Totville: Toddler Activities

Motherhood Issues Featured on 20/20 Tonight!

Since I don’t watch television, I’d never heard of Elizabeth Vargas until I read an article about how she had a baby and had to switch jobs so she could have more time with her child. Having to switch jobs tuned Ms. Vargas into what other mothers endure and the trade-offs they make when they work outside the home and mother.

TUNE IN TOMORROW NIGHT: Tune into the ABC 20/20 show with Elizabeth Vargas tomorrow night, Friday, November 10th at 10:00pm. Elizabeth Vargas is just coming back from maternity leave and her first show is aptly going to be about motherhood and work, and features an interview with Joan Blades, co-founder of MomsRising.

Joyce Brothers on Mommy Blogging

On Bloggers Blog, the subject of ‘mommy blogging’ came up, because someone wrote to Dr. Joyce Brothers about a relative blogging so much about her new baby.

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A post at Sarah and the Goon Squad talks about how trees can be a real pain.

Sure, I love trees, but… Raking leaves, as Sarah says, stinks. For the first few years, I even enjoyed raking the leaves. My neighbors looked at me like we were nuts because we didn’t have a leaf blower and, probably because they felt sorry for us, sent their children over to help us gather up the leaves on a tarp and carry them to the front yard.

On principle, DH will not get a leaf blower because they are so noisy and because — darnit! — we’re all supposed to enjoy the physical activity involved with raking leaves.

Blisters on my hands is more like it.

We have a delicate and small tree in the front yard that sheds small and delicate leaves. I’m happy to have a small, small tree with dainty limbs.

Our big monster tree fell on our house last July, and it was not a pretty picture. DH looked out the window and saw it falling towards our house and yelled for me to get into the basement. Lots of rain plus lots of wind equals many trees on houses.

Poor tree.

Our house is so much hotter now in the summer. On the other hand, we have a better view of the sunset.

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Jay, on The Zero Boss asked “when will blogging about our kids wear thin?”

He writes: “How much should you blog about your kids? And when should you stop? And if you stop…well, what the hell do you do after that?”

He continues: “I was blogging about my family less even before VA [A blog called Violent Acres took photos of children posted on blog and photoshopped them to make it look like the children were doing something gross] broke. I’ve always blogged wherever my interests and instincts take me. But since VA, my family postings have slowed to a crawl. It’s not that it doesn’t seem safe anymore – it’s that it doesn’t seem interesting. The occasional family post can be humorous and entertaining… But a daily dose of them? It’s worn thin.”

That’s one reason why I don’t blog often about my child or my family. I figure what interests me about my child is not going to interest others and I’m uncertain about giving away too much information about my child.

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I must admit. When the lawyer asked me if I’d made my own burial plans, I was a bit taken aback…

Let me explain.

Recently, I did the Clean Sweep Assessment to find out how messed up my life is. Okay, I’m kidding. I did the Assessment to find out what I might want to tweak in my life to make it better and more relaxing for myself.

A few items gnawed at me.

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I am grateful to be a guide to and encourager of this new life, to witness the acquisition of language, to learn how a small human learns, to observe the world with new eyes becuase I watch my daughter observe the world with new eyes.

I am grateful for my husband, who has been (and continues to be) a CO-parent. I am grateful for all the high-protein meals he made for me when I was pregnant and could only manage to come home from work and crawl into bed due to mind-bending exhaustion. I would not have eaten properly without him.

I am grateful that my baby was born without inhaling meconium and without any other problem for which she would need a NICU since we had her unexpectedly at home. I am grateful for terbutaline sulfate.

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If you have a baby shower to plan, you most likely want it to run smoothly, not cost a fortune, and be a wonderful experience for the mother-to-be. That’s how I felt when I co-hosted a shower for my sister.

Well, I just reviewed a book called The Baby Shower Kit, and it can show you how to budget and give you ideas for shower themes, games and invitations.

You can read my review of the Baby Shower Kit for more info.

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With the holiday season coming up soon, a lot families want to capture baby’s first holiday or take photos during one of the rare times extended family comes together.

Whatever your reason, these 3 tips will help you take better photos that you can look back on, and enjoy, for years to come.

TIP #1 Find a Unique Angle for Your Baby Photo: What would make an interesting photograph to you and future generations? What would bring out the personality of your child? An example might be a child who enjoys her exersaucer. You could take the photograph from the side, and it would look good. However, what would happen if you took the photograph from above? You’d get the circular exersaucer framing the big smile on your baby’s face, and you’d have a unique photograph…

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This blog called 90 Tips for 90 Days is focusing on daily tips that will help you reduce your exposure to chemicals, toxins, and pollutants – for the benefit of your children’s health, the environment and your health.

A recent tip was called “What if You Can’t Afford Everything Organic?”

Good question.

The health food stores are full of expensive organic foods and environmentally friendly products, and they can be expensive. This is an especially relevant question for parents of one or more children, because you have a lot of child-related expenses. At the same time, you want to provide chemical-free food for your children. What do you do?

Check out the blog to discover what to do if organic foods are too expensive.

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When I had to return home from Alabama, alone, with a toddler, I played out every detail of the trip. My main concern was how would I carry a car seat, a baby, a suitcase and a diaper bag and how would I keep a baby happy on my lap for a 2- or 3-hour flight?

My solution was to put the baby in a mei tai carrier, carry the 20-lb car seat in one hand (okay, I dragged it, too), carry a rolling suitcase in the other and strap the diaper bag across my chest. We stood in line for 1 to 1.5 hours. I could have gone through quick checkout if she’d had a ticket. It seems cruel to make parents wait in line with their newborns for so long, yet the very reason I was forced to use the in-person check-in system was because I had a child. It made no sense to me.

At first, I talked and sang with the Nugget. Another women (older with grandchildren) kindly helped me by singing to the baby and playing little pat-a-cake games her.

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You know how you can have some ‘mom friends’ that you are really only friends with because you had babies at the same time? I am fortunate to have found a ‘mom crew’ of people who I’d be friends with even if we didn’t have babies in common.

They have provided friendship, stopped by when I was harried, lent me Mothering magazines for a relative who needed it, gone for walks with me so we could get back in shape, and given me their baby’s outgrown clothes. We have even drunk wine together after bedtime at our local slightly hip restaurant.

I am grateful and fortunate to have these Mother Friends. I had no idea the fascinating women I would meet when I had a baby–English Ph.D people, Political Mama, Writer Mama, Historian-Writer Mama, Organizer and Mediator Extraordinare Mama, Documentary Film Maker Mama, and more. I know professions are only one slice of the pie when it comes to a peron and their personality; I just think what my Mama Friends do during the day is darned interesting. And I think they are interesting beyond the ‘mama talk’ we talk.

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