"It takes a village to raise a child"

We all have heard the old African proverb "it takes a village to raise a child". It may be hold, but I love the idea of it and although times have changed and it looks a lot different that it did years ago, I still believe the value of it holds true!

Although our family is all over the country (with one in the States), and we do not live in a "village", we have another type of family here – our friends.

I don’t know what we would do without our friends. Not only for us to have people to have fun with, challenge us and be there for each other, but it also relates so much to Hannah.

(The kids from our small group, 

and to think not too long ago Hannah was the only baby of the group!)

I read in Sacred Parenting a section about how, I believe, on their daughters 13^th birthday they picked a few trusted women that she looked up to, to take her on different adventures to teach her life lessons. I loved the picture of how they could impact her life and how the parents realized that other people can offer different things and invest great values into their children. I immediately had no problem picking a tonne of people I would trust to ask to do something like that for Hannah some day.

The past 2 days we had to be away on a work trip. Although sometimes we opt to take Hannah, some are much less fun for her and much more difficult for us to get what needs to get done with a toddler tagging along – this was one of those trips. So instead Hannah has gotten to have one of the most fun tours of staying at houses of people she loves and best of all love her!  (3 houses with 3 families in 2 days = not bad!) Not only has she gotten other moms to take care of her, but shes had lots of fun with her baby friends and even the dads around some to play!

Such a special blessing!

(Hannah having s special snack with baby Gareth at her last house of the tour!)

And the best part is, that this is not an unusual event.

Once a week a friend supports our ministry in a very tangible and priceless way by taking Hannah for the day so I can be on campus working directly with students. Hannah loves going there so much, she prays for Meagan and “Packy” (her weird nickname she came up with for their cat Zarah...Im thinking she decided to adapt the name “Pekoe” the name of our cat, to something close since she knew they were different, but similar...), and every time we get close she excitedly says their names and barely has time to wave goodbye when she’s dropped off because she’s so excited to be there.

Other times at nights friends have come over so we could get out to meetings or do other things, or take Hannah for a special day or even just for an hour or 2 for an appointment or something.

Like really, what would we do without such friends? They are such a blessing. One that we greatly appreciate and love and ones that Hannah adores and looks up to greatly!

My prayer is that we can be there or others and help invest in their kids as much as they do for us. I love how close our kids can be and how we are a different type of family/village!

I truly believe children benefit from being around and spending real time with different people than just their immediate family. Others have so much to offer our children and I want to give Hannah the most I possibly can  and having the love of others is a huge one!

Balance That Matters

The title of my blog is "Finding Balance", looking at balance that matters. Finding this balance this fall has meant no posts for a very, very long time.

Instead, August was full of first getting to celebrate with friends for their wedding in Florida, then rushing home to start in full gear for staff prep meetings for our September launch on campus (which meant a lot more out of the house work hours, even with being part-time, there was a lot I needed to be there for) and then of course our September launch. Which, with Matt and I doing stuff with expansion campuses in helping to start ministries of Power to Change on other campuses across the Maritimes, that meant lots of travel and basically the feeling of frosh week lasting the entire month. And when work was not the issue, spending quality time with family, especially having special times with Hannah was a priority, since she was going from place to place to be watched by others a lot more than normal. And most importantly, was making sure that I got to spend time reading my Bible and just getting away from the chaos of the world and be refreshed in my relationship with God.

Oh yeah, and all done in my first trimester of pregnancy, while feeling AWFUL. I prayed that this time I would feel the symptoms for sure to know that the baby was healthy. I was worried after having the miscarriage, so I wanted to have signs to know things would be okay. That was a big mistake! God answered and I felt it all, much worse than before.

But we survived!

And now I can have a chance to process through writing again and get caught up on a lot of things that have been floating around in my head.

These special moments matter to me and trump a lot of others! 

family walk - stopping to sit/play by the water

This is how Hannah shows off the flowers she picked! 

She is such a little character! I can't get enough of her! 

Love

planting tulip bulbs for next year!

(yes all pictures were taken the same day, we only had so many days all together, we packed them with as much quality time as possible!)

It has returned

Last week we had the amazing chance to go to our friends destination wedding at Disney World. That I will have to post about later, because there is just so many good things and experiences I could write about that week.

However, our not so good part was getting off the Disney shuttle at the airport and realizing that our main suitcase (that had all of our stuff in from Hannahs bed, sleep stuff, sunscreen, make up, toiletries and all of our clothes. Our other set of luggage was Matts golf clubs!). One of the Disney workers had taken it to check it in directly, then realized we were too late and told me he would take it to the shuttle. The rest of our stuff made it, but the suitcase didn't.

