Welcome Back!

Okay, I have to admit I have been a very, very bad blogger, but honest I have an excuse.

Work has been insane!  The last thing I want to do after working on a computer all day is sit down and blog.

The kids have also been busy, the pre-school problem has been solved (blog about that coming up), and then we had a 4 year old birthday party to plan and execute.

And then hubby's work has also been insane, getting home late and then continuing to work from home after dinner (monopolizing the computer on me too).

But I am going to make a HUGE effort to get back into the swing of things here, I might not be posting every day, but I will be doing a lot more than before.

Mom Interview - Lisa

Lisa is a friend of mine I met through meetup where we both joined the book club.

Although we live very close to each other, we rarely see each other besides book club due to busy schedules.

1.      Name: Lisa

2.      Children: Dylan, age 3

3.      Why did you start having kids when you did (why not start earlier, why not wait)?

I did not meet Len until a bit later in life, and everyone previous was just not the right person to have kids with.

4.      Why did you have only 1 child?  Was it your (you and your partner’s) decision or an outside factor?

Mostly an age factor.  I was not 18 when Dylan was born and Dylan is special needs, so that as well as a baby, no thanks.

5.      Did you always want kids?

      Always, all my friends from high school were surprised I did not have 6 kids already.

6.      Tell us a little bit about Dylan.

Dylan was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) when he was 2 ½.  (Editing to add: He is a lovely little boy (little – he is younger than both my kids, but bigger and taller than both), who knows what he wants and what he doesn’t want.  He certainly knows how to keep both parents on their toes.)

7.      What do you do for childcare?

Right now I am a stay at home Mom (this was not in the plans), but since Dylan is currently in an Early Intervention Program for Autism, and we have respite come to work with him, it is important for me to be available to help all the time.

8.      Describe a favourite moment with Dylan.

I love it when he wakes up a bit early and he climbs into bed with me and we just hang out and snuggle.

9.      What are your current challenges?

Potty training.  He is delayed, and we struggle every day with getting him onto the potty on time and making sure us as parents catch his cues since he is not able to tell us yet.

It is very frustrating to have him over 3 and still be dealing with diapers.

10.   Looking back over the past 3 years, is there something you would have done differently?  What is it?

I was a nervous Mother at the beginning, looking back I would like to change that, I would have traveled more with him as a small child.

11.    Favourite things to do together / as a family?

Heritage Park – we love the open spaces, the fresh air and it is safe.

Canmore visits – we really enjoy going out to Canmore getting a hotel and having a mini family vacation together.  (I (Jenny) pointed her to my favourite coffee shop in Canmore – The Bagel Company – right on main street if you are interested.)

The Pool – we have a membership at the YMCA and my hubby and Dylan go the pool a lot.

Thanks Lisa for participating and being my first Mom interview!

Mom Network

When I first became a Mom, I had quite a few good friends that were already Moms.  I thought we would spend tons of time together, but what I did not know what distance and age play a huge factor in the amount of time you can sometimes spend with other Moms.

The closest stay-at-home Mom friend was 25 minutes drive away, one friend was almost an hour (and we still lived in the same city).

So getting together for that critical infant play date (I say this with so much sarcasm, because we all know that the play ate is actually a coffee-I-want-to-talk-to-adults play date for Mom), was much harder than I imagined.

Little Girl at the time was a great napper, she would wake up in the morning, be awake for 1 ½ - 2 hours, then back down for a nap, this continued all day, until bed time.

This made it super hard to get out of the house and get a play date in there.

(Little Lady and I when she was about 1 month old) 

The other thing I did not realize was age.  Babies nap at such different times as they start to grow, and naps are the be-all-end-all of when you can and can’t have a play date.

I needed Mom’s that lived close and had a child the same age as mine.

My solution:

I found some great Mom friends through a class offered by the Alberta Health Services called Baby and Me.  There were 5 of us that stuck it out through the whole 6 or 8 week class, and after, we got together for walks, coffee and play dates.

We still get together (all those children are about to celebrate their 4^th birthday).

Another great place I found a Mom network was on meetup.com.  There are some great Calgary Mom’s groups that are free to join and there are always lots of events planned.

