This Moment!

Inspired by Soule Mama
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Spring brings many things!

It's been a while since I posted here, due to lack of time in the past few weeks mostly, but time is coming back on my side! Spring has finally made itself felt in my cold corner of Québec and snow is actually melting!

What are the things Springs brings my way?

Connor and Deirdre just started a new daycare together.

Lee is starting a new client search campaign for his business he thought he was going to quit

I queued and downloaded at least a dozen knitting patterns on Ravelry

I am looking for a transfer from my department to another one

I feel the need to clean the house top to bottom...and get rid of A LOT of junk

I am about to have much more time to sew cloth diapers

I put the first load of freshly laundered diapers on the drying rack Outside to dry!

Connor is become a nicer and more polite little boy every day, helping his baby sister do all sorts of things!

Deirdre is almost walking already!

And with Spring, a new fresh start to this blog is about to begin!

Don't worry, I know I promised a picture of Daddy's hat...it will come!

Bettering babying starts by bettering Mommy

I realized by going through my blog that I was loosing track of the most important part of bettering my motherhood experience and my children's everyday life; bettering myself!

When we step back and look at what needs improvement from a different perspective, we often find the culprit is not the kids, the house, time, or lack of sleep, but actually, our own mental conditioning of the situation. I was contemplating my return to work with an awful taste in my mouth thinking housekeeping is already a disaster now and I am at home all the time, what is it going to be when I go back to work?

Well, it will be neglected a bit then sure, but NOW, there is no reason...only all the excuses I tell myself every day not to do it : I'm too tired, I need a break, Deirdre is too clingy, I don't feel like it, I'll have a coffee first....all that to procrastinate, and procrastinate over and over until the house can walk on its own and kids can't move through the clutter...OK, it never gets that bad, but you see what I mean.

So the first step to making things better, doing things better, is to talk to myself and rid my mind of those excuses. Better myself first. Make myself feel better, less depressed, more positive, and make it enjoyable somehow.

So, lets start with convincing myself that folding laundry is fun, and Deirdre is independent enough to let me do it.
Lets convince myself that cleaning the kitchen is fun,
That doing laundry doesn't need my attention too much
That cleaning the floor will bring a fresh smell to the house
That tidying the living room will bring me a sense of accomplishment...And Connor can help, he's big enough!

Changing one's perspective on things can bring lots of good...but can also be a real challenge, if like me, you are very rooted in your bad habits and thoughts...but the will to change is the beginning of change, right?

Daycare? Already?

Ah! Busy bees we are lately, with those two little ones of ours. It's Tuesday and I haven't posted anything since last Friday...shame on me!!!

What have I been busy doing instead of posting on my blog...or knitting...or cleaning the house...I have been busy searching for a daycare. Yep, It's that time already, and coming faster than we thought.

We found out that Connor's daycare provider is loosing her assistant and needs to reduce her ratio by 3 children by mid March. Since Connor was one of the last signed up at that daycare, he is one of those loosing his spot...and obviously, that means Deirdre won't get a spot there either. Therefore, on the Daycare Hunt we are!

What makes a good daycare to most parents?
To us, it needs lots of attention to the kids, lots of love, lots of fun, lots of safety and lots of healthy food.
It needs to be comfy, warm and clean.
It needs lots of toys and activities.
It needs good communication....and that is where we hit the road block; we live in Québec, but Daddy's French is not so great, and finding a bilingual daycare, accepting babies under 14 months, with 2 spots available...yikes, here a challenge and a half.

Hope we find something soon...oh do I ever wish we didn't even need a daycare....:(

This Moment, a Friday ritual

This Moment; inspired by SouleMama


A simple picture of a moment of the week. No words, just the image. Enjoy

How I wish I had more time!

Ever wondered why there is only 24 hours in a day? I sure wonder that every day...and yet, I am not one of those better placed to complain...But time flies by so fast sometimes and I wonder where it went. My little girl is teething and my big boy is a talking machine (and a professional French / English translator at the age of 2)! I battle myself every day to do household chores and constantly start craft projects that I never finish...(like that baby blanket I started a year ago, and Deirdre's pink knitted hat!) Not to mention job searching that I feel being urgent but keep postponing! All that time I waste looking at my Facebook, sitting on the floor with Deirdre while she really doesn't need me, lying around doing nothing while she sleeps...

