June 2015 - Adventure, baby!

Month: June 2015

Pros And Cons Of Travel With Little Kids

June 24, 2015 / Travel, Travel with kids / 8 Comments

As we’ve done a lot of travel with Cheese since she was only 3 months old, this is something I get asked a lot. We travelled for necessity – from New York back to Australia and Hawaii to see family, and to Canada to get our visas renewed. If we hadn’t needed to travel so much we would have probably been too scared to do so, as Cheese was a really tough baby, toddler, and, let’s face it, a tough preschooler. Being forced to travel was actually great because it made us get out and experience the world and create wonderful memories instead of staying home and just keeping to local, easy experiences. I wanted to share a few pros and cons of travelling with little kids.

PROS:

You still get to travel
My husband and I love travelling passionately. It’s an integral part of who we are. We were determined that when we had a kid that our travel would resume as soon as possible. We didn’t expect parenthood to be as hard as it was, but we are getting on with the difficulties while still seeing the world. We don’t want to wait until Cheese grows up to see everything we want to see – we want to experience as much as we can while we are also still young and fit enough to enjoy it. As I write this, we are in Barcelona, about to head out for tapas lunch. Travelling with a little kid is obviously a lot different than pre-kid (goodbye lazy mornings and romantic nights fueled by sangria!) but it is still incredibly enjoyable. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t do it. Adapt to the changes and travel is still wonderful, with kids of any age.

Your kid grows up a world citizen
Cheese is an American and Australian citizen. As well as significant travel in these two countries, she’s also been to Canada, Mexico, Spain and soon London. And she’s only 3. She already adapts to different cultures easily and speaks handfuls of Italian and Spanish. She understands what different languages mean and is able to confidently interact with people no matter what they look like or what language they speak. She is already a world citizen.

The memories are priceless
The years we spent in New York are among the best in my life. Each trip we have taken has been challenging, but has created memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Cheese at 1.5 yrs stroking a dolphin in Hawaii. At 2.5 yrs dashing down a beach in Mexico. At 3.5 yrs dancing in a rainbow inside the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Young kids are cheap
The younger your kid is, the cheaper it is to travel with them. Babies are free for everything, and kids up to a certain age get free transport/entry/hotel pull out beds. This trip to Barcelona, we’ve only had to pay for Cheese’s flight and food.

CONS:

It’s exhausting
I won’t lie, it’s really hard work travelling with a little kid. Jetlag is a killer – the first few mornings in Barcelona we were all up at 4am. Having a little kid means there is no such thing as a relaxing time either, it’s constantly go go go to keep them entertained.

You see and do less
Travel with a little kid means changing your expectations of what you’re going to see and do in any location. Less galleries and historical walking tours and more playgrounds and kid-friendly outings like castles.

All in all, it’s worth it to us to travel while Cheese is still young. We have such itchy feet that we can’t seem to live any other way.

What about you? Do you travel a lot with young kids?

There And Back Again, An Ex-Expat’s Tale

June 12, 2015 / Expat, Travel / 5 Comments

It’s a year since we uprooted our lives and moved back to Sydney. The year has been so hard, like I wrote about here for the WSJ, but it’s also been rewarding.

I haven’t written much about our move because at the time it was too painful. My dad suffered a sudden fatal arrhythmia at the end of January, which landed him in the ICU without much hope of recovery. We received the call in the middle of the night in New York and jumped on the first plane home. The two days we had in transit were hell. All I could think of was that it had been two years since I’d seen my dad, and two years since he’d seen his only grandchild, and how neither of us might ever speak with him again. On a guilt and remorse scale, I was at 100 out of 10.

Back in Australia, my dad made a slow, miraculous recovery, and we decided that our family needed to be together, for all of our sakes. For my parents to develop a close relationship with Cheese, and for me to spend as much time with them as possible, too.

Leaving behind a life I loved with my whole heart was difficult, but I was lucky to have another life to go back to that was in a safe, beautiful country, and filled with friends and family. So really, it wasn’t a hardship to anything other than my wanderlust.

