Top 3 Infused Waters You Must Try!

Being a super woman mama isn't always easy. 

Sometimes I find my self wondering if I have fed myself on any particular day even though I know I have spoon fed a few little mouths multiple times a day. 

It is easy to over look your self when you are a monster killing, whining fighting, super hero mama.

Mommy brain is a fun one, isn't it?? 

I still feel like with the birth of each of my darling children they took off with a a big little piece of my memory and my brain power. 

Not sure how scientific that is, but frankly, I don't have the brain power some days to be intellectual, so today I don't care.

Today I am talking about one of the simplest things we all do every single day...

No, not sleep, we mamas know better then to expect that. 

Today, I am talking about staying hydrated!

There are days when I forget to eat lunch and don't realize until I am three isles deep in the grocery store and my stomach's rumblings are scaring the shoppers around me.

There are days when I live on coffee and teas and just...need...one...more...to get me through till bed time.

The odd day though, I feel like a regular day Super Woman because I am refreshed and hydrated and keep coming back for more because what I am putting to my lips is just too delicious to stay away from for too long.

Like chocolate. 

Like working out???....

 

I have been stuffing mason jars and water bottles full of fruit and veggies for a few years and love serving "fancy" water at special gatherings to give the event a "spa like feeling" and to give the illusion that I took time and care into making a special drink.

Really though, these infused waters are fool proof!

Easy and delicious are two requirements for anything I share with you here, so I have a few of my favorites to share with you today.

 

The key to infused water is to make it the night before and to have it waiting and ready for your lips straight from the refrigerator

This of course, will cut down on morning mayhem and will keep your Super Woman body feeling oh-so-good.

My top favorite summer time infused water is one I call "Summer". 

It is full of the natural tastes of summer. 

You can make yours by adding fresh strawberries and pineapple pieces to your purified water. 

It will end up with the perfect amount of sweetness that keeps giving and giving and treating your taste buds. All. Day. Long.

  

You might even be tricked into thinking that you are sitting on a beach somewhere indulging in calorie heightened sweetness.

But your hips will know otherwise.

  Next, I have what I refer to as "Spa Water". 

 

As you know, I am a hair stylist and at one of the well known salons I worked at, we served frozen cucumbers in filtered water. 

It didn't matter what kind of hair cut the client received after that, they kept coming back for the lightly flavoured cucumber water with the ever fresh after taste. 

This is a must have. 

So subtle that it is the best infused water to sip on all day and my personal favorite to indulge in first thing in the morning.

If you want to take it up an extra delicious notch, add some fresh cilantro or some fresh parsley. 

The cilantro will give you a hit or the unexpected and will curb your craving for Mexican take out. The parsley will leave your palette cleansed and your breath freshened.

Perfection with every sip.

Lastly, I love the (what I call) "Citrus Punch Water".

 

This beauty is pleasing to the eyes and is the most flavorful. 

A little lemon and a little tangerine and you will be tricked into thinking you are NOT drinking water. 

This one has the perfect pairing of sweet and sour too.

You and your kids will be begging for more after each cup full!

This one seems to be the one that we go to most often. A jug of lemon and citrus punch can live in your fridge for a few days as you can add more water to the fruit mixture.

 

I recommend that if you are drinking your infused water straight from the refrigerator, than your ingredients can last for a few days while being kept chilled. 

If you are on the run, I would use your fruits and veggies for one day only. 

Discard and start a new or different batch of infused water the following day.

Don't be surprised though when your little ones steal your infused water throughout the day....

 

...and ask for more... 

Mini super heroes need energized and hydrated too, don't ya know.

;)

Happy Friday sweet friends! Have a lovely weekend doing what you do and loving those you love!

It all started with one little bench.

It all started with one little bench.  A Kijiji sale for $50.00.

At the time I thought it would make the perfect addition to the little salon we are building in our home. 

It was leather, washable, sustainable and we came to find out it had actually lived in a salon during its first life.

 

 

Its second owner was moving to Australia and so this little fine made beauty was brought happily home with us.

I put it in place but regretfully realized its dark color was competing with the new dark floors we had just installed. 

Bummer....

I painted and added a little white side table to the leather bench, but the whole room still needed some warmth.

Still needed something more....

As luck would have it, I was in the right place at the right time, and my girlfriend helped me load this little beauty and its twin into my vehicle.

