Santa hats, stuffies, Christmas decor, and visits from big red himself!
Everybody looks forward to Christmas card photos with cute babies. You don’t need to be a seasoned photographer or Pinterest pro to take them; you just need one great photo idea. And we have nine ideas for your baby’s first Christmas card that’ll put them front and center in that holiday photo.
Snowbaby
iStock
A white swaddling blanket or long t-shirt, a colorful scarf, and a hat are all it takes to turn your baby into a wintery snowman, I mean, snow baby. Pose a stuffed snowman alongside for an added touch and everyone who sees the photos will want to give your child warm hugs.
Plan a pre-holiday visit from Santa to get some memorable photos for your baby's first Christmas card. A beloved grandparent, friend, or even dad can play the role of the big guy to create moments they'll both treasure.
A Favorite Stuffed Animal
iStock
A favorite stuffie is a great way to keep your child from howling their way through holiday card photos. Baby will love on their stuffie like they always do, leading to adorable photos. Re-create the photo with the same stuffed animal every year to show how much your child has grown.
Baby Santa
iStock
Sometimes the simplest setup turns into the most incredible photos. A Santa hat is all you need to convey the Christmas spirit and capture some snaps of your child touching it, holding it, pulling it off, or falling asleep with it on.
Santa’s Legs as a Backdrop
If your baby is still learning to sit, leaning back against Santa’s legs will help you get the shot. This photo idea from Precious Moments Photography gives you a fun new way to incorporate Santa as a backdrop. Black boots, white fuzzy fabric, and red fabric positioned to look like pants are all you need for the Santa stand-in. Bonus: That person can also help keep your little one entertained and looking picture-perfect during the shoot.
Baby in a Gift Box
iStock
What better way to convey that babies are a gift? To create your gift box, cut off the flaps on one side and cover the box with holiday wrapping paper. Add a big bow—to both the box and your baby—and pop your little one inside. Babies and toddlers usually enjoy being in boxes, so the smiles and cute expressions should come naturally. If they don't, add small toys that stay out of sight.
Take advantage of the beach for your child's holiday card debut. Take a cue from Danielle May Photography and build a sandman that will give friends and family warm fuzzies this winter.
An assortment of colorful ornaments in deep jewel tones, classic red and green, or gold and white helps you re-create this card idea from Shanna Simpson Photography. Mix in glittery, matte, and traditional balls for extra dimension, and let your beautiful baby shine in the center.
With white holiday lights, leg warmers, and a fluffy mat, you can re-create this cozy holiday photo from Red Lotus Photography for your baby's first Christmas card. Vary the shot by swapping the leg warmers for other cute holiday gear.
with additional reporting by Eva Ingvarson Cerise
Make sure to capture all the memories—and share them with your family and friends near and far—with the Tinybeans app. The secure platform puts parents in total control of who sees and interacts with photos and videos of their kids.
Whether you’re fully vegan, looking to go vegan or you simply want to bring more plant-based foods into your household, finding creative ways to incorporate a few more plant-based options into your home is never a bad idea. From saving money to helping the environment, and of course, helping your family get even healthier than you already are, plant-based foods are often crucial to your diet and wellness—even if you don’t realize it at first. So many healthy foods are already plant-based, and even more, can be easily vegan-ized to your liking.
Even so, it can be difficult to get people on board sometimes—both kids and adults alike. People can be stuck in their ways and unwilling to try new things, but that doesn’t mean vegan-izing things is a completely lost cause. In fact, providing vegan options and feeding your family a few more plant-based meals can actually be easier than you realize. All you need to do is find what works for you and your family and take things one step at a time.
1. Stick to the Basics
One thing many people don’t realize is that there are so many foods that are already vegan or “accidentally” vegan. From pasta recipes to salads, there are so many foods that are already vegan, and leaning into those options can give you a bit of an easier time, both for yourself and the rest of your family.
