Welcome to Mommyhood! Celebrity Interview...

Yes, I know it is Thursday; But today is like our Friday cause tomorrow is Canada Day! And so, in honour of our "Friday," our long weekend, the last day of June and the beginning of SUMMER (July), today is the day for the next Celebrity Interview!

Today's featured celebrity is another local woman. She comes to us by way of Global TV bringing us our weather. That's right, it's Kristi Gordon!

Kristi is an almost ready to pop mom-to-be.
With life in the public eye, an expanding figure and a new family addition, I had to ask her how life (and baby bump) has been treating her.

Check out our Interview.

1.  How has your pregnancy been overall? Any difficult times (morning sickness, etc...)

I've been very lucky. I had slight nausea for a month in my first trimester and otherwise was just tired. Since then I have felt great. Although, I have definitely slowed down in the last month. The only really difficult part about this pregnancy was sleeping...I often have a hard time falling asleep because I have too much on my mind or because I'm uncomfortable. Plus, I have developed Restless Leg Syndrome which makes it incredibly difficult to sleep. To fix this, I have had to cut out absolutely all caffeine. I can't even have a morning tea.

  2.  What are you most looking forward to with regards to parenting?

 I think I'm most looking forward to when the baby isn't as much of a baby anymore. I'm looking forward to seeing him or her grow up. I think watching (and helping) a personality develop is so neat. 

  3.  What are you most looking forward to doing on your own (without that bump!)?

Sleeping on my stomach and tying my shoes!

  4.  Do you generally have a workout routine (before baby) and have you kept one up while pregnant?

Yes, absolutely. The one thing I would urge any expectant Mom is to keep active. It has helped me feel better both mentally and physically. I have been taking a Cycle/Circuit class through the North Vancouver Rec Centre with an amazing instructor Louise. This has been great. Plus, I've taken yoga and other step classes. I just keep going to as many workout classes as possible (3-4 times a week). I can't do all of the exercises but it doesn't matter, I just do my own variation.

 5.  Have you had any “I wish they told me that!” moments through your pregnancy? (i.e.. Some woman gain a show size, sweat more, can’t sleep...) or any “pregnancy/upcoming mom” advice?

I wish they told me that you definitely need maternity pants. What? You mean...I can't just roll your regular pants down at the front? Nope. I can't even pull my regular pants up over my thighs anymore, let alone over my behind. 

As for advice...whenever someone says "you're eating for two now", don't listen. If you do, you WILL end up eating for two....two of you! The baby will still be tiny. 

Kristi

Thank you Kristi for finding the time in your busy life to answer a few questions and let some moms and/or moms to be in on a few tid-bits!

Wishing you all the best in the last of your pregnancy and a big congratulations on your upcoming addition!

all the best~

Fabulous Friday announcement!...

So, I am hoping to introduce my upcoming Friday blog "Fabulous Fact Fridays" tomorrow! I will keep you posted. I promise it will be worth your while, and this bi-monthly blog will keep you coming back for more; and make you wish they were more frequent!

As a mom, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a professional etc etc sometimes life feels like it just gets away from me. I know I load my own plate full sometimes, and that is all on me; but I also feel as if sometimes I am not doing enough. How do people do it all? And in the public eye at that!? Do celebrities and public figures have off days like me? Do they think they should be doing more (when to us it seems like they have more than anyone could handle)!?
All questions I thought would be fun to explore!

So every second Friday I will have a new Guest Interview talking Mommyhood, Womanhood and whatever else they feel like disclosing!

Come join me for Fabulous Friday's and let the discoveries begin. How real are these real people!? I tell you, I think you may be pleasantly surprised. I know I was!

I am starting with an amazing woman. An inspiring woman. A local woman!

Happy Thursday. See you tomorrow!

To show your excitement, cause I know you can hardly contain it, click below to VOTE FOR ME!!!
All it takes is one click...and you can click daily if you're so inclined!

The Great Debate...

Enter the world of parenthood and everyday is filled with its own set of challenges.
Our current/upcoming topic that is a HUGE decision...preschool. Now the parenting begins and the playing is left till after school. Kai will be 3 in April and ready for his first year of preschool this September. These days, it is not only where to send your child, but at what age as well. There are some new "junior kindergartens" that take children as young as one. In essence it is a childcare facility at this age, yet they still have some structure to their days (as much as you can give a one-two year old!). The topic is on the table because over the next few weeks, registration begins!

