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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I felt young when I had my first baby. I was in my late-twenties but had always imagined I wouldn't get started until I was in my thirties. You see, I just had too much to do and didn't need a baby slowing me down. Turns out, sometimes they don't slow you down but speed you up. Regardless, as time passed and the number of babies increased, so did the number of candles on my birthday cake. Last week I blew out 38 of the damn things.
Generally I'm not bothered by aging. We all know that 40 is th… Continue
A week of battling illness has provided the opportunity to make some observations:
1) Very strange and seemingly unconnected symptoms occur as the result of pregnancy. In my case, a simple head cold morphed into a serious sinus infection. Apparently pregnancy and sinuses are connected. This is strange to me because last I checked my sinuses are really far away from my uterus. My sinus infection made me feel like someone took me out back and beat the living daylights out of me. I was shocked w… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on March 9, 2009 at 7:14am —
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A few nights ago, we had a little incident that I can't stop thinking about. Quite frankly, I'm still feeling a bit sick about it.
I put the kids to bed. My three little ladies sleep "Little House on the Prairie" style all in one room. With two single beds, a toddler bed and the dressers taking up residency in the hallway, it works well. On this particular night, Little Lady #1 was at the ballet with Nan and Little Lady #2 fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Like most good mom en… Continue
There are only a few things that I like about Valentine's Day, and when I say 'few' I actually mean one. I fondly remember my mom sneaking a little chocolate and note into our lunch boxes on Valentine's Day. It was memorable because we were not the kind of kids who had treats showered upon us. I have enjoyed carrying on that tradition with my school aged children. That about sums up the joy I get out of Valentine's Day.
The main problem is that I have a strong aversion to anything cheezy and… Continue
Added by Julie Cole on February 15, 2009 at 1:18pm —
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My 92-year-old grandma looks a pleasant woman, and indeed she is - but truth be known, she is a woman of great power and everyone should be a little bit afraid of her. For me, I'm most afraid when I am about to share pregnancy news with her.
It seems an odd fear considering grandma gave birth nine times and her mother went through the ordeal a shocking twenty-one times (yes, twenty-one). So why in such a prolific family would I have this fear? Quite simply it is because grandma is a strange co… Continue
Spreading the Love
