successful with this. But if you set a goal of losing 50lbs in maybe a year or a year and a half that is something that you may be able to achieve even before the time frame is up, so to speak. Sometimes things have to have strict timelines, Maybe you are working and have deadlines or maybe you are in school and have particular things like an essay done at the certain date. Having self discipline in order to get tasks done in a timely manner is a skill that most people may have difficulty to maintain. However, once you have this quality valued you will work far more efficiently than if you winged it. We all have been there when we are rushing a project and you know it is not your best work but it is passable.

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Not rushing on goals can be beneficial to understand when it comes to creating achievable goals. I know for me, if I wait last minute and I find myself rushed on a project, I know when it is over I regret not putting my all into it. I want to be better on things like planning and not cutting my productivity in half being rushed. This is like blogs, Instead of waiting til I have none already written, I need to be more proactive and writing when I have things scheduled so that I don’t have a period of time when I am scrambling and trying to get some happening. I like to have at least 10 or more blogs already written so I can switch some in and out if the need is there. I feel like if I am rushed in writing blogs sometimes I ramble on or I am not putting the effort in that I need to have and it can be really challenging to put out quality content that I would like to do.

Another thing that I have been trying to do is set up achievable goals for my other writing. By the end of this year I would like to have one book published. I have set up something in terms of a time line, when to have things written, when to edit by, when to release the collect, etc. Setting up this goal has really helped me to stay on track and help me stay motivated towards following this through.

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Being realistic is also one of the most important steps if not THE most important steps as it can tie into so much more that is happening. If you say you want to fly to the moon but have no desire to do the training, save money, practice different tests and drills than saying you are going to fly to the moon is super unrealistic and not something you should expect to happen. If you have a goal to lose weight, as mentioned before and you plan on doing absolutely nothing different than you are doing now chances are you are not going to achieve this goal.

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Being realistic with yourself is understanding what it is you want to do, and what you are going to need to do to achieve this. Some things take less steps in order to complete compared to others. Some may take many many steps in order to complete. Fully understanding or in the very least understanding that this will be a challenge is a great first step. There will be a lot of learning along the way I am sure however knowing what it is you will need to do in order to achieve that will help you better prepare for the dedication it will take.

I am sure this also goes without saying, just as I am sure many of us have heard this since we were children, you can do whatever you want to do! If you have a drive and a desire to complete a goal no matter how outlandish you are going to succeed. If you really want to do something and there is no outside factors that you are not willing to try to overcome, you really can say that the sky is the limit for you. I know there are many goals I would like to tackle, in fact making this an income making blog is one of them! And how am I going to achieve that one might ask, by doing what I am now, being consistent, and keep going!

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!

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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!


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!

3 Things I Would I Tell My Younger Self

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Looking back at when I was a teenager in particular, I can say that I was legit a rotten kid. I was combative with my parents, I tend to have been rude more often than not and I felt like they were out to get me. Not that I am 30, have a son and another child due towards the end of 2021, it really has given me some perspective that I didn’t think I would have if you had asked me as a teenager. Here are 3 things that I wish I could tell my younger self.

Number 1 : Your parents are not the enemy. Growing up I would say my parents were leaning more towards strict. We, meaning my siblings and I grew up in the era without cell phones til we could pay for them, and to follow the street lights. In high school we we not allowed out past 10-11pm depending if there was things we were doing and we had to check in regularly if possible too. Even though we were secretive with things as most teens are, we still had a pretty good means of communication though. I felt like my parents were the people who would do things just so I wasn’t having any fun when looking back now it really wasn’t. I know my sister mentioned this before and she agrees. There is a reason why we had to be in specific times, why is this you might ask? Because there really is nothing out here after 1030pm that is for teenagers. Not only that but a lot of times when I would hear my friends who had parents who really did not care what they did and were out all hours of the night, they often were the ones who would be getting in trouble with multiple people and in multiple places. So I guess by them being more strict than some of my friends at the time they really were doing us a favor.

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Number 2: Do better in school! I know this probably comes as no surprise but for me it was something I put on the back burner and really did not focus on. I was too busy smoking cigarettes and hanging out with the stoners.. maybe partaking in that as well, to be bothered with good grades. The funny part in all this was I never missed more than 4 classes. I always was there so that I could get exempt from exams we were allowed to miss. I wish I could tell myself to focus more on grades both in high school and collage because it may have helped a lot more when trying to apply. I went to community collage and while nothing is wrong with that, looking back I wish I had some sort of honors in school. I was just scrapping the bottom of the barrel to get by that I never really thought grades were that big of a deal. I wish I had even applied for scholarships or put some effort to maybe help myself financially by achieving good grades or even by just applying for things. I know that I failed chemistry and advanced math in my first year but I think if I had not of gotten lost in the mix of weed and wanting to look cool than maybe at the end of the day I would have been able to go to a university easier instead of collage.