2. Vegan-ize Old Favorites
If your family has a few non-vegan staples, another option you can try is making plant-based versions of them and seeing how they do. If there’s one thing that many people have learned in recent years, it’s that anything can be vegan-ized. Whether it’s chicken nuggets, decadent mac and cheese or chocolate chip cookies. You may not even want to mention that it’s vegan until after the family has tried it. That way, they can get used to it and see if they like it without any judgment.
3. Make a Vegan Base
Another great way to ease in more plant-based foods is to start with a base dish that you can add different proteins, toppings, and condiments to based on everyone’s taste. You can start by making a list of plant foods that everyone enjoys, so you know you’re starting off with a crowd-pleaser.
4. Promote General Health
Another way to get older kids and partners in particular on board is to simply discuss the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle openly and honestly. Talk about how healthy plant foods are and how it’s important to eat fruits and vegetables regularly. While it might not feel like the first way you’d get your family on board, you might surprise yourself, especially if they tend to notice feeling better after eating plant-based. Even if it isn’t all gung-ho at first, it might just get people part of the way there.
5. “I Do the Cooking”
This one might be a bit controversial. While many parents subscribe to the idea that you should ask your kids what they want for dinner and that what you make is a family discussion, there is a time and a place to lay down the law. Simply put, stating that when you do the cooking, they can eat what you make or find somewhere else to get their food might be what it takes to start everyone off on the plant-based bandwagon.
6. Don’t Forget Snacks
While meals are the main event, snacks also play an important role in the way we eat. When you bring plant-based snacks into your home like fruits, trail mixes, hummus, and much more, your family may naturally discover vegan foods that they like, making meals easier to prep for. Try to go for a wide variety of snack foods, perhaps changing things up every few weeks to introduce new flavors and foods.
7. Try Out New Recipes
Going to the opposite end of the spectrum from some of the earlier tips, if your family tends to be the kind of people who love to experiment with different kinds of foods and dishes from all around the world, bringing a bit of plant-based adventure into your house could capture some interest. Experiment with different recipes—bring in some Thai, Mexican, Indian or Italian food and see what your family falls in love with. You might just encounter a new staple that your family will associate with plant-based food.
Feeding Your Family More Plant-Based Meals
Getting your family to eat more plant-based foods might seem difficult, but it’s absolutely possible and worth it. All it takes is a bit of creativity and resourcefulness. Whether you vegan-ize old family favorites or you try out brand new cuisines together, there is so much that plant-based foods have to offer. What’s your favorite plant-based dish?
Kara Reynolds is the Editor-in-Chief and founder of Momish Magazine. A mom of four and matriarch to her big blended family, Kara wants nothing more than to normalize differences in family structures. She enjoys peeing alone, pancakes, and pinot noir - but not at the same time.
Joanna Gaines is getting ready to release her second children’s book. The new book written by the New York Times bestselling author and illustrated by Julianna Swaney celebrates how creativity and acceptance can come together to make for a bright and beautiful adventure. The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be will be on stands Nov. 10, but it is available for preorder today.
The book follows a group of children as they each build their very own hot-air balloons. As the kids work together, leaning into their own skills and processes, to fill the sky with beautiful colors, we discover that the same is true for life, it’s more beautiful and vibrant when our differences are celebrated.
In a blog post announcing the book, Gaines said, “The goal was simply to convey a message that all of us need to hear—no matter who you are, or where you are from, or how old you are, or what you look like, or who you love, or what the color of your skin is, or what you believe in—the world needs you. It needs your abilities and your talents, your quirks and your curiosities, your unique thoughts and your beautiful mind. It needs you just the way you are.”
With COVID-related restrictions in place, breaking free from cabin fever isn’t very easy these days. Here’s a solution: Pick up a copy of 111 Places in Chicago That You Must Not Miss with Kids, by Amy Bizzarri, from your favorite local bookstore that offers shipping or curbside delivery and get ready for adventure! Many of the historic and wacky places featured in the book can be easily and safely seen from the comfort of your car to accommodate social distancing, and your kids just might think you’re slowly turning into Mrs. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus.
