Storming the Grind

 So this just happened. Natallie stormed up the Grouse Grind ALL.BY.HERSELF.

 Last year she made it to the 34/40 marker and this year she stomped that entire mountain on those short little legs. You can read about that here. She was ready for those big steps this year and we had her biking gloves on so she could pull herself up those steps (some that were more than half her height)!

 Superstar Dad trekked the whole way packing a 25 lb toddler that was mostly happy the whole way.

 I was SO proud of her when she got to the top. She finished in 1 hour and 50 minutes!

 After we got to the top, Noah wanted me to carry him. So glad I didn't have to pack him up the Grind. He is a heavy dude....ridiculously cute but so heavy!

We bought Natallie a much deserved popsicle at the top of the Grind. Then it was off too see the bears. Natallie was pretty excited to see them.

Noah was excited to the see the bears too but more interested in the diggers and snow compactors.

Last year we didn't quite make it but this year, we can now say our 3 year old conquered the Grind!

SUN'S OUT! GUNS OUT!

Workin' those strawberry fields (2 years later)

So almost exactly 2 years ago, my dear friend Rachael and I took our girls strawberry picking and I blogged all about it here. I can't get over how little they were. Today, we went to the strawberry fields again and now she has 3 girls and I've got little Noah that just adores his big sister.

Strawberry picking 2013

strawberry picking 2015

The actual strawberry picking session only lasted half an hour. It was way colder than we expected and crazy windy so it wasn't long before 3 out of the 5 kids starting exercising their vocal abilities to indicate their displeasure with the environmental status. However, Sienna and Natallie had a great time and took the job of "hunting" strawberries really seriously.

Here is each kid with their first strawberry.

Noah, on the other hand, wanted to help too but didn't get the concept of carefully plucking the strawberry off...instead he would see a juicy berry and then squeeze the living daylights out of the strawberry until he practically had strawberry jam in his hands. Good effort my son.

 And then after the winds picked up, Noah just clung to me like a koala and I finished filling up his bucket with him on my hip. Oh and in case anyone was wanting ideas for insane quadricep workouts, try holding a whiny and wriggly 25 pound sack of potatoes - I mean my lovely baby -on your hip, bend down low enough for him to reach the ground level strawberry and then stand back up to put the strawberry in the bucket. And then do it 55 times.
 But eventually we filled two little sand pail buckets and happily paid our $7 for our hard-worked loot.

Coming back to the fields just makes me realize how fast Natallie is growing up! Two years ago, I was why I was stooping down in the hot sun picking strawberries when I was 7 months pregnant. I was envisioning headlines of "Crazy mother gives birth in Strawberry Patch". And two years ago, Natallie was much like her Hulk-like brother, pulverizing strawberries in her little fists and now she filled the entire bucket with red, ripe berries all by herself.  I know its a small thing but its a proud mom moment.

how much 2 years makes!!! from little chubby toddler to my beautiful little girl

Run for Gwatermala.

 Natallie woke up Saturday morning excited for "the great race"! She picked up her pink Frozen T-shirt, blue shorts and her Frozen running shoes convinced that the outfit would make her faster.

The kids were all so excited to have official race bibs. Natallie wanted to be number 1 but quickly got over that number 1 wasn't available so settled for 4260. Haha.

We cheered for the Brian (superstar dad) who ran 5K with his twins and was the first male to finish the race!

 

 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, GO! Natallie ran through the starting line and kept a great pace the entire 1K with me running with Noah in the stroller. At one point, she said she needed to hold my hand but as soon as she saw the finish line, she got the adrenaline burst she needed to finish strong all by herself.

 The girls all give eachother a victory cheer! Your little legs sure do go fast!

 Natallie was clearly feeling the post-run hype because she wanted to run the toddler 50K dash too. She was so keen on running that she did it back and forth about 10 times.

 Noah ran part of his race and then I ran ahead to try to get a picture of him and then he started to cry and refused to run.

 And then Noah and Natallie stole the finish line balloons and ran away with them.

 Then auntie Rainbee told her she could keep the finish line balloons and she was thrilled.

 But maybe not as thrilled as getting to meet Anna and Elsa! She is wearing her Frozen shirt and Frozen shoes in the picture (you know you're Frozen-obsessed when......)

Thank you to everyone who supported Natallie and Noah, together they raised $400! That gives 4 people access to clean water for LIFE. I believe the grand total raised was over $71,000! That is incredible. So glad that Natallie got to participate in an event that is going to change hundreds of lives for the better!

Things I didn't know until I became a mama..

 I didn't know how thrilling it would be to see a grainy blob on the ultrasound screen and know that everything was going to change. I have never been so excited to frame a blurry gray jellybean on the fridge. I also love that the technician labelled it "baby" just in case I did think I was growing a newt or something.

 I also didn't know that somehow pregnant women are able to defy the laws of gravity and I could carry a massive basketball around and not fall flat on my face (at least not every day).

I didn't know it was humanly possible for a relatively petite girl like me to give birth to 8 and 9 lb babies. I also didn't know how quickly you forget how miserable labour is. I remember swearing to myself that Natallie would be an only child during the labour and I would never, ever inflict this much agony upon myself. I also didn't know how different giving birth the second time would be.  With Natallie it was a 30 hour marathon of back labour, puking and being hooked up to every drug the doctors would allow and with Noah, it was a swift 2 hour sprint from the first contraction to holding him in my arms. He was born a mere 45 minutes after parking at the hospital. I also have never been so sad when the nurses told me I was too far along with Noah to have drugs. I wanted to sob when the nurse said no to me. I also don't know who invented soaking maxi pads and freezing them or hideous post-labour panties but I am sure glad someone did.Ha ha.

