One Lucky Mama!

A couple of weeks ago, my bad-breathing baby landed us in the Trauma Room in the Emergency at our local hospital. On about his fifth Ventolin treatment, a woman was brought into the bed beside us.

The woman was explaining her symptoms as they were…

As a result of my gene-lacking situation, some…

On March 5th, 1971 I was born. Yep, I just turned 40. All year I was talking about the big birthday bash we were going to have at our house – it was going to be quite the event! But the closer my birthday got, the more the idea of throwing a party became one big headache. So I started saying that I would have a party when the weather improved. When friends and family asked, I…

I was recently given an amazing opportunity from my friends at Disney Canada to attend the Disney Social Media Moms conference in Orlando. I jumped at the chance – by March, who doesn’t need to get a hit of that happy drug the Big Mouse deals out?

The added bonus was that this conference is a family getaway….well, for a family of four, anyway. Once I got a friend to agree to come…

When I posted my last blog about the “meanie at the mall”, I was shocked by how many mamas had experienced the exact same thing. That encounter was a first for me – never before had I been so openly criticized by a complete stranger. I certainly get some funny looks when I’m out with my crew, but never has it been the stink eye (that I have noticed, anyway!)

But the silver lining of…

That cute face is why I got into a fight at the mall. And yes, as his shirt indicates, he was actually “dipped in handsome sauce”.

I took my three youngest kids for lunch at the food court in the local mall the other day. My toddler had a meltdown and was doing the high-pitched…

Daddy-o smootching Fin

A friend on Facebook recently posted some Valentine’s Day advice to all the men out there. In short, she suggested that all women gush over Valentine’s Day and appreciate special gifts and attention in celebration of this holiday. Even…

People say that I’m brave for having six kids. My take is that it’s nothing compared to those crazy mamas whose kids are out of the baby stage when they go and immerse themselves right back into it. Imagine ditching diaper bags, sleepless nights and poopy bottoms only to return to them several years later. At…

And in desperate times, you look to older siblings for help!

With the recent death of both grandpas, I was left feeling like I needed a bit of help and support. I had six jetlagged kids up at random hours (some with fevers),…

Pa on his last day at the farm with Oma and his 16 grandkids

Two years ago I was pregnant with my sixth baby and boarded a 15 hour flight with my five small children. I was horrified to discover that the airline had put me beside a small child…

There are a couple of Halloween rules that I have and they have nothing to do with safety. Quite simply, my kids must go trick or treating in our own neighbourhood and they must go out together. Enforcing the rule has never been an issue – no one has ever expressed interest in sharing the night elsewhere or with other people. Sure, we meet up with friends on the street, but the team of siblings travel as a pack on this special night.

I had…

We don’t get too worked up about a little mess at our house

My friend Emily over at The Motherhood recently asked me to co-host an online discussion about how to “unspoil” your child. Due to a scheduling conflict, I couldn’t participate, which was disappointing for me. I find spoiling kids to be a particularly annoying habit of many parents.

I started…

Last week I was flying to L.A. for a speaking engagement. As I boarded the plane, I reminded myself how peaceful the flight would be. Flying solo is like a forced holiday. Flying with my gang is a big job and one that I spend a fair amount of time dreading. However, after the experience I had on that particular flight, I realized that maybe travelling with my kids is not so bad after all.

Two rows ahead of me, in the bulk head seats, was a very elderly man who walked with a cane. He…

Hockey is a great North American tradition and our family heads off to the arena on a regular basis to watch our kids try to get a puck in a net. Daddy-o even builds an ice rink in the backyard every winter so they can play among themselves and with neighbourhood kids. My 10-year-old son was keen to play through summer and a few weeks ago his team was in the championship game. It was a summer house league 3-on-3 team so hardly a highly competitive…

My kids don’t go to private school, but they were part of a pilot project that introduced school uniforms into the regular school system. I soon realized that uniforms are a hot debate topic for parents, teachers and administrators.

So what do I think? In short, it is one of those little things that has helped me maintain a bit of sanity while raising my half dozen kids. The benefits are many for this mama of six. These are the reasons it…

Maintaining friendships when you are a mama can be a tricky business. Often already juggling a hectic home life, work and children, while also trying to carve out a bit of time with Daddy-o, can leave little room for your girlfriends.

The way I see it, there are a few friendship fizzling high risk situations:

1) You become a mama: Many report that their friendships with single/childless girlfriends suffer. Mama feels…

As you can see, we Mabel gals take our blogging conferences VERY seriously!

Just back from BlogHer ’10 in New York City and quite frankly am feeling like I need a bit of a holiday. So much squealing and excitement on the first night left me with a nasty case of laryngitis. I spent the rest of the conference struggling to speak. But, you can imagine the energy of a conference with 2400 women bloggers all in one…

Two years ago, our family sponsored a child in Costa Rica named Oscar Mario. He was the chosen one for very specific reasons – at the time, our family was a bit light in the boy department so we thought a male would even things out nicely. My eldest son was obsessed with Super Mario, so when we saw a child who had the name Mario, it was clearly a good fit.

The kiddos feel very connected with Oscar Mario – they send him letters and art work,…