Today in Hump Day News

1. I woke up nearly every hour on the hour last night. I'm fully a mombie today.

2. Sun can make almost any day brighter, both literally (obvi) and figuratively.

3. Being in walking distance of an amazing park is the best thing EVAR for a mommy of young kids.

4. My eldest is way too independent for his own good; he straight up left me to go potty halfway across the park without telling me first, I almost had a stroke.

5. Had the new smoked butterscotch latte, on ice, because I needed a sugar and caffeine rush and it's warm out. It was aiight.

6. Our apartment smells gross and I don't know why.

7. Teriyaki flavoured SPAM is bomb.

That is all, carry on. Happy Wednesday. OMG it's not Wednesday, it's Thursday.

TV Family Moments

The other day was a two cups of coffee kind of day. You parents know what I'm talking about. There's the morning coffee that helps you to not be a wretched human being for the day, and then there's that evening coffee that you try to avoid but sometimes cave to, because there's just no way you'd be able to handle your little lunatics before your spouse comes home and the kids go to bed.

For the briefest moment, (maybe 7 minutes?) it was just lovely and peaceful. All three of my kids (fur kid too) were happily playing while I sat on the couch with my special cup of coffee, watching an episode of Friends on Netflix. In that moment, I felt like I was living in some happy, feel-good, wholesome family sitcom! I was living the good life, a happy mommy with her happy brood!

Then my toddler jumped on the couch, headbutted me and spilled my coffee all over me from chin to crotch. Seriously all over, there was a pool of coffee inside the cups of my nursing bra. And I don't know how, but I somehow immediately already smelled of stale, day old coffee. How?!

Since everyone was quite content, I decided to take a speed-shower. While in the shower, I thought, "What could go wrong?" and that's when I remembered that Elias could roll onto his front now. I immediately called out to Noah to ask if Eli was on his back or tummy, to which he chirped, "He's on his tummy, mumum!". I leapt out of that shower so fast, leaving a trail of soap and water behind me! I got to my youngest son and my heart jumped into my throat because he looked like a dead rag doll on his front! I screamed, startled little Elias, who just turned to look at me, puzzled, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes, I can't believe this is my life. My life is a comedy of errors. Now, please excuse me while I attempt to lift permanent marker from Noah's favourite shirt. Have yourselves a great Thursday!

Blurry brotherly "love"

Cradle Cap

I was just talking to my best friend about our kids' cradle cap issues, and how I finally figured out how to wage war on it and win. For three months now, since Elias was about a month old, we've been tolerating the gross, scaly, yellow crustiness of his scalp. I tried olive oil, coconut oil, Vaseline, and shea butter. We've picked it off, scratched it off, scrubbed it off in the bath. Nothing worked, it just kept coming back after we thought we had conquered it.

Even his pediatrician couldn't offer any helpful advice. Noah had cradle cap for a few weeks too, but it had resolved itself by the time he was three months old. I knew I didn't want to try any medicated ointments or creams, so I slept on it and decided to try a new plan of attack.

The Honest Company had just come out with a new line of bath and body care, and since their products have worked so well for us in the past, I thought I would give their Nourishing line a try. I'm pretty sure little Elias inherited my dry skin, which means that we really need to keep him well moisturized in order to beat this cradle cap.

This was the plan:

1. Every single day last week, I treated his scalp with a bit of coconut oil for an hour.

2. Then, I washed his hair with Honest's Perfectly Gentle Shampoo + Body Wash, while brushing his scalp in a circular motion with a baby hairbrush.

3. After rinsing, I applied the Deeply Nourishing Conditioner and brushed him some more.

4. Finally after washing out the conditioner, I patted him dry and immediately applied a dollop of their Deeply Nourishing Face + Body Lotion. After that soaked in, I brushed him some more and dabbed a bit more of the lotion on him.

I noticed a difference almost immediately, and after three days, a vast improvement. After the fourth day, we've pretty much nearly gotten rid of it completely! Since it's the winter and we've got the heat on, applying the lotion at the first sign of dryness is key. I think that as soon as his scalp starts to get dry, the sebaceous glands in his scalp overproduce oil, which then leads to clogged pores and crusty scaliness.

