Fears About Having Baby Number Two

When you're a newly married couple, people always ask, "When are you going to start a family?"
When you have your first child, people always seem to ask, "When are you going to have Baby #2?"
I can't help but feel a little bit of anxiety when people ask these rather innocent questions. Though I do wish for a younger sibling for Little One, I can't help but be scared.

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Sometimes I Wish

...I could just chill out in my Snuggie all day.

Fields of Barley

 There's nothing sweeter than bringing food from your garden to your table...

Well, perhaps maybe taking a walk through the fields can be pretty sweet.

After teaching today, I helped Hubby on the farm for a bit before heading home to prepare supper. I never realized how sweet the alfalfa smelled. Walking through the fields with the cool, gentle breeze and the warm sun made me a little wistful.

I rarely get quiet moments to myself where I can just think. I cried all the way from the alfalfa to the barley field. There was something just so moving and inspiring about being so close to the land. Smelling every scent and fragrance, feeling the tactile differences each variety of plant had...Ack! I almost felt like Anne Shirley (from Anne of Green Gables), being so dramatic and awe-inspired.

I'm not sure if it's just me being a city girl and going through my metamorphosis - being transformed into a farmer's wife and appreciating all of the amazing, miraculous, wonderful things we are blessed with just by living close to the land and close to nature. Maybe farmers' wives don't do this and it's just me being a bit overly sensitive and emotional these days. I'm probably just being melodramatic.

As a city girl, I never paid much heed to the smell of alfalfa or the texture of barley. To be honest, I wouldn't even know what either of them looked like or smelled like before!

 Combining barley

 Corn

 Corn, corn, and more corn!

 My ESL student in the corn

 Don't worry. I won't make any "Children of the Corn" jokes. That movie scared the cr@p out of me when I was a kid! I still have nightmares thinking about it!

My walk through the barley and alfalfa made me think about my family. It made me wistful and teary-eyed. I love the family I have on the Island, and I miss my family in Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto. Most of all, I miss my grandmother in the Philippines and hope to see her again soon.

I Need Help!

What happened to my sweet, angelic, little baby? Little One was the sweetest, *gentlest, most compassionate little girl ever. All of a sudden...BAM! No, it wasn't the "terrific twos" that did it for us. She was still so easy when she was two. Now, she's almost three (she'll be three on Remembrance Day) and is really testing out the boundaries.

Being a preemie, she's always been the smallest out of her group of friends and she was always the one to get bullied. She was fine. She never pushed back or hit back. Now, all of a sudden, she's doing what all the other kids were doing. It's driving me crazy!

No matter how calmly I try to deal with the situation, it always ends up with her, me, or both of us in tears. I've tried everything. Positive reinforcement, distraction...everything. Though Hubby and I are not fans of "Time Outs", we've even tried that technique. To be honest, it means absolutely nothing to Little One. She'll cry, do her "time out", but the pushing and hitting still continue.

This has all just started within the past month. She watches her friends and soaks everything up like a sponge. She imitates her friends and tries to get away with things. Her latest thing has been learning how to spit and it drives me crazy. I do realize that children go through a stage where they learn to be independent and test the boundaries, and see what they can get away with, but this is really exhausting me. I also realize that we can't keep her from play groups, play dates, or social gatherings for fear she'll pick up unacceptable behaviour. She's a toddler. She'll go through that no matter what. It's just our job to teach her what is appropriate and what is unacceptable. I try to show her that it isn't nice to push our friends. It hurts our friends when we push and it hurts their feelings. It's still not hitting home though.

She is a really great kid, but is really trying my patience and testing boundaries now. I am at my wits' end. I was joking to a friend that I am so stressed out that if this persists, I don't know if I'll last until Little One's fifth birthday. My friend laughed and said, "Or, she won't last until her fifth birthday!"

*sigh* You've really got to have a good sense of humour if you're a parent. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether you should laugh or cry!

If any of you seasoned veteran parents out there have any tips on correcting this kind of behaviour, please (PLEASE!) share!

No, seriously. I'm begging you! :)


* The English grammar teacher in me wants to write "gentlest", as it is the proper comparative form for the adjective, but the other part of me wants to say "most gentle" because it sounds better! I suppose both are fine. I've got more pressing matters to deal with than grammar at the moment! ;)

Friday Funnies

The Toddler was sitting on my lap and giving me a funny look. She then tugged on my shirt and felt me up.

Toddler: Mama, you have boobies in there?

Hubby was running from the bathroom to the bedroom after his shower with nothing on but a towel.

Toddler: Daddy, you have a penis?
Hubby: Ummm...Yes, [insert toddler's real name here]. I do.
Toddler: I have a vagina.

During a trip to the grocery store with family members, one member of our party let out a rather loud toot.
Toddler: [insert family member's name], did you POOP?!?!?!

Little One somehow found the items I had received for one of my product reviews. I had hidden it where I thought little hands would not find it. Apparently, Little One is far more industrious than I give her credit for. Out comes The Toddler with one of my items and she asks, "Maman, can you open this for me?"

I almost died! Thank goodness she has a short attention span and decided to go play with her Kinder Surprise giraffe instead!

Little One had a cough and was starting to look concerned.

Toddler: I need to go to hopital, Maman!

Social Media and the Real World

A friend of mine once said, "I have no time for Facebook and Twitter. Those things are for losers who have no friends."