Giant, Green Hairy Monster at the Door
Maria Chambers
A big, hairy, green monster resides in on Racine Avenue in the West Loop: whenever he senses the smell of an approaching little kid, he heads straight to his massive front door and glares from behind the windowpane, hoping to scare any potential toy robbers away with his gruff, green hairy stare.
Chances are you or your kids have played with a toy that grew out of the minds of some of the non-monsters that work in this playful building: Big Monster Toys designs, engineers and prototypes toys and games for big names in the toy biz—Mattel, Moose, Fisher Price and Hasbro to name a few.
Founded in 1988 by three former partners of the legendary, Chicago-based toy design firm Marvin Glass & Associates, Big Monster Toys stands as one of the few remaining toy manufacturers operating in the city. Their unique door is a brilliant reminder of the unexpected, unrequited joy of toys.
Find it at: 21 S. Racine Ave., West Loop
Hebru Brantley Murals
Maria Chambers
Hebru Brantley's gallery is the city of Chicago. His iconic, superpower-charged characters pop up on unsuspecting walls across the city, from north to south, east to west.
“Flyboy,” a little boy with vintage aviator goggles always on the brink of flying into an adventure, appears often in Brantley's Work. Inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen, Brantley told DNAinfo in 2013 that he created the character "out of a need to have heroes of color, whether black, Asian, or White, European.”
Flyboy Uptown seems as if he's flying right on past the Uptown Broadway Building. A group of five fly kids explore the world beneath the bridge at 1800-1802 Pratt Blvd. A Flygirl with neon pink pigtails and bright, blue googles gazes towards the future from a mural at 1395 North Wood.
Born and raised in Bronzeville, Brantley's used art to keep himself focused, avoiding gang life. Today he's recognized nationally for his public works and solo shows. Icons like Chance the Rapper, Lenny Kravitz and George Lucas are fans of his work; Jay-Z bought one of his paintings on the spot at Art Basel, for $20,000.
See how many of his pop-art, comic-book style, grand-scale murals you can spot around town.
2001 S. Carpenter St.
1800-1802 W. Pratt Blvd.
1407 N. Milwaukee Ave.
151 N. Ogden Ave. (shown in featured photo)
Tip: Check out this interactive Chicago mural map to find all the amazing murals by Brantley and other large-scale mural artists.
In 1891, a young couple—Elias Disney and his wife, Flora — moved from Florida to Chicago. Elias, a carpenter by trade, secured a job at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. The couple purchased an empty lot at 2156 N. Tripp Ave., in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood, for $700. Flora designed the home of her dreams and Elias built the rectangular, frame home where they would add two more children to their family of four, with his own two hands. Roy Disney was born in 1893, soon after the family moved in. On December 5, 1901, Walter "Walt" Disney was born in the second-floor bedroom.
Few people realize that this modest home was the birthplace of an American cultural icon, and for years it stood sadly in a state of disrepair. No historical markers indicate that this was the birthplace of the Disney dream. It wasn't until the current owners, Brent Young and Dina Benadon, stepped in to save the day that the home began to breathe with new life The duo plans to slowly restore the home back to its early 20th-century glory and eventually transform it into a multimedia-rich museum as well as a center for early childhood creativity.
Tip: Elias Disney not only built the St. Paul Congregational Church (known as Iglesia Evangelica Bautista Betania today), the small church that stands at 2255 N. Keeler Ave., one block east and one block north of Walt Disney’s birthplace, but also named his son after the church's pastor, Walter Parr. Walt Disney was also baptized there.
