Why did we have a third child? I get asked that all the time, and I don't really have a good answer. It wasn't an accident and it wasn't because we were trying for a girl after having two boys [though it was a nice bonus]. It was because it felt like we weren't quite done, that there was still room for more -- in our hearts and our home.

I was the one who pushed for a third. I had an intense relationship with my sister growing up; there was a lot of pressure on us to be friends. I wanted something different than my family experience. I thought having three would take the focus off of one sibling relationship and mix it up. My husband comes from a family of three and he wasn't too sure that was good reasoning.

It wasn't. Because there is nothing rational in the decision to have more kids. If you are thinking of having three kids, here are some things you should know:

It's not like I ever check my daily horoscope but there is a part of me that kind of wonders if there is a tiny bit of truth to the characteristics ascribed by your birth sign. So, it came as a big shock to learn that I am no longer considered a Virgo, I am now a Leo.

A throw-away comment by an astronomer in Minnesota about the constellations has caused a reconsideration of the 12 signs of astrology. It seems there are actually 13 signs: Ophiuchus is the sign of a man holding a serpent and falls between the dates November 29th and December 17th. Serpent man has always been around, but for some reason the Babylonians dropped him from the astrologers' charts. 

You have a danger lurking in your home.

It is out for everyone to see, and yet, it is known for its ability to cause falls and even blood.

My heart still jumps into my throat when I think of it: my husband throwing my son into the air so high that for one second I couldn't breathe.

But he was fine, back in his dad's hands in an instant. I learned something watching that moment (or maybe it was just in hindsight). I learned that dads do things that mothers never do.

They rile the kids up before bedtime, they swear at other drivers in the car and they watch inappropriate movies with their underage kids.

This weekend the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior by Amy Chua. In it, she extols the all work, no play regime of her teenage daughters and the lengths that she'll go to ensure their success.

Her controversial ideas have struck a nerve and the book: The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has become the talk of the blogosphere.

Chua wrote that Chinese parenting methods are superior to Western methods because the focus on excellence produces superior kids.

What would you do to become famous?

Would you go on Wipeout and be humiliated as the announcer makes cracks about your ineptness? Would you answer trivia questions? Would you cook and be yelled at by Gordon Ramsay? Would you get pregnant just to get on MTV's Teen Mom? Would you allow your daughter on the show?

There has been some murmurings in the media that this is what's happening in the U.S. That teens are getting pregnant on purpose to be on season 2 of the reality show. The show is a gripping and depressing look at what happens when a baby interrupts a teenagers life. The sideshow around the reality stars is also a depressing statement of what happens when someone becomes famous or infamous.

Can you help settle an argument between my husband and I?

My husband thinks that anyone can be as neat as him. I disagree -- vehemently. I can't even be as neat as a normal person; let alone someone who lines up the books by size and keeps a labelmaker in the basement. I say I am inherently messy, I was born this way and with it comes the bonus of a creative mind but a messy life. I try to be neat and compared to how I used to be as a kid, I think I have improved greatly.

He blames my childhood, that everyone did everything for me (as he does now -- so who is smarter?). He would say that I was part of the "handicapped royalty" growing up. Actually, he would say I was lazy but I'm going with a nicer turn of phrase. 

You may not recongize the name Andrew Wakefield. But if you are a parent you have probably felt the impact of his work.

He is the doctor that kickstarted the anti-vaccine movement by claiming a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism. Except that his study was faked. The findings were retracted by the Lancet, the journal that first published them.

Besides his "study" on 12 children in 1998, no link has been found; in fact the link has been refuted again and again. Wakefield (who's medical license has been revoked in Great Britain) and his supporters like Jenny McCarthy claim that the current wave of media attention discrediting him is all a giant conspiracy by Big Pharma. 

What do we know?

Almost everyday I get the list from my son in grade 5: eight kids in his class have a phone; Josh even has his dad's old Blackberry; Mia has an iTouch blah, blah, blah. When does he get his own phone? (To be honest I don't even know if the list is true.)

I don't know. The whole phone issue is difficult to navigate. I would love for him to have a phone for me to call when I am running late picking him up; I would like for him to have a phone when he is walking home alone; I would like for him to have a phone for those moments when he wants me.

You can see what the theme is here. I want him to have a phone to contact me. But he doesn't want a phone to call me (well, maybe just to complain). He wants a phone to play games, he doesn't just want a phone. He wants a game centre, he wants a smart phone.

Confession time: my kids don't play hockey, they don't do gymnastics, they don't race, go to tournaments, compete in Triple A, Sele Act, or any elite, high-level way. They do not devote more than one day a week to any one extracurricular. And that makes us a bit weird.

I like it that way. Maybe it's just a rationalization for my non-athletic kids but it is also choice. My kids play ball hockey, they do Karate and music classes, they ski, play soccer and do art; they have playdates and downtime (and a few video games). We walk the dog and have family dinners.

We don't shlep around the city, we don't drag the other kids around when their sibling is playing a game, our family doesn't circle around one sport or one child.