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I love Dolphins Resort on Vancouver Island, I love these people, I love this wedding. I love that it was chosen for feature. Love. Style Me Pretty Canada features another Dolphins Resort wedding! Click HERE for the full feature.
We're in HEIRLOOM MAGAZINE!!!!! Incredibly honoured to share one of my all time favourite vancouver island weddings... featured in such a beautiful way!!! Two of my most cherished friends married in such an intimate and beautiful way... celebrated by and chosen for feature by the glorious Heirloom Magazine. PERFECTION!!! So in love with the magazine... check it out here... You can find Shannon and Ryan's story on page 55! (but for sure check out the whole beautiful magazine for inspiration galore!!) A full blog post is also included HERE!!!
Mike Tyson said, "Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."
I can't tell you how much I love that quote! Isn't it true!!! The plan with a newborn baby is to gently help that little baby get more sleep at night and in turn you will get more sleep and everyone who lives in your housewill be much, MUCH happier. I wrote on sleepless nights here when Maisie was a newborn, and the first few months with Elliot at home I read it quite a few times in the middle of the night to remind myself that this too shall pass. I snuggled more, I was less frantic than I was with Maisie. I had some moments of being really hard on myself and then eventually we found a rhythm and routine that worked for us. (Those who know me well are smiling as they know that I am a white noise junkie... like seriously you walk past Elliots room and you wonder how a 3 month old can actually be vacuuming. He sleeps in a swing, often. We just do our own thing. He's been doing really well, even occasionally giving me very good nights {and still a few not so good ones} however, it is manageable and life goes on.
Last night Elliot slept from 7pm until 5:30 am. (with a daddy dream feed at 10) A victory... or... until our girl Maisie was up literally ALL NIGHT with bad dreams about bugs and spiders. This is the second night in a row with the bugs and spider web hysteria. Being tired does something unkind to us all. I was so irritated that she was up, disturbing the whole house, I tried everything from 2am-5am... "bug spray", different night lights, turning lights on showing her no bugs, I let our dog Frank come in bed and guard her from the bugs, a new doll was brought to bed, each time I would calm her down only to have her come unglued again a few minutes later. Finally, I caved and crawled into bed with her... every time she had a bug freak out... I was right there to gently let her know there were no bugs, and everyone was safe and sound. At 2am I was so mad. Irritated. Wanted to loose my marbles. {Don't tell me as a parent you don't know what I'm talking about} Then... I started to think about life... and how being present and enjoying moments in life isn't actually just about the well rested awake moments during the day. She is my little girl. She is driving me wild with the bug talk but... everyone is ok. We are ok. It's just nightmares and if those are our biggest problems right now... then we are blessed. So, I rolled with it and called on the strength of a million tired mommas everywhere. I snuggled that little sweetie and guided her to a sleep full of strawberries, and sunshine and rainbows and happy safe thoughts. I woke up seriously tired from my one hour of sleep at 5:30 to get Elliot back to sleep... but I felt good about my night. Even though it was rough. I felt like I had caught myself in a lesson. Life was giving me a little punch in the face, messing with my plan. But, I made a choice at 2am, to be a better mom. The freedom to choose our actions is probably the most beautiful gift we have. On suggestion of a pal this morning... we may end up 'exterminating' her imaginary bugs today... in hopes of a more peaceful night. It may get worse, it may get better but these are the moments in our lives. There is no finish line. If every single thing that happens in every moment is there to teach us something... to show us something... I just hope I can be as open and receptive as possible to 'get' the lessons as they come. The plan was to get the newborn to sleep... I had no idea that when that happened, the 3 year old would be not sleeping. Right hook. Got it. I wish you peaceful nights without bugs or spider webs. We are all, a work in progress. No one is exempt.
My babies. Elliot and Maisie.
They're killing me with cute and sweet.
I mean, how much can you possibly kiss two small people. I do it constantly. I can't help it. And, I smell them... their little heads, all day long. They smell like something divine to me, something so terribly familiar. They smell like perfection. Is that weird? I don't care. I just can't seem to soak them in as much as I feel like I should, or I want to. I'm a sucker for beautiful moments... and a childhood, if done properly, is full of them.
I love the way she pretends she's not listening and then she repeats something I've said a few minutes later. I love the way he can be crying hysterically... then you start baby talking to him or singing.... and he immediately stops crying and flashes the biggest, best grin. I love the way they are mine. Ours. I love that Maisie says we are "best friends together" and then she adds "and daddy and baby Elliot and Frankie too". I love her belly laugh. I love his chubby legs, and his perfect cheeks.
Her preschool tea party was today and besides crying the entire time, because of sweetness overload... I just couldn't stop thinking about memories and that every moment is a memory in the making. How do you soak it all in though? How is it possible? I have constant conversations with other moms about soaking in moments... and how we race around doing 'things' and suddenly think... "I'm missing moments" and then stop and soak in some sweetness. We do what we can. As present as we try to be it is difficult, or tricky to balance it all. Mainly because if we stop doing things... no one would eat anything but take out pizza, as there wouldn't be groceries... everyone would be covered in dirty clothes and not smell quite as sweet. You just do your best. You do your best to live as presently with these sweet, precious beings as possible and you try and feed them well, and teach them good values and lessons and inspire them to be amazing. You try and share a love of adventure, art and books. You try and show them that anything is possible. You just keep pushing yourself to be a better parent, and you try and figure it all out as you go. There are no rules on how to raise a small person really. But, we are all our own worst critics and I think thats a good thing to a certain extent... but, there comes a time when you just have to sit back, take a deep breath and watch these babies turn into people. Let go of their little hand so they can run to their classmates to sing their rainbow song. Watch as they can stand up on the stage bravely... looking out onto a sea of people and sing their little hearts out. They look out into the crowd... until they find your face.
I'm often reminded of a quote I heard at an amazing wedding, the brides father was talking about raising children so eloquently and said it was all about giving your children "roots and wings". It's a quote from Hodding Carter... "There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings."
If they have good roots.. they'll be sure to always come back. I know I did.
ox
