What I'm doing to try and be a better mom

About a month ago I was taking my daughter to her gymnastics class and I noticed that one of the kids in her class were trying to get there moms attention but mom was on her phone and totally ignoring the kid. I felt really bad for the kid as she was trying so hard to get her attention. It was at that moment that I made a promise to myself to be a more attentive mom.

When I am at gymnastics if I can see my daughter out the viewing room window I make sure I watch her and that every time she looks up she sees me watching her. When I can't see her that is when I can look at my phone.

At night we have started a new tradition/bed time routine. I went and got a kids novel its 3 stories in 1 and its 33 chapters long. Every night we read a chapter of the book before bed while cuddled up. Sometimes if we are at a good part we will read 2 chapters. I find that since doing this L has been going to bed so much better than in the past and looks forward to our reading times.

Mother daughter dates! I have been trying to do a mother daughter date at least 1-2 times a month with L. We go to dinner or do something fun just the 2 of us next month we are going to go to Paw Patrol live together! L is super excited about this.

I am trying to put my phone down and or work down more often and playing with L wether it be a tickle battle playing a game or watching some video about something she was interested in.

If I do anything at all anything that could make a difference with my girl I hope that being more present in her life and showing her love in ways other than heres a new toy or let me buy you this I want her to appreciate time and time spent with me and other people in her life I want her to value things like that more so than valuing the things I buy her.

I have to say since I have implemented some of these rules or guidelines for myself I have seen a big improvement with L and her moods and how much we used to fight compared to now. She has been helping more and listening so much better. Hopefully this keeps up and I can raise a great kid!

Swimming lessons!

As a kid I grew up with my grandparents having a pool we used to ride our bikes over in the summer and go swimming all the time Grandma and Grandpa's was the place to be especially on those really hot days. I taught myself to swim with the help of my parents and only had swimming lessons in Grade 4 as part of our class.

So when it came to our pool we have at our house and L I had to decide what to do if I would just work with her and teach her how to swim myself, put her into a group swim class or get her private lessons.

I always thought that I would just teach her myself and that she would just start learning as she has been while we use the pool all summer which if she has anything to do with it we will be in the pool every day! I knew I didn't want to do a group swimming class I didn't think she would learn as much as she would be trying to show off or play with the other kids around her. So I had decided that swimming lessons weren't happening at this time and I would teach her.

Walking home the other day from school with L and I happened to notice a sign and I stood there and read it with L yelling at me to hurry up. The sign was for private in backyard swimming lessons! Honestly how perfect L could learn one on one and in her own pool! I took a picture of the poster and headed home. Later that night after L was in bed I pulled my phone out to look at the poster again. I looked up the website that was listed and read all about the program.

The program is set up through the red cross so If L does the required amount of lessons and passes she would have a swimming certification which I thought was pretty cool. On the poster it also had a coupon code for your first lesson which I also thought was awesome. They have a selection between 3 lesson types 30 min, 45min and 60min sessions. They were all reasonably priced as well in my mind!

So I signed the kiddo up and she will have her first lesson in a few days!!

Baking With Mommy *Tip Tuesday*

Tip Tuesday! Heres my tip if you want to bake but don't want to do a lot of clean up or don't have a ton of time Quaker Muffin Mix is what you need! I know there is always things like pillsbury products that you just roll out and they are ready for the oven, but my kiddo always wants to do more then just roll out dough. L loves to bake and make things so this gives a little extra for her to do. There are only 3 ingredients needed, Muffin mix, water and an egg. We always add chocolate chips but you could probably add fruit or something else to them as well.

We usually make a 12 muffins which is 3 cups of mix. There is enough mix to make 24 muffins. All you have to do is pour 3 cups of mix into the bowl add in the 3/4s water and 1 egg. Mix that all together and you are ready to add them to your muffin pan. We always add about a cup of chocolate chips give or take. L loves to be the one to crack the egg which I have to say she does a great job at. L basically makes them on her own while I watch her and instruct her on what to do next.

