Moms

Yesterday, I taught Olivia how to blow a bubble with her bubble gum. I noticed she was holding her tongue in the gum and then blowing — which resulted in her spitting all over me. I told her to make the hole in the gum with her tongue, pull out her tongue and then blow into the hole and… ta da da! She blew her first bubble. After a few bubbles, Olivia was onto blowing ginormous bubbles and so of course I had to capture the accomplishment with my iPhone. What is Your Weekly Photo? Mom Bloggers (and Dad Bloggers too!) post a photo on your site, link up and find others… Wordless Wednesday is tons of fun. (And I know it says “wordless” but I usually just can’t bear to not write anything! If I had created it, I probably would have named it something different! LOL So feel to link up your word-full or word-less Wednesday photos!) Leave the URL to your photo (clearly mine are never truly “wordless”) and then visit others! Link Up: Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday. Written by Janice, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom. You can see more of her photography at Janice Croze Photography.

Okay, I have more to say about my deep involvement in the LA Mayor race, but right now it’s less than an hour till polls close and I can’t get thoughts together.  We first did something to help Eric Garcetti … Continue reading →The post too nervous to write: election night for Los Angeles appeared first on Cool Mom - Funny videos on parenting and pop culture.

These 3 girls are great friends and they surf against each other in contests. Estos tres amigas. They paddle out during a heat and do their best to beat each other, then paddle in to shore and play in the … Continue reading →

When it comes to blogging, there are definitely some wonderful opportunities and perks. Which is a nice balance for all the effort we put into our work, both in what you see and behind the scenes. One such opportunity was the Food Blogger Forum this past weekend. When I found out that it was going to be held (for the second year in a row) at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a plan quickly came together. Bring the kids. And don’t tell them anything. You have no idea how hard a secret that was to keep. So many logistical details to arrange. Several friends slipped in front of the kids last week, but thankfully they didn’t catch on. Nick was invited to two birthday parties and a sleepover for this weekend, and just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t go. Just trust me. Madeline has been dying to go on a plane for the past eight months or so (she has never flown), and mentions it rather frequently, so that was going to be a surprise for her all by herself. Not to mention the actual destination (and the extra surprise I had for them on Sunday). I made our flight reservations to leave on midday Friday, and sent them off to school none the wiser. They each had notes in their backpacks to alert their teachers that I would be picking them up early, but the kids had no idea. As soon as they were both in school, I quickly finished packing and taking care of last minute details. I had decided to have as much fun as I could with telling them (because I had kept the secret for so! very! long!), and broke it up a bit into pieces (the plane, and then the destination). First, I picked up Nick. He wasn’t completely shocked to see me (the kid has a crazy intuition like no other that really is unnerving sometimes). He got in the car and asked what was going on. I told him that we were going to pick up his sister next and then I would fill them in. I saw her walking down the hall towards me, wringing her little hands. I bent down, took her hands in mine, gave her a kiss, and told her not to worry. That nothing was wrong, and it was a good surprise. Her teacher told her the same thing. Once they were both in the car, I gave them each a wrapped package and told them that this would be their first clue as to what was going on. (The only thing they knew is that we had plans of some sort on Saturday) They opened up the packages, which contained small United planes. Did you know you can get planes for practically every major airline on Amazon? I thought it was perfect. They saw the planes and asked all sorts of questions. I said that we were going away for the weekend, on a plane, and then when we got to the airport, I would tell them where we were going. Dropped off the car at the valet. Checked in. Got through security. We made our way towards the gate, but I stopped them at the gate right before ours and sat them down in a row of empty seats. I told them to close their eyes, and that I would put something on their laps. On the count of three, they could open their eyes and they would know where we were going. To say they were excited would be an understatement. Madeline’s first plane ride and visit to DisneyWorld. Nick has been to Disneyworld, but it was a terrible trip (regular readers might remember some six years ago, The Ex’s dad went into the hospital the moment we arrived at our hotel and he had to fly back early, and Nick sprained his arm while we were there). Luckily Nick doesn’t remember the trip. Which is good justification for not rushing to take kids 4 and under to Disneyworld. Take them when they’ll remember it. Madeline opted for the window seat on the plane and as we were taking off, she told me she’s afraid of heights. Fine time to tell me! After the initial fear wore off, she was fine (as she was on the way back as well, particularly when we gave her the aisle seat). The weekend was a whirlwind. We arrived and checked into Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, and

