Working Motherhood Is Insane… Or Is It?

Editor’s Note: If you missed out on this morning’s review of the luxurious Tigh-Na-Mara Spa & Resort, you can read all about it HERE. Now, here’s Robin with a look at working motherhood.
It’s hard to hear, that sweet voice sitting next to me coloring at the kitchen table that pipes up when my computer mysteriously [...]

Buyer’s Remorse – Facing The Barbie Dilemma

Editor’s Note: Good morning! Karen Pantuso-Swanson is here with another insightful look at the trials and tribulations of parenting. Here she is:
“Math class is tough.” – Mattel’s Talking Barbie
I lost myself for about half-an-hour one Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure where I went, but another mom who buys high-heeled shoes and Barbies for her daughter inhabited [...]

Making Room for Baby – Tips For Nesting

Editor’s Note: If you missed out on Alix’s morning post with tips on planning for large family gatherings, you can read it HERE. Now, we take nesting to a new level and get you organized for new babies (or even just to be more organized) with some tips that simplify, focus and pamper:
I don’t think I [...]

Choosing Love – Making Friends From Enemies

Editor’s Note: Good afternoon. If you missed Gayle’s post on culture and waste, you can read it HERE. Now here’s Karen Pantuso-Swanson with another lovely story of motherhood:
“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” – Abraham Lincoln
Not everyone is a fan of Valentine’s Day. Some people detest the commercialization [...]

When Birth Becomes An Inspired Resistance Movement

Editor’s Note: Happy Friday! This morning we have Deepa talking about the incredibly powerful and moving birth story that inspired her to become a midwife. Here she is:
They say that a mark of happiness is whether you get any pleasure out of the question, “what do you do?”
I often get asked why I became a midwife. [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Discovering Community Literacy

When you say the word “literacy” the images of libraries and academia often come to mind. It takes you down a mental path of helping kids learn to read and guiding adults through the challenges of needing to be able to interpret for themselves written words in order to manage the day-to-day tasks.
To me, it [...]

The Wisdom of Children – The Freedom of Innocence

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Karen Pantuso-Swanson is with us this morning sharing a lovely story that displays the ease and confidence that come with the innocence of childhood. Enjoy. Here she is:
“Kids: they dance before they know there is anything that isn’t music.” – William Stafford
My mom is a tap-dancer. She taught me to dance when I [...]

Ask A Midwife – Top 5 Questions From Pregnant Women

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! It is with the greatest of pleasure that we launch the new Ask A Midwife column here on OBE with the midwives of Plum Midwifery joining us monthly to answer your questions about pregnancy and childbirth.
I’m honored to introduce you to Joanne Daviau, Amy Kelly, Emma Gledhill and Jessie Shannon, as [...]

Year In Review – Mom Entrepreneurs of 2009

Good Morning! It’s that time of year again when we start to take a look back at the last 365 days and reflect a bit on the goodness, the craziness, the lessons and the shifts of the last year. I thought we’d kick it all off with a look at the women who made up [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Do What You Love

“I write because when I was an adolescent I looked in the mirror and no one was there. Can you believe it? Complete nothingness. And then, beside me, “others” assumed great importance.”
– Rosario Castellanos
I actually remember feeling that way, looking in the mirror and having no clue what I saw. It scared me and [...]

The Wisdom of Children – Eating Our Words

Editor’s note: Happy Saturday. This morning we have local blogger and Grateful Mama author Karen Pantuso-Swanson joining us for the first of what will become a regular column on OBE. (Yay Karen). She is with us sharing some heartfelt insight from her 3-year-old daughter that makes us all chuckle a bit and understand that kids teach us [...]

Review of The Grateful Mama

It was only a few weeks ago that I had the chance to meet local mom, blogger and teacher Karen Pantuso-Swanson in person.

As we sat across the table from each other at Benino Gelato, I thought to myself “How amazing she is, taking such a huge chance on her life.”
It’s a rarity – someone who [...]

