Maddy's Photobook

For Madeline's birthday I made her a Photobook. Since I take so many pictures (and can only post so many here on her blog!), I thought it would be a fun way to keep them. It actually forced me to get some pictures OFF the hard drive!! You can read about the book I created at Mom Central. Plus, this month you have the chance to win a $95 gift certificate. Head on over and enter!

Packin my bags

Heading to BlogHer conference this morning. First time flying Porter - I'm looking forward to seeing if it's as great as everyone says it is. I hear there are free lattes :) Clearly I'm easily impressed.
I'm already missing Maddy...going to be a looong couple of days. Already looking forward to coming back to see her.

Heading to Blogher

It's official. I've scored a ticket to the sold out Blogher conference in Chicago next week. I would guess that 98% of you reading this are wondering what the hell Blogher is and why this matters to you. Well let me tell you, it likely doesn't matter to you, but it matters to me.
Blogher is a yearly conference that brings together Women bloggers from across the country (a huge percentage of them are Mom bloggers like myself). They have sessions like how to make money from your blog, green blogging and how to grow your audience. But that's not what it's about. For most bloggers this conference is all about the parties and connecting with other bloggers you've met through this thing we call the internet. I've gotten to know quite a few Canadian Mom bloggers who will also be attending and I'm looking forward to meet them in person.
There are hundreds of brands who will be represented at the conference...like Tide, Greenworks, Chevrolet. The brands are there to get their product in the hands of Mom bloggers - with the hope that we'll come home and write about their new cleaning product or new car. There will be celebrities. oh, did I mention there will be parties??
Apparently there's lots to know about attending blogher, I've been doing my homework and found a couple "newbie guides" along with lots of online discussions about what people are wearing etc. You'd actually be surprised by how much talk about what people will be wearing there is. I don't think there are too many conferences that have that kind of dialogue around this issue. In many cases bloggers are sponsored by companies to wear or use their product while at the conference. I am not one of those bloggers. However if someone wants to send me some money for the new 7FAM jeans I just bought to wear....feel free. I will be sure to let everyone at the conference know that you paid for my jeans :)

sigh.

I miss having Mad at home during the day while I'm working!! As I mentioned before, this month Maddy goes to the other family's house for daycare. This means that we usually leave the house around 8am and pick her up around 5:30. In the morning there's usually just time to get her dressed and fed and then we're dropping her off. In the evening she has dinner, bath, bottle and then she's in bed around 6:30. It just doesn't feel like enough time to be spending with her each day!! When the nanny came to our house, I definitely had more time to spend with her - I guess it gave us an extra 30 minutes in both the morning and the evening. Not a lot of time, but we would at least get to play together.
So tonight I've been working late and I hope to go pick her up from daycare early tomorrow. Maybe we'll go to the park together. That will be nice :)

I read this blog post and thought it complemented my "work guilt" article quite well!  I would have to agree that it would be nice if there were more Moms out there who aren't afraid to say that they do things to make themselves happy.  

First Day of Daycare

While Maddy has had a nanny for the past month, Friday was her first day of care away from our house.
Since we share a nanny, we take turns having the kids at our house.
So all of last week I was feeling a bit nervous. I have spent the past month getting to know our nanny (hate that word...she's so much more than a "nanny"...I will call her our DCP for "daycare provider") and seeing how wonderful she is with Mads so I wasn't worried about that. But it just felt like such a big change to have to go drop her off somewhere for the entire day and not get to hear her and know that she's okay while I'm working from home.
I'm very good at WORKING, while I'm working from home. The TV never comes on and I don't do house "stuff" except for throwing the odd load of laundry in the wash. And I had also been very good at not running upstairs to say hi to Pooh Bear every 10 minutes.
I actually did the opposite - I tried to not say hi the whole day, as it tended to make things worse for her. She would see me and get excited and want to play.
So I usually came out of my office to grab lunch only when they were at the park or out for a walk.
But I still liked that I could hear what they were up to. I knew when she was napping or when they went for a walk. It was nice and it was comforting.
But now that she's at the other house, I don't get to have that comfort all day long. I'm sure, like all other things, I will adjust to this.
So Friday came and Michael and I both went to drop her off. I decided I would hang out there for a while to help her adjust. I probably ended up being there for close to 2 hours. It was hard to leave :) 
Once I got back to the house it seemed so quiet!
I worked for a few hours and then called Michael around 3:30 to see if we could go get her early.  Not my most productive day at work.  

