Moms

On an evening when Kristin’s returned from a business trip and Erin’s back from yet another baseball game, we chat about how a momentary distraction while driving can have unintended consequences. Then we talk about a couple of stories lighting up the blogosphere this week: Angelina Jolie’s big decision and how the 1% in America “Do Disney.” Links mentioned: The Internet is Made of Cats | Minecraft – Creeper | Good Samaritan Law | It Can Wait campaign | Groundbreaking Surgery for Girl Born Without Windpipe | Angelina Jolie’s Disclosure | Angelina Jolie – My Medical Choice | Still Alice | Nashville |Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World  | Amy’s Baking Company Freaks Out Online After Epic Meltdown On Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ | Men Brought to Tears During ‘Going Into Labor’ Simulation | Disney retreats from Princess Merida makeover after widespread criticism | Brave director criticises Disney’s ‘sexualised’ Princess Merida redesign Listen: iTunes | mp3

I’ve been a bit MIA the past week. That’s because I’ve been on and off the phone with the breastfeeding center lactation consultants–my one-year-old has been biting. The poor thing is teething and is taking it out on my nipples. I was unprepared for this as my older son ever bit me a handful . . . → Read More: Chomp!

Way back in 2008, someone left me a blog comment on this post: “Photos are great. Like the ducks you’re managing to keep things looking well on the surface despite all the furious paddling going on underneath.” Stan, if by any chance you’re still out there, I’ve never forgotten that particular turn of phrase. It’s just so wonderfully perfect, and often remains true to this day. For instance, the utter and RELENTLESS shitshow of setting up a photo in which I appear with my own children. When I take a photo of JB with the boys, I often do it when they’re not looking. Or I ask them to look up from whatever they’re doing and quickly snap the photo. I don’t pose them, is my point, because posing is a fucking nightmare. Photos of me and the kids? Almost always posed. And then this happens: “Guys, can I — guys! GUYS! GUYS. Pay attention. Stand over here for a second so I can — GUYS!!!” “Okay, Riley, you stand here, and Dylan, you — Dylan. DYLAN. Hello? Okay, can you — RILEY COME BACK HERE.” “All right, I’m just going to stand behind … Riley, don’t do that with your tongue. Riley. RILEY. Okay, Dylan — Dylan?” “Jesus, you guys. Okay, smile at Dad. Smile at Dad. Come on you guys, Dad is right there. Can you just … Riley. Your TONGUE. Put it BACK. In your MOUTH.” “Dylan, if you don’t stop picking your nose I swear to god.” “Okay! OKAY EVERYONE — what? Can you wait to pee for ONE SECOND?” “One! Two! Three! SMILE! Whew. Was that really so har — what? He was what? Oh god.” “Seriously you guys, come here. Huddle up. Look at me. Listen, I just want one photo. One photo. It shouldn’t be this difficult. Stand still and smile for one second and I swear I won’t bother you again. You can run around peeing and nose-picking for the whole rest of the day. Just one photo. Are we together on this? Are we a team? Okay high five! TEAM SHARPS!” “RILEY YOUR TONGUE.” “Last try. And then I hurl myself off this mountain. Last try. I’m a broken woman. You’ve broken me. Just smile at the camera. Or don’t. I don’t care any more. Life is unmanageable chaos, who was I to think otherwise. Entropy descends upon us all.” “Dylan please open your eyes. For the LOVE.” “You know what, I –” *click* “What do you mean, look at it and tell you if it’s good enough? It’s good enough. Whatever the shit is on that camera roll, it is now officially good enough. I hate everything and everyone. Let’s go.” All that paddling, but the amazing part is when I look back on the image — even just minutes later — I only see the surface. The happiness of our outing rather than the shitty experience and imperfect results of the dumb picture session. Photos are truly a miraculous thing. All & Sundry

