Lessons in Motherhood: My health wake up call

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Mika

We often associate “Sustainable Living” to the environment, but have you ever considered how it can relate to our health and wellbeing?

Is the way you treat your body sustainable?

Luckily throughout my life, and through my pregnancies I have been quite “healthy”, so I thought. In other words, I haven’t had many complications. So I have continued doing what I do, and not thinking much about it.

I have been unwell, on and off for about 3 months now, and today I was thinking, “This is the only body I have. If I want it to become a well oiled machine, what would I need to do?”

As I thought about nutrition, hydration, and exercise I was shocked to realise that the very thing that I encourage my children to do – in order for them to be healthy and happy – I had stopped doing myself!

Without thinking about it, I had developed some habits that were not doing my body any favours:

I was good at getting my children to eat a healthy high fibre breakfast to start their day on a good note, but sometimes I forgot to eat breakfast.

I was good at giving my children water or milk to drink, but I forgot to pour me a glass when I ate, or re-hydrate myself during the day.

I was good at including vegetables with my children’s meals and plenty of fruit in their lunch boxes and snacks, but I forgot to prepare a salad or eat plenty of fruit throughout the day.

I was good at getting my children to go to bed at their bed time because I knew they would become grumpy and irritable in the morning, but I forgot that if I had a late night it can actually make me grumpy and irritable too.

With so many things to do and remember, sometimes taking care of ourselves physically can get dropped off our to do list. When there doesn’t seem to be an immediate detrimental effect, we continue the behaviour that isn’t “sustainable” for our bodies.

On The Oprah Winfrey’s Show: “What is your body trying to tell you”, Dr. Northrup says your health depends on what’s going on with your mind, body and soul, and your symptoms are actually your soul’s way of bringing deeper issues to your attention. “You’re in labor with yourself because everything that no longer serves your highest purpose and your optimal health starts to go away and your body gives you signals’—Hey, you’ve been putting too much stuff under the carpet emotionally, nutritionally, not exercising … putting everyone else first. The kids, the husband, the job, whatever,’” Dr. Northrup says. “And your soul is saying, ‘What about me? What about me?’ And your body will start getting symptoms to hit you over the head with till you wake up.”

I went to the doctor again today, and I will be doing more tests, but one of the things that the doctor did tell me I needed to do was get more water into me and eat more fibre (fruits and veg!). So simple! Yet it is something that I have not placed a high enough priority on lately.

I think the learning I am going to take away with me from this experience is, “I am not putting a high enough priority on my health.”

I hope that by sharing this, you won’t need a wake up call like I did, before you start thinking about how you can make changes in your lifestyle to make your health and wellbeing more sustainable.

Much love~!

Good reads:

Oprah – What is your body trying to tell you? Gives lots of advice about lifestyle, nutrition, taking care of your body and yourself (yay for discovery dates!)

My Pyramid: One size doesn’t fit all. MyPyramid offers personalized eating plans and interactive tools to help you plan/ assess your food choices based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

About.com: Highest fiber vegetables, fruits and foods (funny, I just noticed that in NZ we spell “fibre” differently from Americans “fiber”)

Inspirational Poem: What Did I Do Today?

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Mika

Today I left some dishes dirty.
The bed got made around 3:30.
The diapers soaked a little longer,
The odor grew a little stronger
The crumbs I spilled the day before,
Are staring at me from the floor.
The fingerprints there on the wall,
Will likely be there still next fall.
The dirty streaks on the windowpanes,
Will still be there next time it rains.

Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?
I held a baby till she slept,
I held a toddler while he wept.
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.

What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess that ‘s true.
Unless you think that what I’ve done,
Might be important to someone
With deep green eyes and soft brown hair,
If that is true….I’ve done my share.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

To all you mothers out there: I don’t think you are told enough how great you are! I love the idea of being your cheerleader along the way to tell you that I know it can be hard some days, but that what you do….matters

If you have any quotes or poems that you come across that gives you warm fuzzies about motherhood, please send them my way

Lessons in Motherhood: Do Over!

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Mika

Do you believe in second chances? I do.

