Amber B. was the winner of our YN Farkas giveaway.
Stay tuned for future giveaways :)
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WE HAVE A WINNER!!!
Amber B. was the winner of our YN Farkas giveaway. Stay tuned for future giveaways :)
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WELCOME everybody to The Adventures of Baby MD's first EVER guest post AND giveaway! (and the crowd goes wild) I've been looking for an opportunity to have both a guest post and giveaway on the site. We have another giveaway coming up shortly, but I'm especially excited to combine both of those features into one mega-blog posting. I'll have the guest post up first, and then scroll to the bottom once you're done reading to hear about the giveaway details :) Today's guest post comes from a working mother who is also an author. I would love to know how she has time to come across both of those titles. My titles range from...working mother & someone who remembers to shower (sometimes). To...working mother & professional frozen food heater-upper. To...working mother & semi-sane woman. Working mother & author is pretty much beyond my abilities. So I'm super excited to introduce you to Y.N. Farkas. She writes hilarious books that have beautiful illustrations and rhyming (so your little ones will enjoy them) but are all about the in and out daily humor in being a busy mom. I was able to read a pre-view of both of her new books and they are, in one word, perfect. I loved reading about "real life" scenarios. Both books are available starting TODAY via amazon.com And here's our post from the author: Guest Post Topic: Encouragement for Working Moms My Breast Pump Is My Best Friend: Encouragement for Working Moms Sometimes I speak to my breast pump. Think that’s weird enough? Often times it talks back. No, I’m not talking about hallucinations or drunken visions...I’m talking about good ol’ sober heart to hearts with my breast pump in my office (with the door locked and no chance of anyone walking in, obviously). I guess as a mother of three that’s trying to juggle a thriving profession as an executive in a large non-profit organization, the school lunch schedule, bedtime, and nursing, the only time I really have to myself is when I’m pumping. And I appreciate that time dearly. As I hold the two pumps to my breast, put all of the paperwork aside, shut off my cell phone, and sit back for a few minutes of relaxation, often I feel (inspired to ‘moo’ out loud and laugh hysterically...but that’s for a different time) driven to talk out loud about my day, my thoughts, and my fears. As I divulge my deepest secrets, my reliable sidekick of a breast pump always answers me so obediently, in a faithful, understanding tone. ‘Amen... Amen... Amen...’ I hear my breast pump saying. Well, maybe it’s just the noise that all breast pumps make while they’re on, but to me it sounds like music to my ears. Support. Love. Encouragement. Ah, what else can a working mother ask for? Perhaps that is why last week when my seven year old daughter told me all about about her best friends in first grade, when I took a moment to think about who my best friends are, the answer that came to mind were my husband and my breast pump. Yeah, it’s true...they both rock and I can’t imagine living life without either one of them because both my breast pump and my awesome husband remind me of the same thing; despite my imperfections, I’m a super woman holding down the fort. They quiet my deepest insecurities, and convince me that I’m an awesome momma, even though I work. You see, I love my kids more than anything in the world. In my vision of utopia, I am hiking all day in open meadows with my three little angels, just smelling the flowers, collecting acorns, and laughing as we roll in the grass. In my dreams I’m home every night for bedtime, pick my kids up from school early to go eat ice cream, and keep my babies at home with me until kindergarten. Wow, my milk is coming in just thinking about the theoretical reality of my utopian dreams. But the truth is that I don’t live in utopia and I’m awoken from my dreams by little cuties jumping on my head at around 5:00am. The truth is that often times my mornings are spent rushing to get all three kids dressed, fed, and out the door so that I’m not late to work, as my one and half year old follows my around the house, grabbing for my chest, adorably whining ‘nurse! Nurse!’ The truth is that I haven’t stayed home full time with any of my kids, past the age of three months. Yet despite all of this, the TRUTH is that I’m an awesome, loving mother that is doing the best I can. And every three hours, when I put the hecticness of work on the side and pull out my breast pump to produce for my little sweety the milk that she loves best, I’m reminded of this fact: I. Freaking. Rock. And often, my breast pump will even confirm this by answering ‘Amen’. About the author: Y.N. Farkas is the author of the newly-released “Baby Oh Baby” book series, a comedic, illustrated series for parents, highlighting the many joys and challenges of life as a working mom. Follow these parents as they deal with the many humorous and sometimes embarrassing moments of parenthood – from dad’s entire day on his own with the kids in “It’s Daddy’s Day,” to the giggles, spills, and literally “sucky” life of a pumping mom in “The Places I’ve Pumped.” In addition to her “mom” duties to three cuties under the age of seven, Farkas is the senior vice president of a large non-profit. She relies on her awesome sidekick husband of eight years to help her juggle it all, and has gained enormous respect and awe for single mothers (she often wonders, how the heck do they do it?!?). She considers her greatest feat naturally delivering a 9 ½ pound baby. She has (somewhat hesitantly) chosen the path of breastfeeding, co-sleeping, snuggling,a and working 10-hour workdays. She feels blessed to have the best of both worlds, and relies on her Jewish faith to keep her strong and going. Farkas’ hobbies consist of doing the laundry, mopping the floor, changing dirty diapers, and cooking healthy meals for her family. She plans on practicing yoga and planting a garden upon retirement. GIVEAWAY!!!So now that you've read this post you're probably thinking to yourself...
