Why Not Add One More

This is quickie post to explain me being MIA for like a week. I have been feeling tired and run down and pretty much not like my normal energetic self. This is completely atypical for me. I eat well, I workout, and so generally, I am one of those super annoying always active people.

These last few weeks, not so much...

So, we did some tests and went to the doctor, and we can now officially say "We are expecting #2 in May 2016!!"

In a way this is nice because it forces me to take a break and take some things off my plate. For example, I will probably not be performing for a while or competing in pageants. I will still be teaching dance however, which is awesome since I need some dancing in my life!! I will also still have my nonprofit to run and my job and grad school. So still plenty to do!!

We will also be moving prior to the baby coming (fingers crossed). We definitely need more space if we hope to fit another person in our house.

T is super excited to be a big brother although he has no idea what that means. I think he just likes to say the phrase. Either way we plan to try to include him in things as much as possible. For example for the gender reveal I want to have him open a box and then either blue or pink balloons will come out. I know he won't know what it means, but I thought it would be a fun way to include him. We also got him a big brother book and shirt.

Any other ideas on including your kids in prepping for a new baby are definitely welcome!! Definitely put your 2 cents in the comments!!

Thanks for all your love and support!! More tips will be coming later this week, don't you fret!!

Cheers,

Emily

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Family Time: Mixing Work and Play

OK. So based on the title of this blog, clearly we're busy. We're parents and workers and family members and we have our own interests to pursue. We have bills to pay, houses to clean, food to make, and a laundry list of other things that we need to do in order to keep of family organized and running smoothly. All these things however, cut into the most important time we have, family time.

As I see it, we have 2 options here: do some of these things as a family, or let some of them slide. Only some. Admittedly, there are certain things that we can't let slide and aren't appropriate family time activities. Like paying bills. I have yet to find a useful way to include my toddler in that and it is definitely not something we can let slide. But a lot of our other tasks can be made into family activities.

Laundry, for example. In our house the break down is my husband loads the washer and dryer and T and do the folding and putting away. I always let T help me. Sometimes its actually helpful and sometimes its not, but we have fun either way. When I fold my husband's and T's t-shirts, T's job is to identify the characters on the shirts. Sometimes he wears special laundry time attire for this job, i.e. one of my husbands shirts. Another T job is to sort out all the socks so that we can match them and roll them up. He thinks its a game. He gets to work on his matching skills and we get to have fun together, AND the laundry gets done! Win-Win-Win!!

Another family time activity can be putting toys away. T and I play different games depending on what we have to clean up. Sometimes we have races to see who can clean up the fastest. Sometimes we put all the toys of a certain color away first and then move on to a new color. Sometimes we let some toys help us put away other toys. For example, recently Sulley assisted us in putting away our puzzles when were done playing with them.

A few other family chores include setting the table and dusting. T is excellent at bringing dishes and utensils from the kitchen to the dining room table. He also loves to dust. If he sees you with a dusting cloth, we demands a wipe so he can clean as well. We like to have dusting races and see who can clean their half of the table first. We also test each other to see if we can remember how to put things back the way they were. As long as its a game, it doesn't feel like doing chores!

Some things that slide: sweeping under furniture, sometimes the dishes, a full cleaning of the bathroom, definitely cleaning above windows and light fixtures. The thing is, I am OK with that. My house doesn't need to look like a museum, we live there and it should look like it. I would rather sit on the floor and play Legos than make sure my sink is constantly empty. Being busy means you have to prioritize, and for me, my priority is having fun with my toddler before he's not a toddler anymore.

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Toddlers and Trips: How to Combine the Two

As a toddler mom with several road trips under her belt, there are a few useful tips that I’ve learned that I though I’d share. Especially, with all the pumpkin/apple picking trips coming up, I thought this might be pertinent.