Number 3: It does get better. I know this may seem like it never will but it does get better. When I was in high school everyone liked me. I could be everyone friend. I was however, never close with people. Coming right out of high school and into collage I was in an abusive relationship. It felt never ending and it felt like I was essentially trapped there for all of eternity. I wasn’t Fast forward to now, I am a 30+ year old women, with a solid relationship of almost 11 years, one son and another baby on the way. Things DO get better. The friends i made in high school who I was really close with which is not a lot, we still talk semi regularly. However a lot of people I am close with are from collage or even just friends from before high school and things. Even friends that I made from work are still around. You do not need to jump through hoops in order to feel secure. At the end of the day being popular in high school or collage does nothing for you as far as a career goes. It might help with social skills but other than that it wont get you good grades, or promotions, or job interviews. You get those on your own. And even if you are the bullied kid or you are feeling like you are lost without a specific clique to belong to, that wont matter when you are 20, or when you are 25, or when you are 30. You will find your people or they will find you and when you find them you just know.

Those would be the three things that I would tell my younger self. Im sure the longer I sit here the more things I would be able to write about what I would say. Not to mention if I was to write this in another 10 or so years I would assume that there would be more or different points that I would want to tell myself also. Everyone I am sure has something that they would tell their teenage selves. Even if it was just to let them know that everything is going to be okay!

Do you have similar things that you would want to tell your younger self?
Is there anything that you did as a teenager that was risky and are surprised that you are still kicking now?
Is your life in the spot where you expected it to be after all these years?

Let me know in the comments below!


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.

7 Things I Do To Unwind

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Before I begin, what someone does to unwind is really subjective in the sense that what I may do to unwind may be something that you absolute hate doing. That is totally okay though! This is just my experience in things that I do to help me unwind when I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed or even just wanting to look after myself with a bit of self care. There is no right or wrong way, though if you are doing something and it is not helping to relieve whatever you may be feeling it may be safe to say that you are not successfully unwinding!

Baths are something that I enjoy doing the most. Though when I am pregnant it is not as easy since I love them to be super hot and in the first trimester they kind of frown upon having really hot baths due to the fact that you can raise your body temperature up significantly which is not good for a growing fetus though! I love relaxing in the bath especially when my spouse is home because I can just lay back and put a facecloth over my eyes and drift away. Sometimes I will read a book, sometimes I bring my tablet in and attempt to watch a movie or show depending on how the WiFi is there which is not normally good. I also have the lights usually dimmed so that it really is a darkened space where I can just relax. I know easier said than done since sometimes my minds just too filled with thoughts but regardless the laying in a tub still does help me feel better especially if I am feeling ill also too.

Coloring, especially in adult coloring books has only just started to become popular in the last 10 years. With multiple books coming out for adults with complex or simple designs for all of your creative needs. My only question for this is why has it not become popular sooner! That seems insane that it really just started to become popular! I have a bunch of different books and sometimes I just like to sit with a show on in the background or light music and just color or chip away at a page that I had already started. The possibilities for coloring and changing how an image can look really can help pass time. There has been days where I have colored and literally hours have passed by and it felt like only a few moments!

Binging Netflix is something that I love to do. I don’t normally do this with my significant other due to the fact we only watch so many shows at night and he also does not like to fully watch a series he likes to savor them. If it is an evening where I am not live with streaming and playing games I love to find a good show especially crime shows and just binge the show to the entirety! Sure, it is a bit of a bummer when it is all over but that just means I have to find another show to do it all over again with to!

Gaming is something I never used to do unless I was live, Now it is something that I find myself doing more either by myself or when I get a moment to spare like when my son is sleeping. Sometimes I play with friends sometimes I play by myself, it really doesn’t matter. Gaming is something though that I have done before, thought it would help me unwind, when it really doesn’t at all. Some times I think gaming is going to be a great way to de-stress and unwind when really it does nothing and I end up not gaming after a few games.

Art or crafts is something i routinely come back to. Especially if I have just gone to the dollar store to get some new materials or I have seen a new hip thing that is happening across Facebook or Pinterest too. I love to create things and if it is something I Have the things to make I am all for it. Sometimes I even do bits and pieces though when I do things and end up finishing a project a few weeks later but honestly I cant stress enough how freeing creating somethings can be though. I love to do anything and everything, from painting, gluing things together, sewing sometimes and even just trying to re-invent things too!

Notes or list and planning is on my list, and I know what you are thinking, it really is not as boring as you might think! I actually love planning things. Making a list and making things that I can see what is happening in the coming month or weeks and planning what I need to do around the house makes me feel like everything is in it’s place. It makes me really feel like I have my stuff together even though it really is quite the opposite! I especially feels good to do it at the beginning of the month and putting everything in my calendar and planner so that I don’t miss anything. This just helps me to plan writing, house work if there is something that i need to do specifically, doctor appointments if I have any, streams, and things of that nature too!