A year in, and we are happy. Cheese and her grandparents are close. She loves spending time with them. Nothing makes her happier than when she asks what we’re doing that day and I say we’re visiting Nana and Pop-pop. Her little face lights up and she dances her way down to the car with joy. This is why we made the sacrifice. The most important thing in life is what’s best for our child, and being with loved ones. I might regret leaving behind the life I’d always dreamed of having in New York, but that’s nothing compared to what we’ve gained by being back in Australia, and how much I would have regretted not moving back.

Life as an expat is exciting. It’s a life-changing adventure that is hard to say goodbye to if you’re not ready. What I struggled with the most with was finding a place where I belonged back in Australia when my heart was in New York.

A year in though, and things are good. They’re more than good – we are happy. I’ve found a new blogging community, reconnected with old friends and even made some new ones. Cheese is loving preschool and being able to run around outdoors every day of the year (ok, except for the torrential tropical rain days we occasionally get in Sydney).

I look back at my time in New York as some of the best years of my life so far – and I expect of my entire life. I’ve been away long enough to appreciate the good and bad in both countries, and to love both my homes. The energy and thrill of life in New York, and the natural beauty and warm climate of Australia. Both homes are beautiful. I am blessed.

That’s the thing about being an expat. When you get attached to your new “home”, what does that mean for your old one if you do go back? I like to think that we have two homes, and that home is where your heart lives, not just your shoes. New York will forever be our home. It’s where Cheese was born. Where I was born again as a mother. It’s where I struggled with the hardest year of my life with a new baby, and came out the other side a stronger person. And yet, Sydney is forever my home too. My place of birth, where I spent my entire childhood, where my family and majority of friends all live. And my ties to Sydney go even deeper, still. I feel a connection to Australia that runs in my blood. A pride of my homeland and a sense of belonging, no matter how long I travel abroad. Two homes. Will there be more?

We are heading off on Saturday on an around the world adventure, including our first trip back to New York after leaving. I’m excited and a little nervous. How will it feel to be back? Will it be hard to leave?

Living A Small Life

June 11, 2015 / Writing / 24 Comments

At the ripe old age of 35 I’ve come to the realisation that there are a lot of things I will not be in this life time. A professional ballet dancer, which was my earliest wish. An Olympic Athlete, which was my dream as a teenager. I’m probably not going to be someone who creates the next Facebook, or comes up with life changing medical advancements either. In short, now and then I feel a bit down that I’m not going to “achieve” that much in my life as I had hoped as a child. I worry I haven’t fulfilled my potential. That I’m not a “success” in anything.

When I shake myself out of my self pity party, I take a look around myself and see some beautiful things. I’m a wife to a great guy. A daughter to wonderful parents. A sister, sister-in-law and aunt. I’m a friend to a lot of smart, kind and loving people and I’m the mum to a kid I feel blessed to hold every day. I’m healthy and we are financially stable. Things are pretty good here.

My self pity comes from my own and also society’s expectations and definitions of success. I’m not a CEO, or a director or an engineer. I’ve struggled for years to define myself as a professional. What do I do? For years I worked in advertising at what’s renowned as the best company in the world to work for, but didn’t find the world fulfilling. I had big numbers to hit and, while I did my job well, I was more interested in other things, like creating websites, writing copy, making videos, social and marketing.

I’ve hesitated to write down my “profession” on a business card or website as until now I really didn’t know what to say. All the words felt so limiting when written down – too small to describe the scope of what I did and when put together, a rag tag bunch of descriptions that made me sound like a very confused person. Writer. Photographer. Editor. Social media and marketing strategist. I’m all of these things, but also not any of them.

I’ve finally realised that what I am is a storyteller. What makes me happy, and has always made me happy, is telling stories. When I was younger, I used to enjoy making up stories, but in recent years I’ve loved telling real stories – mine and of other people. Not big, hard hitting news stories, or words that become manifestos, but the smaller, quiet words that make up our day-to-day lives. The words that aren’t really that important, but are at the same time, because they reflect who we truly are at the heart of our lives. Our stories, as simple as they are, are worth telling and recording.

Storytellers have always been a critical part of human society. The people who document life and pass on folk lore to the next generation. The observers, the watchers, the ones who are good at noticing and remembering.

If this is my purpose, it’s a pretty good thing to be. It’s a small life, a quiet one, but one that is beautiful and worth having.

What about you? Tell me what’s beautiful about your life.

