Alert! I am going to talk about the weather! I have become your grandma and I’m going to discuss the current weather conditions! We are having a heat wave! In Calgary! In September! It’s glorious, I tell you. Other than spotting my neighbour shirtless, it has been one lovely day. For one thing, we are […]

The thing about back-to-school is all the back-to-illness that seems to come with it. “Hey, Mom!” Mark said gleefully, “You’ll never believe it! The school has water fountains and I can drink from them whenever I want to!” For someone like me – and I say this without pride – the knowledge that Mark has […]

Saturday morning I saw my neighbours – a younger couple with no children – loading up their vehicle to go hiking in the mountains. I felt odd, like I was viewing some strange yet familiar ritual from another country that I used to inhabit. My husband and I used to head out nearly every weekend […]

I’m having one of those “It’s already Wednesday?” type of Wednesdays. Because, in addition to mooning about Jake’s birth, there is his actual birthday to prepare for, which is in six days, but also not one but TWO birthday parties this weekend, one of which involves eight children aged five and under and a clown, […]

Mark and I were reading on the couch, and talking about superheroes and villains. “Of course, this is just a story,” I said, “Sandman is not real.” “Just like Santa Claus,” Mark replied. Startled, I looked down at him and he smiled his angelic, gap-toothed smile. I went back to reading about Spiderman and Sandman. […]

Today was Mark’s first day of kindergarten, signifying the end of summer vacation, the return of actual summer-like weather notwithstanding. I thought I’d be spending the last of vacation doing fun, outdoorsy things, but instead I spent it taking care of the boys who alternated between being lethargically, feverishly ill and incredibly rambunctiously healthy, but […]

And no, I’m not talking about my ladies’ holidays. No, I brought the curse on myself. Last night, I said to Rob, “Isn’t it great, we haven’t really been sick since March? I mean, no one has really had a cold or anything. ISN’T THAT AMAZING???” Right after I said that, I immediately regretted it. […]