Alison Ferguson
Co-founder & President, Every Little Bit Eco-Shop Ltd.

My name is Alison Ferguson and I’m thrilled to be the “Mom of the Month”.  Sometimes, however, it feels more like I’m “Mom of the Minute” – I think sustained excellence as a “mommy” is really hard work.

Don’t get me wrong; I love what I’m doing – I just thought it would come more “naturally” to me.  When I first had Amy I found it difficult to not compare myself to those yummy mummies with perky pony tails, a Starbucks in one hand, their uber-stroller in the other hand and their lovely quiet babies gurgling back at them, with the manuscript of their almost-complete children’s novel peeking out of their Prada bag. My little “demon baby”, as we called Amy then – due to the colic our paediatrician said was the worst she had seen in her 15 years of practice – did not simply have “witching hours”, she had “witching weeks”; if she was awake, she was screaming – not gentle baby cries, but rather head popping off –window shattering wails of agony.  Nope, nothing too “natural” about the baby gig for Paul & I.

Amy is 4 now.   She is a lovely and still spirited little girl.  And despite the clinical post partum depression that came with her birth, we crazily decided to do it again.  Kieran is now 20 months, and like Amy, she too was quite the rager at the beginning.  Paul & I frequently had to console ourselves with the paediatrician’s advice “well folks…all the studies indicate that colicky kids are extremely intelligent”.  Alright!  We have cranky mensa babies!

(more…)