Tag Archives: children

Boys, Construction, Family, Flexibility, men

Be A Man – Part IV

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I love my man!  Usually when I talk about ‘be a man’ (see here), I am talking about Sexy Neck.

In the midst of cleaning, moving and digging out trees, I had to add a guest “man” to my banter with my man.

Papa Bob or Baron Bob as we lovingly call our dear friend, is a great man.

He came to dig out our boy’s placenta trees.  Trees we had planted with our boys placenta’s underneath.  Strange, I know, but really interesting.   JC has an autumn blaze tree because of the colour and CC has a plane tree because of the size.  OC will get his tree this fall when he turns two.

Since we were moving today, the boys requested that the trees come with us.  They also asked if we could bring the bathroom mirror, but we left that behind.

Our Papa Bob, was busy digging a humungous hole in our heavy clay soil, but when the boys arrived he had them digging with him, avoided hitting them with his sledgehammer and looked like a superhero when the roots finally gave way.

Here is Papa Bob in action.  Let’s remember it is easy to get our heads down in a hole, but it is the people that God has placed around us that really matter.  Thank PB for reminding us of this!

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Family, Parenting, Self-help

Be Surviving While Your Hubby’s Away – Part II

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I had to share another email from my great friend and wise woman, D!  She has been surviving and thriving as her husband has started his new job in a new town.

If you didn’t catch her first hilarious email, here is the link:  https://beenough.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/be-surviving-w…our-hubbs-away/

Before you read her email, I have to say how does she have time to write such witting things and be so self-reflective while being so busy!  We are still house hunting, my husband is on holidays (thus home to help ALL day!) and I am barely keeping all four walls standing.

Here is D’s email:

well… 12 days and nights in now… here’s my tips for how to survive 3 children under 6 without a husband!!
 
1) practice regular desensitization to neck stiffness, headaches, and even skin pain caused from overtiredness (make sure car has carrots – the crunch can keep you awake while driving)
2) feed children toaster waffles and apple juice, not necessarily together (but each a great novelty when never or rarely before been seen!)
3) forget any intention to sweep/mop entire house and just aim for the occasional kitchen sweep
4) drop children at great friend’s place for dinner and go to yoga… the yoga high can carry you for days after!
5) don’t grocery shop. children really can survive on raisins, apples, cheese and the generous donations of friends
6) take your bike in for a tune up. just BEING in the bike shop and feeling your freshly tune ride is a high (even if you might not get a chance to ride until next month…)
7) SING. SING a lot. SING loundly. Same reverberations as screaming, but a lot more pleasant for the children.
8) it’s okay for your 15 month old to say “all done” 15 times in his highchair before you respond. this is particularly true if he woke up before 5, unless he is going to run off and play happily (this tactic can save your neck back and or legs from his 29 lb bug a lug clutches)
9) CHOCOLATE. enuf said.
10) when all goes sideways (meaning kids’ emotions and interactions going downhill), just say loudly “I THINK TODAY IS GOING TO BE AN AMAZING DAY!!” as genuinely as possible. Their shock and surprise will make them forget their lil troubles and move things forward!
 
and my last tip…
 
11) call your husband at 6 am. claim the baby wanted to talk to him. then take the opportunity (while baby enjoys pressing all the beeping buttons) to catch 40 more winks!!

Thanks for sharing again D!  You are inspiring… and how you make me laugh.

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D and I playing a game at her husband’s surprise party. 

Boys

Be A Half-Day Kindergarten

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Yesterday, I was teaching in the most beautiful Kindergarten class in a middle/upper class area in our town.  These children were self-reflective, ready to learn and just a joy to be with.  In the past, I have worked in rural/inner city schools that struggled with students experiencing poverty and children having many barriers to learning.

My son started Kindergarten this year, and in the past few years Kindergarten has drastically changed.

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A few years ago, a five year old child used to go to school every morning or afternoon for about three hours.  Then the children started going every other day for the full day.  Now the children go every day from 8:30am til 2:30pm, five days per week.

When I got home from teaching these amazing Kindergarten students yesterday, I was pondering these wonderful children.  It seemed that at about 12:30, they needed to go home for a rest or they needed to spread their wings in nature or they needed to just be alone.  It is alot to be with the same people every day, ask anyone who works in an open office environment.

I know that people love full day Kindergarten, their daycare costs have decreased by half.  But I feel very sad that school is compared to daycare.  School is not daycare.  We need to be spending that precious time educating our children with the best practice possible.

Children We can’t learn when we are tired!

Our government must agree with me because when we transitioned from half day to full day Kindergarten the curriculum didn’t change, but now five year olds spend six hours instead of three hours in a four walled classroom with twenty-one other students plus a teacher.

Enough said!

health & fitness

Be A Smoker (In Your Own House)

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I can’t judge anyone because first I have to look at my own life.  Could I give up real Italian pizza for the rest of my life?  Would I never allow Lindt chocolate to touch my lips?  Could I ask someone to stop smoking or judge them because they do smoke?  To all of these questions, I have to answer NO.

BUT, I am annoyed by the impact that smoking has on my life.

