Archive for May, 2010

By Liz, Editor, a belle, a bean & a chicago dog (@bellebeandog)

One of the exciting changes we, the new editors of Our Mommyhood, have planned for you is to provide you with blogger resources.  We already have a meme list and a place to list your giveaways.  And we’re adding a blog conference page as well as a page dedicated to companies you can contact for product review opportunities!

I’ve gotten many questions about how to get started conducting product reviews, so I’ve approached some of the companies I’ve personally worked with to ask if we could list their name and contact info on our site.

Below is a little introduction from Caitlin Gambee from True North PR.

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I work for a public relations firm that specializes in a wide variety of clients. From our start in the outdoors industry we have grown to encompass products in all areas of interest including lifestyle, fitness, fashion, and luxury items. We enjoy reaching out to bloggers as a very crucial part of our media planning. Many clients are interested in getting feedback on their product from the people who it would be most useful for. We look forward to these reviews immensely.

Feel free to contact me via email at Caitlin@truenorthpr.com I would love to hear about your blog and the audience you reach and I’m sure we can find a product that would be a good fit!

Thanks for all your help.

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Caitlin’s information is posted on our Review Opportunities page, under the Blogger Resources tab.

Make sure to tell her you found her on Our Mommyhood!

By Working Mommy

I know it seems as though Spring just arrived – and really, it took a little extra time getting here this year – but it is never too soon to start planning those Summer vacations!! If you’re looking for “the usual” vacation spots – then keep on moving…BUT if you’re looking for something different – then you’ve come to right blog post!!!

Grand Wailea
I have always thought of Hawaii as an unattainable vacation location…the state I always wanted to visit, but would never be able to afford. Vacationing in Hawaii is not cheap, by any means, but if you’re going to do it – then do it right!! One of the best hotels in Maui is the Grand Wailea Resort. Since it is part of the Waldorf Astoria Collection…be prepared for fireworks and superb customer service! One of the signature offerings is “Camp Grande” which offers your kiddos everything including a Nintendo game room, craft rooms, movie theater, snack bar and game tables.

Out ‘n’ About Treehouse Treesort
I think this place is one of my favorites!! I was a tomboy growing up. I loved to climb trees and play in dirt…even though now I think about rolling in dirt and cringe (pink and brown are a great color combo – but not when the brown is dirt)!! I digress…I would have been one happy camper on a vacation to the great outdoors of Oregon. I know you’re thinking – Oregon?!?! Hear me out though!! Who needs a resort…when they can go to a TREEsort?!?! The Out’n'About Treehouse Treesort is, by far, one of the coolest vacation destinations. Located in Taklima, Oregon, this fun zone is perfect for your children (or those who are children at heart)! There are an array of “perch” options available for families of all sizes AND a number of “activitrees” for the whole family!

Tanque Verde Ranch
If heights aren’t your thing…and the beach has been done before…then why not take the family to the wide open spaces of Tucson, Arizona?! When I say wide open, I mean wiiiiiiiiiiiide open!! The ranch is comprised of over sixty thousand (yes, you’re reading that correctly) acres of land. The Tanque Verde Ranch Resort is part of the Historic Hotels of America and has more than enough to offer your family. Be ready to turn off your cell phone as you prep for a horse back riding lesson or go on a trail ride. If horses aren’t your thing you can relax by the pool or play a game of tennis.

Great Wolf Lodge
There are quite a few places in the DC Metro area offering kid-friendly activities. Nestled in historic Williamsburg, VA is the Great Wolf Lodge. With everything from a huge water park to a kiddie spa (to a spa for mom and dad, also) this resort has something for everyone! There are also dining options for every taste bud…from savory to sweet, early morning breakfast to late night snack…all I have to say is “YUM!” *Note: There are actually 12 Great Wolf locations to pick from…visit their main site for one near you!

Where are your favorite vacation destinations– near OR far?

Think life has handed you some lessons? Just wait until you hear what Working Mommy has to say! You can read her personal blog over at Lessons Learned!

By Megan

I watched the NFL draft last month – did you?

It’s funny, actually, because at least a couple of my Mommyhood co-writers were, um, under-impressed. I saw such tweets from the gals (who will remain nameless to protect them from unsportsmanlike conduct) as:

I think watching a spelling bee is more entertaining to watch than the NFL Draft.

Which garnered the following response:

Or watching grass grow!

I giggled. I get it, not everyone is in to it. It would likely kill them all to know that I’ve never, not EVER, watched a single episode of “Dancing With The Stars”. I’ve not seen “Glee”, either. They just aren’t my thing.

