The Mom Page – Northbird

Returning to Blogging: Baby #3 Update, Homeschooling Adventures, and Mom Reflections

September 6, 2024October 24, 2024NorthbirdLeave a comment

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Northbird is back!

Baby #3 arrived healthy and sweet earlier this year (which is why Northbird has been rather quiet lately), and now that the summer holiday craziness is over, my fingers have been itching to get back to blogging and share what has developed over the last few months. Here’s a bit of an update on where we are at, and how life is generally going:

The baby:

Baby M is now 4 months old (that went by REALLY FAST), and sort of getting into a routine. She is absolutely the easiest and most chill baby we’ve had so far! She began smiling a lot sooner than the other two did, and has developed the cutest little dimples in her cheeks! Even on some of my hard days when I feel like I can’t manage all the parenting/homeschooling/cooking/cleaning/etc…the best therapy seems to be putting some calming music on and having some tickle-giggly time with little baby M. Her smiles and laughter make it worth it all.

The older kids:

I have heard from other parents and resources that after the 3rd baby arrives, things/life apparently gets simpler and its easier to adjust during the newborn stage. I personally think this is bologna! I think the general idea is that the older kids will entertain themselves somewhat by playing together. Our older girls SOMETIMES do, but most often parental intervention is required because one of them is inserting her “oldest child dominance” over the middle child (in other words being bossy), and the middle child is currently age 2, and incredibly strong-willed and does not want to be bossed around! (I’m sure most parents don’t need me to explain also that this age is a challenge all of it’s own).

They do however adore their little sister, and every day love to have cuddles and gentle play time with baby M.

Homeschooling:

The majority of my time these days is spent homeschooling my six-year-old, who is partway through grade 1. She is doing wonderful with the homeschool curriculum that we are using for core subjects (The Good and the Beautiful), and although there are days that involve grumpiness, foot stomping and frustration, she always amazes me with her energy and excitement to learn new things.

Every year I have tried to do more research and find new resources for getting better organized with homeschooling, and finding ways to make it more fun with hands-on activities. I have come to the conclusion that sometimes “less is more”, meaning that sometimes keeping school goals as simple and realistic as possible is better for helping my oldest to actually learn and absorb more. (Also immensely better for my mental health too!)

For example, having a general outline of the goals for the week is much easier than having specific goals for every day. One day we might blaze through her core subjects before 10am, leaving the majority of the day to go for a walk, explore nature, play with friends, or do extra school if we are behind. Other days it seems to take the ENTIRE day for schoolwork to be completed. (I’m sure many homeschooling parents can relate to this!)

A great homeschooling website that I found recently is My Joy-Filled Life. Sarah is a seasoned homeschooling mom with loads of advice on homeschooling as well as several printable resources for getting organized. If you are new to homeschooling, I highly recommend you check her website out.

I am so thankful that our 2 year-old is not yet ready for school, and she happily plays with toys or helps me in the kitchen in the mornings. We are gently introducing a few concepts like counting to 3, colours, singing the ABCs, reading lots of picture books, and generally helping her with communication and speaking more clearly. She is immensely stubborn and wants to be able to do everything that her big sister can do! So for subjects like science that usually involve hands-on activities, she is always included too (which means that the activity is just going to get a little more messy!)

One of our favourite outings from summer holiday this year was going to Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto. The girls had been studying Ocean life in science time this past year, so it was SO FUN to see them thoroughly enjoy the experience and see many creatures that they had been learning about.

L was particularly fascinated with seeing a real “Green Moray Eel”, and was educating her dad and Auntie J all about it. F on the other hand, was very busy running around on her toddler legs (which are surprisingly fast!) and pressing up against all the glass tanks to talk to the fishies and creatures. Her favourite moment was finding “Dory” and “Nemo” and telling us and everyone else within earshot who they were and where they were going in the giant tanks.

I’ve been having rather a lot of fun this past year with creating craft ideas and printables for my kids to use in science studies, which I will be slowly posting about on here over the next few months.

Creative Kitchen & The Dear Husband:

I have been working on some new yummy recipes and am really looking forward to sharing them on Northbird!