It is the prettiest butter color in real life! 

It also has the most comfortable velvet tufted back with the best curves to snuggle into.

Im a little bit in love and so glad I have learned to listen to my own instincts.

Its vintage style trumped the little leather bench and added the perfect amount of charm, character and lightness that the space so badly needed.

So the salon seating was solved, but NOW what would we do with the bench that we still really loved?

Currently, this little bench has sparked an entire dining room redo....

I couldn't get rid of the little salon bench. 

I couldn't. 

SO, we are giving her a little makeover and she is becoming the star of the show in our dining area...

And this my friends, is what our house has looked like for the last few weeks. 

In progress. 

My kids have been enjoying eating on the floor, but the time has come, and the dining area is almost done. 

A few more tweaks and I cant wait to show you!

You can expect some vintage and rustic elements, some matte black and some shiny white. 

As soon as I get this place up and organized long enough to snap some pictures, I will share with you the little area that has become one of my favorites in the house. 

Happy Wednesday friends! Only three more sleeps till the weekend ;)

A look into our lives and the month of MAY

A couple of weeks into May and I can honestly say this has been one of the busiest months ever for us!!

We have been busy trying to finish our salon, we have been neck deep into spring cleaning, purging and reconfigurating every room in our house, and our little man turned the big O-N-E.

Cue the mama tears.

I have been so busy doing lots of little projects to keep my mind off of the fact that I no longer have a little baby...and  I cant wait to share all the changes with you! 

Here is a little sneak peak into the last couple weeks of May 2013!

From top left to right and down.

1. The beginning of May was so cold and wet, but we chased away the spring blues with ducky rain coats and laughter.

2. We are back to eating as clean as we can. My impending 30th birthday is later this month and I have a personal goal to be in the best shape of my life. We will see. ;)

3. We make it a ritual to go to the park every day or every other day, weather permitting. Something about being close to the outdoors does something to our happiness level. Bring on the fresh air!!!

4. I decided to make some big changes in our living room dining room. These numbered baskets are a nod to the style I am incorporating into our space.

5.  A sweet girl friend sent me a picture of a headband she wanted for her daughters dedication, she was unable to get the specific one she had wished for, so I whipped together one that just looks so sweet on her!! I love creating pretty things for pretty girls!

6.  I have concluded that I am a better baker than a cook. At least in MY own books!! I made this egg free, dairy free banana bread that was so good, I think I ate about half of it! I will have to share the recipe soooooon!!

7.  This past weekend in Canada was Victoria Day long weekend. It is the weekend that seemingly kicks off summer and one where we celebrate Queen Victoria and the freedom we share in our country. Our neighbors lit up the sky with so many fireworks it was hard to keep the kids asleep!!

8.  Our baby boy turned one this past week and I cant wait to share with you the small party we had midweek, mid morning....it was easy, simple and perfect!

9.  We celebrated warm weather last night, and a day of hard gardening with a jump or two on our bouncy castle.

The month of May has proven to be very eventful around This Little Estate. 

Keep your eyes peeled for some new room reveals and some tips on party planning, eating better and refinishing furniture!!

I hope you all are havin a good week so far.

Happy Birthday to our miracle boy!!

I don't know how to start. Where to begin.

IF you want to get caught up you can start Here and HERE

By now, a year later, it feels like his smile has always been a part of our daily lives. 

I feel like I cant believe there was ever a day that I didn't love him, and yet, today he is one year old and I am left dumb founded that he is no longer that newborn that fit perfectly into the crook of my arm.

Disney got it right when they depicted the girl falling in love with the boy with.... Just. One. Look.

They got one part wrong though, that "girl" was actually 29 years old and she was looking into the eyes of the baby boy that grew deep within  her swollen belly for nine months.

Love is a funny thing. 

A mothers love grows and multiplies with every smile, every stare and every cry. 

The love I have for my third baby, my miracle boy, is something I cant even describe.

 

I guess the best way to start trying to describe it, would be to begin at the very beginning....

I am far from a spontaneous woman. I think I have become more strict, more regimen, with a thought out plan for everything, after my husband and I had children. Children thrive on schedules and I do too. SO, each time my baby turns two, I know it is time to start planning for the next baby. 

Baby number three was planned, baby number three was prayed over and longed for. When my cycle didn't come that month, I just "knew" baby number three was not only the desire of my heart, but was actually going to happen.