I didn’t have the best of days on Tuesday. I now realise I was quite sleep deprived, which hindered my decision-making (that’s my story and I’m sticking with it! hehehe). Basically at the end of the night, I felt I wasn’t as attentive to the kids as I could have been (Have you ever felt like that? As soon as your children’s head hit the pillow you start thinking…ah I wish I did things differently??)

Anyway, the next day I woke up early and was much more alert, and I said to myself, “I’m going to have a “DO OVER”!

To me, a “do over” means accepting that you may have had a bad day the day before, but that today is a new day, with new choices to be made.

The biggest difference to my “do over” day was my attitude. As I kept reminding myself that it was a “do over”, I felt empowered to guide the course of the day with my positive actions.

For me it meant:

being proactive instead of reactive

being showered, changed and ready for the day

starting the day with prayer and inspirational reading

listening to my body and having a rest to recharge my batteries

practicing patience

not going on the computer till after the kids go to bed

and as I mentioned, having a good attitude

My 7 and 9 year old must have decided to have a “do over” as well, because they woke up early and did their chores of unloading the dishwasher and getting the fruit and snack portion of the lunches ready, ate breakfast and got dressed, ALL without being asked!! Heaven!

Fun Kids Activity: Simple Water Dye Fun

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Mika

Materials:

Empty ice cream & yoghurt containers
Plastic sipper bottles filled with water and a few drops of food colouring

My daughter is a pourer. If she happens to get her hands on two cups, she will spend the next while pouring water from one cup to another. So to extend this, I decided to fill some bottles with the primary colours and let her pour to her heart’s content.

We talked about “what would happen if we mixed yellow and red” or “what would happen if we mixed blue and red”. She loved experimenting and finding the answer herself…”PURPLE!!”

My Goal for this Week: Strengthening my Relationship with each Child

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Mika

I don’t know about you, but something I quite often think about is: “How am I doing in regards to developing my relationship with EACH child?”

We do things to strengthen our family, but what do I do to make sure that individual children are getting what they need from me.

So that has lead me to this week’s goal: Strengthening my relationship with each child.

One of the things I will be doing is making One on One Time more of a priority. It could be an impromptu talk with my daughter while we are having breakfast. Or setting time aside for a different child every night to talk and/or do something they enjoy.

Mixed in through the day will be fun activities, notes in their lunchboxes, more kisses and cuddles, taking a child with me on errands or have them get involved with chores so we can talk alongside each other and of course lots and lots of listening, and increased patience and understanding.

I am looking forward to shifting from “what needs to be done” to “how can I use my time more effectively to be a good mother”. I am also looking forward to hunting out special moments to bond with my each children.

I enjoyed using Twitter last week! (See my twitter progress on the right hand side of my blog) It really did help me with my motivation, so I will twittering my updates throughout this goal!

I’m really looking forward to it! (Feel free to join me!)

Some great links:

How to Bond with your Child

5 Great Ways to Bond with your Children

Living a Purposeful Life

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Mika

I have been inspired by the book I finished reading called “The Hiding Place” (the courageous story about Corrie ten Boom and her family during the Nazi rule in Holland) and also the conference talks by the leaders of our church this month.

I love it when you read or hear something that makes you want to live life a bit better.

I am conscious that being too busy can rob me of having a more purposeful life.

It’s like you are so busy climbing a mountain, intently focused on your feet to get up as quickly as possible, that when you finally get up to the top and look around, you realise that you are way off track from where you want to be.

We can be physically busy, but I also think we can be mentally busy. You know when you mind is constantly filled with to do lists and what you need to do next! We need to work hard to live and appreciate the present. It’s like climbing that mountain, but stopping to look around, to appreciate those things you have overlooked or forgotten (so guilty of that!)

When I am physically busy and mentally busy, I can hear myself say “I’m running late”, or “I can’t right now” when I get a thought in my head to do a good deed…ugh!!

So, I need to try and slow down and leave room in my life for the good stuff!