10 days after our flight, last night we came home to our suitcase waiting for us on our doorstep! Disney had shipped it and it finally made it! 

What did I learn from this experience? As helpful as people are in places, I am too trusting to take them at their word. It does pay especially in these situations to watch your luggage closely and make sure it makes it. I was too busy talking to the shuttle driver and saying good-bye and Matt had had to run back to our room to get something, the second he got back we jumped on the shuttle, never to double check.

We should have double checked....

Next time we will double check! 

Life now will be a little easier with all of our stuff. That said, of course today Halifax weather turned to be cooler and we could have started wearing pants and slighter warmer, not Florida worthy clothes. Figures! 

I'm just happy it made it back! 

Father, Daughter and the potty

Hannah surprised us as early on getting an interest in the potty, loving sitting on the potty and then starting to actually go on the potty way before we thought she ever would. Totally initiated by her. 

She even went 5 days of always getting her poo in the toilet (not going to lie not having any poopy diapers to change was pretty glorious!)

Then it changed. 

The night before Matt left for BC for the week Hannah pooped on the toilet, now like usual, we celebrated together, but before getting the bare bottom up the stairs to her new diaper and pjs she had an accident. 

She peed for the first time ever like that. And boy did she feel bad. (So did I because she had said she still had to pee, but then said no so I never asked again..I should have). She cried and cried. We told her over and over it was okay, showed her how easy it was to clean up and went up to bed. 

No big deal right? 

Well since then her pooping in the toilet stopped. She started pooping always while in bed. Totally unusual. I was feeling bad because I don't always go to her at every noise, but I felt like the first few times I was missing her being able to go, especially since she had that same face and cry when I would get her and she had pooped in her diaper. Was I not listening enough to give her the chance to go when she had to?

Then she got this fascination with changing her babies and bears poops. It was so cute. I should post the video of it sometime! 

Then Matt came home, she still didn't want to go on the toilet at first. 

But today she got a new love for the toilet again. Dinner ended quickly without time for clean up when she said she had to poo and wanted to go on the toilet. I rushed her up, Matt started to clean up. Once on the toilet she started to panic and call for Daddy. 

As soon as he came she was happy again. But she didn't poo and wanted off. 

Straight into the bath she went and Matt attempted to go clean again, but then she said she had to poo, I asked her if she had to on the toilet she said no, got a panicked look again and...

oops she actually pooped a little in the bath, because we didn't get her onto the toilet in time (never ever happened before). 

But she said she still had to go, and was okay...for a minute. 

Then she panicked again! And cried and cried for "Dadda!" 

Up he came running again and then she finished pooping happy as can be. 

Then she celebrated just like Daddy did with with her the first time he was there that she pooped in Orlando! 

This situation is really making me think that even at a young age Hannah cares deeply about her Father. She cares about him being proud of her and getting to celebrate with her. She wants him there. 

Yes this story may be over poop, but I am proud to say that Hannah and her Daddy have a very special relationship that is only blooming more! 

(But I do hope she goes back to pooping just with me around too because Matt is not always around, especially in the days.)

 

A dream realized

I personally believe that we should all/do have big dreams and small ones. Dreams that we should chase after and try to make a reality (if they are at least a little reasonable...making the NHL if you can't skate at 25 may not be the best to chase...)

One of my small ones was to have a clothesline to hang our clothes on.

I love the smell of clothes dried in the fresh air.

I love saving on electricity and not having to use the dryer all the time.

Since we moved in our house and I discovered that half of the line was up (the one post and connector) my goal for the summer was to hang that line and hang our clothes!

It took longer than expected, was more difficult than expected, mainly in cutting the line because it was too long, but man was it worth it!

One small dream realized!

The effects of the heat

We were doing really well all week, crossing stuff off our list and having fun in the process for our "working vacation". 

Today however, it kind of has stalled a little. 

Why? 

I blame the heat. 

It is hard to be motivated to paint, when you feel so hot and as a result tired. So no painting today. We have made a little progress in the organizing area, but that one does not have the same more immediate effects you can see. Regardless even thought I have another hour I could be working on stuff. 

I am done. 

I am however thankful that the rest of the week was nice weather, yes some rainy days that stalled some projects, but overall great working and playing weather (for a few of the days). It is however, August in Halifax, I can't expect it always to be my ideal clear skys 21 degrees so we can get out and not be too hot to work, now can I?

Will this last?

The other night after I did the out check for our apartment I had the chance to do a little shopping. This time of year often you can find some great deals with out of season (and some not so much, but last years stock I guess..). I saw some signs and since we didn't stock up as much as I thought we would in the States I was excited to go in. 

I ended up getting some great deals for all of us. Of course buying the most for Hannah. Since Hannah was asleep during the time she had to wait until she woke up to see her new "presents". 