When the magic two-line-sticks didn't read "pregnant" and the cramping in my stomach increased, I tried to stay positive. I prayed more for that baby we had planned for and we waited with great anticipation for two pink lines to appear on those magic sticks.

Nothing.

For being a tough mama, the pains in my stomach got so intense that one evening I begged my husband to take me to the Emergency Room. 

I pictured the worst and feared the unimaginable. Extreme stomach cramping to me, meant I was about to find out I was in fact having an early miscarriage. 

I tried to hold out hope, but my logical mind prepared me for hearing what I had dreaded.

My Internet searching spelt it out in plain text. I was going to be told that I was NOT pregnant, but was, in fact having a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy.

I was angry every time I read the word "early" in front of "miscarriage", it seemed like the writer was trying to downplay the love I already had for the potential baby within me. The truth is, any woman who is trying for a child, already loves that child, there is no early miscarriage, no thought that if you lose a baby in a certain time frame it will be less heartbreaking.

A mothers love is fierce, and it originates with the longing for a child.

I couldn't believe it when my ER visit determined that I was pregnant. 

The doctor said the word "pregnant" and I almost collapsed. 

I had been expectant for the best but had feared the worst. I planned to be there alone, so that my husband wouldn't see me endure the pain I had expected to feel. Instead, I sat there completely flabbergasted before I came to my senses and  ran out of that room, happier than I have ever felt!

In the days to come I used many magic-pee-sticks and NONE of them told me what I had wanted to verify. 

All of them read a big fat "Negative". 

I convinced myself with each trip to the bathroom that I had to have gotten a "botched" test. I told myself the dozen tests or so that I took, were actually wrong and the one the doctor had taken was in fact right.

I spent the next six weeks doubting, questioning, researching and crying.

The day my family doctor sent me for an ultrasound, I felt like I needed a tranquilizer. I was distraught, and again, I was doing it on my own. I was convinced the technician would tell me there was nothing there, since my weekly blood tests proved that my hormones were not doubling like expected. 

I thought back to what should have been my seven week ultrasound, when the ultrasound should have seen something....but the technician had seen nothing.

 My doctor had then given me the option of a D&C. They had explanined that nothing was showing on the ultrasound and that I could have a D&C to clear my uterus and to start again....

 Though I knew they had seen "nothing", my heart told me to wait...

I was on the verge of tears again, for my second ultrasound. 

I knew if I let one tear slip I would be forced to deal with a torrential down pour of tears....

I laid on the ultrasound bed and felt the wand turn and roll over my flat stomach. I couldn't help but reminisce over the last ultrasound, when I had been told the heart breaking news that there was "nothing there"...

I had repeated those words a million times over in my mind since and figured they were about to be repeated....

I waited...

The tech smiled calmly at me and asked how my day was...I didn't want to tell her that I had been so upset that I had been so close to tears (or screaming) all morning long...

I waited some more...

The wand went over and over my skin.

Finally, with a turn of the screen and a smile creeping across her face, the technician pointed to a small white pulsating mark on the screen.

"The heart beat."

I about died.

Right there.

No lie.

"You are kidding??!!!" I screamed.

"Nope." She said, "We dont joke about things like that around here."  

She smiled widely at me and continued to point out the babies legs and arms and the heart. 

The blessed heart!!

It beat and moved and jumped from black to white to white to black and I felt like my own heart would jump out of my chest at any minute.

She carried on, showing me the moving parts, with a happy smile on her face and an inflection in her voice. 

All the while my hand moved from covering my mouth in awe, to clutching my heart in disbelief.

I don't remember leaving that darkened room. 

Apparently I called my mother and my husband and described my complete uber happiness. Apparently I cried in the technicians bathroom until a man knocked on the door to ask if I was ok. Bless his heart.

The next few days are a little more clear, but not so much. 

I rejoiced with my husband but the realist in me didn't get too excited in his presence. When my clothing finally grew more snug, by the day, I began feeling my heart beat a little quicker with excitement. 

At that point I was already twelve weeks pregnant.

Three months.

Three months?!

I couldn't keep the smile off of my face after that!

That meant in six months I could potentially be holding a baby in my arms.

That fact didn't go unnoticed, as we slowly revealed our happy news to our friends and family. 

I became even more protective over my swelling belly after those first few months that were had been filled with fear and the unknown. 

