Chris and Melannie Eldridge welcomed daughter Charlotte into the world almost two weeks ago. Sadly the little girl was born with a condition that requires her to be under intensive neo-natal care at CHEO, so these new parents are spending their time watching over their daughter in a hospital bed instead of cuddling her and cooing over her and enjoying being new parents. They haven’t even held her, or heard her cry.
I have had a baby exactly four times, and all four experiences were unique. But when I read about Chris and Melannie, my heart broke for them. Because their pictures and their experiences were all too similar to one of my birth experiences. Almost immediately after I delivered my 4th child Joey – before I got to hold him or even really see him, he stopped breathing. The nurses rushed him immediately out of the room and he spent the first 13 days of his life attached to a respirator at CHEO. To say that it is an emotionally and physically draining experience is an understatement.
Unfortunately, to make matters worse for Chris and Melannie, someone broke into their home while they were at the hospital watching over their infant daughter. The kicked in their front door and stole anything and everything of value while tearing their home apart. Chris and Melannie do not have insurance. Chris and Melannie do not need to add this to their list of things to worry about – a sick child is more than they need. When I read about this it made me sick to my stomach because I know exactly the emotions that Chris and Melannie are experiencing right now.
But Ottawa is an incredible community, and immediately the people of this city have stepped up to help and rallied around this couple. The Ottawa Citizen reported that after the story broke people contacted the paper and CHEO offering financial help, cleaning and cooking help as well as moral support.
Friends set up a trust fund and local radio station Majic 100 (home of our very own Conseulo Bernardi) has even dedicated a page on their website to help raise money. If you’d like to help Chris and Melannie, the fund is called 'Charlotte's Fund' and donations can be made at ANY Scotiabank in the Ottawa area, account # 40006 002 0274518.
Donations can also be made by cheque and sent to:
Cresa Partners Ottawa
85 Albert St suite 502
Ottawa Ont K1P 6A4
attn: Clayton Thorkelson for Charlotte's Fund
So even though something terrible happened to this family it never ceases to amaze me how wonderful this city is. Good job Ottawa.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
Image Credit: Ottawa Citizen
Some of you may remember that in July I was lucky enough to co-host our local Rogers Daytime talk show called Daytime Ottawa. I had so much fun because of the crew and the producers and of course, show host Derick Fage. I have been on Daytime a lot over the years and he is always so warm and welcoming and a true pleasure to work with.
Shortly after my guest co-hosting gig, I found out that Derick’s lovely co-host TL Rader has decided to move on from the show to pursue her professional dance career. Which means that my dream job has just become available! Cue the 14 day running challenge! Rogers launched a huge co-host search and of course I applied. After all, this is the dream job! This is the kind of thing I spoke to ET Canada correspondent Rosey Edeh about when I interviewed her. And heck even Jordan Knight from the New Kids on the Block thinks I should be the new co-host of Rogers Daytime!
So, all this is to say that I have officially been selected as one of the Top 10 candidates for the new co-host of Rogers Daytime Ottawa! This means that I will be co-hosting a show with Derick on September 14. At the end of that week there will be a chance for the audience to vote on their favourite co-host, narrowing the field to the Top 3. At that time the powers that be will select their new Co-Host. Amazing.
I just wanted to send out a big thank you to everyone who is always so supportive of me and my aspirations and I hope that you will continue to support me once it’s time for voting to begin :) All of my friends in real life, on this blog and on twitter have been incredibly supportive of this and I can’t tell you know much it means to me!
So now comes the big decision – what to wear! Thankfully my friend Marilou has already agreed to shop with me so at least that is one stress taken care of! Can’t wait to keep you all posted on this fun new challenge!
Thanks again and I look forward to keeping you all posted on this new adventure!
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
By now I’m sure you’ve heard that reality TV starlet Kim Kardashian married Kris Humphries in a lavish ceremony on August 20. And the reason I’m sure you’ve heard about it is because it seems that the Kardashian klan has sold the rights to every minute detail of the intimate affair so as to assure you’ve heard of it. And if your invite was lost in the mail don’t worry because E! will air a 2 part series on the blessed occasion so you can watch everything from the proposal to Kim shopping for her designer wedding dress to getting her eyebrows waxed the night before she walks down the aisle.
I am not a Kardashian fan. I can’t stand how all these grown women speak in baby talk and I hate that they abuse their influence by peddling whatever product will give them the most money. But I understand that they are a commodity and I at least respect that they know they are a commodity and that their time in the spotlight will pass soon enough so they want to capitalize on it as much as possible. But weddings are supposed to be sacred. Weddings are supposed to be romantic and lovely and all about the bride and groom, but this wedding was one big commercial. It was probably the most pimped out wedding since Star Jones married Al Whateverhislastnameis. It wasn’t a wedding, it was an event. But the worst part is that they likened it to The Royal Wedding! E! Online even had an entire section of their website dedicated to updating readers about every single detail. Sorry, not even close to the Royal nuptials. It was tacky and crass and more like when Ryan and Trista from The Bachelorette than anything close to when the Prince and Princess got married. This was one big commercial for the upcoming season of Keeping up with the Kardashians that doubled as a wedding.
So who is Kris Humphries? Who knows and who cares, because this wedding was all about the Kardashian ladies. It was about her dress, and her gifts, and her nails, and her dress code and about excess. This is a wedding that is rumoured to have cost in the area of $10 million dollars – but none of that was actually spent by the Kardashian ladies. Of course not – because when you’re a Kardashian people give you things in exchange for the publicity. So while you can accuse them of being greedy and remind them that there are children starving to death right now in Africa, the big problem here isn’t just the Kardashian wedding but the fact there are enough people eating this shit up that businesses are willing to give her – to the tune of $10 million, an entire free wedding! And to top it off she will probably make more millions off the wedding by selling every single moment, including selling her wedding pics to People magazine for $1.5 million. I mean the woman doesn’t leave the house without a camera crew in tow so it really shouldn’t be any surprise that she would sell off the rights to what should be the most sacred day of her life.
The good news is this seems like it might be the beginning of the end for the Kardashian Empire. People seem to be disgusted by this blatant display of greed and excess and ‘me me me-ness’ that hopefully we are seeing the effects of over-exposure, similar to what happened to those who came before them. The Paris Hilton’s and Heidi Montag’s of the world, which were once the darlings of the reality TV world are now nothing more than a punch line. Hopefully the same will follow suit soon enough for the Kardashian women, who are seemingly only famous because Kim decided to film herself having sex one day and sell the tape. Oh, she probably wishes people forgot about that little detail.
As soon as the ratings begin to drop on their hit reality show, and as soon as the endorsement deals start to dry up you can expect the talk of marital strife to begin – anything to try and create interest. Remember when Speidi tried to do that?! And no one cared. At least the Kardashian’s seem to have a bit more in the bank than Spencer and Heidi did so you won’t have to feel sorry for them. With any luck at all these ladies will fade into the background sooner than later. I for one can’t wait.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
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