Happy Halloween!

Alright, never in my life have I been that into Halloween. Maybe it's because I grew up in Montreal, where there wasn't a single night of trick or treating that I didn't have to cover my costume up with a giant winter coat (The 80s were a cold decade). Halloween was never like it was in E.T., where kids would wander the streets in full costume glory, comfortably, without having a parent drive alongside you so you could pop into the minivan to warm up (Yes, that happens).

Then I had kids. Small Human is ALL about fall and jacket weather, rain boots, and pretty changing leaves, and is super into Halloween. His favourite words are spooky and creepy. On top of that, I ended up having a second baby, born in October, which was a total game changer. So now I am all about Halloween, y'all. It also helps that our neighborhood has the absolute, coolest, most jaw dropping family trick or treating I have ever seen. It's straight out of some idyllic family Halloween movie, and the best part is that isn't cold.

As you may have read from a previous blog post, my boy had just had a bout of the stomach flu and had to stay home from school on Thursday, then sadly had to miss a pumpkin decorating play date on Friday, and also missed a cool birthday party at the pumpkin patch/animal petting farm on Saturday. Since he was finally feeling better, I thought I would indulge him in some cupcake making. His Auntie Eliza was sweet enough to drop off a pumpkin and pumpkin decorating kit and fun crafts, so we were still able to have fun without infecting the world.

This was my first time letting him help me bake in the kitchen if you can believe it, because Momie is a control freak. He was surprisingly really good and helpful, I was pretty impressed! I'm just so glad he's feeling better. Have a safe and fun All Hallow's Eve!

Super Momie and Super Spook

Goofball

Dumping the Pilsbury cake mix

Elias wanted to see too

He was so good!

He turned the mixer on high accidentally but it wasn't too bad

Haha Elias' face in the background!

Spying on the cupcakes

My two loves, about to duke it out over this cupcake. :P

The purple was Noah's colour of choice. We had Snoopy cupcake liners too!

My Apologies

This has been a really challenging year for us. I always like to try to keep things real, so you'll see no fake happiness, no overly saccharine proclamations of love, and no pictures of our family's perfect Sunday pancake brunch each week. However, my intention was never to make this a mommy blog meant to scare people away from parenthood, I only wanted to be genuine! Anyway, that was my long-winded way of saying: I'm sorry I'm so whiny all the time.

I love my life, I'm just really tired. If I could have a housekeeper, chef, and nanny, with weekly scheduled date nights with my husband, perhaps my life would be easier, but I'm proud of what we accomplish, just us two. Today though, I could've really used a household staff forreals.

Small Human scared the living daylights out of me while I was working out last night. He is my child who never wakes up, naps like a champion, and has been sleeping through the night since he was 6 months old. He had a mild fever, and refused to go back to sleep in his bed, only on the couch.

This morning we were awakened by his usual, heavy little footsteps, cries for daddy, and then the telltale, horrifying, gurgling cough of a toddler puking in our bedroom, and proclaiming that he had already puked in the living room. Good morning to us!

The rest of the day was spent trying to get him to barf in the barf bucket (and refusing to, preferring to vomit on the carpet), me accidentally feeding my sick son rancid crackers that only made him puke some more, and mopping up and disinfecting for what felt like hours and hours nonstop. All the while, trying to keep the little babiest human happy and occupied, and preventing him from crawling all over the hazmat spots in the house, and then looking away for a second and looking back to find him popping rabbit poop into his mouth. Poop, he will eat poop but not the damn organic baby snacks that I buy him from the grocery store where they sell edible food for people.

It's now a quarter to midnight, and I have a febrile little boy sleeping next to me on the kitchen floor as I write this blog post, because I don't have the heart to go to my comfy bed and leave him out here alone. I wonder if he'll remember this one day. Gotta go take his temp for the thousandth time. May you all be healthy and well!

You're Not a Failure, You're Doing a Great Job

Sometimes I feel like a complete and utter failure as a mother. I'm not fishing for compliments or looking for reassurance, I'm just putting it out there. There are some days where I think I just suck, and you know what? That's ok. I know you all probably think you royally suck too, sometimes.

There is a lot of pressure nowadays as a parent. You're either too much of a Perfect Pinterest mom that everyone else hates; or you're the antisocial mom who is uncomfortable with play dates; you may be too stressed about your parenting choices and feeling judged all the damn time; or generally feeling like nothing is going the way you thought things would or should go. And there seems to be a lot of really annoying, unsolicited advice all the time too.

I know I'm feeling this way because I need to sleep, and because I need a babysitter (what's new??). Life is challenging right now, raising two kids, one of whom doesn't know how to sleep, and with a husband who works as hard as he does for us, often at work until past midnight. It's tough, but you just keep going, and to keep sane you have to take a step back and look at all the things you are doing right too.

Things I'm Doing Ok At:

• my small humans are alive, healthy, clean, warm, and fed
• I was able to fix the loose toilet seat in my bathroom by myself

How Can I Add Joy To My Life?:

• treat myself to a Big Mac with extra sauce
• when I feel like yelling at my kids, close my eyes and take a deep yoga breath and count to 10, because it always feels awful to yell at my beautiful children
• take a moment to write a blog post

My lower back muscles are spasming right now, but I need to get back to mom life before my house gets destroyed by Typhoon Noah and Hurricane Elias. You're not a failure, you're doing a great job.