Showing posts with label MamaT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MamaT. Show all posts

Friday, February 19, 2021

Family vacation February 2020

 I just realized that I didn't blog our last vacation! The reason? Well we came back just weeks before the pandemic hit in Canada! So it must have slipped my mind!




This vacation was a family wedding vacation! I am soo happy we had all that time with family now looking back. Who would have thought the year ahead would have been this!




Last February we went to Cuba! Pullman Cayo Coco

We were up at 3:30 AM to get to our 6am Flight!

The kids love this part of vacations (moms not so much ha!) waking up and getting in the car when it's dark to travel to the airport!

We got a valet car service, where we went and picked up a driver. He then got in our car and drove us to the front doors of the airport. We got out and he left to park our car! (on the way back home we texted the car service and they met us right outside) Best service especially with kids!




I've learned over the years to travel with backpacks! Check in the big luggage and go on the plane as handsfree as you can! We each had a backpack. In each of our backpacks I put, 1 outfit, 1 bathing suit, snacks of course, phones/ipads. and my makeup ha! Because if for some reason a luggage was delayed, We would all have a little bit to get by!

Once at the destination, it's all fun! No rules! ha! All inclusive vacations are pretty straight forward. 

Eat, Drink,Beach,Eat,Drink,Pool,Eat, Drink, Dance, Eat,Drink, Sleep. Ha!




So lets's just tell the rest of the story in beautiful pictures! One day we will all get to travel and see the world again! As long as we are all healthy and safe, that is always priority!


The kids went swimming with the Dolphins! 



The kids had a blast on the beach 


The mommy’s too




Ohh how we miss the ocean 




My beautiful cousin got married! This was just last year!!!!



Missing this view! 


Fun music nights! 




The sunshine and breeze! 




And coconut drinks by the beach! 




We had a few trips planned for this year that have been cancelled! Disney and Hawaii! Not sure when we will travel again but we can’t wait to travel again when it’s safe! 

Are you planning your next trip!? 


Wednesday, February 17, 2021

TikTok Recipe for the win!

 Ok we all have learned so much this past year... FROM TIKTOK... Ha! I know you have learned some hacks that you now use on a daily basis! I know I did! HA!

This recipe is my new favorite! SOOOO GOOD!






Everyone is doing this recipe with pasta and I will do that next time. This is my low carb version (nothing against pasta, I LOVE pasta too) 


Spaghetti Squash Feta tomato recipe!

What you need:

Spaghetti squash

Feta cheese

Cherry tomatoes

Garlic

Italian seasonings (I used a blend I have)

Olive oil


1. Preheat oven at 400F

2. Cut the squash in half, drizzle with olive oil. Lay Cut half down and cook for about 40 mins. 




3. In a separate oven dish, add cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, italian seasoning, garlic and olive oil (i know I don't have measurements here, I did a one serving for myself so only had 8 cherry tomatoes a small chunk of feta, 2 small garlic cloves.drizzled olive oil, baked for about 20 mins watch it sizzle! So depending on your serving, add more or less! I don't think you can go wrong here!




4. Use a fork to pull the strands from the spaghetti squash

5. Mix the cooked feta, tomato into a yummy creamy sauce

6. ADD the spaghetti squash and enjoy!!! SOOOOOO GOOD!



ENJOY!!!!


Check out my REEL HERE!

Be sure to follow Mama T on Instagram for more cooking fun!  @aka_mama_t 


More links here linktr.ee/MamaT

Friday, February 05, 2021

Virtual School Update

 Here we are almost 6 months in!




We decided on Virtual learning in September and it has been a great choice for our family. Our school board created a separate school just for Virtual school that is not associated to our physical school they went to last year. Which works out great because our teachers and schedules created are focused on virtual school only. Learning is a bit different, different for each class. We have a SK and a Gr 4. They both adapted to this style of learning right away. They enjoy it and we are happy with their growth and milestones! 




The whole family is home, The husband included and working from home. I have blogged about our tips and tricks (Here and Here )  a few times and share many milestones on Instagram too!


I know many families and situations are different. I can only speak to our own based on our own family dynamic and the age of our kids too. 


Here's a bit of background. 

Years ago I was a fulltime working mama (IT at a Bank) with a long commute to work. My kids were in daycare from 7:30am to 6. Our evenings were short and stressful. Our kids had separation anxiety and we struggled to make it work. This is the reality for soo many, and I remember it all too well. 