And boy was she excited! 

I just love watching her get excited, hold up the clothes and exclaim in the best tones "wow" and "ooo!" 

She was so excited she had to bring each piece one by one into the kitchen to show them off to Matt. 

It was such a joy to watch her enjoy the clothes I had gotten amazing deals on. 

And yet, as I watched her and smiled I realized that this experience will likely not last for ever. That time will come when Hannah no longer will want me buying her clothes for her. And she may not like the clothes on sale as much...

So I'll enjoy this season while it lasts.. it should be for awhile yet! 

working vacation

This week is our work week of vacation. Not to do normal work, but to do work around the house and finally finish some projects we started!

Vacation is great spent with family and friends or just relaxing, but for us this "work vacation" week has been just what we needed!

I can not wait for this week to be over, our work to be done and our house to finally feel like our home. With everything in it's place and unpacked and parts transformed into our home!

A sneak peak. 

Can you guess what one of our first projects was going to be?!

I will post again with progress!

Goodbye apartment!

I know it's confusing since we moved into our house in December, but today I finally said goodbye for our apartment.

Why the delay? All due to a fine print in our lease, although stating we were "month to month" it didn't become active for a year which meant we were stuck with it until April at least....

Unless, we had chosen to give up our deposit and the property find a sublet.

Give up $350? I could never do that!

Yes, it was annoying to have to find a sublettor and be a "landlord" during this time.

Yes, it took time during a busy time to make it all happen.

Yes, giving up the deposit, money, we had not seen or needed for over 2 years, would have been the easy thing.

But, you have to weigh out the value of it all and what works for you. For us thinking of the long term and dreaming of this day when we could finally hand in the keys and get that cheque was motivation.

Knowing we could eventually use that money to do the improvements on the  house we wanted was great motivation!

And now it's done!

Sad, in a small way. Hannah's first home is finally fully gone, but exciting too to be free of it!

Bring on the future and our home improvements!

Toddler life - the good, the bad and the ugly

It is kind of ironic that just this morning in church I said, "I love this stage! Hannah is great!". I was mostly referring to her sleep at that point, but meant it overall too.

Really this stage is awesome. Why?
- Hannah goes to sleep without a fuss and sleeps 12-13 hours a night without a peep
- for naps again its an easy put down and sleep avg 2 hours
- she learns something new everyday and is so interactive - it is like a little person is there to actually play with =so fun!
- her personality shines - she is hilarious and quite the character, but also so sweet and for the most part very agreeable which makes her fun to be around!
- she is so capable so the options of what we can do in the day almost seem endless (okay no rollar coasters yet, but there aren't any close by anyway!)

That said, its not always awesome and Hannah is not always perfect.

Today was one of those days. She woke up whiny from her nap of 2 hours and would not stop no matter what I tried (and no fever so she wasnt sick, I checked!), so I decided to get out of the house for both of our sanity. Due to rain our option was shopping. By the time we got to the mall she was being great so I let her walk around (a way to get her energy out and for her to have more fun)...a decision I later regretted.

It started off great, where she picked out an adorable hat for $2 and wore it around the store proudly. Then in the shoe aisle she tried on womens shoes and did a fashion show for people around = hilarious and adorable.

Then...

in the baby section she turned...

when I said it was time to go, she decided to run and I mean RUN around the section in and around the racks so I could not catch her SHOUTING, "NO! NO! NO!" over and over and over again. In the process somehow she was able to get her shoes off and ditch them too! When I finally caught her she screamed and whined and wiggled creating quite the scene. Eventually in line she quieted down and was doing well again.

I desperately wanted to get some fabric from the fabric store quick. Hannah usually LOVES going there and saying all the colours and picking out the different fabrics so I thought we could do it...

Yeah NO!

Once out in hall area she realized that if she yelled it echoed. The first time it was actually kind of cute, but then she yelled louder and louder. When I said no she laughed and screamed louder. Seriously so bad I was getting a headache and Im sure those around us were too. She would not stop no matter what I did, so no fabric store for me and home we went...

This has been our day, good moments, then awful moments, then some good and bad again.

I imagine it is partly due to missing Matt who has been gone for the week, but mostly just her being a "terrible two" and testing out her boundaries.

This part is not the fun stage.

Thankfully these days are few and far between. What I have to remind myself is to embrace and enjoy the great moments. To praise her often when she is behaving and listening well and in those bad moments, remember that this will pass. There is always tomorrow, or even the next hour which can be good again, so be firm and not give up and realize she is not all bad!

I must admit I do kind of love hearing the stories of the journey of being a parent especially to toddlers, or even babysitting them can be quite the adventure so do share!

