The end of Maternity Leave has Come

Its official, the end of my maternity leave has come and I didn’t think I anticipated being emotional over it, but today (Tuesday, November 12th) I was a complete wreck. I think up until now it felt surreal to be going back, like a day that would never truly come. Until today I spoke to my boss and am all set up to be returning and to put it bluntly SHIT GOT REAL! I cried to my husband, my bestfriend, my mom, basically to anyone who would listen, and then Pearce came up to me and hugged me and he said Mommy I love you, it will be okay. It felt so great to see that together my husband and I have raised such a great compassionate little boy who recognized my sadness and wanted to make me feel better.

The past year has been absolutely amazing, due to some complications at the end of my pregnancy with Brooks, I went off work 1 month before he was born so I have been out of the office for 13 months, and 13 days when I go back on Monday. I feel so blessed to have gotten to spend so much time with my boys, made so many great memories, as I know some countries some women never receive this time, or this amount of time. I think what is hard for me is that I won’t have Pearce wake me up by asking me to make him breakfast, and asking what our plan is for the day. That we won’t get our daily snuggles in the morning with my coffee and his cartoons. Yes I know I get these on the weekend, But I am a hockey mom now so on the weekends its out the door early to Hockey.

There will be less play dates with friends, less time to get things done, less time for slow mornings and busy afternoons. But for as long as I can remember I have been an ambitious woman who loves to work. I strive to succeed at something outside of the home, and to be perfectly honest when I went back to work after Pearce – I was a better a mom. The time away helped me to make our time more quality, we cherished our time together more and we made it work.

I don’t worry about the kids, we have an amazing daycare provider who was my provider when I was a child – My children love her. I worry about how the house will stay clean, how the lunches will get made, how dinner will be on the table in time, and how I will make time for my workouts which help me to be a better person mentally. It seems every parent just wants more hours in a day, more energy to get things done and a few more cuddles from their babies.

At the end of the day I know that we will do what works for our family. That it will take adjusting to see how everything will work and that I have 3 big supporters behind me everyday (My Helm Clan) Not to mention all our friends and family who support us. I spent last night going through pictures of the last year and CRYING a lot! But it was such happy tears, I truly had the best year off work!

So Back in August I wrote a blog post about “10 things I want to do before Mat Leave is Over” and I thought it would be fun to share how much of it actually got done in the last 2 months!

1. Science World: Never went – I sat down and thought this might be more fun when we can go as a family in a year or two and Brooks can enjoy it just a little bit more!
2. H.R. Macmillan Space Center – Never went! – We are still planning on taking my son as he is SUPER into space, he talks to us all the time about the planets, the solar
   system and the moon! He will definitely be getting some space stuff for Christmas!
3.  The World Of Kidtropolis – Never Went! – I might try to go this weekend before I go back on Monday but who knows if we will make it! Definitely need to check this out soon though!
4. The Vancouver Aquarium – WE WENT! – This one we definitely got done, my girlfriend Crystal is a Marine Biologist who grows Jelly Fish, so Pearce got to feed the jelly fish, and go behind the tanks and he really enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun!
5.  Cultus Lake Adventure Park – WE WENT! – We spent the last day of Summer (Labor Day) at Cultus Lake Adventure Park it was so much fun, I loved how stroller friendly it was, and how much Pearce could actually go on for being 4! It was super family friendly with lots of bathrooms, kid friendly meals, and lots of benches around to take seat on, my only complaint – Parking was a bit hard to find, but again we went on the last day of Summer when everyone was trying to squeeze in the last bit of fun!
6. White Rock Beach – Never Went – I am really sad about this one, because when I was on Mat leave with Pearce I went a few times, and really enjoyed it. However living in Mission we are so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful lakes, that it just made more sense to stick close to home and enjoy some of our favorite beaches a short drive from home.
7. Enjoy all our favorite Farms – We Went to 3/6! I am pretty bummed I didn’t make it to Laity Pumpkin Patch or Krause Berry Farms as those are two of my favorite places to go and I haven’t been to the Chilliwack corn maze since I was a kid! However we did go to Taves Farm and had an awesome time with a bunch of our friends, we even lost a few in the corn maze. I enjoyed ALOT of Birchwood Dairy Icecream, even at home sometimes! But of Course we went to Maan Farms a lot, this is by farm Pearce’s Favorite Farm, we go to them for their amazing Easter Egg hunt every year, their pumpkin patch and for the first time this year I attended the Sunflower Festival which was absolutely stunning!! I Can’t wait to make a lot of memories at all these farms for years to come!
8.  The Drive In – Never Went! – Aiming to do this in August was wishful thinking. I think our kids might be a little too young for this still yet, but I definitely wanna take the kids, put an air mattress in the back of hubbys truck and just enjoy the family and the movies outside!
9.  Mill Lake in Abbotsford – We Went! – So last month we had beautiful weather and my kids were driving me up a wall, and I thought how can I get Pearce to burn some serious energy? Lets make him ride his bike all around Mill Lake in Abby. Well lets just say he did not enjoy himself, he now calls it the really long lake, and it has made his feeling about Abbotsford a little bit sour. I told him he should be proud for riding his bike all the way around and hes only 4!! I made some cool videos of it too!
10.  Stanley Park – Never Went – I really should have taken advantage of Stanley Park while at the Aquarium but to be honest my kids were being giant jerks that day, I know not nice to say Jerks but they were! So I just headed home. But Stanley Park holds a lot of really good family memories for me so I know my husband and I will take the kids, and that its not going anywhere!

