Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

It's now been about 18 months since I quit my job and about 1 year since I started this blog. The blog served many purposes (in order of importance): To journal my transition from professional working woman to this strange and wondrous creature called the "stay-at-home-mom" To test whether I had any writing skills (creative and technical) To share my thoughts with family, friends and finally with Jane Q. Public. (Writing has always been easier for me than talking.) I look back and realize that I do have ideas (of questionable value of course), but I am unsure I can contribute further on the process of adjusting to the stay-at-home life. I mean, just how many more posts can I make about self-esteem issues and my quest for a "band of sisters"? So I am faced with some options: I can shut this blog down and start a new one where I share the ongoing intrigue, danger and high-stakes of parenting or I could re-work this blog and convert it to a parenting/life blog

Since my last post made my head hurt, I decided I needed a less head-hurting post, so this is it. It is just a collection of a few things going on with me, that I thought you might enjoy. Of Books and Bookmarks I mentioned that you can find me on Goodreads where I post reviews of the books I've been reading (you can see the books I am currently reading at right, on my Shelfari bookshelf). Shelfari is another site for bibliophiles, but so far I've only use the bookshelf widget on my blog because it is more attractive than the Goodreads widget. But enough of books, have you ever wondered how to keep momentos of all those lovely bouquets you amass throughout the year? Well I had grand ambitions of saving one stem from each bouquet and eventually putting them all into a dried arrangement. I had to abandon that when Liam got into my stash and used a few of the stems as fly swatters (the petals scattered everywhere..like my dreams..lol). Anyway, I took one stem, pressed it betw

That would be Lucas. He recently told me that they discussed bullying in school, so if I was in any doubt that he was moving into a new phase of life, this confirmed it. He is moving into the 8-12 yr phase where bullying and such things occur (and this precedes the teen-adolescent phase). Lucas doesn't want to go to the ladies' bathroom with me anymore, so as he becomes more independent we've had to have the "good touch/bad touch" discussion. This is still ongoing (' The Right Touch ', ' It's My Body '). I had only recently restarted reading parenting books after a fairly long hiatus (I just finished ' Raising Cain ' and ' The Trouble With Boys ' before that). They discuss many factors affecting boys, and while the father is by no means the only important element in raising boys, it is a significant one. In their book 'Raising Cain', the authors say, " It is clear to us that the most emotionally resourceful a

I've made about 75 posts by now over the past year, and I thought I'd share some of my favourite posts and why. I hope you enjoy them. Here goes: My adjustment. These are just a few of the posts that describe in some small way my coming-to-terms with being at home after working at a demanding job. (This adjustment is otherwise known as the scales falling from my eyes.) What is your 'bread and butter' conversation? Where are MY peeps? Left your brains in the delivery room? My husband promised me bons bons My controversial posts. These I thought would have generated some degree of discussion amongst my readers, (they didn't), but I like them nonetheless. Goal-oriented or competitive? Do you read in colour? How much 'boy' socialization do little girls need? My very personal posts . These posts are closest to my heart. Fried Plantain Khabi Khabie Mere Dil Mein What flower are you? Presenting the amazing variegated woman! The sweet and the funny. Why do pe

That would be Lucas. Yes, my soon-to-be 8-year old is turning into a little parent. For those of you who have multiple children or have girls in the mix, you would know this phenomenon only too well. For me, it's been quite eye-popping. On the way back from getting Lucas from school one day, I told Liam that I had to hold his hand because there were a lot of cars about. I heard a voice chirp up. "You don't want Mama to hold your hand? Ok", here Lucas is nodding at Liam and looking down at him with this earnest and concerned expression on his face, "Mama doesn't have to hold your hand right now, but when we get off the grass and on the sidewalk, Mama has to hold your hand, ok?" And I wasn't even absent! I'm getting ousted by my own son! All I could do was just stand there, snapping at air for a moment. In the evenings, Lucas looks upon it as one of his "rights" or perhaps duties (as the surrogate parent that is), to do whatever is

To commemorate one blogging year, I will be posting a few "special" posts. This first one is a reflection on my first year staying home full-time and is in fact the first version of an article I had written for a magazine (you know, the one which was rejected). I hope you enjoy it. It was written a few months ago (and btw, version 2 was also rejected ;) Home with the kids?! Now What? (Or The Beauty of the Flowing Mind) I decided to stay at home full-time with my 2-year old, leaving my job outside the home, behind. That was one year ago. After grappling with this new reality over the past year, I thought my experiences with “The Beauty of the Flowing Mind” might be informative or at least entertaining. This pre-retirement retirement has many effects on the stay-at-home parent (the POD – the Parent On Duty), described here. If perchance circumstances have resulted in two PODs in your household, well, you’d best skip this article altogether and focus your efforts on your job

Maybe this seems paradoxical to just me, but I have concluded that Liam has made me a more patient parent than Lucas, even though Lucas was the one who needed more from me. In hindsight, it seemed that Lucas (at 2-3) required a degree of patience from me that was out of my reach so eventually I stopped trying. Whenever he was distressed, my best efforts to comfort, distract or re-direct him, usually didn't work. There didn't seem to be anything I could actively do to help him over the rough spots. In fact, whatever I did seemed to make it worse. So all our efforts were directed at managing him so closely (hence the schedules) that he never got himself (and us) into a state. Liam is different. I know if I just hang in there, hold him and comfort him, work through whatever it might be, he will calm down and be happy baby again. So I extend myself, grit my teeth and be patient with him. (I also keep repeating in my head, ' He is not Lucas, He is not Lucas..') But any