Me (Sweet tooth) - Canadian Cadbury’s mint chocolate. (It melts in my mouth and just has the mint flavour and is delicious

 Hubby (Salty tooth) – salty nuts and chips

 My son : - (Sweet/salty tooth) – mint chocolate and chips

 My daughter:- ( sweet/salty tooth) does like a variety of chocolate but loves salty nuts too..

We all know that when we see a new born baby or have children of our own, those new born babies are truly a miracle.The question is though what kind of experience did the mom’s go through to bring that miracle into the world?

There are lots of mother’s today who choose to have a home birth either with or without a midwife present and no pain medication at all. I admire the mother’s who do that and hope that it can always turn out to be a positive home birth experience. There are mothers who experience their full pregnancy with an OB and have their OB or any other OB deliver their babies in the hospital with and epidural and pain medications. Some births can turn into an emergency C Section which is often necessary to save the life of mother or baby. Then there are mothers and often during their second births that may have to have a planned C Section. Once again this may be necessary for the safety of the mother and baby.

My first birth was a natural birth delivered in the hospital It was 35 hours of labour and initially I took an epidural but when it was time for the baby to come out the epidural had worn off and they would not top me up with another one. I had also developed toxaemia at the end. I had great trouble getting my miracle baby out. It was a very difficult birth and a very hard recovery there after. However my special boy is the best boy in the world and it was worth every difficult moment to have him in my life. My second birth 3 years later was with a different OB and it was a planned C Section. I was awake in the C Section and didn’t feel a thing. I was treated like an absolute queen and felt like it was a lot more civilized way to give birth. My recovery was quick and easy and after 10 days I was well healed and running around and driving. I have the most precious girl in the world that came out of that wonderful birth. 

We are all going to have different birth experiences, some positive and some negative. Which ever way it turns out, I know that the miracle of our babies is worth everything.

At the moment the winter is still pretty mean to us over here in Toronto. We have made a breaking record of the most snow in years and freezing temperatures with high wind childs. Everyone is feeling pretty much on the tired side, both adult and kids. However when we walk into the malls, the spring clothes and some of the summer ones too, has already come into the stores. Although we actually cannot wear any of them yet, as weather conditions do not allow us to, it is very refreshing to see the bright colours all over the stores and it really brightens up the days and makes us feel a lot better. We also know that there is hope that one of these days the weather will let up and get better and we can venture outdoors again and get to appreciate nature once again.

Yesterday my son went with the school on a ski trip. The grade 4- 8’s were invited to go.

He was so excited. He was up at 6.00am as he had to be at school at 7.00am sharp. The trip was taking place at a ski resort that was about an hour and half a away from home. The children had to provide their own helmets and ski goggles but we were able to rent the ski’s. They actually give them ski lessons before they allow the children to actually have free time to ski. He had the most amazing time ever and living in a cold climate, I just think it’s the most wonderful opportunity that the school provides for them. He was also very excited with the wonderful coach buses that they took them on. The buses provided a washroom as well as a movie each way for the children to watch. It was a really fantastic day for him.

I have always found February to be the longest moth of the year. Even though there are only 28 days in February. It’s the coldest, snowiest month of the year. The time of the year that winter feels like it’s never going to end and everyone is very tired. This year Ontario introduced a new statutory holiday on February 18^th 2008 called Family Day. Everything was closed including the malls. The kids were off school and we were off work. It has made such a difference to the month, just to know that we get an extra day’s break to break up the long cold month. We had a wonderful relaxing family day together. We played some board games with the kids and then watched a family movie. It was a wonderful day and I am so grateful that the Ontario government has introduced family day.

Valentine’s Day is not for hubby and I anymore. We will be married for 12 years in May and celebrate on our anniversary. Valentine’s Day is now for the kids. They bring home class lists and give a card to everyone in their class so that no one is left out. I think that is great. Obviously when they reach high school days such a thing won’t be but for elementary I think it’s wonderful.

I too bought my kids Valentine’s Day cards just to have a day to make them feel extra special. To me Valentine’s Day is a reason to have some family fun and to not only for hubby’s and wives but an extra day to make our kids feel very special. Happy Valentine’s Day to all the bloggers.

Everyone loves their children. Some people love their children because it’s their duty to. Other people just love spending every minute with their children and can’t get enough of the joy that they receive from their children. I know of people who go on vacation and every time they go they leave their children with the grandparents so that they can have a break. I know of people who go on vacation and put their infants into strange daycare so that they can have a break. I am not saying that parents should not have a break. But ever since my kids were infants, it has been my pleasure to go on vacation as family time. Ever since my children were infants and right through the years, hubby and I have loved to watch them playing in the sand, swimming with them eating out with them and relaxing with them. The best of vacations is having quality family time and lapping up the pleasure of seeing my children have the best time. I love every moment of being with them. They light up my life.

For those of you who work full time and are also a mom, the balancing act can be quite a challenge. Personally, I find it very challenging. At the end of the working day, I am exhausted and of course my children need my attention. They are both school age. They are very independent but do need my undivided attention when it comes to helping with school homework, which I believe is very important that they do get my full attention at that point.

The difficult part is, when trying to organize dinner, do some laundry and other household chores that need to be caught up, I really feel I need to try my best to stay calm and patient for my own children who really need me at those hours. They are my life and soul. I do try though at the end of the day when I get in to bed and read and try doing something relaxing and giving myself some wind down time. The balancing act is not easy. If you have any good tips for the balancing act, please feel free to share them…

Today is yet another PD day for the school year.  This year is insane. There is a PD day at least once a month. I know that the kids love it but seriously the school year is short and I think that they loose a lot of learning time with all the PD days. So, I decided to use the opportunity to book the kids dental appointments. Okay not the best mom thing to do on a PD day, I know I know I should be taking them out somewhere fun. However I’d rather get these kinds of chores done on a PD day and then we can still enjoy our weekend as a family when hubby is around too. However a major snow storm arrived with freezing rain and so I had to re schedule the dentist appointments. So we haven’t been able to do anything to do, no chores or not even anything fun but spend the day being house bound. I thought it would be a drag, but the kids are having a whale of a time doing their own thing at home for a change.The joys of living in a cold climate but i must say it worked out for the best in the end.

Both my mom and mom in law live far from us. Fortunately they are able to visit their grandchildren when they can. With the digital world to day, we are able to keep their relationship alive. Thanks to email, skype and inexpensive phone calls, they are able to still connect with their grandmas all the time.

 Unfortunately my dad passed away tragically when I was 11 years old. Not only would I have done anything to have him in my life as I grew up, but also in my children’s life. They ask to see photo’s of him all the time and love hearing stories about him. He was such a warm and loving person.

He would have absolutely loved to have been a part of their life. I treasure the memories of him and always tell them how proud he would’ve been of them.