• family travel

    Jamaica with kids – starfish trelawny

    October 5, 2009 - By 

    Last April we ventured to Ocho Rios for the first time with our children and had a fantastic, affordable, fun, family trip. (Family of four all inclusive with flights $3600.00 )After much discussion, research and preparation, we again planned to travel as cheaply as possible at as calm a travel time as possible. Due to my daughter’s sensory processing disorder, which means everything is louder, brighter, faster and tighter in her world, we have found off season April to be most suitable for travelling. A mere four to five hour flight from Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson, Jamaica’s Starfish Trelawny resort…

  • family - Health - Parenting - parenting

    When Love is Not Enough – Adoption Disruption in the News

    October 5, 2009 - By 

    It’s been a week since my last post, but I have been busily mulling over much in the world of adoption. Many of you probably read headlines about the blogger Mommy Anita Tedaldi who adopted a child and then when she felt the baby boy wasn’t bonding gave him up. It was all over the U.S. media and the Internet late last week. Tedaldi was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show. She was condemned and praised as people all over responded viscerally to her story. Last week I was called by a Montreal radio show to give comment…

  • special needs

    Smart books

    September 29, 2009 - By 

    I am taking a few moment today to organize as I just got back from another excellent conference, this time in Saskatoon. One of my take home ideas from the FASD (Fetal alcohol specturm disorder) conference last week put on by the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute was this – a manual on my children essentially. A tip I’m going to call my Smart Books, for lack of a better name. So this morning I made a quick stop at Shopper’s Drug Mart and bought two new binders to start my organizing. One will be for each of my children. Up until…

  • Travel

    Saskatoon Inn review

    September 27, 2009 - By 

    It’s not often that I am so pleasantly surprised by my accommodations that I race to the computer, eager to commend the venue and its staff. This week while staying in Saskatchewan at the Saskatoon Inn and conference centre, 2002 Airport Drive, I couldn’t help but do just that. From check in to check out the service here was exceptional. To begin with I arrived much earlier than check in time on a Wednesday, not intentional just the way flights worked out. A convenient airport shuttle was perhaps a five minute wait and baggage appeared without delay at Diefenbaker Airport.…

  • Parenting

    September musings for teachers and parents

    September 25, 2009 - By 

    Dear teacher:      I need you to know a few things about my child. She came to our family though adoption and I know this may sound oddly confessional to you, even perhaps a little bit overly friendly. But I need you to know this because I am nothing if not by now an expert on my child. She will need more in your class than many of the other students. Oh she is bright alright and she loves school, but you see September for her is hard. So hard that she will come home and explode several nights before…

  • Parenting

    Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

    September 20, 2009 - By 

    Anyone who knows me really well knows that I adore Jodi Picoult and am rapidly working my way through everything she’s ever published. Today I finished reading Handle With Care, a truly beautiful poignant story about a family pushed to the brink of breaking by a daughter, Willow’s disability and a lawsuit that the family initiates. Willow has osteogenesis imperfecta and the fact that I can spell that by memory now is one of the many reasons I adore this author. So this is to be a strange list hyphen book review of the many reasons why this author is inspirational…

  • family

    Thriftybits and my First Giveaway!!!!

    September 15, 2009 - By 

    Thriftybits is my first ever roundup of ideas that are affordable for families. I’m dubbing this Thriftybits. This is a post truly inspired by the name of my blog – thriftymommastips. So in that spirit here are my best tips to pass along this week, the first week of September that both of my children have been in school at the same time. Yippee!! And yet somehow this has translated into more work not less for dear old mommy. How does that work? Also FYI: this is my first giveaway. To win a copy of All The Pretty Horses by…

  • family

    Ontario Science Centre Visit with my Kids

    September 15, 2009 - By 

    This summer my daughter, now eight, repeatedly asked to do science  experiments and she would often tell anyone who inquired that her favourite subject was science, so we thought it would be the ideal time to plan a trip to Ontario Science Centre. We visited the centre on Labour Day weekend. Admission was free with our membership to London Regional Children’s Museum. A very big bonus incentive for us to visit. And visiting on Sunday meant we could park on a side street nearby for free as well. We stayed at a motel for the night so we could also visit family nearby. This…

  • FASD - Health - Parenting - special needs

    FASD DAY 09-09-09

    September 9, 2009 - By 

    On the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009 (09,09,09 FASD DAY) we gathered in London’s Victoria Park for a pregnant pause to raise awareness regarding FASD Day. The Number 9 is Symbolic A pregnancy takes 9 months typically. So the number 9 has become a symbol to people in the FASD disability world. Hence the day – the ninth day of the ninth month and this year in 2009 this felt ever so meaningful. The Stats Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, is an invisible neurological disability, affecting an estimated 300,000 Canadians. The numbers are staggering,…

  • family - FASD - Parenting

    Forgetful Frankie Children’s Book and FASD DAY Interview

    September 9, 2009 - By 

    First and foremost, a small disclaimer. Those of you who know me and read me know that I am a Mom of a little girl with FASD fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. So I may be the tiniest bit biased about this one but when I first saw hint of a book for children about FASD I was overjoyed. Anyone who parents a child with FASD struggles with what to tell them and when to tell them about their disability. This book is a way to help parents do that. So what follows here is my interview with Jill Bobula, author of…