Faustina's Birth Story

As I have for the boys, I am determined to write down Faustina's birth story from start to finish. Hers is a bit of a harder story to pin down. Here goes:

As the end of my pregnancy approached, I began to really dread the drive from our hometown to the city we were planning to deliver with a midwife, two and a half hours away. Because I am a huge believer in midwifery care, we are willing to travel in order to have that care, which means the closest care provider being quite a distance away.

This time around, with being due in July when my regular midwives have summer break, I had a different midwife than usual, which came with some challenges, but overall, I was grateful to have been accepted into midwifery care at all this time around.

On July 1st, four weeks before our due date, we called in our childcare and travelled to the city. I was experiencing mild contractions, and we went in a little earlier than we might have, had we not had that distance to travel.

We were so relieved when we made it safely to the city. Tharin and I kept saying to each other, we made it. We don't have to worry about the drive now. Both of us were relieved to have not had to use the precipitous birth kit Tharin had packed just in case.

Similar to Elias' labour, we spent that night peacefully going for walks, sleeping when we could, and just enjoying the quiet hours together when the rest of the world was asleep, anticipating the coming of our little one. 

Why I Let My Child Wear His Pants Backwards

Come to my house these days (or lets be honest, see us around town or at a friend's house) and chances are, you will find my toddler, Ignatius, wearing at least one item of clothing backwards. Probably both. (Okay, all three, including his underwear, if he's wearing any at all - but that's a whole other story.)

I have received so many questions.

Why don't I intervene if I see him putting something on backwards?

Why don't I fix it?

Doesn't it bother me?

Some Simple (and Important) Ways A Two-Year-Old Can Contribute in a Montessori Household

If you have heard about the importance of allowing your child to participate in practical life but have no idea where to start, I wanted to share some ways we have included our two-year-old with simple setups in our home.

There are four major areas to think about inviting your child to contribute to the home:

1. In the kitchen

2. With tidying up

3. At meal times

4. With self care

This will not require you to go out and buy a bunch of things, but it will require you to slow down.
It will mean more "messes" in the name of progress.
And it will ultimately mean a happier, more independent, child.

Respectful Parenting: Accepting our Children's Storms

I was sitting with my son while he screamed and thrashed in my arms. It had been one of those mornings for him. Constantly fighting with his brothers, getting upset over little details, acting a little more violently toward everyone than he does when he is feeling balanced inside.

So after breaking up yet another fight, I pulled him away from his brothers and to the living room where we could be alone together. And as if on cue, his storm burst forth.

The Change Of Seasons: Reflecting on Winter as a Catholic

Today, all across the world, Catholics remember the death of Jesus. 

As I have reflected, in the past few days, on the early church, on the disciples as they hid in fear, disbelieving that the One they had walked with, had loved and hailed as King, had allowed Himself to be nailed to a torture device, I consider the darkness that would have fallen on the earth in those days. The darkness, the fear, the doubt.

I've felt that kind of doubt before, I've experience that winter season in my own life, as all the evidence seems to point to a God that is not, after all, victorious. 

"Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a barren bush in the wasteland that enjoys no change of seasons." Jeremiah 17:5-6

It is so easy to look at our lives, in times of hardship, waiting, struggle, pain, and see this season of winter as evidence against God, against His goodness.

But what does nature tell us about seasons?

When I look outside my window, I see a world covered in snow, waiting. The huge poplar trees, so green in the growing months that you all you see through our front window is their thick canopy, is bare.

Nature rests, quietly, skillfully preparing for the next growing season.

Just like nature, all of us experience some form of winter in our lives, we all experience low points. This shouldn't really surprise us, it is mentioned many times in scripture that we will experience tribulation, winter, on this Earth. 

James 1:2-4 

Romans 8:35-39

Psalm 34:17-19

John 16:33

 But, while we all experience winter, do any of us, without God, really experience summer? This, I believe, is what He means when He warns that those who turn away from Him will experience no change of season.

