Who Is This Mom?

How did I get here? Who is this person these 3 little blonde girls call "Mom". I'm a Mom?! Wait a minute . . .no . . .she can't be turning 5, you can't be turning 9 and how are you 7 already. . . I haven't done all that cool stuff I was gonna do with my kids 'when I became a mom'! Waaaaaaaaait!!

Anyone else find themselves in a bit of disbelief after the fog of diapers, sea of formula and never ending cycle of crying, sleepless nights, sickness, feeding, changing, holding, exhaustion, depression, loneliness and just the round the clock full tilt survival mode slowly fades away? You all of a sudden realize I am being a Mom NOW . .but not the Mom I thought I was going to be. . . .

The Mom I was going to be "when I became a mom" was a freakin awesome Mom!!! She was going to wake her children gently from their slumber in their clean matching sheets and guide them downstairs where the table is set, the juice poured and the french toast still steaming beneath the fresh maple syrup. The Mom I was going to be "when I became a mom" was going to spend the day while the children are at school baking cookies and making dinner from scratch, was going to be home with the younger children and do colour matching charts and work on reading and spelling together. After school all my children and I were going to enjoy cold milk and warm cookies and scrapbook all our awesome times together. We were going to have quality family time after dinner and play board games and be a cozy warm family in front of the roaring fire.

Not sure if I should laugh or cry !! 3 kids in 3 years, a husband who first travelled a TON and then started his own company when I had my 3rd baby means I was on my own and covered in vomit or poop for the first 5 years of motherhood. I barely remember it - except that it was hard and I was overwhelmed pretty much all the time!! No colour charts, no cosy by the fire. The last 3 years of motherhood I have tried to reclaim me. I sleep in as much as possible so every morning is a horse race to beat the school bell, kids fend for themselves for breakfast (see previous blog post!), I sometimes remember to read their agenda let alone homework, the younger kids at home get ignored in front of a princess movie while Mommy works all day on her computer trying to catch up. Laundry sits washed and folded in baskets for weeks waiting to be put away. Scrapbooks haven't been started EVER for for one child and barely touched since 2006 for the other 2. After school we shove down a banana and race to activities, dinner is created in under 20 minutes from something frozen deep in the freezer and after dinner we are too busy doing dishes and making a big deal about all the toys everywhere that no one sits down to enjoy anything! Even weekends get filed up with other kids birthday parties, play dates (cause they never see their friends from school-huh?) and running in circles to accomplish the tiniest home repair.

This is reality now. This is motherhood now. This is my family now. And I am being a mom now. Not the Mom I thought I was going to be, but my kids think I am awesome and I am loving who they have turned out to be. I must be doing OK.

Perhaps somewhere between the race to school, the friends on weekends and the mess of toys everywhere in my house we will get to bake cookies, to scrapbook and to sit by that fire as a family. Until then, I am happy being this Mom. And so thankful I have tomorrow to be my kids mom again, horse race and all!

Are you the Mom you always wanted to be? Or are you even better?!!!

Self Serve Always Open!

I quickly learned that to be a stay at home mom of 3 small children I would need some help . . but with a husband that travelled and grandparents that worked, that help was going to have to come from the kids themselves!! Inspired by how smart my cheeky 3 year old was at the time, I wondered if I gave them the tools (and cupboard space) to help themselves would it cause mayhem or create self serve kids?

Have a peak inside my pantry. Sturdy easy pour Ikea containers full of cereal, big & small bowls for cereal, soup, ice cream, apple slices or as many grapes as they can fit. There are milk cups, straw cups, travel cups, hot chocolate mugs and a supply of fun straws for their drinking pleasure. There is also their very own set of kids size spoons, forks and little spreaders for that morning peanut butter & toast or icing a cupcake. My kids have everything within their reach that they need to set the table, help them selves to a glass of milk, bowl of crackers or make their breakfast all on their own!

It is not only a time saver for me, but my kids learned early how to be self sufficient. . . from the age of 3 they are not only setting tables and pouring their own drink, but since it is "their" cupboard and "their" dishes, they even empty the dishwasher and put all their dishes away! The benefits just keep on coming !!

Now that the girls are older (4, 7 & 8), I can say that raising self serve kids has been a positive - even the milk poured on the floor instead of the hitting the cup has been a good learning experience for them. Next on this moms agenda is teaching them how to bake & make their own school lunches ! Any tips for me???

My Journey to living my Passion!

This gummy mum is about to become a full time social mum and I am a lot excited and a little nervous ! All of you who do this full time - blog, tweet, Facebook, follow, lead, review, advertise, read, connect and keep it all under some kind of organized chaos . . . . I think I need your HELP!!!

It all started innocently enough back in May when I attended a @momstownca event with @mabelhood 's @juliecole to learn what this thing called "Twitter" was. 5 short months later and I am quitting my full time job and am lucky enough to be attending @shesconnected and @BlissdomCanada later this month. I'm even attending twitter parties, giving away IronKids vitamin prize packs and won my first prize at a twitter party this week - thanks @ThatEricAlper !

