bear & lion

here's a peek into the highs and woes of our life

to healthier times!

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* let me make it clear, i am not a trained health care provider or healer of any kind. i am a mama with a few suggestions that may help others with their sick families. please consult your health care provider. *

whatever sickness came a’knocking at our door last friday, sure has over stayed it’s welcome! It obviously then spread to us other folk who are struggling to get back to normal after being hit with the bug. Luckily we get paid when having time off work due to illness, as a result of the paid sick leave laws in the US. But hopefully we won’t have to worry about that again for a while! Anyway, this is how it started.

it hit our littlest lion fast and furiously! he was lethargic, developed a high fever, stopped eating and started puking. all weekend, dear hubby and i took turns holding the poor kid, as he was so clingy.
then on monday evening, it was bear’s turn. he had the usual super drippy eyes, fever, but luckily no puking! and then, it was dear hubby who was knocked down. it’s kind of unbelievable how all four of us have been kicked on to our butts, but the real shocker is that dear hubby has been kicked the worst. this is a guy who never gets sick, ever. he suffers terribly in the spring with seasonal allergies, but it is very unlike him to get sick. and then to kick things into more unusual territories, i am the one who has been barely affected. sure, i had a little fever in the night, and i’ve been sniffly and achy, but i have not looked like the living dead, like my dear hubby. he’s been sleeping a lot. he’s even missed a couple of days of work, which he does like, never!

there are a few tricks that i have compiled that help us get through these snotty times. sure, there are more, but the ones listed below are my top six. they are all kid and pet friendly and easy on the bank account! some of our tried and tested more natural remedies to fight sickness at our house include:



don’t forget the top three obvious ones:
1. keep washing AND moisturizing your hands.
2. change your tooth brush once you start to feel better.
3. do not share drinks, cutlery, toothbrushes or sloppy wet kisses with those who are sick.

i am so ready for good health to come knocking on our door tomorrow. maybe hubby and i should consider taking some dietary supplements that can boost our digestion and energy, and in the long run help fight these minor illnesses. one of my friends had read these activatedyou reviews and suggested that i get a regular supplement routine as well. i’m going to leave that for another day, but for now i am so ready to hear the laughter and fighting of my boys, instead of the zombied silence of a fever coma and the constant dull whining. i want my children to look and feel energized and to enjoy their days, instead of wasting away watching mindless television. i want their eyes to sparkle, instead being glazed with sickness.

i want the energy in the house to change, from lethargy to one of positive spirits. i know this all sounds a bit cheese and cliche, but a week of this is kinda ridiculous! we haven’t even really had the opportunity to enjoy our new beautiful hardwood floors or paint the walls, as planned this week. everything it seems has been put on hold.

so, let me hear three cheers to good health!
hip-hip- hooray!
hip-hip- hooray!
hip-hip- hooray!

xo, mama lola

silly spoons :: a craft

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bear, my older guy, gets a magazine in the mail once a month, CHIRP. it’s totally cute, age appropriate and makes his day when he receives in the mail.

one of the activities in the january edition, is something called, SILLY SPOONS. it’s a super fun and super creative activity, that both the boys enjoyed doing.



the spoon is the base for your character or animal. you can embellish it as much or as little as you like. my kids refused a lot of help, so they’re spoons are simpler than the ones pictured in the magazine. we used all sorts materials for this project like markers, pompoms, duct tape, yarn, decorative flowers, googly eyes, pipe cleaners and lotsa, lotsa glue!

and, voila. silly spoons for silly times.


they are a bit fragile, but the boys were thrilled with how they turned out and really, that’s what matters most! 

add a link if you do this craft!

xo, mama lola

sibling rivalry and who can roar the loudest.

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we are not new or immune to the tension between the boys.
as of late, our house has become a popular place for sibling squabbles and brotherly fury! bear has become verbally quite aggressive towards his little brother saying things like “you’re garbage” or “you’re the worst brother ever” or “you’re stupid”. lion understands that these verbal attacks are exactly that, attacks, and responds by pushing his hand at his brother screaming and repeating “no garbage”. (on a side note, it is shocking how many kids shows say the word stupid! have you noticed?)