My kids eating ice cream at Oriental Parade with their extended family

Leave room in your life:

to be still
to learn something new
to be inspired to do a charitable act
to leave the world richer and better
to watch your child when they are sleeping
to marvel and appreciate the beauty of nature
to hug a little bit longer
to kiss the other cheek and forehead
to read the book again
to answer a question asked by your child
to find answers to questions you don’t know
to express gratitude repeatedly
to lie in bed and ponder
to evaluate your life often
to not be ruled by deadlines

Discovery Date: Nourishing the mind…and the body

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Mika

I have been trying to play catch up from this past week, which has been busy in our household.

After dropping my daughter off at Playcentre, I was torn between using my time to work (chores) or to play (discovery date).

I ended up compromising….I spent 5 mins in different areas of the house tidying up: hallway, dining, living room and family room, and 10 mins on the kitchen.

Then I went to the local cafe and ordered a chicken ceasar salad and read my book (reading North & South at the mo…it’s getting to the good bit!)

In my 9 years of motherhood, I don’t think I have ever sat down for a paid meal during a week day by myself!

I can’t wait to go to an actual restaurant in the city for one of my discovery dates….that would be indulgent! (If you don’t know by now…I love food!)

A few years ago, I would not have been interested in dining by myself. But when I first started doing discovery dates, I got up the courage to go to a restaurant in the evening all by myself. The restaurant ended up being practically empty (!) but still, I was proud of myself for trying something new. Since I haven’t had much Thai food before, I asked them to recommend something and it was SOOO good! The owners were fantastic! A great experience for a newbie!

Who knows, if it is the fact of calling it a “discovery date” means that you push through barriers you have in your mind. For me discovery dates are all about giving yourself permission to do things you love, to appreciate the moment, and to try new things and get out of your comfort zone.

Random catch up

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Mika

I have been quite busy lately, and feel like I have been going from one thing to another. It didn’t help that I was sleep deprived some days (we have been getting better sleep, except last night when we woke 3 times for nightmares and power cuts – my daughter has a light on, so she freaked out in the middle of the night when it was pitch black.)

I’m still keeping up the Friday Fun Day with the kids. We took some bread to Aotea Lagoon and fed the ducks, had a play on the playground, then followed the mini train track all around the lagoon.

We had hubby’s family over during the weekend. We all met up with the extended family at Oriental Parade.

I captured my daughter playing with her cousin. I loved watching my niece go from being apprehensive about touching the sand, to digging her feet through the sand, then scooping it up with her wee hands and watching it run through her fingers….so cute!!

We heard these HUGE engine sounds, and looked over to find these boats racing by. I’ve never seen anything like this close up!

They were having Powerboat Racing in the bays. And boy were they loud! It was pretty spectacular to watch.

I hope the weather will be kind to us during the next two weeks of school holidays. I’m looking forward to relaxing and slowing down (as much as you can with 4 kids…hehehe)

I have already borrowed a few treats for me from the library. I have seen other versions of Mansfield Park & Jane Eyre…so I’m looking forward to seeing these ones. (Post edit: Watched the movie tonight. I was really enjoying this adaptation of Mansfield Park. I thought it flowed well – which is sometimes hard to do when you adapt a film from a big novel. Then all of a sudden it got weird, and deviated from the book. Just when you thought that you were pretty safe with Jane Austen movies, it got a bit too racey for me.)

Always & Forever is an audio book. I have never tried audio books, so we’ll see how it goes.

And then I got Hiding Places after reading the positive comments about the book on Steph’s post where she talked about books she would like to read. (Check out the comment section, there are heaps of recommendations on books!) Post edit: Just finished Hiding Places…Oh my! What a great book! Really inspirational!! So glad I read it.

We had a huge package arrive in the mail the other day. I was excited to see that it was the Spa Factory set that we won at Kiwi Mummy Blogs (Thanks Sarah!). This will be a fun thing to do with the kids during the holidays…making lip gloss and perfumes etc!

So you can see from my books & dvds what I plan to sneak into my easter holidays…have you got any plans?

I am so sleep deprived!

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Mika

Have you ever made a faux pa that you just KNOW will come back to haunt you….but in your weakness you go ahead and do it anyway?

