Posts Tagged ‘Kids’

By Julia

I was so nervous. I don’t know why. I mean, I really like this person. So why was my stomach in knots?
 
To avoid being shot down in person, I approached them by email. Perhaps the thought of saying “no” over the internet is slightly less humiliating.
 
To my delight, I got a resounding YES! We set up a date and time. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have anything planned. I was just going to see what happened and go from there.

I paced the house as the time approached. Drinks- check. Food- not really. Oh no, should I have prepared food? Would they feel like eating? I don’t even know what they like!
 
It’s time… They’re running late. Oh my gosh, I bet they aren’t going to show. Maybe they don’t like me that much. Maybe I came on too strong. Maybe I should’ve invited other people. Oh, I don’t know. I’m so new to this.
 
Finally, they show up, pull in the driveaway and I peer through the curtains in hopes of not being seen.  I don’t want to look like a fool. (Too late)  Knock, knock.
 
Gulp.  Here goes nothing….
 
We greet each other, have small talk, I offered drinks but none were taken.  Just a small glass of water. I brought out a few toys, but I wasn’t really sure what interest they would have.  About an hour and a half passed and I could tell they were getting antsy to go. It’s probably time to leave. They look tired.
 

We said our good-byes and parted our ways.  I wonder if they’ll ever want to do that again. Maybe next time I should have something planned and organized.  I bet most non-virgins know all the “rules” and have tons of ideas.  Can’t help it.  It was my first time.
 
That’s right… my first time hosting a playdate.
 
Lessons learned.
 

What are some of your favorite things to do with other kids and moms when you host a playdate?

I’d love to get some ideas so my second time isn’t so… boring!

With 2 toddlers attached to her hip and hair thrown in a ponytail on an almost daily basis, Julia blogs at Work, Wife, Mom… Life. She’s a full-time working mom who tries to balance it all with her faith holding her together.

By Alexis @ Depressions & Confessions

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I love the gym. Not because of the treadmills, ellipticals, the pool or sauna, or because I can Zumba my love handles into oblivion. I like the weights just fine, although I could do without the widenecks standing next to the weight racks—the weird faces they make while lifting give me the distinct impression they are about to be visited by some very painful hemorrhoids. No, I love the gym because my kids aren’t there. At the gym, I get to pretend I’m not a mother for at least an hour every day except Sunday.

Stay-at-home-motherhood is quite the experience. I get to be with my children from the moment they wake up till the moment they go to sleep, and get to enjoy every milestone, rejoice in every new skill learned. I’m thankful to have the opportunity, which is so graciously provided by my husband. But any SAHM knows that cabin fever and occasional screaming for no reason is an occupational hazard of staying home with young children. A place to escape, even if it’s for just an hour every day, is essential to the survival of mothers everywhere.

After I had my first son—he’s three now—I developed a nasty case of postpartum depression, and I was having an exceedingly difficult time losing weight. I cried to my mom one day that I was getting desperate, and she offered to buy me a three-year gym membership. When I found out that the membership was accompanied by up to an hour and a half of daycare per day, I accepted with barely restrained glee.

The daycare at my gym is huge (I live in a state where no one blinks at a family of six kids under 10 years old), and my kids love it there. There are trains, dinosaurs, a slide, a play kitchen, and lots of other children to play with. And mommy gets an hour to play, too.

As I check in at the membership desk, I feel the anticipation building. Not sure if it’s the scent of sweat in the air or the sight of orange-skinned college students with fake boobs barely constrained by too-small sports bras, but something about walking in that building makes me happy. It’s a Pavlovian response I don’t pretend to understand—why would I get excited about the prospect  of groin pulls, frizzy hair, and coveting the fact that every other person in the gym can run farther and faster than me, including the eighty year-old guy in short-shorts and a sweatband, but I do.

Oh yeah, I remember: My kids are being entertained by other people.

By Shannon

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How Do You Define Fashion, When It Comes To Your Little Ones?

I have been contemplating this subject a lot lately.  I started a new job working for an online baby clothes boutique, in which I assist in finding “fashionable” baby clothes.  What does that mean?  Who determines it?  What is the best style for my little girl?

