So this baby of mine has been a chronic bronchiolitis guy. I’ve never had a bad breather so it’s all new and exciting. In fact, I’m just home from a few days in the hospital with him. Throw some pneumonia into the bronchiolitis mix and you’ve got yourself a weekend pass to paediatric paradise. Baby and… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on December 21, 2009 at 7:43am —
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Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
I was 18-years-old when the 14 women were gunned down. As an earlier adopter of feminism, I had already done much of the reading required of a budding feminist and had some very decent mentors in place.
When the Montreal Massacre happe… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on December 7, 2009 at 7:06am —
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So we finally bit the bullet and are moving house. The thought of it is overwhelming – so much crap to be sorted, packed or purged. With six kids, I know you can imagine just how much crap we’re talking here. Adding further stress is the prospect of making our current house look nice enough that… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on November 23, 2009 at 6:56am —
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So we finally bit the bullet and are moving house. The thought of it is overwhelming – so much crap to be sorted, packed or purged. With six kids, I know you can imagine just how much crap we’re talking here. Adding further stress is the prospect of making our current house look nice enough that… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on November 23, 2009 at 6:56am —
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As all you mamas know, once one kid is down, it’s just a matter of time before they all start dropping like flies. I’ve got a lot of flies, so things can drag on for quite some time. In fact, with so many flies, the whole little germ fest tends to recycle and the first kid who brought it into the… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on November 16, 2009 at 9:27am —
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We can all give in little ways that make a huge difference. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want their children to be kind and generous people who grow up with a desire to make contributions. There is no question that the best way to teach kids is through role modeling. At Mabel’s Labels we wanted our work lives to reflect that value, so over a year ago we started a Community Relations Committee. We recently had a look at what we have accomplished and it left us with a decent case of the warm fu… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on November 9, 2009 at 11:14am —
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I’m not a fun person. Let me qualify that – I’m not fun in the traditional sense.
I don’t dress up for Hallowe’en and I have never met an April Fools Day prank that I didn’t think was stupid. When people send me funny jokes by e-mail, the joke gets deleted immediately and the sender receives a message requesting removal from the group list since I have no time for such nonsense. There is a long list of things that prove that I’m not a fun person.
So imagine the surprise my neighbours got this… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on November 2, 2009 at 11:43am —
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I have people send me this link regularly:
I’m always so chuffed when people take the time to forward something that might be of interest to me. Have a look – this clip is a beauty. A lovely teenager with autism gets his chance on the basketball court and absolutely shines – elevated to hero status by his supportive peers cheering him on. It is truly moving.
It also annoys the crap out of me.
When I see this clip, it makes me want to scream “So what? You think the only thin… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on October 26, 2009 at 6:59am —
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Last week on October 15th, many mamas were lighting candles in remembrance. That day has been designated as National Pregnancy Loss & Infant Loss Awareness Day.
I had a miscarriage soon after my first child was born. My loss was accompanied with some guilt too – finding out I was pregnant while having a newborn left me horrified. I quickly adjusted to the thought of my “Irish Twins” and was devastated when I miscarried. Then came the guilt – how could I have initially greeted this pregnancy… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on October 19, 2009 at 7:47am —
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I was miraculously alone in my car the other day tuned into CBC, hoping to catch the dreamy voice of long- time crush, Jian Ghomeshi.
Being interviewed was Shane Earle, Mount Cashel Orphanage survivor. Something he said really resonated with me: the way we live each day as an adult is a constant reaction to how we were treated as a child.
That really spoke to me – although the majority of our years are spent as an adult, those childhood years are with us always. We carry those around with us d… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on October 13, 2009 at 11:27am —
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I go to the Mabel’s Labels HQ about two and half days a week and work from home the rest of the time. I like going to the office for the obvious reasons – it’s quiet, no one interrupts me to say they want a snack, and I get to dress up a bit (OK, admittedly “dressing up” is only about a half step up from my mama uniform).
There’s something else about the office that I like that’s tricky to describe – a certain dynamic that makes ours not your average office.
One thing is that our staff is just… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on September 21, 2009 at 7:23am —
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Since most parents are not particularly fond of whining, “you get what you get and you don’t get upset” is a common mantra in many households. It is most often heard immediately following annoying requests such as “but I wanted to sit in THAT chair” or “no, not the blue plate, the RED one!”
The adult version of “you get what you get” is when you have a baby. Not a lot of social engineering is involved so you can’t exactly order a baby of a particular gender or personality type. You can’t even c… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on August 24, 2009 at 7:17am —
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Like any kiddos, mine are big fans of critters and creatures. They are particularly fond of chipmunks, and at the cottage they spend a lot of time feeding and basically domesticating these little creatures.
Turns out they have made fast friends with the little critters at hom… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on August 17, 2009 at 8:14am —
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My cousin just had her first baby, an adorable girl named Claire Maeve.
It was discovered at an early ultra-sound that the baby was going to have a cleft lip. Although minor on the scale of things that can go wrong, it is still news that parents need to digest. The mama and p… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on August 10, 2009 at 10:10am —
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As some of you know, my oldest kid has autism. We take this autism stuff pretty seriously and as a result he has made remarkable gains. Indeed, to the untrained eye he is indistinguishable from his neuro-typical peers.
Last weekend four of the kiddos did a triathlon. When “Number One Son” finished the running component too early, it was obvious he got confused somewhere along the way. Turns out he went around the wrong pylon cutting the run short.
That evening my 8-year-old daughter came into… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on July 20, 2009 at 7:23am —
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I’ve been doing a bit of complaining about having to find a car that suits our family. I was whining about this on my other blog (www.thebabymachine.com).
The biggest issue has been that it seemed like no one wanted to help us out. I e-mailed contacts in the car industry and did… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on July 14, 2009 at 6:55am —
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One week down, eight more to go.
This week four of the kiddos were enrolled in a little tennis camp in the neighbourhood for two hours a day. The plan was that in those two hours I would have enough time to clear out my e-mail inbox, update my Facebook status, spend a few moments on twitter, read a couple of blog posts and run an errand. The rest of my day would belong to the kiddos.
It rained this week and while I don’t mean to carry on and complain about the rain, tennis camp gets cancelled… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on July 7, 2009 at 6:59am —
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The picture you see is of my beautiful nephew Emmett with his dog, Magnum. A picture of our family pet does not exist because we do not have, nor will we ever get a furry friend. My kiddos often complain about how difficult it is having a mean mama. I like to remin… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on June 15, 2009 at 8:41am —
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If you don't know this already, I'm hopeless with pop culture. Here is my list of admissions/confessions:
- I don't own an i-POD, MP3, and don't really know what a PVR does. And is Blu-ray just a fancy DVD?
- Despite my older children being ages nine, eight, and six, I have never seen an episode of Hannah Montana, heard a Jonas Brothers song or seen a High School Musical movie;
- I wouldn't know Adam Lambert if he sang a tribute to me;
- I know there was some sort of drama on The Bachelor a… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on March 30, 2009 at 7:48am —
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I'm currently writing an article for Mother's Day about mamas who don't have their own mothers around. It's fascinating to me that people can raise children when their own moms are not retired, living locally, emotionally involved or alive. So, you have that happy read to look forward to. In the meantime it got me thinking about another valuable player in the extended family - the childless aunt.
I had a childless aunt who we tragically lost to breast cancer a dozen years ago when she was only… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on March 22, 2009 at 12:20pm —
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Things I Do Well: Fatigue
