It was a busy week. We learned some lessons about text messages in my family, watched an eight year old give a great pep talk that would inspire anyone, learned that Conrad Black is back, contemplated the make-versus-buy Valentine's Day card dilemma and we read in horror about babies getting tattoos.

Unless we self-reflect and make a change we risk becoming the voice we grew up defying. We might live long enough to see ourselves become the villain. The circle of defiance continues except now our children are the rebels and we are the evil empire.

Now my kids know that it is their job to calm down after throwing a fit and I'll remove myself from the room if my head starts ringing from the noise. I'd have to say that the five most important things I did to get from raging-freaking-out-mommy to keeping-it-cool-mommy were...

They say it can take a few weeks, even months, for new a mother to bond with her baby. For me, it took three and a half years. It's not that I didn't love him before. But maybe I didn't completely like him. Now, at age three-and-a-half, he is absolutely perfect.

Another year gone by, another year filled with annoying parenting trends. Here are some fads I'd like to see disappear by the end of 2013, including trophies for every participant and snack time every half hour!

We thrive happily and co-operatively in healthy social environments. As you think of how your family might be stronger in 2013, I suggest you invite all the stakeholders to participate in making your resolutions together, and here's how. Have a family meeting and ask the kids these questions.

More words were exchanged between us two just the day before. Trying to sort out the tangled web of emotions from the days prior. He, with a hoodie pulled over his face. Me, raw emotions and bundled nerves pleading for answers. Both of us feeling raw and exposed. On a road of good intentions, going nowhere fast.

Lighten up, sister. Consuming yourself with keeping a super-clean house and the kids cutely dressed, you'll lose sight of what's really important. The kids won't remember the clean counters, but they will remember your belly laughs as they ran around the room naked.

If you're a parent, you know that your little darlings may not always be telling you the absolute truth. Yes, it's hard to believe, but kids lie. A lot. Just because you've been lied to by your child doesn't mean that it has to continue. It's you against them when it comes to the truth. You're their parent, so you should win.

In a nutshell: life is chaos, it's all my fault, but I just can't help it so bite me. I'm a busy woman who is chewing what she has bitten off as fast as she can. I'm a hot mess, always in a rush to get where I'm going, dragging my poor son behind me. But damn it, I'm doing it. I'm getting there. There is room for improvement for sure. But at this dawn of a new calendar year, I'm not going to make a grand pledge to change.

I am learning, slowly, but surely, that life is not about taking the perfect picture. It is about the big picture. And the smaller ones that define and describe who and what we are. Husband turned and said to me, after the snowman fell and we were rebuilding a second, "He's just like all of us. Falling apart and getting re-built bigger and better again."

I haven't made a New Year's resolution in years, maybe decades. But our family life is only getting busier. Between one kid in JK and one starting preschool next month, swimming lessons, gymnastics, potty training, Angry Birds and dress-up, I need some parenting resolutions to kick-start 2013.