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Keep Your Cool Mom

No, I’m not talking cool as in trendy fashion or style. I’m talking keeping your frustration and stress at a manageable level so not to blow up at the kids or pets or spouse or the innocent cashier where you get milk. Early mornings, late nights, jam packed schedules and little time for yourself can set off the baddest of moods which is reflected in everything else you do and everyone you come in contact with. There are methods and tools you can implement to give you a more relaxed inner peace thus resulting in more peaceful parenting and everyday living.

Minimize Stress for Moms

Just Say NO!
The neighbors are leaving town and ask you to pet sit, check their mail, feed their fish and mow their grass. All of these chores on top of your already busy day is just too much to ask. Be upfront and tell them while you really want to help out all of those things are too much for you to take on at the moment. Getting their mail may not be a problem so go ahead and say you can do some but set limits. Don’t let your kind heart take over and put you in a situation you can’t possibly maintain.

Shut Up and Do Something
I know my to-do list is long as well as my pending projects lists. I’ve been known to be so overwhelmed with everything I want to do that I don’t get anything thing done. When you finally have some free time to work on that half finished craft, book or recipe just do it. Enough with the complaining that there isn’t enough time in the day, make those bitchin’ moments more productive.

You Only Have 2 Hands
Multitaking is probably the number one descriptive word for moms. We say we’re good at it but let’s be serious; how much quality can you put into something if you’re distracted by 3 other things. Make a schedule, allot a certain amount of time to a task and stick to it. I bet you’ll get those phone calls done faster if you knew the clock was ticking down.

Go Easy on Yourself
Moms are held up to a different standard. We are expected to accomplish everything on the list each day. If things get skipped oh well; there is always tomorrow. Get done what’s most important, the things that need the quickest attention but don’t sacrifice your family time and sanity for the things that can wait another day.

An Organized Environment leads to an Organized Mind
Ever look around a room and see so much stuff you don’t know what to do next. My kitchen is often the culprit of my anxiety. The dining table is the dumping ground for everything and the kids forget how to put dishes in the dishwasher. Staying on top of the tornadoes really helps keeping me relaxed and feeling less stressed. Find a place for everything even if it’s not the forever home.
Ways to Keep Your Cool
I’m am NO expert in any field but I think 15 years of parenting makes me knowledgeable in some matters. These tools sometimes work or sometimes don’t work or work in conjunction with tears, threat of bodily harm and bribes. Life is a series of experiments in trial and error.

I Disclose




I Don’t Miss These Moments

Since I was the Stay At Home Mom it was primarily my job to handle nighttime feedings. I had the whole schedule down. The pillows would be arranged in the right spot to support my arms and back, the bottles were always premade in the fridge and the tv remote was handy as was the notebook and pen to track time and ounces consumed.

While I was organized to make 3 am feedings effortless that didn’t mean they were easy. I often feel asleep during the feeding only to find a zonked out but soaking wet baby in my arms. The worst moments were when I just gave up the organization and stayed in the rocking chair with the baby and slept straight through to the next feeding.
Evenflo has been bringing humor to the plight of parenthood and compiling some statistics so we all know we aren’t battling alone.

  • 27% of moms are so tired that they’re actually concerned they might fall asleep during the feeding itself. Thirty-five percent of women surveyed admitted to waiting only about 10 minutes after feeding (vs. the recommended 20) to lay their babies back down if they hadn’t burped, and an additional 23% say they were too tired and waited only a few minutes.
  • a whopping 74% of moms reported the responsibility lay with them, while only 5% reported having a set schedule with their spouse to share the responsibility.

While Rob may not have been big at nighttime bottles he’s making up for it now with the kids early morning wake up call on the weekends. The one trait that I don’t mind them getting from him is the ability to rise at the first show of sunlight; that’s only because Rob does the same thing.  How did you handle the dreaded nighttime feedings?  Got stories or advice to share?

 

 

I Disclose




Green is the New Black

I’ve talked about it many times how my family has made changes over the years to be more green. A lot of my choices were obvious like recycling but some were made doing research. I’ve compiled a list of these resources that can be found at your local library, bookstore or used bookstore if you’re lucky enough to have one and of course online. Each book below covers a different element of life like parenting, healthy eating, cleaning green, gardening and much much more. Do you have a favorite source for green living? Share with me and everyone else where you get your green ideas.