Well, last night, I did just that. My 5 year old had a nightmare and came to our room in the middle of the night. Instead of settling him, and putting him back in his bed…in my weakness I told him to hop in our bed. Big mistake! I have never been able to sleep soundly with a child in my bed..let alone a big 5 year old…so why oh why did my sleepy self let it happen?!? Boy am I paying for it now!

**Note to half asleep self in the middle of the night: Pleeease do not invite any more children in our bed. You can not sleep when you are squashed up in an awkward position ALL NIGHT!**

I take my hat off to all those mothers and fathers who are currently in a constant hazy, sleep deprived state from waking babies, children, uncomfortable pregnancies etc. You’re amazing!!

That was then…this is now

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Mika

I had decided that the day was too beautiful to stay inside. After school I said we were going out.

A few of them weren’t too keen on the idea. They just wanted to stay inside.

Exhibit A: The boy who said "I'm just going to stay in the car, and not come out!"

Good thing I don’t always listen to my children

We went to the river at Willowbank Park in Tawa. We didn’t even make it around to the playground area. We found a good spot where there were walking stones across the river, and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. It was a blast!

But the sulky faces and whiney comments at the beginning, I could have done without, thank you very much. So that is exactly what they were told on the way home! haha!

While we were at the river I was thinking about how our outings have evolved over the years….

I remember nervously stepping out with four children, aged 0,2,4 and 6.

I would not attempt places with water, unless I had another adult on hand.

I would choose parks where the play equipment wouldn’t be too challenging Otherwise I would end up with different children calling out my name for help all at the same time!

The parks had to be relatively contained, and where the play equipment were close together so I could keep an eye on all the kids easily.

I also remember back to when I was a home body. Quite content hanging at home, making our own fun. I had no clue what was out there, but I didn’t really care, because I had my wee ones with me and we created our own fun memories.

When we went to the zoo last week, I saw the sheltered picnic spot that brought back memories of my first big outing with our baby and toddler…all by myself!

When it came time to feeding the baby, we parked ourselves on a sheltered picnic table. I remember nervously watching my toddler eating her snack, hoping I would finish breastfeeding BEFORE my 2 year old finished her food and decided it would be really fun to go exploring without mummy!

That was then…

This is now…

It had to be one where it was relatively contained, and where the play equipment were close together so I could keep an eye on all the kids at the same time.

M.I.A – Missing In Action

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Mika

I haven’t really been on my computer since Wednesday! Here is just a snippet of what we’ve been up to while I was “missing in action”.

Thursday:

School Picnic at Days Bay, Eastbourne. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

This was the first year I didn’t have a baby, or two preschoolers or a runner (a child who just seems to run in all sorts of directions, and never comes back!), so I decided to go along as a parent helper. My 3 year old enjoyed being held by all the big girls.

I enjoyed watching my daughter’s team work really hard together on their turtle design for the sandcastle competition. The girls came up with their design and implemented it themselves …. and they won!

Had a nice evening out with some friends. What more could you ask for, good company and an endless supply of dessert (we went to “The Whitby” and had the dessert buffet). I got to hold a gorgeous wee baby….yes I am very clucky!

Friday:

In my effort to make Fridays a bit more special, I decided to take the kids to the Wellington Zoo after school. The tiger looked like it wanted to eat us for afternoon tea!

Saturday:

We went out to Yum Char to celebrate my brother’s 35th birthday. So yummy! Then my kids spent time with their cousin playing with a whole big tub of retro lego that used to belong to my brothers. They had a blast!

Sunday:

It was an eventful day, because my hubby became Bishop of our Ward. Although it is a big responsibility, we feel really good about it. My mum invited the bishopric and my hubby’s brother’s family for dinner at her place – spur of the moment! So we went home and checked what we had in each of our freezers and pantries, and managed to pull it off. Everyone ended up bringing something, so it worked out perfectly.

Reality Check: I love the fact that as I have looked back on the week, I seem to have forgotten all the odd, weird or frustrating moments. The only one I can remember is when I had to use food to entice my son out of his comatosed state so he wouldn’t have a nap in the middle of the day, and be up all night! ha! I love my short term memory!