On a personal note: our menu was dramatically altered for some of the spring and summer, as my dear husband wanted to go strictly keto in his diet. Since he was on paternity leave for some of this time, I was more than willing to give it a try (on the assumption that he was around to help as needed with the kids while I took the extra time preparing meals and researching what “keto” meant).

This was honestly not what I had anticipated after having a fresh new baby, and as such, had the freezer stocked full of prepared meals, (and of course none of them were keto!) But, I was excited to learn something new, as well as support him achieve his carb limit goals. We ended up making keto meals that we all ate, adding in carbs for the girls and I as needed. But one thing I didn’t count on was that I would actually GAIN weight. Keto is generally a high protein/high fat/low carb diet, but when one adds in more carbs, and a not-as-physically-active lifestyle during vacation, led to some weight gain (not the greatest feeling after just having a baby and already feeling like an elephant for several months!)

So after a few months of this I ended up making separate meals, which in turn led to exhaustion because my husband had returned to work and homeschooling had started again. So in order to keep life a little simpler, we decided it was time to resume our normal diet again. I had totally missed making sourdough, and hubby had really missed eating it!

He has had some fun adventures lately, going on fishing trips with his buddies and working on projects around the house during his paternity leave. I am particularly thankful for the fence now surrounding the back yard (no more wandering off for the toddler!), and some beautiful garden boxes, made entirely out of pallets!

We didn’t have much to show for our first garden season in this new house (everything got a little scorched while we were away), but we have hope that next summer will be much more productive.

Northbird Mama:

And how am I doing? Some days are easier than others, and I am realizing that routine is now my best friend. Regular naps & bedtimes for the kids + eating healthy food + fresh air = happy kids (which also means happy mama!)

Have you ever heard the saying: “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t no one happy!” ? There have definitely been days in the past few months where that saying has certainly rung true.

To be honest, I have had some struggles these past months with what I think is postpartum depression, and now that I am able to reflect a bit, I can see some triggers in my life that have contributed to this struggle:

Lack of sleep
Screen time in evenings
Lack of personal care time
Not socializing as much with friends
Overwhelm and getting stressed with not accomplishing unrealistic goals that I set for myself
Not having consistent quiet time in the Bible and prioritizing time with the Lord
Not exercising enough
Lack of playing music and having personal creative time

Some of these are inevitable to happen with a newborn, other small kids needing attention, travel and vacation time. But a lot of it could have also been avoided with better communication to my spouse and asking for help from friends and family.

Along that note, I don’t think I’m the only mama that has had moments where I knew exactly when the kids last had a bath, but no idea when I last had a shower?! I think sometimes as mamas we prioritize and focus on our kids so much that we look after ourselves less in the process. That shouldn’t be the case, and at least for me, it boils down to communicating better with my spouse or friends to ask for help watching the kids so I can have a few minutes of personal care time. Because one ALWAYS feels better after getting clean and refreshed!

Here are some goals that I have set for myself as we enter a new school season:

Consistent quiet time reading scripture and being still before God
Setting aside personal creative time (songwriting, painting, sewing, blogging, etc)
Working on communicating better with spouse (eg “honey, can you look after baby for a bit while I hop in the shower?”
Try to fill my thoughts with more positive things
Reach out to family and friends nearby or over the phone to check in
Put less pressure on myself to accomplish things around the home (keep routines easy and uncomplicated!)
Consistent exercise (simply taking the dog for a good walk every day)
Sharing these goals with my spouse or a friend to help me stay accountable

Hopefully reading these thoughts and rambles may be helpful to someone reading this!

I know I’m not the only one that has struggled with depression of some sort. I’m simply being real on where I’m at and hoping that these goals will help my mental health to stay –well healthy. Both for my sake and also for my family’s sake.

Looking Forward:

I have some great blog posts on the creative table at the moment and for the time being I will be posting them every Friday morning. When I have more time I hope to expand that to twice a week. Even though I have more than enough ideas, recipes and crafts all ready to write up, it takes loads of time and mental energy to input them all into a blog posting. So for now I will keep a simple goal for myself of one posting per week!

