Questionable Choices in Parenting
Laughing at life as a parent so they don't commit me
Father’s Day is right around the corner and this is usually when I start to panic because I still need gift ideas! PANIC!! But not this year! This year I’ve got 8 easy and fun homemade Father’s Day gifts and I’m sharing them on the Today Show. Click right here to see all these ideas!
Looking for inexpensive and easy ways to entertain your kids all summer? Then click right here to read my Today Show post on how you can turn a few items from the dollar store into all sorts of summer fun!
Since becoming a mom I’ve gotten pretty good at saying “no” all the time. No you cannot have ice cream for breakfast. No you cannot wear your bathing suit to preschool. No you cannot push your sister down the steps in that box. But one thing I rarely say “no” to is when my kids ask me to read another book to them. Even when I’m half asleep snuggled down in their twin beds, I try to keep reading or at least promise to finish the book tomorrow. Luckily I’ve memorized most of the favorites that are on current repeat like the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Williams and The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt — if you haven’t read these, GO GET THEM!
But what’s even better than snuggling and reading to my kids? Now they’re reading to me and it’s blowing my mind. Seriously, having my son read to us at night while his little sister reads a few words with him — it’s AMAZING. I want to help encourage their reading at home, so that’s why we’re getting creative with sight words.
Sight words are the basic words all kids need to know as they start learning to read. If you’re kids are in school, their teachers are doing all sorts of fun and interesting thing to help teach sight words. But to encourage reading at home and for kindergarten readiness, I wanted easy and fun ways to incorporate sight words into our daily lives that didn’t have me drilling the kids with flashcards and handing over more worksheets—that doesn’t sound like fun. So the idea is keep it simple, don’t overwhelm kids with too many words or they’ll lose interest, and make sure they know the words before you add more. But most importantly keep it fun and remind your kids how awesome they are for learning all these new words.
During those early days of having a new baby, I would pass my husband in the morning and at times, I think I startled him with my appearance. Newborns will do that to you: bags under your eyes, unwashed hair, the shirt you’re wearing right now, you wore it yesterday and maybe the day before, and all it takes is something as simple as you can’t find a working pen in your kitchen to send you into an exhausted crying fit. This is usually when my husband (who I’d shoot daggers at if he yawned or mentioned he was tired around me), would see this as an S.O.S. and ask “What can I do to help?” And it was the sweetest sound I had heard in days (other than my baby sleeping).
I know that man wanted to help, but maybe he really didn’t know how or maybe he was just a little scared of me (he had good reason). But I don’t think he was alone with being a new dad and not always knowing what to do to help me as a new mom.
For instance Boudreaux’s Butt Paste recently surveyed more than 1,000 millennial parents and asked who usually has the dirty job of diaper changing and it looks like mom is doing the heavy lifting. A whopping 95% of women respondents said they do more of the diaper changing than their significant other. So when Dad keeps asking “What can I do to help?” why not just toss him a clean diaper, a few wipes, and Boudreaux’s Butt Paste?
But let’s not just stop with changing diapers, Dad. There are so many more ways you can help your partner and they don’t all involve poop. So for all those new dads and dads-to-be, here’s 11 ways you can really help new moms.
*This post was sponsored by Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience*
I’ve had freckles for as long as I can remember, and even though a lot of people don’t like their freckle-face, I’ve always loved mine. It started as a small smattering across my nose and on my cheeks. But after years of worshiping the sun, slathering my skin in baby oil (ugh, I cringe just writing that), and making weekly trips to the tanning bed in my early 20s, that small smattering turned into freckles that covered my entire face, arms, and chest. Still, I thought my freckles, now too many to count, were adorable and a feature that I would seem odd without.
However, in the last few years, my freckles seem to be mixing with all the other lovely side effects of not being in my early 20s: fine lines, red spots, and age spots. After I fell madly in love with my HydraFacial from Nova Plastic Surgery, I wanted to see what other services they offered that could help my skin look and feel younger.
The staff at NOVA Plastic Surgery were so kind and so helpful and were willing to answer my one million questions. Michelle, the Physician Assistant that administered my HydraFacial, suggested a Broad Band Light Facial (BBL) would help me with the freckles, age spots, red spots, and the fine lines and wrinkles.
So what does BBL do you ask? Don’t worry, I had to ask too. Using targeted bursts of filtered light, the BBL, also known as IPL, can penetrate beneath the surface of the skin and help to erase, repair or even eliminate all of those unwanted red and brown spots, evens out your skin tone, reduces the size of lines and wrinkles, and cues the skin to produce more collagen. YES to all of this! All of it!
BBL puts controlled amounts of heat into the areas in need of repair. This gentle heat is recognized by the skin cells as a form of mild damage, and this activates the repair processes that improve and enhance the skin. How cool is that?
Since I’m also a big baby, I was afraid it would hurt, but there was only a mild stinging. Michelle also gave me a wand that I could control that blasts cold air to help distract me from the stinging. The whole procedure took around 15-20 minutes so it was really quick.
Here’s the crazy part, after the treatments any brown spots or patches will become darker and then start to “pepper.” Then they just fall off within 1-2 weeks! It’s really insane how they spots literally fall off. So this is a treatment-diabetes-info that will take a few weeks to see the full effect. However, during that time, you can cover any of the spots that are “peppering” with makeup.