What about you, did you have a built in Mom Network, or did you have to go out like me and actively seek out and get to know other Moms so you could keep yourself sane.

Where did you find your Mom Network?

Quick and Easy Spiced Coucsous

I have been making this recipe for years, it is super easy and we love it beside jsut about anything.

Quick and Easy Spiced Couscous

2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups couscous
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 - 1/4 tsp salt (depending on how salty your chicken stock is)
1 TBSP butter
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 roma tomato, finely diced
12 TBSP fresh chopped basil (or parsley)

In a saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil, stir in couscous, pepper, allspice, cinnamon and salt.
Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes.

Fluff with a fork, stir in butter, almonds, tomato and basil.

Enjoy!

I did not have any fresh or dried basil, so I used fresh parsley, it worked great, just not quite the same flavour.

Source: Anne Lindsay's Light Kitchen

Blog Watch - Kids in Cowtown

I stumbed onto this blog just the other day and already I am LOVING it!

Why did I not know about this earlier?

Kids in Cowtown is a group of Calgary parents that have gotten together through a blog to share with other parents activities, attractions, events, tips and ideas related to having children in this great city called Calgary.

Pop on over and take a look around.

My Father: The original founder of the 100 mile challenge

5 years ago, I ate what I wanted. 

I tried to make healthy choices, but it didn’t really matter if I had popcorn for dinner, or we went out for wings Friday after work.

Having children changes how you think about food.

It changes the decisions you make for yourself and what you bring into the house.

I know so many people that only buy organic for their children.

I have to admit, I am not a big organic purchaser.  But I certainly have a long history with eating organic food, long before it was 'cool'.

Have you heard of the 100 mile diet?

The Food Network in the States also did a show called “The 100 Mile Challenge”.

Pretty easy to figure out what it is about, but the concept is for a whole year, only eating food grown / produced within the 100 mile radius of your house.

I was thinking the other day about my childhood and what I ate growing up, the perception I had back then, and how it has changed today.

As a child, we had a rather large garden, where the entire family helped with the planting, weeding and harvesting (oh how I hated that garden).

I remember eating potatoes, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots, cucumber, spinach, beets, lettuce, onions, rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries.

(All grown organically with NO pesticides, or chemicals.)

We did not live on a farm; we lived in town, so my father made connections to purchase live animals he could then kill and butcher himself.

I remember him killing chickens in the back yard; butchering a lamb and a pig.  Thank god he did not ever get his hands on a cow!

A childhood favourite was a soup my Mom made – Chicken Ball soup – where us 4 kids would fight over not the chicken balls, but the chicken heart instead.

Growing up we ate rabbit, pigeon, deer, kidneys, liver and even cows tongue, (all obtained locally).

The perception I had growing up was very different than what I have today.  Today I am thankful my parents were open to so many different kinds of foods.  Today the 100 mile challenge is a reality, organic food are in style.

Back in the 80’s, it was cooler to have a can of processed pasta in tomato sauce than to have an organic salad.

Back then, TV dinners were chic, not organic, fresh lamb.

So here’s to my Mother & Father, for all the extra work they did to feed our family healthy foods.

Here’s to myself and my siblings for grumbling through plantings, weeding and harvesting that damn garden!

So where does that leave me today?

I am not sure I want to do a garden.  Did i say how much I HATED that garden growing up.  But I do know that I want to teach my children to make healthy food choices, to learn how to like real, unprocessed, natural food.

Mom Interviews

A friend of mine Dee Ann has a wonderful blog, where for 3 years now, she has taken a picture every single day and blogged it.

One of my favourite sessions she did was one year (I think year 2??) she did a weekly interview with someone, and posted it along with some pictures from that interview.

I decided I want to do something similar (thanks for the idea Dee Ann!); so I am going to be conducting some Mom interviews. 

If you would like to be interviewed, please post a comment, I do not care how old or young you are, or how old or young your children are, once a Mom, always a Mom, right?

(Note: you do not have to live in Calgary for me to accomplish this, I am more than okay with an email or phone interview, but I will ask for you to email me a picture of you and / or your children.)

If you happen to be lucky enough to be a close friend of mine, watch out, I am sure I will try and snag an interview with you anyway.

Little Girl, Little Boy and myself at his second birthday party.