Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day all you beautiful special Mother's out there! And especially Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mother! You are seriously the best Mother I could ever ask for and every day you help me and teach me and inspire me. I am so blessed!

I had yet another wonderful reminder of how trusting the universe brings the most amazing, perfect results to your life. On Thursday it was my 2nd week in a row with only one attendee at my yoga class. I partial blame the sun but I mostly blame HOCKEY! Why oh why does there always have to be a Canucks playoff game the nights I teach yoga? Isn't it supposed to be every 2nd day? I am going to get a little off topic by saying I do not have to like hockey in order to be Canadian. As far as I'm concerned you are more than welcome to love or hate hockey, it makes no difference to patriotism or how much I like you as a person. Back to yoga! So I talked with my boss I guess? She's the one who coordinates all the classes. And we mutually decided that as of May long weekend my class is no more. We will revisit in fall but I will be quite pregnant by then so I doubt I will want to be starting up a class I can't see through. So I was sad that was ending up I was not in the least bit worried letting it go.

So then yesterday was the first Farmer's Market of the season! YAY! And the owner of Purple Lotus studio who I have been subbing for off and on approaches me and asks me if I would like to start up a class there in June. Closing a door opens a new one! Never be afraid to close a door! You'll know if it's not working and if it's not then close that door. Another one is just waiting to be opened!

So again Happy Mother's Day! I am so blessed to be a Mommy! And my favorite part is my morning cuddles with my little guy when he's all smiley and snuggly. What's your favorite thing about being a Mom?

Writing for money

A good friend of mine emailed me about a month or two ago about my job troubles. She gave me some really good advice, she said I love reading your blog, you're a really good writer, have you thought about trying to write for a living? And I had, back in elementary school and middle school. Well more in middle school I guess seeing as though in elementary school I just assumed "what you wanted to be when you grew up" was more for the fun of it than to make money. But I even wrote Writer under Future Occupation in my Grade 10 year book. But as soon as I got into college and got into the world of writing papers and having no idea where this degree was heading I suppose I lost sight of my love for writing.

So I am pleased to announce that after a chance encounter once and one email sent, so very, very little effort on my part, I am having an article published in the newest Okanagan magazine called Next. It's all about sustainability centred in the Okanagan. So I pitched an article about Cloth Diapers and they loved it. If this goes well I'm thinking of asking if they would like a regular "Green Mom" column because I would be happy to do that. I have no shortage of ideas for columns. If Mothering magazine was around still I would maybe pitch an article to them too. I was also thinking local newspapers could use a Mom column, but we'll see how this venture goes first.

My other news is my facebook break. Maybe it was the energy spent Green Campaigning, maybe it's Stanley Cup Playoffs and the play by plays of the game that get posted on my news feed (just so ya know, if I wanted to know everything that happened in the game I would just watch it), at any rate I felt done with facebook. I think overall it was just how I seem to get lost in facebook. I use it as an escape from things I don't want to be present for, especially, for instance, a cranky child. So as of Tuesday I went on an indefinite length facebook break. I'm not saying I will make it further than my longest break of 8 days but I'm also not saying that I ever will return. We'll see how it goes. I know having two kids right now I'm noticing the extra time I have from being off facebook. I know this will be very valuable once I have this second baby. And until then I'm going to use the extra time to work on my yoga homework and lesson plans that I would like to get in before I have this baby. Then I only have my practical exam, written exam and thesis specialty project. Ok that still sounds like a lot but at least I will have my 10 lesson plans done.

I've encouraged people to email me and use the telephone. Who knows if they will, I did get a phone call today actually! Well two one from Erin about the park which was just too difficult with two babes and one from Please Mum offering me a job. It may surprise most to hear that I declined the job, but I doubt it would surprise those who know me best. They wanted me to work every Saturday morning during farmer's market and then maybe two other shifts during the week so probably under 10 hours a week total. I'm not giving up my precious farmer's market family time every single week. I'm not looking for a job but if the right job is looking for me I'm sure I will accept it.

Tomorrow is my husband and I's 5th Wedding Anniversary. I've been giving him lots of reminders so I think this year could really be the year he actually remembers. It's also Mother's Day on Sunday so hopefully it's an all round fantastic weekend for family. Justin and I watch both boys tomorrow and then have the weekend off and then I watch them both on Monday and it's sounds like back to Spokane for them on Tuesday. It's been fun but I'm looking forward to some one on one time with my little man again. Yay!

The Tale of Two Toddlers

I've just done the seemingly impossible. It took me an hour but I got a 17 month old and a nearly 15 month old down for a nap within 15 minutes of each other.

Backstory:

I'm reading my friend's blog who lives in Spokane and she's very disappointed because she has to turn down a chance to make a lot of money because she has to travel up to the Okanagan to do it and has no place to stay and no one to watch her 17 month old son while she works for about a week and a half. I scratch my head for a moment and then send her an email. The email summarized is: We have a spare room and I'm not working. Stay with us and I'll look after Orin.

