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Wednesday, 22 May 2013

  • Kate Middleton Will Begin A "HypnoBirth" Phenomenon!

    First. What the heck is Hypnobirth? Word on the British Royal street is that Kate Middleton has been "looking into" it as a birthing option. Hypnobirth is when you labor and deliver using hypnosis techniques to help get through the labor pains and delivery, drug free. I had never heard of this type but apparently she's been researching and listening to CD's that will help her get into a calm and almost hypnotic state of mind. More power to her, right?

    During my first pregnancy, I naively thought that I would be the type of person that would give birth au natural. I thought, "Oh yeah, I can take some pain and get through it and I will be a stronger and better mother and person for it." THEN I actually went into labor and I was like, Oh Hell NO! 
    My second pregnancy, I inquired if there was some sort of take home epidural that I could have on hand the second I went into labor. So, needless to say, I'm a pro-epidural kind of girl and yes, I know the risks and possible side effects during and post birth for both myself and my child.

    Maybe I'm weak, but when that pain came, I mentally went to a place to deal with it. I basically shut down, closed my eyes and focused so hard, that the room, my husband, the nurses and everything else that was going on around me disappeared. But, what I realized AFTER receiving the epidural and returning to reality, was that I was missing everything. For me anyway. Something about the intensity of the pain forced me to disconnect from it all and go to a place where I could handle it. Once I was given the epidural however, I ENJOYED my time. I was able to communicate and laugh and joke with the doctors and nurses. I was able to talk on the phone with family members and really felt I was a PART of it all. But, that's just me.More Here...

  • Mom "Mini Fails" - The Tooth Fairy

    My son was in Kindergarten and all the kids teeth were beginning to fall out like raindrops in April. The first one in the class to lose her tooth was envied by all the other wiggly toothed grins in the class. I was there volunteering that day and I heard a sudden gasp and I looked over to see her sweet face covered in pleasure and horror as she holds a glue stick in one hand and a pearly white in the other. The kids flocked around her, circled her like mother hens, trying to see the hole it left, was there blood, what did the tooth look like OUT of her mouth? Then the whispers of the tooth fairy coming that night began... what did she look like? Was she a tiny little fairy or a person? How much do you get? It was very exciting. 

    The next day after school, my son tells me that Lisa got TWENTY dollars from the tooth fairy! "Whaaaaat?" I said. Surely he was mistaken. This was the age when he would tell me that cars were really expensive, "Like a hundred and two dollars mom." Yes. I would say. Sure. So, I was certain that he misheard the correct amount, but he was adamant. I let it go. Until the bustling and mumbling of the other moms, standing at the door the next day after school and all of them sharing the same story. Lisa, the newly toothless little girl was the daughter of a friend of mine, so I asked her about it. "Lisa! Congratulations! Did the tooth fairy come?" And sure enough the tooth fairy came and indeed left her twenty bucks. WTF, man? Lol. Knowing the mom, I was certain something went wrong and I defended her amongst the gaggle of angry parents, knowing that when their kid finally loses their tooth, that the 2 bucks they were planning to leave was only going to be a disappointment. Now, I'm not afraid of my kids experiencing a little disappointment, don't get me wrong, but nobody wants to have to explain to their 5 year old, why the tooth fairy jipped them. More Here...

  • CRAP! School Is Almost Out!

    This past weekend was a particularly long one. We didn't have anything that we "had" to do. No sports, no birthday parties, no events, no playdates planned, nothing. On Saturday, I woke up feeling free and excited for the day. We spent the morning playing board games and watching movies and then swam for the better part of the afternoon. It was wonderful. Then Sunday happened. I wake up to my two kids fighting about who got to the potty first and who has to go "more badly". I let it go for a minute to see if they would work it out, but after a minute and their voices escalating, I was certain someone was going to pee on something, I got up and mediated. But THEN, the one that peed first, chose the channel on the television and the second one to pee was less than pleased to watch "Jessie". I intervened and both were accommodated. THEN, my son took the last of the OJ, which my daughter rarely drinks, but of course TODAY, she was going to have some and so when she went to take a sip of HIS, it began again. And, AGAIN, I fix it. All is quiet, I'm exhausted and annoyed. it's 6:52 a.m., and I think "I have THIRTEEN more hours until they go back to bed." and I wanted to cry. A second full day of no routine and nothing we needed to "do" and I was done. All I could think, was ... crap. Summer. 

    I'm a stay at home, full time working single mom. My son is 8 and my daughter is 6. I have to work. At home. With... THEM. I looked into Summer camps and any of the one's that seemed safe and I was comfortable with were way out of my price range. My son, is easy going. He can stay in his underwear all day and go from Lego's to his DS, to a book, to his drawings and then back to Lego's. My daughter however, wakes up wanting to cut and paste immediately and all day, constantly. SHE will need more entertainment than I can give her and being just 6, she still requires help with most everything. So, what to do?More Here...

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

  • Win a Mombo Deluxe Nursing Pillow!

    This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony. All opinions are 100% mine.

    We're teaming up with Mombo to give TWO lucky readers their very own Deluxe Nurser pillow! What's great about this pillow is that it can go from nursing support, to tummy time, to a lounger for baby! Now there's no need for multiple products, one pillow can do it all!

    The Firm2SoftTM, 2-Sided construction, is uniquely designed to offer distinct benefits on each side. The firm side offers enhanced back support during nursing and just the right elevation for baby. the soft side creates the perfect environment for lounging. The optional vibration helps soothe baby. Use the vibration anytime throughout the day. The cover is also machine washable, so toss that into the washer when baby spits up or has an accident. More Here...