What I Know About My Parents Now That I Am One

June 7, 2015 / Family / 0 comment

Our parents are the lynch pins of our lives in many ways. They’re the force that gave us life, cared and provided for us, and taught us about the world. I’ve always looked up to my own parents with love and admiration but once I had a child of my own, I began to see them in a whole new light.

They were sleep deprived
My mother always tells me about my brother’s refusal to go to sleep at night. My dad would have to get the car out and drive in circles around the block to get my brother to go to sleep in the car seat and then transfer him into his bed. Even though I obviously knew that my parents raised us from babies, the details of our babyhood were never really talked about that much until I had a child of my own—and now the funny stories won’t stop coming!

They did their best
I thought my parents were experts in parenting when I was a kid. So, of course, any mistakes they made were a horrible let down because of my expectation of perfection. I was a pretty horrid teenager in retrospect. I judged my parents, criticizing what I saw as their failings and, basically, was an ungrateful brat. I always saw the ways they failed (like if they said the wrong thing, or gave me the wrong gift) instead of where they succeeded. What I see now is parents who loved their kids a huge amount and tried their very hardest to make them happy—parents who were just regular people, muddling their way through this parenting business, who made mistakes and got things wrong, too. They did a pretty darn good job.

They put us first
My mom was a public school teacher. She left her job after my brother was born and didn’t work again until I started preschool at age 5. She was out of the work force for eight years, and didn’t have child care if she ever needed a break from us kids. Her career probably took a big hit but her focus was always on what was best for us. Now I’m facing my own dilemma finding a balance between raising my child and working, I feel the enormity of the personal sacrifice my mother made to stay home with us.

They sacrificed a lot
I remember my weekends as a kid as a blur of dance classes and birthday parties. My parents remember their weekends of my childhood as a blur of driving me and my brother all over the city, and waiting for us to finish whatever it was we were doing so they could drive us back home again. I actually cringe when I think of how I took this for granted. I never once thought that maybe they wanted to do something on a Saturday except chauffeur me around. Now that I drive my daughter around I get it—I don’t want thanks because I enjoy her enjoyment but I do now tell my parents how grateful I am for their time.

They showed us the world
One of the absolute best memories from my childhood is a wonderful eight week trip we took to Hong Kong, London, Europe and Egypt. I constantly pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. This trip (back in the late ‘80s) must have cost my parents a fortune and they had obviously saved up for a very long time. It was the one big family trip we did all together. While I’m sure they enjoyed the trip immensely, I’m also sure they had no way of knowing the effect it would have on my and my brother’s lives. This wonderful experience opened my eyes to a world outside of my little suburbia. It gave me the wanderlust bug that hasn’t stopped moving my heart and feet all around the world. We were a family who were big on experiences rather than material things and it’s a lesson I am trying to replicate now for my daughter.

They loved me hard
And still do! My whole childhood I felt loved, but it wasn’t until I had a child of my own that I really saw, for the first time, everything my parents did for me through the eyes of an adult. I finally felt the magnitude of their love for me—and it was humbling.

This article first appeared on MommyNearest.

70 Signs You’re A Sleep Deprived Parent

June 7, 2015 / Family / 0 comment

We’ve all been there—some of us are there right now. You’re tired and on the verge of collapsing. Everything is a little fuzzy. You probably already know that you’re a sleep deprived parent. But just in case you aren’t 100% sure, here are some of the ways you can tell you need a good night’s sleep.

1. You put the milk in the cupboard.

2. You put a teabag in a cup to steep and discover it the next day.

3. You don’t know what day of the week it is.

4. You go to the kitchen to get something out of a drawer and by the time you get there you’ve forgotten what you needed.

5. Your kid is running around with no undies on because you forgot to give them a fresh pair after their last accident.

6. When you roll out of bed, heaven help anyone who tries to talk to you before you get your first hit of caffeine.

7. You made coffee with cold water because you forgot to boil the kettle.

8. You find yourself napping at work.

9. You mistake your hairspray for deodorant.

10. You wash your hair with body wash.

11. You keep signing forms with your maiden name even though you changed it when you got married more than two years ago.