I ate better, acted better and found myself with my hands over my belly saying prayers and positive affirmations any chance I got.

The day I got rear ended on the highway, completely changed my happy little world.... right in its tracks.

Thankfully I walked away unharmed, merely exchanging phone numbers with the person that jolted my car and my life.

I touched my growing stomach more after that, I prayed more for the little baby growing safely with in me and I realized the actual fragility of life after that.

Two weeks later, on the exact same road, meters away from that accident, I got into my second car accident of all time, THIS time, getting hit directly in my drivers side door. I will save you the story (you can read more about what I shared HERE and HERE).

I couldn't believe I was getting hit by another car twice in two weeks. I was in complete shock after inching my drivers side door open with all of my might, and stepping out on to the pavement.... ALIVE?! 

Is this a movie? Seriously, HOW does this happen to someone twice?? And almost in the same spot?!!

I did a lot of soul searching after that.

As much as I willed the whole incident to be a big bad dream, I went into labor that night, my sweet deeply desired baby.... was trying to come early, and before it was ready to.

That night I started four months of being bedridden. 

We had just told the ones we loved that we would be welcoming a baby, and then, in an instant, our dream was almost lost. 

Our doctor told us that without complete bed rest, this baby would come early and would not even be viable at this point.

I could hardly believe I had to tell my employers that I wouldn't be coming back to work, I could hardly believe that me, being my strong self, wasn't able to beat something with my strong will and desire.

Nope, you cant will a baby not to be born. Trust me, I tried.

I didnt know it yet, but I was about to endure five months of complete helplessness from that point forward.

Worst of all, it wasn't about me and my will or the fact that I would be laying horizontal for a few months.

 It was all about the baby inside of me. 

The kicks and the turns had already established in my mind that this baby had a life before it. 

I could picture it.

 I didn't care if the doctors said my baby was not viable....yet. 

I pictured my babies whole life; questioning that becoming a reality was heart and soul breaking.

There is always joy during the trials though....always.

Every day during those five months of bed rest and uncertainty, I began loving the baby within me deeper and stronger. I didnt think it was possible, but with every kick and with every movement I felt the bond between us grow.

 I could picture my unborn babies face and in an instant could be brought to tears. 

I was in love.

The days passed, the night dragged on, and with every passing date on the calendar I saw the movements within me grow stronger and I felt the love for my child growing deeper.

With every passing day I began to believe in the strength of my God and the strength of my child. 

With every day, we became closer to the end. To a healthy baby.

One month passed, then two, then three?!....and before I knew it, my doctor and I were setting new goals. 

"We just want to get you to 34 weeks Lovey...." my obstetrician said one cloudy Wednesday in early spring. 

I didn't see a cloud after that day or feel the cold winds of Spring. 

Nope. 

I was lit up from the inside. 

I knew my baby was strong enough, I knew I held a miracle within me, and my prayers were going to be answered.

When we made it to 34 weeks and then 36 weeks and then 38 weeks I was full of gratitude and baby!!

I could barely waddle into the hospital and I could barely sleep at night but I was expectant with so much joy that I could barely believe we were going to have our long awaited child.

I literally felt like I had won the lottery! 

 

There is so much more to the story, but basically, that nine months of waiting and longing for my child was much needed for what we would have to endure in those first few months of our boys life. 

Those trials made my marriage stronger and my heart stronger and it made my relationship with God stronger then ever. In my weakness He made me strong. As my prayers went unanswered I was taught so much. I learned to trust more and  I learned to love deeper. 

The day our third baby was finally born, was the best day of my life. 

A baby that would look into my eyes and breathe for the first time in our world was all that I had prayed for. 

There were no requirements. I obviously prayed for a healthy baby, as does every mom on earth, but mostly I prayed for the tools to love the baby that was meant for our family. 

I learned to trust, to be patient, to listen, to be happy when I didn't want to be, to be thankful and to love harder.

Someone bigger than me, knew the tools our family would need to raise the baby we were about to hold on to and never let go of.

Our boy, our third baby, Lucas, was born on May 15th, 2012 in the early hours of the morning. 

He has taught us all so much in one single year.

He is truly a piece of heaven; the happiest and easiest baby I have ever known. 

We understand each other and it has been nothing but joy to love him. His smile reaches deep down into my soul and his giggle brings me to tears. He is loving, funny and full of so much happiness, I cant believe so much life fits into a little one year old baby. 