it’s exhausting and so upsetting to me. i get pretty mad when i hear bear say mean things like that, and now i just resort to immediate consequences, instead of dishing out any warnings. i’ve decided i can’t tolerate that kind of intentional meanness, even if it’s expected and normal between brothers. it’s not ok. and bear knows it. so does lion, even though he’s barely 2 years old. but, it’s not just about what someone says, it’s how they say it and their body language, which i think is why lion gets so worked up.

we talk a lot about being mean around here. because, being mean is behaviour that is purposefully hurtful to someone else. bear tells me that some kids at school are mean, providing a platform to talk about the feelings surrounding meanness; those belonging to the attacker and those of the target.

about two weeks ago bear told me he felt bad that lion gets to stay home with me, while he goes to school. bear’s mean behaviour has exploded and coincided with the start of school this fall. this new boom in his meanness has led us to talk about jealousy as well. it’s a tricky conversation to have with a four year old, but one that i think i’m getting better at. since bear has verbalized feeling left out, i have tried to make a conscious effort to spend a little bit of one-on-one time with him every day. even if it’s five minutes, because i think that’s better than nothing. sometimes we just chat about life, other times we’ll work on a craft, or watch a little tv and snuggle on the couch.

dear hubby and i are on a learning curve as parents when it comes to dealing with sibling rivalry. as long as we are consistent with our expectations and with the discipline equally with both kids then i think we will be able to cope with things better. it’s tough tho, it’s survival of the fittest and each child is fighting to be seen and heard, while knocking the other guy out of the game!

it’s all about even-steven around here; note that for this post i have included the same number of photo’s of each boy, just in case they check!

most importantly for me as their mama, the key is to recognize each child as an individual with different interests, different ways of learning or achieving things, and acknowledging that they express their needs in their own unique ways. it’s so easy to lump the boys into “the kids”, while forgetting they are bear and lion.

i missed blogging yesterday, i know. i’ve been at it daily for almost two months, and although i love my time blogging, i do get tired and feel like i need time away from this space. it’s not so much a question of writer’s block, but more about laziness!

hope you had a wonderful weekend!
we sure did. lots of visiting with all sorts of family and friends!

xo, mama lola

lion had pneumonia.

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i didn’t want to write about this when we got the shocking pneumonia diagnosis, because i was worried it would jinx things. pneumonia in a two year old is scary. super scary. especially when it’s your own kid.

it all started with a cough. lion got a cold, or that’s what we thought it was, from his brother, who keeps bringing various germs home from school. last monday, lion and i were running some errands and he had this deep, cough that sounded, um, different, for a lack of a proper descriptive word. he just kept coughing and coughing, so i decided to book it home earlier for lunch and his afternoon nap. 

i was lying with my littlest guy as he was falling asleep and that’s when i heard it. a wheezing from his lungs. and that’s when i noticed his breathing was quicker and seemed to be a struggle. my gut told me to call the family doctor and we got in immediately. our doc took one look at his chest and sent us for chest x-rays, which confirmed the pneumonia suspicion. my heart sank when we got the call at home, because a pneumonia diagnosis is scary. people die from complications related to pneumonia! but, luckily for us we caught it super early, thanks to my mommy-instincts, as my doc put it and got him the care he needed.

have you ever taken a two year old for chest x-rays? well, see the image below, that’s what it looked like. except, picture my lion in that plastic tube, naked wearing  just his diaper with his legs dangling, and me holding lions hands up and him screaming. 
oh, it was just awful. so heartbreaking.

[ source ]

fortunately, we live in the first world and got antibiotics into his little body quickly. that icky pink stuff was like magic and by the next morning he already looked better. not healthy, just better. and now, a week later he is back to his old self! 

bear was quite sympathetic towards his sick brother. he put on his big brother boots and was generous when it mattered. seeing the boys be affectionate and loving towards each other is quite touching.



now, everyone is back to good health! fingers crossed it stays that way!
HAPPY HUMP DAY!

xo, mama lola

an anatomy chat.