Our Orlando Home Tour

This one is a long time in the making. Since we forgot/have misplaced my memory stick for my camera, we used Matts camera for pictures. Which meant that while Matt was gone all day and I thought to take pictures of our place I couldn't and then I always always forgot to take pictures when he got home we had dinner and did fun stuff before getting down to lots of work!

Then the day came that I was packing up to leave our place and I realized I still had not taken pictures, but Matt was gone....

But then I remembered I could take pictures on our video camera!

And I just remembered today when I shot a video I had them on there...

So here was our little home for the month.

 Entrance right when you walk in- perfect spot for the stroller and great recliner to relax in!

 living room area (recliner to the left) - that table was our everything table from crafts to eating (as you can see Hannahs last snack there) - it was perfect. 

 TV area - under the stand became Hannahs toy storage which worked great and the stand beside we pulled from the closet to put our clothes in. 

 table/desk

 Hannah's "bedroom". Yes it's the closet, but it worked perfect. It was dark for sleep, off from the main living area keep noise down for her and us able to live life normal! 

 I did not get a good shot, but past Hannahs room was the bathroom, basic and hard to take a picture of, but it worked just fine!

What I realized in living in our little studio space for that time is that you really don't need that much space to function well as a family. It's all about layout and figuring out how to make it work.

(We stayed in an Extended Stay Hotel. One I had never heard of before, but was beyond excellent in our experience. The staff were amazing and Hannah made more than a few great friends!)

Making the most of a very long drive - part 4 = presents!

This idea is one taken from my genius parents. Not sure if they got it off of someone else or came up with it out of experience from the many many long drives me made as kids to visit family, but however it came to be it seriously is pure GENIUS.

Presents are an awesome way to help kids wait and be good a little while longer. I remember watching the clock until it was the hour we could get our next present, trying to be as good as possible, with the excitement of wondering what it would be.

 note the concentration it took for unwrapping it!

For Hannah my mom had a tonne of presents for her on the way up. Something I had to do again since it worked so well. She does not get the waiting part yet really, but unwrapping took up exciting time for her and she loved the new presents, which kept her entertained more than if I just handed over a toy. 

almost there....

What did I wrap? To be honest for the most part I wrapped up the toys we had that she could play with. But I also wrapped up craft stuff and snacks!

Some of the list includes:
- some stamps she can put on a notepad
- a weird pink thing (no idea how to describe it) my mom gave her on the way up
- some books
- crayons
- slinky
- flash cards (these I bought a pack of 3 at the dollar store and had to be one of my favourites! She would take each one out at a time, with at least 25 in them, that took good time, and then organize and talk about them...it was great!)
- apple
- craisens (her candy)
- more craisens
- stickers

I think in all I had at least 15 wrapped "presents for the trip" with a third at least being her snacks.

Craisens! Just what she wanted! pure happiness for all!

Anyone else have any tricks for keeping kids entertained in the car on long trips? Would love to hear them since our long driving days are not over yet!

A girl week...

What I discovered is that it is hard to always make the best choice for an entire family. What was easy for you to do is no longer always as easy or as certain when you have kids to think about.

This year I made the tough decision not to go to our staff conference. Seriously it was a tough decision because I LOVE our staff conferences. But they are in BC, meaning very, costly travel, thus taking a hit from our staff account and with us not at full support we have to be very careful with every dollar in there or we potentially get a smaller pay cheque (of what we know well and a risk we don't want to take especially with a child to think about now). Also, with a family to consider, it came a week after travelling and settling back from being away in Ontario and Orlando for 7 weeks in total, only to turn around and go somewhere different again. On top of that for us its a 4 hour time difference which would mean very serious jet leg to consider. Brutal for anyone, extra brutal for a toddler and parents of the children!

I weighed out all of these options and prayed about it right after I had the miscarriage. To be honest, I do feel like I was also emotionally feeling drained and I couldn't do it all, which impacted my decision.

Come staff conference time, I was definitely partly regretting my decision. I really wanted to go and believed I could with Hannah, but the decision had been made.

Come my first 24 hours after Matt had left it was confirmed I made the right decision for our family.

That first night Hannah went from sleeping (13-14 hours straight, often sleeping past 9am the week we got back home) to waking up 2 times with nightmares (she was sitting up shaking and seemed so scared, calmed right down when cuddled tightly up against me and then was clingy and jumpy the next day so Im almost certain thats what it was), and once at 4am because she was cold. She then woke up at 6am saying she had to go poo.

I was tired.

But trying to be a good mom, I just said "you better have to go poo.." and took her to the toilet. Sure enough she pooped! But then with the proud excitement that followed I realized we were up for the day she was not going back to sleep.

