Parents in the Capital: Meet Josee

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we are introducing a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Say hello to Josee!

Tell us about yourself and your family.   I'm an engineer and work full-time for the public service. I have two beautiful kids. My daughter "B.G.", is four and my son, "Bonhomme" is two. My wonderful hubby is a teacher for the Ottawa Carleton District School Board.  I knew absolutely nothing about building and maintaining a website and nothing about blogging before I started Frugal Fun Ottawa, and though a friend initially helped me set it up I've since redone the website using CSS, which I taught myself. 

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa?  We love taking the kids for walks downtown, especially in the summer when there are always festivals and activities going on at Parliament Hill.  We love to go see the Changing of the Guard, and every year we take in Fortissimo, the annual massed pipe band performance on the Hill.  I also love taking the kids to the NAC's Kinderconcerts.  They are really well done - I hope that my kids will develop the same love of music and of the orchestra that I have.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)?  My kids love to play hide-and-seek right now! Even though my son doesn't quite understand the concept yet, he gets a big kick out of telling the "seeker" where the "hider" is, and my daughter doesn't seem to mind. They both love the game right now.

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? Like many new parents I don't think I was really prepared for how much time being a parent takes.  There is no pause button; it doesn't matter what you want to do, it's about what you have to do at any given moment.  It can be pretty relentless; sometimes you have to lock yourself in the bathroom just to get a minute to yourself.  On the other hand, I wouldn't trade my kids' hugs for all the sleep in the world.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? I wish someone had told me "Whatever your kids are doing, it's perfectly normal!"   It seems that every few months, at least between the ages of 2 and 4, they start exhibiting some new behaviour that makes you wonder whether or not you should be concerned, but when you compare notes with other moms it turns out that their children are doing the same thing too. For example my daughter would walk right up to perfect strangers in the park and just stop and stare.  It was a bit embarassing, but then my friend told me her son, who's the same age as my daughter, was doing it too. 

Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. I started Frugal Fun Ottawa because I was having trouble finding these great, free activities that I knew were out there, and I do research for a living.  I figured that if I was having trouble, others were too.  I was pretty sure that if I put all the free and frugal activities and events together on a website, people would find it useful and would visit it.  I started frugalfish, the Frugal Fun Ottawa blog, so that I could have more interaction with visitors to the site, and to give me a bit more of a creative outlet.

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? I love that there is always something going on in Ottawa; there's always something to do.  If you have kids, it's the best combination of big city activities and small town feel you can find.

Thanks Josee!

Parents in the Capital: Meet Carly

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we are introducing a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Let's give a warm welcome to Carly!

Tell us about yourself and your family. I'm married to Jeff and we have one son, Jacob, who is four and a half.

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa? Jake loves anything outside, no matter the weather.  We love that about him and can often be found shoveling, making snowmen, sledding, going to the park or nearby splash pads.  We also love The Children's Museum and hanging out at bookstores and libraries.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)? I love doing crafts with Jacob - it's so fun to see his imagination come to life through his creations.  We're also big fans of LEGO and Thomas the Train.

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? I'm not sure I've been really surprised by a whole lot, but I do love watching Jacob's personality develop.  He's so darn funny and I really enjoy his stories, imaginary siblings (this kid wants a little brother or sister like there's no tomorrow) and creativity.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? I wish someone had told me about the overwhelming anxiety that hits shortly after birth, thanks to the lack of sleep and hormonal changes.  That really caught me off guard and I hated that feeling.  I also had trouble breast feeding initially because my milk didn't come in and Jake was born early and wouldn't stay awake long enough to get in a solid feed.  I ended up working with a lactation consultant who completely turned things around for us and I've always been grateful for her advice and wisdom.

Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. I honestly can't remember how I discovered blogging, but I initially started because Jacob was a bit sick as an infant with various tummy issues and he never slept more than 45 minutes at a stretch . . . for 11 months straight.  I was exhausted and felt like his infancy was passing me by.  I started blogging to help me remember all the amazing good in the midst of all the struggles.  It was so easy to overlook all the amazing moments in the face of all the doctor visits, tests, medical procedures and lack of sleep.  My blog helped me stay sane during the first year of his life, and ensured I made a point of focusing on the positive.

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? I just love Ottawa in general.  I've lived here all my life, though I travelled extensively throughout Canada as a young adult.  Ottawa has always felt like home and I'm so grateful to live in a (for the most part) child-friendly city.  There are so many options for parents, no matter your interests and a never-ending list of things to do with your kids.

Thanks Carly!

One year of Kids in the Capital!

Kids in the Capital is one year old! We are so happy and amazed by how Kids in the Capital has grown in the last year. Four hundred and one posts in three hundred and sixty-five days. Posts from over two dozen Ottawa area mom and dads. Hundreds of shared ideas for great family fun in and around Ottawa!

We'd like to say thanks to all our readers. Thanks for stopping by and coming along with us on our adventures. Thanks for telling your friends and family about Kids in the Capital and making us a valuable resource for Ottawa-area family.