The first tip is about departure time. We have found it best to choose a departure time shortly before lunch. We pack a lunch, pack up the car and head out. As soon as the toddler starts to get cranky, we whip out our packed lunch and eat. This keeps him content a while longer. After lunch is his usual nap time, so we get additional quiet travel time as the short man naps. This process gives you a good several hours of travel time without having to entertain your toddler.

When going on longer trips, we like to plan our route and note interesting locations along the way. We plan breaks in our trip by finding places that only take 1-2 hours to check out, but are perfect for toddlers to get their wiggles out.

While driving, we make up games based on what our toddler is into at the moment. So when he was all about colors, we would point out the colors of the things we passed by. When he's into singing, we have sing-a-longs of his favorite songs. When he's into counting, we count the cars we pass. We also have special toys reserved for when we are out of the house. This makes them more exciting to play with since we don't get to play with them all the time.

While we are not cool enough to have a built in DVD player in our car, we will load a few movies and TV shows onto our iPad as a last resort. The best thing is to be prepared and have several options for your toddler. Toddlers are fickle creatures and can be unpredictable, but coming in prepared is your best bet.

Good luck!!

Cheers,

Emily

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The Liebster Award

I am very excited and honored to have received a Liebster Award, which recognizes new bloggers. The award is given to new bloggers from other bloggers with less than 200 followers. It’s a fabulous way to show encouragement and support to the blogging community. I began creating my blog in August, and I'm just starting to promote and talk about its contents because well, I am a busy mom! I was nominated by Eileen who writes an awesome food and family blog called everydayeileen.com! Eileen has great recipes some of which I have pinned myself, and her story is truly inspiring! I highly advise you all to please check out her blog site everydayeileen.com and like her on social media! She is awesome! The rules, or guidelines, if you will, for the nominees of a Liebster Award are:

Post your award to your blog. Answer the questions that were given by the person nominating you. Nominate a small group of other new bloggers you’ve discovered. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer. Thank the blogger who nominated you, and link back to their blog.

1 What three pieces of advice would you offer to other new bloggers?

My 3 pieces of advice would be:

1) Just start! you can worry about making your site pretty and adding cool features little my little. The important thing is to get your content out there.

2) Be consistent. It's hard, but regular posts keep people interested and lets new viewers know that this is something you are actively working on. It makes them more likely to subscribe. Even if your post just says I don't have time for a post, you are showing that you are active and aware that a post was due.

3) Have a good mix of fun and content! People come to the internet for info, so you need to provide useful content. But every post doesn't have to be strictly informative. Share fun stories and show that while you have great info, you are a person too!!

2 How did you come up with the idea or theme of your blog?

As a busy mom, it just made sense to share what I have learned about balancing life, family, work, and everything else. I don't know if I'm an expert, but I have definitely learned a lot of tips and tricks along the way.  I have always been super busy/involved, so some of these tips come from my pre-mom life, but all of it is useful now!!

3 What is something you would like to do with your blog that you have not done yet?

Eventually, I would like to have guest posts to expose my audience to other talented bloggers.  I hope to also have the opportunity to post on other blogs down the line.

4 Where would you like to see your blog in one year?

In a year, I hope to have a healthy following and have shared lots of useful advice with my audience.  I am also working on 2 books that I hope to promote here and elsewhere!!

5 What is the average length of time you spend on preparing a blog post?

Generally, about an hour or two including adding pics, and tags and headlines, etc..

6 How much time during the day do you spend on your blog?

I try to post about 2 times a week.  I also send out a weekly newsletter which can take up to an hour to put together. On the rest of the days, I just come on to check comments and messages.

7 Has has social media helped you with growing your blog, and if so, what is your favorite form of social media?

Somewhat, I am still working on that end.  My favorite form is Facebook. Twitter is too fleeting.  You post something and its pushed down the feed in seconds.  I also really like Pinterest for sharing posts.

8 Describe yourself using three words!

silly, smart, ambitious

9 What has been your biggest blogging challenge?

At this point, I'd say getting exposure.  This early on, finding topics to post about is easy.  The difficulty is getting these posts in front of the targeted audience, busy moms.  Some moms feel they are too busy to sit and read blogs, so I try to keep my posts short but informative with a healthy dose of humor!