Michael and I met at the house around 5pm.  He called me to make sure I didn't go inside without him.  We both wanted to be there to see how happy she was to see us.  

When we walked in she was playing with toys on the mat. In all honesty, she was happy to see us, but I was expecting her to be happier.  I think maybe she was a tiny bit bummed that she knew play time was over.  

It was so nice to give her a big hug and kiss!!  Sigh.  

We hit up our favourite Greek restaurant for dinner and asked Mad about her day.  She told us stories and made friends with 2 young girls at another table.  She's growing up so quickly!!

Mat Leave: the best thing to happen to my career

Most people would probably argue that going on mat leave is not the best move for your career. I am not one of those people. I speak from experience when I say that going on mat leave can be the best thing that happens to your career.

I spent my years after University working my way up the ladder in the advertising agency world. I worked in client service on some amazing brands - Kraft, Evian, Molson, Canon, Kellogg's just to name a few. I absolutely loved my job. It was fast paced, demanding and a ton of fun all at the same time.

I got to work with a range of different people every day - directors, photographers, writers, creative directors, researchers, web developers, brand managers. Best of all, I got to see strategic ideas come to life in a creative way and was a big part of making it all happen.

Then I got pregnant :)

Mat leave was a big change of pace for me. It was just as demanding and just as exhausting but in a totally different way. The best part was that it forced me to slow down and it gave me time to think and explore things I hadn't had time to think about before. It allowed me to question what was important to me and what mattered to me in terms of my career.

I wasn't bound by my vacation time ending or a looming project deadline that needed all of my attention. It allowed me to ask myself "what do I really want to do" and more importantly it made me ensure I had a good answer - there's no way I would go back to work if it wasn't 100% what I wanted to be doing everyday.

Not if it meant not spending every second I could with Madeline.

During nap time, I didn't spend my time doing housework (Michael will confirm this), I spent that time reading. Blogs, articles, books, magazines. And connecting through facebook, Linked in, Twitter. And I started to see this trend exploding online.

Moms were everywhere online.

I guess it wasn't really such a huge surprise, but what was surprising was what they were doing and the fact that they seemed to be so ahead of everyone else when it came to social media. They were leading the charge in many areas and developing their own communities and resources that fit their specific needs.

They were connecting with other Moms across the country and sharing information - everything from travel recos, baby products, new dishwashers, best schools in the city.

As a new Mom, I realized the enormity of this source of information very quickly - anytime I had a question or before I was going to buy a new product, I was online asking other Moms what they had used and getting helpful tips.

If I found out about a new product through advertising, I was immediately turning to the "internet-moms" for the nod of approval before I used it. It dawned on me that this was the future for Moms (actually, it was the present!) and this is where the brands that I used to work with needed to be.

The rest they say is history.

Now I'm launching Mom Central here in Canada. We help brands develop marketing strategies that will help them reach Canadian Moms.
It takes what I love about advertising and brand strategy and combines it with my other passions of social media, blogging and new media technology.

I'm getting to build something here from scratch and hopefully I'll get to watch it grow. The take-home message here: take the time to think, as the return is often much larger than the investment.

