Loulou's views

Last weekend, I hosted my little sister's baby shower at a lovely restaurant. I'm so excited that my sister is going to be having a baby in June - a baby girl ! This means, of course, that I have already been buying lots of 'pink' stuff - you know, to get my fix! We all had a lovely time - the food was amazing... All our friends were there to celebrate with my sister... And the favours were especially delicious! The best part, of course, was having a memorable time with our wonderful grandmother who baked most of the yummy desserts there... And of course, our awesome mom! I brought my boys to the shower too - and they had a great time! Of course, I wasn't as relaxed as I could have been, but it was all good. I even had a chance to sit down and eat my lunch. That's rare, you know. My sister had fun opening up all her beautiful presents, too. It's amazing how much one receives at a baby shower but the truth is - everything you get at your baby shower is actu

Most people who read my blog know a few thing about me - I love my family more than anything. I am addicted to shopping. I have a love/hate relationship with carbs. And I can't say no to my children. Yes, I have a problem with discipline. It's not that I don't say the word no. I say 'no' all the time. Every day, in fact. My children know that word well. They are just not sure what to do with it. And I'm not sure either, to be honest. How many times do I say no before giving up? About two times. Which lasts a total of five seconds. Typical situation? I see my 2 year old grab another piece of chocolate to eat. I say: "Dimitry, no more chocolate. You already had enough today. Give that to mommy." His big bright eyes look up at me. He smiles. "No more chocolate. I mean it!" I say, in a firm 'I mean it' tone. Smile. Then the pitter-patter of little feet, walking away from me. I sigh. And empty the dishwasher. I can't lay down the

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned. Mark Twain Everyday, on this journey we call life, we are learning. We start learning from a young age, from our parents, from school, from teachers, and from our friends. We learn from textbooks, and from experiences. We are constantly storing our own set of 'life rules' in our head, and we are on a never-ending journey of self discovery. However, there are some things we learn that we should 'unlearn', because not all things we learn are true. Things we've learned that we thought, at one point, were expected of us, or things that were considered 'right'. Now, as adults, we can choose to ignore. And we can unlearn . Here are ten rules I have unlearned: Sharing means caring: Okay, so yes. It is sooo good to share. We learned that sharing is important when we were in nursery school. But really? It isn't always FUN to share, you know. I tell my boys everyday: "Please share." And inevitably,

Suddenly, I noticed a change - a change in the volume of noise in my house. Not exactly silence, but... no yelling, either. No fighting. I looked up. I stopped what I was doing and I just stared. It was pretty new to me, and I wasn't sure what to do - yell, scream for my husband to come upstairs to witness this phenomena, or call my mom. But I just continued staring, quietly. I wanted nothing more than to just take it all in, because it was something I was not used to seeing. I knew the day would come. I just didn't realize how quickly the day would come, and how amazing it would be to witness. To see what I was seeing was a beautiful thing. I knew there would be many more days like this to come, and I guess I was sort of in a state of shock and happiness. You see. My two boys, my two children, the loves of my life? They were playing together. Nicely. They were talking to eachother, laughing. Bonding. Brothers. My boys are now best friends. They ask for each other as soon as

I was recently introduced to a fabulous new Canadian clothing company that offers trendy, comfortable and affordable clothes for children called Mini Mioche . As you all know, I love to shop. Not only for myself, but for my children, too. I'm picky about what I buy for my boys - I like high quality items, at a few select stores, and I love to dress them in 100% cotton. My oldest son once wore a pair of polyester pj's to bed and woke up scratching himself. Since then, I'm extra picky when looking at the labels. As a Mini Mioche mom, I was lucky to receive a few pieces from their spring line to test out on my youngest son. He received an awesome pair of casual cotton pants, a cute polo style t-shirt, and a long sleeved white shirt. The thing I loved right away? The feel. The cotton is super soft . The company only uses the absolute softest organic cotton - and the clothes fit great, too! I loved them. Huge bonus? They are stylish. The clothes are made in Toronto, too! Check

When I was in my twenties, I faked-and-baked a lot. As frequently as a few times a week in the summer, or before a vacation down south in the winter. It never crossed my mind how bad it was for my skin. Same thing with smoking - I smoked all through my teen years, and into my twenties, quitting when I got pregnant both times, and even blogged about it when I stopped. (I will admit, I do still smoke socially, sometimes, but I consider myself quit.) A few months ago, I went to my dermatologist, and she noticed a suspicious looking mole on my back. A small dot, a black, flat dot, but still, it concernced her. "Hmm," she said, "Let me just get my special light and magnifying glass." She left the room, and I started to panic. All those years of me faking-and-baking had now come back to haunt me. I was doomed. I was convinced that I had skin cancer. Why would I be one of the lucky ones? Not to mention the fact that I never wear sunscreen, and in fact, lather up on the

As parents, we all do things differently. There is no right or wrong way to put a child to sleep. There is no perfect day or age to start to potty train, no easy way to transition from crib to bed, no way to stop breastfeeding without shedding a tear, and it's impossible to return to work without feeling guilty. The challenges, milestones, and achievements we experience as parents are more or less the same in every household, even if we don't do things the same way. There are certain things I do that others may not do. Like: 1. I have never put mis-matched pj's on my children. No matter what. I can't stand the thought of my children in pj's that don't match. If I have do an emergency change at 3 a.m. because of a diaper leak, I'll change the entire set of pj's, not just the bottom. I know, I'm insane, right? 2. If my child gets his pj top wet (because he loves to play in the sink after his pj's are on, of course!) I will not change his pj's

Blogging is a big part of my life. I've been blogging for over three years now, with no end in sight. I love having an online journal where I can write about anything I want. I can read things I wrote when my oldest son was only 18 months old, and find out what we were doing on any given day. I love having our lives documented this way. That's just one of the great joys of blogging. Blogging has also taught me a lot. Without further ado, here is my list of... The TOP TEN things blogging has taught me: 1. The unexpected surprises life throws your way are suddenly great blog fodder - like the time I found two raw eggs, cracked in the bottom of my Louis Vuitton ? Great blog fodder. Add that to the copious amounts of times I've had to clean up poo from a bathtub (ew!) or had to clean up vomit (I don't, really - I'm a deer caught in headlights, so my husband does that nasty pick-up), or the mess one toddler can make when left alone for one minute in the high chair -