Jennifer here to share with you my thoughts on the book Mommy Time: 90 Devotions for New Moms by Sarah Arthur. We were compensated to write this post and sent a book to read, however all opinions listed are our own. I remember the first time I became a mom. I was filled with fear and excitement every time I looked at my little bundle of joy. I did my best to devour every book and talk all of my mom friend’s ears off about what I could expect. Those times spent reading and chatting with friends were some of the best, because they helped shape how I handled that first year of being a mom. Now — there’s another book on the market to give you even more guidance — Mommy Time: 90 Devotions for New Moms by Sarah Arthur. Every new mom experiences a myriad of emotions—joy, love, the frightening, yet terrific reality that you are now responsible for a tiny little dependent. And in the midst of all these emotions—and burpings, feedings, diaper changes, and quick naps—moms need to be reminded of God’s awesomeness. In this gift-like book, new mom and best-selling author Sarah Arthur writes about how delivering her son three weeks early reminds her of God’s timing, how her trip home from the hospital with her newborn son tucked away in his car seat points to God being in control even when she is fearful, and how a mom’s concern over friendly strangers touching her young child in the grocery store also reminds her that people are sent to help. In a fresh and contemplative style, Arthur sits alongside Mom and helps her understand that God is in control . . . even when her life feels drastically out of control. This devotional will be a great companion for Mom during the small amount of time she gets to sit and be still and think of the truths of God’s word, while relating it to her new favorite subject—her baby. I really enjoyed reading through this book. It brought back a lot of memories of that first year (which is now long gone by 18 of them!) The best part about Mommy Time is that I don’t think it necessarily has to only be for the new mom. This book could definitely give any mom out there encouragement. This book would make the perfect baby shower gift anytime! Enter to win We are giving away 3 copies of this book. Use the Rafflecopter form to enter this giveaway. New to Rafflecopter? Watch this 45-second video on how to enter! a Rafflecopter giveaway What is your worst fear as a first time mommy?

This week I am working on organizing makeup – specifically my nail polish collection.  If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that last week, I worked on organizing my shoes. Organizing makeup may not be a huge problem for you. Since I have a fashion and beauty blog, I am have a slight addiction to playing with makeup.  Lately, finding the right nail polish has become a challenge.  I can see the bottle in my mind, but finding it is another thing entirely.  I would love to have a huge rack on the wall in the bedroom to organize my nail polish.  Unfortunately, our home was built in 1865 and hanging things on the wall can be a challenge. After Organizing Makeup – Nail Polish I’ve seen a variety of different ways to organize nail polish. The method that works for you will really depend on how much nail polish you have.  If you have only a few bottles, a little wicker basket on your makeup table make work for you. If you have a few dozen, they sell racks that hold them quite well.  If you’re handy, you can re-purpose a spice rack and store them that way. My preference is generally to use what you have on hand before you go out and buy something new. If you have hundreds of bottles, you may need to break down and have a wall mounted organization system built and hung. Before These are the steps I go through to when organizing makeup. Bring all the nail polish to one central location. This isn’t as unusual as you think. I regularly find my nail polish bottles on my desk, in the medicine chest in the bathroom or in my daughter’s room. Bring your nail polish accessories into the same area: pedicure kits, nail files, nail buffers, polish remover, and cotton balls. Go through your collection and decide which (if any) you will be getting rid of. I rarely get rid of nail polish. You never know when you might need that color. Decide how you want to organize your polish. You can organize by brand, by color, or by opacity. You can group all the glitters together, all the textures together, all the cream polishes together, etc. Which method you choose really depends on how much polish you have and how many different types of polish. Based on how many of each type of polish you have, decide which type of container you want to hold them in. Tossing all your nail polish in one huge basket of bin certainly works to keep them all in one place.  However, it’s the least efficient way to organize your nail polish.  Just imagine how difficult it’s going to be to find that perfect shade of blue you know have. You’ll have to go through ever single bottle until you find it. You need to make sure that the bottles of the polish are easily seen OR if you have nail polish bottles with white tops, you can dab a dot of the nail polish on top of the handle for easy reference.  Most of my bottle tops are black so this method doesn’t really work for me. If you’re a huge fan of Essie or Priti polish, you can certainly use this method. If you have a huge collection of nail polish and cannot use the wall storage method, I recommend cute storage boxes.  If you use storage boxes, it will be very important that you make a key to find them quickly.  Just dab on each color in the box and write the name next to it to make finding in easier.  I have grouped my polishes by color.  Anything that I only have one or two of and all my top and bottom coats go into a little basket. If you like the rack I store my nail polish on, you can find it on Amazon.  How do you store your nail polish? The post Organizing Makeup – Nail Polish appeared first on Confessions of an Overworked Mom.