We began our thoughts on this pretty quickly after Kai was born. The reason being, most of the good schools (yes, even preschools) have waitlists for years! If you can believe it, some actually register your name the minute you find out you are pregnant. A little excessive, I think yes! But to each their own.
We were originally thinking of sending him to a Junior kindergarten a few days a week starting this past fall. It didn't pan out for a few reasons and in the end I have been happy it didn't. What's the rush to send your baby to school so fast!? They have their entire lives to be there. Come the fall, I think he will be ready, and so will we by then.

Now for us, the decision is where...and why! Sienna follows Kai around everywhere. She loves to sit and read, and yet she loves to stick her hand in dirty diapers...yes discgusting! But she is a big factor in our equation of Kai and preschool. With Kai going a certain number of days/mornings a week, Sienna will still need to have a place to be. Currently, when I am working, the kids are with our part-time Nanny. She is fantastic and the kids love her, but realistically, we cannot afford to employ a nanny and pay for school; and so, our thoughts are leading us in the direction of a junior kindergarten where Sienna can be on the same "campus" as her older brother. The two of them can have the same schedule, and this in-turn makes a happy mom :-)

Here are some of my thoughts and "foreseen debates" that we are, and will be, dealing with:

- How many days a week
- Time of day (morning or afternoon)
Cost
- Preschool and part-time nanny
- junior kindergarten for both kids
- Preschool and daycare!?
Cost
curriculum
-Location
-Cost

For those of you who don't have children yet, or you do but you have not gotten to the stage of looking into preschools, they seem to charge an equivalent rate to University. Since the children are 1/4 to 1/2 the height of a grown adult, the tuition is reflected by 1/4-1/2 the price! Not really, but I figure, pretty damn close! So if we are shelling out this amount of money for our child's education and learning, I want to make sure that we are getting the most value for our dollar. Preschools are private and therefore you must pay...I can see another debate a few years in the future, private or public!?

We have looked into CEFA (Core Education and Fine Arts), and they offer some amazing things at their schools: from uniforms all the way down to meal planning. This is a Junior kindergarten. And here, the days are full from 9 to 5 if you want. Great for a working 9-5 parent, but not necessary for me...but maybe this is where the kids can go on the same 2 days a week and no more would be needed!??
Or do we go to preschool...there are some amazing ones in our neighbourhood: from Montessori programs to French immersion.
Wish us luck and please send thoughts, suggestions and advice...it is all welcomed and appreciated!

"It will be gone before you know it. The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear." ~Dorothy Evslin

If it's not one thing...it's another!

Why does it feel like life is always, "if it's not one thing, it's another!"

Lately, LIFE begins to settle in one area and then LIFE begins building in the OTHER. If it's not you it's another that you are affected by.

My question, when does life become your own...for a year, for a minute, for a second...

I am quickly learning...it never does. If you have family, in ANY FORM, it never completely resides in your own hand; because, the minute you care for someone, family or friend, you never know where life will take you.

If it is not your life experience and learing, it is someone elses...

To the tears, the laughter, the love...

To learing...

To life... 

Thank you for tomorrow.

xo

Life Happens

I want to write this for all of you moms out there. And one specific mom, an amazing woman,

thank you for being such a great friend.

 

Do you ever feel like your days pass by and you are barely accomplishing anything?

A girlfriend of mine is an amazing woman, an amazing mom to a beautiful little girl, an amazing athlete, works her a** off to help provide for the family and is at a point where she asks herself why...why is she busting her butt to get everything into a day when she feels at the end of that day none of it was really all that important. What is important, is to be enjoying her time with her daughter, her family.

As a women, a wife, a mom,  I completely understand where her words are coming from and where her heart is torn. It is sometimes all you can do to get through a day; and at the end of that day, life still happened.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.- John Lennon

I think this quote is perfectly suited to moms. We are ALWAYS making other plans. It feels like we try to fit our things "in" to OUR day so we can continue on getting the kids settled, the house clean, the bills paid and possibly even attempt to make some form of a living financially as well! We call a sitter so we can get an hour for a run, a coffee, a grocery shop, a NAP!  Dont get me wrong, I wouldn't change motherhood or my life with kids for ANYTHING in this entire world, but because of them it makes me question what truly is important in life and when to start living  life oppose to life living me.  Busy is something that will never change in my life. For me, with a 2.5 year old and a 1-year-old life just is, busy! It is figuring out what is important in life and where the priorities fall. I need to find that balance. I think this is where some of us moms, especially new moms, have a difficult time. You are living one life, then a little person enters your life and you have to find a balance that you are happy with and that allows you to still be your own self. A difficult transition, and maybe another article on that one day...