There comes a point when, after training my camera on my darling (photogenic and athletically gifted, of course) child, there are just no more photos to be taken, and I start taking pictures of the other darling, photogenic and athletically gifted kids on her team. You know, all of them. Going through all the photos later, the challenge then is how to get the pictures of these other children to their parents. Keeping in mind some parents don’t want their children plastered all over the Internet (I can’t imagine why), and that most of my friends and family don’t need to see multiple photos of children they don’t know. E-mailing isn’t a option because the files are too big, and to be perfectly honest, I’m just learning all of her teammates names. Forget about matching each girl with her corresponding parent and e-mail address. So this year I’m using a new solution – Share sites from Shutterfly. While there is a lot you can do with a Share site – post the team schedule, message members of group, share the team roster, assign snack responsibilities – I have primarily been using the free service to share photos with other parents. While I didn’t do a ton of research – seriously people, what kind of time do you think I have? – this solution has worked so far because: • Price – Did I mention the free? The free was important. • Setting up the site was super easy – and I can manage multiple share sites from one sign in. • Password protected – To access the site visitors either need to either have a Shutterfly account (and permission from me) OR the password for the site. That way player families can pass the URL to friends and family who want to see photos. • Contributors welcome – Other snap-happy parents can be added to the site so they can also contribute their photos of our darling, photogenic and athletically-gifted children. • Download or order – Some parents prefer to pay for Shutterfly to make prints. Others prefer to download files for their use. The site allows for both. Realizing it’s not a perfect solution, I’d love to know how you share (or prefer to receive) team photos?

Join us and Learn How to Set Up Your Own Service Based Business. RSVP to the Google+ Event Here In the sixth hangout in our series – Work At Home Moms Strategy Hour, Kelli Miller and I will be joined by work-at-home mom and virtual assistant Alyssa Avant. During this session, we will discuss the many options for moms to run their own service based business including: editing (writing, audio & video), ghostwriting, virtual assistance, etc. We’d love to have you join in the live chat, ask questions and share your own advice and experiences. RSVP to the Google+ Event Here Watch Previous Recordings How to Find Legitimate #WorkAtHome Jobs How to Get Organized and Productive Working at Home How To Make Money Blogging How To Pitch Blog Campaigns To Brands Improve Your Business Visually – Photo Tips & Tricks Find out more about these #WAHMStrategy sessions that we hold every other Wednesday 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern) at http://www.5minutesformom.com/strategy/

"Will you fix my sleeves?" she says. It's Sunday morning and I'm still kind of half sleeping and Fable is fully dressed at the side of the bed with her leotard over her tights over the underwear that hangs out the sides of her velvet one-piece. I don't bother tucking it in because she's four and it doesn't matter. And then I take pause, relishing in this moment of quiet innocence, trying to recall the way it felt to be her age, when I was too little to care about such things. Or rather, to know I should.So much of innocence is that lack of awareness. Of what people are saying and what they're doing and how they judge. The need to protect from outside influences is as innate as our desire to return to simpler times. When we were more like them, our children. When we could hold cameras up to our faces, lens cap still attached, and see the world, alive and vibrant, without ever really seeing anything.Because we saw it all, you know?They see it all.And there was a time, like them, when we didn't think twice about how our bodies looked in leotards. When all that mattered were the sequins. Our only issues, twisted sleeves. "It's not working." Fable frowns. "Something's wrong with the shoulder part."So I tell her relax, that I will help you please calm down."There," I say, untwisting her sleeve. She smiles. "Thanks, Mama. Can I do my makeup now?" "Shouldn't we have breakfast first?"(Of course not.)She does her own makeup because she wants to do it herself. Because "I know exactly how to do it, mommy."She grabs the pinkest lipstick she can find and spends ten minutes applying it in slow motion.She's right. She does know exactly how to do it. She is careful and excited and every so often turns around to smile at me and jump up and down. "I told you I could do it myself," she says and then she smears blush all over her cheeks and eyeshadow under her eyes and I'm kind of relieved that it's everywhere - that it's a little bit of a mess.Because she's four and it doesn't matter. When we arrive at the theatre, all of the children are in costume and I tell Hal that costumes haven't changed in twenty-five years. That I wore a costume just like that when I was little and my brother wore those same suspenders when he danced to 2 Legit 2 Quit - right before he quit dance to play baseball. Hal took dance class, too when he was young. He took ballet with a class full of girls - a class he loved and looked forward to until his friends found out and made fun of him. He quit the next day and never danced again.My brother stopped for similar reasons. They all did. And I watch the little boys on stage recognizing that at some point they just stop dancing... that the girls age, get curvier and more confident, dance on chairs, flip their bodies through the air, but there are no boys over five on stage. And I think of Hal and how he "never lived that one down" and how unfortunate it is that we don't acknowledge #boysunstoppable the same way we do girls. "No girl should stop doing what she loves because of anxiety about her looks." No boy should stop doing what he loves because of anxiety about how it looks to everyone else. And yet... I watch Hal in the darkness with Archer next to him and all of the brothers and fathers in the audience in the same way I do the mothers and sisters. What were they doing before they were aware?My husband danced. My brother danced. And then they stopped. One day my underwear was showing.One day I put on my recital costume and noticed I had hips. And a chest that was no longer totally flat and legs that were suddenly hairy and my eyebrows were too furry and I couldn't wear underwear under my leotard anymore because it showed and this is not fun anymore, I feel stupid. I don't want to be seen.And then I stopped. I was done with dance. Age changes us. Age puts us in the audience when we wish we were on stage. Not because we want to be seen but because we miss dancing.There was a time when I was so happy up there and I watch Fa