10 How do you motivate yourself to keep the blog up and running?

I motivate myself with the knowledge that I have something important and useful to share. Even if each post only helps one person, that one person is better off.  I recently had someone tell me that they loved one of my posts and they would be using the info.  Hearing positive feedback in definitely motivating as well!!

So, drumroll please!!! Here are my nominees for the Liebster Award, I really ask that you all check out these websites! These bloggers are providing some great information and I am really impressed with their content, and when you do check out their sites, share the love by subscribing to their blogs or liking their Facebook page, Twitter, etc…

Tassika, www.tassika.com - a motivating blog by a strong and talented woman and author

Katie, www.katiejoyphotographyny.com - a fantastic blog about family and photography.

Here are my questions for you all!

1 Please tell us about yourself and your blog?

2 What inspired you to create your blog?

3 What three pieces of advice would you offer to other new bloggers? (That was such a great question, I had to pass it on.)

4 What is something you would like to do with your blog that you have not done yet?

5 Where would you like to see your blog in one year?

6 Who are some of your favorite bloggers and why?

7 What are your current top 5 favorite things?

8 Describe yourself using three words!

9 What has been your biggest blogging challenge?

10 How do you motivate yourself to keep the blog up and running?

Congrats to the new nominees! These are some great sites everyone should go check out. And once again, thanks to Eileen www.everydayeileen.com !

I am looking forward to following these bloggers and can’t wait to see what they will be posting about next!!

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Your New Family Calendar

One of the best ways we have to keep our family organized and on schedule is to have a family calendar posted in a central location in the house.  T and I created one over a year ago and it has been serving our family ever since.  Ours is made of chalkboard stickers and it is posted on our dining room wall.  Each month we update it with all of our various schedules.  Each person has a different colored chalk to represent their activities.  For my husband, since his work schedule changes every week, we write what his work hours are. For me, I work a 9-5, so i just write in when I'm off.  We also write in our extra-curricular activities, like when each of us have rehearsals or events.  T has his own color for his activities like dance class or doctors appointments.

Everyone posts their activities, so that everyone else knows what is going on.  That way things can be more easily planned and scheduled.  If we want to plan a night out, we just look at the calendar.  If we want to invite people over, we can easily see when everyone is free.

A calendar however, is only as good as how accurately it is maintained.  Its's easy to start the month and put in your work schedule or days off, and the already planned events.  Where the difficulty comes in is when things come up during the month, especially when you schedule things when you are not home.  Here are 2 things I do:

1. Use a family calendar app like Cozi, this way when one person adds something to the calendar, everyone can see it. It really helps prevent overlaps when everyone has a busy schedule or at least lets you know when both parents have plans and you are going to need a sitter.  Whats great about Cozi is that if you are used to just adding events to your phone calendar, Cozi can automatically import those events to the shared calendar so you are not doing double work.

2. When you add something to your phone calendar while you are out of the house, set a separate reminder for yourself to add that event to the calendar when you get home.  Often times we start the month organized but as we get busy, we forget to add things to the family calendar.  Then when the day of an event arrives we are totally flustered.  If you set up a future lunch date with a friend while you are out, add it to your calendar and also set a reminder on your phone for a time when you know you will be home to add it to the wall calendar. This ensures that your calendar is always accurate.

Now back to the wall calendar, I think a big bold calendar is best; especially one that is easily editable.  While the paper calendars you buy at the store are great for knowing the date and having nice pictures, they are not so great for this purpose.  As plans change, these calendars can get pretty messy.  I recommend either a chalk board or a dry erase board calendar.  These are not too expensive and they wipe clean, i.e. you can use the same calendar for years and years!