Blog posts coming up (not in this order):

Sourdough Discard Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Simple Cheesy Biscuits
Green Split Pea & Bacon Soup
Sourdough English Muffins
Sprouted Nutrition
Baby resource posts
Several freezer meal recipes (I was very busy getting ready for baby!)
Instant Oatmeal recipes
Crockpot tomato sauce
Loads of Ocean-inspired Homeschooling crafts and free printables

Thanks for all the encouragement to family and friends who have been asking about Northbird and supporting me through this new creative adventure! It certainly has its challenges to learn all the tech side of things (definitely not one of my strengths!) but it has also been really rewarding to connect with people from all over the world in the past year and share our thoughts and ideas in the online creative community!

Cheers,

Jessie

Juanita

January 13, 2024December 2, 2024NorthbirdLeave a comment

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This past year we said goodbye to my grandmother “Juanita”. I’m not intending to make this a sad post by any means, but I wanted to give her a little tribute on here and share with you a part of her very interesting and inspiring life story.

Please note: story credits also go to my Aunt A and parents S & S for their help in getting some historical facts strait.

Juanita was born in a small farming town in Eastern Canada. When she was a child, she was diagnosed with severe epilepsy, a diagnosis that she would struggle with her whole life.

When she was 16, a nice young man named Stanley moved in to the boarding house across the street. His landlady was a notable matchmaker and thought it would be fun to set the two of them up on a date.

She told Stanley “Juanita is hoping to go to the cinema tomorrow night with you.”

She told Juanita “Stanley would like to take you to the cinema tomorrow night.”

The movie they watched? “An Affair to Remember.” I don’t think there was an affair that evening, but it was certainly an evening to remember because after that they started going out.

It wasn’t long after Juanita’s graduation from high school that they knew they wanted to get married.

Then a curveball hit Juanita’s small town world. Stanley, who worked at the local bank, was offered a management job at the Bank of Nova Scotia in the Dominican Republic. But the bank would only hire him on the condition that he go there as a single man.

So off he went… and two months after his arrival, Stanley announced to his co-workers that he was engaged to a girl named “Juanita”. His co-workers, assuming that “Juanita” was a Dominican, were amazed that he had wasted no time getting to know a local girl, not realizing that this “Juanita” was from back home!

Juanita had never traveled or left her home county before, so after packing her wedding trousseau she was escorted to the airport and set off to get married in a new country, without any of her friends or family present. She was 18 years old.

Stanley’s co-workers and their wives at the bank put on a wedding reception for them and helped Juanita get settled in her new home. The next year my father was born, and a little later, my aunt.

1961 was a turbulent year in the DR, with dictator Rafael Trujillo being assassinated and replaced by a democratically elected president. In 1963, a coup overthrew the government and turbulence continued for the next two years, developing into the Dominican Civil War. In April 1965 the United States dispatched 22,000 soldiers to the DR, occupying Santo Domingo.

At this time, ex-patriots and foreign civilians were advised to evacuate out of the country. Almost overnight, my grandparents had to pack a small suitcase of belongings and flee the city, not an easy thing with two small children!

They were air-lifted by helicopter to the USS Boxer, an aircraft carrier stationed nearby. They lived on the ship for a week before being taken ashore in Puerto Rico, flying to New York, and from there they travelled back to their family in the Maritimes.

Before they left, Stanley and one of his good friends and co-workers at the bank were tasked with making sure all the bank’s gold coins got safely smuggled out of the city in the middle of the city being in complete chaos! I’m not sure I heard the full story, but it was definitely not an easy responsibility!

Six months later the fighting had settled down, so Stanley and Juanita decided returned to the DR to attempt to resume their lives there, but after a few post-war altercations, (including a friend of theirs losing his life to a grenade very near them), they decided to return to Canada for good.

Stanley and Juanita later moved closer to Toronto where he continued working with the bank and she raised their kids. Sadly, while on vacation in the United States a few years later, Stanley had a sudden heart attack and died.

Juanita was now a widow and although her two children were now young adults, they were moving on with their lives and shortly after moved to homes of their own. She had to learn to live on her own while continuing to struggle with epilepsy.