I was so happy I could help my friend make some money. Plus I don't get to see her very often so what a great chance to visit. She's about 3 weeks further along than me in her second pregnancy so we'll have tons to chat about too! Not that we wouldn't anyway since we've known each other nearly 20 years but it's still always fun to have someone going through the exact same thing as you.

A day goes by, then a week. Then I'm freaking out. Oh my god. How am I going to watch two toddlers? So I call in back up in the form of my mom. I'll split the money with you Mom, please, please, please HELP ME! My sweet mother of course agrees.

A couple problems arose in my plans where my dear, sweet mother ended up with both boys for a couple days. Have I mentioned again lately how much I love you mom? I need to find one hell of a mother's day gift for this Sunday. Maybe that's what I'll use my half of the money for taking care of this other dude for.

But my mom comes down with a stomach bug yesterday. We were all over at their house yesterday so I had my first taste of watching them both alone. But today I am all alone.

Now these are both very excellent little boys. But together they become a little of a handful. Mostly because Eli, unknowingly I'm sure, becomes a big bully around Orin. He loves pulling hair and he just doesn't grasp the fact that he should be sharing his toys yet. So if Orin goes up to something, Eli immediately has to come to it too and take it away or sit on it before Orin, etc. But it is a great learning experience for both of them. Eli is learning to share and not pull hair (although it's a slooooooooow process thus far) and Orin is learning to walk and to stand up for himself. We've been teaching him to put his hand out when Eli comes around and is trying to push him out of the way.

I think the best part about all of this though will be how easy it will feel to take care of Eli once Orin goes home, lol! I'll be like what the hell was I complaining about before?!

On a very bright note, we're all just loving having house guests. It's been so nice to catch up with my friend. And as a thanks for letting them stay with us, she even painted our living room on Sunday! It's just beautiful and we've been dying to do it ever since we moved in. No more boring white living room walls. I often worry about having house guests just because we live a non-traditional life compared to most. We don't have tv, we play our kundalini music all day every day, we eat vegetarian and have very little prepared food in our house. Luckily, my friend is super easy going with all of it. I don't think she watches much tv anyway, she is amazingly creative and spends most of her time on beautiful sewing and crafts and baking. And though she eats meat she seems fine with meatless meals. I'm sure it's just nice to not have to prepare them herself for once. It's been nice to pamper her a little bit. I know how hard it is when you're working all day and then you have to come home and make dinner and still do all your "mommy" chores. Especially when you're pregnant and tired too!

So all in all it's been a beautiful week so far and we'll be sad to see them go home although I'm sure her hubby misses them both terribly.

In Baby #2 news I had my dating ultrasound and it's not twins (YAY!) I'm also not further along like they had thought, I am actually the opposite and baby was about 9 days smaller. So they pushed my due date back, not that I care. Baby will come when he/she is ready. I'm doing what I did last time though, immediately I was certain it was a certain gender and now already at nearly 11 weeks I am flip flopping. I actually really want to find out this time but I don't think Justin wants to. I think mainly he doesn't want to pay to find out since you have to go to sneak a peek in Kelowna and I think JUST to find out the gender and get no pictures it's $79.00. Seems a little ridiculous. Plus I have hear ultrasounds really aren't that great for your baby anyway. And doing the 3D ones is much more harmful. So I'm wondering whether I should just wait and be surprised. Part of me just wonders though if when that baby comes out and they say it's a boy! Will I be just a little disappointed? I'd rather have that mini moment of disappointment well before that baby crosses over to this side of the womb. I know, we'll obviously be happy with either but I do want a girl so to know I've got a boy and a girl relieves some pressure to have anymore kids. Justin definitely wants more but I'm not so sure, especially after the overwhelming task of taking care of two toddlers. I know it will be different since they will be nearly 2 years apart but it's still two kids.

I think the moral of this week's blog is that I am just not cut out for child care. I was going to help a couple other friends out with childcare here and there but I think I won't now. It's ok to know your strengths and weaknesses and I have precious reserve of energy at the moment and I should not feel pressured to use it in ways I'm not feeling comfortable. I've really been coming into my own lately and realizing it's ok to ask for what I want and say no to others if I need to. That's not disrespecting anyone, it's actually respecting them and me. Also I'm finding more trust that the universe will provide for me. This getting laid off thing has done wonders for my faith. Every month I do our budget and find a $350.00 shortfall, and yet at the beginning of each month I find we're up far more than $350.00. God is really supporting us right now, and the message is clear, I'm just not meant to work at the moment, I need to be at home. So I am not looking for work. If the perfect job comes to me then great but otherwise, I'm happy with where we are. We can't pay off our debt like this but I get to spend precious time at home with my son, the last 6 months where it's just him and I. That is such a gift. And though he may be too young to remember this first 21 months of his life when it was just him and I, I will always remember them.