Self, I'd really like to own one of those hilarious books that YN Farkas wrote. Well, you're in luck! YN Farkas is giving away one of her awesomely hilarious books to one, lucky, The Adventures of Baby MD reader. Here's how it's going to work....we're taking this shit to Facebook. I've noticed something interesting with The Adventures of Baby MD facebook page. See, when you start an "organization" page on Facebook, it tracks a LOT of information for you. What I've noticed through this tracking process is that HUNDREDS of people are constantly coming back and viewing the info on the page daily, but we're not getting very many "likes". So we're going to encourage people to come out of the shadows and publicly display their "like" of The Adventures of Baby MD. Here's what I need YOU to do in order to win. 1) You need to "Like" The Adventures of Baby MD on Facebook (Here's the link to our page) 2) You need to comment on the Facebook post of this blog. (So when you go on The Adventures of Baby MD page on Facebook, there will be a post that shows a link to this blog post...you need to comment on in) I really don't care what you write...but "this blog is awesome" or "I like how you swear like you don't care" will suffic 3) In your comment on Facebook, you need to tag one other person who you think would like to win this giveaway! So there you have it, 3 easy steps, some of you have already completed #1 anyways! Like, Comment, Tag a friend. I will close the giveaway on Monday, so you have all weekend to get 'er done. Remember...even if you're not a mom yourself, this could make an awesome X-Mas gift :) XOXO Laurel So everyone who knows me, and has even read one of my blog posts, realizes that I don't work out. I don't believe in it. Okay, that's not true. But I don't believe in it FOR ME. It's like drugs... Some people are into drugs, think drugs make their lives better. I'm not all about it. No drugs for me. No working out for me. I am a true believer that inspiration can come from anywhere. From the most random places. So imagine my surprise, when this past week I have found myself inspired to start working out. No, it was not my week spent in FL on the beach in a bikini, though that'd be the obvious answer. It was actually what happened when we came home. And I sat on the couch. And turned on my TV. I found the only thing exciting about coming back to this frigid weather...DVR!!!! Yes, my beloved DVR had recorded all of "my" shows while we were gone. It was chalk-full of GOLD! Grey's Anatomy Scandal The Blacklist The Voice Teen Mom 3 (don't judge me) Revenge Long Island Medium Dr. Phil and last but certainly not least, The Walking Dead. It was the last of these which inspired my (thin)spiration lightbulb moment. I am OBSESSED with The Walking Dead.