12. You try to put the bread away but end up putting paper bags into plastic bags and forget the bread entirely.

13. You’re calling the children by the pet’s name and vice versa.

14. You make your child a cheese sandwich, put it in the fridge and give your child a giant block of cheese instead.

15. You walked away from the ATM without taking your money.

16. You stop at the green lights while driving.

17. You look everywhere for your sunglasses that are perched on your head.

18. You find cartons of milk in the freezer from who knows how long ago.

19. You pour mouthwash into your contact lens case instead of saline.

20. You find your watch in the crisper.

21. You give the kids “top and tail” wipe downs at night to avoid bath time drama.

22. Your phone is always missing, usually turning up in the fridge.

23. You try to plug the phone charger into the baby instead of the phone.

24. You put cat food into your salad instead of tuna.

25. You find yourself spitting toothpaste straight onto the floor instead of the sink while brushing your teeth.

26. You make your kids dinner earlier so that you can trick them to go to bed earlier.

27. You make forts in the living room so the kids can play by themselves and you can lay on the cushions and still supervise with one eye open.

28. If you have a newborn in particular, you haven’t washed or changed your clothes (except undies) for over a week.

29. You put Desitin on your toothbrush instead of toothpaste.

30. You find your umbrella in the fridge.

31. While holding your baby, you ask your spouse where the baby is.

32. You wash your hands with moisturizer.

33. You lose your keys, cups, debit card and find them all in the trash. At least you know where to look when you “lose” things!

34. You have trouble making a cup of tea—you make it with no water, or make a cup then put in the fridge (leaving the milk on the counter) or you make a cup of tea minus the tea.

35. You roll on insect repellent instead of deodorant.

36. During the night, you roll over in bed to pat and shush your husband.

37. You walked out of the house all “done up” with make up, nice hair and a nice dress, but wearing fluffy pink Ugg boots.

38. You give the baby a scoop of cereal and a scoop of coffee for breakfast.

39. You wear your T-shirts inside out.

40. You sign an email with “xxxxx” to your boss.

41. You pour milk into the coffee machine tank.

42. You fall asleep standing up while rocking the baby to sleep.

43. You try to answer the phone with the TV remote.

44. You sleep in the same clothes you wore during the day and just stay in them them next day because hey, you’re already dressed, right?

45. You ask a question and forget the answer the moment it was given and have to repeat the question.

46. You want to call your friends at 6am. You’ve been up since 4am with the baby after all, so 6am seems like a decent time to call.

47. You lie down to “play” with the baby but you’re secretly having a two-second power nap before getting hit with a toy.

48. You put your newborn’s diaper on the toddler.

49. You catch the train home from work and then remember that you drove to work that day.

50. You turn up to your child’s “meet the teacher” appointment…a week early.

51. You put cayenne pepper on your cereal instead of cinnamon.

52. You try to open your front door using the car keys.

53. You wash your face twice because you can’t remember if you washed it the first time.

54. You put your undies on inside out or backwards.

55. You answer your phone when the baby’s toy one rings in the stroller.

56. You find a pair of undies in your hair that you mistook for a scrunchie.

57. Strangers stop you in the street to tell you your dress is on backwards/tucked into your underpants.

58. You’ve left the house in very wrong shoes.

59. You cracked an egg into the garbage bin and put the shell in the pan.

60. You’ve poured your smoothie/coffee/wine into a sippy cup.

61. You step into the shower in your pajamas.

62. You rock the cart at the supermarket when you’re there without your baby. And sometimes, it’s not even your own cart, but a stranger’s cart that you’ve accidentally walked off with.

63. You put salt in your coffee instead of sugar.

64. You microwave your iPhone instead of a heat pack.

65. You book your child into classes in the wrong borough.

66. You catch the train to work on a Saturday.

67. You roll insect repellant onto your face instead of sunscreen.

68. You forget your ATM pin number that you’ve had for 20 years.

69. You tell strangers your baby’s name is Justin when they ask (when in fact, it’s actually Jonathan).

70. You try to fold the stroller down with the baby still inside it.

This article was first published on MommyNearest.

To Market, To Market! Market Basket Giveaway

June 5, 2015 / Giveaway, Product Reviews / 12 Comments

I am so obsessed with bags. Not fancy pants handbags (although I love them too!) but mostly bags that I can use to carry all the stuff around that I have to lug now I have a kid. I’ve tried all kinds of backpacks and shoulder bags, and I’m currently really enjoying the Market Basket.

