RookieMoms Blog

So I mulled over writing this as an activity for rookie moms then ruled it out on the basis that it’s not quite as much fun as wiping someone’s tushy.

Growing up, I was a tomboy of the mildest variety. I liked roller skating real fast and hanging out at the swimming pool (as long as the kids weren’t teasing me about strong resemblance to Caspar the Friendly Ghost). When my younger brother claimed the role of family Jock, I headed indoors for television and I cut back my time being sporty and sweaty.

Until. California. Yep, the Golden State turned me into a triathlete. I found that I could enjoy exercising with the proper partner (gossip walking for speed) and the right measurable goals (5 miles, 20 miles, 65 miles!).

Fast forward three years. With two little ones to juggle and a belly made of pudding, I don’t make nearly as much time for fitness and it’s showing. Now that same little brother is a grown-up and he’s getting married this summer.

How can a suburban mom of two look hot and perky again in 4 weeks?

According to Parenting Magazine, to lose the mommy tummy you’re best off doing some gut-sucking-in and standing-up-straight rather than crunches. How awesome is that? I hate sit-ups on a good day and standing up straight doesn’t require a babysitter. Actually inhaling hard and physically squeezing together the abs remind them of what they need to do.

A pricier and easier way to suck it in is to invest in a “slimming undergarment” (AKA girdle) by someone like Spanx or Flexees. They look like high waisted bike shorts but come without all that pressure to go biking.

Related article: News Flash! Men hate baby doll dresses!

I do believe that it’s the thought that counts when it comes to gift-giving. We cannot all afford to spend the money, nor can we make room in our homes for all the potential gifts people might want to give each other.

If you have, as I do, a mother, a mother-in-law, a step-mother, and each of them have female friends and cousins, you have a lot of trinkets coming your way in a steady flow. Travel souvenirs, stuffed animals for your child, and cute kitchen accessories. I have lots of these things. I propose instead having the thoughts, and not giving the gifts.

Today my honored recipient is Holden, a two-year old boy with a strong fondness for butter. Heather sometimes tells Holden there is butter inside his vegetables in order to get him to eat them. This is how much he likes butter.

When I saw this Butter Boy, designed to help you apply butter to your food, I thought immediately that I’d like to buy it for Holden, but then I reminded myself that it’s the thought that counts. Considering the environmental costs associated with shipping the product, disposing of the packaging, and then the need to store it in their kitchen and wash it from time to time makes me believe that Heather and Alec and Holden would rather just read about this product and know that I virtually give it to them than actually own it. Correct me if I’m wrong, guys.

Holden is addicted to hummus. And we’re addicted to keeping it around all the dang time as a meal in a pinch or just a snack for us. I saw this recipe for “fava fundip” in my Peas of Mind newsletter and I thought that a toddler dip that’s all-natural and easy to make sounded like it was worth trying.

Here’s a link to this recipe and others from Peas of Mind.

I haven’t tried it myself, I’m just tempted to.

He did eat several gujillion puffets from about age one to age two, so I can highly recommend them for reals!

Check. I updated my linkedin profile and just invited hella people to join my network. Do you read this site? Do you want to give me a paying job? What are you waiting for — let’s be linkedin bff’s?!

But seriously, I have been suffering from a major career/identity schism since leaving my full-time job to have Holden over two years ago. When he was five months old, Whitney and I started this site (and I coincidentally also started my random contract part-time career that same week). And let’s just say that those roles — of who I was and who I am — haven’t really been integrated. Until today.

Now, with that emotional baggage properly filed and tagged, who wants to hire me?

Julian and Holden are very close friends. I love to see them scurry off after a snail or investigate a statue head and wonder what (at 30 and 25 months respectively) they might be discussing. They both share an interest in diggers, trains, chalk, and musical instruments. They can both sing most of the words to Happy Birthday and several of the various Music Together selections… but there is one thing that they don’t share. Yet.

Julian likes to wear his mama’s clothes. I’ve seen him wear her hat and jacket. I’ve seen him carry her purse. But I did not see the day he was wearing her skirt. I would have really liked to see that one.

And if history is any indication, Holden will be donning my dresses in another few months.

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I wrote this little ode to Julian and the skirt as part of the ParentBloggers challenge “What Are You Hiding Under Your Sk*rt?” — My answer is “a toddler boy”

First, I love to travel. In theory.

When I used to travel for business, I found the calm hours of the flight a respite from my otherwise-busy life. I could zone out and let the pilot and flight attendants do their respective things and I would wake up where I needed to be.