Especially one snowstorm in 2017. When driving home from work took 6 hours. My 1 year old was in daycare and sick with a fever, the daycare could not give him meds. I left work at 3pm that day in the snowstorm. I got to my 1 year old's daycare at 6pm (during this time my older son was in the after school program at his school and my 1 year old  was at a home daycare 10mins away). My 5 year old still at school waiting to be picked up also. 

When I picked up Baby M, I drove straight to the pharmacy, ran in with him to buy Tylenol and gave him a dose right there in the store aisle. My 5 year old at school with 1 teacher waiting for us. I was 10mins away but the streets to the school were backed up with traffic and my husband who was also driving home in the storm was trying to get to him also. I was stuck on a street with traffic with no way out. Finally my husband got to my 5year old at 8pm! Baby M and I arrived home at 9pm that night! 




That's when we decided that our family needs a change! The process of making the changes took a few years but we knew we had to make changes. We decided a few years ago to make a BIG move. We sold our home that we just built and customized and moved North. Where I could work part-time from home and not have the kids in daycare.

Fast forward just 1 year and we are hit with a pandemic! All 4 of us home! 

I think about when things will get back to normal and oh my,  I am going to miss this time soooo much! I'm soo grateful to be spending so much time with my kids and honestly feel like I could homeschool them for years to come if they wanted to.

Truth be told, they love virtual school too and cringe when I say next year they will be back in school Ha!




I love that we have been able to really get to know our children. Their strengths and areas they needed a little extra help in. I love that they can learn at their own pace without classroom distractions. I have seen my shy kids really grow and become more social with us and online. They also play online games, create videos and video call friends daily. Some might not agree that these are needed skills, but guess what, these are all life skills that build confidence and emotional intelligence and what better way to learn them than with mom and dad helping them navigate the how to! Things we had to learn and trial and error ourselves, we are teaching our kids without the outside noise. They are getting more confident and both boys are learning to embrace their strengths and differences. I have been in many different scenarios over the years, I have learned that adapting and making the best out of every situation is what will make the outcome that much better. Although we all can’t wait for lockdown to be over so we can go out and about! I am still so grateful for every moment! 


Thanks for reading friends! XO

Mama T

Be sure to follow Mama T on Instagram @aka_mama_t 

More links here linktr.ee/MamaT



Monday, January 25, 2021

Valentine's Day Pizza!

 We love our Pizza weekends! So this weekend I decided to make some dessert pizza for the family!




I made up my own recipes ha! You can totally play around with ingredients too!




Here is what we did!




Strawberry Heart Pizza! YUM!




Step 1, heat up your CiaoBella Pizza Oven to 600-700F

Step 2 Prep your MimiFoods Caputo 00 dough balls (the best pizza dough you'll ever taste)

Step 3 I shaped the dough as a heart. 

Step 4 Whip together some vanilla pudding and set aside.        Slice strawberries and add some sugar and leave aside.

Step 5 Cook the pizza dough alone for this one (2-3 mins in the pizza oven)

Step 6 Let the cooked pizza cool before spreading the pudding.

Step 7 Spread the pudding mix and add strawberries! 

Step 8 drizzle with chocolate and strawberry sauce! Serve with some hot chocolate! So delicious! (Refrigerate and enjoy this one cold too)




Next UP Caramel Apple Cinnamon Pizza!!! 





Step 1, heat up your CiaoBella Pizza to 600-700F

Step 2 Prep your MimiFoods Caputo 00 dough balls 

Step 3 Prep apples! Thinly slice Granny Smith apples and let them sit in a coriander with some lemon juice and sugar for about 15min. Heat some butter in a pot and add the apples. Add some cinnamon and gently cook the apples. 

Step 4 Sprinkle dough with brown sugar and place cooked apples in any design you like! I covered the whole pizza!

Step 5 Cook pizza in your Ciao Bella Pizza Oven for about 2-3 mins

Step 6 Drizzle with Caramel syrup and enjoy!!! Soooo Good!





Here are some pictures of the other pizzas we made. Spicy pizza is my husbands favorite, Cheese and plain pizza for the kids! I'm really enjoying the Charcoal pizza from MimiFoods. 








Yess there was left overs for days!!! 

Click on Mama T cooks label below and see more recipes from me! 

Affiliate info below. 

**Interested in getting a Ciao Bella Pizza Oven! Use code MAMAT50 for $50 off accessories when you purchase an oven. **




**Amazon store and Ciao Bella pizza oven affiliates are embedded in this post**

Check out more of my REELS over on my IG - @aka_mama_t

Monday, January 04, 2021

Back to school - virtual school

 2021! Today it's back to school! Mama is on her second coffee!