The Draft? Yep, I was all over it. (You were too, weren’t you, Elizabeth?) (note from the editor: yes, Megan, I watched all 7 rounds, basically in their entirety!) I sat on pins and needles, waiting to see who my Colts selected. I watched for the kids from my Hoosiers team to get the chance to hear their name called. I watched the trades, listened to Gruden have a series of mini-strokes, enjoyed the process of team development.

Sports are one of the things my family really bonds over. My mom, sometimes my brothers, and frequently my neighbors hang in my living room with us on football Sundays, where we eat lots of food and scream at the television. My father is a Tennessee Titans season ticket holder, and we (lovingly) trade some pretty snide text messages when we face off. I grew up on Indiana Basketball. Our mutual love of sports was one of the things that brought my husband and me closer together early in our relationship.

I thought it would be interesting to know what, if any, sports interested some of you! My list, in no particular order, includes professional and collegiate football, collegiate basketball, and auto racing (NASCAR, Indy Car and Sprints). I was never, however, an athlete on any level, although I still tell my husband regularly that I’m gonna be a NASCAR driver when I grow up! I’ve always just been a (reeeeally loud) fan.

What sports did/do you play, and what ones do you most enjoy watching?

Megan shares snippets of her life and random, well caffeinated thoughts as a working mom of three on her blog, All A Bunch of Momsense. Family, food, and fun at your fingertips!

By Honey B

I have an obsessive relationship with Amazon….and one of the reasons why is because it keeps me updated on all the baby crap that is available. LOVE it!! And one of the most entertaining things is explaining all these things to Marmot. I didn’t realize that if you’re a guy, you didn’t grow up knowing what all this amazing baby stuff is!

Now I just ordered my first Hooter Hider…omg but I love that thing. I got it in the mail and immediately modeled it for Marmot. He laughed, until I told him that not only are boobs fun to play with, but they could also save him over a $1000 on formula in the first year….suddenly, he felt that the Hooter Hider was not only a great investment, but stylish as well.

The first time Marmot saw the Tie Chair, he about fell out of his chair laughing. Let me get this straight, he says…you can tie your child to a chair? I explained that it’s portable, and good for restaurants, and uber-convenient….I explained all of that to him! But Marmot still refers to it as the baby straightjacket.

A diaper sprayer….Marmot gagged when I explained this one, and said bad words, and then swore that a cloth diaper will never cross the threshold into our house. Apparently the concept of scraping and/or spraying poop off a diaper is just more then the guy could handle. Even with the handy-dandy toilet attachment.

A doorway jumper swing. He took one look at it and said you can hang your kid in the doorway? I said yep, its fun for them, they love it, they get to bounce! He said oh you can get two of them and put them next to each other, its would be like a shoe organizer from Ikea.

Orthodontic pacifiers…ohh, it aligns their teeth before they have them he says…

Baby slings…ohh, you tie the baby to you instead of the chair he says…

The G-diaper…ohh, it’s a cloth diaper with a maxi pad he says…

All I can say is….wait until he sees a Diaper Genie…

There is never an end to the crazy baby stuff on the market…what is the craziest baby item you’ve ever seen??

Honey posts regularly at the Honey B. Blog, keeping you apprised of Baby Bucket List progress and the life of a wanna-be mommy!

By Shell

Pre-kids, I was like the yoga master.

Give me a crazy balancing pose and I could hang out there all day.

The poses where there are different levels of difficulty, I would just automatically go into the most challenging one.

I felt graceful and strong. I was toned and lean and walked tall; after all there’s no slouching in yoga.

Yes, I could do this:

And this:

I even took prenatal yoga. My instructor and I got pregnant around the same time, so she modified things for the two of us.

And then I had my baby. And tried to go back to yoga.

Those poses where the instructor would tell us how to do them and then say “If that’s too easy, you can go down to level two. And then if you want to challenge yourself, you can try level three”?

Those? I couldn’t even do level one. The simplest pose, like downward facing dog, was hard.

I was angry at my body.  How could I go from being ready to start the training to become a yoga instructor to looking like an absolute beginner?

And I let that stop me from practicing. I didn’t want to do it if I couldn’t do it as well as I could before. I took my toys mat and went home.

But, I’m on a mission to get back to pretzel-girl. Maybe I won’t ever be able to bend and twist like I used to. But, it will never happen if I don’t hit the mat and try again.

I miss feeling graceful and strong. Maybe I’m not as toned and lean, but I want to walk tall again.

What did you do before having kids that you’ve since stopped doing… but would like to start doing again?

Shell is a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom of three boys. Sometimes, she has to bite her tongue irl. But, at Things I Can’t Say, she spills it all on her blog, giving you the straight story on motherhood, marriage, and life in general.