What You'll Miss About Being Pregnant

http://blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/2012/04/02/7-things-ill-miss-about-pregnancy/?pid=8562#slideshow

reblogged: http://swankybaby.net/2012/04/what-youll-miss-being-pregnant.html

Katie, a writer on babble.com, realized as she is about to welcome her baby to the world she is going to miss a few things being pregnant. Here she lists what she will miss and I bet you will agree with most of them.

1. Baby Kicks - Only you know what it really feels like when he moves. Only you can feel the little stretches and flutters. It is sad that you won't have this private relationship once he is born. It is only you who knows what makes him go crazy or that he gets hiccups constantly while growing in your belly.

There is nothing more
comfortable than maternity
yoga pants.

2. Maternity Clothes - Pants with elastic waists. Pants without buttons. Dresses without zippers. It's like a dream wardrobe!!

3. Naps - With pregnancy fatigue comes a renewed interest in sleeping during the day and you never ever have to justify it. Someone questions your nap? Just point at your belly. Winner. Every single time.

4. Compliments - When you're not pregnant, it's rare that people comment on your appearance, but once you're pregnant you're "so cute" and you "look so great" and even people you don't know stop to ooh and ah at you. Most will miss those compliments, especially when you are no longer pregant and just awkwardly bloated.

5. Cravings - The thing about pregnancy is, when you find the one food you desperately want, it is the most delicious thing you've ever eaten. No food is as ever as good as it is when you're pregnant.

What did you miss from being pregnant? You can read the rest of Katie's pregnancy misses HERE.






Hmmm really is this so? Don't know if I'll agree with #2. But fun to read!

reblogged:  My Kid Would Never Do That!

by Swanky Baby's Mom

Beginning Sunday, April 15th, Dateline NBC will airing a series called "My Kid Would Never Do That". This series will be teaching your kids and you about stranger safety. I really think everyone should watch this. On the Today Show this morning and they did one of those undercover scenarios where a fake ice cream man tries to lure kids into his truck. One of the planted kids is the son of Today Show anchor Natalie Morales, and watching her tear up as she watched her kid get into the ice cream truck was hard to watch. Even though everyone but her son knew it was fake, she basically watched her kid get kidnapped.

I thought I would pass along three crucial steps from Dr. Michele Borba, an educational psychologist, you can teach your kids about stranger safety. I have summarized info given for each step. Please click HERE to read all the detailed information she gives on this important issue.

Step 1 Empower Your Child to Say “No!”
If you want your kids to stand up for themselves, don’t get in the habit of speaking for them.

*Give Permission to Say “NO:” Studies show that kids under the age of nine rarely say “No” to a sexual offender because they were told “to obey adults.” So give your child permission to yell NO!
*Use your gut instinct: A “fear factor” can be powerful in keeping kids safe, but often isn’t used because we fail to help our kids learn to trust their gut instincts.
*Establish a family secret code. Choose a memorable code like “Geronimo,” to give only to family members or trusted individuals responsible for your kids in your absence.
*Teach: “Drop, Holler, and Run.” Teach your child that if he ever needs to get away quickly, he should drop whatever he is carrying, holler, and run.


STEP 2: Help Your Child Recognize Suspicious Adult Behavior
These points are not designed for one discussion, but topics for numerous shorter chats over the years with your kids. Talk about each one in the context of your child’s age and then watch how your child responds.

*Asking for help: Can you help me look for my puppy?” Emphasize that a stranger does not ask kids for help.
*Offering treats: “I have a skateboard in my car. Would you like it?” "I'll let you have one of my kittens (or pet my cat), if you will sit on my lap and watch this video.”
*Feigning an emergency: “Hurry! Your mom was in an accident. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
*Flaunting authority: “I think you’re the kid who hurt my son. Come with me and we’ll go find your parents.”
*Pretending to be an official: “I’m with the F.B.I. and this is my badge. You must come.” (Tell your child to call you ASAP to verify the situation.)
*Faking friendship. “I’m an old friend of your dad’s. He asked me to come over. Can you take me to your house?”
*Keeping a “secret.” Predators often try to make kids promise to keep the abuse a secret. Teach your child: “If any adult asks you to keep an uncomfortable secret, tell me.” You might say: “It’s okay to not keep a secret even if you promised an adult.” *Needing personal information: “I need your phone number so I can contact your parent.” Stress to your child: “Do NOT give out personal information. Then teach: “An adult does not ask a child for personal information. They ask the child’s parent.” (An exception is the child’s school).
*Requiring kids to open the door.” Stress repeatedly to never open the door to someone who is not an immediate family member. Explain that anyone who is a friend will understand your rule and not mind waiting. Stress: “Don’t say anything. Find a parent!” If you’re not home, tell your child to phone you from a backroom or 9-1-1 if in danger.