DH also works from home so one of us always runs out first thing in the morning to grab a coffee. 

We are continuing this new year with all 4 of us home. It's been all 4 of us home since March 2020. We are so grateful to have the options that we do.  The kids really enjoy virtual learning and we have a great schedule that works for our family. 


I wrote this other post in 2020 click here


Some tips on what works for us. . 




1. Keep breakfast simple. Cereal and milk, Oatmeal, Fruit and yogurt, Toast with butter or straight up simple waffle. Keeping it simple allows for breakfast to be quick and less clean up for mom and dad. 

2. Sit in a bright space. Lots of lighting is important! We work in our kitchen because it’s the best lighting with all the windows. 

3. Print out each childs schedule and have it visible. Even though everyday is the same, it’s just easy for mama to glance and get reminded, or hold it up to the kids when they ask haha!

4. Use a phone timer or if you have google home we just yell out the timers as we need. Hey google put a timer for back to class at 11:30!

5. Keep the house quiet. No background noise. No TV or Radios on. School day is the school day. (No iPads or video games allowed on break times either)

6. Provide earphones if you they have them or if they can work independently. My kids have them off and on throughout the day. 

7. I make easy lunches too. I usually make lunch on their first nutrition break which is around 11am. That way their second break is playtime where they head outside or to the basement to release some energy. That's usually my time to tidy up a bit. 

8. I work when they work. I work for myself so this I know is much harder for working parents and their scheduled meetings. When DH is on his meetings I usually play referee making sure there's no noise around him haa.

9. Try not to stress it. They are kids and had to adapt soo much in 2020! Give them a break too. I have a sticker reward system and they get stars for all the great things they did. Even as simple as getting to class on time, listening to instruction, sitting through the lesson. All of this deserves praise. 

10. Close the computers at the end of each day! Our teachers give us independent work blocks to finish homework. So by 3pm they are done. We close their laptop and school is over. The evening is their time to do what they want!  (My kids are SK and grade 4, so this may look different depending their age)

Every family has their own challenges, these are some tips that works best for us as we navigated virtual learning in September 2020. The main thing is to be gentle with the process. It does not need to be perfect. It's new for everyone, our kids, parents and teachers, so let’s be kind to everyone including ourselves. 

- Tania 

Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow Mama T on Instagram @aka_mama_t 

More links here linktr.ee/MamaT

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Part 2 - our experience w/Perforated Appendix


The night after the surgery K slept a lot and we were all so relieved and even thought the worst was over and by the end of the week we would be home.... 




DH came the day after Mr K's surgery. With the Covid situation and in hospitals there are many restrictions. No 2 parents can be there at the same time for more than an hour and no siblings were allowed to visit. This made it soo hard, especially for me because I couldn't leave his side even going to the bathroom I would rush no more than 1 min away. I had no way of getting any food for myself either. When DH came that night he brought me lots of snacks my clothes and My Sister packed me a great care package.  A friend of mine even  had her doctor cousin that works on another floor deliver me a coffee one morning !!! Truly soo blessed. 

Gotta throw  in a Tim’s coffee pic





Mr K was showing progress the next day by taking some walks down the hall... even though still in pain he would get out of bed and push himself.



He got some gifts to open and was feeling better and recovering even called some of his friends and cousins. 


Sick kids even had a virtual call with some one the maple leafs. The hospital really goes above and beyond to make kids feel better. One of our doctors told K to request a Xbox system ha! But K was in no mood to play. 




The nurses kept pushing us to walk a lot and log the amount  of walks and for how long. This helps get everything back to normal after surgery. 



K had no food in his system because he was vomiting and didn't have a bowel movement yet. Basically had no food since the night before we even got to the hospital. 

One night after our walk, K looked soo pale, I knew something was wrong. I called my husband and told him K was sleeping at around 7pm and looked sicker. 

That night his fever spiked.  

His pain increased, his heart went into Tachycardia (rapid heart beat) He was screaming in pain and vomiting stomach acid. The Nurses were running in and out trying to calm him down. Giving him more fluids, more pain killers. K was soo sick that night, scariest night of my life.  I texted my husband at 2am crying and I felt like every minute was hours long waiting for him to calm down.. 

The doctor came in around 2 am and asked to put a tube down K's nose to his stomach to help with his continuous vomiting of stomach acid. They also said it could be the reason he hasn't has a bowel movement and they suspect some complications. 

K was in such trauma at this point, EVERYTHING INSIDE ME SCREAMED NO WAY! I made the decision based on my own gut and said NO. Not that night at least.  I asked to wait until the morning and to wait and see how the day goes and that I would really need to prepare him mentally for that... 