Green Goes with Everything by Sloan Barnett
Packed with common sense and sass, product picks and practical tips, Green Goes With Everything is a must-read for anyone who wants to be green AND clean, and for everyone who wants to take simple steps to safeguard the health of their family and the planet.

50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth by John Javna
The 5 million copy bestseller that sparked a green revolution in the 1990’s is back with a new message: The best way to save the Earth is to pick just one issue you care about…and make a sustained, committed effort to work on it. This book shows you how!

Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck (this on e is a personal fave and what got me to make a lot of the changes)
This book has everything! From clearing your clutter to protecting the health and well-being of your family. Further, everyone wants to make a difference, and the ideas in Organic Housekeeping make a difference for our fragile, endangered planet.

Eat Where You Live by Lou Bendrick
Finally–a fresh, funny and positive approach to eating locally! By now you know that everyone is eating locally and sustainable and maybe you want to do it too–to reduce your carbon footprint or just to ensure the freshest, healthiest food for yourself and your family. Whatever the case may be, this easy-to-read, hilarious and informative national guidebook will help you find it, cook it, and enjoy it

Raising Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care by Alan Greene (seriously, his last name is Greene)
Pediatrician Greene, a leading figure in the green baby movement, enthusiastically discusses everything from what to take with you to the delivery room to questions to ask hospitals/birth centers, about how green they are. “Buying Green” text boxes give contact info for recommended retailers or products of all types, useful for comparison shopping.

Generation Green: The Ultimate Teen Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life by Linda Sivertsen and Tosh Sivertsen
We all know about the Earth’s environmental crisis, but there is someone who can truly make a difference: you. If you text your friends or chat with them online, download music to your iPod, or toss bottles and papers into recycling bins, you’re already more eco-savvy than you think. It’s just as easy to do even more to help save the earth, and Generation Green shows you how.

The Big-Ass Book of Crafts by Mark Montano
The Big-Ass Book of Crafts is packed with ideas for sprucing up your living space; concocting fabulous, all-natural body products; designing your own unique stationery; and creating countless other crafts that will convince your friends and loved ones that you’re the secret love child of Martha Stewart (only much, much cooler).

Garden Girl, Urban Sustainable Living by Patti Moreno (DVD)
Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl, host of Public Televisions’,Farmer’s Almanac TV and how to web video diva invites the world into her home to inspire generations x and generations y to live more in harmony with the natural world. Patti Moreno will help you produce more and consume less in ways that will make you and your family live a healthy lifestyle; by eating an organic diet and save money by growing your own organic produce, as well as, bring up the net worth of your most valuable asset, your home.

Green Your Work: Boost Your Bottom Line While Reducing Your Carbon Footprint by Kim Carlson
Today, many companies are flourishing by delivering high-quality products while pursuing policies that leave the world a cleaner, better place. Those policies can help retain customers, energize employees, and serve as brand-building tools. This book shows managers practical steps to make their companies environmentally responsible while staying profitable and efficient. Environmentalist and businesswoman Kim Carlson shows managers how to green company operations by moving to a paperless office, recycling at work, setting up employee carpools, developing eco-friendly packaging, using green building products, and more. She explains in detail topics ranging from green marketing to setting up a carbon footprint assessment for the company. With this book at their side, managers can turn green into profits.

 

 

I Disclose




Why Isn’t NO Good Enough?

In our house the word NO for some reason doesn’t mean NO and I am not totally sure why that is.  My kids hear the word No but insist on asking the same question again minutes later thinking the answer is going to be different.

Example: Last night Shaun asked to play Xbox 360 and Melinda told him No because he played Wii for about an hour earlier in the evening.  It couldn’t have been a minute later and he asked the same thing again.  Then maybe five minutes passed before asking again.  At this point I was pissed and I told him if he kept it up he wasn’t going to get dessert.  Melinda and I ran to Wawa for coffee and I needed gas in my car.  When we got back from Wawa can you believe Shaun asked to play Xbox 360 again and this time I flew off the deep end and sent him to bed.

Maybe I was a bit extreme in sending him to bed an hour early but in a 30 minute period he asked to play Xbox 360 four times when he already knew the answer was No.  I hate when we tell the kids No to something and they disregard our answer and ask again.  I feel like it is total disrepect for us as parents.

I don’t tell my kids No for no reason or just to be mean. Believe it or not we usually have a good reason for telling them No.  Also, this post focused on something Shaun did but believe me Shae does the same crap often as well. I am only pointing out Shaun because it just happened and is fresh in my mind.