I want it to be summer all year, and live at the beach

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Mika

I am getting better at noticing the sunsets and sunrises outside our window (we had a stunning orange sunrise and pink sunset today)….now I just have train myself to sit a little bit longer, really enjoy the moment, and just linger, instead of scurrying off quickly to the next thing. (Can you tell I’m talking about motherhood as well!)

Had no real deadlines except for the school pick up, so we just chilled out today.

I took my 3 year old and her 3 year old second cousin to the Duncan Park Play Area in Linden for a picnic and a play. (My older children named this play area “Friendship Park” because they always seem to make friends whenever they come here. )

I got a kick out of watching my budding 3 year old climbers master some of the trickier climbing equipment and hear them exclaim, “Yay! I did it!!” (If you look really carefully at the above picture, you’ll see them climbing solo. At the beginning they needed me to tell them where to put their feet. Now look at them!)

Then we drove over to Island Bay.

They have great rock pools near the orange “bait house”. We went searching for crabs, and found a few in all different shapes and sizes. This little one has one big claw!

We found a neat little rock pool that housed a couple of crabs. As we spent more time there, we noticed the shells started moving around. That was really neat!

Wouldn’t it be great if there was no homework, no meals to prepare, and no chores to be done, and we could just hang out at rock pools all day.*bliss*

You have to read this story!

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Mika

My friend sent me this email this morning, and I just HAD to share!

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess.
A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door .

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened.
He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, “What happened here today?”
She again smiled and answered, “You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world did I do today?”
“Yes,” was his incredulous reply.
She answered, “Well, today I didn’t do it.”

(I found the images on the internet…but I have a few images in my head that would have gone with this story quite nicely….unfortunately, on those occasions I was too busy standing with my mouth wide open to grab the camera!)

And then my heart melted…

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Mika

I made a choice earlier this week, to try and “participate in life and make my choices more meaningful”.

As part of this, I wanted to make Friday a little bit different since we have more time up our sleeves (no homework, easy meal for dinner – During the week I make bigger meals that are re-heatable so hubby can take it to work the next day)

Come Friday, I was tired, and I could feel the motivation had drained out of me! We walked home from school in the heat, my wee man often stopped and just sat on the footpath. My two girls had gone ahead and was sitting under the shade ready for me to help them cross the “busy” T section (it’s not that busy, but feels busy when I think about my girl’s crossing a T section that has some blind corners!) I was pushing my youngest in the pram, who was about ready to fall asleep because of the heat and the busy session at Playcentre earlier that morning. Yet, we all pressed on, and we made it home….except my motivation had not made it!

Part of me wanted to forget about my little plan, part of me wanted to go through with it, because I liked the idea of trying to do something a little special on a Friday.

Who won?

It took a little while, but I finally got myself moving. I decided that we were going to have a picnic at the playground for dinner.

In my head I knew it was a good idea to do this, and that thought helped me go through with it…and then it happened…my heart melted.

I could see my two youngest children on the springy bike, giggling to each other. My youngest was sitting at the back of my 5 year old son with her hands wrapped around him, gleeing with delight. (the shot above is of my two youngest on another occasion on the springy bike…but captures what I saw yesterday.)

Aaaaahh…this was the reward, this is what made the effort all worth it.

My mind was in it, but now my heart was in it also.

My 9 year old daughter and I spent some time hanging out on a climbing frame that had a hammock type set up at the top. We just talked. Bliss…

Today I had many moments where I noticed my heart melt….

…….working as a team to tidy our house and Playcentre this morning. We worked hard, but for a good cause.

……..watching my kids having fun with their friends at our Ward Picnic at Eastbourne Beach. You can’t beat the huge smile on their faces!

…….watching my kids play together building sand castles.

…….watching a mum and a dad taking baby steps with their children to help them jump off the warf for the first time. (I wasn’t quite ready for it, I think my kids would have seen the fear in my eyes!)

…….the many hugs and kisses I got tonight from my kids…heavenly!

…….feeling that today was a good day, with wonderful memories.