Here is a ready made chalk board calendar which you can get for about $20:Chalk Board Calendar

For our calendar, we just bought a roll of chalk board contact paper and cut it out to form our own calendar.  You can find a role for just over $6 here : Chalk Board Sticker

As a final option, here is a link to a dry erase board calendar for about $10: Dry Erase Calendar

No matter which option you choose, the calendar is only as good as how well it is maintained.

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T's First Dance Class

Today I brought T to his first dance class. As a dancer, this was a day I was waiting for, for a very long time. It was also my son's first class experience without one of his parents with him. As a family, we are lucky enough that I work days and my husband works part time nights and weekends, so T is able to stay home and not attend day care. His one other class experience was swim class over the summer, but his dad was in the class with him. This time he was on his own.

As a dancer mom, I had mixed emotions. I couldn't wait for his first class, but I was unsure of how he would react. He had watched me teach class numerous times, but now he was the student and mom was going to off with the other moms in the waiting room.

At first he was excited to have space to run around in the dance room, but when class started he wasn't so sure. I stayed in the room at first to see if he'd warm up, but I soon realized he would not be participating if I was there. I took my first opportunity when he was detached from me, to make my getaway.

Conveniently, the dance school has cameras so you can watch your child from the waiting room. I watched as T stood by the door waiting for my return. He was intent on the class however. Soon he edged his way closer to the action. Eventually he stood with the group. By the time it was time to tap at the bar he was ready. Admittedly, he wasn't the best at following directions and was generally facing the opposite way at the bar, but he was participating!! I couldn't be prouder!!

This is especially noteworthy as he is also the youngest kid in the class and the only boy. The class ranges from 2.5-5 and he just turned 2.5 a few weeks ago. All in all i think it was a success. He already attempted to kiss one of the girls and came out of the class saying "T shuffle." What was helpful is that his teacher is one of my closest friends so he didn't feel like everyone was a stranger.

I can't wait until next Saturday to see how he progresses!!

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Surprise Eggs And Family Finger?!?!

This one goes out to the moms of toddlers and preschoolers. When my son was really small sometimes when we were out, we would let him watch videos on YouTube. It started out with us parents choosing Toy Story or Sesame Street videos as these were his favorite characters. Eventually, he learned how to pick his own videos to watch from the ones suggested. This led him to find the biggest baby crazy I never knew existed:

Surprise Eggs

You can find surprise eggs all over YouTube from all different channels and accounts. Some videos provide narration of the toys that are found in the eggs, others just provide music. The eggs are either plastic or chocolate wrapped in foil and generally feature various cartoon characters. Inside the eggs are small toys, stickers and key chains. Surprise eggs are difficult to find in the states as they are not distributed in the U.S..  This led us to have to order these eggs online so my son could open a few of his own.  We have purchased a few boxes which we have given to him for special occasions.

On the other hand, the watching of egg videos eventually leads to watching videos for Shopkins and Mashems and pretty much any other toy that comes in a blind bag or surprise box. These other toys are available in the U.S.

These videos can be anywhere from basic to elaborate with puppets, animation, and giant eggs decorated in play doh to look like popular characters. My son can now sit and watch several videos of people unwrapping surprise toys in a row and be fully entertained. He now knows characters from shows he's never even seen because he's watched the toys unwrapped. He can even narrate a few of the videos with the host.

One time we went to a friends house who has a daughter about 6 months younger than T (my son) and she was watching Bubble Guppies. My son immediately started naming the characters. My friend asked me if he liked the show. I responded, "He's never seen it. He just knows them from watching their toys being unwrapped on YouTube." She looked confused; I told her just wait, her daughter will be doing it too!

Due to this obsession, we now have 15 Mashems at home several Shopkins, a minecraft mini figure and a few mini pops from Funko. When at the store my son will recognize any toy that comes in a surprise bag or box and proudly announce the name of the character. While this makes is easy to pick little toys every once in a while that we know he'll love, it makes it difficult to walk by the toy aisle of any drug store.