I am so expectant and hopeful for his future. It is bright, like he is, I am sure of it. 

This baby that I begged God to spare. This miracle child. The one who completes me and our family. 

I wouldn't trade him for the world. For two worlds! 

He is beautiful from his heart to the tips of his toes to the top of his head. He has taught so many, so much, it would take too long for one post to explain all the ways he pulls at heartstrings and makes others strive to be better. 

I cant imagine a day without him, or a second without him being in our family. This year has flown by, in a blur of happiness and laughter.  



He does that to us. His siblings adore him and he is the apple of his Daddy's eye. He is our baby and our sweet heart. 
 

We all are beyond proud to have him as ours.

I cant believe we have spent a year loving him and having him love us back!! 



To the boy who is what fairy tales are made of, we love you ohhh so much. May you know today and always that you are loved deeper than the ocean and higher than the sky. May you continually to be blessed by Gods hand and led by His truths. May you always remember that you were prayed for, and loved, before you breathed, before we knew you and before you changed our lives for the better.



Happy first birthday to our walking miracle boy.

We love you to the moon and back.



~Mommy, Daddy and your brother and sister
xoxo
 

Sweet Potato Lasagna (Full of hidden protein too!)

I am the only vegetarian living in our house with little meat lovers. Once in a while I come up with a fabulous concoction where my kids and husband don't miss the meat and we are all still getting a lot of protein in a compact meal.

When it is wildly celebrated by all, I feel that I must share it with YOU.

 

My goal as a super woman mama is to feed my children a well rounded meal with lots of flavor and nutrition. My Sweet potato and veggie lasagna does just that.

This easy sweet potato veggie lasagna can be made in five quick steps and no one will know that it is full of good wholesome protein as well.

Don't be afraid of all the text that you are about to read, this recipe is actually quite easy and I included some extra fast tips to get in made in 20 minutes flat.

First you will need to boil your lasagna noodles, and set them aside. Or, buy the precooked ones in the refrigerated section in your grocery store.

Second, make a marinara sauce. If you don't feel up to making a homemade one, I recommend the Kirkland version sold at Cosco.

If you want to be all Martha Stewart, than feel free to dump the following ingredients in a pan and simmer for 20 minutes.

• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (feel free to use 2-3 cloves fresh)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder (feel free to use 1/2 a fresh onion, minced)
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• Pinch black pepper, to taste

Thirdly you will make your sweet potato mixture:

Long version:

Bake four medium sweet potatoes until a fork can easily penetrate the skin, then peel off the skin and discard, mash up the potato until it is fluffy, add in a tablespoon of flour and a 1/2 cup of liquid egg whites, and one crushed clove of garlic. Mix well. Set Aside.

Easy version:

Strike a knife down the skin of your sweet potato and microwave on high for five minutes, check frequently. Some microwaves have a "potato setting", use it! Mix ingredients like the "long version". Set aside.

Fourthly, make your cottage cheese mixture:  For your cottage cheese mixture take a tub of 1% cottage cheese, any brand, and mix with 1/2 cup of egg whites, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of oregano and a teaspoon of basil and 1/2 a cup of low fat mozzarella cheese. Mix thoroughly. Set aside.

 

Finally, layer your pan with sauce then layer your pasta. Put sauce on top again and then another layer of pasta. Now put on half of your sweet potato mixture and then layer fresh washed baby spinach on top. Add another layer of pasta and then a layer of your cottage cheese and egg whites mixture. Add pasta, sauce, pasta sauce and the remainder of your sweet potato mixture. Add pasta and sauce and then low fat mozzarella cheese on the top.

Bake until the cheese on top is melted and delicious. Because you cooked your pasta noodles first baking time will take 20 minutes in an oven set at 350F. 

With 20 minutes to prepare it and 20 minutes to cook it through, you can have a meal ready for your family that looks like you spent all afternoon preparing it.

Serve to your family and watch the smiles on their faces grow, as well as their little muscles. 

A protein packed lasagna without the meat! Perfection! Super Woman wins one again!

The things I wish I could tell my almost-mama-self.

The things I wish I could tell my almost-mama-self:

You know how intensely you think you will love your future babies, well multiply that by a thousand, and then by a million and that is how much you will really love them. You will love them so much at times, that your heart physically aches. All those times you thought you had your heart broken? They won't compare.