When I used to travel for fun, Alec had a name for me. I suspect that “Vacation Heather” was the reason he wanted to marry me: All the good stuff and very little of the control freak. Of course that’s because all the lists had been made, double-checked, printed, and crossed off by the time we had left the house.

But now I have two little ones and I’m more than a little bit scared. Will there be screaming or pooping in excess? Will my neighbors be helpful or critical? Will I want to shrink away and pretend that these kids aren’t mine?

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to the East Coast to see my family and get to know my future-sister-in-law. I flew “alone” with my almost-four month old on a red eye flight. He was fantastic on the outbound leg. We honestly didn’t need to get out of our seats once. He slept the entire time and the diaper changes were well-timed and not-at-all catastrophic.

So I figured that the return flight would have all the calamities.

Our return trip today followed a very rough night of excessive waking and pooping. So I started off grumpy. Plus my mom’s house is lacking in the area of what I consider to be real breakfast food. A second strike against us. Milo is too floppy to sit but too big to comfortably lie down in my lap in a crowded economy/coach seat. At one point, he nearly kicked over three full cups of ice water. I had to change his poopy diapers Twice Before Take off! Needless to say, the people adjacent to me were not loving us (I was window seat, they were in matching outfits). I could go on and on about how I stared at families of three and wondered just how they manage to do it or the woman I saw traveling alone with her three well-behaved angels or how I kept wishing for helpfulness rather than that look of fear in people’s eyes seeing me approach with a newborn, but I don’t have the brain capacity to be clever.

So, I will leave off with a brief round up of resources. Feel free to add your own observations, tips, and links for traveling with babies and toddlers in the comments!!

Here are a few handy links for my reference and yours:
> Rookie Moms tips for flying alone with baby
> Rookie Moms suggestions for other travel with baby
> Parent Hacks tips for entertaining little ones during airport delays
> Cheapflights.com guide to which airports have play zones (requires an email, feel free to give a fake one)

In a little more than a month, the four of us (in three paid seats) will be taking another red eye to my brother’s wedding across the country. Please share any other tips right here and Happy summer travels!

I first read about the bumbi*bear on photojojo and thought it sounded awesome. It’s uglydoll meets talking photo cube — perfect for a toddler security object, right?

Well, I’m putting it to the test this weekend.

Milo and I are making a solo trip out East to see family and we’re leaving Holden and his daddy to fend for themselves. Of course I realize that it is very unlikely that he’ll actually forget me in the few days I’m gone, but I like to cover my bases.

Some assembly required
I am so very lucky that Milo decided to take a long nap while I struggle with getting a picture just the right size. I’ve been working almost 2 hours on the picture. I had to call in the big guns; Whitney is also sending me circular crops and resizes. If you actually have printouts of your favorite pictures, you may bypass this step.

It took me a few days to think of the right message — especially when I thought it would be two heads in the bear — but I settled on the simple, timeless: “I love you very much.”

The fun part: doing it over and over and over
I look forward to repurposing the doll over time. Maybe we can find different pictures and more creative messages, and surprise each other. The good folks at bumbi have made it easy for a parent to open and change (with a paperclip inserted into a teeny zipper) but very hard for a determined toddler.

Recording the message on the coin-sized micro-recorder was easy and fun. I did it in one take. Inserting the picture is also pretty cool, once its properly cut out to the right size.

Now for the test
Can Holden figure out how to use it? I’m sure he can.
Will he forget about me while I’m away? We’ll have to wait and see.

Win one for yourself!
On July 15th, we’ll have a random drawing of all our subscribers to give away another bumbi bear. Good luck!

Yep, I guess it’s obvious, I finished my list of 101 things. Check.
The funny thing is that now that it’s done, I keep wanting to revise it. For example, I want to kick off caving for berry-picking.

And every time I have a fun idea, I want to change my list around to get credit for it. Oh well.

How can I put this delicately? Sometimes when you’re pregnant and you have to pee all the time, you just can’t make it home. Or sometimes, after you’ve recently given birth…

Enter MizPee, a funny little web service for when you gotta go on the go.

Want to try MizPee?

Send as a text message your city and state (e.g. “Berkeley, CA”) to the following number: 415-350-2290.

Results include cleanliness ratings, whether purchase is necessary, and if there are diaper changing facilities. Yay!

If only this service could help me when I just sneeze or cough unexpectedly too. Sorry, was that indelicate?

[as seen on Daily Candy SF]

I just ran across this most excellent roundup of rockin’ kid and parent venues in San Francisco in the Chronicle: Rockin’ with Kids.

Forgive me if some of the info is outdated, I was in the midst of my newborn-haze when it originally ran.