I asked the Mamas on my Facebook page and on Twitter to let me know in three words or less what “MOTHER” meant to them. This is what they had to say… . . . . . Happy Mother’s Day to all of the most amazing, wonderful, inspiring Mamas EVER!! {YES, I am talking to YOU!} Much Love, Natasha~
**Trigger ALERT** Please be aware that this post is about things that may or may not trigger deep emotions and reactions in some people, especially those with a history of Post Partum Depression. If you feel that you are not ready to read this post, please don’t. Today I am full of so many emotions, that the only way I seem to be able to cope with any of them is to kind of turn them all off and be numb. And when I do find the strength to deal with my feelings, the one emotion that keeps rising to the top is ANGER! I AM MAD! REALLY, REALLY MAD!! You see… {brace yourself} I found out today that a girl I once knew, a girl I worked with, a girl whose wedding I attended… Smothered and killed her four-month old baby boy. I am sorry, but yes, this tragedy...
Remember that time when I wanted to be all smart and political and help inform my fellow mamas about the upcoming election? AND I was moving into the Natural Urban Home that very same weekend? Yeah… I did that. And now I have completely overextended myself. This move has been tough. I have been physically and emotionally exhausted every day this week and there is still so much to do to get us completely settled in the house. AND there are still a fair amount of outstanding projects that need completing in and around the house that I have to either supervise or be on hand for as well this coming week. So I must apologize to all of you for promising more than I can deliver right now. I just can’t research and write the posts about the parties and their platforms. If we had another month and...
Last year during the Canadian federal election I really wanted to explore the different political parties and their platforms and find out where I stood, you know… politically speaking. This is often a tough thing to do during an election with ‘propaganda’ and agendas coming at you from all angles. And then a Canadian blogger that I hold in very high regard did something wonderful. She took a good hard look at all the parties, read their platforms extensively and posted a synopsis of each on her blog. I can honestly say that I ended up making my decision based a lot on the information that Annie at Phd in Parenting posted on her site about the parties and their platforms as they related to families, parenting and women’s issues. And so, in an effort to suss out again where I stand at a provincial political level, I am...
It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding. ~Erma Bombeck Oh Erma, how I wish this was more true. Compassion. A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. As mothers we (are supposed to) have it in spades. For our babies, who need us 24/7 to nourish, nurture, love and keep them safe. For our husbands and partners, who for the above reasons need us as well and because they are there for us when we need them. Sharing our lives, bringing home the bacon, or doing the stay-at-home parent thing while we go back to work. And for our fellow {wo}man. Our sisters, our friends, the stranger with 4 kids under 4 struggling at the grocery store, the new mama doing her best to figure this all out, the grandmother who has been there and done that and now looks on with a touch...
This weekend I realized something. I am a purist. Kinda… Let me explain. I attended my third blogging conference this weekend. It was the inaugural Blogwest 2012, the brainchild of my friend Felicia Dewar and a much-needed convergence of bloggers, sponsors, and experts in the social media and blogosphere world for Western Canada. In September of 2011 Felicia and I both attended the ShesConnected conference in Toronto and it was very clear then that western Canadian bloggers as a whole were both missing and also not being targeted by brands and sponsors. I am positive that it was after this conference that Felicia’s wheels started to turn and that weekend, the beginnings of what would become BlogWest sprouted in her head! At the time, I was quite excited about being invited to ShesConnected. I truly believed that connecting with brands and sponsors was what I wanted and needed to...
A few things have me all riled up today. ~ When I am really, really wrong. Like having no problem swearing in front of my kids, saying that I don’t care if they swear as long as it is in context and then having them swear totally IN CONTEXTand realizing that I was WAY OFF BASE with this one. (Oops!) ~ Bad editing. Whether it be in a movie, a TV Show (Hello Once Upon a Time, I am talking to you), or a blog post. Especially a blog post. Spell Check people, know it, use it, love it! And please read and re-read your posts before you hit publish. ~ People trying to pass off someone else’s work, research or pictures as their own. Show some respect and give credit where it is due. (PS. Not only is this not very nice, it is often illegal! ~ Laundry. (Not...
My children and I are “regulars” at our own mommy and toddler version of Cheers. Yup, it is true. We go to a place where everybody knows our names, they’re always glad we came, and very often the people and our troubles are all the same. They have even named a drink after me! (And I may have been sitting there, without kids, drinking one while I wrote this!) I am of course speaking of our local cafe and play place, the wonderful Cafe O’Play. This parent’s dream of a cafe was the first of its kind in our fair city and it is a very busy, bustling and yes, often chaotic place to be. There are kids ranging from 0-5 years of age running around, playing, eating, sometimes crying, and otherwise behaving as kids of that age often do. And their parents all sit and sip yummy lattes...
…and yet, the breastfeeding witch hunt rages on… And very strongly on Facebook again! More breastfeeding pictures have been removed, people’s accounts have been blocked or suspended and there is much confusion about what Facebook’s actual policy on breastfeeding photos is or if they even have one. You would think that they do have one based on this response from Facebook’s own Help Centre. But in an article published in the Vancouver Sun yesterday, Facebook’s Canadian publicist said that, “…although Facebook does not have a specific policy regarding breastfeeding images but given that Facebook’s policy is no nudity it would be best not to post (breastfeeding images),..” The mixed messages from Facebook are enough to make my head spin! For the whole back story and media updates I will direct you to my friend Jodine Chase’s blog. She has been chronicling this most recent battle daily since it all started on...
Tomorrow, there are nurse-in’s planned at Target stores across the USA and in some Zeller’s stores (the future home of Target) across Canada. It is all in response to an incident that happened to a breastfeeding mom at a Houston Target store in late November 2011. You can read all the details here, in the post written by Annie Urban from PhDinParenting on the Care2 site. This is sadly not a new news story. Long story short is this: mom is shopping with baby, baby gets hungry, mom has a full cart of items and decides to sit down and nurse her child with a cover over her. Mom is subsequently harassed by store employees asking her to move or leave and then proceed to threaten to call the police and have her arrested for indecent exposure, etc, etc, etc…. And… Cue the Lactivists!! And the uproar from both...