"The busy have no time for tears."-Lord Byran

This quote is hilarious to me! I feel the busier I am the more tears there are! Busy=Tired. Tired=Tears.  A simple equation that i am sure many moms would agree with. I know a few that I have shared some tears with...let them flow!

We do our best. I do my best. And as life happens I learn a little more with every moment. It is the little things in life that mean the most, and as life happens, so do I.

Terrible Twos...

So I am discovering, on a daily basis, that the "terrible two's" are a real phenom; And with them comes the "terrible twenties" because I don't think I have ever been so mentally and physically exhausted! Mix a two-year old, with daily life and stress, with a walking one year old, and there is no mix in that equation for much of anything...let alone rest!

Kai is at a point lately where I can only leave him with a select few people, otherwise I can't leave him at all. Everything is "mommy do it" "i want my mom", when does this phase progress forward!? It's hard to wish away time, but when you are arguing with a 2-year-old, you quickly find yourself loosing your mind! 

In parenting, I find that with friends around you, you learn from one another. I constantly find myself in "growing friendships."  Within my circle of friends I was among the first, if not the first, to marry, to have a baby, to have a second baby... so I was in a place to "make new friends." With kids the learning and growing never stops, and to have people who can relate to the ages and stages of life help make the days go by! Thank you to all of my friends for being such a strong support system. I don't know what I would do to get through some days!

What I have learned about this age and stage that Kai is going through, is that he needs stimulation and exercise. He LOVES playing outside, going to the park, coloring and playing with his cars. When a tantrum begins sometimes all he needs is a re-direct on to a different activity. This is why Ryan and I have decided it is time for him to enter into Junior Kindergarten. We are now wait-listed for an amazing Junior Kindergarten school CEFA.  Check them out at www.cefa.ca

One of our amazing friends is involved in the Cefa School in Langley and we have heard nothing but the best! Check out her amazing blog at www.cefalangley.wordpress.com

Fingers crossed we can have a fresh start to 2011 and have both Kai and Si in this amazing program!

My feelings are that, like adults, kids need to be social and set into different environments. It only allows them to grow and expand their little horizons. There is so much to learn in life, and as a parent, we can't even begin to think we have the ability to offer it all! We all need a little help. A little piece of mind ;-)

a little...rest!

While They Are Sleeping

While they are sleeping is the one time in the day i can count on at least 1 hour for myself.

Well, i guess i wouldn't always consider this self time as i am usually doing laundry, cleaning, doing bills, running a household, but at least its quiet!

I have now decided to take some of this time for me. To sit down here and to write.

I am surprised with every minute of life these days. It seems that just as you begin to get one area sorted out or feeling more positively about certain outcomes, there is another worry, sadness, stress, whatever waiting for you. Is this called life!? I guess so!! Although many of these lessons aren't seen at the time we experience them, there has got to be a reason for them all in something...i hope!

Currently i feel myself struggling to find a sense of self and direction in my world of marriage and motherhood. With Kai now 2.5 and Sienna 1, i feel it's my time to discover the ever-ending question of "who am i" and "what do i want." I know who i am in the form of wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend...but who am i in this life that evolves around me and what makes me happy in the everyday? Before our two amazing kids were born i ventured in a few different career paths 1) realtor 2) photographer.

 I truly LOVE these both but find myself questioning whether these are paths i want to take as career and whether i CAN take these as career while still raising our kids. I need time away from the house and kids; i am sure this is something that every mother can relate to! I need it for my own sanity!

So what is the next great place!? Work! I know, a little crazy some might think, but this introduces a new place of "adult time", sense of identity, and knowing that i have the ability to contribute to my family on a financial level as well.

So here i am, stuck with the overall question of "what do i see myself doing."

I am sure a question most have asked of themselves thru life...but when do you see the light at the end of the tunnel clearly?