Participating in life. Making our choices more meaningful

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Mika

Thank you for the all the lovely encouraging comments by the way, they always make me smile!

Lara from The Golden Seven said in the comments yesterday, “You’ve just about convinced me to come to Wellington on the next plane and sit at your front window and stare out of it all day.”

It made me think about how I really don’t stop and sit and admire the view as often as I should. Those times I took the photographs, my children were the ones who recognised the beauty and came to get me. And where was I? I sure wasn’t looking out of the window to notice the beauty that was unfolding right outside.

So, I have been thinking a lot this morning. About how there are things to be appreciated around us, but we may not be paying attention.

Do I take my blessings for granted?

How good am I at connecting with each child on a daily basis?

How well do I notice the world I’m living in and what we can learn from it, and what it has to offer?

Am I missing the beauty that is unfolding right in front of me?

Am I there physically, but my mind is elsewhere?

Could I be more engaged?

Can I change my actions, to make a positive impact on my life and my family?

I let these thoughts jumble around my head during my discovery date, while I did some writing, planning, shopping and photography.

After pondering all morning, I really wanted to make more meaningful choices in my life.

After picking up my 3 year old from Playcentre, I decided we were going to have a picnic by the beach. We went home, I did the laundry, and got everything ready for the picnic and off we went to Oriental Parade.

It was looooovely.

After an early dinner, we all jumped on the tramp once we finished our chores. We even did a spot of cloud watching.

One of the kids wanted to go to ride their bikes at the school (something they have asked, but it always seemed to be at the “wrong time”) and I thought “yeah, let’s do that!”.

So this is my journey this week….to make my actions more consistent with how I ultimately want to live my life.

If you have any tips on how you have kept you and your family from falling into the trap of a bad version of a grounds hog day, let me know!

Fun Kids Activity: Exploring rock pools

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Mika

We had a fun Playcentre trip to Whiteria Park, which is about 20 mins drive towards Titahi Bay from our place.

The road gets pretty narrow as you are winding around the hills. I had to practice my backing skills when a car came the other way!

When we arrived, the kids all went to the rock pools in search of creatures and treasures.

I found a crab underneath a rock. We were able to have a close look at the crab before letting it go.

My youngest is a collector, so she stopped and picked up shells on the seashore. Others used the spades to dig up the heavy wet sand.

The water was warm, so the children ventured in. They jumped the waves and waddled around.

The time passed quickly, and it was time for morning tea. We sat on our picnic blankets eating our kai (food) and enjoyed the sun on our faces. The children enjoyed the nice cold lemonade ice block that were given out. We heard a lot of “please” and “thank yous”. Ka pai! (Well done!)

Some of the children got changed into their togs so they could wade deeper into the shallow water.

Some of the children stayed behind and listened to books about the beach.

The children had a great time playing together, and enjoyed the water, sand and searching for sea creatures!

My 5 links for the week

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Mika

A must read about a lesson learned about jealously, envy, gratitude and contentment http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2010/02/lesson-learned.html

A new blog that gives you ideas about dates with your spouse. I love their quote: “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, and always with the same person.” http://thedahlingdatingdivas.blogspot.com/

A great video tutorial on making your very own Kanzashi flower http://www.craftypod.com/2009/09/16/now-with-video/

Look! You can make your own book using “blurb”! Some people have even downloaded their blog entries to make an annual record of there posts http://meetthepassionista.blogspot.com/2010/02/blurb.html

Excellent tips on how to get your email inbox under control! (I cleared my inbox not too long ago, but it has quickly filled up again, so I need a better system!) http://zenhabits.net/2010/02/email-sanity/

I am the ANTI-PLANNER! (said with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent)

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Mika

It is not that I don’t like to plan. I love it! In fact, when I write things down, it ALMOST feels like I have done them already! hahahaha

I am the anti-planner because I constantly deviate from what I have scheduled in my planner. “I AM THE DEVIATOR!” (said again with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent)

Mondays are my “recover from the weekend”, “get the house in order” day. After putting on a load of laundry, I looked around my garage and decided I was going to clean up a part that was bugging me, instead of tackling my “planned” housework. So satisfying!