Celebrate your cool attitude with a rainbow of icy treats at Pretty Cool, a whimsical, colorful, playful and just plain cool ice cream shop that doesn't sell by the scoop. The bars and ice pops here are classified into five cool categories: Custard Bars are ice cream submerged in chocolate, with flavors ranging from the classic—vanilla, cookies and cream—to the exotic—peanut butter potato chip, coffee pretzel toffee. Truck pops transform the standard popsicle with inventive flavors such as litchi lemon tea and passion fruit hibiscus. Plant pops are vegan-friendly, creamy treats made with non-dairy milks. Magic Shell inspired Party Pops are cream cheese bars dipped into Pretty Cool’s proprietary shell blend and topped with sprinkles.
Pony pops are made with tiny appetites and little hands in mind: smaller in size, they're available in classic, kid-friendly flavors—vanilla custard, strawberry buttermilk, chocolate custard, grape pop and pink lemonade pop—and cost $2 each. Pretty Cool is now offering curbside popsicle pick up: just order from your phone and pull up to the curb to pick up your sweet, icy delights.
Find it at: 2353 N. California Ave., Logan Square, prettycoolicecream.com
Leaning Tower of Niles
You don't have to travel all the way to Italy to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Niles, which directly borders Chicago’s far northwest side, is home to a half-size replica of the famed Torre Pendente di Pisa.
In 1934, industrialist Robert Ilg built a leaning tower of his very own here in Niles. It was just one part of a vast recreational complex for the employees of Ilg Hot Air Electric Ventilating Company, built to store water for the once onsite swimming pools. The 94-foot tower honors scientist Galileo Galilei, who tested his theory of gravity by dropping objects from the original tower in Pisa, with a plaque at its base.
Remember to open your car windows—if you’re lucky you just might hear the tower’s bronze bells mark the time. The bells at the tip-top of the tower, three of which were cast in 17th and 18th Century Italy, were just recently restored and tolls once again.
Tip: Grab a pizza to go from Pequod's Pizza via curbside pickup at 8520 Fernald Ave, Morton Grove (847) 470-9161; pequodspizza.com) and enjoy a Pisa-inspired dinner at home post-adventure. Pequod's specializes in Chicago Deep Dish Pizza with a caramelized crust.
Find it at: 6300 West Touhy Avenue, Niles, IL 60714
It takes a truckload of ingenuity to transform a troubling eyesore into a work of art. Chicago artist Jim Bachor has gone above and beyond: he patches up Chicago's most dastardly potholes and makes mosaics out of them. His thirty-plus pothole art masterpieces are reminders of the power of creativity to transform even the worst lemons into lemonade, making light of the bumps in the road of life by masking them with beauty. Bachor has even recently installed some COVID-19-inspired pothole art around town.
Bachor's self-proclaimed pothole revitalization initiative dates back to 2013, when he patched up a pothole in front of his home in the Mayfair neighborhood. He has transformed potholes into mosaiced Push-ups, daffodils, bluebirds; he's patched them with Burberry plaid and helpful This Is Not a Pothole reminders.
An interactive map at bachor.com details the exact locations, but it's best to be caught unaware by these ever-evolving installations.
Find it at: See bachor.com for an interactive map of Bachor's playful pothole installations.
Ancient Egyptian Temple (Reebie Storage and Moving Co.)
When you can’t jet off and away to Cairo, here’s a local, Egypt-inspired alternative that promises to amaze and inspire: When the Reebie Storage and Moving Co., owned by brothers John and William Reebie, was planning to construct a new building, they decided to make an unforgettable mark on Clark. John Reebie had visited Egypt at some time before 1921 and the brothers, inspired by Egyptian Revival architecture, decided to construct an ancient Egyptian temple of their very own, smack dab in the middle of the north side neighborhood of Lincoln Park. The building's design was based on two ancient Egyptian temples, Dendera and Edfu, erected about 200 BC by Pharaoh Ramses II.
