So, it’s Earth Day, and I wanted to write something that celebrates the day. I wasn’t exactly sure what that would be because our house is a pretty generically green house. We recycle everything from plastic to clothing, we use water and energy during the off peak hours (when possible; there is a lot of laundry in this house!), we have litterless lunches, and we try to make green choices whenever possible.

Sounds like every other household in Canada, doesn’t it?

I vote Green.

Every year, I am told that my vote is a “throw away” vote.

This year, I have been following the #MomTheVote hash tag on Twitter, and there are so many people who are unhappy with their choices. So many people who vote against, rather than for, a party.

People feel they can’t vote for the Green Party because if they don’t vote Liberal, The Conservatives will win.

I understand your math; I understand your concerns. I don’t follow your beliefs, and I don’t believe that my vote is a throw away either.

Have you ever said this to your kids?: “It’s not a race” or “It’s not a competition”

Wether it’s scarfing food/drink or shoving past one another on the stairs, you will find me there (pulling my hair out) telling my kids “it’s not a race, it’s not a competition.”... or is it?

You see, my step son is a very competitive person. He loves sports, he loves winning and he loves to be the best. (That said, I should mention, he also takes losing very well.)

Balance... it’s the new buzz word. It makes the best of moms cringe.

If you look up the word balance there are several definitions, and I think the reason moms get so crazy about work/life balance is because when we are trying to achieve that kind of balance, we think of this definition: Equal distribution of weight.

In our minds, we see a scale teetering, and we are trying to place an equal amount of family on one side and an equal amount of us on the other.

This sort of balance is nearly impossible, and so we feel we have failed.

I went to school for television broadcasting, and I have worked in the television industry for the past 17 years... behind the scenes. Not since my college news cast have I been the person in front of the camera.

So, when I got an email from Laurel Crossley-Byers of MomU asking me to be her guest expert on step parenting, I got a little nervous. I said yes, of course, but I knew if I was going to be comfortable in front of the camera, I would have to do my homework.

I often talk about how important it is to maintain a friendly rapport with your ex when you have a child together, but today I am going to give another reason to preserve that relationship.

Last night, I went out for a friend’s birthday. I planned to spend the night at another friend’s house so that I could drink without worrying about how I would get home.

I still ended up worrying about how I would get home... but for different reasons; I lost my car keys.

I remember when I was young and my heart belong to me and me alone; I wore it on my sleeve.

When I was wee, my heart would fill with joy at the simplest of things.... pink cotton candy, a game of soccer, climbing a tree etc. It was just as easily disappointed, but was quick to recover.

As a teenager, I seemed to loose control of my heart. It skipped a beat when I saw a certain boy, it sped up if he stood too near, and I thought it might burst with my first kiss.

Remember that weight loss challenge I was doing? Yeah, me neither.

I was so dedicated those first couple weeks.Cutting down on sugar, eating healthier, I even gave up my after-the-kids-go-to-bed snack. Heck, I was even going to the gym regularly.

I am often asked for my advice on step families, and I always have a hard time coming up with something suitable on the spot.

It’s hard to think of one thing to give as advice. Step families are complex things with so many variables, so it’s hard to know what will work for whoever is asking.

So I thought I would compile a list of things that I have learned over the years.

Be open and honest with your children; they are smarter than you think.
Never bad mouth your ex, and don’t allow other people to

So, here I sit, the night before my first day back to work after 11 months of maternity leave.

Yes, I am going back early... partly to help out my boss, and partly to help out my bank account.

Siobhan is almost 11 months old now and every day it seems she learns something new.

On the weekend, she took her first steps. She was so proud of herself, and we were proud too.

Now, she seems to be getting her own little sense of humour because her latest finding is that no means shake your head.

We did our spring cleaning today. The kids weren’t happy about it, but we cleaned ALL DAY.

So, we rewarded the kids with a trip to Walmart. Now, you may be thinking it’s not cool to bribe your kids or to reward them for things that they should do anyway, but think of the genius in this: We rewarded them with $25 gift cards for Walmart that they got for Christmas.

It was their gift card, they were just rewarded with being able to spend it... I know, evil genius.

I absolutely love to take pictures; I am my kids’ personal paparazzi.

When Rebecca was 3, she actually told me “No more Pictures” at a birthday party... I still snuck in a few.

Maybe it has something to do with being the 4th child and having very few pictures to document my childhood, but I think pictures make the best memories. That said, I find that as a mom, I am always the one behind the camera. I have to ask someone else to take a picture with me in it if I want to have one. So, once again, there are never very many pictures of me.

I just spent an awesome weekend at Winterlude with my daughter Rebecca.  Thankfully Honda let me test drive the Honda Odyssey for our drive to Ottawa and back – a total of ten hours. And let me tell you, a long drive is made much shorter if you are driving a super comfy, fully loaded vehicle! It’s even shorter if said vehicle has a wide screen entertainment system for your little passenger.

My ex and I have very open lines of communication. We often phone one another just to discuss something that happened in our daughter’s day or share funny anecdotes. We share information, and call one another for help. He calls me with work related questions (we work in the same industry), and I call him for directions when I’m in Toronto.

People who know us both, often say “please say hello” because they know we are friends.

This blog is to prove that no matter how good your communication is, sometimes signals get mixed.

The word mother is so much more than it’s dictionary definition (one’s female parent).

Mother, or mom, is synonymous with love. It conjures images of young women holding tiny babies at their breast, children with scraped knees running for comfort in their mother’s arms, and sleepy-eyed children being tucked into bed with loving hugs and kisses.

Entire marketing campaigns are based around the mother/child relationship.

This morning, I had a little reminder of how our decisions affect our children’s lives.

We were having breakfast, Tom, Rebecca and I, and Rebecca didn’t want to finish her breakfast. Now, don’t think we were forcing her to eat something she didn’t like, not that that would be a first. No, we were having chocolate chip pancakes, as per her request.

So, when Tom told her she needed to eat what was on her plate, she looked at him and said “You’re not my dad”. The words that step parents assume they will hear one day, but always hope they won’t.

I used to be a social butterfly, with wings spread I would flit from scene to scene, leaving a gentle dusting of sparkle and bright colour in my wake. I was the life of the party, the go to girl if you were looking to have fun. Then I became a mom.

Motherhood brings with it a myriad of glorious things, the least of which is not the miraculous child you have brought forth into the world. It comes with snuggles and giggles and lets not forget that wonderful baby smell. Motherhood is a vast array of totally overwhelming and beautiful emotions and experiences.

The other day, Siobhan was having a rough day. I think those top teeth are trying make their way in, and she was just cranky.

I tried the usual distractions; I let her pull out all of the toys from her toy box, I gave her a bath (that usually calms her), I even gave her a cookie. The poor kid was inconsolable.

So, I started thinking, what would make me happy if I were really cranky? Then it came to me; I gave her these:

I don’t suppose there are a lot of women who can say they have given birth to both a brown baby and a white baby. I would like to share with you the differences between them.

There are none.

Well, I suppose there are the usual differences that you would find between any babies. You know, one likes avocados, the other doesn’t, curly hair vs straight hair etc.

There are no race related differences.