“We have a rule in our house,” said a female Member of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly at an event called Campaign School for Women that I was attending all weekend. “Whichever parent that is not in the middle of an election is what we call the P.I.C. – the Parent In Charge. The P.I.C. makes all the…
The Race to Start a Race Career
I remember my first race. I was so scared. I didn’t know where to stand. I didn’t know what to expect. Was I going to come in dead last? Was I going to make myself look like a dork? (Hint: I always look like a dork). My heart was beating fast and my palms were…
That Time I Talked with John Green
I don’t like to mix my books with my movies. It all started when I was a child and I watched a really horrible version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe that we had been given for Christmas one year. I was eager to watch a favourite book of mine come to life in…
Book Review: Where’d You Go, Bernadette
I read Where’d You Go, Bernadette at just the right time. Maybe whenever I read it would have been the right time. It is a really enjoyable, lighthearted read with a mostly-fun story. But for me, personally, the story reached down into my mama-heart, and it grabbed hold hard. Bernadette is an eccentric woman…
Giveaway: Kandoo Kid’s Personal Products
My kids love getting things in the mail. They adore it. Every time there is a package in the mailbox, they ask if it is for them. (Considering that their Dad is a chronic online shopper of cheap goods from China, the packages are usually disappointingly not for them.) One afternoon they came home from…
Miracle Balm: A Reese and Luke Review
I make kids with sensitive, dry skin. I guess I couldn’t help it. My hands are always dry and scaly by the end of the day. I keep lotion by my bedside table to apply every night and I go through bottles of the stuff at work. My hands crave the humidity of summer and wither…
Throwback Thursday Netflix Style
I kind of went through two separate phases of childhood television viewing. During the first seven years of my life, my family did not have cable. Before I was old enough to go to school, I watched Sesame Street, Fred Penner, Under the Umbrella Tree, and Mr. Dressup in the mornings on the CBC channel…
The Motherhood Ministry
I cleaned up puke on Mother’s Day. I cleaned up puke the whole following week. There’s something about a Mother’s Day that begins in tears because you had to wake up early with the kids and because no one said “Happy Mother’s Day” until you asked, even though you know that everyone was just tired and…
Dear Gavin: A Love Letter to a Two Year Old
Gavin turned two a week ago on April 29th. Dear Gavin, There’s a song that goes something like this: “Nobody knows it, but you’ve got a secret smile, and you use it only for me.” That lyric runs through my head on repeat when we’re together. You’re a really great kid, Gavin, and you share a…
How to Brush Hair from a Parent who Doesn’t Brush Hair
Meet Ella. She is tiny, blonde, and she calls my kids “guys”. She adores her Nana (in contrast to her same-aged cousin Gavin who worships his Papa). She’s my niece. She has ridiculously curly hair. I don’t know about other boy-moms but I never brush my kids’ hair. OK, that’s not entirely true. I do…
Mother-Son Relationship on Ice
Cameron hasn’t been a Mama’s boy since Gavin was born. It probably started before that, if I’m being honest. He started favouriting his Dad when I went back to work after his maternity leave. But he’d still cycle back, keeping me as a viable option for favourite parent position. When I left work early before…
