Traveling with kids: Our trip to Montreal

I have been meaning to write about our last exploring adventure about three weeks ago: our trip to Montreal

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We had initially planned to take a way overdue camping trip for a long time now, however Emilio had been teething and waking up way too often and crying in the middle of the night. So, let's say that  that was my line for going on an adventure with an infant, since going to the back of the woods in the dark with bears roaming around with a screaming baby wasn't my ideal of a fun camping trip. When Emilio finally got a bit better we thought we'd finally go camping... And then we all fell sick with a cold... So that was pretty much it for us planning to go camping, and we decided kind of as a spur of the moment thing to pack our stuff and go to Montreal.

As I always say, no planning and zero expectations ALWAYS makes for great adventures in my view. We literally booked our suite at the Marriott Residence Inn the night before, packed our bags with as little as possible, grabbed our kids and Nanna, and off we went.

Usually we like to plan car trip around nap time so that the kids can sleep in the car. However this time we were only going for two days and therefore had to leave as early as possible, so that we could  have as much time as possible there. Montreal is only about 2 hours away from Ottawa by car, so in the end, we left the house at about 9.30 a.m.

The great  thing about our hotel is that is included breakfast and it had a kitchen with a microwave, stove, fridge, etc. so we literally packed a bag with our groceries from the house to make sure we had food for meals and snacks at all times. The kids napped in the car even though it wasn't nap time yet. I didn't factor this into our planning, but it worked out great, because by the time we got to Montreal they were completely rested and ready to go. We unpacked our things, rested a little, and off we went to Old Montreal.

 

 

First, we looked for a place to sit down and have some lunch. Then we just walked and walked and walked. We had Paulo in the stroller or walking and I had Emilio in the sling the whole time. It was great because we we able to cover a large area, give Paulo a chance to walk around but also rest when he got tired.

 

 

Towards 4 or 5 p.m. Paulo was beginning to look tired so we headed back to the hotel. We rested there for a bit. Paulo was too excited to nap in the hotel room, but he at least lied down in bed for a while and was able to wind down a bit. We could have rested some more, but we were all hungry so we head out to a restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant we went to was super stylish and big, the ambiance was great and the best of all: it was family friendly. Nothing like a bunch of crayons and paper to keep a toddler from freaking out while waiting for food. They also had high chairs so Emilio was happily seated while we ate our own food. Honestly, my kids are CHAMPS when we go out to eat. We do not do this often at all, especially since we had kids, but when we do go out our kids just LOVE IT and as long as it is a place where banging noises or the occasional loud scream goes undetected, we do awesome.

The first night we went back to the hotel at about 8.30 and didn't manage to be in bed until about 9.30. I was so worried about how night time was going to go, as we only found a room with a king size bed and a sofa bed for Nanna. I was terrified about how the whole sleeping routine was going to go. Turns out, we were all so exhausted from walking, that as soon as the lights went off , we all switched off as well until the next morning at 6.30 a.m. It was awesome.

The next morning we got up and immediately headed downstairs for breakfast that was served from 6.30 a.m. To give Nanna a chance to sleep in. We we the first ones there so we had plently of seats and food to choose from.  Nanna joined us a while after. It was still early by the time we finished breakfast, so we decided to go to Old Downtown again.

One great thing about having kids is that you get to go to places that are normally crowded at insanely early times, so you get to see beautiful places in their lighting and empty glory. This is what happened to us that morning, when we ended up heading downtown for the second time around 9 a.m. on a Sunday. We had the entire all town for ourselves, parking was not an issue at all, and we walked the old Montreal streets completely empty -- perfect for picture taking. We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral and Emilio napped for a whole hour in this beautiful, quiet, warm and dark place. We then got to have a proper visit, sitting down to admire its beauty and soaking in the peace and quiet, plus send out a prayer to thank God for the blessing of being there with my beautiful family.

