I know I should be writing about Christmas. I should be sharing the recipe for eggnog cookies that I made for a recent cookie exchange. Or maybe I should be talking about the holy Christmas trinity: Baby Jesus, Santa, and Elf on the Shelf. I always feel inspired to update my stocking list each year (because stockings…
How Not To Sleep
I could use some sleep. My older two boys were wonderful sleepers until they both turned four-months-old at which point their sleeping patterns deteriorated until they were waking up every hour or two by the time they were nine-months-old. Logan’s sleep patterns were reversed. He started off as a terrible sleeper, and I was terrified that…
Day 21
Writing has become a chore. This whole “write every day” thing is a wonderful idea, and I know it is important for me as a writer to exercise this thing that I say I do. In theory, I want to write daily. I do love writing. But in practice I find myself coming to the…
Connecting: How a Toy Brought Me Closer to my Son
Last Christmas, Gavin – my then 2, almost 3-year-old, found a LEGO Duplo Batman set under the tree with his name on it. When it was time to open the box and play with his new toy, I noticed that Gavin’s older brother Cameron, 4-years-old at the time, was eager to help. So, I handed…
The Best Traditions
“No one thinks Thanksgiving is the best holiday.” My sister was setting the table a couple of weekends ago in preparation for our family’s turkey dinner. Amy loves Christmas, and she is the first to admit that Christmas is the best because it has presents. She was always the kid who hoarded her gifts until…
The First Commandment of Being a Hockey Parent
I was sick yesterday. I came down with what seems like a never-ending case of strep throat at the very beginning of October and I still have it. This is the third time it has surfaced, after just finishing my second round of antibiotics and it got pretty bad this weekend. Because it is a strain that doesn’t seem…
Cutting the Cheese: A Case for Family Photography and an Explanation for my Broken Heart
I just got home from my second photoshoot of the day (note from the editor/writer: this was obviously written the night before it was published. On Saturday night. Does everything make sense now?). On top of everything else, I’m a photographer, and for the first time in a while, I’m back at it. I started…
Pardon my French: Why a Gender-Equal Cabinet is Important
It is another exciting day in the Canadian political landscape, and if that isn’t the most exciting opening sentence I have ever written, I don’t know what is. Today is the day that our new (and yes, handsome) Prime Minister is sworn in to office along with his chosen Cabinet. I am trying to decide…
Dear Gavin: A Love Letter to a Three (and a half) Year Old
After putting Gavin to bed last night, Dan and I started talking about how awesome our three-year-old is. He had made me laugh so hard as I was getting his pyjamas on him. They were his “cozy peegees”, fleece, and footed with a zipper that runs from the ankle to the neck. I zipped half way up…
Hating on Halloween
Every year when Halloween rolls around again, I’m convinced that I don’t like the holiday. I have a vague recollection that I might have liked it the previous year, but it makes no sense how that could be true. What is there to like about Halloween? Nothing. There are quite a few things that I…
Getting Closer to Words
The sheet is blank. There are no words. Well, now there are. Thirteen, to be exact. And now nineteen. And just like that, the sheet isn’t blank anymore. Something was said, by me actually. From my brain to my fingers, from my fingers to my keyboard, from my keyboard via Bluetooth to my iPad, from my iPad to…
