A Z-lister is Born

Wow, what a crazy day.

First of all, I was surprised to open my email to a note informing me that an article I had written had already been published on yummymummyclub.ca …
(http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/family/toddlers/age-three-is-the-magic-number)

…and then, as if that wasn't enough, I also made the cover of the Fall 2011 Canadian WineCrafter Magazine for an event I attended in September with (again) the Yummy Mummy Club.

http://www.winemadesimple.ca/media/CCWA_Fall_2011.pdf


It was a Create Your Own Wine Club/Win Thirty Bottles of Wine contest sponsored by the Canadian Craft Winemakers Association who partnered with YMC in order to expand their social media reach.  I thought it was an awesome contest and a great event. And the wine (I chose Shiraz) is seriously delicious. I love wine. I love free wine even more.

This is fun stuff! Being published is a little thrill in itself, so the fact that I also get to be a winemaking covergirl? Crazy! I will undoubtedly, be getting some teasing among family and friends but that won't stop me from singing the America’s Next Top Model theme song to myself for the next week (Wanna be on top?) Yes. Super-cheesey but c’mon, when am I ever going to be on the cover of a magazine again?!! 

It also just goes to show you, those contests are out there for anyone to wine. I mean win...

Gotta go practice my smeyesing in case Tyra calls! Oh, who am I kidding...

Ssy

PUBLISHED!!! Again!

I'm happy to share, I am a published writer, once again, and for a very prestigious publication, no less!! That's right! Today's Parent's website, todaysparent.com published my article, My husband might be a better mom than me:  http://www.ivillage.ca/parenting/school-age/your-husband-better-mom-you-%E2%80%99cause-i-think-mine (02/05/12 NOTE: ever since the todaysparent.com webpage redesign in Fall 2011, I haven't been able to find my article on their site. So here is on ivillage.ca. Thanks ivillage, for the pick-up!)

I can't explain what a rush it is to get my writing out there. I am pumped about it. 

I especially love ALL of the dozens of reactions that I've gotten so far. Everything from mom's thanking me because they feel the same way, to fathers giving me a sheepish look and a smug, "well, if I could take the summer off, I would be Super Dad too, you know", to other guys saying "oh, well, isn't your husband the shit", to women crying and saying, how lucky I am. Also, the many, many friends, family and supporters I have who are just happy for me to reach a goal. I LOVE THE LOVE! 

I. Am. Proud. And grateful - for Kate, Lisa, Alex, Today's Parent...and of course, Steve (with a side of Duncan and Griffin). 

Ssy

In case it gets lost on the interwebz again...here's the copy.

My husband might be a better mom than me by Stephanie Rebot Tarling

At the risk of sounding completely and utterly inadequate, I – um – have a confession to make: I think my husband might be a better mom than me. There. I said it. Now allow me to explain.

About a year and a half ago, my husband Steve's workplace was sold and he lost his job. Since his last day at work was in early June (and he’d received a package so he wouldn't have to find another gig immediately), he decided it would be a great opportunity to take our two boys out of daycare and spend the summer with them before our oldest began JK that fall.

After singlehandedly arranging new daycare (which would start on the first day of school) and lining up a new job (conveniently starting the day after – talk about planning) he designed (again, singlehandedly) an amazing summer with the boys. He signed them up for Sportball and T-ball. He scheduled weekly visits with my out-of-town family so the boys could see their grandparents and cousins. He even took them to his parents' cottage for days at a time and arranged for me to join everyone at the end of the workweek.

SuperDad had everything under control. And I kind of loved it…until I realized he was really good at it. Like, better-than-me-on-maternity-leave good. Like, my-kids-might-start-calling-him-mom good. And so my secret rivalry began.

I tried to push that nagging “my husband's a better mom than me” feeling down deep, but with every giggle-packed phone call the boys made from the playground, or captured photo they sent from their daily adventure, the question persisted. Could my husband seriously be a better mom than me?

The more I thought about it, the more it drove me nuts. Yeah, I was secure in the contributions I was making to our family, but I was starting to feel a bit unimportant around the old homestead. All of a sudden a bigger question emerged: Am I a great mom who just feels inadequate as a mom? Aha!

After I had this breakthrough, I realized that instead of letting it get to me, I needed to focus on my many shining mommy moments: I am the reader of bedtime stories, the partner of homework assignments, the baker of fabulous birthday cakes and the best hugger in the house. Am I still jealous of my husband's awesomeness? Sometimes. But more importantly, I'm proud to have married the man that I did. You never know what kind of father-to-your-children you're going to end up with until you watch them all grow together. I'd say that I won the lottery.

So here’s what I’ve learned in all this. Is my husband really a better mom than me? No way. Parenting isn't a competition, it's a partnership. I am the best mom for my boys and my husband is definitely the best dad for them – hands down. Sure, neither one of us is perfect, but right now our boys think we are. And that in itself is pretty awesome – for me and SuperDad.

 

Winter fun in the T dot

I was just downloading pictures I took of yesterday's toboggan-polooza at Withrow Park in Toronto, and felt the need to post this picture.We had been there for 1.5 hours when suddenly the sun poked out and the snow stopped and the skyline came into view while the tobogganers continued playing in the foreground and it just gave me the warm-fuzzies.

Winter fun at Withrow Park, January 2011.

I LOVE that we have this in my city - in my neighbourhood. I don't know why I've always been stuck with the notion that tobogganing is a country sport.  It lives in my past life: growing up in the country, it was an entire weekend project, to craft a roller-coaster-worthy toboggan hill that would last the week for after-school fun.
And more recently, it lives in my head as something we do at the cottage (not this year since there's a renovation taking place). Even though I've lived here for 12 years, "tobogganning in the city" just doesn't roll off my small-town-tongue.

But lo and behold, it is right here. Right here! We went to this same hill last week, and ended up meeting up with a ton of people we knew from the daycare and school. Yesterday, we called some of the kids' friends to let them know that we were going to be there and bang! Four more families hooked up with us for some good ol' wintertime fun.

I love it. I love being forced out of my countrified thinking. My kids can absolutely have what I had growing up - they might not have the pond in the back yard that me and my sisters meticulously shovelled off so we could perfect our Donny and Marie Show: On Ice Extravaganza, but they will have a lake to skate on at the cottage and rinks galore right here in the city, around the corner. They may not have a hill at the side of their house like I did, but with a little 20 minute hike (or four minute drive) we can meet up with a ton of friends and view the picturesque Toronto skyline while trying to catch air on the "mogul run", to the left of the runs shown here.

The truth is, my kids can have the same, awesome experiences that I had - and in the Big City, no less! There's more community here than I ever had growing up, where my nearest neighbour was a bike-ride away. 

I am so proud to be a city girl. What's next, Toronto?