 

 

 

We then went and sat down for a hot chocolate and coffee, to let the kids sit down and rest for a bit, and then marched towards the car. It was towards1 p.m. and I knew Paulo was exhausted after running around and all the novelty. Once we got in the car, Paulo was out in 5 minutes.

 

It was our plan to head to the Botanical Gardens for the afternoon. However, the last thing I wanted was to have to wake Paulo up once we got there. So we decided to drive around Mont Royal Park and stop at the lookout there to give him some more time to sleep in the car. So we drove to the Park and once there, I stayed in the car while Rob took Emilio and
Nanna to walk around a bit in the park and to the lookout. Then we drove around the cemetery and finally headed towards the Botanical Gardens.

 

 

 
 

Finally, we spent the rest of the day at the Botanical Gardens. The entry was quite expensive - $30 pp for non Quebec residents, but the gardens are supposed to be second only to London's Kew gardens, so we decided to go for it. The Gardens are HUGE and it took us quite a while to go from one exhibit to another, so we had to think ahead what we wanted to see and just stick with that. We decided we wanted to see the Japanese Pavilion and the Insectarium, which were both awesome. It took us pretty much all afternoon to visit these, and we got practically kicked out of the Insectarium when it closed at 8 p.m. and a thunderstorm began -- perfect timing!!

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got in the car we drove back home, and stopped somewhere along the highway for dinner at a McDonalds. It sure got late and we didn't plan to eat that late, but at least we had packed tons of snacks so we could manage our hunger.

 

Our trip worked out perfectly and I think some of the keys were:

 

- pack lots and lots and lots more snacks (it is aaaall about the snacks whenever you see a meltdown looming in the horizon)

 

- It is hard to plan for nap time when you are on the go and with limited time. But if you just can't work in a nap in to your schedule, plan some low key activity like a sit down snack or just getting in the stroller.

 

- Weather permitting, plan lots of outdoor activities. My kids just handled the whole trip like troopers, and I think it was because most of what we did was outdoors.

 

Now some of my favourites:

 

 

 

 

 

Paulo - 2.75 years

Paulo! you are only 3 months shy of 3 years old! I can't help but look at you in awe of everything you do now, all the new skills, the improvements and the changes. But then of course part of me is incredibly sad to watch that little toddler fade away, as you slowly turn into a little boy.

You are living such an exciting part of life, and we are so lucky to be watching you so closely. You have definitely mastered riding your strider bike. It is insane the turns you take with it, how fast you go with your feet and how well you balance. You definitely turn heads and bring up smiles on people's faces when they watch you go. Your favourite toy all along is definitely your bike, right up there with your ball, although you have developed a strong liking for cars and your newest obsession, rockets (along with the usual balloons and umbrellas).

Little devil on his bike

You never walk, you always RUN everywhere. It is so darn cute. I will be so sad when you start slowing down.

 

Your soccer skills are also up there as well, you can kick, you are improving at catching, and you always work on new soccer moves like the fake falling (haha!) and the long kicks. We have spent so much time this summer outside in the driveway just kicking the ball around.

Your fine motor skills are definitely developing as well. You now have an interest in building blocks and lego towers (you used to only be interested in knocking them down!), but now you seem interested in balancing them on top of each other and see how high they can go. You are sure building some high towers for a little guy!

Your little personality has blossomed so much in the last few months. Your language continues to get out of hand. Our greatest challenge as parents is that you have learned to use the word "Perfect"/ "Perfecto". And with that, our world has become so much more difficult. We have so many battles with you over something because "No esta perfecto!!"/ "It is not perfect!!", be it your pillow, your cape, your toy cars, or whatever you are playing with.

 

This last point brings me to my least favourite trait of yours. I would say that in general you are a very well behaved boy. You are most times obedient, you are sweet, you are generally not aggressive and you have learned to be polite. However, when you don't get your way or we don't do things exactly as you wanted them, hell brakes lose. It is not so much that you get angry, but the fact that you scream in anger so loud and with such a passion that you even shake, and our ears DO NOT appreciate it. We are now working on it though and whenever you through a fit we gently tell you you will have to go to your room for a few minutes to calm down, and that sofar has been enough to stop the madness.