Take a close, undistracted look at this three minute video: The Bear. Seriously. Do it. Notice the nature of the feelings that arise in your body as you view it. I’m guessing, if you’re like me, you’ll feel tension in your stomach and possibly constriction in your throat. Your breathing might slow and/or stop for a time. You’ll feel tension, then relief, then tension again. And then finally relief. This short video is definitely worth watching, for several reasons. I like to use this video during live presentations to underscore several important lessons. The first is: it’s a wonderful, dramatic illustration of The Big Brain Question. When we are undeniably certain, as children and as adults, that there are people in our nearby environment upon whom we can unquestionably count, we’re much more willing to go out and explore and take risks, both prudent and sometimes foolish. I’ve had long periods when I’ve had such people watching my back, and periods when I haven’t. It’s easy for me to look back at the times when those people were present and see the extraordinary growth and learning that unfolded in my life, both from the risks I took which turned out well, and from those that “failed” (It’s difficult though, to consider something a failure when great learning results). For example, I’ve written about my fear-based, internal struggle to accept a job as a maintenance man at this Stanford Think Tank after I’d earned two Master’s degrees and a Ph.D. What was all that education for if I wasn’t going to put it to “good” use? (Well, it was for learning things that I was interested in learning, that’s what. Why does it have to be for any more than that?). I ended up staying at that think tank – a sanctuary that many high-level academics describe as the place where the single best year of their lives unfolded – for TEN years! Many more than one of them were very good years for me. I wrote and published three successful non-fiction books and two suspense novels just for fun. I also met any number of interesting people I would never have met otherwise, from Steve Levitt (Freakonomics) to Alison Gopnik (The Philosopical Baby) to K. Anders Ericcson (Developing Professional Expertise). I also got to observe how academia operates at the highest levels. I was first exposed to neurobiology research there at that Think Tank way back in 1999. For the last 14 years since then I’ve been working on a kind of self-directed, post-doctoral research fellowship. As such, I get to follow my interests wherever they may lead, beholden to no one and nothing but my own heart of hearts. Does a Cougar Have My Leg? I also learned that not once – before, during and after those past 14 years – actually, in almost every moment of my life – not once has the Cougar had my leg. What I mean by that is not once in all these years has a single fearful thought generated by my bully left language brain been in response to a real, in-the-moment, in my face, bona fide threat. Such thoughts do manage to trigger a neurophysiological emotional cascade of stress hormones much as my brain would if the Cougar in that movie actually did have me by the leg, but all I have to do is look down at my leg, Cougar-free, and I can exhale. And relax. And come back to the actual safety and freedom available in the present moment – the place where all of our lives, if they’re to be lived authentically – are required to consciously unfold. I will admit that it’s a rare day that goes by when I don’t generate at least one fearful thought or two that forces me to actually look down at my leg as a necessary reminder. Overdraft notices from the bank, dwindling winter wood stores, a muscle spasm in my back – they can all emotionally hijack me in much the same way a Cougar attack might. But a lot less often, and not for very long. And that’s a good thing. Increasing numbers of Cougar-free days can then eventually begin to allow me to look past my leg, past my own