  • Labor Pranks


    This morning I was listening to my preferred morning radio station while taking my oldest to school. One of the personalities on the station's morning show is Laura Diaz; I really like her personality and voice. Laura is also in the later stages of pregnancy and tomorrow will be her last day with the show before she starts her maternity leave. So, she took the opportunity this morning to prank the other on-air personalities...
     
    From her Facebook page: "This was full of water before I poured it on the floor and told Johnny my water broke on the air! Couldn't help myself...had to do it!"

    I believe they said they were going to put the audio up on the show's website, but I can't seem to find it. (This could just be me being technologically challenged, or maybe I misheard between ordering breakfast from a drive thru window and discussing grades with the 12 year old.) Needless to say though, the show's host bugged out for a few seconds before starting to direct the other staff members to take Laura home and such. She got Johnny pretty good and I was laughing my butt off in the car.  More Here...

Monday, 20 May 2013

  • "Birthday Spankings" At School. Inappropriate or Do We Need To Chill Out?

    It was 4th grade. Mrs. Nata's class. It was my 10th birthday. And I got to go through the Birthday spanking train. I was stoked. I was the center of attention. The kids lined up and made an upside down "V" with their legs and I crawled through the 24 person tunnel and each one of my classmates took a whack at me. We all laughed hysterically. My goal was to get through the spanking tunnel as quickly as possible and my classmates joked as they over emphasized winding up their arms to insinuate I was sure going to get a good one from them. Every kid got to go through it on their birthday. It never. Ever. Occurred to me that this was wrong. 

    But times are different now. Or maybe they're not all that different, but now everybody is just so ... touchy. And I get it. I do. As a mother of two, I don't want anyone, I mean ANYONE touching my children's tooshies and certainly not to "spank" them. 

    But, WHY is it so different now? Have we crossed the line? Or just blurred it so much into one big grey area where everyone is so afraid to do something wrong or to be misunderstood and their actions to be misinterpreted. We are all so afraid of bad things happening, which we rightly should be, but it's to an extent that we are taking something assumably innocent and making it ugly.More Here...

  • Everything I Thought About Raising a Girl/Boy Was Wrong.

    Every child is an individual of course, born with their own personality waiting to blossom. How much do we shape them with the pre conceived stereotypes we inevitably have, is subjective. Was I rougher with my boy? Tossing him in the air, wrestling, role play? I don't think so. Was I more delicate with my girl, playing more softly with her? I really don't think so. Apart from the gender specific gifts they have received from before they were even born, I don't feel that I have made an obvious distinction in raising them or how I treated them. I mean, I'm not naive, I'm sure there were SOME things I did subconsciously, but nothing obvious.

    The difference in my children is striking. And it goes way beyond the black and white differences of one being a boy and the other a girl. And the differences are a surprise to me. My early expectations of how they would be in their genders were way wrong.

    For starters, my daughter who is 2 1/2 years younger than her brother is... well... tougher. Physically. It might be that he was my first and I was more worried for him than I was with her, but she is more coordinated than he is and was climbing things a lot earlier than he was. She can run faster and her form is athletic looking, where as my son, prefers not to run, but when he does, there's a scuffle thing he's got going on that makes him look... new.

    Also, my daughter can take some cuts and bruises in stride, clean them off and off she goes with minimal nurturing needed. Where as my son, you would thing a limb was torn off over a cut that in all honesty I can rarely even SEE. Maybe she's just more naturally athletic than he is, I don't know. I've found, by talking to other moms with different gender siblings that this is the same for them. But then all the boys are the older sibling. More Here...

Sunday, 19 May 2013

  • How Do You Criticize Your Kids?


    My mum has always had a way with words. When she sees something she doesn't like she insults it and forces her opinion on you as well as unpicks any reason you have as to why you did it that way.

    Before her insults killed my self-esteem. I used to have bad acne on my forehead and she would mention it any time she was close enough to my face. "We need to try a different cream", "The skin on your forehead looks so...", "Maybe we should take you to the doctor." constant comments on something that I was already very hyper-aware of whenever I was in her presence. 
    More Here...

Saturday, 18 May 2013

Friday, 17 May 2013

  • A Two Mommy Family - Grateful For Someone They Have Never Met

    Many times I am so grateful to a person I have never, and will never meet. I am so grateful for a life I never really knew I had waiting for me. As much as my wife Alicia and I knew we were going to have a family and that we both wanted to be Moms, I had yet to really experience what was on the other side of those hopes and prayers. And one day, the anonymous donor we chose became so important to our life changing.

    Being a two Mommy family, Alicia and I chose to use a sperm bank and select a donor in hopes of conceiving a child. We chose a fertility doctor and did tons of research. I met many amazing people along the way on our TTC (trying to conceive) path. Single moms by choice, husbands and wives facing the use of a donor, other two-mom families, all had something to share or advice to offer. One thing no one could assist us with was the very personal decision of choosing a donor.
    Every facility offered something. If you went with this bank, all their donors have a doctorate level in education. Another bank prides themselves on their celebrity look-a-likes or upon paying for the service, their ability to closely match donors to the looks of submitted photos. Everything had a price, and regardless of the bank, someone could truly learn just about anything in the profiles of the donors. Personality testing, even their astrological sign. Alicia and I started our broad search after selecting the particular facility. We sifted through profile after profile; we knew we were looking for a donor who would remain anonymous, as that is what we wished for our family. Reading and searching, we looked at education, their career, allergies, and medical history. Some profiles stood out enough that we eagerly listened to the recorded interview with the donor. Surprisingly, just listening to some of the donors, we knew they were a “no” right away (as superficial as it may sound)!
    We weren’t kidding ourselves that these were individuals who were compensated for their time and donation, but it was still important for us to find someone who seemed to have an open mind and came from a positive place or outlook on life. More Here...

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