This really cute Market Basket was introduced to Australia by Lindy McLeod. The baskets have been used in France for a long time by women to carry their fresh produce in. I’m a strong believer in using recyclable bags for groceries rather than plastic anyway, so I really love that this basket does double duty for me. I can use it for my grocery shopping, and also for all of Cheese’s stuff that I inevitably need to take with us, like water bottle, snacks, spare clothes and toys.

These baskets are genuine French-style market baskets imported from Morocco. Each one is uniquely handmade using traditional methods, and is made of strips of woven palm leaves from a species of date palm – Phoenix Dactylifera. The strips are then sewn together and the basket built up in “rounds” into the traditional triangle shape, variations of which can be found in countries all around the Mediterranean. The handles are of genuine Moroccan leather and firmly fixed to the baskets so they won’t pull off. Handles are either short so the baskets can be carried in the hand or on the elbow, or longer to go over the shoulder.

The lovely Lindy send me a Market Basket “Mia” to test drive. I was full of intentions to use mine to get the groceries, but this happened when I tried to take it out the door. Cheese also loved my beautiful new basket and hijacked it to use as a toy carrier. It was so adorable I couldn’t resist taking a few photos (please excuse my messy apartment in the background! There’s nothing like spontaneous photos to show up when you need to tidy up.).

The market basket is also great for the beach (not that it’s beach weather in Sydney right now!). The basket is fine to get wet, but needs to be hung up after use to allow for drying thoroughly.

GIVEAWAY! WIN A “MIA” MARKET BASKET

Lindy at Market Basket is offering one lucky reader the chance to win their own Mia Market Basket. (RRP $49). To enter, fill in the form below and tell me what you’d use your basket for.

Entry open to Australian and US residents. The most creative answer will win. This is not a game of chance. Competition is open Friday June 5 2015 to 11:59pm Wed June 10 2015. For full terms and conditions click here for Aussies and here for the U.S.

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Thanks so much to Market Basket for sending me the basket for reviewing purposes.

What To Pack When Flying With Kids

June 5, 2015 / Travel, Travel with kids / 2 Comments

I’ve racked up a lot of flights with Cheese – we’ve done over 10 long haul flights with her (over 10 hours each), and a bunch of shorter ones too, so we have flying with a little one pretty much down pat. As she gets a bit older, I adjust what we pack for each flight to compensate for her growth and changes in interests, but the core items remain the same.

Snacks
I never take my preschooler ANYWHERE without snacks, and air travel is no exception. On long-haul flights, it really pays to have these Thermos containers to keep food and drink at the right temperature. My faves are the Thermos FUNtainer Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Food Jar for food like fruit and cheese (keeps food cold for up to 7 hours) and the Foogo and FUNtainer Stainless Steel Vacuum Drink Bottles with silicone straws – both of which keep contents cool for up to 12 hours (I use ours for milk and water). These containers are all leak-proof so I don’t have to worry about the contents spilling all through our bags. If you run out of milk, the airline staff will usually refill it for you. I also love these Tupperware snack cups and fill them with things like rice crackers.

Entertainment
I always pack a few new things that Cheese hasn’t seen before, plus a couple of favourites that I can count on to occupy her time. This trip, I’m relying heavily on magnets to keep Cheese busy, particularly these T.S. Sure Daisy Girls Mermaids, Alphabet and Numbers and Princess and Fairies Magnetic Tins from Bobble Art. What’s great about them is they have their own containers to keep everything together, and hey, they’re magnetic, so it’s harder to loose pieces. A little blank notebook, pens and stickers (these are from Pipsticks), some mess-free colouring books and a blind Palace Pets toy bag (top right of the picture) complete our pack of fun new things. My strategy is to take out one thing at a time when she starts getting particularly fussy, and to try and drag them out for as long as possible so the entertainment value lasts longer.

These are two of Cheese’s must-haves for basically leaving the house. The iPad (loaded up with brand new games for our trip) and a dolly for her to engage in imaginative play. The cute doll in the picture is a Tiger Tribe “Ava” Rag Doll. Cheese loves having a soft doll to take with her to be her little buddy and loves to play with her particularly on flights and in hotels. Along with the iPad we are taking these kid-friendly headphones by Nabi.