That eight hours of sleep you tell people you need right now in order to function? Well, soon you will enjoy eight hours of sleep a week and you will somehow manage to know your name and to survive. One look into your babies sleepy eyes for the fifth time during one night will make that little sleep all worth while. Hang in there.

You know how you lotion up that big round belly every night and pray to God to keep the dreaded stretch marks from appearing on your skin....save your prayers honey, you will be asking for many more favors after you breast feed that baby for a year.

Remember when you "had" to paint your toe nails during that nesting stage of pregnancy; just "in case" your new born child got a view of your unruly toe nails and became psychologically scarred for life?? Trust me when I say it is not worth the strained back and sides just to sloppily cover your toes/feet with bright red polish. Besides, once that newborn arrives, and your stomach slowly starts to disappear, you wont have time to remove the botched polish job. Every time you look down at your toes after that fact, you will swear you walked through a recent blood bath. Talk about psychological damage.

You know how you dream about afternoons spent snuggling and reading books with babies piled high in your bed? Well, that does happen, but the laundry also piles high too. So, invest in an extra large washer and dryer. Bigger loads of laundry means it gets done faster and you can spend more time reading the same well loved story over and over and over again.

You know how you see little boys in grocery stores, spinning in circles with holes in their pants with little dirty knees sticking out and equally dirty finger nails, and you wonder why that frazzled mother hasn't replaced those filthy pants and why she cant control her energetic boy? Well don't stare too long, that mother is going to be you one day, on a few occasions, and you will long for an encouraging smile instead of a long quizzical stare. Offer a smile up Mama. You will feel better about it too. :)

Time flies once you have babies. Even that week before Christmas and your birthday that always use to take forever to live through, well that doesn't happen after you have kids. Days blur into days and sometimes you wont know what day it is. 
Remember to take a few seconds out of each day to truly appreciating your babies at each challenging stage of baby-hood. Because, before you know it, the days will turn to months and than to years and before they are six, they wont need you for much. Sad truth, but someone had to tell you. Really enjoy your babies, time truly does fly by.

I know you have read every book about what to expect when you are pregnant, and you think you know best and you know what to expect when the time comes to birth that little kicking body out of your body. 
But, please, PLEASE, pick up a book about what to do in the first few weeks of life after you have that little one. 
You will be sleep deprived and emotional and you will have no freaking clue how to read a book about caring for a new born. I would start with knowing how to bathe a new baby. You will thank me when you have to plug your nose through their first diaper explosion while holding onto their slippery bodies.

Always kiss those babies goodnight. I know you think you will. You are already prepared to be the best mama ever! But, life happens and a new baby might keep you from spending good quality time with your older littles. 
A kiss can go a long way. A simple kiss can make your big babies feel safe in their beds and one simple kiss can help drift them off into sweet dream land, not to mention they will always remember the few times you didn't kiss them goodnight. When they are even bigger than they are now and they dont want to be kissed to sleep, you will wish for the days when they cried for you to tuck them in for the fifth time in one evening.

Whatever you do, please never compare yourself to other mamas. You are you. There are other mamas you will see who seem to have it all together, and it wont take you long to want to be more like them. You will wonder why their kids listen the first time and why their house is spotless (even when you try to trick them by "dropping in" for an unannounced visit.) You will wonder why you don't hear them hollering at their littles and how they are able whisper in a sing song way that draws their children's attention in. You will wonder why you haven't talked in a normal way in years, and why you are always hollering over the deafening noise that fills your house. 

Well STOP THAT Mama! Stop all of that Mama.

You are you, and you are the best Mama for your babies. 

They were matched to you and you are the only one in the world capable of loving them as deeply as you do. The only one who would pass up sleep to stare at the angelic face of your sleeping baby. The only one who can look at your Mama body with pride at the scars it now carries as proof of the journey it has endured to bring life into this world. You are the one who has gone without pampering because you would rather spend your time and your moula on your family. You are the one who has memorized favorite books along with every freckle on your child's spindly arms from the hours you have held each other. You are the one who has sewed holes in clothing and kissed tiny dirty knees better. You are the one who has tucked children in like "tortillas", the way you can only do, and you are the only one who can give butterfly kisses the way you do. Your kisses are treasured. You are the one who has continued to read every book that has ever been written on parenting; you do it out of love and have committed to changing for the better in order to be whatever your babies need you to be. 