Au contraire, mon frere. I have to admit that I too, felt that way in the beginning. Things all changed for me a few years ago, when I began blogging and freelancing though. In fact, the social media world has become part of my "real" world.  I have been able to come into contact with people I wouldn't have otherwise crossed paths with. I've made lasting friendships and have secured contracts with companies and small businesses. The social media world is nothing that I imagined it would be. It's even become part of my bread and butter. Well, not really. I do have a full-time job teaching ESL. The freelance contracts are things I do on the side. Still, it's been keeping me busy!

Certain myths I'd like to bust:
1. People on the internet are all introverted computer geeks with no social skills.
Ummm...no. I'm sure some are, but the majority of people I've met are quite the opposite. What people don't understand is that social media helps boost your number of followers and maintain a "relationship" with your followers. It's the opposite of being anti-social. I've met a few bloggers and Tweeters in person, and it's like hanging out with friends I've known all my life!

2. Online relationships are so impersonal.
Again, I disagree. I've become close to some very interesting, intelligent, amazing people via Twitter and the blog. Friends (like Canine Cologne, PhotoCaptiva, and others) have become part of our family. I have just as good a relationship with them as I do with friends I've known from college, university, working abroad, and from work. We visit each other, send each other birthday and Christmas gifts...it's the opposite of impersonal.

3. You can't trust people you meet online.
Sure. Use caution when meeting people. Don't divulge all your information to everyone. Just be smart and be safe. This said, most people I've "met" are just like me. Work-from-home or working-online-on-the-side people who use social media to help grow their businesses and and increase work opps.

I wouldn't tell you to just invite some random person into your house. We've done it, but after getting to know people for a while. When Gingermommy mentioned that Mapledipped was going on a cross-Canada tour, shooting photos of people she meets in her coast to coast travels, I told her she should come to Manitoulin Island. It's one of Canada's hidden gems. In fact, it's so hidden, most people have never even heard of it!

Mapledipped and I organized her trip to Manitoulin Island, where she camped out on our farm, photographed some of the locals, and hung out with us for a few days. It was like visiting with an old friend. Not awkward at all! You're probably wondering if I was relieved that she wasn't some psycho ax murderer. After corresponding with people for a while, you get a feel for them. If I had even the slightest doubt or bad feeling about meeting up, I wouldn't do it. You just know.

What's your take on social media? How involved are you in the social media scene?

Check out Naomi Harris's take on social media and traveling in Canada Goose.  

Pssst! Check out that family in the second photograph. Recognize them? :)

Japanese Omurice Recipe

When I was in Japan, one of my favourite dishes was omurice.  There was a lovely omurice restaurant my friends and I used to frequent in Fukuyama. It's been eleven years since my teaching days in Japan, and every now and then I still get the craving for omurice.

 Photo found here, via Google Images

オムライス, Omu-raisu is the English contraction for omelette and rice. The dish mainly consists of fried rice with whatever other ingredients you wish, wrapped in a thin sheet of fried egg/omelette. Many restaurants serve the dish with a sauce (a white sauce, tomato based sauce or ketchup, for example).

We made a simple omurice for tonight's supper.

Ingredients:

* 3 cups cooked Japanese rice

* 8 Eggs (Because of the holiday long weekend, our local grocery store didn't have any eggs left. I picked up some liquid egg whites/Egg Beaters to substitute)

* 1 onion, diced

* green and red pepper, diced

* ham, cubed

* oil for frying

In a heated pan, add oil, sautee onions, veggies, and ham. Cook until soft. Add rice. Stir-fry ingredients to make fried rice.  Set aside fried rice.

In a heated skillet, pour a little bit of the beaten eggs and make a thin omelette. Once omelette is done, remove from skillet and place on plate. Add some fried rice on top of omelette and fold in half (like a half moon).

Add ketchup or whatever sauce you like on top. Enjoy!

FYI: This dish is a hit with our toddler. She devoured it in no time! Then again, there isn't much our toddler won't eat! She's an eating machine!

Melted Brie with Red Pepper Jelly

Whenever we have out of town visitors, I like to give them a little something tangible to remember Manitoulin Island by.

I am a huge supporter of local businesses. One of my favourites is Hawberry Farms. They have a huge selection of jams, jellies, chutneys, garlic sauces, syrups, seasonings, no-sugar spreads, and so much more. You can even order online and if you spend more than $48, you get free shipping!

We had heaps of family over for the long weekend. I decided to give them an Island gift that I absolutely love.

Red Pepper Jelly!

To me, there's nothing more delicious than warm, ooey, gooey, melted Brie on stone milled crackers. Melted Brie on crackers is the easiest go-to recipe I have when I need a delicious appetizer in a pinch!

Image from kraftcanada.com

Baked Brie Recipe

Can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.

Ingredients

• 1 large sheet of puff pastry dough
• 1 round/wedge of Brie cheese (do not remove rind)
• Red pepper jelly
• Basil leaves to garnish

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2 On a stick-free cookie sheet, lay out the puff pastry flat; put brie round or wedge on top.
2 Spread jelly on Brie, fold dough over top, cutting off excess dough.
3 Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes, pastry should be golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
4 Garnish with Basil leaves
5 Serve with stone milled crackers or any cracker of your choice.

Image from ourbestbites.com

Even Easier Melted Brie & Red Pepper Jelly Recipe


Ingredients
1 wheel of Brie
Red Pepper jelly
Basil leaves

Method
1 On a microwavable plate, place wheel of Brie and microwave it for a few minutes. Do not remove rind! Each microwave varies, so I won't give an exact time. Just make sure you don't melt the Brie so much that it's already gushing out of the rind!
2 Remove from microwave, add a few spoonfuls of Red Pepper jelly.
3 Garnish with Basil leaves, slice and eat with stone milled crackers. Enjoy!