We'd like to say thanks to all our contributors. Thanks to everyone who has written about their favorite fun family activities and ideas. Whether you've written one or thirty posts, we appreciate you sharing with us and our readers. We are always looking for guest bloggers and contributors. If you'd like to share some of your favorite family fun with other Ottawa parents, email us at kidsinthecapital(at)gmail(dot)com to start blogging with us!

We'd like to say thanks to all our sponsors over the past year. Sponsorship makes it possible for us to spend the time running, growing and improving Kids in the Capital.

In the last year Kids in the Capital has become a community for us. We have met many fabulous contributors and readers through posts, comments and meetups. We loved the family playdates last summer and the regular mom nights out we have had. We hope to have more of them in the coming months and we hope that, if you haven't yet, you'll come out and join us at one of the meetups!

To celebrate one year of Kids in the Capital we are hosting a morning party at St.Luke's Park in downtown Ottawa on May 1st! There will be games, snack and lots of fun! Watch for more more details in the next few weeks and we hope to see you there!

Here's to another great year!

Brie and Lara

Parents in the Capital: Meet Ezmy!

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we are introducing a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Say hello to Ezmy!

Tell us about yourself and your family  My husband A. and I are both Political Science geeks. He’s from Nova Scotia and I’m from Vancouver Island. We met in NS and bonded over beer and a mutual loathing for all things Ann Coulter. We moved to Ottawa five years ago - A. for work (he’s a Foreign Service officer) and me for school (I’m mid-MA). Three years after the move we got engaged in Italy. Our son Ewan was born just over a year after that, in June 2010. We had a kick ass wedding six months ago and now our little family of three (+ one plump house cat, Zoe) enjoys patio lunches, reading, walking adventures, and watching The Office.

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa? Oh walking adventures, certainly. But once the weather gets better, we are looking forward to fun times in the park. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a little geo-caching got thrown in there as well.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)? Well, Ewan likes to practice his rolling and crawling poses on our bed so one of my favourite things to do is to fold laundry while he rolls around, giggling like a maniac. We also dance to a lot of Queen - he currently enjoys waving at the stereo.

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? I’m amazed by how little sleep I can survive, and indeed thrive on. And how much fun it is to do simple things like eat dinner. Watching the little man explore new foods is just a blast.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? It’s a simple one - the Gro sac. I have one now but I could have saved myself a month of worry if I’d had one earlier. This thing rocks my socks, particularly since Budsie is a) a tummy sleeper and b) apparently hell bent on eating an entire blanket.      Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. My blog, Ezmy, simply follows the last five years of my life. I started blogging on the advice of a friend. At the time, I was in a miserable relationship, up to my eyeballs in academia, and I desperately needed a creative outlet. Interestingly, the blog also ended up documenting my relationship with A. from the first day we met, about four months after the blog’s creation. My highs and lows have been recorded here - one major break-up, tales of singledom, the big move to O-town, A.’s year away for work, terrible apartments, thankless jobs, academic successes and failures, ridiculous cooking experiments, the horrors of wedding planning, adventures in morning sickness and bed rest, the birth of our son, and more recently, my efforts to improve myself from the inside out using daily resolutions. Blogging has become a part of my day like eating and sleeping. It’s the way I keep in touch with others and with myself.

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? Access to some wonderful museums and galleries, the ability to take my kid to Question Period, and the newly discovered, and greatly appreciated, online support system for fellow parents.

Thanks Ezmy!

Parents in the Capital: Meet Yumi

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we are introducing a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Our first Ottawa blogger profiled in Yumi. Hello Yumi!

Tell us about yourself and your family. I live very happily with my husband of 10 years and our little boy "Moe" who was born in February 2010. My mom lives next door, and my mother-in-law lives a block over. It isn't anything like Everybody Loves Raymond - it's great. I work for the National Capital Commission (and love it!) and my husband is a bookstore manager. Our goal is to raise a patriotic reader. ;)

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa? We are both museum junkies and are trying to foster a love of museums in our son.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)? I love watching Moe discover music. We sing, dance and make music together. It's one of the best parts of my day. (Plus, my kid totally has rhythm.)

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? We are both constantly hit with waves of emotion over how incredibly lucky we are. We knew this would be fun, but we didn't imagine it could ever be THIS much fun. Moe brings new joy into our lives every day.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? People told me this, and I tried really, really hard to do it. I think I succeeded. Here it is: savour every freaking moment of that first year.

Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. My parenting blog is at http://kidsquared.livejournal.com, and I started it in May 2005 with the intention of using it to blog my efforts to conceive, my pregnancy and eventually my journey as a parent. Things didn't go as planned. We became one of the one in six couples who struggle with infertility. My blog became a record of that journey, including a diagnosis of premature ovarian failure at the age of 29, a year of mourning, a very special offer from a friend, and a round of IVF via egg donor. Our story has a happy ending, but I don't ever forget what it took to get here. Now, the blog is a parenting record, including monthly letters to my son. I also keep a photo log at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yumikid.

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? I grew up in Ottawa and so did my husband. We love raising our son here because we can share all the things we love about living in the capital with him - things we enjoyed as kids and new things we discover as a family. All three of us were just so lucky to be born and live in the best city in the world.

Thanks Yumi!