Family blogs

Photo by A. Alberto (copyright)

The following article first appeared on Apartment613 on May 4.

The National Capital Region has a lot of blogging parents. In fact, after viewing more than 600 local blogs, I would argue that there are more family-friendly sites in our region than those that focus on hockey or politics. With this in mind, this week’s column contains a round-up of family blogs.

Recommended Starting Points

The Ottawa Mommy Club is a fantastic source of information for parents and anyone else interested in family-related posts. Their list of bloggers alone has dozens of sites that cover everything from parenting to home design to managing family finances. Created by Lyne Proulx in May 2011 this is a wonderful resource.

One site that I regularly read is Kids in the Capital, which has numerous listings for family-friendly events. Thanks to this blog, I have found recommendations for children’s books, planned family outings and discovered kid-friendly sites, like this great post on different parks in the city.

Another blog worth checking out is Ottawa Valley Moms, which was founded in July 2012. You will find posts here that include parenting tips, product reviews, recipes and podcasts. (Note: I reviewed this blog on my personal site back in March).

Blogging Moms and Dads

The National Capital Region is filled with blogging parents. They include 2Cute, by a mother of twins, and Yes Please, Mom, which is written by a mom of a baby girl. Other blogging mothers includeCoffee With Julie, which I reviewed on my site, Mommy C and Trending Ginger Mom.

Katina Michelis, meanwhile, is the blogger behind You’re Pregnant, Now What? “I want to say that I hated being pregnant,” she writes on her blog bio. “Did it twice, and hated it twice.” This honest voice may appeal to readers looking for posts that describe, in real world terms, the good, bad and ugly side of parenting.

Correr Es Mi Destino is not a parenting blog per se. However, blogger Juliette Giannesini is a new mom and she regularly blogs about her son Mark. I also reviewed this blog on my site.

Not all blogging parents are mothers. If you want to see a blog written from the perspective of a father then read the QUINN’tessential blog.

Family and Living

Blogging parents will inevitably write about different topics. Whether it’s a love of photography, managing home finances, posting recipes, or discussing interesting moments in their lives, almost all family-related blogs will end up covering different issues. With this in mind, some sites worth checking out include a peek inside the fishbowl, Postcards from the mothership, Life in the Hutch,Otownmommy’s Blog and Mercurial Mind.

If you want to know if raising children on one salary is possible, then Christa Clips blog SAHM: Save-At-Home-Mom! is worth a look. Angèle Lafond, meanwhile, is the creator of Domestique Manager, as well as the business blog Making ¢ent$ of Business. For her part, Kamerine Gardam writes The Life of K. While Gardam is currently at home with her children, she also started her own business as a birth doula.

Finally, if you are a parent who likes to run, then the blog Running. Food. Baby. is for you.

Blog Review: Coffee With Julie ,,,

Photo by Joanna Rees (Copyright)

Julie Harrison is a mother of two children who loves to travel.  In fact, when not blogging under the general categories of living and family, she shares her travel stories as the Canadian Editor of the online magazine Road Trips for Families. While her current day job is being a manager of corporate communications in the high-tech sector, her love of writing also sees her work as a freelance travel writer and blogger.

Her site Coffee With Julie ... focusses on the following:

• Living: General life stories, observations and rants;
• Family: Anecdotes from her family life living with her husband and two children;
• Travel: Personal travel tales as well as tips for family and adventure travel; and
• Media: Thoughts on theatre, dance, books, television shows and movies.

Her blog has been recognized on several occasions (see list here) and is an excellent place to visit if you are looking for parenting tips, lifestyle news or travel stories.  The site accepts paid advertising and sponsorships.  Recent posts include a product review for face cream, guests posts from her 10-year-old daughter Stella, Oscar predictions and thoughts on Winterlude.  So sit back, have a cup of Joe and chat with Julie.

Blog Review: Ottawa Valley Moms

Photo by simplyla courtesy of Flickr
(Creative Commons)

If you are a parent then you should consider reading Ottawa Valley Moms.  Founded in July 2012, this blog contains, among other things, parenting tips, reflections on motherhood, product reviews, giveaways, recipes, a podcast, events listings, a video show and a book club.  The site is very professional and looks like it has been around for much longer than this past summer.

Recent posts include:

• Thoughts on a Ted talk which encouraged parents to teach their children how to code; 
• Reflections on travelling with one's children;
• Becoming more aware on where our food comes from;
• Fitness tips;
• A guest blogger who disagreed with a popular blog for moms (not Ottawa Valley Moms) which admitted to frequently lying to her kids; and
• A celebration of the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss.

This site contains a lot of information and resources.  As a father of a young child, I appreciated the fact that fathers are sometimes featured on the site. For instance, one post that stuck with me was from a guest blogger / divorced father who wrote about how difficult it was to no longer be living with his children.  In short, if you are looking for parenting tips, family-related events or want to learn more about products for children and parents, then this is a good site to visit.

Blog Review: Karen's Chronicles

Photo by Frederic Sune
(Museum of Civilization - Copyright)

Karen Wilson is one impressive woman.  She is also comes across as someone who is very kind and gentle.  "The two boys in my life are my supporting cast members," she writes on her blog bio. "My husband, Matt, is quite possibly the best guy in the world. ... My son, Brandon, is the best thing that's happened to Matt and me. He's got the sweetest personality and we adore him."

A quick look at her resume reveals that she is quite accomplished.  A co-founder of Wellman Wilson Consulting, a company that primarily helps smalls businesses to use social media to achieve their business goals, she  is also an organizer of the Social Capital Conference, which takes place on June 1 of this year.  (Her business partner Lara Wellman is the other conference organizer).  If this were not enough, she also occasionally writes for the blog Kids in the Capital.

With all of her work and family life it is remarkable that she maintains her own blog Karen's Chronicles.  Recent posts include:

• Insights with balancing home life and work; 
• Learning to accept and appreciate who you are;
• Some thoughts on Squarespace, a web designing tool that is an alternative to Blogger;
• Discussing mental illness; and
• Making reference to her son's autism. (Karen and her husband discovered in late-2012 that Brandon has autism).

I am glad that I came across this blog and look forward to reading future posts from Karen.

New Blogs: Family and Living

As the father of a baby girl and a soon to be born boy, I have been on the lookout for family-related blogs.  I was therefore quite happy to discover that Ottawa has numerous bloggers who focus on family and living issues.  Consequently, I decided to create a section on the blogroll dedicated to family and living blogs, which I will add to in the coming weeks.  My gut feeling is that this section will become filled quite quickly.