 

In contrast, one of my favourite traits in you and that you are different. I'm sure all moms feel this way, but I really do feel like you appreciate things that are different from the typical. Sure you like cars, and rockets, and dinosaurs, but you also like things that I think most little boys may not like so much. I am not sure how to explain it. But for example, you like things that are scary. You like monsters and thunder and lightening. You like eyes that pop up in the darkness. You like balloons that pop and blenders and vacuum cleaners and things that make a loud noise that startle people. You like watching people fall. You like spicy foods and bugs. I think you may even be a bit curious about vaccine shots! People would probably think you are weird... and I guess you are a little but I think you like all these things with a bit of humour.

Moving on to how you are with your little brother, you are still jealous of Emilio. I think there are some deeper positive feelings growing, and you seem to enjoy it when he laughs at your every move and you ask about him when he is no there, as if you missed him. However you still get angry if he comes near your toys and God forbid him pulling your hair or accidentally scratching your face. You seem to know very well though that if you hurt your little brother there is going to be big trouble, because you have not attempted it yet.

Another new found love in the last few months has been a fascination with your Nanna. You have of course always liked Nanna, but in the last month or two you want to go with her to the basement all.the.time. That has come in very handy for me when I am trying to put your little brother to sleep and you get impatient, as that buys me a few minutes. You sure seem to enjoy talking and playing with her all the time.

You have started Playschool this week and I can't wait to see how you are going to love your new little friends and activities.

Paulo, I love you so much and I am so happy to be your mom. I hope I can bring as much happiness to your life as you bring to mine!

This is what I get when I ask for a smile now

 

 

A Good Eater.

A very wise friend once said to me:  "Children are either good sleepers or good eaters. But they are never both". Her words sounded so true. My sons have always been great eaters.

It sucks that I have finally ended up writing a sleep related post. I have been so reluctant to do it, because I always get to be  the mom that always listens to people complain about their kids who only sleep 11 HOURS at night and have the audacity to wake up TWICE a night and only nap for 2 hours uninterrupted. Everybody is outraged when they listen to things like that. Meanwhile I am hiding in a corner hoping, praying, begging that no one will ask me how my kids sleep. Because that would be embarrassing.... beyond embarrassing, pitiful!... borderline shameful. So, I took it upon myself to never ask somebody how their kids sleep. Partly because I want to spare myself from confirming once more how badly my kids sleep, but mostly because I don't want to be the one who gets to make them feel better about their situation.

The first year of sleep with Paulo was so bad, that  I thought this time around I'd be redeemed. I would have the perfect sleeper who would effortlessly fall asleep in my arms without me even noticing. Ha! yes, I am that naïve.

Actually, sleep wasn't so bad the first months with Emilio, but now that he has reached 7 months, and specifically in the last week or two, something seems to be happening. In the last few days he has been refusing to sleep like it is his job. he goes to sleep for about 10 or 15 minutes while I nurse him when I am putting his older brother to sleep, and when I take him away to lay him down, he wakes up and looks at me with a smile bigger than batman's joker. I try to get him back to sleep, rest, try again, and so the circus continues on and off for up to 5 or 6 hours when I finally give up. And yes, he is pissy the rest of the day because he hasn't had any sleep since the morning.

I have tried rocking him, nursing him, putting him in the stroller, in the sling, leaving him alone in the crib, rubbing his back, you name it. It. doesn't. work. I don't know if he just doesn't want to go to sleep or if there is something deeper going on, like maybe he's teething and in pain or maybe his schedule is changing to one nap a day? although Paulo didn't do this until muco older, and I really don't think he would make it all morning without a nap....

AAARRGGG babyhood.... I seriously do NOT enjoy this part of the 1st year. I thought it was supposed to be easier this time around... oh well, I know he will outgrow this phase eventually...

And then what do you know? he fell asleep in the sling while I typed this while standing up... sigh....