We were back at Sick Kids this morning. We had a little, lethargic girl with a fever. This parenting thing is WAY too hard. This was supposed to be our hump day. She was primed to go back to school tomorrow. But instead she napped and cried and cuddled. My heart sat outside my body as I watched her. I turned to my mom with tears of my own and declared "this is just too hard." How do the parents of terminally ill children do it? I can not even imagine. Her pale face. Her skinny, weak body. It... More »

Today was supposed to be my first day of the Isagenix cleanse. I was going to start along with Kath and her hubby but, as it often does, life had other ideas. On Friday afternoon I took my sick little girl into the emergency at Sick Kids referred by our local walk-in clinic. I wasn't too concerned thinking this was merely a precaution. After all, she was a healthy, energetic kid. She was, however, getting really sick - high fever, lethargy, cough - so the visit was not a bad idea...just in case. I knew it was bad when, despite... More »

Tonight I have had enough. 8 years of broken sleep, musical beds, and soothing him to sleep. My sweet, sensitive, anxious young man and the battle of bedtime. My 5 year old goes to sleep on her own and sleeps soundly through most nights but not her big brother. And not that I don't appreciate your advice but I wouldn't bother if I were you. I know some of you are reading this thinking that we aren't tough enough or our parenting is lacking. Didn't your child sleep through the night from the time they were 3 seconds old? Didn't... More »

Today I am a bit melancholy...my baby turns 5. Wow. 5 is Big Kid. No more baby or toddler. I totally remember being 5. A fully formed person with opinions and personality. And if you know my daughter you will know she is not short on personality. This was her this morning in her birthday finest: This girl knows what she likes and nothing is going to sway her. She balks at princesses and ponies. She's going to fight the bad guys and save the world! In this pic she is Lava Girl but she could be Fire Girl, Super... More »

My daughter's birthday is in early January. She doesn't know it yet but this really sucks. Everybody is pretty fed up with celebrating and often her birthday gets lumped in with everything else. Sometimes she gets a joint birthday/Christmas gift or one gift with a separate birthday card. Often people just forget all together. Even I struggle to find excitement after weeks of celebrations and a rush to return to the regular routine. However, retailers don't make it any easier. At this time of year there is NOTHING left in the stores but leftovers and sale items. They are... More »