Note the two statues of Ramses, representative of the two founding Reebie Brothers, that flank the entrance. See how many winged scarabs you can find on the facade. Scarabs, a.k.a. dung beetles were considered sacred in ancient Egypt, and stood as symbols of rebirth.
We’re loving the new-dad look on our favorite former-bachelor, George Clooney even though his twins are now two years old. During a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Clooney talked toddlers with the daytime host.
Clooney and wife Amal are a majorly international couple. The pair splits their time between Los Angeles, Italy and London, making it tricky for his language-learning kiddos to pin down an exact accent.
According to Clooney, his twins are leaning more towards their mom’s way of speaking—with an English accent. The actor/dad told DeGeneres, “The other day I caught my son … my son said ‘zeb-ra,’” He added, “I’ve got to fix that. That’s not going to happen.”
When it comes to intelligence, Clooney boasts his tots also got their mom’s brain (not that he’s shabby in the smarts department). The proud papa added, “They’re not quite two and they can count from one to 20 in English and Italian. I’m still trying to do the English part!”
We all know that being a mother is the toughest job in the world. There’s no shortage of work and worrying (but also love) that happens every minute of the day. To show some appreciation for all you ladies rocking the “mom badge” out there, we’ve rounded up some of the most inspirational motherhood quotes. As if there was ever any doubt that moms know best. Keep reading to see them all.
1. “When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” – Sophia Loren
2. “Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” – Barbara Kingsolver
3. “We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” – Laura Stavoe Harm
4. “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” – Jill Churchill
5. “Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
11. “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” – Agatha Christie
12. “The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
13. “Life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a mother.” – Unknown
14. “A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning necessary.” – Dorothy Canfield Fisher
15. “Successful mothers are not the ones that have never struggled. They are the ones that never give up, despite the struggles.” – Sharon Jaynes
For many parents, teaching your child how to ride a bike is a rite of passage. Sometimes it’s a breeze: some kids just seem to “get on and ride.” But if your child isn’t making progress you may feel guilty, frustrated or helpless—especially if a sibling learned easily or if the clock is ticking for a summer camp where kids get around on their bikes. This article explores tools (toys), techniques and resources to help you succeed.
First: Is Your Child Ready?
Bicycling instructors simplify the task by first teaching two-wheel balance, then using that foundation to add pedaling. How early can a child learn to balance? Some say, “when they can stand on one leg for 10 seconds.” Some use a “Joules Test” that gauges a side-reaching response:
1. Stand about a yard away, facing your child. Tell her to hold her feet still.
2. Toss a small soft object past her side, far enough out that she needs to move her upper body to reach (remember, feet stay put). Repeat and observe.
3. If she reacts in less than a second, she may have the coordination to balance a bike.
What Type of Bike Should My Kids Use to Learn How to Ride?
Here are some useful toys that develop handling skills for two-wheel biking.
Tricycles teach pedaling, though they don’t teach two-wheel balance or leaning into turns. But just like on a two-wheel bike that can lean, the rider’s arms must cooperate to steer.
Tri-wheel micro scooters have a tilting platform with two front wheels, a rear wheel with a friction brake, no seat and a T-shaped steering handle that makes the platform tilt toward the turn. Kids as young as 18 months can enjoy these. The way the scooter turns is similar to two-wheel bicycling, though the rider is standing.
Two-wheel kick scooters, first popularized by the Razor brand, are similar but have a single front wheel, so the balance experience is a bit more like a bicycle.
Balance Bikes, a.k.a. “glider” or “strider” bikes, have no cranks or pedals. These can fit kids as young as two. Their low seat lets riders reach the ground easily with both feet flat and knees bent. The rider learns to “scoot” by striding and “glide” by raising their feet a bit. They don’t teach pedaling but do lean to turn, just like pedal bikes.
A conventional bike of any size can become a balance bike for a rider of any age if its seat can be set low enough to enable the scoot-and-glide action. Just remove both pedals. Balance bikes without hand brakes are recommended only for flat or slightly inclined surfaces.