You are perfect the way you are Mama. 

You will doubt yourself often, you will wonder if you are loving your babies enough, teaching your children the depths of kindness, letting them play too many video games, giving them too much attention, not giving them enough, and even, sometimes, you will question if they love you a fraction of the amount that you love them.

Don't give up mama. Don't compare yourself mama. You are trying your best and those babies know it. 

They know that nothing can compare to the way you unconditionally love and accept them. They show you with the special looks they give you in public, the hugs they give you at home and the way they need YOU, their mama, forever. 

This is the biggest journey of your life and the best adventure you will ever begin. 

The thing with being a mama? The adventure never ends. Those babies, your babies, are always with you. No matter where they go or for how long they are away. 

Enjoy the adventure sweet mama, and enjoy today. 

Happy Mothers Day!

With Love, Your babies future Mama.

(Loving on two of my three sweet blessings!)

Happy Mothers Day from our family to yours. 

If you are a woman who has loved or cared for another, than today is about YOU! 

It doesn't matter how that life was connected to yours or how long you have loved another, the only thing that makes you a Mama is whether or not your life has been changed by the love of a child.

Today we pause to celebrate YOU.  

We hope you feel appreciated today and that you see the beauty of life in the ones before you.

xoxo 

A dining room problem solved

I have project OCD. 

NO lie. 

I have a full blown problem when it comes to finishing one project and then moving on to a second.

I can become so passionate about starting one particular project, but as soon as I hit a glitch in the project-road, I will put it aside and move on to my newest project of the hour.

Hence our home business, my rattan chair I shared on Instagram and our dining room.... to name a few. ;)

You might wonder what could be wrong with our dining room. 

I shared what it looked like HERE.

Everything about our dining room and our table set is perfectly fine, maybe the fact that it is a "set" was the part that was throwing me off. 

We purchased our pub style table and chairs eight years ago when we got married. We loved the fact that the table turned into one that could sit eight! We were always the friends that were hosting gatherings at our place every weekend and the idea of more seating made total sense at the time.

It was great while it lasted, but that pub height table was not conducive with little bodies that needed a ladder in order to sit in one of the high style chairs. I also despised the fact that our house was so monochromatic. In a last attempt to add some texture, I reupholstered the chairs for the second time.

It became very apparent this year when our son started full time school, that the high style chairs were keeping our little family from truly enjoying our dining area.

His homework time was spent jumping up and down from the high top table and loosing focus. I knew a smaller, regular size table would be better suited for our growing family of littles.

Hence the hunt began.

I knew we wanted a classic looking chair with a bit of a vintage and traditional edge.

found HERE www.makingitlovely.com

A Thatcher or Windsor style chair was the style I was immediately drawn to.

The only problem, I wish they were a bit wider and had some arms on them...hmmmm...

This beauty was found Here

Oh yah, and the price of this pretty chair was waayyyy out of our growing family budget.

This solid maple Thatcher style chair stained in ebony was $300 a piece!!

I have finally talked my husband into replacing our table by convincing him that we needed to utilize a leather bench I had originally purchased for our salon. (It didn't end up working in the space, but was such a good deal that I knew we needed to keep it. (Hubby would say that was the hoarder in me talking))

The problem was that the bench was a dark black leather with a red oak leg, we would need to incorporate the style of the bench with any table we would consider purchasing.

The following magazine exhort was found here, I just loved how it showed a bench about the same size as ours with a table; the chairs just happen to be awesome too.

 The white upholstered bench on the right is almost the exact replica of what we have in black leather. 

This particular article convinced me on my idea to mismatch Thatcher style chairs with a bulky bench.

So, we have been looking and searching our local thrift stores, consignment stores and kijiji sites. (Like an American Craisgslist ;)) ever since.

Shhhhh, I finally have a dining set in my possession, sitting on my deck, basking in the sun, with black matte paint drying on it. 

Eeeeek! Im so excited! 

I cant wait to show you what I have been up to and how we are changing our dining room while sticking to a limited budget!

Now, to go put another layer of paint on my beautiful new chairs that I can hardly wait to share with you!

Sharing and getting inspired at:
My Romantic Home
Jennifer Rizzo
Craftberry Bush Link Party
Common Ground
Liz Marie
Tatertots and Jello