I Prayed soo hard for him to turn the corner. 
This pic was snapped when I was about to go on my Instagram and give an update that morning. 
But  I couldn't even say a word without bursting into tears. 

I prayed so hard to God and our guardian angels that night. 

Every night I played white noise for him, The sound of the rain,  to help soothe him. We did this at home most nights at bedtime so it comforted him. 

The next morning K had his first bowel movement at 7am and THAT was needed for the Doctors to put a pause on the tube down  his nose.  I prepped K that morning that, that could be a possibility.  He was not happy about it. Thankfully he didn’t need to have that done. 

The doctors came in and decided to give him stronger antibiotics.  They were concerned about some complications and sent him for another ultrasound and since it was over 5 days of not eating and barely drinking they decided to put him on the Nutrition IV.  

This would give him some energy but also was hard on his veins.  They had to change his IV to 3 different veins in  the coming days. 

All of our nurses were sooo amazing! They got to know K and his low patience when asking him the same questions over and over ha! We laughed sometimes when he rolled his eyes at us asking him over and over how he was feeling. 

With the stronger antibiotics and stopping the strong pain killers, his vomiting subsided. After a full day of no vomitting. We were able to try eating. 

K's choice for foods was peas and carrots and mashed potatoes.  Our goal was to keep food down! Go to the bathroom regularly and get strength by going for walks!




K slept a lot every night once the meds kicked in. Only waking to use the bathroom.  I finally moved from sleeping with one eye open on a chair to the cot bed in the room getting in a few hours at a time. 

I had to measure and log everything, from food in to food out. Ha Grade 4 fractions came in handy, although I did text my friends for help haha. 

Him feeling better gave me quick windows to run and grab a coffee and a gift card to the cafe that delivers to the floor. Honestly it’s so hard for parents when you can’t leave your child’s side. Not that I wanted food but obviously needed to keep myself healthy and on my own feet! Even finally taking a shower there as well. 



We created a group chat with the 4 of us and this was the best. Everyday DH and M would call and we would have our daily laughs. 

Mr M was having fun with his cousins too when DH came down to the hospital and even had his first sleep over! I was so relieved that he was having fun. He is such a big boy!







Both my boys grew up soo much from this experience.  







When the ultrasound results came back they told us that Another abscess was formed and it needed to be drained. 

8 days after the first surgery. K had to go in for this second procedure to drain the abscess.  :(  this was done by injected a syringe to drain it. 




That morning we were both up early.  K was sooo brave and ready for this to be over.  He asked questions, took some deep breathes and was ready. The amazing nurses talked him through it all., They had to sedate him and the procedure was just an hour and he was out and feeling great. Whew!!!! The abscess was small and they were confident that he was healing and will only feel better from then on. 

That day he ate soo much. The doctor said as long as we had a full day of checking off our goals then by the weekend we could go home!!!

Bring on the mashed potatoes!!!!! haha. 




On the 10th night, the doctors came in and saw how well K was eating and his strength walking. They took him off the nutrition IV and started him on oral antibiotics. They said as long as he keeps meds down that Friday, day 11 we could go home!!! K and I were sooo excited!!!!

K even had happy tears! We cried that night on our last walk in the halls.  We had soo many ups and downs. I was soo emotional. He was soo strong and went through soo much! 



Friday morning! We were both up early! One doctor walked in at 6:30am and saw us packed and ready to leave. Ha! I asked all my questions and he looked over the last few days and said we were good to go! 



We had to get his antibiotics so I left K on FaceTime with DH and ran to the shoppers downstairs to fill the prescription. I also dropped off our bags to the my car in the parking lot. Ran upstairs to get K and we slowly walked out of the hospital and drove home. It was soooo sunny outside. We opened the windows for fresh air and it was the best feeling ! We had happy tears driving home. Thanking God for every single thing! 

We can’t thank Sick Kids Toronto enough , Dr Langer and his staff and all the nurses at Sick kids  for their utmost attention and best care. I’m truly grateful. They took such good care of us.

When we got home DH had welcome home balloons and flowers for us.

Family came by with welcome home posters and delivered dinner to our door. 

We had phone calls and messages and soo much love sent our way.  

I missed this cutie sooo much!!! 



Sometimes life throws you some curve balls when you least expect it. Faith and Love got us through. Bringing our family even closer than ever before. Thank you for all your support through this difficult time. We are home and K is recovering perfectly. 


Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow Mama T on Instagram @aka_mama_t 

More links here linktr.ee/MamaT