My hope is some day my kids understand No really means No and not to ask the same thing minutes later.  I am sure I am dreaming but I need something to look forward to don’t I?




My Boy Cries Waaaaayyyyy To Much!

Our only son Shaun who is 7 cries all of the time.  He cries when you tell him what we are having for dinner.  He cries when you tell him to drink water.  He cries when you tell him he can only have one topping on his ice cream.  He cries when you tell him it’s bed time.  He cries when….ok I think you get the picture.  I have NO clue why he cries so much. Is it a boy thing?  I am only asking because Sabreena our now 15 year old daughter never cried as much as Shaun.  I don’t think Shae who is 3 cries as much as Shaun.  It is really baffling to me.  It doesn’t matter if you are nice or mean he cries either way.

It is so frustrating and it drives Melinda and I nuts.  It’s so out of hand lately and we have no clue what to do so he won’t cry.

Do you have any boys and if so do you have any advise?  Heck, even if you don’t have any boys but have any advise we’ll take it.




Who Has Time?

According to a new Evenflo Savvy Parents survey 47% of new moms say they have less sex now than before they had kid. This means your once a week “love” night has turned into a twice monthly appointment. Interestingly, only 20% of dads report less sex as a result of having kids. Where were they the other 27% of the time? The first stats seem right on track to me. I mean between work, school, homework, housework, bedtime, bathtime, dinner time and downtime who has ANY TIME left in the day for sex.

Parents also say they had to make adjustments to accommodate nookie time; 46% of parents have sex at different times of the day and 54% of dads say quickies are king. Evenflo is making light of the situation in their final installment of the Savvy Parent’s Guide with How to Make Nappy Time Happy Time.

Hopefully some sex-deprived parents can get a good laugh or maybe some inspiration.




Remind Me, Whose Blog Is This?

me
idontknow@Yahoo.com
67.177.146.244
2010/11/24 at 9:46 AM
I’ve noticed that a lot of kids in teh younger elementary grades seem to have similar problems. 2nd grade today is what 3rd grade was 10 years ago. Kids are really being pushed to their limits in school.
I also wanted to say that I have followed your blog for a long time and can’t help but feel like shaun is always talked about negatively. I’d be really hurt if my parents had kept a blog when I was little and then I went back and read all of the posts about my adorable sister and then all the posts about me were mostly negative. I assume that’s not your intention but I wanted to point it out in case you were unaware.
Approve | Reply | Quick Edit | Edit | Spam | Trash

We received the above comment into our moderation the other day on our post I’m a Little Surpised But Not Really. It talked about the progress Shaun has been making at school. If you are a real follower of our blog and actually read the stories we write about our kids you would know Shaun is the knucklehead, Sabreena is the braniac and Shae is the dramaqueen. We post about all 3 of them, good and bad, funny and sad, embarrassing and proud. When I first read the comment I just thought I’ll just delete it, I’m not really into someone criticizing MY parenting or MY content on MY blog but I thought about what this person said and I got pissed. I did a little research, they had never been on our site before this post, where they spent over 16 minutes reading it. Maybe it’s someone who I know but logging on from somewhere else and wanted to get something off their chest. Maybe their goal was to start some shit, piss me off on my birthday or just get a reaction, well it worked.

I can say whayever the hell I want, if you don’t like it move on but don’t think that it’s ok to leave a nasty comment telling me I’m doing an injustice to my children or treating them unfairly. You obviously don’t know us . Last time I checked it was my signature on the bottom of the posts. Haters aren’t welcome so keep it moving.

(I know I keep saying ME and MINE but I do truly mean Rob and I, ME sounds way better than OUR)
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Sh!t, I just cursed in front of the kids AGAIN

Eligible for a Best Parenting Award I am NOT. For as long as I can remember I have been a cursing fool. Unfortunately I don’t tame it down as well as I should in front of the kids. I recently watched a webisode from Evenflo’s “Are You a Savvy Parent” series titled “How to Recover from a Potty Mouth moment”. I thought it was hysterical and a true representation of how Rob and I parent and occasionally screw up at it.

We always think the kids aren’t listening especially in the car. With the distractions of the DVD player, handheld games, iPods, music and more Rob and I think we can just chat about whatever we want. I usually comes back to bite up is the rear when Shaun speaks up with “What does #@$* mean?”
“Um, nothing!” “That’s not what we said.” “Dad and I were talking about something else.” “Mind your business.” “Watch your movie or I’m turning it off.” Pick any of those phrases, that’s usually how we respond.

