Perfect Easter Weekend

I love this time of year in Montreal!  We've been hibernating for so long during the winter that I find it so exciting to hear and see the Canada Geese flying overhead, seeing the buds on the trees start to appear, and seeing the tulips emerging from the ground.  Everybody is out and about - I even saw a women sunbathing on her balcony in her bikini on Friday.  This year was especially great because my boys are getting bigger and it's getting easier to take them out by myself.  It was actually pleasant going to the park this weekend.  Instead of both of them running in opposite directions (like toddlers do sometimes) they were playing together and (gasp) taking turns!  I was scared to pinch myself in fear that I would wake up to see that it was only a dream :)  It's nice to see that despite all the difficult behaviour that they often show- they are capable of playing together really nicely. It's also very exciting to know that, as time goes on, I will be able to go on more and more outings with them by myself without fear of losing one of them or having a nervous breakdown!  If the sun clears later today I might even attempt the ecomuseum.

Toddler Nightime Woes

Nightime is always unpredictable at my house.  With two little boys aged 2 and 3 I often find one crawling into my bed in the middle of the night.  I don't mind- I just pick them up, plop them next to me and we can all have a good night's sleep.  The problem occurs when both wake up at the same time!  This is one of the moments when being a single mom is the most difficult. Putting them both in bed with me doesn't work because one always bothers the other one usually my 2 year old bothering his older brother.  If I bring them back to their room, I end up awake between them trying to coax them back to sleep.  Last night was one of those nights. We tried to stay in the same bed, didn't work.  I brought my 2 year old back to his bed and asked my three year old to stay in my bed.  Just as I was lying next to my two year old in his bed and he's almost asleep, my three year old comes in the room.  Wakes us all up again.  Now they are both in their own beds and I am still with my two year old in his little toddler bed.... Just when I'm sure that he is now sleeping and I can finally return to my own bed- he meows (pretending to be a cat).  As funny as that sounds (two year olds are so unpredicatable) it is very frustrating at 4:30 in the morning!  I stayed for about 20 minutes more- finally they are both asleep.  Of course, by then it was 5:15 in the morning, half an hour before my alarm goes off.  Being a mother of two toddlers is never without surprises!

Toddlers and Vegetables

I have two boys and if I were to combine their eating habits, they would be very good eaters eating a wonderfully balanced diet!  The problem is that one eats the vegetables, the other eats the meat.  I'm not too concerned about the one who doesn't like meat because he does eat chicken, peanut butter beans, milk- he's still getting his protein.  My son who doesn't like vegetables is a more complex issue. If I make a chicken fried rice with vegetables, he can actually take his fork and expertly manipulate it to get the rice and avoid the vegetables- great for his hand-eye-coordination but not so great for his nutrition.  I've seen a lot of recipes on ways to sneak vegetables in the foods they eat.  They often involve pureeing the cooked vegetable and sneaking it into something like a brownie.- Great idea but, honestly, I don't have time for that.  I need to find other ways to sneak them in that is easy in my schedule.  Here are some things that have worked for me but I'm always looking for more ideas!

Find meals you already make to sneak in vegetables, easily.
My son loves spaghetti so when I make a spaghetti sauce I do sneak in some extra vegetables.  I choose vegetables that are easy to just grate like zucchini or carrots so that it doesn't really make it more work than it usually did before.
I also sneak in grated zucchini in meatloaf which my little meat-lover adores!
My son also loves vegetable soup (he didn't know that it was vegetables as I blended the soup with an immersion blender before serving it.

Fruit juice with hidden vegetables.
V8 makes a juice now called V8 fusion- it tastes like fruit but actually has vegetables in it too.  Some are better than others so I had to test out a few flavours- my son was able to detect the vegetables. 
I don't regularly give them juice anyway so it was actually a treat for both of them.

Smoothies.
Here is my favourite way to sneak vegetables into their diet.  My kids adore smoothies.  I throw in whatever frozen fruit I have on hand, some milk, yogourt, a touch of chocolate powder and, when they aren't looking, a few baby spinach leaves.  Once it's all blended they can't see it and the fruit and chocolate are the dominant flavours.  I've even added half an avocade once which gave it a really creamy consitency.  For added nutrition throw in some ground flax seeds.  A really great tip I got was to freeze the leftovers in popsicle molds.

Feeding children is not always easy and when you are already busy with work and life- tackling  this problem is especially daunting.  Finding easy tips to incorporate into your regular routine is important.  Now I can feel better that my son is at least eating some vegetables. 

Kids Clothes

Kids grow so fast I feel like I'm always buying them new clothes. It can get really expensive! I'm lucky that I have two boys close in age so I can use hand-me-downs for my youngest son but I'm still always looking for good sales. I came across I really great Canadian store for kids clothes: Please Mum. I live in Quebec, so unfortunately there are no actual Please Mum boutiques around here but I have ordered from their website quite a few times. They have really nice, good quality clothes at reasonable prices. I often shop in the clearance section and I am amazed at some of the deals I can get. There is even free shipping when you spend over $100. On top of the clearance prices there are often also specials that happen periodically. I was really impressed with the quality especially for the price that I paid. Check it out!!

Website: http://www.pleasemum.com/

Nap Time

I just got them both down for their nap! It's not always easy to do especially since they share a room and sometimes encourage each other to stay up. It's a lot easier though since I try to keep their routine the same everyday. Even at daycare they take their naps or eat their snacks at around the same time each day. Routine has definitely kept me sane over these past couple of years. I think that's one really important tip with young children: have a consistent routine. It cuts out a lot of arguing because the kids know that it's not negotiable. It's also not perfect- there are nights when one or both of them refuses to go to bed but for the most part they do.
Another thing that has kept me sane is that during their nap time it is Mommy time! I try not to do too much housework during that time because I use it to relax. I often would catch up on the episodes of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy that I slept through during the week or catch up on some reading. It really helps me re-energize to be able to be a better mom when I have those couple of hours on the weekend for myself.