She became involved in her local church and made some close friends during this time. Serving others seemed to help with her grief and keep her busy.

13 years later, she was on a cruise with one of her friends and met a handsome farmer named “Dan”, who was recently retired, travelling alone, and was a widower.

They struck up a friendship during this cruise, and continued to meet back in Ontario after the cruise was over.

After a time, he asked her if she would move in with him to his farmhouse. She said no, but that she’d marry him instead!

The next few years were happy ones for Dan and Juanita. They travelled on many cruises all over the world, seeing many different cultures and places.

I have many postcards from their adventures and being homeschooled at the time, it was a natural inquiry to geography and history from some of their travels.

As their health and energy started to drop, they became more settled into their new condo and took smaller local trips around southern Ontario.

Whenever my family and I would come south to visit, there was always a pre-scouted adventure or local outing lined up to do with them. It was important to them that we learn as much as we could about our Canadian heritage and appreciate what we have.

Every trip always included watching the ships go through the Welland Canal, and dinner at the Mandarin or Swiss Challet.

When Dan passed away from cancer a few years later, Juanita’s epilepsy became more severe, leading to falls and she was unable to take care of herself. My aunt and family brought her to live with them for the next few years until she moved into a senior home.

Although this season was difficult for her health, she enjoyed spending time with her grandkids and especially the great-grandkids that began to arrive! Within five years there were 9 little ones that she loved to cuddle and give rides to on her walker.

Although my grandmother no longer had energy for socializing much or writing letters, she did her best to stay in touch by phone and always remembered when we had a birthday.

She loved the Lord, and loved her family. She had a strong, stubborn, and sometimes difficult personality to understand, but she knew she wasn’t perfect.

In her bible, there were a few things that we found written and underlined that provided insight into her faith and walk with the Lord.

I hope it provides some encouragement to those that are reading this.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

³“You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

¹³For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:3-16

“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
²He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NKJV)

I’d also like to share with you some of her most memorable recipes—she was an amazing cook! When I have the time, I’ll do individual posts to feature the recipes properly, but until then enjoy this snapshot version!!

Ps. Don’t you love these food-stained recipe cards?! Made many times with love!

Where do I begin?

May 2, 2023September 22, 2024NorthbirdLeave a comment

Where do I begin?!

Starting a blog seems almost overwhelming at the moment. There is so much to think about with designing the website, choosing pictures, and thinking about what I have to say that someone on the web would find interesting or helpful to their lives. I tend to procrastinate at times and get overwhelmed by perfecting an item, a project or story. (For example, I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a few years now!)

But some good advice I’ve heard recently is to simply just start, knowing that I’m not going to be the best writer, or know how to take the best pictures, but that these things take time to learn and develop.

While I was thinking this over earlier this morning, drinking my coffee and having a quiet mental moment to myself, my 4 year old daughter’s voice broke into my thoughts “Mom! I think Sister is done eating, there’s yogurt EVERYWHERE!”

Sure enough, our little 1 year old had flung her spoon away, choosing her hands instead to scoop the white goop up into her mouth. The remainder of her yogurt-seed mix breakfast was smeared in every possible fold of her clothes. Her hair was dotted with the tiny pebbles of chia, and I even found it in her ears. She has been learning to feed herself the last few weeks (and doing quite well at it!), but if she’s done and not hungry anymore, she’ll get bored and start to play with what’s leftover.

I had to laugh at the situation (which of course was my own fault that she had so much fun with her breakfast while I was distracted!) and I honestly had to pause a moment because I didn’t know how to clean her up. There was just SO. MUCH. YOGURT…

But the poor girl was getting whiny and frustrated at her mum and big sister for just laughing at her and not doing anything, so I groaned and ran to get a cloth. I had to start somewhere. And so after taking a picture of the delicious mess to remember, I realized that I had a pure, gooey, funny moment to share for my first post…and I simply had to make a start.

Click HERE for the Yogurt & 3 Seed Breakfast Blend recipe that my girls have nearly every morning for breakfast!