STEP 3: Rehearse Stranger Safety Skills Repeatedly
The best way to teach any skill is to show what it looks like, and then practice over and over until the child can use the safety skill without you.

*Watch the Dateline special “Stranger Safety” with your child and use the examples of the children who got on the truck – as well as the children who did not.
*Consider your child’s age, developmental level and the safety skills he needs at that point in his life.
*National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) have shown that 85 percent of kids found alive after being abducted did not consider their kidnapper to be a stranger, which is all the more reason to teach different types of safety tips.

Dr. Mom By Tara Bishop, M.D.

http://www.babble.com/mom/work-family/the-mommy-track-working-moms-stay-at-home-mother/

Exhausted at the end of a day spent chasing my two-year-old son around the park and nursing my three-month-old baby every two hours, I collapsed into bed. Just as I was drifting off, I heard the sound of dishes being shifted on the table. My eyes shot open and my head jerked up. "Honey, I'll do it," I called out to my husband, home from his thirteen-hour work day.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll just stick 'em in the dishwasher and crawl into bed with you."

I should have felt grateful, but what I felt was guilt bordering on panic: I should be doing those dishes. That sinking feeling has become a common one in my new life as a doctor turned stay-at-home mother on what the New York Times and several recent books dismissively refer to as the "mommy track."

Several months ago, I was working full time — actually, more than full time. I had an eighteen-month-old son and was slowly rising in the ranks of doctor-hood. I worked sixty-hour weeks, often evenings and weekends. I wasn't happy. In fact, I was miserable. I felt extremely guilty for not being home more with my son (even though he seemed happy spending his days swinging in the park with a very loving nanny). I was stressed — constantly struggling to keep my home life afloat. But I was on a secure path to a high-flying career and had figured out ways to keep my life organized: order groceries on Tuesday to be delivered on Friday morning, work on my research project at night after everyone else had gone to sleep.

Nine months into my first year of fellowship, I was embarrassed to be wasting an undergraduate degree from M.I.T. in chemical engineering and a medical degree from Cornell. I unexpectedly got pregnant again. Instead of being overjoyed, I felt overwhelmed. With the pregnancy test in hand, I turned to my husband, tears blurring my vision, and asked how I could keep doing what I was doing with another baby at home.

He wrapped his arms around me, and said, "You don't have to."

On that cloudy April evening, I decided to quit my job. There wasn't even a debate over who should stay home. My husband made more money than me in his finance job, loved going to work and never felt guilty leaving our son.

I wasn't completely comfortable quitting my job, so I told people that I was "taking a break." In fact, I was embarrassed to be wasting an undergraduate degree from M.I.T. in chemical engineering and a medical degree from Cornell. Before my son was born, I read the "Opt-Out Revolution" in the New York Times and saw a Sixty Minutes segment about highly educated and successful women who gave up their work to be home with their kids. At the time, I vowed never to sacrifice my career.

Five years later, I found myself doing exactly that. The first few weeks at home were a series of adjustments. I went to the playground and tried to become friends with other stay-at-home moms. I beamed as my son played his mini guitar better than all the other kids in his music class. I loved that I once again had time to read novels.

But I was also very, very bored. I would spend hours each morning trying to get my son to sit on the potty. I would answer his endless "why?" questions. By the end of the day, I was dying to talk to anyone who could complete a sentence.

To fight the boredom, I began to apply my Type-A personality to motherhood. If I was going to be at home full time, I figured, I would be the best damn stay-at-home-mom ever. I started watching the Barefoot Contessa daily on the Food Network and bought Martha Stewart's home-keeping bible. I made daily trips to buy antibiotic-free, locally raised, free-range chicken. I created a spreadsheet to compare all the Upper East Side nursery schools.

And while I'm not quite as compulsive these days, I continue to feel, every day, the weight of the brainpower I'm not using. Whenever I talk to former colleagues,
I don't see any battle between stay-at-home moms and working moms. All I see is a war we're all fighting with ourselves.
I wonder if I can still read an EKG or diagnose pneumonia. I look forward to trips to the pediatrician because it gives me a chance to discuss the latest research on autism and vaccinations.

Books like Leslie Bennetts's recent The Feminine Mistake, which criticizes women for staying home, fuel the flames of the so-called "Mommy Wars," but I don't see any battle between stay-at-home moms and working moms. All I see is a war we're all fighting with ourselves. Before I had kids, I was great at my job. After having kids, I felt mediocre at everything: doctor, mother and wife. I wasn't willing to be middle-of-the-road, so I made choices.

Judith Warner, in her book Perfect Madness, says that "'choice' is the fetish word of our generation." We are the generation that took pride in the fact that we could break the glass ceiling or devote our lives to our children; society would accept anything.

But it won't. It's very difficult to work overnights when you're breastfeeding. There's always pressure to work more. So we have to give up something. And if you're an educated woman, that usually means neglecting your kids or your career, and feeling guilty either way.