The next thing we do is take a ice cream scoop and scoop the batter into the muffin pan. The oven should be preheated to 400 already. Put the pan in the middle rack in the oven for about 15 minutes. The should have risen and look golden brown. Take a tooth pick and stick it in the muffin if you pull it out and there is muffin stuck to the pick than it needs more time if not its done.

Once The muffins are taken out of the oven I let them sit for about a minute or two and then I take a fork and flip them onto there side. I like my muffins to have a crispy outside so I flip them and then take them out of the pan and place them on a cooling rack. This gives them a great crispy outside.  Yummy Yummy!

In our house 12 muffins made this way usually last a day and a half. We usually don't have any muffins after the following morning. L has so much fun with this and she is so excited that she made something for us all.

This is just a fun quick and easy thing for us to do especially on a rainy day. The clean up is super quick and easy as there really aren't many ingredients and you are just using 1 big bowl and 2 measuring cups.

Quaker Muffin mic for the win in this household!

Gymnastics!

So this weekend we did something that L has been  dying to do since forever! We went to GYMNASTICS!! L's face was ear to ear smile and she was jumping up to down saying gippy gippy cause thats how she says Yippy and its the funniest thing. I have never seen my kid so happy it was really awesome.

This weekend was open gym day for kids to come to the gym and try it out go on the equipment and see if they like it and to be active. I was surprised at how brave L was and how much upper body strength she has that I didn't even know she has. The best part for me other than L's excitement was that it was FREE!

I was very happy with L and how well she did at the gym. There were some kids that were running around the gym wild running in front of kids and not waiting there turns even older kids, L stuck to the gym rules which was one kid at a time on the equipment, she waited her turn to go on it all and was just over all good.

In the gym they have a the big ropes hanging from the ceiling for kids to climb up and swing on L ran straight to it when she first saw another kid use it and swing from one block to another she HAD to do it as well. She waited in the line and when it was her turn she held on to the rope and freaked out slightly and then threw herself over the edge of the block to the next one. She proceeded to do this non stop for a good 10 minutes if not more.

L's next great feat was the trampoline. She has been on a trampoline before and loves jumping but the trampoline at this gym you can see through it all the way to the ground below and that scared her. I ended up having to go on it to show her that it was ok to go on. She ended up sitting down on the mat on the edge and slowly creeping onto the trampoline by herself she then stood up and started jumping and that was the end of it she wasn't scared anymore and kept going back to jump on it over and over.

We ended up staying at the open gym the entire time they were open so just over 2 hours and let me tell you when they hung up that giant rope tears were shed and my girl was pissed. L ended up huddled in the corner crying 1 because she was exhausted and 2 because she absolutely did not want to leave.

NOW I have to figure out how to make it work for her to go to gymnastics and actually learn cause she loved it so much and I think it would be great for her. It is now on my todo list of things that I need to figure out in life. It seems to be getting longer and longer haha.

Empowering Myself

I have been single now for 2 years and yes sometimes its lonely but I'm kind of happy with it. I'm working on doing things for myself and L not letting anyone tell me I can or can't do things, not having someone tie me down and control certain aspects of my life. My last relationship I was in was a doozy. I didn't really understand how bad it was until it was over and I got out of it. Both L and I are a lot happier not being in that relationship anymore. It held me back I was being made to feel bad because I was working and trying to build something for myself. I'm working to build a life for L and I that we don't have to depend on anyone else and thats the life I want, I want to be able to say hey I did it I got here without a man. I am a strong, intelligent, and happy woman and that is exactly what I want people to see in me. In the past few months I took a huge leap and quit my part time job. My income is solely based on what I bring in with my business I am mine and Ls sole provider now I have to get my butt in gear everyday to bring home the bacon. I know I can do this and I know that in the next year big things are going to happen for us. I went and started my driving lessons so that I can get my license which will be a big step in becoming that much more independent. I can't wait for our future and what is to come for us I can't wait to see what I can do with my business this year I just can't wait for everything!