One singular mama is back for YOU dear listeners, with a fantastic guest for your listening enjoyment: the one, the only: Kevin the Husband!

Kevin is here to share his meal prep strategies (chicken pot pie: OUT, ravioli: IN), share date night stories and to participate in our long running tradition: My Horrible Poop Moment of the Day.

Kevin also talks about being a small town queer, preferring the quieter slower pace. There is the odd time that being trans pops up, like in interactions with medical professionals, but as Kevin tells us, he lives a half-invisible life, with people able to read some flavor of queer from his aura, but aren't quite able to pin point it down ("bisexual, perhaps?").

We finish off by musing the role that queerness plays in our role as parents, and end it off by agreeing to go out on a date soon.

It's a fun cute episode, hope you all enjoy!

Beloved listeners, the mamas have a treat for you: our very first guest on the podcast, featuring the marvelous Bethany Lee from Protect Our Water Source!

Bethany is a fellow mother, and like Justine, has roots in the city and has fallen in love with the rural Quebec life in recent years. In this wide ranging interview, we talk about loving and belonging in our communities, how being mothers shapes our hopes for the future, and how we should share the most precious public resource: water.

Bethany is the spokesperson for an organization called "Protect Our Water Source", which become organized when it was revealed there would be a commercial water pumping venture in Hinchinbrook. Her community of Powerscourt was both surprised and concerned by the lack of information provided, and the organization has sprung forth to push for more disclosure on how water testing was performed for this project.

She takes us through the timelines of the project, what risks water pumping poses to the nearby farms, how the community has responded and what the next steps are.

It's a fantastic episode, both for locals and all those who have ever wondered: "Who is water for?"

Bethany would say: "it's for the people".

Sources we mentioned:

Protect Our Water Source: https://protectourwatersource.ca/

"The History of the County of Huntingdon [Quebec]: And of the Seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois from Their Settlement to the Year 1838" by Robert Sellers

Gleaner: "Farm To Food" podcast

Eau Secours: https://eausecours.org/

Fans of "Loud and Proud Mamas", you are in for a TREAT of an episode! It's finally that time: Laura's birth story!

To kick things off, Justine talks about celebrating her 2nd year anniversary at the World Final's for short track speed skaing in Montreal. It was there that afternoon that 1) she learned of the existence of William Dandjinou and 2) instantly became a committed, die hard fan. Tragedy struck in his race, and it is the opinion of this podcast that Mr William Dandjinou was robbed of his gold medal #justicefordadjinou

After that intro, we dive into what you've all been waiting for: Laura's incredible rollercoaster journey through labour and birth. This story has everything: a promising beginning, navigating medical beaurocracy, the power of family and friend support, and the complex emotions of having a different delivery experience that you had envisioned.

Justine is the one who writes these episode descriptions, so I will state this with no ego: this is truly a beautiful story of doing your best in the face of physical agony, emotional turbulence and seeing a journey through to it's end. Laura talk with honesty about pain, fear, grief and how these feelings mix with joy during birth. It's truly a must listen episode.

The podcast that Laura listened to while in birth was called "Crime Junkie" (linked below).

If you are interested in sharing YOUR birth episode, or being a guest on this podcast, let us know! We are collecting ideas for future episodes, and we'd love to have you on! Get in touch with us at loudandproudmamas@gmail.com.

EDIT: In the first version of this episode, Justine (me) pronounced William Dandjinou's name as "William Danjilou". Apologies to Wiliams Dandjinou and his fanbase, I misread his name and spoke incorrectly. I have since recorded the parts where I say his name, so if you notice some weird edits, that would be why. Keep going for gold William, we are big fans :)

It's been a long journey to get here, but the mamas are happy to announce that we are here to deliver the content YOU'VE been waiting for: Justine's Birth Story! (Laura to come next ep!)

We start off by talking about the Ice Apocalypse That Wasn't, our mild amusement and frustration about being over prepared for a storm that turned out milder than expected.

Justine does a deep dive into her birthing experience at the Valleyfield Hospital, with shoutouts to Nurse Sophie and Nurse Coralee. Heads up that this episode does talk about the birth experience, so discussions of vaginas and internal machinations are involved.

Music that Justine was listening to while in labour is tagged below, please enjoy the baritone and somber tones of Cash in his later years, Neil Young lament about Kent State and Bob Dylan in all his nasal glory.

We end off with a recommendation to check out the Paralympics, especially Alpine Ski! French commentary is available on Ici Tou.TV, English commentary available on CBC Gem. Official policy recommendation from Loud and Proud Mamas: Canada must increase funding by 300%! We must be on the podium next Paralympics!

Enjoy the episode beloveds, next ep is Laura's Birth Story!

Ladies and gentlemen and queers of all types, the mamas are back in the studio! Rejoice and be glad, we're coming to you with some fresh banter, pregnancy tales and stories from our long, unexpected hiatus (we are so happy to be back!).