The Depths of Winter in Our Liturgical Year

This day in our liturgical season is the depth of winter. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when the Earth went dark at three o'clock in the afternoon and the world seemed to be cast back into the abyss of pre-Creation.

This day we embrace the cross with our Saviour, enter into the solemn understanding that in order to save us, He had to go to the depths of our human experience, to look all of our sin directly in the eyes. He allowed Himself to be put to death, brutally, horribly, unimaginably.

Imagine the winter of the soul in which our Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) into the darkness?

He did not withhold the winter from His son.

And He does not withhold it from His other children.

In those winter seasons, this can feel like evidence against the goodness of God, evidence against His working always for our good.  Yet, just as nature uses winter to prepare, to slow down, to work on the inner while the outer appears dormant. Just as nature weathers all of these changes knowing it is made to withstand, made to flourish once again in the change of seasons, so we know that we are made to weather, withstand, grow stronger, and ultimately, to flourish in our change of seasons.


What a blessing this change of seasons is. What a blessing to experience the growth, the glory of new life which can only be experienced in fullness after the winter season.

What a blessing to be an Easter people. Just as a flower bulb is planted in the darkness of the soil, shrouded and hidden, Jesus was placed in the tomb. And in His time, in His season, He burst forth in Life.

And so must we embrace our own seasons, withstand the storms of the nature of our souls, in order to burst forth with abundant Life, in our season.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.



God bless,


Olivia Fischer

Easter Story Retelling (& An Easter Story Stone Printable)

Hello everyone,

This year we are celebrating a very different sort of Easter season. No attending masses. No gatherings. No family. 

Needless to say, I know this will be a memorable year for us, as well as many other families

Montessori Home Tour: A Montessori Toddler’s Room

Next on our Montessori home tour (for our first home post on the big boys room, go here), I thought I would share some current snaps of our toddlers room.

The Difference Between Feeling Responsible and Taking Responsibility When Our Children Are Having a Hard Time

I wanted to share something with you that was really freeing for me at the beginning of my respectful parenting journey. Something that was what finally helped me to have the clarity I needed to step back and start dealing with tantrums more respectfully.

Montessori Home Tour: Creating A Montessori-Friendly Children's Bedroom

Hey friends,

What does a Montessori-friendly bedroom for older children look like? I've shared a little bit about what our toddler room looks like in this house here, and hope to share some snaps of the nursery one of these days, as well.

Creating childhood hygge for your family

Have you heard of hygge (hue-gah)? 

It’s a defining part of Danish culture, and while I’m definitely no expert on it, it is described as being able to recognize the coziness, contentedness, simplicity, goodness of a moment, and consciously creating a life full of these moments.

The Story of Saint Valentine for Children

Yesterday I shared our Valentine's Day traditions with you, along with a sea creature Valentine printable I created.

In my post, I mention how we like to read the story of the Saint to correspond with the feast day we are celebrating. This is just a little way we try to steer clear of the commercialism that surrounds many of these special holidays - while I think there are many ways these feast days have veered far from the original intent, I feel it is worthwhile to celebrate and make these days special for our children.

As I was going online to find a story of Saint Valentine to read to my kids tomorrow, I realized there really wasn't anything I was super happy with. So, I read a few different versions and composed one that I feel embodies the story well, at an appropriate level for my young children.

If you are interested in giving the story a read to your own children, I'll share it here, as well as a printable version here.

Simple Valentine's Day Traditions (& Free Printable Sea Creature Valentines)

When I worked as a nanny, I woke up on Valentine's Day to the kids jumping on my bed with a valentine and bag of candy the mom had prepared for me, to match each of the kids. I felt so loved by this small gesture and decided it was a simple Valentine's Day tradition I would carry on for my own children.

I started drawing my kids a Valentine based on their current interests a few years ago, mostly because I am never prepared enough to have gone out and bought something for them. It's usually a small drawing with a cheesy saying, and then I write a small letter to them on the flipside.

This year, I thought it would be fun to share the Valentines I created for my kids, with all of you. Just sign up with the form below, and you'll get them in your inbox.