Later on that day, I had to pick up our car from the mechanics with my youngest daughter, but after missing the bus (by seconds!) I had to deviate from my plan, and pick up the school kids, and take allllll 4 kids on the bus to get the car. We enjoyed a deviated visit to the Pet store on our walk to the mechanics and then a yummy drive-thru McD’s raspberry slushy…mmmm….slushy!

Planned items also got done. I managed to get a lot done on my Playcentre Water Play workshop I’m doing next month. Other things on my computer were calling my name, but I managed to stick to the plan, and complete the outline…yay me!

So I am a planner, an anti-planner, a deviator, Miss Spontaneous and all round floater, but isn’t that what motherhood is about sometimes? To go with the flow, and not stress too much when plans change. I also look back on my day, and the spontaneous things are usually the most memorable, and gratifying! So I probably won’t change my spots…even if the “planners” around me don’t know whether I am coming or going!

I think the art lies in getting all the “planned” stuff and “to dos” out of the way quickly, so you have more room to be spontaneous and creative!

PS I hope Valentine’s day was great for you all! Hubby and I went to dinner at Tinakori Bistro and watched Invictus at the movies on Saturday (a little bit hard to be reminded of our loss in the World Cup, but other than that, I liked the movie). I love the last verse in Nelson Mandela’s favourite poem “Invictus” :

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Fun Kids Activity: Ferry Trip

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Mika

I woke up this morning, and hubby was buzzing about the amazing weather.

He has always said, that if you want to run an event that relies on good weather, you should run it on the “Seven’s” Weekend in Wellington. For some reason, we ALWAYS seem to have amazing weather on those days!

The Seven’s is an international rugby competition of 7 a side rugby, instead of 15 aside. The games are also shorter.

The Wellington ”Seven’s” have become more about the party atmosphere than the game itself. The best way to describe it is, “New Zealand’s version of Halloween….but for adults”! Grown men and women, dress up in all sorts of weird and wonderful costumes! Today I saw Little Red Riding Hood and a wolf strolling down together, I saw a man dressed up in green like the little plastic army figurines. I saw a bunch of grown men dressed as teddy bears. (Look at the guys below and their wigs!)

Hubby had the great idea of going on the East by West Dominion Ferry today. The kids were so excited!

We drove to Eastborne, boarded the ferry and made our way around different stops in the Hutt Valley and Wellington Region.

We had so much fun!

I noticed my girls snuggled up to each other on the top deck. On closer inspection, they were actually playing shadow puppets on the side of the ferry!

When we arrived back in Eastbourne, we all just went to the beach and swam….in our clothes! The seats in the car got very wet on the way home

Motherhood: Riding the rollercoaster

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Mika

I used to love rollercoasters. The scarier the better. I loved the rollercoaster theme park “Six Flags” in America! Since becoming a parent however, (and therefore mortal) I seem to be a bit more cautious.

I think that motherhood sometimes feels like you are riding a rollercoaster. There are highs and there are lows…and I’m referring to just one day!

Today I had a wonderful day catching up with friends who I haven’t seen since Christmas time. It was blissful. Fast forward to the early evening, and our family are all grumpy in one way or another and I just want to hid under a rock. Then fast forward again to the evening, and (I emerged from the rock) calm was restored and I relished in the special time I got to have with my kids and hubby.

Hopefully you can relate.

I think the trick to riding the rollercoaster is:

Get out of the lows. When a difficult moment happens, don’t dwell on it and let it spoil your ride…Re-group, Recover and Re-commit to trying to have a good day.
Savour the highs. There are good moments within every day, it is up to us whether we stop and notice it, or close our eyes and miss it all together.
Enjoy the ride. The ride maybe the same, but our attitude towards the ride will produce a totally different outcome.
Ride it with others. The truth is, most, if not all mothers are on their own version of a rollercoaster ride where they feel out of control and sometimes isolated. If we reach out and support each other, we will be able to manage through this ride a lot better!

Juggling Motherhood

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James

Tag Archives: Motherhood