Men, this is your free pass to not shave for a month!

I know, I know, encouraging men to grow facial hair is not a girls idea of a good time. But, ladies, this is for a good cause! So let’s support and encourage our men to get hairy this month and participate in Movember – where the longer, the patchier, the grosser, the scratchier, the better!

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men. In Canada alone one in 7 men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime, the risk is highest after age 60, and one in 28 will die of it. Let’s increase awareness together: welcome to Movember!

It is tradition that we have a ‘best costume contest’ here at our head office every Halloween. This year we added a companywide potluck as well. We had some great costumes along with an array of tasty treats.

Angie, Chantel and Reena were chosen as having the best costumes at the office

Angela Abbott, who outdoes herself every year, took home first prize as Don Cherry (a Canadian ice hockey commentator for CBC television, best known as the host of Coaches Corner on Hockey Night in Canada).

Second place went to Chantel Ness, another wonderfully creative soul, who was a limited edition Barbie – still in the box!

And third place was nabbed by newcomer Reena Sacratini, who was one of the Ghostbusters (I do not remember them being that sexy).

Congratulations to the winners! Fun was had by all! Can’t wait to see what next year brings.

Hatley has been manufacturing clothes in India since 2003, and I have been commuting back and forth between India and Montreal over the last 8 years. This makes for one of the longest commutes to work in the world. So after 8 years of travelling back and forth, I have decided to take my whole family with me and stay for a few months. My wife Anthea and I packed up our 2 kids, Jasper (3) and Freddy (16 months), and made the trek here. We arrived mid September and I’ve decided to share this experience.

The job

Considering that the bulk of my professional career has been spent working and travelling to India, you would think that I would know this country well. But the fact is that every time I come here I am amazed at how little I know and have seen of this amazing place. Many people know that India is the 2nd most populated country and that it the worlds’ largest democracy, but that is just the tip of the iceberg in amazing facts. For example, did you know there are 22 official languages? These 22 languages are official, which means they actually translate the countries’ federal laws into each one. And print the value of the currency in these languages on every single bill. 22 languages is already a lot, but then there are a multitude of different dialects for each one… Someone once told me that there are in fact close to 200 languages in use today. With so many dialects you would think it would be difficult to get navigate the country, but the one constant that is used from the Northern Himalayas to the Southern tip of Tamil Nadu is English. Not everyone speaks English fluently, but thanks to the British influence here, the majority of people have taken it as a second language in school and has a basic understanding of it.

Location of Tirupur, India

Hatley’s factories are set up in a southern town dedicated to the manufacture of knit products, Tirupur, in the province of Tamil Nadu. Tirupur is a unique place in that the entire economy of this town is dedicated to one thing and one thing only… KNITS. If you are not sure what knits are, then let me give you a quick rundown of the 2 main cloth types: woven and knits. Wovens are used for garments that don’t stretch, such as a man’s dress shirt, a pair of jeans or Hatley’s Flannel Pants. Knits are used for garments that you want to stretch, such as t-shirts, baby rompers or tank tops. There are lots of exceptions to this, but those are the basics. Considering that the bulk of all of our products are made of knits, this town makes for a logical base for Hatley’s production.

Tirupur has a population of 1.5 million people, and in India that barely gets you on the map. In fact, it does not even get you an airport. To get to Tirupur, you have to fly to Coimbatore, an hour and a half’s drive away, or you can take a 5 hour train from Bangalore, which is where my wife and family have set up a home. Although it would be great to live in Tirupur from a work point of view, this city is an industrial hub that caters to the business of making clothing – not exactly a great place to explore and discover India with your family.

Hatley has been manufacturing clothes in India since 2003, and I have been commuting back and forth between India and Montreal over the last 8 years. This makes for one of the longest commutes to work in the world. So after 8 years of travelling back and forth, I have decided to take my whole family with me and stay for a few months. My wife Anthea and I packed up our 2 kids, Jasper (3) and Freddy (16 months), and made the trek here. We arrived mid September and I’ve decided to share this experience.