This brings me to my son's other YouTube obsession: Family Finger

This is a video of a hand and a song about the different fingers. The song starts out "Daddy finger, daddy finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am, how do you do?" They then repeat this for mommy, brother, sister, and baby. This can be very easy to learn for toddlers. Parents are on the fence of whether this is good or bad....

This video has thousands of versions using images of pretty much every cartoon character. So for example, there's a Toy Story family finger where each finger is one of the characters from the movie: daddy finger = Woody, mommy finger = Bo Peep, brother finger = Buzz, sister finger = Jessie, baby finger = Potato Head. The song is pretty catchy much to every parent's chagrin. My son has taught every member of our family the family finger song. He can sing this song endlessly without getting bored. Somehow he doesn't find it as mind numbing as his parents do.

Luckily, we are not alone. My husband was in H & M recently and he heard another toddler singing the family finger song. The toddlers dad confirmed that his daughter was also obsessed with the videos on YouTube.

Is your toddler or preschooler obsessed with family finger or surprise toys? Are they obsessed with something else from YouTube?

If you too have a child obsessed with Surprise Eggs you can find an assortment of eggs here: Eggs This is where we got them for the T monster and he loved them!! He also reenacted his own surprise egg videos...

Cheers,

Emily

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Pre-mom vs. mom vs. post-mom

Ok so the post-mom part of the title is a bit inaccurate, you never stop being a mom once you become one. I just mean to say post having your kids at home, but for title purposes, that seemed more catchy.

Today, I'd like to talk about why I think it's so important to be a multitasking mom, and it has to do with the 3 phases of a mom's life: pre-mom, mom, and post-mom.

Prior to becoming a mom, we all had lives and ambitions and we had a lot more time to ourselves to pursue whatever we wanted. We probably had jobs and families and all, but for the most part our free time was our own. Pre-T (my son), I worked full time, danced for sports teams, taught dance, took dance classes, was studying for actuary exams, and participating in community theater. When offered a new performance opportunity, I jumped at the chance. If a team practiced 3 times a week plus games, who cared. Dancing was how I enjoyed spending my time.

Now that I have T, guess what, I still enjoy dancing. Not only do I enjoy it, but I still pursue it. Just differently.

I still need to work full time to support the family. But my love for dance didn't stop just because I made a person. The thing about dance is your child rearing years are also your prime dance years. It's not exactly a field that you just jump back in when your kids are grown. Plus it makes me happy. I don't want to wait 18 years to make myself happy. So I adapt.

I still dance for companies and teams, but I choose teams that don't require as many practices. I teach at places that allow me to take my son with me and I specify when I am available to teach. I choose not to teach on weekends so I can have family time and I am available for all those fun weekend events that come up. I also select gigs that only require a few rehearsals, if any.

I make it work because while I love my husband and son and spending time with them, I know I am a better mom when I am feeling fulfilled. I am super lucky to have supportive family and friends as well. My inlaws are always willing to watch T if I have a rehearsal, my husband will bring T to my performances, and the places where I teach allow T to sit in class with me. Without that kind of support, I could never balance it all.

The emotional support is key as well. My husband encourages every endeavor I pursue. He never questions when I say I want to try something. When I decided to try pageants, that meant that our family vacations we're going to be wherever I was competing. My husband just asked when and where. He never questioned or complained or asked me to stop. We make it work.

This has a lot to do with my husbands pursuits as well. My husband works, but he also pursues acting. He understands the need to fulfill the part of yourself that was there pre-kids, so we work with each other so that both of us can pursue our outside interests.

Now back to the 3 stages. While it's important to pursue your interests during parenthood because you will be a happier better person, it's also important for after your kids grow up. If you do nothing for yourself when your kids are growing up, then what do you have when they leave? A lot of time and nothing to do. While it's perfectly acceptable to start trying new things at that point, it's nice to have something that you've maintained throughout.

You're the same person at all three stages. Your goals and dreams and inspirations may change, but you should never stop pursuing them. It's what makes you, you.

Love yourself and make time for yourself. It's one of the most important tasks in your multitasking life!!

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