00:00Hi Monique, I'm Carly Fortune. I'm the executive editor at Refinery29 Canada and I'm at home in Toronto with my
00:08husband and my three and a half year old son.
00:11And I'm so excited to talk to you about being a mom right now and how you're coping and how
00:15you're thriving.
00:20How are you doing now? It's been a strange few months. We're heading into the summer. Tell me about you.
00:26It's now starting to kind of normalize, adjusting to virtual classes with my girls, you know, dealing with work.
00:36But it's good because we have our bubbles now. So I'm doing better. I'm doing a lot better.
00:43What have you found has really helped you get over some of those big hurdles as a mom?
00:49Yeah. Routines are huge. And also a lot of planning when it comes to the kids and also work time.
00:56Now that you're home, and me especially, I'm terrible at this. I can be just tempted to just, you know,
01:00check my email. It's right there.
01:02So you really have to be intentional to shut it down, especially at the end of the day.
01:06We're all at home a lot more and that means we're in the kitchen a lot more.
01:11How are you managing to balance nutrition with keeping the kids and yourself excited about food?
01:18Thankfully, I have girls that enjoy their fruits and veggies.
01:22So we love to always accompany every meal with fruits, vegetables.
01:27We really don't like them taking in a lot of juice because, you know, of course the sugar.
01:31So milk, we either, you know, give them the option of having water or milk.
01:36Of course, they love to have chocolate milk. So strawberry milk, all different types.
01:42Are there any ingredients or dishes that you've discovered with the girls over this period that have been like major
01:48hits for you?
01:49Breakfast food. We love our breakfast food. I wanted to experiment and try different types of pancakes.
01:55We've tried chocolate chip pancakes. I even tried a blueberry cream cheese pancake. It was to die for.
02:03Oh, that's so nice. I have quick fire questions for you.
02:08What is your best parenting hack?
02:11We have these blocks that we have. We store them in these little boxes and they have little instructions that
02:16come along with them.
02:17So you can build them into something, you know, wonderful. It takes some hours to put together.
02:21So that is a bonus without, you know, money while I either work or, you know, do whatever I'm doing.
02:28Tell me about a recent parenting win.
02:31So because we've been through this routine now where we wake up the morning and so the girls know what
02:36to do, which has been like totally amazing.
02:38They know when they wake up the morning, you know, they get their teeth brushed, come downstairs, they get their
02:42space organized, get their glass of milk.
02:45And then, you know, they'll wait, wait for us to get the rest of their breakfast together.
02:48You know, there's a couple of minutes that we're able to salvage to ourselves.
02:51Like, you know, it's, you know, it's great. So I would say that would be my win.
02:56What about a summer activity that you're really looking forward to?
03:00Cottage.
03:03We bought ourselves a cottage this past winter.
03:06Yes, we're actually going to be heading out there in a few hours.
03:09So, so yeah, that would be definitely the, the summer activity that I'm most looking forward to.
03:15Your best parenting advice for other moms right now?
03:18I was so hard on myself in the beginning.
03:21I'm not a teacher.
03:23I'm trying to work.
03:24I can't work because they're, they need my help.
03:28If my child's struggling, it just creates this dialogue in your mind.
03:33So it's just like, you know what, take a breath.
03:35There's a lot of us that are in the same boat that are having the same struggles.
03:39So just take it one day at a time.
03:41Don't be so hard on yourself and just take and just keep pushing.
03:46I hope you get some quiet moments this summer and enjoy your girls.
03:50Thank you so much for joining me.
03:52Thank you. Thank you.
03:54This is awesome.
03:55Thanks again.