What to Know about Brakes & Safe Stopping
For both balance bikes and conventional bikes with pedals removed for learning, a hand brake lever is very useful. If the bike has just one it should operate the rear brake (the front can grab too strongly for a new rider) and should be installed on the right handlebar. For safe stops, teach the rider to brace both arms (extend firmly against the handlebars) before braking—this tends to prevent toppling.
Many kids pedal-bikes have a back-pedal, a.k.a. “coaster” brake—but with pedals removed, it isn’t available! Coaster brakes also require pushing down with one foot only on the pedal that’s behind you, which is less intuitive than squeezing a lever.
What about Training Wheels?
That name has led countless parents to purchase them, though they are more like bicycle “crutches.” They teach the brain to balance while leaning even while riding straight and prevent experiencing how a bike and your body lean together into turns. A child who has “mastered” training wheels must un-learn this crooked balance in order to get the feel of two-wheel gliding and more than a few get stuck trying.
Teach Like a Pro
Rather than training wheels, try this method that instructors have refined in thousands of private lessons with kids, teens and adults. It’s largely fall-proof, if safe stopping is taught first.
Find a wide, level or slightly inclined paved area with few obstacles and few or no distractions. A sidewalk or trail is way too narrow.
Lower the seat so both feet (including heels) can be flat on the ground with knees slightly bent
Remove both pedals (and training wheels)
Use the “chair posture”: sit up straight, extend arms like big springs, pushing the handlebars outward firmly but not rigidly, like pushing against the edge of a table while seated
Glide smoothly—keep sit-bones connected to the saddle without bouncing
Keep the bike basically upright; try not to lean your upper body side-to-side when you touch the ground with your shoe
When the bike starts to lean, gently look and steer in that direction, moment by moment. (We call this “steering into the lean”, which sounds counter-intuitive—but it works!)
Glide wherever the bike “wants to go”—at this stage the goal is longer glides, not straight lines
When the glides starts to last several seconds, encourage your child to count or sing (e.g. their ABCs) which helps to keep the glide going and avoid touch the ground.
When glides are consistently around 10 seconds, install the pedals.
It’s okay to demonstrate, but avoid pushing or pulling the bike. Instead, let the child “own” the control and balance. Be patient—glides may start short but will get longer as the brain discovers how a bike responds. And every learner is different.
Help is available! Just as with skiing, swimming or tennis—or evenlearning a musical instrument—it’s well worth considering professional help. For children learning to ride for the first time or wanting to build confidence on basic skills useful on and off the street, private lessons are available from “League Certified Instructors” (LCIs) trained by the League of American Bicyclists through its national Smart Cycling program.
Lessons can help students of all ages build skills and confidence faster, learn proper techniques from the start and understand the how and why of all the building-blocks. We hope this information will help you grow your bicycling family and enjoy two-wheeled adventures!
Avid cyclist since college and a Marin mom since 1998. I became a Cycling Instructor for the League of American Bicyclists in 2006 and joined Bicycle Solutions as their expert cycling coach for Southern Marin. I'm an Au Pair coordinator and editor, do long distance swimming, perform with Singers Marin, cook, speak French and Spanish and race sailboats.
When I was expecting our first, I spent so much time online researching the best of the best that I actually popped a blood vessel in my right eye. It was around midnight and I was still deep in the throes of Amazon reviews, checking to see which baby shampoos were made without harmful chemicals.
I looked up from my computer screen for the first time in hours to find a streak of red streaming across my pupil. That should have been my first sign that my quest for All The Answers was going a little too far.
Yet, I still didn’t stop, mainly because I didn’t know how to. I spent so much money on new baby literature and asked all my friends for advice every chance I could. On one hand, it was an incredible time of learning and I soaked it all up like a sponge.