There are some big things happening at the Disneyland Resort! Will you join me (here and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) as I attend Disney’s media event this week? Here’s a preview of what we will be checking out – Fantasy Faire – an enchanting, immersive storybook world that extends Fantasyland. Disney Princesses await Disneyland park guests at the new Fantasy Faire and brings their timeless tales to life in fun and surprising ways. Guests will be treated to an interactive storytelling experience with vaudeville-style Renaissance storytellers at the Royal Theatre. There will be two different shows at the Royal Theatre: the tales of Rapunzel (“Tangled”) and Belle (“Beauty and the Beast”). In addition to all of this magic in Fantasyland, Mickey Mouse and a cast of beloved Disney characters will embark on a series of musical adventures through the magical powers of a sorcerer’s map in “Mickey and the Magical Map,” the all-new, live show debuting May 25 at Fantasyland Theatre in Disneyland Park. But, there’s more! It’s a Monstrous Summer at Disneyland Resort! Disney parks on both coasts are bursting with unforgettable thrills and enchantment from new shows and attractions — starting with a 24-hour all-nighter for us here on the West Coast at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park! Kick off a Monstrous summer on May 24, 2013, at an amazing 24-hour all-nighter in Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park. Scream with delight as monster hosts Mike and Sulley drop in from Monsters University. Shop for limited-time special All-Nighter merchandise Put the pedal to the metal at CarsLand — now going full-throttle at Disney California Adventure Park! Check out the entertaining vibe on Buena Vista Street at the newly reimagined Disney California Adventure Park. Immerse yourself in timeless Disney tales at Fantasy Faire. Join Mickey on the exciting new magical, musical adventure, “Mickey and the Magical Map,” in the Fantasyland Theatre in Disneyland Park. Image Credit :: Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland

I. The beginning of my pregnancy with Moxie feels jumbled, as I recollect it now, some 3 years later. It’s a blur of happenings, events moving swiftly upon each other like quick waves that peak in a tsunami. The blur may be due to the events themselves or may be to the way my mind works – I have brain injury, sustained from jetting out of the windshield of a car when I was four. Memories for me often shape themselves in unusual ways. Like the day that we went to see our daughter for the first time. I remember being in a black short dress with pirate sleeves that was from H&M, with black flared yoga pants. I liked that dress. I remember wanting to wear cherry red lipstick and not having any. I remember I wore my Earth moonboots and that Mikey didn’t like them. I remember that we passed a moss green Nissan Cube on the way there. I remember the weather was crisp, dry and clear. I think I was about 10 weeks pregnant. I know I was 36 years old (I just did the math). I also know that I was pregnant after just having had a second trimester miscarriage. We were on our way to the special clinic, the one where they send “higher risk” pregnancies to be examined. Once there, in the dim room with the brightness of the ultrasound machine in front of us, my belly exposed with glistening gel slathered on, we saw the blinking of our baby’s heart, knew she was alive and for that, were happy. But we knew that the long pause and the lack of chatter from the technician signaled a problem. She left, and returned with the very same perinatologist who had told me that my last child had died. My heart sank as I saw him and I blurted out something along the lines of, “but the baby is alive! I know it! I can see the heart beating!” He nodded. Yes, our baby was alive but there were problems. He showed us the line of her skin and the line of her body: they were clearly separated. She had a condition called diffuse fetal hydrops, in which her skin was completely separated from her body, with fluid lying between the two. She had heart holes. She was unlikely to make it to term. “0%” chance of survival, he gave her.  He suggested that we have an amniocentesis before she died to find out the cause of the hydrops – not necessarily for her as she was clearly beyond saving – but for future pregnancies. Numb, and with aching hearts, we consented and returned a few weeks later for the test. II. The amniocentesis revealed the presence of an extra chromosome. It also revealed that the baby was a girl. And miraculously – her diffuse fetal hydrops had completely resolved itself. Despite being strongly encouraged to terminate her life on account of the Down syndrome, we chose to keep her. Perhaps I should be more honest here: my husband chose to keep her. My husband was adamant about keeping her, saying that we needed to “play with the cards we are given.” Continuing in this vein of honesty, I am not sure I would have kept her, had I not been with him. Having grown up deaf, with brain injury and with my auditory processing disorder – not to mention with scars all over my face, I know what it’s like to grow up with a disability. I know what it’s like to be excluded, mocked, and outcast. I know what it’s like to literally have stones thrown at you, because you are different, an “other”. I have a chip in my front tooth from a time that I fought back, but the (much larger) boy was wearing a ring when he punched me in the mouth. I have been abused. I have been raped. And I am the norm in this: statistics clearly show that up to 90% of people with disabilities have been sexually abused, a disproportionate number of those being people with intellectual disabilities. Why then would I consciously choose to bring a daughter into this world, knowing full well that I could be exposing her to what I have been exposed to? Why would I choose to open the doors to the potential for boundless suffering? Keeping her seemed to be an act of pure selfishness.