 I have to admit, before having a little girl, I never consider this term “fashionable”.  By my definition, style is a statement of personality.  For example, I am very active with animals, horses, and chasing a toddler.  Therefore, I need fashion that is comfortable, but I love to have something that says “Hey!  Just because I am a mom, doesn’t mean I can’t dress in fun clothes too!”  I love bling or attention getters, like a flower in my hair, rhinestones on my clothes, or fun graffiti print Converse shoes.  My staple supply of jeans, consists of rhinestones for dressy occasions and appliqués for everyday wear.  Clothes make a creative expression.   Seeing as how my little girl is only 19 months, she and I both are still trying to figure out her personal statement.

 For fun, take a look around and note all the different styles of clothing.  Gender, occupation, self confidence, age, culture, sense of creativity, and financial status are all factors that play into a person’s sense of style.   In defining baby’s fashions, there is another factor that I find interesting. 

During my research, I took a walk through my daughter’s closet.  The extreme diversity of styles was amazing.  I categorize them into the following:

      1.      Purchases from Mom and Dad

      2.      Gifts from her Peruvian Grandparents

      3.      Gifts from her American Grandparents

      4.      Gifts from friends and relatives

Now, I am sure you are wondering why I categorized these.  The reason is that all of these categories have a very distinctive style that factored into my little girl’s style. 

1. Mom and Dad – basics, knits, and everyday wear
2. Peruvian Grandparents – bold colors, hand knit ponchos, and cultural favorites
3. American Grandparents -  hand smocked outfits, sweet pastel dresses, and ruffle bottomed diaper covers
4. Friends and relatives – shirts with funny sayings, clothes that expressed mom’s/dad’s hobbies, and animal themed cute outfits

I have a great time experimenting to see what she likes and what expresses who she is best.  I love to look around at other children, to see what they are saying with their clothes.  Some of my favorite observations are:

Grocery store – Moms holding the hands of little girls wearing fairy costumes. 

Mall – Moms walking around carrying little girls wearing tutus, rain boots, and wings.

Home Depot – Dad with little boy wearing an Anakin Skywalker costume, not on Halloween

Park – Little boy running around in his t-shirt, tie, and favorite pair of camouflage rain boots

or newsboy hats, just like Grandpa or Dad.  My nephew refuses to wear pants (even in the winter), because his Dad wears shorts all of the time.  Little girls trying on mom’s shoes, donning jewelry, and carrying purses.  One day, I put my little girl’s bathing suit bottoms on my head.  When I gave her the bathing suit, she tried to do the same.  She thought that she was supposed to wear them on her head, just like mommy. 

So, as a parent how do we define our little one’s sense of style?  What role do we play in defining their styles?  Allowing them to choose their own clothes is a big part in building their confidence.  If their socks don’t match, they want to wear rain boots or their favorite costume EVERYDAY, SO WHAT!!!  Who says that isn’t fashion?  If society says shoes that look like bedroom slippers are fashionable, then I think your little one can wear their pajamas to the movies.  Isn’t fashion about our personal statement to the world about who we are? 

Being a mom of a little girl, I work hard to help find the right styles for her.  I can’t wait until she can add her input as well.  I know when you are in a hurry and your little one wants to wear their favorite superhero outfit, it is very hard to remain patient while they throw themselves on the ground in a temper-tantrum.  Remember this!  They are only trying to express their fashion independence.  You should feel proud that your little one loves something so much they don’t want to take it off.  When was the last time you bought someone a gift that they loved this much?  Who cares what others have to say.  The most important thing to your little one is seeing them as the most beautiful child in the world!

 Where do you buy your little one’s clothes?  What factors affect how you dress your little one?  What are some of your little one’s favorite outfits?

 Shannon is a writer for My Baby Clothes Boutique.  They specialize in a variety of fashionable clothes in every unique baby’s style.

By KLZ @ Taming Insanity

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I can no longer spend an evening with my family without ending up covered in food.

This didn’t used to be the case. Sometimes I went out and ate a whole dinner without getting a bit of it on me. That was a rarity, even before children, but occasionally it did occur.

Photo Courtesy: Baby-Log.com

Now I sometimes leave a pea-stained shirt on knowing that I’ll be feeding Wild Thing again in an hour. I strut around my house completely dirty, awaiting the next feeding. Part of me loves it. I love being so go-with-the-flow. You would be misguided to call me lazy.

The thing is, when your daily activities involve lots time on the floor, I see no point to dressing up. My clothes need to be flexible enough to move with me as we roll around not flashy enough for an interview with Seacrest. So I’m comfortable being a little bit relaxed with my wardrobe, even dirty for an hour. My standard family activities demand that I be comfortable.