For those of you who live under a rock (or don't have cable...AKA live under a rock), The Walking Dead is a show on AMC about what is going to happen to use in the future. There is going to be a zombie apocalypse and those of who us who aren't immediately transformed into zombies will spend the rest of our days fighting said zombies & trying to rebuild some sort of life for ourselves while fighting the zombies. It's going to happen people. Trust me. Going back to my stocked DVR, I sat down and watched a "marathon" of The Walking Dead. Really I had only missed a few episodes, but it was as much of a "marathon" as I get anymore... Then, that night I had a nightmare. I was IN the zombie apolcalypse. And I was the worst fucking zombie fighter EVER! I was a slow runner. I couldn't use any weapons accurately. I was scared out of my fucking mind (which is a HUGE weakness when you're trying to fight zombies). I woke up in the middle of the night...terrified. That sucked. Good thing it's not real. Then the next night... ANOTHER ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!! This has literally happened to me the past 3 nights in a row. Because of that, I have officially decided, that I need to prepare myself for the zombie apocalypse. LIke I said, IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. Haven't you seen World War Z?! They don't just come up with these story lines out of thin air. I haven't really researched too much about what kind of preparation would be best for this sort of scenario. I'm gonna go ahead and say hand-to-hand combat with knives & swords would be most beneficial, seeing as my fellow zombie fighters on The Walking Dead are almost always out of firearm ammunition. Anybody want to train with me? XOXO Laurel O M G I was just about to "publish" this post when I found the ULTIMATE COOLEST WEBSITE EVER ... besides this one, of course. Zombie Survival Course!! I'll have to get to NJ to take it, but who cares! It's FULL training on how to survive a zombie apocalypse. NOW who's ready to train with me, eh!? :) ...to "LIKE" The Adventures of Baby MD on Facebook.
Trust me. It's worth it. I put WAY more posts up there (pics & funny stories) that aren't worth taking up a whole posting. Also, that's where you'll hear first about upcoming posts/giveaways/etc. I KNOW most of you haven't done so yet (based on the blog read #s and Facebook like #s so far) SO PLEASE click on the giant icon below and "like" our page :) MD went to his first pumpkin patch. I think the highlight for him was riding in his wagon :) As I stated in my previous blog post, I read a lot of "tips" about flying with a baby prior to our trip.
I guess reading tips about flying is sort of like reading tips about giving birth. It's great to have a plan. Makes you feel like you have control over how it's going to go. Makes it feel...predictable. But like reading tips about giving birth, once you're there, the tips don't mean shit. Here are some tips I picked up (that actually worked) on our flights. 1) Show off how adorable your baby is when they're not crying. Before we boarded the plane on our flight down, I let MD run (crawl) around the waiting area to burn off steam. I had read, online, that it's good to get them nice and tired so then they will sleep. Spoiler Alert: MD didn't sleep a wink on the way down. There was a benefit though. As MD is crawling around the gate area, he drew the attention of 99% of our fellow passengers. He smiled his big cheese-ball grin. He crawled over to them and stood up using the chair next to them. He "talked" to them in his adorable little baby voice. THEY LOVED HIM. Oh, isn't he the cutest thing ever!? How old is he?! What's his name!? No, that's okay! He can go through my carry-on, because he's so. damn. cute! My child WORKED that crowd. So, then when we're flying and he got antsy, and made little screeching noises, they remembered that adorable baby crawling around the airport...and still loved him anyways. One lady that paid particularly close attention to him pre-flight, ended up sitting behind us. She played "peek-a-boo" with MD for a good 20 minutes of the flight. 2) PRAY you are sitting by someone with a baby itch On our flight down to FL we ended up sitting next to a Greek woman who had 2 children and NO GRANDCHILDREN. Now what I remember from learning about Greek culture, is that they are big on family. Not just big on family, big on BIG families. So here was our awesome luck. Sitting in a seat next to a woman whose blood was yearning for a grandchild, that she didn't have yet. MD became her surrogate grandmother for the flight. She let him listen to her headphones. She did an AWESOME Daffy Duck impression for him. She even let him sit on her lap during our descent so he could look out the window and see the ocean/houses/clouds/etc. It was amazing. One other pointer that I forgot to mention was something we discovered upon arriving at the airport. 3) The "family" line. This is something I had heard nothing about in my preparation for our first flight with baby. We arrived at the airport to depart, and came upon a 20 minute wait in the security line. UGH. We weren't running late, but weren't particularly early either. Not to mention the fact that waiting in line with a 1 year old is a certain kind of torture. So we get to the back of the line, and a woman with 2 pre-teen daughter's says,You can go to the family line. The what!? And then she pointed...as if to heaven's gate itself. A completely empty line next to the 20 minute wait security line. It had a little sign with a picture of a family with a small child, and a lady in a wheelchair. We qualified under the former. So, we hopped in that line and started to follow the pathway. I half-expected some TSA agents to jump out at us and throw us in security breach jail. But sure as shit...we got right to the front and were sent through our own security checkpoint. No waiting. We had patient TSA agents who are prepared to deal with strollers, wiggly babies, the whole kit and caboodle. It was amazing. 