Comforts
I always pack my daughter’s favourite blanket, which is a Dream Blanket by aden + anais that she has had since birth. It keeps her warm on flights, isn’t covered in other people’s germs like the ones provided by airlines, and also gives her the familiarity of an item she loves from home when we are travelling.

Practical
We love the Trunki for travelling with Cheese – having her pull her own case and then sit on it while we pull her along is vastly easier than having to carry her now she is basically out of the stroller.

Now Cheese is almost four, I’m also packing on this trip a Trunki BoostApack, which is a backpack that turns into a car booster seat. Cheese JUST makes the height and weight requirements, which I’m thrilled about, as we no longer will have to book cars with car seats on our travels when we have this booster seat.

30 Things I Never Thought I’d Say Before Becoming a Parent

June 4, 2015 / Family, Kids / 2 Comments

I had all kinds of best intentions before my daughter was born. I was going to be kind, patient and wise. I wasn’t going to yell or swear or judge. I was going to be the very model of perfect parent who my daughter would adore. Sound familiar? So far, my sage words of life wisdom haven’t been heard by my preschooler’s tiny ears so much as this barrage of “please dont’s” and poo talk. How many of these 30 sentences have you said to your child today?

1. Good job on your poo, honey!

2. Stop calling me “poo bum.”

3. It’s not nice to keep yelling “poo poo bum bum.”

4. Wipe the poo out of your front business.

5. Keep your pants on.

6. Undies to sit on the couch, no bare bums.

7. Don’t put that in your mouth.

8. Don’t put that up your nose.

9. Don’t touch anything in the bathroom.

10. It’s not nice to “kill” people.

11. Stop licking my face.

12. Don’t sit on the dog.

13. Don’t kiss the dog’s face.

14. Don’t lick my jeans.

15. Stop carrying the dog by its neck.

16. You need to wear pants to school.

17. Don’t spit water in other people’s face.

18. Stop hitting me on the bottom.

19. Use your words.

20. Using myself in the 3rd person: “Mommy loves you!”

21. Don’t drink the pool water.

22. Don’t drink the bathwater.

23. Get your fingers out of your nose.

24. Can you please pee in the toilet today, not your pants?

25. Mommy doesn’t want your boogers wiped all over her face.

26. Don’t touch the poo on the floor!

27. Don’t wipe your snot on your clothes.

28. Stop yelling at me!

29. I know, it’s sad that ice doesn’t shoot out of your shoes like Elsa.

30. Mommy needs a break!

This article first appeared on MommyNearest.

My Life Didn’t Have “No Meaning” Pre-Kid

June 4, 2015 / Family / 0 comment

I can’t help but roll my eyes when I hear people say things like, “My life didn’t have meaning before I had a baby.” Seriously? These people must have had pretty boring lives pre-kids. I love my daughter and I love my life with her, but you know what? My life before I had her was pretty awesome too! Here’s a little tribute to my old life—may you rest in peace.

1. I had time for my husband
Like, all the time in the world. He was the center of my attention and I put a lot of time and effort into him and our relationship. I’d do little special things for him, like going out of my way to make his favorite dinner (even though I’m a pretty average cook), or writing him love letters and leaving them in places for him to discover. We were a pretty loving couple and it was wonderful being the focus of all of one person’s attention and love in return.

2. My dogs were my babies
My two little fur babies were the next biggest focus of my time. In addition to pampering them and giving them all of my attention after my husband, they were spoiled with non-stop belly rubs and ear scratches—something that they don’t get so often these days as they do tail tugs and neck hugs courtesy of our preschooler.

3. Traveling was important
I love to travel to new places and explore cities all over the world. Before we had our daughter, my husband and I found a lot of joy in our travels through learning about different cultures and immersing ourselves in world history. Our trips were at a different speed and tone. Sitting in silence in cathedrals. Flying in a helicopter over the cliffs of Kauai. Climbing mountains in the south of France to visit the ruins of Cathar castles. It was all wonderful.

4. Developing a career
I really enjoyed working and growing my career with no other distractions. I could devote time to my job without it taking away from time with anyone else, and still leaving time for family, friends and the man who became my husband. When at work I was able to focus on the tasks at hand and not be wondering if being there was or wasn’t the right choice.

