• overcoming_adversity
    Health

    Kevin and Amber’s Infertility Story – Overcoming Adversity

    March 17, 2014 - By 

    I have spent a lot of days this past year getting to know people impacted by infertility. Their stories are all unique, each an impossible combination of heart-wrenching, uplifting, and heart-breaking. Every infertility story, each couple’s life narrative has some common threads.   One Alberta Couple’s Infertility Story The starting chapters are filled with love, suddenly interrupted by sadness, grief, sometimes health care drama, then infertility tangled up with financial stress. For some, like Kevin and Amber, the clouds will part with help, the obstacles shrink just enough to give way to a happy ending. Images of Hope Last week…

  • Food

    Making Time for Breakfast Treats #strudelgram

    March 13, 2014 - By 

    This post has been sponsored which means I received compensation.  What does your breakfast routine look like? Are breakfast treats ever involved? Is that different on work and week days than it is on the weekends? Ours is typically pretty rushed but we do all make time to sit down together every day of the week. That’s something we have always valued and wanted to maintain. Some days that means we work hard to schedule that time in but it’s mostly natural here now. Family time starts at breakfast when we most eat healthy but small meals and race out…

  • Health - special needs

    Ten Ways to Help a Child with FASD

    March 11, 2014 - By 

    For the first five years of my daughter Ainsley’s life we spent countless resources trying to figure out ways to help manage her disability. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is incredibly tricky to diagnose, and then to manage on an average day. FASD is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, an invisible brain injury brought on my prenatal alcohol exposure.   In Ontario we are likely 15 years behind the autism movement and advocacy effort. I have been told this by many experts in the education and health care fields. So, in the province where I live we have very limited resources right now.…

  • Food

    Kale, Quinoa and Fresh Vegetable Superfood Beef Stew

    March 7, 2014 - By 

    This year’s endless winter has been a challenge. So too has our schedule. The kids are busier than ever with one in a big March break play that runs the entire week. Rehearsals three nights a week. Martial arts, swimming and work, plus SARI. Ouch. We are too busy to cook last minute so I have been using my crock pot like crazy. I am a big fan of stew and my crockpot makes it beautifully. This is what I am calling Superfood Beef Stew. My healthy year and my fitness plan for the whole family has us embracing some…

  • Health - infertility - Technology

    Five Free Infertility and Fertility Apps

    March 5, 2014 - By 

    Fertility apps and infertility apps are a great way to track ovulation and reproductive health. Here are five free fertility apps that will help at any stage of your fertility or infertility journey. When you are struggling with infertility or trying to conceive you need a huge toolkit of resources just to get through the journey. Knowledge is power, right? Luckily power and knowledge in the age of Google are right at your finger tips.    Lately numerous press releases regarding the latest and greatest fertility and infertility apps have been flooding my inbox here at thrifty momma’s tips, so I…

  • Health

    Hey Mom, What’s a Bong? Answering Kid’s Drug Questions

    March 4, 2014 - By 

    Kids really do say the darndest things. Usually when I am driving. It’s a minor miracle I don’t crash the minivan with their constant random Nattering questions and hijinks. I’ve heard Mom, did birth mom have any other kids? And can I meet her now? Like tonight? Also random statements like: We aren’t biologically related, right? Then there’s always: Do you miss Grandma? Does Daddy miss his Mom? Do you know why the sky is blue? Did you ever smoke? Did Daddy smoke? Here’s me driving along thinking, ‘Hey what’s for dinner? What did I thaw? Did I forget to…

  • Giveaways

    Kellogg’s New Snack Products #Giveaway

    March 3, 2014 - By 

    I wish I had some better pictures of all the new Kellogg’s products I received here at Thrifty Momma’s Tips recently. I truthfully thought I would have more time with them. But here’s the thing. See those pastry crisps out front there? Well, they vanished super fast. I got to taste one. One. That’s right. Like nobody here at my house understands that I need to actually taste the treats and new snack products in order to write about them? Anyways take my word for it, several of these new snack products from Kellogg’s are heaven sent. The pastry crisps…

  • Health

    The Protective Factor of Diagnosis and Three Ways to Help a Person with FASD Now

    February 28, 2014 - By 

    When it comes to children and any form of disability early diagnosis and intervention is often key to success. Why is that? Because having a way to frame a child’s behaviour can make all the difference in the world to how you approach that child as a parent, as a therapist, a doctor, or a school. If you try to teach a fish to walk you end up frustrated, but worse than that you end up making the fish feel stupid. Proper diagnosis of FASD is critical to success. So why do we have such difficulty diagnosing and treating children and…

  • make_roads_safer
    family

    Sign The Pledge with Your Teen and Make Roads Safer

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    If you are a parent of a child about to start driving then you want to hear about this pledge to make roads safer.     Driving is one of the biggest rites of passage for a young adult. Getting your driver’s license is an epic event, one children begin fantasizing about from the time they are small. Little boys practice driving their imaginary cars almost as soon as their brains are capable of creative play. Girls too. My oldest daughter just last year pulled her iPhone out at the beach and warned me she was only 1598 days away…

  • family - Giveaways

    Win Family Passes to #DisneyLive Mickey’s Rockin’ Road Show #Ldnont #giveaway

    February 26, 2014 - By 

    My friends know well of my love for all things Disney. Disney Live! Skating shows are always welcome here. I have taken my kids consistently to Disney Live events ever since they were tiny toddlers soaking it all in. There’s something about the live skating show that always makes me feel happy to be a parent. It’s a nice way to take a break and enjoy time together too. This March 16th, Disney Live Mickey’s Rockin’ Road Show will skate on over to Budweiser Gardens. We can’t wait to see it ourselves. I also have set of four tickets to…