I have got to admit...she is the cutest pooper I know! 

(taken the day before when she was going "poo" also...
I did not capture the moment at 6am!)

If this had happened in BC we would have been up at 2am people and she would have been ready to sleep again just in time for me to have to start the day of full meetings and schedule! For us I have a feeling it would have been more miserable than something to get full things out of, which is what you want when it does cost! So instead, for next time we plan ahead to have the kids stay home with grandparents somehow and we can just go? Maybe?

So instead, it is our girl week. Just Hannah and I and I have realized something.

We function much better when we get to see people and do fun different things.

It is a different week with Matt gone. Hannah seriously misses him, so why try to stick to "normal"? So instead we do at least 1 special thing a day and hopefully see at least 1 friend a day.

So far its worked out great! And only 3 more full days to go!

(and as for sleeping, no more nightmares or waking up. Waking up a bit earlier than normal, but not anything to complain about. Normal sleep returned quickly in NS at least!)

Making the most of a very long drive - part 3

As for planning ahead and saving money for our hotel during the trip we tried something different. We all know that walking up to a hotel tends to be the most expensive way to book. Online from different sites like Hotwire you can get awesome deals, but it has to be ahead of time. With us going through the night after a fairly long day to start we didn't know how far we would get, we didn't want to underestimate and get stuck in not getting to go farther or overestimate and not be able to make it or push ourselves to a dangerous spot in driving too tired. 

So we decided to hold off and then plan to stop at a McDonalds for lunch (or when we knew we were a few hours from wanting to stop). The key was that we know that most McDs now have internet, so there we could go online and book. 

Online searching we looked at places within an hour from eachother comparing prices and what hotels had to offer. 

Obviously we wanted as low of a price as possible, but we also wanted a place with a pool for Hannah to get to do something fun at the end of the day and get out some of that energy and free breakfast so we could just eat and go easily. 

We found a great rated hotel for $49. It had a pool and free breakfast and although it was slightly off our original course, taking that route did not take any more time! Even better when we arrived to our nice hotel we were informed by the desk guy that the rate was $130 for the night usually and they had just sold out, so clearly we saved a lot by booking online ahead of time! 

Truth be told it was not perfect. We were not informed when we got in that the outdoor pool closed at 7pm. So us slowly getting settled for 30 minutes before going to the pool at 7:03 backfired in us just missing that chance. So instead Hannah blew bubbles and pretended to swim in the tub...it worked, but not our original plan! 

Truth be told, something no matter how much you prepare and ask ahead of time you can not predict some things. Like a fire alarm going off just as you are drifting off to sleep, waking you all up and having to go outside and wait for the trucks to come to check things out can mean less sleep than you intended. (It was just a little kid that pulled it accidentily but still they had to do it all to code). As a result, we ended up changing our alarm time and sleeping in longer since we needed a good nights sleep! It just meant getting into Halifax later than planned, but it all worked out okay! 

Making the most of a very long drive - part 2

Driving from Halifax, NS to Ontario whenever we go home to see family and for work stuff we have learnt a thing or two in how different it can be driving with an infant, baby, toddler and will likely continue to change. Making that 16 hour drive we have come to realize that for us going straight through the night works best. If we can leave before Hannah goes to bed, have her sleep a good 12-13 hours in the car, we can get there much quicker with much less protest than going slow through the day. 

For a 34 hour driving time (not including stops) going straight through was not an option for us. So we had to think through what would work best. 

What worked best for us was leaving the day Matt finished classes, taking it slower in the late afternoon/evening, making it fun and then driving straight through as much as possible through the night and then as far as we could go the following day. 

For us we have realized that we can sleep in the car when we need to. Which means when we drive through the night, one sleeps, the other one drives until they feel a little tired, then they wake up the other one, that one drives while the tired one sleeps. The rule is to stop as soon as you get tired without ever trying to push yourself and thus making it dangerous. Yes, it does not mean a lot of sleep in the car, but we can each get at least 4-5 hours of broken up sleep and survive okay. For some people, this is not an option and thats okay. 

For Matt to stay awake and entertained its not that hard, something as simple as watching our kms on the car (as seen from a picture he took while driving in the night above), but for me I need something. I like to borrow books on cd from the library. This time I rented one from Cracker Barrell (a restaurant in the states with a store and cd book rental ability where you can rent form one and return to any other one). 

For the daytime, Hannah does not love being stuck in the car. For the most part she thrives on being active, so what that means is having the non-driving parent helping entertain in the car. It also means short stops at night and longer extended, energy getting out stops in the day (sometimes running races on the grass while Matt pumps gas, McDonalds playplace have become a favourite, or even this time around we did a long extended Ikea stop which was awesome and fun for everyone!). It is these stops that we have realized keeps everyone sane and allows us to get farther without loosing it. 