I leaned on my own mama more than ever and she imparted tons of her wisdom to me during those sacred nine months. She taught me how to fold a swaddle blanket, put on a wrap sling as long as the Mississippi River and to stock up on vapor rub because even if my babies can’t use it yet, it could do wonders for my stretch marks.
By the time my daughter arrived that summer, I should have been well-versed in her care. After all, my husband and I had attended a week’s worth of “Baby 101” classes at our hospital. We’d taken an infant CPR course, had a stack of books on our bedside tables and had perfected our baby registry, expertly curated thanks to the 1.5 million mommy bloggers whose pages I stalked to find the top gear.
Yet, when that baby arrived and they placed her in my arms, everything I thought I knew flew out the window. You know back in the day when you were in school and you’d cram so hard for a test? Then, you’d arrive with your #2 pencils sharpened and your calculator out and suddenly as the papers are passed around you’d go absolutely blank? It was just like that, but on a much more significant scale.
Call it nerves or shock or maybe a little of both, but I just looked at that squishy pile of perfection on my chest and wondered, “How on Earth is this mine?” How in the world was I going to be responsible for this tiny, gorgeous munchkin? I felt inadequate and frankly very overwhelmed. It wasn’t until we got home from the hospital, when all those first-week meals were finished and my husband went back to work, that I truly got the chance to find out for myself what this was going to be like.
Suddenly, it was just us. I remember waking up that first morning alone and rolling over to the edge of the bed to check on her in her bassinet. I woke up at 5:00 a.m., a bundle of anxious energy. I checked on her every five minutes until around 8:00, when she finally woke up and her eyes met mine.
Since then, we’ve added another baby to the brood and it really is true that things are different the next time around. I was more relaxed with that pregnancy and didn’t go into the experience nearly as panic-ridden.
We changed the “five-second rule” to the “10-second rule” when he came along and I didn’t think twice when he picked up a big blob of sand and smashed it in his mouth as a 6-month old on the beach. I’m a more relaxed mama and I credit both of my babies for that transformation.
That isn’t to say I have all the answers. I don’t think I’ll ever get there and as time goes on I don’t think I want to. I love this journey of discovery that we go along together every day. There is something different to learn every time we’re together and I think leaning deeply into that is one of the keys of happy parenting.
For instance, we were all hit with the sinus bug pretty hard this winter. Last month, I took both of them to see their incredible pediatrician. They were feverish. I was disheveled, pretty scared and cried at the drop of a hat due to an immense lack of sleep.
“I don’t think I can do this,” I said to him as I passed the first baby off to be examined. “Sure you can,” he replied. “Just look at them. They’re under the weather right now but look at these beautiful kids. You’re doing just fine, mama.”
That’s the message I want to impart to you today. I know you’re stressed, overcommitted and likely pulled in a million different directions. I know you want the best for your family, but you second-guess every day if what you’re doing is going to get you there.
So you read the reviews for hours and you get five different medical opinions. You post questions in closed social media groups hoping that a bunch of strangers can shed light on an issue close to your mama heart. I’ve been there and I’m still there with you.
The good news? Looking for answers doesn’t make you weak. It means your heart is in the right place and when that’s in order, everything has a way of working out. You’re doing just fine mama. Just look at them.
Hi, y'all! I'm Courtney. I'm a mama of two, married to my high-school sweetheart and making a life in the little town I grew up in. I'm a writer by trade, but a mama by heart. I love chocolate and I love family. Let's navigate this crazy, messy, blessed journey together!
As school is quickly approaching (and has already arrived for some), I’ve thought of some ways that I can embarrass my 2 elementary-aged kids. I have vivid memories of my father standing outside of his 1985 Buick LeSabre waving at me in the circle drive at the middle school like he was trying to direct a Boeing 747 his direction. Let me repeat– he stood OUTSIDE of his car. Leaning against it. When you’re in middle school, that’s tragically uncool. While I didn’t appreciate it then, I think it’s hilarious now. I want to be like my father, except I want to be the most embarrassing school mom.