With Sabreena we discuss anything and everything. With Shaun we try to explain some things so he can mildly understand but also let him know that it isn’t to be repeated. Shae is a monkey and will do and say anything Rob does, she’s at the mimic Daddy cursing stage. We hide our giggle, let her say it once or twice then say that’s enough, it’s a bad word, don’t say it anymore.

When you are caught in a potty mouth moment how do you recover? What topics are off limits when the kids are within earshot or even in the same house? How do you explain to your kids that just because they hear certain words or discussions they aren’t to be repeated?

Evenflo has just released the Momentum 65 DLX Convertible Car Seat, with features that help make safety, installation and use as easy as possible for parents. Evenflo andJuiceBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post.




Why Is Shaun A Block Head?

I love my son very very much but he is a block head. Shaun’s biggest problem is asking the same question multiple times. I think he feels if he keeps asking the answer will change in his favor but it doesn’t. It actually works quite the opposite and it actually gets Shaun into trouble.

A few weeks ago we told Shaun that we were no longer going to tolerate him asking the same questions over and over. We told Shaun that if we say No that the answer is No and there is no need for him to ask again. Last night he broke that rule by asking Melinda if he could eat his ice cream in the basement and she told him no so about thirty seconds later he asked me the same question. I told him to go to his room and he began to cry and I don’t mean a little cry I am talking a full blown wailing cry as if we told him he wasn’t able to have dessert for the rest of his life.

A few minutes later Shaun came downstairs and we told him he lost dessert for asking if he could eat it downstairs twice. That opened the flood gates again but this time we had the joy of the wailing cry but this time he added foot stomping and that pushed me over the edge so I sent him to bed for the night. It was only 7pm when I sent him to bed and trust me I felt soooooooo bad for sending him to bed but I need him to learn when we give him an answer that is it and there is no more need for a discussion.

Do you have similar situations with your children or are we the only ones?




Fishful Thinking Parenting Tool and Pepperidge Farm Gift Basket Giveaway-CLOSED

Growing up I thought a parents job was easy but now a father of three I see that is not the case.  Raising kids is a very difficult job and sometimes parents could use a little help and guidance. Fishful Thinking by Pepperidge Farm is a great tool for parents.

Fishful Thinking is made up of five key ingredients that we as parents can strengthen in our children and they are Optimism, Resilience, Goal Setting, Empowerment, and Emotional Awareness. Fishful Thinking is a terrific site with so much to offer parents so they can raise positive kids.
Under each of the five ingredients you will find a ton of great information like a definition of the category word, articles, activities, videos and facts. For example:

Optimism is the skill of focusing on the positive – without denying the negative – and channeling one’s energy toward what is controllable. Optimistic people expect good things to happen in their lives and work toward creating positive change. Fishful ThinkingSM helps parents learn new ways to promote optimism in their families and to create an environment that fosters positive emotions and the belief in possibilities.

Another feature of Fishful Thinking that caught my eye was the Quick Finder at the top right of the site. The Quick Finder lets you jump right to certain articles based on a child’s age and the skill set you are interested in reading more about. The first thing you would do is select the child’s age and the second thing you would select is the skill set you have an interest in. After that it will display all of the articles based on your criteria.

Pepperidge Farm has a ton of great products like Goldfish, Tim Tams, crackers and now they have a great parenting resource to add to their awesome line up of products.

There is so much more to Fishful thinking then is in my review so when you get a few minutes head over to Fishful Thinking and look around. You will find so many useful articles, videos and information that you can apply to your everyday life.

Pepperidge Farm has been nice enough to offer three lucky Look What Mom Found…and Dad too! readers a chance to win a Pepperidge Farm gift basket.  All you have to do is go to Fishful Thinking and tell me one fact not listed in this review.

To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry above and please be sure your email in your comment, attached to you blogger dashboard or easily seen on your website/blog. I will not search through About Me/Contact Me links.

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Your entries must follow the rules or they won’t be eligible for prizes. This contest ends 11:59 pm, Tuesday, February 16, 2010. The winners will be emailed and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. This contest is open to US residents only. For complete rules please read our contest rules page.

This is a sponsored post but the opinions and descriptions presented belong solely to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!