Now I don’t want to scare you, but I’m going to show you my results after just on BBL facial. It’s going to be a true makeup free selfie–not the kind celebrities say they are taking but a real one. So be prepared.
Here’s a true makeup free selfie right after I had the BBL. Don’t be scared, everyone.
And here I am a few weeks later. Again no makeup. Where did all that hyper-pigmentation go?
The results are crazy right? I’m thinking of having one more round done and possible adding my chest next time, but I am really happy with the results.
So for all my MD, DC, and VA friends, swing over the NOVA Plastic Surgery site and find them on Facebook to get all the details and learn about their specials.
For this post I’ve partnered with NOVA Plastic Surgery to tell you all about my new found love for HydraFacials. All opinions are my own
I’m always sharing travel hacks that make traveling with your kiddos easier, but how about a few travel hacks just for you? I’ve got some great packing and travel hacks that you’ll love! Click right here to see them!
Is it possible to be speechless but have SO MUCH to say? I’ve started the first line of this post about a million times and deleted it a million times. So I’ll just start like this… I was invited to the White House and it was a surreal and beyond fantastic day that I will truly cherish forever. Phew, I’ve got that first line out of the way. Now I feel better. Settle in, friends because it’s time for LOTS of pictures. But first, a little back story of how I got the invite to gallivant through the East Wing and the South Lawn.
A few weeks ago I received an email from SheKnows Media asking if I would like to attend an event with the First Lady at the White House. First, I screamed and scared the crap out of my kids. Then I wondered if this was all a ruse to somehow gain access to my social security number. Finally I calmed myself down long enough to RSVP YES, YES, YES. Then I got into business mode and was all “What do you wear to the White House?” Priorities, people.
On the day of the Let’s Move Initiative event, I just kept saying over and over “Is this real life?” and I was a little weepy because I was so excited and so proud and so humbled, and you guys know I cry all the time.
So what do you do if you have a day at the White House? Well, let’s see….
You have coffee with Bill….
You pose with Jackie
You stash a few of these fancy paper towels from the bathroom in your bag. Hey, if they have their name on it, they WANT you to take it. It’s good PR, right?
You send a video to your mom of all the White House China because she is so jealous you didn’t take her with you to the White House and you hope this video helps a little.
You tour the White House Kitchen Garden and strike a little pose because you feel fancy.
You realize those killer heels were a bad choice for walking through the garden…
You somehow snag a front row seat and you say over and over “Be cool, Amanda. Be cool”
Then you settle in because now it’s time to hear from the panel and the First Lady ,and you were one of the 150 influential bloggers invited to this event.
The panel consisted of a powerhouse of ladies that were wicked smart, influential, and making real changes that will benefit our kids. After every woman spoke, I wanted to know more about their organizations and The First Lady’s Initiatives like:
We first heard from Deb Eschmeyer, Executive director for Let’s Move!, and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition, who told us a bit of background on the Let’s Move! initiative. Did you know that ONE in every THREE children in the United States are considered obese? How scary is that statistic? In 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted the White House Kitchen Garden and in 2010 she launched Let’s Move! which is an initiative to help kids and families lead healthier and more active lives.
Here’s Olympic Gymnast Dominique Dawes introducing Michelle Obama, White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford wiping up a kale salad, and Ryan Shadrick Wilson the Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel at Partnership for a Healthier America who introduced the super cool Fruits and Veggies (FnV) Campaign.
Then the First Lady Came out to speak, and let me just tell you, she was AMAZING. Smart, funny, and at times, I felt like she was talking RIGHT to me.
Mrs. Obama said that this was an initiative near and dear to her because when she was working full time, she found herself taking the kids to too many drive thrus and heating up too many dinners in the microwave. But after a doctor told her she needed to focus on her kids’ health and weight, she got down to work in her own house, and when he found herself in the White House, she knew creating Lets Move! was going to be where she spent her time as First Lady
Because of the work of Let’s Move!
-1.6 million kids are now attending healthier daycare centers where fruits and vegetables have replaced cookies and juice.
-Over 10 million kids attend Let’s Move! Active schools where they strive to get 60 minutes of physical activity a day
-More than 30 million kids are eating healthier school breakfasts and lunches
-Nearly 80 million people, that’s 1 in 4 Americans, now live in a Let’s Move! city, town or county where kids can walk to school on new sidewalks, participate in a summer meal program, or join a local athletic league.
And as Mrs. Obama said, the 150 bloggers in the room had a social media reach of tens of millions and that the voices of Mommy Bloggers have power and can help to make changes that are important to our kids. And then I got weepy again, because come on, how amazing is that? The First Lady thinks blogs like mine are powerful messengers and that she is proud of us. Excuse me while I cry a little again.
After the event I basically floated all the way home and couldn’t wait to see my kids who were more impressed by the goodie bag that had a beach ball in it then hearing about my day at the White House. Oh well, someday they will get how amazing this day was for their Mamma.
If you’ve got a jokester in your house, it’s time to get prepared for April Fools Day. Over at the Today Show I’m sharing 11 family-friendly April Fools Pranks that will have everyone in your house giggling all day. Click right here to see the post!
Grab those eggs (gently, very gently), round up the kids, and prepare to make a huge mess–maybe a few tears–but mostly fun, mostly. If you’re getting ready to dye eggs with your kiddos, don’t do a thing until you read my 7 Mom Hacks for dying Easter eggs over at TLC. Click right here to read the post!