I have made personal in-real-life friendships with inspiring women (@fitandonthemove you know who you are) and on-line friendships with women who's creativity and marketing I admire (@eatingarainbow you know who you are!). I have found women who have helped me find myself (@soul_whispers) and women who want to help other women (@optimom, @WonderMoms_ca, @KatiaMillar, @marketing4moms), there are women who are loving life, Vodka & George Clooney (@CocktailDeeva), women who help promote others (@MommyPerks, @FashionMommies), women who are loyal supporters of me personally & our IronKids Gummy Vitamins (@BarleySugar, @80sgirlforever, @TrenDSpa, @InfoSara, @JackiYo, @ImFreckles, @marcyberg, @sherrirossi). Then there are those who share my love of running (@fitcheerldr, @hipcop, @kellidaisy) and so many more that share my passion for raising healthy kids - those who follow my blog know who you are !!! : )

I could go on - so many fabulous people have touched me over the past 5 months - I could never mention all of them or thank them enough for this new path I am about to take!

I am wondering if you have words of wisdom? How do you manage it all? How do you make time to follow all the fabulous blog posts, connect with your followers, manage your giveaways & reviews, support those who support you, return emails, write your own blog spots, engage on Twitter, keep up on the latest conference or tweet-up, comment on Facebook and still get to school on time to pick up your three little darlings . . .the whole reason you are making this leap . .to spend more time at home with the kids! How do you do it all?

They say if you are doing something you love and have passion for, you never work a day in your life. I get that now. I love this job. I am excited to sit at my computer and connect and write and spread the word about IronKids Gummy vitamins and share my husbands passion. And I am excited I get to be home with my kids . . . . heck, really I am excited I get to be home ALONE during the day when they are at school to get things accomplished . . . so that after school when we are home together I can focus on them!!!

I sincerely thank everyone I have "met" and I look forward to your comments here . . . you have all helped me get to here, your insight and wisdom can get me anywhere !!!

Making Food FUN !

I have blogged before about how I try to make healthy choices for my kids. That includes making them eat vegetables every day and fruit every day and teaching them about all the food groups. Of course their favorite food is still

jelly beans and ice cream and I am the meanest mommy 'EVER!' cause I make them eat asparagus . .they are normal kids like all other kids!

But I am not giving up or giving in!! I am very consistent on table manners and dessert. You sit at the family table for dinner every night until we are all finished, you DO NOT play with your food and you don't get dessert (or Daddy's gummy vitamins!) if you don't finish your dinner. It all gets pretty boring and repetitive around here. I get tired of hearing myself say the same thing at every meal, I can imagine how the kids feel . . they likely tuned me out years ago !!!

So, to liven things up a bit and get the kids on my good side, I started a new tradition around here a few years back. I told the kids they are ALLOWED to play with their food ! My husband thought I was crazy! But we are having so much fun with it!

Its a special thing, its a (somewhat) controlled thing; yes, its messy, its gross, its tasty and its right at the top of every kids fun list !! I have inexpensive large plastic trays from IKEA that have a nice tall edge, we wash our hands really well and we get creative! A little chocolate pudding, mix in some vanilla pudding - with your hands of course!!! - add some whip cream, jello, maybe sprinkles? Anything goes. They love mixing it up and licking it off ! We've done ice cream with chocolate sauce and I hand out straws to slurp up the melted finished product!

We have even brought in a tray full of snow from outside. I give them some small cups to make little snow forts on their trays and some food colouring to turn it colours . . they play til it melts and then we go get more from outside !!

I am hoping my healthy kids find ways to always enjoy food . . . cause its not just for eating you know !!!

Lunch Note Love

How do I miss thee . . .let me write a Lunch Note!

Yes, I am one of those moms. I didn’t plan it. I didn’t intend for it to go this far. But it is what it is. I am a Lunch Note Mom. My kids expect it, look forward to it, complain heavily if I forget it, and for now, still think its cool!!! And I am getting creative at finding ways to make it easy – cause who can hand write 3 lunch notes every single day of school? I don’t have that much cute stuff to say!!

Here is my story of becoming a Lunch Note Mom.

As with all great things, it started with necessity . . . . My first born daughter is a ‘sensitive’ girl. She cried a lot as a baby. She cried a lot as a toddler. She cried at Nursery school. She cried at JK. And SK. And Grade 1 . . .everyday til Christmas. She’s a sensitive girl! To make her transitions easier, I did all the tricks; I gave her things to hold in her pocket, gave her extra kisses, volunteered in her class, tucked photos in her backpack and I wrote Notes . . . everyday. But I quickly ran out of time to write notes . . . everyday.

I had two more children by now and mommy brain in full swing. I needed to find a way to get out of this or at least make it easier as

I continued to lose the battle to get to school on time! I found a website that did lunch notes, printed them on colour paper and viola. But there were only 6 notes. I was sure they would notice I used the same note for the other 38 weeks of school. But that web site gave me an idea. Clipart. I searched for every free Disney & Princess character clipart I could find, I found High School Musical, I found Dora – I added a cute message like “Have fun with your friends ” and I printed out 30 Lunch Notes on heavier card stock paper! I was on a roll!! But then I used up all those and had no time to search for new clipart. And my oldest child was quickly outgrowing princesses!