And last, but certainly not least, doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IS TOTALLY FINE! Sometimes at the end of the day, I have no cleaning to do, I heave no streams or planned gaming, I am caught up on blogs (rarely but it does happen!) and Iegit just lay on the couch doing absolutely nothing at all. Sometimes I watch a show I recorded or netflix or amazon prime video, sometimes I sit on my phone and creep the web for the gossip and memes of the day across, sometimes I just do nothing. And there is nothing wrong with doing that.

As you can see I think I have a pretty standard list of things I do to unwind, there really is endless possibilities as to what you do that makes you feel more at ease in the world.

What do you do when it comes to unwinding?
Is there anything on my list that you also do and it helps you too?

Let me know in the comments below, I am always looking for new and creative ways to unwind at the end of the day!

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Sleep Training Sucks

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Sleep training is not the bees knees so to speak. It is super challenging and the hardest part is listening to your little one crying because you aren’t in the same room as they are. We tried to start sleep training my son when he was becoming too big for his bassinet. The reason why we did this was that when he had his arms spread open he would have to bend them as his arm span was far to big now. The hardest part was making that decision. If you are like myself and my boyfriend, we had the bassinet right beside the bed since he was born. Making the decision did not come easy especially when they are so young when you see how small they look in the big empty crib. Have no fear, If we can do it anyone can!

Choosing a method can be challenging at best. You have the cry it out method which we a lot of us probably grew up on. This is where you put them in their crib and just let them cry it out. You make sure they have a dry bottom and are in no distress and you just let them cry cry cry til they fall asleep. They also have the pick up method where they cry and you reassure them everything is okay and put them back down. You typically let them cry if out for about 5 minutes, go check on them, let them cry it out for 10 minutes, and repeat extending the time you take to go in between reassuring them by 5 minutes. Then there is also the one where you sit in the same room as they are. And slowly as time passed or days I could say you you move the chair further and further away from the crib.

We chose the mix between the cry it out method and cuddling them to sleep. We thought this would be the best route as it didn’t seem as harsh as the cry it out method either. The hardest part as you can imagine would be to wait til you have let the amount of time pass that should pass before rushing in to the room. the fact is your little one is probably just fine they just have to make the adjustment to not being right beside you all of the time especially sleeping. It took a few days of this and he seemed to be on a good pattern. Since every baby is different too, it may take your baby a bit longer or less time than others. The important thing is consistency.

Like anything you decide to do with your baby as they begin to age and have some independence, including sleeping in their own room, it is not without struggles. It really is painstaking when you are trying to get them to sleep and you hear them crying. Though after you go in, for what feels like the millionth time and they are perfectly fine. Or they even have a dry diaper, or they have their soother there really is no need. The separation is the hardest part seeing your little bundle cry for you there knowing you aren’t in the room.

Some don’t that we learned pretty quickly were that you have to be dedicated to this. When my son was going through tough times when it came to sleeping we did everything. You can read more about that in this blog. This was extremely essential when it came to sleep training our son because when he was about 6 months of age to about a year old he would wake repeatedly throughout the night. This got so bad to one point I would go in at 2am and he wouldn’t go back to sleep until 4am. And so on and so forth multiple times. It was only after a few weeks of this we decided to let him cry it out when he was waking. We would check obviously to make sure he was dry, we knew he wasn’t hungry since he had been fine for the longest time over night, and we knew that he wasn’t too hot or too cold. This sucked because in the middle of the night all you can do is lay in bed and wait and see how it goes. we did this for 2 nights and suddenly he was starting to sleep better.

Though I don’t want to attribute this just to him sleeping either because we let him cry it out over night. Suddenly he went to one nap a day and that seems to be huge. Though it is tough when you only have a “break” in the middle of the day. He typically naps for anywhere from 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes. I would much rather him sleep a smaller one nap instead of 2 small naps in the day and then barely sleeping at night. Him having one nap in the day time and then having slept super well at night is huge especially when thinking about having another baby around eventually too. The occasional time though we have had to go in and give him a soother if he has dropped it on the floor or if he cannot find it. Other than that though he does so well it is incredible how fast the change happened. Though going to one nap this soon was kind of a shock due to the fact that we know dropping to one nap a day normally happens a few months later and for us it was right around when he turned a year old!

Finding what method works for you can be hard and cause a lot of rifts in a relationship. I know with us it was tough not running in and trying to pick up our son when he was crying. Now that we have another baby on the way I am thankful that he sleeps as good as he does, next step would be to remove the soother from the situation however that will be happening after we get settled into our new home in the not so distant future (If we aren’t already there!).

What are some methods you experimented with when you were doing sleep training?
Was there anything that world right for your family, or some you absolutely hated?

Let me know in the comments below, I might need them with our next one!

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