5. Investing time in myself
With so much spare time I was able to really enjoy hobbies. I dabbled in life drawing and sewing. I blogged and went on evening photography walks. I had so much energy that I played basketball at night and took dance classes and rock climbed on weekends. Being active like this made me happy and would still make me happy if I was able to return to doing it! I was able to indulge myself with nights out dancing with friends at a moments notice and sleep away a hangover the next morning without someone peeling back my eyelids. I found meaning and joy in all of these little inconsequential things that added up to my life.

I feel like we need to celebrate all the stages of our lives loud and proud. Admitting I loved my pre-kid life doesn’t mean I don’t love my current one. People who never have kids are leading amazing meaning-filled lives, as are people who are retired and exploring on their own, or teenagers taking a gap year to discover themselves before starting college. There is meaning and value at every stage life brings us, and I’m all for enjoying each moment as much as possible, and then bidding a fond goodbye as the next stage beckons us in.

This article first appeared on MommyNearest.

28 Signs Your Child Is “Spirited”

June 4, 2015 / Family, Kids / 0 comment

If you have a child who is all systems go from dawn till dusk, and whose emotions run high 24/7, it’s likely you have a spirited child. If the giant bags under your eyes as you feverishly reach for your third coffee of the day aren’t enough of a giveaway that you’re living with a “spirited” child, here are a few other signs that might be familiar with…

1. Your child bounces out of bed every morning at 7am, 6am, 5am or earlier.

2. Food is consumed on the go because they don’t sit down long enough to eat.

3. “Sleeping through the night” is myth perpetuated by people with less-spirited children.

4. If you take your child to a cafe they get up and down from their place and generally run around until it’s time to go. Their bottom may or may not ever actually touch a seat.

5. Every decision is a battle. Yes, it’s raining and you need a jacket. No, sandals are not appropriate for a hurricane.

6. They bounce all day long and refuse to nap.

7. They even bounce into and on their bed at bedtime, and you end up pleading/begging/bribing them to go to sleep.

8. You usually get a visitor during the evening when you’re asleep—sometimes more than once a night.

9. No matter how active you keep your child during the day, it never wears them out.

10. Your child literally passes out asleep in the middle of singing, chatting and insisting they’re not ready for bed.

11. At preschool, your child is the one who wants to play chasing, hiding and dress up games all day long, when other kids like to draw, look at a book or have a nap.

12. Meltdowns are around every corner. It’s a minefield out there.

13. If you cut their sandwich in triangles instead of squares, they’ll cry like they’ve been stabbed.

14. You have to meet with your child’s preschool teacher yet again because he or she has been throwing things/stamping her foot/being generally defiant again.

15. Other people’s kids look pretty easy to you, even when there are three of them and you only have the one.

16. You answer the question “When are you having another child?” with, “Are you crazy?”

17. A trip to the playground is an activity that needs close monitoring as your child is always the one who wants to climb equipment for older kids, or tries to follow bigger children when they climb up giant trees.

18. At the end of the day, you are so exhausted that the mere thought of going anywhere, like, say, the gym, is a hilarious joke.

19. When it’s time to leave a playground, your child cries as if you’d told them they can never play again.

20. Saying goodbye to a friend? It’s like they’re never going to set eyes on their face again.

21. When things don’t go their way, the tears and foot stamping are almost enough to make you give in, just to shut them up.

22. Your child has extremely good vocal projection. Lovely when they sing, not so much when they’re yelling “no no no no no no!”

23. Playtime at home involves climbing over the backs of couches and on top of kitchen cabinets. It can also involve launching oneself off of these pieces of furniture.

24. You use words to describe your child like “intense,” “high energy” and “emotional”—and they’re only three years old.

25. You’re dreading the teen years because the toddler years and preschool years have been emotionally exhausting already.

26. When your child actually wants to focus, they can get so immersed in what they’re doing that disrupting them is a last resort (see #12).

27. You get sick of hearing the word “please” because the context is usually, “please can I?” and it’s repeated a million times until you give in.

28. You wish you could capture all that energy and bottle it. All of that enthusiasm could power your house for a year.

This article fist appeared on MommyNearest.