Pushed

Posted in Moments of Motherhood, Parenting by

Ever have days when your kids are awesome, like they’re pictures of beauty and grace and even Mary Poppins would be jealous of how good you’ve got it? So do I! There are days where I’m just amazed by how grown up either of them are – Isla showing so much care and compassion and Norah taking great strides in her independency and personality. It makes my heart burst and my ovaries weak and then I want 1,000 more babies. (Much to my husband’s terror.) I post the crap out of those moments on social media because who doesn’t want to read about or see how amazing my little darlings are? No one! Everyone thinks that life going so wonderfully and life is roses and then?

Then they turn into Ivan Drago and I’m Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa is nowhere to be found to avenge my death.

ivan

It just goes to show that parenthood, no matter how shiny and magical it appears online, there’s always those moments that we don’t always speak of. Those moments where we feel like we’ve been pushed to our mental breaking points and we just want to give up.

I’ve had a lot of these moments lately and it has turned me into a hot mess of a mom. Forgetting what time school starts? Check. Completely forgetting details about something I was told less than a hour before? Absolutely. I can feel myself slowly breaking; The whining. The sleep strikes. The attitude. Little by little, it all slowly adds up and suddenly it’s 3 a.m. and I’m sitting on the floor outside of the bedroom doors in tears because I’ve finally been pushed to my breaking point.

Moments like these certainly have shut my ovaries up more than once and while I know that it’s absolutely a phase and “this too shall pass,” it’s sometimes hard to look past it all. Thankfully, I have a great support system that’s been there more than once to pick up the pieces and glue my sanity together. (I’m looking at you, my dear husband/Rocky stand-in!) I’m reminded that sometimes when things are the hardest it’s okay to shove my own parenting rules aside if it means my mental wellbeing stays intact.

Find peace in knowing that your kids aren’t the only ones with inner Ivan Dragos, and it’s okay to let the world know that. Together we’re stronger and if we support one another we’ll always have someone to help push us back into sanity.

So long, 2016

Posted in Year in Review by
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Into the sunset it goes …

I’m really quite awful at these Year in Review posts; I’m never quite sure what to include or omit and posts usually wind up as a garbled mess, and yet here I am at the end of 2016 trying to gather my thoughts.

Overall, 2016 was a pretty good year for our household. The good definitely outweighed the bad, and we had some wonderfully memorable moments both as a family and individually:

  • Kyle entered his first road race in February and did so amazing! I’m so proud of how far he’s come as a runner and while a foot injury pushed back his training over the summer I’m excited to see where 2017 takes him!
  • Norah turned 1! It still baffles my mind that she’s getting so big so fast, and she’s developing into quite the little person full of personality! It’s said that every child is different, and Norah has definitely set herself apart from her sister in so many amazing ways.
  • Isla started preschool! While it’s just twice a week for a couple of hours, she has transitioned so well to her morning routine on those days. She loves school and her friends and I’m so glad. Fingers crossed that continues when she heads off to kindergarten next September! *sob*
  • I got back into playing slo-pitch! I missed playing so much when I was pregnant with Norah, so it was great to get back on the team and have some “me” time. I’m already pumped for the season to start next year.
  • We raced together! Back in May we all signed up for the Blackwell Dairy Race, with Kyle running the 15K and the girls and I doing the 3K Fun Run. It was an awesome day and we’re already looking forward to next year’s race, amongst others!
  • Kyle got LASIK eye surgery! He’s worn glasses/contacts forEVER, so the decision to finally have laser eye surgery done was a huge one. Our eye doctor finally gave him the go-ahead, and he’s now been rocking perfect vision since August!
  • We road tripped! Isla, Norah and I got in some travel time with my mom, heading off to Vancouver, the Kangaroo Farm, and Kelowna for some fun and adventures. We’re already plotting our Vancouver adventure for next spring ;)
  • We had lake days! While the weather wasn’t fantastic this past summer, we still managed to get a couple lake days in, visiting friends at the Little Shuswap and banking some SUP time.
  • We renovated our basement! After a disappointing house hunt, Kyle and I decided we’d stay put for a bit longer and make our basement into a space that was more family-friendly. Thanks to the help of a friend, we were able to transform our oddly-configured basement into a more inviting space!

I know I’ve left about a million things off this list, but that’s not to say that they don’t matter. Like I said, it’s been a good year and I’m so thankful that I’ve been able to spend it with so many of my favourite people. I already know that 2017 is going to be one for the books as well and I’m looking forward to everything it brings our way!

Happy New Year, my amazing She Writes Words readers! May 2017 bring you all the very best!

What were some of your favourite moments this past year?