Basically what we have realized is being flexible, knowing your limits and working together to keep everyone as happy as possible makes a road trip much better in planning and execution! And what works for us will not necessarily work for others! 

Seeing it as...the gift of time

I am not going to lie. I totally thought that by now I would have had the exciting chance to announce to the world that I was expecting again. The first two times it was easy. My doctor kept saying that she was sure she would see me really soon again - so was I. But, God has other plans and I continue to try to see the best in it.

The catch, that has been the most difficult, is that I have been fooled a few too many times over the last few months in thinking that I was expecting. The thing is that with each pregnancy your body changes and your cycle can change a lot. After Hannah I went from having a period I barely noticed to one that people complained about. This time I went from always being every 28 days like clockwork to unpredictable, between 31 and 36 days and showing all of the surefire signs that I had that meant I was pregnant, which now I am beginning to understand as just period signs. Not sure if I did have any early miscarriages, its definitely possible with some times I was so sure it could have happened, but I do not want to know. 

What I do know is that we are not expecting another child yet.

Now in that reality, I have a couple of options. Just like I mentioned before in Choosing Your Emotions, I have the ability to choose how I feel and react. Yes, I have been sad, especially those times I was sure I was expecting again. But, I refuse to let that totally get me down and feel like life is over if we do not have our kids close together. There is so much going on to be excited about and enjoy!

Instead, I have decided to see it as a gift of time.

Not only are we being blessed with more time together just a family of 3, but I have so much more options to do stuff while I have one child who is well-behaved (most of the time), much more capable in doing a lot of things and sleeps amazingly well every single night. 

I can continue to paint lots without fear of harming any unborn child and I do love getting to transform our house into our home. 

Now, instead of what I thought was no time on campus this coming year which changed to one semester on campus, I have an entire year that I could be on campus potentially, getting to see what God will do in and through me. That is exciting!

Not going to lie, if October comes along and we still are not expecting, while missing the chance to meet our little baby, its going to be really, really hard. But, we aren't there yet, and I have faith in a loving, all knowing, amazing God. One who I have no doubt has the absolute best plan for our family and for us in the process of getting there.

So I rest in those truths and enjoy and make the most of the time I have been given during this stage of life.

Making the most of a very long drive - part 1

Last weekend we made the 35 hour drive home from Orlando to Halifax. It only feels fitting to document how we made the drive work the best for us in a series.

First and most important is to not look at a long, long drives as a long, long drive. Instead, labeling and thinking of it as a fun "road trip" can help to change your view of it and hopefully make it a little more enjoyable. Simple I know, but for most it makes a difference! Its all mental!

To start off our "road trip", we decided to pack a dinner picnic and go to the beach just over 2 hours into our drive.

 Benefits to our picnic beach time: 

- helped us use up the rest of our food we had from our place and save a little bit of money

- allowed us to have one last fun experience in Florida before leaving (we went to a Jacksonville beach right on the edge of the border, one we had never experienced before!)

- allowed us all to get some fresh air after a long day (packing for me and classes for Matt)

- allowed Hannah and chance to use up energy, and tire herself out before what we hoped would be a long nighttime sleep in the car

- allowed myself to wake up from the experience to be ready to drive!

- allowed Hannah a chance to collect shells for the very first time!

As you can see she loved it! 

Truth be told, we ended up eating our dinner in the car. We left Orlando a little later than planned which meant Hannah was getting really hungry before we got to the beach. Which actually could have been better because we got to eat and then focus on the beach once we got there! 

Truth be told, at one point I did question our idea as being a little crazy when we realized had no place to wash off and Hannahs bum was extremely sandy afterwards. This lead to a makeshift bath/shower with water bottles on the sidewalk. Not ideal, but in the end she loved it and it added to the experience so  I wouldn't change a thing! 

It was only the beginning to our fun adventure!

Toddler directed - parents stunted, potty training

Remember this?

Since a newborn Hannah has proven to be a determined little girl. Always trying to learn something new and do more. 

I did not intend on really potty training until she was closer to 2, but at just before 18 months she was taking great interest in the potty, so I decided why not get her a seat and let her get used to sitting on it. My thought was that I may as well get her to want to learn how to use the potty so when she really was ready to go on the toilet it would be something she enjoyed or at least was comfortable with. Before bed and in the morning we would get her to sit on it if she wanted to and that was it. 

But then she did it! She started actually using the toilet! 

Since that first time she has probably peed on the toilet almost 10 times more and get this - she's pooped twice! 

The first time she told me she had to poo she was actually in the process of pooing, so only half made it in the toilet. Today however she said "poo" I asked her if she was going poo, she said "no". I asked if she wanted to try to go on the toilet she said, "yes". So off we rushed. 

