Talk to me… let’s unwind together

To say that I am not a creature of habit would be a gross understatement. If you ask mousehunter, he’d probably say that he hates my erratic, taking-spontaneous-a-little-too-far ways, and if you ask my mother, she’d probably lament about how I am so unpredictable that she wonders how I even manage to live life… with 3 kids no less!

Anyway, along with my inability to commit to almost anything, I also have daily battles with my impatience, which, it would seem, makes it difficult for me to “unwind”, or relax, or read a book, which I hear is a great way to do both!

My sister demanded, forced, insisted, lovingly suggested that I read a book, and I managed to finish it in a matter of days, but it’s not really because I enjoyed it necessarily, I was slightly annoyed by it and impatient, so I just read and read until I finished it, and then realized that I was so.not.unwound!! I won’t tell you what the book was because it’s sort of embarrassing, ok, if you insist, it was this book, but I swear it was not for the graphic sex parts!

I did however find myself looking for another book to read, but since I haven’t read in about 10 years, I have no idea what’s good! I like lighthearted stuff… any recommendations?

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Nurturing Individuality

Published at Caribbean Belle

I remember the days when I had just two kids, I was so confident that I was a pretty good parent, you know, the kind who seldom gave her kids chocolate or candy, who always fed them enough vegetables, who had creative solutions to disciplinary issues, who would never feed them fries or other “unhealthy junk” – and then I had a third kid! The one, who at 1 and a half years old, eats and does things that my eldest didn’t until he was 3!

A third baby really changes the family dynamic, it’s the start of ‘them’ vs ‘us’, it’s no longer an equal battlefield, and the hardest thing is sometimes trying to give each one the attention he deserves. The most obvious changes for me is that my middle child seems to be the one who is always left out, the little one is about a million times more spoilt than his brothers are, and the eldest, I must admit, has turned into a bit of a tyrant! I couldn’t tell you specifically what makes having 3 kids seem like sooo much more than just having 2 kids, but for sure this number seems to really deter babysitting volunteers!

Having the three babies of the same gender made it really easy for me to just treat them all as a “unit”, with blatant disregard for their individuality. In the past year however, as I’ve watched them grow up into little boys, I’ve realized that as much as they totally enjoy one another’s company, they really crave some alone time with both their father and me. It’s sort of an interesting phenomenon that when they are all together, they can be overwhelmingly wicked and intolerable almost; the fighting is unrelenting, and the arguing is interminable, but yet when each is alone, I marvel at their sweetness and thoughtfulness and their ability to suddenly hear me even when I am not screaming!

I’m sure it will come as no surprise that the trick to managing kids and work is balance, and it becomes increasingly important as the number of kids increase. But the amazing thing about little kids is that they cherish time they spend with us, the activity that the time involves is of less significance, and learning this simple aspect of their psyche gives us a wonderful opportunity to achieve this “balance” that we all seek.

For me, this realization became crystal clear very early one morning; I really love early morning walks and this one particular morning as I quietly tried to get dressed to leave, my 3 year old son woke up and instead of trying to convince him that he needed to go back to sleep, I just took him along with me. Although I knew that he would like the walk, I really did it just so that I could go, not so much because I saw it as a chance to spend some time alone with him. I was almost astounded that I had such a great time with him on such a simple and impromptu “non-adventure”, you see, I took him to a coffee shop and while I had my coffee, he had a donut and my undivided attention! As I listened to him talk about school, his friends, the fun things that he did, the look of glee on his face just filled up my heart and it became obvious that I would need to do this again.

Now, I really try to work in alone time with each of my kids into both of our schedules, whether it’s a trip to the grocery store to get bread and milk, or shopping for that perfect handbag, or just an early morning walk. Once your kids are confident that you’re enjoying time with them as much as they are with you, I think you’ll find that this is the stuff that those “moments” are made of!

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My unnatural love of the ocean and perhaps the only reason that I think where I live sucks!

I would not be exaggerating if I say that there is nothing that I love more than the ocean… well, almost not exaggerating, but I do love the ocean, so much so, that if given a choice, I would, without hesitation, choose a yacht over a house any day!

The thing is though, that I feel like umbrellas and such pollute beaches, seriously, there is probably nothing that I hate more than a crowded beach, it literally annoys me! I mean, would this not annoy you too?

Ok, well, maybe “annoy” is kind of strong an emotion, but I just would rather not go to a beach than be faced with that eyesore! Also, other things that add to my annoyance are cruise liners, which, I realize that I would be in the minority here, but I don’t know that people need to have that many luxuries while on the ocean!

But, apparently my kids enjoy it…

Me though, a yurt and a secluded beach is pretty much my idea of paradise!

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Speedlinking & my kickboxing class

If you are ever in T.O., you should visit Milestones because they have this really good dessert, which I forget the name of at the moment, but its something with dark chocolate, caramel and some type of crushed up nuts – torte something – everyone should really try it!

If you are ever going to be visiting Egypt, please take me!!

Please keep Organica and Mr. Organica in your prayers. Life really is short and precious.

I am going to try cooking Pasticcio, never mind the fact that I can’t even pronounce it!

And here is a little bit of my kickboxing class, which I swear is the best thing in my life right now!

This is NOT me… it’s my kids’ teacher – she is 15!

Note: I can’t do what she does! BUT, I did manage a “jump” with my kicks yesterday, and my teacher said to me “great kicks!” hahah. She is actually my sons’ teacher, she was just hanging out in our class.

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Looking for something to do on Saturday?

Last Saturday we had nothing planned, but as you know it is summer and summer days are not to be wasted inside…

My sister: Where do you want to go?

Me: Dunno, where do you want to go?

My sister: Umm, why don’t we go watch planes?

Me: Uh, whatever….

Kids: Yeah, planes! Yey!!

Me: Ok, planes it is then!

My Sister: I am so fascinated and amazed by planes!

Me: Yeah?

My sister: Why? Arn’t you?

Me: Umm, not so much, I think I am more fascinated by trains (totally not being sarcastic)

My sister: *Look of utter disbelief and slight disgust* Wow, I think I am more fascinated by a fax machine than a train!

Me: Alright, let’s get out of here. What do you want to do now?

Kids: Ice Cream!

So, if you’re looking to spend $25 for 5 people to have “fun”, then you need to go watch planes and then have dessert! Actually, the kids had a blast.

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