Natallie a few hours old

Noah a few hours old

There was also a lot I didn't know about nursing. I didn't know that your milk could literally spray across the room. I didn't know that you could wake up with your PJs and the mattress soaked in milk. I didn't know I actually had to nurse every 2 hours.  Really? Baby can't just have a muffin or something before bed and sleep through the night? Maybe one of those high-protein bars that Dad eats? No, really. Just milk? I didn't know that both my kids would reject the bottle despite my unrelenting efforts. I didn't anticipate that for the first few months my babies were literally attached to me. Just making it to the corner store alone as a vacation. I also didn't know that for a nursing mother, you decide what to wear everyday based on what did not already have puke stains on and what would be easiest to pop your boob out of. I never knew how liberating it would feel after that stage to pick an outfit because I actually wanted to wear it rather than it having a big V-neck or convenient buttons. I also didn't anticipate how many bathroom stalls I would be nursing in or scouting private corners like a frenzied hawk everywhere I went. But food is food and when baby is howling and hungry, mom will do anything...including nursing at the top of Mt. Seymour. Been there. Very chilly. Done that.

 I also didn't know that being a mother meant that you didn't get to sleep ever like the way you used to. Starting with the second trimester when the awkward bump, the aches and pains and the never ending urge to pee get you up all night to swinging, bouncing, swaddling and praying that the little infant would just stop exercising his vocal abilities and go back to sleep to searching the house for a beloved stuffed penguin at 3:00am so a little girl would go back to sleep. I also didn't know that when baby is tired though, they will fall asleep literally anywhere. On the tricycle, on the stroller or in the middle of supper with her head in the mashed potatoes. I didn't know I would spend so much time researching and reading every single sleep training book written. Then following The Baby Sleep Law of putting baby to bed awake, closing the door and feeling like The Wicked Witch of the West listening to the wailing on the other side of the door. I remember nursing baby to sleep and feeling totally guilty and wondering if the Sleep Police would come and smite me. I didn't know that I could function (sort of) on little to no sleep. I didn't know that sleeping in meant sleeping til 7:00 am (and it's glorious!) Whoever came up with sleeping like a baby, obviously did not have a baby.

I didn't know that meal time would be such an endeavor. I thought you just put any food in front of a child and they feed themselves. I didn't know that spoon feeding a baby (at least my babies) was a Broadway musical and they had to entertained with change of toys and parental cheers with every bite. I thought that after they passed the spoon-feeding stage that you're in the clear. I thought I finally get to eat my food while it was still somewhat hot. I was not anticipating that my daughter eats the pace of a sack of potatoes. It drives me crazy that sometimes that I think that Armageddon and the Rapture will happen before Natallie gets through her breakfast. I didn't know that each meal time with a toddler resulted in the floor looking like a butternut squash or spaghetti bomb had gone off. I didn't know that you could spend hours pureeing vegetables and fruits and making your own baby food but your kid would rather just eat dirt.

I didn't know that being a mother would be the greatest test of strength of my marriage. I didn't know that it was possible that a husband could feel unloved because his wife prioritized the children before him. I didn't know that it would be so hard to have a 10 minute conversation about the day. I didn't know that after July 2011, it would be literally impossible to find a photo of just the two of us. I didn't know that while we lavished kisses and cuddles to our children that we would go to bed without even acknowledging how the other person's day was.  I didn't know how jealous I could feel that the person beside me could sleep 8 hours a night while I got up around the clock. I didn't know how much I missed time together until we prioritized our marriage and got date night back on track. I didn't know how much I needed words of affirmation until we starting leaving daily post-it notes of encouragement to each other. I didn't know how much of an impact "you're a great mom!" on a post-it note would have on getting through another tantrum or another bad night.

the only photo I could find of the two of us after 2011

pre-baby romance

post-baby romance

the wall of encouragement

I didn't know how deeply I could love my children. I tell the kids all the time "I love you to the moon and back!" and now that Natallie is older, she comes up with her own sayings of places she thinks is far like "I love you to the library and back!" or "I love you to playground and back!"I think of when Noah was 5 months old and in the hospital hooked up to every blinking machine, I would of figured out how to get to the moon if that was what would save him.

I didn't know that being a mother would leave stretch marks not just across my belly but also stretch my heart - my capacity to give and nurture beyond what I knew I had in me. I didn't know how much my entire being could love being a mother so much....that when God calls us His children that there really is no love deeper than a parent's unconditional, unrelenting love for His children. I remind myself of this when I can't have a shower longer than one minute before the wailing baby tries to climb in or cooking dinner with him on my hip and wishing I could figure out how to crack an egg with one hand and sometimes just wanting to crawl into a cave (or at least the closet) and wish things were easier. I remember that if I did get to sleep in, pee and shower without an audience, eat at a restaurant without a happy meal or constantly being needed that I wouldn't have the very things that I treasure with my heart and soul.  I am so honored that these two little monkeys call me their mama.

Happy Mother's Day to you all.