She then proceeded to pee and then do a big poo in the toilet! 

She could not be prouder of herself and we are quite impressed too! 

The thing is that since she started using the toilet we have not been consistent at all! We have been travelling the whole time, so it has often meant late nights out and rushing to bed = skipping potty time, or just basically us as parents not thinking about it. I just wonder if with us in our unintention and inconsistency Hannah has done so well and totally gets the idea of using the potty, how would it be if we had been better at it? Would she be fully potty trained by now? 

Not sure. 

But what I do know is that once we get home I vow to be a better help to Hannah in this potty training experience! 

Oh Glorious Sun!

Below is a post I forgot to publish from a few weeks ago. With preparing to leave tomorrow I was having flash backs to these days of rain and no sun, with fear that Hannah may not make it in the pool again, but here it is...

The sun has come out again!

(The old post)

Just let me first say that I actually do like rainy days. I like the different type of day they bring with  more reading and colouring than usually. I love looking out at the rain watching it pour down and I love jumping in the puddles. And let's be honest we all know the importance of rain for those beautiful trees and flowers and plants to grow flourish!

But...

I do not love rain 5 days in a row resulting in us being stuck in side most of the time in a hotel suite! Due to Tropical storm Debby I have realized that I would not enjoy living somewhere where it rains all the time. No where that rains more than Halifax, that's my max.

By day 3 Hannah was also getting sick and tired of being stuck outside. At breakfast (the breakfast room looks out at the pool) she would stare longingly at the pool and just keep saying "oh rain...oh rain..."

Clearly she wanted to swim since one time while I was doing the dishes she got into our stash of some swim diapers and to put it on!

(sorry the blog is turning my pictures again and I can not turn them back!)

(earrings from stickers...totally Hannah's idea!)

We did manage to have some creative fun indoors from, taking her baby for a tour around the hotel in her baby carrier, play dough, crafts, races in the halls (I don't think we bothered anyone...), going up and down and up and down the stairs, to becoming beautiful with turning stickers into earrings (Hannah's idea!).

But...

Today is clear blue skies, sun and a day we are loving so far as we swim and play outside as much as possible (except for naps and meals).

I must say I love God's creation. I love seeing different parts of it here in Florida. I do love the rain (in smaller amounts), but most of all today I love the sun! The sun just has a way of uplifting people's spirits and helping us see the bright side of life!

The High Low Project

I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed the time we have had cable here in Orlando. Simply so I can watch HGTV again. It is the perfect way to unwind after a long day and just let your mind get creative without exerting any energy!

My new favourite show - The High Low Project.

High Dining Room: $27 000

Low Dining Room: $3 500

Can you spot the differences?!

That's over $23 000 saved for a just as beautiful dining room as the expensive one! Amazing! 

I totally go for the old saying "save a penny, earn a penny". You can easily get expensive things or with a little searching, a little creativity and determination you can save/earn a lot of money on anything you do! 

Every time I watched this show my mind would just get going on how I could save even more - so fun! 

It makes me even more excited to go home and finish our kitchen and basement and get started on our other to do list projects! 

A company we are proud to support

I do not like to spend money. 


I thrive off of getting a deal because it means saving money. Although, I do love to buy things for others, for the most part I'd rather save than spend. 


That said, if its for a good cause or a business or person to support I am happy to cut back other ways and support away. 


The other night we went out to Chick Fil A, a fast food chicken place in the States that I am proud to support. 


Their original company purpose is "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." = awesome! 


In fact, since 1960 when it began they have stuck to their beliefs and are not open on Sundays anywhere! 


This is what Mr. Cathy said,  "I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to close on Sunday. Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business" = double awesome. (what great challenge for us all to stick to!) 


The thing is that some people can see that committing to something like that keeps them behind the times and the business would suffer. Not so. They are the second largest chicken chain in America! 


Values aside, the food is great and Hannah had a wonderful time playing in the play place! 

Best part is that Hannah's fun did not end at the restaurant. She got to take a balloon home that she was given by one of the staff members and her "toy" from her (first ever!) kids meal was an awesome Little Critters book! Inside the book is a note from the owner stating his value in family and kids growing up right = awesome! 

If you are ever in the States try Chick Fil A, support a great company and get great food! 

http://www.chick-fil-a.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A

Counting the good instead of just the bad

Here is the thing. For some reason, for most of us the bad things seem to count more than the good things in our days. You may have had 3 things go wrong in a day, maybe even 10, and it feels like the worst day ever. Thing is, you may  have also had 27 good things happen in the day, but those you glaze over, take for granted and do not give them the value they deserve.