I'm seriously so pleased that this worked! At first I thought that washing his scalp every day would make it worse, but so far it's only gotten better. High five for mommy perseverance!

Being Everything

In motherhood, I'm still in the early stages. I'm not quite the rookie mom with just a newborn, but I'm certainly not the mom soon facing an empty nest, with years and years of homework, tear wiping, door-slamming, and car pooling under her belt. I'm currently in a bit of a difficult part, the part where you don't ever seem to get enough sleep, and you're constantly needed if you're in the same room as your children. It's both taxing and rewarding at the same time.

My firstborn turned three years old last month. He no longer falls asleep on me for his nap. Actually, he hasn't for some time now because of my huge pregnant belly. I was told by several people that letting my boy sleep on me was a bad habit and that I shouldn't spoil him, it'll ruin his future sleep routine. I'm glad I didn't listen. I'm also glad I took 75 million pictures of us in that position, because I'll never have it with him again. That makes my heart hurt a tiny bit.

Just when I was coming to terms with releasing my first son from his babyhood, I find myself happily and thankfully neck deep in another baby's life. His need for me can feel all consuming, but this time, because I don't know if there will be another next time, I'm reveling in it. I put him to sleep on my shoulder just now, my giant four month old boy, two fistfuls of my hair in his little hands, not wanting to let me go. It made me so happy that I just wept and wept. They were tears of joy for still having the privilege of being the person who can give someone everything they need in this world, but wistful tears because I know now, how quickly it goes by.

A teacher of mine in college once told me that in order to live a full life, one should do one thing each day that scares you, because nothing worth doing was ever easy. He was right, motherhood is one of the scariest things I have ever undertaken. There are easier days and harder days, but I know that this is exactly where I am supposed to be right now.

Have a beautiful weekend folks. xoxo

Rolling?!

Guys, my almost four month old just rolled over onto his tummy. I'm so proud of him but also, do I have to stress out about swaddling him at night now? I can't seem to catch a break, my boys like to do things too early. The more I try to will time to stop, the faster it seems to speed by. This might explain the nine glorious hours he slept last night. (Please keep doing that Elias, I'm ok with this part.)

Both boys are growing up so fast, can you two just stop it for a second? Momie needs to catch her breath!

Have a great weekend, may everyone stay warm, safe, and dry.

He seemed pleased with himself

There Are Only Two

When I'm out and about in the world, I often get looks of reverence that I don't feel I deserve. Sometimes people come right up to me to tell me how brave they think I am to venture out with a toddler and a baby. When did two kids become a preposterous thing to behold? My dad is the oldest of 21 kids and my mom the third eldest in a family of 8 children. Going to the store with 2 is really only a little bit harder for me, but I certainly didn't think we would attract quite so much attention!

Maybe it's cause my boys are so darn cute. Yeah, I'm just gonna go with that, because I really don't think I'm doing anything amazing over here. Please don't think I'm trying to tell anyone that it's easy, because that is just laughable. I haven't blogged in two weeks because I came down with a really bad case of mastitis that took me out for a whole week, and then I fell ill with some disgusting stomach virus that I am still only just now recovering from. While mommy is sick, life goes on, full steam ahead, with birthdays and birthday parties, toddler preschool, mommy and baby meetings, and kind friends who help you out when you feel like you can't go on anymore.

Having children is difficult, and I look back at pictures of Brendan and I from three years ago and am shocked by the amount we have aged since having Noah, but it's not impossible. I am passionate about raising these boys, even if I complain a lot about it, and feel broken from all the gross germs they bring into the house.

When you're a parent, as I've said countless times before, it feels like it can become a thankless slog of a job, but I don't need any medals. I just want to not feel like I'm failing every day, like I'm making some sort of difference in the world by giving it these two great little boys. I guess I won't know until years from now, so I'll try to enjoy the here and now and do my very best.

Happy Groundhog Day!