I was asked to write this post as I am perceived to be an expert at motherhood. Flattering, but it made me laugh out loud.

I can picture it in my mind. Three little kids standing at the playground having a discussion.

Kid 1: “My mom left me in the swing a lot when I was a baby. Apparently, she chose showering and eating over me.”
Kid 2: “Yeah? As a baby, my mom forgot to clean the rolls in my neck until I started to smell”
Kid 3: “I have you all beat. My mom let me eat dog food.”

Kid 3 has blonde hair and green eyes. How do I know this? She’s mine.

After having my first baby, I went a little mental. Everything had to be perfect. I had to be perfect- The perfect mom.
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Welcome to motherhood. One day you’re slinging your purse over your shoulder to run and meet a friend at a moment’s notice. The next day you’re slogging 20 lbs of baby, carseat and stuff out the door – if you even get off the couch from cluster feedings.

This shift in lifestyle is the part that most people don’t talk about. And for those of us who love to be social and out-and-about it’s quite a shock.

Venturing out of the house the first few times as a new mom can be daunting. Trying to time naps, feedings and the inevitable poop-up-the-back. Be easy on yourself, but don’t let that stop you from getting out. Consider a one-hour outing a success. Heck, walking around the block is a win too.
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Edmonton’s NextGen presents Pecha Kucha Night 13, June 6 2012, at the Heritage Amphitheatre at Hawrelak Park. PKN13 features presentations on local ideas, projects and musings in the 20 slides x 20 second per slide format made popular world-wide by Klein Dytham Architecture.

Tickets are on-sale now via TIX on the Square; charge by phone at 780.420.1757 or online at www.tixonthesquare.ca.  Tickets are $10 for students (with i.d.) and $12 for adults.

Doors and bar open at 6:30 p.m.; with presentations beginning at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to come prepared for the elements.

A bright, massive LED screen, provided by Allstar Show Industries, makes presentations before nightfall possible. Music provided by Justin Foosh (All Out DJs). Two food trucks join PKN for the festivities; service begins at 6:30 pm: The Act and Molly’s Eats.

New for PKN 13, Edmonton’s NextGen is thrilled to partner with Famoso Neapolitan Pizza to offer each ticket holder a gift card for a pizza of their choice at any one of its location. Famoso Neapolitan Pizza encourages all PKN 13 attendees to feed their creativity.

Join the conversation on Twitter, hashtag #PKN13.

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Click here to watch a great promo video for this weekend’s event! http://vimeo.com/42743780

Edmonton’s NextGen, in collaboration with the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues, announces the 3^rd Annual Edmonton Community Challenge (ECC).  The ECC is a volunteer-driven, collaborative event, promoting community spirit through friendly competition between community leagues throughout the City of Edmonton. In 2012, ECC changes format to a year-round, seasonally-based events competition; in each 3 month season, teams are encouraged to participate in best-of-Edmonton events to collect points towards earning a series of community enhancement prizes. For more information, visit http://ecc.edmontonnextgen.ca/.

ECC Season 1 | May – July 2012

• Event 1: Mitsubishi City Chase Powered by Goodlife | Team Registration via ECC
  • May 26th, 2012 | Secret locations all over the city.  Start/End point at Churchill Square.
  • The Mitsubishi City Chase Powered by GoodLife Fitness is a unique urban adventure that requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for ChasePoints scattered in unknown locations throughout the city.  Think Hard. Play Hard. Laugh Hard. It’s seriously the most fun you can have in your city…without getting arrested!
  • Read more about a special promotional discount code for City Chase here: http://ecc.edmontonnextgen.ca/2012/05/ecc-at-city-chase-2012/

• Event 2: Pedal-Powered Smoothies
  • June 16, 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM | Sobeys Pocket Park (104^th Street & Jasper Ave)
  • Hop on a bicycle, pedal away and make your own eco-smoothie! Presented by Edmonton on the Edge, Bikeology and People-Powered Parties.

“The Edmonton Community Leagues are extremely important for connecting and empowering Edmontonians in shaping the future of our city. The EDMONTON COMMUNITY CHALLENGE is an opportunity to connect young Edmontonians with the rich history and ongoing impact that our unique community league system has in making the City a great place to live, learn and work, now and in the future,”  ShermanTsang, Edmonton’s NextGen Committee Member & ECC Organizer.

For full details on the EDMONTON COMMUNITY CHALLENGE, visit www.ecc.edmontonnextgen.ca.  Teams and individuals are encouraged to visit the website prior to May 26, 2012, for full Spring Season ECC event details.