My neighbours, I wrote about their son yesterday, are regular smokers who have created a beautiful outdoor living room because they won’t smoke in their house.  He is a realtor and knows that if you smoke in a house it affects its resale value.  (I am not going to mention the affect that smoking has on ones lungs!)  Anyways, when our neighbours are out smoking, I feel uncomfortable and mildly nauseous playing outside with my children.    The smoke wafts into our backyard, through our sandbox and into our lungs.

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Our neighbours backyard living room under the roof. 

Yesterday, we were outside our beautiful new public library.  Fifteen month old, OC, is starting to walk more and more, but sometimes he does crawl.  There is a slight ramp at the entrance to our library.   He walked halfway down the ramp, fell hands first and crawled through a pile of cigarette butts.

Here is our new library.  You can’t see the cigarette butts that litter the front entrance. 

Feel free to smoke, but do it in your own house!

Parenting

Be a Pet Person

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I grew up with a cat, that would terrorize people. At our house you didn’t want to leave a toe hanging out of the end of your covers.

I married a dog guy. We have a dog. We used to have two. KT we “put down” about a year ago. She was an awesome, old, arthritic dog. Summer is an energetic, loving seven year old.

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Summer and KT

I am not a huge fan of cats anymore. Unless you live on a farm, I don’t really see the point of having a hairy, furniture scratching, kitchen counter walking, kitty litter pooping animal in your house.

I love our Summer dog, but as spring begins to return (I hope), the amount of hair falling off this fairly large animal is copious. Copious could also be used to describe the size of her poop. Today, I am contemplating my fondness of all animals hairy.

UNTIL I saw this! Our youngest son, OC, loves our dog. I mean he LOVES our dog. If she is lying on the floor, OC is next to her. If Summer’s tail is wagging, OC is trying to grab at it.

This is what I found on my kitchen floor today:

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Yup, I guess I am a dog lover! I think everyone that has children should have a pet, at least for a period of time. Even if it is babysitting a friend’s cat/dog or buying a fish in a tank. I think the value of having a pet and being responsible for its food, cleaning and tender love and care creates within everyone a little bit more compassion, patience and pure joy.

Boys, Parenting, Uncategorized

Be A Labour Lover

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I wish there was a way to harness the power of a woman in labour!

ImagePersonally labour, has been the most powerful, awesome, life changing experiences of my life.  Yes, there is pain, there are bodily fluids, there is an incredible feeling of losing control… but there is life!  New life created and a new beginning.

I have been in labour three times and given birth to three beautiful boys.  Our first was born at home at night, half in the water and half on the floor beside our dishwasher.   Our second was born at home in the mid morning, in the water. Our last was born in the evening, at the hospital on all fours with a crowd awaiting his safe arrival.

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I am not in labour right now, but I am feeling pain.  A body experiencing numbness and tingling for no apparent reason.  A mind that just won’t settle down.  An inability to just enjoy the little moments.  Our family getting ready to move to a new city.  An extended family strained by one person’s choices. Change is in the air.  BREATHE JOANNA BREATHE.

I was reminded by very wise Ann Voskamp of the importance of breathing through the pains.

 http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/01/how-to-breathe-through-the-hard-times/

Today as I ponder labour, I realized my love of labour involves more than labour itself but the feeling of complete support of the people around me.  Our beautiful midwife, Sylvia, had educated us and guided us through the previous nine month.  My wonderful husband, Sexy Neck, had been present not only all the appointments, but all the changes that pregnancy and parenthood brings.  My parents and sister, helped with the older boys.  And lastly, my group of women who supported me by coming to my “Labour Party”, lit a candle as I went through labour and have stuck through me through the pains of motherhood.

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My labour party for baby OC! 

Right now as I “Labour through life”, I need to: embrace the pain (knowing it is just for this time), rely on those people who support me, and get help from some trusted professionals.

Uncategorized

Be a Caveman

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I laughed when I read this title in today’s newspaper then I stopped laughing and realized that I believe ALL the points brought up in this article.

Here is the basics of the message that was brought up in the fourth paragraph:

Their (Cavemen) children were cuddled and carried about, never left to cry, spent lots of time outdoors and were breast fed for years rather than months.

Now I figured out why I feel like a ‘freaky’ mom, I am really a cave woman!

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Christianity, Parenting, Self-help

Be Letting Go

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Tis the Season of Rushing… I am starting to feel things rev up inside of me as the calendar becomes packed up and the to-do-list gets longer.

Thank God for the insight of children.

We were playing at the playground last week and JC looked across the lake and exclaimed: “There is a piece of heaven!” Here is the photo I took of what JC was looking at:

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Amid the storm that often brews for people during this season, the light of God shines through.

I am definitely in the eye of a storm. I need to keep focused on His light and His love and His ways.

Tomorrow is week two of living 60 kilometres down the lake. When our family of five was staying in this lovely basement suite beside the vineyard, I felt calm and relaxed. But this weekend, we stepped back into our life and I feel confused trying to figure “things” out and I feel ‘harried’.

I am reminded of a saying that I heard when I first became a Christian because I definitely can’t figure this one out.

“Let Go and Let God.”