So, I’ve come up with a list of 10 things that can make anyone the most embarrassing school mom:
1. Skip through the parking lot hand-in-hand with your child. Make sure you skip right in front of the car drop-off line so all of their friends can see them. Do it every day for the first few weeks of school despite their protests. The older your child, the more embarrassing it is for them. Relish in it.
2. Be sure to cry loudly and wail at the front door when they walk in. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a major eye-roll in return, but most kids will just pretend they don’t know you even when another kid turns to your child and says, “Hey, isn’t that your mom? Is she okay?”
3. Make sure to shout, “Don’t forget to wipe after you go potty!” as soon as they walk in the front door. This will most likely elicit giggles from other students, but you’ll get the total stink eye from your child.
4. Show up to the school wearing a personalized t-shirt that says “Johnny’s Mom” (well, if your child isn’t “Johnny” then you may want to put a different name on there) and wave at him like a zoo animal through the classroom windows.
5. Surprise him for lunch on the first day of school with your personalized t-shirt. Make sure to ask if he wiped after going potty. On your way to the cafeteria, stop by the nurse’s office and talk to her about Johnny’s constipation issues.
6. Walk Johnny back to his classroom after lunch and meet the teacher. Remind her about his constipation issues and his irrational fear of apples. Confirm that there is no mention of “apples” in today’s curriculum.
7. Wearing the “Johnny’s Mom” shirt, creep outside the fence where recess/PE normally is. Wave your hand made sign “Go Johnny!” outside of the gate. Relish in the embarrassment when your child spots you.
8. When it’s time for pick-up, you are already there (since you’ve been there all day embarrassing your child). However, make sure you are the first one in the car pick-up line, roll down your windows and turn on the most embarrassing music for your child. For maximum embarrassment, I like to choose Barry Manilow.
So, if being an embarrassing school mom isn’t your thing, then you probably don’t want to do any of the above things. For my the sake of my children’s future therapy bills, I’ll probably stick with just a few of the above.
I’m off to go pick up my kids from school. If they’re lucky, they’ll be hearing “Copacabana” play loudly as they walk up to the car.
I'm a full-fledged Texan that appreciates good tortillas, spunky eyeglasses and retro tennis shoes. I also love to have a good chuckle. I am somehow responsible for a fish, cat, puppy, 3 kids and a husband. My 8th grade teacher told me that I should be a writer. Now that I'm 40, I'm finally trying it.
Last Halloween, my then 12-year-old son couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted to dress up for trick-or-treating. The truth is, he WANTED to dress up, but wasn’t sure if other kids his age would be, as well. On the morning of Halloween he finally decided he wanted to dress up regardless of what the other kids were doing. Of course, that left me little time to come up with one of my totally awesome DIY costumes. ;) He suggested dressing as a werewolf and here is what I came up with:
I had found some fur at the fabric store earlier in the month and picked up a remnant since he had been leaning toward werewolf IF he decided to dress up. I cut the fur into wrist-sized rectangles and sewed on a small piece of elastic to the bottom so he could easily slip his hand through. We threw together a flannel shirt, some jeans, and I used two shades of brown eyeliner and lip liner to draw fur on his face and give him a wolf’s nose and bushy eyebrows. I added a lot of gel to spike his hair and voila: Ten Minute Teen Wolf!
Here he his posing with his sister, the Mad Haute Mad Hatter (which is quickly becoming one of my most popular posts thanks to Pinterest!) So what is he going to be this year? I hope I don’t find out on Halloween morning again!
Yvette Manes is writer, a Cuban-American mama to two awesome teenagers, a proud native Floridian, and an audiobook and podcast addict. She is a Lifestyle Writer for Romper.com and has bylines at Scary Mommy, BonBon Break, Sammiches & Psych Meds, HuffPo Denmark, Parent.co, and more. Her blog is AquaSeventy6.