NEW FOR 2012: No prior registration is required! All team points will be collected and reported by ECC volunteers at each event, look for the Edmonton’s NextGen banner to identify ECC volunteers and check in.

Being a mother is one of the most amazing things a woman can experience.

It doesn’t matter if you adopted or birthed your child…it doesn’t matter if you are a caregiver who sends the child home to mom every day. Those of us who are blessed and entrusted with the care and keeping of a child – well, we get to experience miracles every day. The miracles of those first steps, the discovery of snowflakes, of stories told, and memories made. There are the hugs filled with love, shrills of laughter as you push them on swings and the moments spent quietly watching them sleep. I wouldn’t give up this gig for the world.

But as we all know, there are two sides to every story.

Along with all the wonderful memories are a few that we’d like to forget.

As a mother of 3, stepmother to 1 and dayhome provider to many, many more – I have compiled quite the list of memories I’d rather not have.

So for all the would-be parents out there, or soon-to-be moms and dads…I’m going to tell you what no one else will. I don’t know why these things are unspoken of before someone has children…because it can’t be just me who has had these experiences.
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May’s NextGen Speaks Out! theme will be Motherhood

 
It’s May and Mother’s day has rolled around again. Mothers (of all varieties – Step-moms, Grand-moms, Bio-moms, Adopted Moms, etc included) have a large influence on us and our society. We want to take the opportunity to recognize and support the mothers in our lives and in our community by celebrating them not just on May 13th but all month long. This month we’ll be asking our bloggers (who are also all mothers themselves) to expand on the theme by sharing their stories and resources, and relating their experiences and opinons in a way that only a mother can.

Whether you are a parent, an expecting parent, or still savoring the child-free way of life, we hope our bloggers will provide an interesting, humourous, and enlightening (or perhaps eye-opening) peek into their lives. They might expose you to new information that you hadn’t heard about before, provide comfort in the knowledge that you aren’t alone, inspire you to make a small change to your own routine or encourage you to suggest resources to others.

We also want you to engage in discussion. Come on nextgener’s we know you have opinions and thoughts on these themes too. We’d love for you to comment, start a discussion, and share these posts with your networks.

Check back weekly as we will be adding new NextGen Speaks Out! posts regularly. We’re looking forward to it and hope you do too!

Disclaimer
NextGen Speaks Out, our guest blogging series, is envisioned as a hub for information and discussion. NextGen is a non-political, non-denominational organization focused on giving all nextgeners a voice. NextGen does not represent the opinions expressed by the individual columnists.

12 year old Alixx Tanner has been able to do what many of us aim to do: understand the larger environmental impacts of her daily decisions.

In a science fair project on penguins, the Grade 7 Nellie McClung student looked outside of her immediate world to see how her decisions affect the environment, specifically penguin habitats. The population of these adorable waddling birds are declining at an alarming rate.

This blog is a small peak into Alixx’s world and how she views it.

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Edmonton’s NextGen presents Pecha Kucha Night 13, June 6, 2012, at the Heritage Amphitheatre at Hawrelak Park. PKN13 features presentations on local ideas, projects and musings in the 20 slides x 20 second per slide format made popular world-wide by Klein Dytham Architecture. Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. via TIX on the Square; charge by phone at 780.420.1757 or online at www.tixonthesquare.ca.

More than 135 presentations have been given at Edmonton Pecha Kucha Nights to-date on wide-ranging topics, from the history of bread making to showing nature’s naughty bits and everything in between. A first for NextGen, PKN13 will be held outdoors, rain or shine. Attendees are encouraged to come prepared for the elements. A bright, massive LED screen, provided by Allstar Show Industries, makes presentations before nightfall possible. Music provided by Justin Foosh (All Out DJs).

Tokyo’s Klein Dytham Architecture first devised Pecha Kucha, the Japanese phrase for “the sound of chitchat” in 2003, as a night for young designers to meet, network, and discuss their projects. The catch: each designer gives a presentation containing only 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds, for a total presentation length of six minutes 40 seconds. Conceived as a venue through which young designers could meet, show their work, exchange ideas, and network, the format keeps presentations concise, fast-paced and entertaining.

Doors and bar open at 6:30 p.m.; with presentations beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students (with i.d.) and $12 for adults and go on sale May 4, 2012, at TIX on the Square.

Join the conversation on Twitter, hashtag #PKN13.

For more information on presenting at PKN 13, visit http://edmontonnextgen.ca/2012/04/pecha-kucha-night-13-call-for-presenter-applications/.