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Welcome to our weekly roundup here at 5 Minutes Around the Blogosphere. As you know, you can come back all week and add a post or giveaway to our Linky. Be sure to check back often, as new links will be added daily. You don’t want to miss out on something fun. Have you checked out the current deals featured at 5 Minutes for Deals? What’s been going on at 5 Minutes for Mom?  2 Ways to Reuse Baby Blankets Gripped by Perfectionism First Time Mommy Fears and a Book that Can Help Teen Driving Safety Princess Merida’s Induction into the Disney Court Lemony Orzo and Tomato Salad 8 Secrets for Lasting Weight Loss 9 Easy Exercises for Busy Moms Mike and Sulley’s New Got Milk Ad Giveaways Chick Fil A Gift Card Kroger BBQ Package Bibble Bibs Thrive Art Classes Because I am Your Dad Conversational Cooking Bokos Sandals Bathtime with Caillou Giveaway Winners Announced! Giveaways galore! We’ve got more winners to announce for giveaways that ended this past week. Congratulations to all our winners! Emails have been sent… The winner of My Planet Book Review is Kerrie Mayans. The winners of Cryoow Dolls (3 winners) are Jeanna, Julie and Patricia. Please note: all giveaway winners were selected using random.org. Link Up Your Giveaways Would you like to share a fun giveaway? Please add it to the Linky below. You can come here any time this week to add in your link. Don’t miss out on the fun. Be sure to visit throughout the week as the linky grows, and more sites are added. Or if you prefer the traditional linky…. Written by 5 Minutes for Mom Advertising and Communications contact, Jennifer. You can find me blogging at Jen’s Journey and tweeting at @jennifer_sikora.

JB told me months ago about how he was in his tree stand near the cabin and the sound seemed to fill his body from the inside out. At first I thought I was having a stroke, he said, shaking his head. I couldn’t imagine such a thing until we were out in that same area yesterday and the noise grew from the pine-scented air around us, escalating in intensity until you felt it like the heartbeat of the forest. It did seem oddly internal, the bass from a concert, somehow both foreign and intimate. My brain skittered around trying to associate it with something familiar: a helicopter coming in for a landing, a mallet striking a drum, a rubber ball losing energy as its bounces become shorter and faster. Like this, but deeper, louder, everywhere. We never saw it, because the woods are thick with a million green secrets. That was AWESOME, the kids shouted. I worriedly imagine freaky heartbeat-monsters descending from above to devour us in ravenous gulps; they tumble through the endless blackberry-choked paths and press eager fingers into muddy animal prints. They dive comfortably into the mystery of the trees, fearless and happy and curious about it all. All & Sundry

This PBS Nova Video review was made possible by a product provided for review. This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions are mine and mine alone. For as long as I can remember, the gray wolf has been my very favorite wild animal. There is just something about this gorgeous animal that touches my heart.  While we don’t have wolves in Vermont, during the summer, when our windows are open, I can listen to the coyotes howl in the fields across from our house.   Their howls always remind me of the way wolves howl at the moon. Wolves have been howling at the moon for thousands of years. Image provided by sponsor PBS Nova Video Cold Warriors Wolves And Buffalo PBS Nova Video has a DVD titled Cold Warrior Wolves and Buffalo  that will give you an up close look at the relationship between wolves and buffalo. In most places in the world, the wolves and buffalo don’t live like they did thousands of years ago.  Our wilderness has been replace with cities and even our rural areas are more populated than ever before. One place that has managed to maintain the same relationship between wolves and buffalo is the northern edge of the continent’s central plains – Wood Buffalo National Park. Cold Warriors Wolves and Buffalo (see it on Amazon) originally aired on PBS on February 13, 2013 as part of the Nature programming (season 31). Filmmaker, Jeff Turner, travels to Canada’s largest park that was established in 1922 to protect what was left of the free roaming buffalo herds. Turner follows (by helicopter) a wolf pack during the winter as they find prey to hunt in order to survive the winter. Typically, a pack needs to kill one buffalo a week in order to survive. This film is shot during several seasons and follows the wolves and buffalo through their normal daily lives including both birth and death. The photography in PBS Nova Video Cold Warriors Wolves And Buffalo is truly amazing.  Both the landscape and the wolves and buffalo are presented in the most amazing photos.  This film is a fascinating look at the relationship between the two animals.  You also get a wonderful insight into the social habits and behavior of the wolves and how they interact in the pack.  If you enjoy nature films, this is definitely one I recommend. The post PBS Nova Video Cold Warriors Wolves And Buffalo appeared first on Confessions of an Overworked Mom.