4) Figure out what your child loves, and stick to that. We debated about what to pack for the flight. Snacks. Books. Toys. Etc. Bottom line: we only used a small handful of things the whole flight to and from. -Lovey (MD's blankie which doubled as a comfort item as well as a make-shift neck pillow for when he did sleep (30 minutes on the flight home) -Binkie (Duh...this is a survival mechanism at this point) -Sippy cup (Used to alleviate ear pressure during take-off and touch-down) -iPad The iPad use was two-fold. 1) I downloaded 2 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before leaving. MD doesn't actually "watch" the episodes, but he loves the songs at the beginning and end of each episode. 2) Instead of packing multiple (heavy) books for MD, I downloaded 2 of his favorites (Brown Bear & Llama Llama) to lighten our load. We read through both books over 50 times (easily) between the two flights. I will say this...it isn't all sunshine and roses. Even if you pack items for distraction for every second of the flight, there will still be hiccups. On our flight home, we had a particularly grumpy crowd. No peek-a-boo partners. MD woke up from his (short) nap and let out 2 small cries to show he was upset he didn't sleep longer. Instead of the sympathetic looks we received on the way down, I turned around to notice the 3 people sitting behind and across from us looking up at me over their reading glasses with looks of, Are you going to take care of that?! Yes, I am. Thank you. I don't need your looks of judgement to determine that you probably don't like hearing my baby cry. I don't like hearing him cry either. Look, we have something in common! *END RANT* UPCOMING: -More vacation posts -Awesome mommy product review/giveaway -Guest post by children's book author -Bathroom update (I can't believe I still haven't shown the finished product on that...geesh!) Stay tuned :) XOXO Laurel We are having a BLAST! MD is obsessed with the ocean and the beach (I think he's eaten more sand than food). Stories to come later... XOXO Laurel This lady (to the left) is Maria Kang.
She's come under a lot of fire (and support) after posting this photo on her personal blog. Those are her three adorable kids. The youngest being only 8 months old. Those are her abs. They have definition. Those are her legs...don't see any cellulite from here. Those are her arms...kind of easy to explain when you see what she's carrying around all day :) As a mother, and as a blogger, I've spent some time over the past few days forming my opinion on this. Am I a "hater" who bashes her for posting this half-naked pic with her 3 boys making statements that, by human nature, cause the reader to feel immediately challenged? What's your excuse? Look at what I accomplished with 3 kids only 8 months post-pregancy! Your kid is 3. What the hell is wrong with you!? (That is where women's heads go with statements like that...) Or am I supportive, you-go-girl, wish I had those abs after 3 kids? I'm kind of both. I ABSOULTELY am in awe of her ability to bounce-back after baby. 13 months after having MD, I'm feeling pretty damn good, but there are still areas of concern for me that weren't an issue before I was preganant. I'm NOT going to bash her either. I would say I fall more along the lines of, what did you expect would happen!? Blogging is a huge freedom. 1st Amendment, thanks fer that 'Merica! But with it comes a very large level of responsibility & accountability. I can post whatever the hell I feel like on this blog, but it is public, and it is viewed often, and all of my words. Ever. Single. Word. is subject to public scrutiny. Every picture. Everything. Should I let that stop me from writing and posting whatever I want, HELL NO! BUT, should I come under fire/controversy/hater attack for something I write, I also should not be surprised. Taken aback. Shocked. Upset. It's going to happen. Maria Kang has EVERY RIGHT to post that picture on her blog, with that caption, but she also has no excuse to complain about any reaction she gets. It's the double-edged sword of blogging. Of the 1st ammendment. Of Life. The other "hard" thing, is that women are already really hard on themselves. We always think we aren't hot enough, smart enough, good enough. It's in our blood. It sucks. When I got preganant, I had a LOT of body issues. I couldn't deal with the growing stomach, arms, legs, butt, face, ugh! Then I had MD. I had to get used to the post-baby body. I tell ya what...it can be quite terrifying at first! It's like you were a balloon...and then someone popped you. And left you like that. It can be terrifying. And then we see celebrities all like, Yeah I had a baby 5 minutes ago, but check out my killer abs and legs and boobs and I'm wearing a mini skirt with stilletos, and it's all because I breast feed and craved SALAD! So then, even rational women, feel like...damn. I suck at this. I'm horrible at looking good. When in fact, we're doing fine. We just GAVE BIRTH. So Maria Kang is awesome for looking that great, but it doesn't make ME feel awesome seeing her look that great, and then saying "What's your excuse?" A commentor on one of the stories regarding this "controversy" compared her photo to a corporate executive walking into a homeless shelter and yelling out, "I make millions of dollars a year and live in a mansion and drive a jaguar....what's your excuse?" Yeah...maybe not that dramatic, but kinda similar. Then again, I'm from Minnesota. We don't believe in showing off your assetts. We're more into modesty. Pretend you don't have something even though you do...because heaven forbid you make someone else feel bad for not having it :) MY excuse is that I hate working out. And I love junk food. And I'm lazy. And I was born with a high metabolism that I've used to excuse away any form of exercise for my entire life. So readers, what's YOUR excuse? :) XOXO Laurel Infant swimming lessons are officially over.