The Flight

Considering I had flown here about 30 times, I thought that I knew all the ins and outs of travel, but there was one big difference from all of my previous flights and this one was… KIDS! Yes, KIDS. I had never been on a long flight like this with my children and needless to say, it’s a lot more work than travelling on your own. Bringing your kids on a 19 hour flight is like being drafted to go to war: it is something you HAVE to do, not something you want to do.

Jasper has a snack while watching a movie

Our checked in luggage comprised of 7 duffle bags filled with clothes, sippy cups, bed sheets, a “Pack n’ Play”, boxes of mac n’ cheese, toys, diapers, more food, baby blanket and the list goes on… Why did we pack so much? Well, my wife had a mission to take the maximum amount the airline would allow us to check in, which was coincidently 7 bags. Never in all of my trips had I ever even checked in one bag, so needless to say this was already a whole other ballgame.

Our carryon luggage was a war chest of games, toys, snacks, baby wipes and diapers. However, no amount of planning and smart packing could equip us for the flight. It all starts with the arrival at the airport and everyone looking at you, hoping they don’t have to sit by THAT family. I have learned that after a terrorist, a crying baby is the greatest threat to a nice pleasant flight.

Freddy takes an in-flight stroll

After check in, there is the mandatory security screening. Usually quite routine for me, but when you bring an entire cooler of kids food and milk, the security process is a little different. Considering liquid is banned for all travelers except for infants, they treat this “life sustaining” substance with great suspicion.

After an hour long wait that felt like an eternity, it’s finally boarding time, and we are the first ones on. I’m not sure why they want the families on first considering it would be in everybody’s interest to keep the babies off the plane as long as possible, but I guess this gives everyone an opportunity to walk past you on the plane, stare at their boarding pass and pray that they are not sitting near you….

The flight takes off and so begins the endless journey of negotiating my kids to sleep, eat, not pay friendly visits to all of our fellow sleeping passengers, or storm the cockpit.

How many of us with children are constantly going between tired and wired? I wake up tired and then quickly get wired thanks to my morning coffee, but by 7pm, I am officially back to tired. The only thing that saves me is a strict bedtime routine.

My first born son slept through the night right from the beginning, but was a terrible napper and was cranky all day, so a friend recommended a book by Marc Weissbluth called “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child“ (http://www.drweissbluth.com/). It totally changed my outlook on sleep and unlike a lot of parenting books it was easy to follow. The premise is simple, “sleep begets sleep” so if your child naps well during the day they will go to bed easily and sleep longer.

"Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth

I thought since my son had slept all night, he did not need a morning nap. Big mistake by afternoon naptime, he was tired but very wired (sound familiar) and would not settle.
So I then started putting him down after two hours of wakefulness, and low and behold he feel asleep by himself and I was hooked.

Weissbluth also advocates a strict nighttime routine. My household now contains four children (3 boys and a baby girl) but we still follow the same schedule I established nearly eight years ago–bath for the baby, shower for the big boys, pajamas, brush teeth, and then a couple of books. Same drill 7 nights a week.

I do make compromises sometimes, like letting them skip the shower and opt for half an hour of tv, and I always let them choose their own jammies, lucky for me my husband is the creative director at Hatley so no shortage of pajamas to chose from. I have added one thing to the household and that is a white noise machine for the baby, I like the Sleepmate by Marpac (http://www.amazon.com/Marpac-SleepMate-980A-Electro-Mechanical-Conditioner/dp/B000KUHFGM).

The Sleepmate, by Marpac

Like a lot of houses with children of different ages, I get the baby down to sleep first. The noise machine helps with all the bruhaha the older three make as they wrestle in the hall outside her bedroom! It also lets her sleep in, drowning out the noises of a busy morning. Lastly, I travel with it so I can keep her on the same routine in hotels and at her grandparents, a good sense of familiarity. Routine, routine, it can be boring but trust me it works.

Go get some sleep mamas!