Kicking things off, we start the episode by debuting a new segment: "Laura Was Right!". As long time listeners know, Laura is the mama who researches carefully and makes decisions accordingly. Early on in their friendship, Laura gave Justine some sage advice on baby sign language and communication. Did Justine listen and incorporate it? Listen to find out!

We move onto the second segment, where Justine muses about the feasibility of making five pounds of pâté. Reasonable? Doable? Practical? Listeners, we want to hear from you! Also, the spreadable-ness of pâté... a good thing or bad thing? The mamas are divided on this topic!

And of course, by listeners demand, the long awaited "Third Trimester" episode! My goodness, this segment is as big as we were in the last few weeks of our pregnancy. Who had to go to the hospital? Who was suggested to do an induction? What does it mean to have a "good birth"? Listen to find out!

And finally... what on earth were the mamas doing for so long? Clearly, hanging out! Listen to the end to find out all of the fun things we were up to, including bread making and quilting!

Enjoy the ep beloveds! We will be back in your ears soon!

Rejoice and be glad listeners, for Laura has returned from the DR, safe and sound and full of watermelon! The mamas have recorded this episode with only the beloved listeners in mind, so that you too can imagine that you were in the sunny beaches of the Dominican Republic...

We kick things off by talking about baby interests: Justine's son spent an afternoon fascinated by an electrician, while Laura's daughter consistently enjoys "the cooking show" (starring Laura).

Laura debriefs about the trip, handing out pro tips for traveling with babies and how they managed irregular feeding times, airplane and bus rides and mix-ups with grandmas... Look no further for all your pro tip needs for traveling with a toddler!

Justine jumps in with her own pro tip: learn to sharpen your knives! Justine walks you through the different grades of whetstones, and the benefits of sharpening your own knives instead of buying new every year (or cutting with dull knives!)

We move onto Trimester Two, that magical time where your belly grows and your lower back wants to tell you all about it! Who got stuck and had to get a ride home from the coppers? Listen to find out!

For the film review segment, Justine muses about the queer representation in "Conclave", a fun Catholic intrigue movie, while Laura dishes about the latest season of Bridgerton (potential lesbian character? Rest assured: we will report back when we know!)

And lastly: Justine the Albertan is looking for book recommendations from francophone and/or Quebec authors, both for herself and her one year old son. Got a recommendation? Let us know, and Justine will try to find it at the library (Surely the BanQ will have it!)

Listen and enjoy beloveds!

The mamas are back better than ever with an action packed episode, fresh with that good content just for your ears!

To kick things off, Justine gushes about the new grocery store in her area with an expanded Asian aisle (a real treat for a rural Quebec grocery store!). She's been buying all her old favorites and sharing them with her husband to great success. Laura shares her tips on how she introduces food to her picky eater wife, a strategy that has worked well for them so far!

We bring back our beloved segment, "My Awkward Moment of the Day" to talk about Justine getting her shit clocked immediately after taking a blood test to confirm pregnancy and how that awkward situation was handled. This leads into the first of a three parter episode: The Pregnancy Files! This episode is all about the first trimester: OBGYN vs Family Doc vs Midwife? Learn the baby's gender or keep it a secret? Just how many ultrasounds ARE there???

Moving right along, Justine reviews "Heated Rivalry", the Canadian show headed by Jacob Tierney (of "Letterkenny" and "Shoresy" fame) based on a book in a series written by Rachel Reid. Gay hockey shows funded by our tax dollars? Sign us right up!

Lastly, we wrap it up with a final segment of traveling with a baby because.... Laura is headed off on her trip! Laura gives last minute tips to deal with stress and decision fatigue, as well as finding out the horror of learning you'll be sitting in THOSE WestJet seats.

Wish Laura a wonderful time on her vacation!We will be taking a week off while Laura enjoys the sun, beaches and warmth (Justine will be shoveling and shivering). Take the week to listen to all our past eps to juice those numbers, and leave us a 5/5 review everywhere you can!

The mamas are here to present to you a rare treat to all the beloved listeners: a jazz odyssey of an episode... a variety of banter and an exploration of topics. Please enjoy this delightfully long episode where Justine and Laura settle into their role as co-hosts and take the listeners on a journey.

We start off with complaining about the freezing rain and strategies on how to combat SAD (seasonal affective disorder for you non-Northerners). Justine details the differences between hog casings and collagen casings for the Sausage Talk segment, much to the existential horror of Laura (who we learn used to be a vegetarian!) .

The mamas discuss traveling with babies: How to handle the airplane ride, going through security and what on earth to bring. Where is Laura going to escape the winter? Gotta listen to find out!

Wrapping it up, we talk about our childhood (and early adulthood) gay crushes because after all... we are a gay podcast. No spoilers on who picked who, but a clue will be available in the link below!

Rae Spoon: "My Prairie Home" is a beautiful documentary set to the songs written and performed by Rae Spoon. Check it out to see beautiful shots of Alberta and enjoy some good prairie queer content: https://youtu.be/_6wsDCH-1GU?si=Gkba0OnmTvKrPDFK