This post on how to improve indoor air quality has been brought to you by Filtrete. I am a Filtrete Ambassador. All opinions are mine and mine alone. When most people hear the words “air pollution”, they think of big businesses and car emissions and how they impact the quality of the air outside.  Air pollution isn’t all about outdoor air quality. There are ways that you can improve indoor air quality as well.  Their are indoor sources of contaminants that reduce the quality of the air in your home.   Just a few of these indoor sources are your pets, dust, or chemicals from fragrances or cleaners.  People with asthma, children, or the elderly are especially sensitive to indoor air quality.  Since both Sarah and I have asthma, learning how to improve indoor air quality is important to me. Improve Indoor Air Quality Here are six simple ways that you can improve indoor air quality in your home. Vacuum – Regularly removing pet hair, dust and contaminants that have been tracked in from outside will help improve indoor air quality.  Make sure that the vacuum you choose has a HEPA filter to catch as many of these pollutants as possible. Second hand smoke – Encourage people to smoke outside your home. Since second hand smoke is a huge trigger for many asthmatics, we don’t allow smoking inside our home. Natural fragrances – When choosing air fresheners and cleaners, choose products with natural fragrances instead of chemical fragrances. Brush your pets regularly – Brushing your pet regularly to remove loose hair will help keep it off the floor and the furniture. Houseplants – Houseplants like ferns, spider plants and aloe vera can help remove chemical pollutants. Change your filter – Change your furnace filter regularly to make sure it is removing airborne dust, allergens, bacteria and viruses. We have a forced hot air furnace that we use along with our wood stove. We use the Filtrete Odor Reduction Filter in our furnace.  It helps create a healthy home by capturing things in the air to improve indoor air quality.  The Odor Reduction Filter has a unique 2 sided design.  One side captures the large airborne particles and the second side removes household odors.  Unlike air fresheners, it doesn’t release volatile organic compounds into the air.  Filtrete Filters also help maintain airflow in heating and cooling systems, which may help prevent stress on the system and reduce the amount of energy needed to reach desired indoor air temperatures.  It actually removes the odors instead of masking them with a perfume smell. I definitely notice an improvement in the air quality when I use it. Old filter Each filter lasts up to three months for odor removal and particle capture.  The suggested retail price for one Filtrete Odor Reduction Filter is $15.99.  You can purchase them from stores including Lowes, Target, Walmart, and Costco.  Many local hardware stores carry it as well. New Filter To help you address indoor air quality, Filtrete Brand has partnered with Mike Holmes, renowned HGTV contractor, on the Filtrete Healthy Home Remodel Contest.  One grand prize winner, selected by Mike Holmes, will receive $30,000 worth of home inspections, repairs, and renovations by a Holmes Group approved contractor.  Four first prize winners will be awarded $5,000 cash to put towards home repairs. To enter through June 30, 2013: Visit Facebook.com/Filtrete and “like” the page. Explain in 1,000 words or less why your home deserves a healthier home remodel. Submit up to two photos to support your essay. For more details, see the official rules. Connect with Filtrete on Twitter. Register to receive seasonal e-newsletters featuring special offers, filter change reminders, better home living tips and more by visiting www.Filtrete.com. This post on how to improve indoor quality has been brought to you by Filtrete. I am a Filtrete Ambassador. All opinions are mine and mine alone.