mummy unscripted

Married, 2 littles, 2 cats. Photographer. Believes in good old fashioned books, movie night, pretty clothes, coffee, God and yoga. Steadfast city girl reluctantly adjusting to life in the suburbs. Cali girl at heart. Constantly tripping over Lego.

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I've decided to call it quits here at Mummy Unscripted, at least for the foreseeable future. I haven't been posting as much as I've been busy with the start-up of my photography business and, of course, the Littles. If you feel like you might miss me, you can check out my new photography blog here or if you want to see what I've been up to the last few months, head over to my website at www.lisapickardphotography.com.

I will leave you with one last post of our adventures at Meadow Maze this past weekend for an early birthday outing for Miss L. The kids had a blast watching pig races, petting the farm animals and pretending to be farmers. They looked pretty adorable doing it as well if you ask me!

Adieu!

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Playing in the sea.

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Life lately, according to my iPhone.

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I’m smack-dab in the middle of a case of the post-long-weekend-blues. The fact is until Saturday morning I had completely forgotten that it was a long weekend. What a treat to wake up to the realization that you have an extra day of family fun ahead of you! Unfortunately the weekend didn’t turn out to be the one I expected. The kids were grumpy and come Monday, were not getting along at all. As in, by the time our “extra day of family fun” came around we spent most of it apart with S staying with Jack (a.k.a Monsieur Crankypants) and me going out with Lottie. It wasn’t all bad though because it gave me a chance to spend some one-on-one time with the little miss which is rare treat.

We decided to head out to Fort Langley for the afternoon to have a casual lunch and a walkabout. Turns out they we having a May Day parade and everyone and their dog was there so we had to park in the closest subdivision and walk into town. Not that I minded at all though because they have the prettiest little houses and I love daydreaming about living in one.

We stopped for lunch at a little cafe where Lottie proceeded to chat and flirt with everyone. She even blew kisses at some cute doggies and a surprised little boy. We're in trouble when she's a teenager! We took an extremely leisurely stroll back to the car. Partly because L was busily munching on a chocolate chip cookie and partly because we had to stop and carefully examine every leaf, blade of grass, and tiny ant that happened upon our path. No better day for it though!

Oui pour la filles!

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I've been meaning to write this post for a couple of months now but for some reason I just haven't gotten around to it. In the past, birthdays for the Littles have consisted of a few close friends and family members gathered at home to celebrate and eat cake. Because, really, who doesn't like to eat cake?

This year, however, the little mister was turning five and had a number of friends that he'd made on his own so we decided to have a special party. I looked around at various places but always kept coming back to the idea of having it at an art studio. J LOVES art and is getting pretty darn good at it (in my opinion) so it seemed only natural. The studio we chose had several different party options but we settled on a Splatter Party. What's a  Splatter Party you ask? Basically, it means the kids get to throw paint in a multitude of different ways at a canvas. Hello awesomeness! What a success it was! The kids got messy from head to toe, literally in some cases, and had a blast doing it. We got to take home the finished product (and keepsake) stretched out on a canvas which added some much needed colour to our bare living room walls. I'm already thinking of doing the silk-screened butterfly for Lottie's fifth. It's gorgeous!

All in all a party like this is not something we could afford every year, especially with two kids but we've decided to do a party every other year. Lottie's will probably start when she's five, as did Jack's; a small gathering at home is enough before that. It's not like she knows a ton of people anyway! As I said, I'd definitely do the art studio party again and recommend it to any parents out there looking for ideas for their own littles. Splatter on!

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What we've been up to lately according to my iPhone.

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Weekend fun: chasing "birdies" in a field.

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Newest members of the little man's Lego collection. I love that he loves JRR Tolkien's creations!

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I love the way she crosses her ankles when she sits. Too cute!

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a little thing called guilt

Warning: this is going to be one of those truthful posts. Today I'm going to be talking about "Mama Guilt"; so please, if you don't like brutal honesty look away.

Surprisingly there is no definition of "Mama Guilt', not even in the ever-expanding Urban Dictionary. Why surprising? In this age of Everybody And His Dog Has A Blog, especially in the Mum community  (yes, I realize I'm making fun of myself), it surprises me that there is no official definition for the term that seems to be on the lips of most mamas out there. I never took much notice of it before. Mama guilt was something that I simply didn't feel. I always assumed it referred to the large parental discussions such as breastfeeding, circumcision, vaccinating, cloth diapering, baby wearing, co-sleeping, to be or not to be, etc. In truth, I never felt guilty about these things because, in my mind, these things are something a mother or parent(s) decides for her child and everybody else can "jog on" (please reference Hot Fuzz if you are unfamiliar with this term). I don't discuss these things on my blog because frankly I don't want comments from complete strangers telling me what I should have or shouldn't have done in the way I've decided to raise my child. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I did warn you about brutal honesty.

In my five years of expert (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, ahem) child rearing experience, never did it once occur to me that this guilt they spoke of could refer to every little thing you do as a mother. Seriously people! I was vacuuming this morning and it dawned on me that maybe this ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach is said guilt. The guilt over whether or not I'm too strict, I expect too much, my stress has inadvertently been passed on through amniotic fluid into my babies and therefore they are now anxiety ridden head cases. Okay so maybe that last one seems a bit dramatic but these are the things I worry about. Do I treat my daughter differently than my son? Does she get enough attention? My son was an only child at one point and I seem to recall being able to spend an enormous amount of time just looking at him. On the other hand, do I expect too much of my son because he's older? I have to remind myself that he is only five, a mere babe in the scheme of things. Does it make me a horrible mother that on occasion I would rather have a full time job to go to rather than stay home with my kids? Why has it taken me so long to realise that these feelings I grapple with on a daily basis are feelings of guilt? I don't know. Possibly it's because I'm much too occupied actually dealing with all these thoughts to worry about defining what they mean.

So there it is. I don't have any answers. I don't even necessarily think that now I've come to this realisation it will change anything. At this very moment my kids are watching a movie because two thirds of us have nasty colds and I don't feel like doing much else. I do know that every once in a while I'll come upon a blog post by one of those many mums out there that makes me scream "Amen!". Sometimes it's just nice to know that instead of judgement there are other parents going through the same thing I am and maybe, just maybe, that will make me feel a little less guilty. Or not.

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Talking to Nanny

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I found this sweet little pic when I was digging through some old photos on the computer. The little man could only have been about 18 months here. Oooooooo, those cheeks!

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A very small portion of a little man’s growing collection (obsession).

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Just a couple of pics from our egg hunt this past weekend.

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Morning playtime

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I love yoga. It's true. It's about the only kind of "working out" I actually enjoy. My relationship with yoga is more than just about the physical, we connect on an emotional and mental level as well. It's definitely true love. Yoga and I are in it for the long haul.

That being said, I don't consider myself one of these people (if you've ever been to a yoga class, please read the linked article. I guarantee a giggle). All I know is if I make time to add a little yoga to my day, I feel a heck of a lot better. 

When we started going through a rough behavioural patch with Jack, I decided to buy a yoga video to see if it would help him control his emotions any better. I wouldn't say it performed any miracles but I did see a definite difference. The only problem was it was one video and he got bored quickly.

Today we had a day of rain after four beautiful, sunny days and so I did a quick search of You Tube to see if I could find any acceptable kids yoga videos. There was, of course, a plethora but I discovered a real gem: Cosmic Kids Yoga has a dedicated You Tube channel with six different videos. The real draw, though, is the watchable (note: not annoying) host and the fact that instead of just going through a series of poses, she tells a story which keeps the kids engaged. I loved it and it was a hit with Mr.J as well, which I guess was the whole point.