Laura's Mommy Blog

I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, and have not, and probably never will live anywhere else. I love this city, but don’t get me wrong, I love to travel and visit other destinations. I am just always happy to come home to Montreal. My first language is English, but I do speak French fluently. That is an essential skill to have if you want to make it in this province.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems (which took me 8 years to finish), but have never worked in that field. My last “paying” job was as a pharmaceutical buyer, but I am currently employed by my 2 year old daughter as a stay-at-home mom. Yes, all those years of education put hard at work! I absolutely love what I am doing now, and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It is the only job I have ever had that makes me feel fulfilled. It’s also the hardest job, since you never get to punch out and sometimes you come across challenges in which there simply are no solutions. But I just try to go with the flow and roll with the punches.

I have several hobbies that I dabble in. Scrapbooking is probably by far my favorite hobby. I love creating pages of memories for my family. I’ve also extended that hobby into card making as well. I love to read a good book, which usually consists of “chick lit”. Love the Shopaholic series – love them, love them, love them!!!!!! I am a puzzle addict. Give me any puzzle, whether it is a board puzzle, word puzzle, or sudoku puzzle, once you put it in front of me, I absolutely cannot get up until it is finished. I also love putting together video montages. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the scrapbooking, except it’s just a different format.

I love reality TV, it’s sort of my guilty pleasure. I am willing to watch any sort of reality TV, but I do have my favorites that I am commited to. Those include: Survivor, American Idol, The Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance, Amazing Race, The Hills (yes, The Hills!!!), America’s Next Top Model, Paradise Hotel (Best show ever, don’t know why they didn’t continue with it), Hell’s Kitchen. I am also a very big fan of 24 and Lost. I am sad that Lost is entering their last season, but at the same time, I can’t wait to get all the answers we have been waiting for!

My husband and I have been married since July 2001. We’ve done everything in our lives in steps. We met, dated, moved in together, got engaged, moved into a bigger place, got married, bought a house, traveled, got pregnant, and became parents. We were married for 6 years before my daughter was born, so we had a lot of time to be selfish and focus on what we wanted to do before we had kids. It took us a frustrating year and a half to get pregnant, but we will forever be grateful that we were eventually successful.

Our daughter Ava was born in May 2007. She came a month early, and because of complications I had to have an emergency c-section. Thankfully, she was perfectly healthy. I, on the other hand, was not. Unfortunately, I developed gall bladder stones from the pregnancy and discovered 7 weeks after she was born that I had pancreatitis. Three months after she was born, I was back in the hospital having another surgery to remove my gall bladder. Thankfully once that was all done and over with, we were all on a road to recovery.

Today I feel healthier than I ever have. I regularly go to the gym and enjoy keeping fit. I hope to pass this trait on to my daughter by setting a good example. I have a very clear idea of the kind of things I want to teach my daughter and try my best to teach my example, but I know that I am not perfect, I just try my best.

When I was younger I used to keep a diary, but as I got older I stopped making the time to write. This blog is my way of reconnecting with that part of me. I hope that you all enjoy sharing it with me.