HURRAY! Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it wasn't that great either. It was like any experience in a "new" activity. There were highs & lows. In one lesson we could go from "the best day EVER!" to "get me the HELL OUT OF HERE!" So here are my gripes with infant swimming lessons. 1) Preparation Lessons start at 6pm, which is actually a "plus" because then they are done by 6:30 with plenty of time to make it home & change before MD's bedtime. The downside, that means from when I pick him up at day care (around 4pm) we have approx 1.5 hrs to play, prepare & eat dinner, and get dressed and out the door to make it to swimming. It's a HUGE rush. Every time. 2) Locker Rooms I have NEVER liked swimming locker rooms. The floor is perpetually wet which makes me think of athletes foot and all other sorts of nasty bacteria. It's always cold (WHY?!) and it's always full (at 6pm) with the high school swim team girls yelling & gossiping and changing. MD stands frozen in fear at all of the noise & running around. 3) THE POOL IS FUCKING FREEZING!!! This is one of the reasons MD is not the biggest fan of lessons. He LOVES baths. Baths are warm. The pool is like the arctic ocean (minus the iceburgs). I'm cold, he's freezing. His lips turn blue, his teeth chatter, he cries (sometimes). It's annoying. 4) Sucking the Fun out of Swimming Let me reiterate, this is an INFANT swim class. So imagine my surprise when week 4 we take a detour from "monkey crawling" along the pool wall and circle games to try dunking. DUNKING. Yes, your baby. Dunk them. Under the water. All the way. "It's harder for you the it is for them", the teacher said. Weird...cuz MD hasn't learned how to hold is breath yet, so it was pretty damn traumatic for him. My worrying husband spent the whole car ride home, after that lesson, asking me if MD could get pneumonia from the pool water in his lungs. Last night's lesson we were unprepared for. Literally. We skipped last week's lesson and so we didn't know we had to bring "props". MD and I unassumingly walked into lessons and realized it was life jacket day. We didn't bring MD's. We didn't know. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that MD HATES lifejackets. He wore his this summer when we'd go out on the boat...and it was always a disaster. The pool had extras to borrow, so I put one on him. We went in the frigid water and he screamed. We took the life jacket off and didn't wear it for the rest of the lesson. Fuck the system...we do what we want. After that he actually had a great lesson. When we practiced "jumping in".... Yes, I swear this is an infant class ...He actually responded to my 1,2,3 countdown by leaning forward on 3 to get in the pool. Then he would cry because he had momentarily forgotten the water was freezing. "Jumping in" reminded him...and he was mad. Then we tried the kickboard (for the hundreth time) and he actually held onto and kicked his legs. I was SO proud. Usually he would just try to chew on it and then push it away. We've come a long way. So swimming was over. Was it worth it? Yes. I think it was good for MD to try something outside of his comfort zone. He definitely held me tight for most of the lessons, but towards the end was more independent about wanting to "swim" and not have Mommy holding on so tightly the whole time. Will I do it again? HELL NO! Okay, maybe. But not for a while. I need to forget about the cold water, locker room, dunking & life jackets, and smelly cold locker room before then. Until then...we're sticking to baths :) I've decided it's time for this little blog to enter the big world of Facebook!
I'm so excited! Please "like" The Adventures of Baby M.D. on Facebook! |