I have been caught in that too many times.

So in recognizing once again how easy it is to count the bad instead of all the good as well, my goal is to count the good. Not only count the good, but appreciate it more.

Today I am blessed to have....

1. a beautiful sunny morning to enjoy with Hannah outside (even though the weather called for showers all day)
2. a safe place for us to stay while we are in Florida that really does feel like a home away from home
3. wonderful staff here at our hotel that simply adore Hannah 
4. Hannah did so many adorable little things 
5. hugs and kisses from Hannah
6. a wonderful husband 
7. a chance to go out this evening and have some fun family time
8. a chance to talk to my family over skype
9. a chance to get a lot of reading done for work
10. an awesome deal - a whole adorable outfit for Hannah on clearance for $2.99

And the list could just go on! 

Sure there were some not so bright things that happened today, but all in all today has been a good day and that I count as wonderful! 

Does that not just warm your heart? Hannahs second cousin, Ethan holding Hannahs hand as he shows her around the zoo! 

No Fear?

I do not know anyone in this world that honestly has no fears. We are all afraid of something. 

But...

One of the goals I had in raising my kids is helping them be excited by Gods creation instead of fearful of things - especially different animals (not to say that if you are afraid of a certain animal you do not appreciate Gods creation). 

I would never force my children to touch an animal they were scared of or do anything they were scared to do, but from introducing them to all kinds of animals from a young age, having an animal ourselves at home and being excited to learn about new animals (like spiders and bugs) could help them to see the wonder of creation, while still teaching them what is safe and what is not. 

Honestly, there have been days that going for a walk we see some flowers on the side of the road, stop to smell every single one, and then notice a bug and sit there for a very long time learning all about them! 

Hannahs latest love is definitely the geckos down here. Going down to the pool area (where you can often find them) Hannah will just start calling out "Gakco! Gakco!" She searches, she finds some, she crouches down to see them, says hi, waves at them and then says bye and blows them a tonne of kisses goodbye! It is so cute!

At the petting zoo at the Bravard Zoo in Florida

The hello...

The learning - just look at that tounge!

Becoming friends!

Hannah does have some animals she is more hesitant of and that is okay. I also know that all kids are different, so the same strategy may not work at all for our next child. That said I still hold to exposure early on is a good thing. 

What have you done to help your kids understand and be excited about things instead of afraid or what did your parents do to help you growing up?

Happy Canada Day!

Celebrating Canada Day in the States isn't quite the same, but we still tried to make it special and take time to celebrate.

Hannah managed to be the most festive of us all.

It all started with me asking Hannah to say "cheese" so I could get a picture of her for Canada Day...

And it turned into a photo shoot where Hannah would not stop posing and saying "cheese"!

Gone is the season when she wouldn't smile for the camera! 

 Just a little attitude...

(don't know why this one isn't coming up the right way...

It is the right way saved on my computer...)

Even getting changed for bed she wouldn't stop saying "cheese" until I took a picture! She was excited!

Happy Canada Everyone! 

"The unhurried woman"

Yesterday on the Christian radio station here (that I love!) there was a little part by Proverbs 31 ministry that really cut me to the heart.

To be honest by nature, I am an on the go, having multiple things going at once type of person. I do not like to waste time...actually I detest it!

But I treasure quality valuable time.

taking the time to love and enjoy 
Hannah's cousin Elise when she was born

In this little message the woman shared about how the unhurried woman's kids have the benefit of understanding things more. She takes the time to tell them where they are going and why they are going, instead of just yelling "get in the car" and rushing to get going.

The unhurried woman, has the time to talk to a store clerk and potentially make their day!

I LOVE that idea and that is who I want to be.

I want to make the day of people I come in contact with.

I want my children to understand things, have the chance to ask questions and just enjoy the simple things in life instead of rushing past.

Yes that means slowing down and doing less.

But...

that means quality valuable time! 


Sometimes I am good at slowing down when it counts, but more often than not my nature kicks in and I get impatient.

Like when this spring Hannah wanted to take her baby for a walk in her stroller. She did great on the way to the park, but on the way back Hannah needed to stop every 2 or 3 steps to go around to the front of the stroller, check on her baby and give her a kiss. It was adorable! For the first few times at least! It warmed my heart that she noticed that that is what I do to her and so she had to do it for her baby too! But...by the third time and taking FOREVER to get home, I tried to rush her along! She did not like that rushing so I had to go against my desire to get going and just enjoy that my daughter is a loving, cute little girl!

So, my goal is to slow down and strive to live like that unhurried woman. Probably means doing less in a day, but that is okay! Let's think big picture, everyone involved, and man is it worth it!

Hannah loving her cousin who is getting bigger!