And if you like to add a small gift with your Valentine treat, I think these (or these) Safari TOOB sea creatures would be a great addition.

Sea Creature Valentine Printable

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Along with the Valentine's Day card and small treat, I like to incorporate some kind of special baking into our day. In the past, the kids have really enjoyed heart-shaped hand pies, but we've also kept it really simple with a box cake and pink icing.

And, of course, we read the story of Saint Valentine, and maybe watch a little program on his life.

What are your Valentine's Day traditions? Send me an email, I'd love to hear from you!


Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.

God bless,
Olivia Fischer

The Santa Claus Question: Why We Chose to Ditch the Bearded Guy

The other day, our oldest lost his first tooth.

We explained the tradition of putting lost teeth in a tooth box under your pillow and having it replaced by money the following day.

Why, he asked, so innocently.

It's something parents decided to start doing to make it feel really special when kids lose their teeth, I explained. Sometimes people say there’s a little fairy, called the tooth fairy, that takes the lost tooth and leaves money behind. But that’s just a fun story. Really, it’s mommy and daddy that will leave the money under your pillow. 

Explaining this to him, I thought the entire tradition might feel anticlimactic or unmagical or something along those lines. I was so wrong.

First thing in the morning, he ran into our room. He was ecstatic about the money under his pillow, grateful to Tharin and I, a child in the throes of a magical childhood memory through-and-through.


This Christmas I have seen all kinds of conversations popping up about Santa Claus and how we should respectfully approach this idea with our kids, and I thought I would talk about our approach.

When our first was a baby, Tharin and I spent a long time discussing how we would approach this tradition as a family. He had grown up believing in Santa Claus, having had it elaborately perpetuated by his parents, while my parents had been pretty straight-forward: they gave us the gifts, we were grateful to them, not some mythical figure.

I felt I would not be able to, in good consciousness, put such effort into having my children believe in Santa Claus. Having separate wrapping paper, eating cookies, leaving footprints on the roof, organizing the letter writing and receiving, it all just felt completely unnatural to me. 

Ultimately we decided against being a Santa Claus family. 

Here are our reasons.

Catholic Montessori: Free to Choose

Recently I was listening to an episode on the podcast Montessori Education. In this episode, Jesse McCarthy recalls going to a Montessori classroom and finding a little boy crying under a table while the teacher, and the rest of the classroom, ignored him. From his observations that day, Jesse came to the conclusion that the teacher had no empathy, and he had determined to give her a piece of his mind.

When he went to confront her, he was stunned by her response.

Why didn't you help that crying boy?
What makes you think he needed my help?
He was crying. Surely you heard that, no?

iDoddle Tracing Board - Montessori Inspired Pre-Writing Work

* This product was gifted to us. All opinions shared are my own.

As we begin homeschooling and compiling the materials I feel are necessary to provide the best learning environment for him, I knew I wanted to invest in some kind of letter tracing board. Our homeschool is heavily influenced by Montessori, and while tracing boards are not strictly a Montessori material, they are inspired by the Montessori way of teaching with tactile resources.

Similar to the way a child uses the Montessori sandpaper letters and numbers, and a sand writing tray, a tracing board allows the child to trace the letter or number shapes, developing muscle memory and is a really gentle pre-writing work.

When we were gifted a new product, the iDoddle which is a combination of a play smartphone and tracing board, for the boys to try, I knew it would be a hit.

Some of my observations:

• The iDoddle has encouraged deep concentration for both boys. It is not uncommon to see both of them, side-by-side on the couch, tracing their letters and numbers over and over.

• our son loves to use the iDoddle to write words. He will ask me to tell him a word to write, such as cat, we will sound it out, and then he will write it several times over. He hasn't shown an interest in writing on paper yet, and I feel this is a great way to build his confidence.

• Since receiving this product, he has shown greater familiarity with where letters are in the alphabet from tracing them in order so many times.