Aside from more time, I wish I had a better camera. I find my blog naked without pictures to accompany what I enjoy sharing. I guess that will have to be my next "gift" to myself, in a few months....

How about a cloth diaper review?

Mini Kiwi One Size Pocket Diaper

Deirdre warring a Mini Kiwi

inside the Mini Kiwi diaper

This morning, I thought I could give my two cents about my super favourite Cloth Diaper! If you ane not from Québec, you may not have heard of it, but it really is a great diaper. I uploaded a review of it on my YouTube Channel . The company is called Mini Kiwi , and their website is unfortunately only in French. It doesn't change that I love this diaper. It is essentially a bamboo diaper. It comes in Snaps and Velcro. It's one size, 6 to 35 lbs adjustable with 3 rows of snaps. The inside is made of Bamboo fleece and no matter how wet the insert is, it will remain fairly dry to the touch. Deirdre went for a 3 hours nap with one and it was very wet when she got up, but it still felt dry. The inserts that come with it are a combo of Bamboo knit and Micro Terry Cotton. The big insert is meant to grow with your child with 2 rows of snaps to adjust. That one is a good overnight insert, it has a 3 layer system combining bamboo and Terry and let me tell you, that one absorbs!!A LOT! The other insert is thin and made of Bambo knit and it does the job too, without the bulkiness. What I really like about that diaper is the double gussets. I never had leaks of any kind with that diaper, and it makes a better fit around the legs.

Mini Kiwi also works together with the Pissenlit et Coccinelle company to sell a cloth diaper safe diaper change cream. I use it and LOVE it. It is called Patatras. You really don't need much. And it smells great too. 

For the diaper, I paid roughly 26$ CAD in a local store, and for Patatras, 14$ CAD for a 60 ml container. 

Wow! a lot of work ahead!

Well, blogging away as my youngest is sleeping...I realize I have a LOT of work to do if I want to put up every topic I have in mind. See, one of my biggest flaw is organization. How can you have two kids and have zero organisation? You just follow my example....and your house will look like mine too! LOL

Well, first I want to start by getting a truck load of motivation. Yeah, I've heard it before, just apply at home what your employer's motivational speaker talked about....it sounds great in an office setting, in theory, but back home with the little ones, when you barely sleep...not so motivational if you ask me!

So here came my existential questioning; how do other moms manage having a spotless house, knitting, sewing, crafting, pureeing baby food, cooking healthy meals for the family....all that, while looking after one, two, three children, at least one of them under 1 year old? And still have time to take a warm bath, read a book, watch TV and spend quality time with their husband, without getting burned out? All that still baffles me, I must be so off that motherhood thing cause that really isn't what is happening in my house. So where did I miss the memo about the instructions to be the mom described above?

Well, that is what I am planning to figure out, by myself and with some research...but mostly, by trying to get more organized. That would help I suppose....

And energy would help too. I have heard that before as well; the more energy you spend, the more you will get. True, but here comes motivation again...gee, I keep missing out on that one when the motivational train passes by. Hope I won't miss that train next time, cause my house sure needs it, my back too, and that little big extra fat comfortably sleeping on my hips...did you see a train with some motivation passing by?

Hello world, here is my blog!

Well, this is my first post! I thought I could share with the world! I have been obsessing with making cloth diapers for a little while and finally started making something out of it. My first fitted diaper!

I had started another blog, bilingual...as I speak French, but it's too much work to constantly translate my posts...so this one, English only, désolée for the Frenchies, but I had to choose!

I was inspired to start blogging about life with my little ones after reading another blog, by a mom of 5! Wow, how does she do it, I can barely survive my own 2 kids! But it really opened my eyes on a lot of possibilities to my life easier when you have very little time for your self, let alone to keep up with the house and the kids, and the budget....What is it going to be when I go back to work in April? Well, time will tell.

First I had already discussed at the beginning of this post that I started making my own cloth diapers. I will post about that in details in later posts, but I want to say that it will save us a lot of money! I already had 2 dozens of flannel flat diapers that I bought 2 years ago for my son. For 30$ at Walmart I had 12 diapers, add 2 diaper covers for 10$ each and good to go! But I didn't like having to fold them, and baby wasn't comfy, so I decided to convert them all into contour diapers.