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* FYI & warning: this post is full of language used to describe various body parts. the words are used accurately.
……………….

i love capturing little conversations i hear at our house…
here’s one that could be heard after bath one evening between bear and dear hubby.

bear: why do i need balls and a penis?
DH: they have two purposes, for peeing and making babies.
bear: making babies? how do they do that?
DH: well, it’s a long and complicated answer, and i will tell you another time.
bear: oh, ok.

the whole thing makes me giggle.

we’re very open and honest with the kids about the human body; what it does, why it does it and so on. unfortunately, dear hubby experienced a serious brain fart for the correct term for balls (which is scrotum just in case you are wondering), and so things were left at that. typically we try to be accurate, so as to avoid embarrassment later on. i would be mortified if my kids called their penises “wee wee’s”! I will admit though, this is the basic anatomy I draw the line at as I feel for the rest of it, I would need to research and probably prepare more than the regular anatomy chats. Thank goodness I have boys is all I can say! Much more simple to explain!

the words for private parts don’t just roll off our tongues, but even still i think it’s important to be accurate. and, in case your wondering about what a vagina versus a vulva is, read this. most of us are incorrect with our language for the female genitalia, without even knowing it!

we thought that by being clear and concise with our language now, we will avoid further confusion or embarrassment when the really tricky conversations about sex, sexuality and love arise. me and the hubby have both stated that we won’t go over overtly sexually topics such as Dildos or the various sexual dynamics one can find within a relationship, the basics is hard enough and they’re not needing to learn about any of that at all! also… saying, vulva or scrotum without blushing in front of your teenager has got to be a tricky thing! although, maybe it’s ok to blush in front of your kids when talking about this stuff, because maybe it humanizes it… i dunno, not there yet with my kids! what do you think?


what kind of language do you use to describe the anatomy with your family?


xo, mama lola

lion in the sun.

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this space has become very saturated with bear and and all of his school stuff recently. 

i don’t want to send the wrong message that i favour my bear and that i have forgotten all ablout  my lion, because, that would be ridiculous! lion and his needs have been at the forefront of the school decisions right next to bear’s. one reason we chose to only send bear to school three days a week instead of the typical five, was because we wanted to nurture the relationship between the boys. in the summer i would lay in bed at night wondering how our littlest guy would cope with his big bro at school all day, every day, gone. i honestly worried he would fall into a bit of a depression.
dramatic? perhaps.
but, again, since we can keep bear home we midas well. the benefits are enumerable for all of us. 

i could have sent my lion to preschool this fall, but instead i chose to keep him at home with me, because he and i have never really spent much time alone, just the two of us. with dear hubby at work and bear at school all day, it is the perfect time to clock in some valuable one on one time with my wee guy. now at two lion is seriously asserting his own wants and needs, and has an opinion about everything (just like his mama). by spending more focused time with him, i think it’ll help curb some of the screaming and tattling that takes over in the evening around here.


i will look into community programs and see what we will do. maybe swimming, maybe a reading group, maybe an art class. whatever we do decide to do, i am so excited for us to spend time as duo! 

he’s excited too, he just doesn’t know it yet!  

how do you divide yourself amongst your kids? how do you find balance?


xo, mama lola

i had dreams of harry and nightmares of my kids!

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 [ source ]


funny really, dreaming about british royalty! i don’t even remember what happened in the dream, hopefully there was some nude frolicking and lots of laughter and joy! i’m guessing he appeared in my state of slumber, as he has really been all over the media after some nude photo’s of him were given to the press.
i say good on ya mate, as long as everyone is safe, there’s nothing wrong with some naked romping. and why does everyone care anyway…

moving onto my princes…
my youngest guy is really pushing my buttons lately. he has turned into a loud screaming toddler whose ears don’t work anymore. it is so frustrating! he screams for attention, whether from me, or his older brother or from his dad. he screams at dinner, at bedtime, at play time, during a diaper change, so always really. the only time he doesn’t scream is if he’s watching “kipper” on netflix. unfortunately, it feels like the behaviour is only getting worse each day, so i’m now counting down to september and the start of school. the walls of our house are caving in a bit for all of us, i think, and we need a change. some space. air.

[ i added the fancy blur to mask my scary red face and massive nostril.]

the kids need to be separated, which i’m sad to say, but they need some time away from each other so that they will miss each other. they are always together, which on one hand i think is very lucky, but now, it is turning into a disaster. the boys fight when it’s just the two of them; they egg each other on, trying to get the other one into trouble. the tattling that goes on around here is ridiculous! and because lion is only two, his understanding, although on one hand is great, is still limited,  frustrating bear even more.

i am despising the sound of my voice.
i say the same things a bazillion times a day. and i get louder as the day progresses.
we need a change.
a shift.

a picture of the art room window.


how do you deal with siblings at your house?

shall i be so lucky as to dream of more princess tonight, perhaps prince william?




xo, mama lola
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