Push It – The Second Stage of Labor

Editor’s Note: Happy Friday Morning! Through her extensive work as a nurse and a midwife, Deepa Upadhyaya has witnessed many beautiful birth stories. Today she’s discussing the second stage of labor – pushing - plus, the first of many international birth stories. Here she is:
For the longest time, whenever I was in the second stage of labor (pushing part) [...]

Parent Wellness – Facing Fear

I had no choice.
I had to write this article about the fears that accompany motherhood. I apologize in advance for the heaviness of the topic. I realize it is a contrast from the usual sweet spirit of most Our Big Earth posts, but like I said, I had no choice.
Let me explain.
It [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Aline Wittwer of Benino Gelato

Editor’s Note: Happy Mother’s Day!!!
I could wax on for days about motherhood. But, this year – I have to say – is the year of inspired motherhood for me. The women in my life – so many of them mothers even if they do not have their own children – are remarkable.
They have guided [...]

Dr. Amy Wells – Taking Charge of Our Fertility

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Dr. Amy Wells is here this morning talking about a hot topic in our house right now – fertility. Plugging in to your body cues is an amazing way to feel empowered when working on getting pregnant.
On a couple of other notes, I posed the question over on our Facebook page [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Keli Carpenter of Warriors Realm & Raw Realm

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Parent Wellness: Rejuventating Power – Girls Night

As a little girl, I can remember the delight of falling asleep to the chitter-chatter of four women, my mom among them, who met weekly under the guise of playing bridge.
Don’t get me wrong, these four women, known endearingly as the “Bridge Ladies,” do gather to play cards.
They even have an annual trophy ritual – [...]

Digital Dating & The Single Mom

Editor’s Note: Esther Kane is back today to talk about digital dating for single moms and I have a quick digital dating success story to share – mine.
Ken and I had moved to Seattle within two weeks of each other eight years ago, and both of us for just about all the reasons Esther points [...]

Fit Pregnancy is Possible (and fun!)

How are your New Year’s resolutions going?  Did you manage to start eating healthy, exercise daily, be good to your family, and meditate all while living in the NOW?
We all know how hard it is to keep promises to ourselves.  It can be even more difficult to set goals and achieve them while you are [...]

Parent Wellness – Trading Tots for Time

Editor’s Note: Happy Thursday. I am so excited to introduce Comox mama of two Marcie Dumais and her wise parenting ways as she shares her take on parenting and taking care of ourselves.
I am legendary in the “can’t ask for help” universe – some weird mental health issue that I apparently need to take some [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Rhonda Parker of Well-Balanced Fitness & Bodywork

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Time-Honoured Motherhood – The Blessing Way

Editor’s Note: It is with a serious dose of excitement that I introduce Deepa Upadhyaya as she debuts her monthly column BUMPS – Birth, Unity, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Stories.
When talking pregnancy, there’s so much more than the process. As women it binds us, resonates to our very core, back countless generations and forward so many more. [...]

Frank Talk on Motherhood

I don’t read much for myself any more.
There’s not enough time. I don’t make enough time. It isn’t really on my to do list.
I read about 100 children’s book a month (I do not kid). But, when it comes to me, I’m lucky to get through our book club read every four weeks – until [...]

Motherhood Shared can Truly Inspire

As I was reading through Seeds Natural Food Market owner Tina Willard-Stepan’s Mompreneur Profile last week, I was entirely inspired to see her talking about times and places for what is important in life.
Her wise insight about childhood being too short and that putting many of the things she’d enjoy doing on the back [...]

Product Review – Mama Merit Badges

There are those days when we’re all solid in the belief that the phrase “Motherhood has its rewards” was coined by the same soulless *&^%& who invented high heels and panty hose.
I survive those days by knowing the tiny person HAS to go to sleep at some point and, honestly, by treating myself to something [...]

Happy Mother’s Day from the Heart

We don’t thank our mothers enough.
We owe them the hugest debt imaginable; without them, we would not be.
In my case, I owe my mother for so much more.
I was born with a hole in my heart (if we’re being precise, it was a ventricular septal defect) which required me to have open-heart surgery at an [...]