My younger girls insisted on getting Lunch Notes too. I had a new idea. I found a sticker book with 100 of the coolest, hippest,colourfulest stickers of girls, dogs, cats, cars, beaches, dolphins and ice cream cones! I peeled off a sticker, stuck it to card stock, hand wrote in marker things like “Girls Rock!” and for under $5.00 I had 100 Lunch Notes !!

This year I have 3 kids in school, lots of lunches and lots of Lunch Notes. I needed something new to mix in with the sticker Lunch Notes. While I was printing all our best summer photos at the Kiosk last week I had an idea. If I used the “mini” photo feature I can get 4 or 6 photos on one 4x6 print of our summer in cute mini pictures. I printed out 200 mini photos for about $7.00 and cut them out, stuck them on card stock and added my cute message “Remember Kayaking! Fun Times!” The kids are in the pictures & it reminds them of all the fun we had that past summer. And the best part . . . I had hundreds of them now !!

If you have children that are a bit messy, tuck the notes into a ziplock bag. After all, how is a lunch note to survive, let alone be given to a sibling the next day, when it has sat in a puddle of yogurt all afternoon? Or go extreme like me!! I bought one of those mini laminator things – takes no time and is kinda fun to run them through. For this Lunch Note Mom, its working!

So go ahead, bring on those 255 lunches I will be making this year – I have a Lunch Note for you !

What do you send to school with your kids? Or were you savvy enough to never start !!!

Managing the Morning Madness !!

School starts in less than a week and just the thought of school mornings with 3 girls and deciding who's wearing what, what hairdo will do, who's turn it is to man the toaster and who will get their shoes on fastest to get to the car first used to be enough to make this mom hide under the covers!

But no more! I have figured out how to Manage the Morning Madness !! Last year I read some back to school advice that made my life so much easier, that I want to pass it along as another September is upon us!

The secret to managing your morning is . . . .Ownership! My kids Own their morning. They decide how its going to go. Kids love to do stuff IF its their idea and IF they can have some control over it . . . so that is what we try to do here! And if its a successful morning, Mommy high fives them all the way to school!

This seems to work best if your kids are entering Grade 1 or higher, but my JK'er happily followed her older siblings example last year! We started with some brainstorming. The kids and I discussed what they CAN do on their own. We break it into 2 lists - a "Before School" and an "After School" List. The kids come up with what they are willing to do, and I made up the list in big print the older ones could read and some clip art photos the younger one could look at for reminders. Before school we have brush hair, teeth, pack library books and After school is empty lunch bag in kitchen, homework on table, wash hands - easy stuff to start !

Every single school morning instead of me saying "brush you hair" 3 times to each of them (tha's 9 times if you're counting!) or "where's your homework" til I'm dizzy or "put your lunch dishes on the counter" until I threaten to send the mouldy ones back for lunch the next day . . . now all I have to say is "Did you finish your list?" and these girls RUN to check and make sure. They RUN! Its a game - who can finish the list first . . OK - its a competition, but whatever - they are doing the List !!

They own that list, they decided what went on it and they are super proud to actually do it ALL! I figured the novelty would wear off after the first week of school, but you know what? It didn't. And this year, they want to add to the list! My Grade 3'er can start making healthy choices for her own lunch (she just read this and said "seriously - can I?!"), my Grade 2'er can empty the dishwasher and my SK'er - well, she is going to take all morning on her hair and deciding on which princess dress to wear for the day I'm sure !!!

So what will be on your Before School list? What do your kids to after school to help transition into homework, snacks and activities? I'd love to hear your suggestions as the kids and I prepare to make our list for next weeks first day of school !! And then check back and let me know if the lists work in your house!

What Happens At Summer Camp, Stays at Summer Camp

We did it . . . I mean they did it !! Each day they went to summer camp was better and more fun then the day before. Every mothers dream - your kids are happy and having a fantastic week! I should be thrilled . . and I am, except for one little question they can't seem to answer. . . "What did you do all day?"

Sure I get the old "we played games", or "we sang a song", or "we went canoeing" or "we went hiking", but I already knew all that - it was in the brochure, part of the program, what I paid for! What did you REALLY do all day?

I could tell them how I watched that clock every hour, how I wondered if they had sunscreen on, how I worried about my 6 year old the day they called for thunderstorms, how I hoped someone made sure they got on the right bus every night, how I checked my cell phone 30 times a day "in case" the camp called with a sick or crying child. Oh I could give them details.

But all they could give me was "we had sooo much fun", or "I loved it", or "I can't wait to go back next year", or "my counsellor was awesome." I guess its time for this mom to accept her girls are growing up, to revel in picking the right camp for her kids this summer and to realize that what happens at Summer Camp, is gonna stay at Summer Camp.

They are happy, so I am happy. And hey, I did find out one thing . . . .look what they made on craft day! How did your kids do at summer camp this year? More importantly, how did YOU do ??