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…
Family Life
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…
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…
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…
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…
You Can’t Improve on Perfection
“We’d love something funny”, Val told me as we were discussing Bonbon Break’s theme for the month: Inspire. “Funny isn’t really my style,” I told her. But as my wheels started turning, my mind kept gravitating to my frustration over inspirational Internet content. Sometimes it is wonderful, and sometimes it just really aren’t. So maybe, I can try funny… Have…
Spice Up a Seasoned Marriage with an At-Home Date
Remember back in the summer when we were on vacation and I was spending all my time with my family and my husband wasn’t working and we were in a really good place? September definitely brings everything back to reality, doesn’t it? Tonight I looked at the clock and realized that I had been managing…
When You Have a Hard Time Letting Go
My baby starts kindergarten tomorrow. Not the real baby, of course. The fact that he sometimes sleeps through the night is a big enough milestone for him. No. It is my first baby. Cameron. The five-year-old. (How the heck do I have a five-year-old?) (I mean. Actually how? I am twenty-nine years old. This reality…
Marriage in Vacation Mode
Well, we’ve officially reached the end of Phase 2 of vacation. Phase 1 ended when we came home from our two week trip, and I suppose Phase 3 will end when Cameron goes to school in September. (How long did that phase last? Since my maternity leave began in January? 5 years ago when Cameron…
When Kids Need Adventure
(This is a Netflix StreamTeam post but it mostly talks about adventure and the vacation we are currently on. Please continue reading.) I’m sitting in my Mother-in-law’s house writing this, at least a few days late. We’re in the middle of our family vacation and this is our first real taste of normal living with…
My Way or the FroYo Highway
I’m kind of particular. I’m that person in our marriage who knows how to load the dishwasher (the right way), for instance. But over the last seven years of being married and then being a co-parent, I’ve learned how important it is to not be picky. My husband is the tidy-freak. He hates clutter. He wants to constantly purge our…
