The Instagram cookie that made me famous for a day, and other random happenings of late....

So the other day, I made Smitten Kitchen's uhhh-mazing salted chocolate chunk cookies.
These cookies are seriously amazing - you need to make them - and yes, you do, in fact, need another chocolate chip cookie recipe. Because this one is better than the ones you already have - guaranteed!

So I posted a photo of my freshly baked cookies on Instagram and the mega food blog Food52 re-grammed that photo of mine, and suddenly I was inundated with new followers. It took me completely by surprise. That silly little cookie photo received over ten thousand likes! TEN THOUSAND! I mean, let's be honest, every photo they post gets around that many likes, but still! That's a lot for little old me.

And I became obsessed with checking my instagram feed that day because every time I did, there would be like 15 new followers. And I got a glimpse of how addictive social media can be when you're in the big leagues... and #thanksbutnothanks, it is far too consuming for me. And while my ego certainly enjoyed the 15 minutes of fame, it's good to be back to real life ;)
But the cookies! For real - make the cookies!

Upward and onward. 

Spring feels like it has finally arrived in the north. We still have plenty of snow, but the air is warm, there are buds on the willow bushes, and the snow is slowly melting. Hallelujah! 

We go for walks. Zac splashes in the muddy puddles while Noah sleeps in the stroller. And it is so good to be outside again. It has been far too long. This whole postpartum crap, especially in the winter, is just not for me. Have your babies in the summer, people.

My in-laws flew up north to visit us in Chisasibi for the first time ever. It was so nice to finally be able to show them what our life is like up here. And perhaps justify why we have chosen to live so far away from everyone for the past 4 years? See, it isn't so bad up here, it's actually quite lovely.

And it was really nice to have babysitters around! Adrien and I got to go cross-country skiing just the two of us - something we haven't been able to do since I was pregnant the first time. It reminded me why we initially fell in love with this northern life.

I am always envious of people who live really close to their families, people who have access to their constant support at any given time. I think having kids in general would be a lot less stressful that way. Sigh. The grass is always greener, right?!

And this little munchkin turned 3 months old this week!

I celebrated this pivotal milestone with a big glass of wine (all by myself, as Adrien was on call at the hospital), after I had single-handedly managed to get both boys in bed by 8:30pm without any tears... from any of us.  Hallelujah!

The 3-month mark is a big one, in my opinion... it's the official end of the newborn period, it's when you can start to see the light at the end of that dark and lonely post-partum tunnel, and it's when babies genuinely begin to be fun to be around. Cheers to me! And to all the other parents out there - it sure ain't easy!

Since Zac has been booted out of the stroller by his little brother, I got him this cool little Freerider scooter that attaches to the back (it can also detach and function as an independent scooter - genius right?!). It's pretty much the bomb-dot-com, and Z loves it!

So that's what we've been up to lately. Life is life. And life is good.

Thanks for visiting!

xo

Vanessa.