• My kids love to play games with items that feel real, like an old set of keys and flashlights and have really enjoyed pretending with the iDoddle. They have very limited access to real technology, as we have a pretty screen limited policy for our kids, but of course, they see us with our phones from a pretty young age, and definitely incorporate play phones into their games.

• The shape of the stylus is great for encouraging proper pencil grip.

This is definitely a product we will get a lot of use from, and as it is made from hardwood, I know it will hold up, even in this house of boys. A huge bonus for me, being an Albertan, is that is is made in Edmonton, Alberta - a sustainable, beautiful, locally-made children's toy is pretty hard to come by in this area.

If you would like to purchase a set of these iDoddle tracing boards, (and even get them in time for Christmas!) check out the kickstarter campaign.

Have you been looking into getting a tracing board for your home? Do you think your kids would benefit from one?


Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.



God bless,
Olivia Fischer

Montessori Toddler - Works at Two-Years-Old

Tharin built a beautiful shelf in our schoolroom and I have been filling it up with work for the kids. As I observe our toddler and what he is drawn to at almost two years old, I thought I would write up a quick blog post sharing his favourites.

* This post includes affiliate links at no cost to you. The Fishies in a Row earns a small commission on products purchased through these links and are so thankful for your support. 

How to Make an Afternoon Quiet Time Part of Your Day (For an Older Child)

A few of you have messaged, asking how we implemented a successful quiet time so I thought I would share how we made it a succesful part of our routine for our five-year-old.

{Book: Botanicum by Kacie Scott | Animals: Alligator by Schleich}

* This post includes affiliate links at no cost to you. The Fishies in a Row earns a small commission on products purchased through these links and are so thankful for your support. 

8 Montessori Friendly Books We Are Reading For Autumn

Hey friends! You know it's autumn here when the kids start helping Tharin rake in the yard, read: playing in massive piles of leaves. We have some huge, beautiful trees at our new house, and the kids have been having a blast. 

With the changing of the seasons comes the rotating of our seasonal reads. Changing over our books with each new season is one of my favourite traditions to mark the transition, and one my kids really look forward to. 

Here are the ones we are loving and learning from this year, as well as a few I hope to add to our collection.

* This post includes affiliate links at no cost to you. The Fishies in a Row earns a small commission on products purchased through these links and are so thankful for your support. 

1. Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and Barbara Cooney / 2. Autumn by Gerda Muller / 3. Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro / 4. The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons / 5. Thanksgiving A Harvest Celebration by Julie Stiegemeyer / 6. Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert / 7. Winter is Coming by Tony Johnston / 8. Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer

What are your favourite autumn reads? I would absolutely love to hear about them, just leave a comment below and we will add them to our list!


For more posts on books: My Top 5 Parenting Books | Book Wishlist 2018

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.

God bless,
Olivia Fischer

Montessori Simplified: Preparing the Environment

As I begin to set up the spaces in our new home and prepare the environment for my children, I am considering the principles for preparing the environment from a Montessori perspective.

While reading the Secret of Childhood, I was really moved by the importance of considering our children when preparing our homes from this excerpt:

Suppose that we should find ourselves among a race of giants, with legs immensely long and bodies enormously large in comparison with ours, and also with powers of rapid movement infinitely greater than ours, people extraordinarily agile and intelligent compared with ourselves.

We should want to go into their houses … the steps would be each as high as our needs; we should want to sit down, but the seats would be almost as high as our shoulders. 

If we knew that these giants had been expecting us, we should be obliged to say: they have made no preparation for receiving us, or for making our lives among them more agreeable.

Montessori Simplified: Why Use a Floor Bed?

Whenever I post anything about the floor bed on Instagram, I get all kinds of incredulous questions, and I have always been a little hesitant to talk about it because I know sleep can be kind of a controversial topic.

However, over the past few months of experiencing what sleep is like without a regular bed for Ignatius, and as we begin transitioning him to a floor bed once again, I am really aware of the differences between using sleep containment devices and the freedom of the floor bed. Especially when it comes to our mindset as parents.

I thought it would be helpful to explore why Montessori families opt for a floor (or low-to-the-floor) bed.