The work guilt

oh the guilt. You've heard it all before. Mom goes back to work. Feels guilty that she's not spending enough time with her kids. Mom worries that her kids won't know who she is. Or worse, they won't be "well adjusted". Whatever that means.
My guilt feels different. I love being back at work. I love that Maddy gets to spend her day with other kids. And I love that I can accomplish so much in one day. But with that comes the guilt that I feel great about this. Shouldn't I want to play with my daughter all day? Shouldn't I want to be the one who spends every minute with her? What kind of mother actually wants to work instead of spending all day with her kids!! Am I crazy?? The truth is, I don't have to work, from a financial perspective. We could pack up our stuff and move to the suburbs where we could afford a bigger house and probably live comfortably on M's salary. But I choose to work instead. It goes without saying that I love my daughter more than anything. She is without a doubt the best thing in my life. I'm just not one of those mothers who can spend all day with a child and not do anything else. I need the mental stimulation. But with this comes the guilt that I am actually enjoying my time at work. I'm pretty sure Michael has never felt guilty about working and not being at home. It's just the way it goes!
The good news is that I think working full time has actually made me a better mother. A more focused mother. When I'm with her in the mornings, at night and on weekends she gets all of my attention and I don't take that time for granted. I miss her like crazy during the day and I'm so excited to see her at 5pm. So far, we're doing okay!! It'll be interesting to see how I feel 5 months from now. Remind me to update you all.

ACK!

okay, apologies to my dear readers for the past "picture posts".  I do promise to try to get a real update up today!!  

Monkey Business at Breakfast

ack! It's been almost a week since I posted last. Busy times I guess - but that's still no excuse. I'll try to do better!
This week I spent Monday and Tuesday in Boston on business. Cora and I had 2 full days of meetings at Mom Central - we were getting caught up on everything the US business is up to and filled them in on what we've got going on in Canada. They threw us an awesome cocktail party that didn't seem to end (the kind of party where you move from outside to inside and eventually to the kitchen). I was exhausted by 10pm. We had been up since 4am - that's what time you have to get up when you're flight is at 6:30. I guess when I booked that flight I wasn't actually doing the math. Funny thing is, once you're a Mom, getting up at 4am to start your day doesn't actually seem all that crazy. It didn't even phase me that I was also up at 2am to give Mad a bottle.
Our flight home was Tuesday evening and we at least managed to squeeze in an hour on Newbury Street doing some shopping. Love Boston. I was so excited to get home that evening!! This trip was harder to be away from Maddy and I was just so happy to see her when I got home. I was actually thrilled when she woke me up at 3am for a bottle.

Here are some pics from this morning of Mad having breakfast with a friend.

1 Week Until Work

I haven't posted much about this. Most likely because I've been trying not to make a big deal of it. Cause if I don't make a big deal about it, then I won't be sad about it. Or at least that's how my thought process goes. But it's true, I'll be back at work in 1 week from today. Sigh.
I'm super excited to be launching this company here in Canada (check it out at www.momcentral.com and www.momcentralconsulting.com). I'm passionate about what we do (helping brands reach Moms) and I think there's a real opportunity here in Canada. So while part of me is itching to dive right into this work, there's also the part of me that's sad that my mat leave is now ending. 8 months have just flown by so quickly. Maddy is starting to become this little person with a big personality and an even bigger appetite (just like me!!). I'm definitely going to miss being around her all day long. I love our days together....whether we just chill at home (her on her play mat, me on the computer) or head out with friends or for a walk to the Beaches.....we always have a nice time together.
It's cliche to say, but there's a guilt I feel about not being around all day for her. But I know that I'm the type of person who needs/loves to work, so I'm going to trust that this will make me a better Mother. I'll have to keep you all posted on how this goes :)

In other news, Maddy is 8 months old today! Happy 8 month Birthday Madeline!!

Nanny On Board!

The nanny I told you all about a few days ago is on board!! Woot! She starts April 27th. The first few weeks it'll just be her with Maddy and then the other family will be sending their little guy to join in around mid-June. I'm feeling pretty relieved to have found someone that I'm comfortable with. I can't even imagine how stressed I would be feeling right now if I wasn't sure about the person we had chosen.