• family - Health

    Five Things NOT to Say When a Friend is Grieving

    September 10, 2013 - By 

    GRIEVING Four months ago my mother passed away unexpectedly fast. Hearts broken, we moved through our days barely breathing at times, bursting into tears at the cemetery as we chose our mother’s plot, falling asleep spent. The words “Beloved Mother” on a spray of roses and every childhood memory unravelled at my feet. Sobbing, we set foot inside a flower shop to buy the last flowers we might ever gift her with and hope the florist weighs how much we loved her, translates it into colours. In the last few weeks, tears have come and gone, sometimes with clear triggers…

  • family

    Disney Super Buddies Review

    September 7, 2013 - By 

    My kids are big fans of the Buddies series of movies from Disney and we are rarely disappointed when a new release arrives in the mail for review. So, the arrival of Disney Super Buddies this past week was met with squeals of joy from the girls.  We sat down last Saturday night and had family movie night on the long weekend. Family movie night is always a great chance to connect and cuddle and occasionally shut down all the work projects I have on the go.  Disney Buddies are the cutest little dogs. Santa Buddies, Snow Buddies and Space…

  • FASD - Parenting - special needs

    Bittersweet August Algebra #specialneeds

    September 2, 2013 - By 

    August is the strangest month if you parent a child with special needs. Why is that? Patience and I will tell you. August is day camps, if you are lucky, and if you have found a camp that can accommodate a child with whatever needs your child might have. It is cottage and beach and sand and water and full on sensory experiences pretty much everywhere. Swimming, I am told, by a very clever friend of mine is akin to the body receiving a full head to toe hug. The ultimate sensory immersion experience.  My girl has some special needs,…

  • family

    Time for #LinkedMoms #GoingBack Party – $100 Gift Card

    August 28, 2013 - By 

    It’s time for a party. #LinkedMoms and Staples Canada are throwing a Back to School Twitter Party and this is your chance to win. We Have five great chances to win a gift card for Staples Canada products.  4 prizes of $25 and one grand prize of $100  What could you buy with a $100 Staples Canada gift card? Well, I think I would start with this:  Because my kids are in love with YTV and these are very hot commodities advertised on Next Star, our favourite show. And they look fun. (I secretly want one to play with myself…

  • beauty products - parenting

    When Back to School Means Skin Breakouts: Two Chances to Win #Giveaway

    August 27, 2013 - By 

    Nothing screams back to school like a skin breakout. It happens every time your child, or even you, have a special event scheduled and the anticipation plus the erratic eating leading up to the event paints your skin an angry mess of acne, blackheads, pimples and stress. So what to do? From the time I was a teenager, Oxy and Phisoderm, were routine fixtures in our bathroom. Phisoderm was a great tool for daily face washing and skin maintenance as soon as I hit the teen years. Back then the packaging looked a lot different than it does now, but…

  • american_girl_event
    family

    American Girl’s First Ever Blogger Event #BittyBaby

    August 26, 2013 - By 

    The years are brief, in which girls play with dolls. Blink your eyes and they are almost done. Even shorter, if you have a sporty girl who had no interest in anything girly until very recently. So colour me happy and a wee bit shocked too when this one – who has been christened sporty spice, bug, two foot tornado and Hurricane Ainsley at various points in her short nine years – decided she was a doll girl. She is prone to these whiplash about turn moments now as a young almost tween. So, when I was invited to an…

  • infertility - Parenting

    Conceivable Dreams First Ever Picnic #ohip4ivf #onpoli

    August 25, 2013 - By 

    If you are near Toronto and struggling with infertility, or suspected infertility, then you won’t want to miss this opportunity. Conceivable Dreams, the provincial patient group advocating for public funding for in vitro fertilization is hosting their first ever picnic on Sept. 15th at Earl Bales Park in Toronto. The event will start at 11 a.m. and run through 3 p.m. All family members and supporters welcome. The picnic features door prizes and entertainment.  “This picnic is extremely important to raise awareness and show the many faces of infertility.  Not only to bring together a community, who suffers in silence, but…

  • Health - parenting - special needs

    Why I am Relieved: On Autism, #Special Needs and Hate

    August 21, 2013 - By 

    Sometimes I wonder how does hate help anyone? It is a horrible vile and debilitating feeling to carry around as a human being. And it doesn’t help anyone in a minority community, not that hateful people consider that. How is hate allowed to fester? Of that, I have no clue, but it is in fact more prevalent in neighbourhoods and institutions than you’d ever believe. This week we saw that with this horrendous letter that circulated on the news and on line. My daughter last year. Sometimes this is what special needs looks like. By now you have all heard…

  • family

    How To Make A Do It Yourself Container Fairy Garden – Ten Easy Steps #DIY

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    My girls are crafty and their imaginations are always on the go especially in the summer months. One summer we spent our days blowing things up and doing science experiments in the yard. That was a lot of fun, but mostly it was hands on learning, structured to keep my kids out of trouble. (My girls are going to blow stuff up anyways, so we might as well do it right.) At the end of the school year my oldest daughter started digging up the lawn grabbing grassy clumps of clod and flowers. She told me she intended to build…

  • family

    #LinkedMoms Hard At Work #Blogher13 #WordlessWednesday

    August 7, 2013 - By 

    This conference circuit is hard work. Just sayin’. Actually, this is me with my good friend Margarita Ibbott, also my business partner at Linked Moms. Who are Linked Moms? We’re the gals chatting every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EST. Join us weekly. Sometimes we talk about pressing parenting issues, health, special needs, travel or what tickles our fancy. Sometimes, we have guests and sometimes our chats are full scale twitter parties.