I have no doubt that I made the right decision to leave my job. But I miss being a doctor. My new plan is to go back to work when my sons are in preschool, but not on the ambitious track I was on before. With luck, I can find a more reasonably paced job. I expect that will mean retiring the fancy cookbooks, missing some of my son's music classes and not always washing the dishes, but this level of compromise I can handle. And that's what I think about in those moments when I think I can't face another sandbox, another diaper: one day, I'll be part of the working world, and still able tuck the kids in at night.

Article: 5 Unusual Ways to Raise Successful Children

Wednesday, 4th January 2012 by April Dykman

This is a guest post from Natalie Peace of PeaceAndProfit.com.She is the author of 30 Keys to Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business: What They Didn’t Teach Me in Business School. Natalie is an entrepreneur, business coach, and she’s currently writing a book on how to start a wildly successful business.

Looking at the businesses I’ve built, managed, and sold (worth $2 million) by the age of 30, I’ve been reflecting lately on what set the foundation for my achievements so that I can help others experience financial security and abundance. I believe my success is the result of an unusual childhood, and a few unique things my parents did to set me up for success.

1. Give incentive to learn from the masters
My father actually paid me $2 to listen to each chapter of an audiobook and then summarize the main points in my own words, so I wound up listening to dozens of audiobooks throughout my childhood. (I didn’t get paid for chores as they were simply expected of me.) The trick was that he would choose books on management, wealth building, and personal growth.

I was four years old when he started this, and as a result I became fascinated with human potential and manifesting wealth long before I was even old enough to have a paper route or babysitting job. All this knowledge seeped into my young, fertile brain and shaped my subconscious, priming me to be a confident entrepreneur and manager. People often tell me about great, classic books they read by people like Napoleon Hill, Og Mandino, Denis Waitley, and Zig Ziglar and I smile, fondly recalling my experience listening to those masters.

2. Encourage questions
Both of my parents went out of their way to make sure I felt heard, understood and valued. They would explain to me what was interesting and important about anything I was saying and would then expand on the topic with their own knowledge. And they were always willing to answer the million “why” questions I asked, with real answers. They never responded “because I said so.

3. Provide unconditional love
Researcher Brené Brown talks about the concept of teaching children that they are worthy of love and belonging, rather than telling them they’re perfect. This is a big distinction, and I believe I’m a good example of why this works. There will be days when the world is going to chew you up and spit you out. People are going to laugh at you and call you names, and they will reject you and your ideas. Knowing all of this will happen to your child and insisting that they are perfect no matter what will not help them.

No one is perfect. We don’t need to be! Instead, we can learn to hear feedback from others through a filter that says we’re completely lovable as we are. If we know for certain we are lovable regardless of what people do or say to us, we can then hear criticism and search it objectively for meaningful clues on how we can improve. My mom has always shown me a great deal of love and affection, and it’s certainly one of the biggest secrets of my success.

4. Show the importance of a strong work ethic
When I was a teenager, Dad had me mowing his yard, which was a sprawling acreage back then. Of course I had more fun things to do than household chores, so I got it done as quickly as possible. One day when I had finished, he thanked me and told me he wanted to tell the neighbors about my mowing skills, so they would hire me to do their yards as well.

The prospect of making cash appealed to me, so I was all ears. My dad then said, “Let’s take a look at the yard now. Are you happy with how it looks? Would you sign your name to this job, proudly telling people you did it?” As I surveyed my hasty mowing efforts, it was plain to see that I had left behind several tufts and swatches of grass. I realized that no one who’d seen this would hire me to take care of their yard. My dad could have yelled at me for being lazy, but he chose instead to demonstrate the benefit of a solid work ethic.

5. Teach kids to be powerful
I was not allowed to indulge myself in negative self-talk. I was shown how to cancel negative beliefs (like “I can’t do this”), and replace them with positive ones, focusing on the desired outcome. I started doing visualization exercises and focusing on goal-setting at the age of five, beginning with small goals like teaching my dog how to sit and saving up to buy a bike. When I had success achieving these goals, it gave me the confidence to reach for bigger things, with the belief that I would attain them.

I was encouraged to set goals in all areas of my life — when I was six, I wanted the training wheels off my bike and knew it would take practice to get there. When I was 12, I set a goal to take a babysitting course so I could earn money. When I was 13, I set a goal of being a really good friend.

You can help your kids set goals in areas they’re genuinely interested in, as well as set goals they would probably achieve anyway (like passing second grade). Get them to write down these goals somewhere they’ll see them every day, and check them off when they’re complete. When I did this as a kid, it gave me enormous satisfaction. (It still does today!)

As a result of a somewhat unique upbringing — thank you, Mom and Dad! — I don’t have a fear of success, and I know that creating abundant wealth is possible. What other unusual and effective parenting methods have you used or observed to set kids up for success? Share them in the comments!

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/01/04/5-unusual-ways-to-raise-successful-children/