 

I love making lists for the future and taking time to review how I actually did on it. I have to say 4/10 is a pretty bad score, and I should probably try to slam a few of these in before the end of the year! Anyways, wish me luck on the journey of going back to work with two little babies, because this is a whole new world I don’t know if I am ready to enter!

xOx Chelsea

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Anthrodesk – Manual Standing Desk Converter Review

In the past I have discussed the issues I have felt since having Brooks and how it has affected my body. But something I haven’t really shared which is a real issue is that I struggle a lot to sit, sitting on hard surfaces is painful and leaves my pelvis and hips in so much pain. I am doing exercises to work on this, but this is something that is going to take time to correct. Something that I am not very patient with.

As a Mom blogger I do most of my writing at the kitchen table, sitting on a hard chair and afterwards I am left in a lot of pain. Sometimes I move to the couch, but my focus totally turns from blogging to my cute dogs who huddle around me or the tv hanging on the wall. I needed something that was going to help me to stay focused on the task and get my writing done without being in so much pain.

I recently got an Anthrodesk manual Standing desk converter and absolutely love it, because my husband and I haven’t set up any real office, yet I am using it on my kitchen table, but I love it! I can make dinner and write blogs. But in all seriousness, it is actually just great to be able to write and not be in pain after.
The product itself took me 5 minutes to set up and it takes up very little space on our kitchen table, about the size of a large cutting board. It is super easy to set up, and to adjust for your height, it is very sturdy. Not only do I find that it is helping with reducing my pelvic pain from not sitting I also find that since using it my posture has greatly improved.

I talk a lot about how I workout for my sanity, the truth is I have goals that I want to make happen by the end of the year, and I strongly believe that by using the standing desk it will help me to stay motivated, stop the struggle on the couch. My daily steps have increased since using it, and I find my productivity is much better.

There are more than a few things I love about this product but something that is so important to me is that this is a Canadian Company. I often find that when I am looking for a product, it always seems to come from a company outside of Canada. So, knowing that this product is made in Canada and my money is going straight back to the economy gives piece of mind. Anthrodesk specializes in selling standing desk and modern office accessories that make you healthier and more productive. They also stand behind all their products; they have the BEST warranty in the industry and a money back guarantee. The company was started by someone who sat in a cubicle and realized that they had contracted the sitting disease and they wanted to change the way their life was and ensure that others could also find affordable products and live healthier lives without having to switch jobs.

I briefly mentioned it on my stories, but I have a full-time job outside of blogging, I am just currently on maternity leave. I go back to work in November and something that always upset me about work is that I sit all day long. Whenever I was at work I found it so much harder to lose weight and stay healthy because I would be sitting for 2.5 hours on my commute to and from work and then again all day at work. I am so excited to know that I can purchase another one of these great products for the office to maintain my healthy lifestyle that I have created while being off work.
If you are interested in learning more about Anthrodesk products, you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and purchase directly from Amazon AnthroDesk: Standing Desk Converter – Cherry.

XoX Chelsea

World Mental Health Day

Today is World Mental Health Day, and I think it is incredible that we have dedicated a day to this. Mental health is a invisible illness that is currently affecting 1 in 5 adults and countless children.

I have tried to be very open about the struggles I currently face with my mental health. But this topic is so vast and effects so many people around us without us even knowing. This week I took part in the #okaymovement – A movement designed to show people that just because we put a smile on our face for a picture does not mean we are happy. Something that unfortunately has become our norm. The past couple weeks have been very hard for me and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that because I am trying to build my following, I am spending more and more time on social media. Looking at others highlight reels and questioning my life. Am I a good mother? Do I have a good bond with my children? Do my children know everything they need to know?

We are living in a society where the norm is to pretend, we live perfect lives. To not share our struggles, to tell everyone we are FINE. The truth, I’m not fine! I feel good today, but 2 days ago was another story. I didn’t want to get out of bed, I didn’t want to spend time with my kids, I didn’t want to workout, I didn’t want to shower or see anyone.

Below are a few tips on how I get through the days when I feel like this:

1. Open the curtains and let the light in
2. Get outside – even if its raining, or if its too hard to fathom going outside, open a window for fresh air
3. Have a nice hot shower or bath, as long as you need just let yourself soak
4. Talk to someone, anyone, even if you do not feel comfortable, more people than you know are also suffering.
5. Get off social media, take a break from the highlight reel.
6. Journal

Motherhood is hard and all I was seeing is these pictures of these beautiful mothers, and their perfect children. But you know what I too post these pictures, where my life seems great! So how do we fix it? How do we make people see that it is okay to not be okay?

We talk about it, we normalize it, we tell people we aren’t okay, we ask for help. Today I want to challenge each and everyone of you to join the #okaymovement. You do this by simply taking a piece of paper and drawing a smile, place it in front of your mouth and take a selfie. Post it to your social media taking @okaymovement and using hashtags #letstalk #talktoday #okaymovement and sharing your story about why mental health is important to you then challenge 3 friends to join the movement with us.

Let’s end the saga of being FINE. Lets stop sharing just beautiful pictures and lets start being real raw beautiful people even on our highlight reel.

If you want to help further you can make donations to Canadian Mental health association.

I am going to end by sharing a quote that I shared earlier this week, because I think it may help you to see that sharing the bad times is just as important as sharing the good. 

“The Comeback is Always Stronger, then the set back.”

xOx Chelsea