Coucoumellisms

I have learned a lot about attachment parenting, breastfeeding and giving birth in the past three years, over the internet, chatting with other mothers and looking up different websites. So much, in fact, that I sometimes wished that I could have a fifth child, just so I could experiment new things, even though we weren't trying for another child. God works in mysterious ways, and he decided he was going to help me get pregnant, because I did, even though we weren't trying for another. Although I was not overjoyed about it at first, part of me thought, "Now I'll get that chance I wanted to try new things." Having Nicolas and having him at home was wonderful. It is so much more pleasant to have one's child at home. I also decided to co-sleep, which makes feeding at night much easier. I have held him a lot and use a sling. Also, having gone through the whole process 4 times before, I knew ahead of time how things would go. I knew that after a month, thin...

La vallée du Richelieu a ses charmes. Elle est très jolie, bordée de belles maisons, de fermes, et de beaucoup de végétation. C'est chez nous depuis trois ans, et j'adore le coin, mais pour moi, elle ne se compare pas au fleuve St-Laurent. J'ai côtoyé le fleuve de 1991 à 1997, six ans, dont trois sur la rive-sud de Québec, à St-Romuald. Le Richelieu est joli, mais le fleuve est majestueux. À l'est de Montréal, vers Québec et encore plus loin, le fleuve est accidenté, puissant, bordé de collines. La végétation est moins dense, la forêt contient plus de conifères, l'hiver est plus dur, l'été moins humide. Il y a des fermes et de jolis villages aussi. J'y suis allée la fin de semaine dernière, à Ste-Croix de Lotbinière. J'aime beaucoup le Richelieu, mais je me suis rendu compte que les grandes espaces du fleuve me manque. Le coin me manque. Le panorama m'a rappellé les premiers français venus habiter cette terre encore sauvage. Les hivers dure qu'il...

I woke up this morning at 6:30, after having gone to bed late last night because we were gone to Quebec on the weekend, and after having had only 2 hours of sleep the night before,... got up, got the kids out of bed, (literally had to drag them out of bed, since they all went to bed late both nights too) got everyone ready for school, herded the older ones out the door, grabbed the two youngest and everything they and I needed for the day, and went out the door. I dropped Gabriel off at a daycare, and I went and assisted in a workshop on breastfeeding with Nicolas all day, from 8:30 to 3:30, in Longueuil about a 45 minute drive from here. (Very interesting workshop by the way, I'll have to post some stuff from that some other time.) That was probably the most relaxing time I had all day, because I had to leave, drive home in traffic, try to get to the school for 4:30 because I had to pick up Dominic, who'd been away all day with his class in Montreal doing sports, and had co...

Cela fait trois ans (presque) que nous sommes ici, à St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, et cela fait trois ans que je reste à la maison avec mes enfants, ou que je les accompagne à leurs activités. J'ai joué au soccer un hiver et un été et puis j'ai arrêté. Mon mari revenait du travail trop tard et je n'avais plus personne pour s'occuper d'es enfants. Depuis, je me résigne à rien faire car, tout se passe les soirs de semaines, et je ne peux pas emmener mes enfants. J'ai toujours été une fille très impliquée dans son milieu. Au sécondaire, nous recevions des points pour chaque activité parascolaire dans laquelle nous participions. À la fin de l'année, selon le nombre de points que nous avions accumulé depuis notre entrée au sécondaire, nous recevions un prix. Après 4 ans, il a fallu inventer un nouveau prix pour moi, car je les avais déjà tous, tellement j'avais joué de sports et participé aux activités. Ensuite, à Québec, pendant mes années d'université, j...

Ok, I have had it with conservatives (maybe I should specify here: American conservatives), treating illegal immigrants as if they were criminals or something. I guess it's not a problem we Canadians have to deal with, since we aren't right next to a country that people are desperate to leave, so maybe I just don't understand the situation, but still... I understand the situation of those trying to leave. And if those who now treat these people as if they were criminals lived in the same situation, they'd be desperate to leave too. They might be illegal, but they are not criminals. Is it a crime to try to escape poverty? Is it a crime to want to escape violence, terrorism, injustice and exploitation? Is it a crime to wish for a better life? There are surely better solutions to the whole problem than just patrolling the borders and limiting immigration even more. For one, we could be pressuring our governments to pressure their governments to make life better for...

From ABC Color (Asuncion, Paraguay)

I wonder why novels geared at teenagers don't mention braces more often, the ones I read as a teenager barely mentioned braces at all, and never said anything about how horrible it actually is to have them. I can't imagine what it must be like to have them as a teenager when you are already feeling bad enough about yourself. I just went to the orthodontist yesterday and got a pair of braces for myself. I am 34. I don't feel bad about myself, I don't care what others think (much), and I can probably handle discomfort and even pain better than I could then. But these things are really a pain in the derrière... They scrape the inside of your mouth raw, especially when you are eating, because the inside of your lips rubs right up against them while you are chewing. Food not only gets caught in them, half your food stays caught underneath your upper and lower lips just behind the braces, and you can't get it out. If you run your tongue over them, to get out the foo...