Recently though, I’ve become suspicious that what I think of as standard family activities are interpreted by Wild Thing somewhat differently. He seems to see our activities like baseball signals giving him clues as to how to behave. Except instead of rounding third he gets instructions on what bodily functions to perform. Which is leading to me being more than just a little dirty.

We have yet to fully crack the boy’s code but through careful observation I think I’ve begun to determine some of his plays. While we spend time with Wild Thing playing developmental and bonding games he is getting cues to burp. When we play peek-a-boo, Wild Thing sees us pop out from behind a blanket and giggles with glee. “Thank God!” he thinks to himself, “they’ve finally given me the signal to let this horrendous fart loose. The stink will nearly blind them!”

Similarly, toweling off after bath time is a cue to pee all over your freshly washed self. Playing tickle monster? That’s the coach telling you to poop yourself. Watching TV – a mommy sin I would never commit – is really waving you in to puke on mommy.

We are not reading from the same playbook it seems.

These differing perspectives are hard on us. For instance, it is not helpful that I think the changing table is a place for diaper changes while the boy thinks it is a great place to practice rolling. I see our nightly reading as time to learn and cuddle; Wild Thing sees it as a time to teethe and drool. It is much harder to turn pages that are covered in spittle.

At the end of the day, we spend each day trying to enjoy each other’s company regardless of whether or not our playbooks match up. Or if we’re even rooting for the same team. We’re so lucky to rush home and spend time miscommunicating with our child. There’s nothing better than hearing those tiny giggles even if they are being caused by blindness inducing farts. It is worth every gross moment to spend a night in the family room rolling on the floor with a happy baby while you’re both covered in peas.

I secretly wouldn’t mind making it through a night with a clean shirt though. Just in case Seacrest stops by.

KLZ is an admitted procrastinator who started her blog at the request of her husband. You can find her at Taming Insanity.

 

By Shell

One of the very first things that you would notice about me, if we were to meet at the playground, besides my fabulous yoga pants, would be that I have THREE little boys.

Yes, THREE.

See? That’s my five year-old, Monkey, leading the other kids on a mission to the moon. And there’s my three year-old, Bear, running non-stop. And there’s my baby, Cub, climbing on everything and keeping up with the big kids.

The most common reaction to seeing my three little monsters darlings, are the questions and comments:

No girls?
Are you going to keep trying for a girl?
I could never have 3 boys.
How do you handle that?

And then I sigh and attempt to bite my tongue.

But, here is what I really want to say:

No girls? My, you’re observant!

Are you going to keep trying for a girl? Oh, God, NO! What if I actually got one? *Shudders in horror*

I could never have 3 boys. Oh, your dh only has female sperm? Did you have him tested?

How do you handle that? One drink at a time.

Okay, okay, I don’t really believe any of those things.

But, what am I supposed to say?

Could Shell's Three Boys Be The Next Jonas Brothers?

I have some girlfriends who have all girls. They tell me that they get some comments about not having any boys, but nowhere near the number of comments that those of us who have only boys hear. If you are the mom of girls and think differently, please comment and let me know!

Whether you have all boys or all girls, I don’t think that that is what should decide how many kids you have. I’m fully convinced that if we were to keep trying until we had a girl, we would end up with a Duggar-sized family, only with all boys and then maybe #20 would be our little girl.

I actually had someone say to me, “If you knew your next child would be a girl, you’d have another.”

Would I? Would I really? Because three is really enough for my family.

Did I ever think I would be the mom of all boys? No!

I was a very girly little girl. Pink and purple were my favorite colors. I wanted to be a ballerina. I ran around with a tiara on my head. Dancing, dolls, glitter, dresses. Basically, all things girly, I loved. Did I hope to one day have a daughter to share all those fun girly things with?

Absolutely.

But, my boys have taught me so much:

How to roll around in the dirt.
That bugs really aren’t that gross.
That creeks are fun to play in.
That Lightning McQueen is awesome.
That trains and monster trucks can be fascinating.
That grass stains are a part of life.
That little boys can give the sweetest hugs.

It’s a different mom-life than the girly-girl one that I imagined. But, I love my boys.

Do you get questioned on whether you want to keep trying until you have at least “one of each”?

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.