The Mom Crowd

Our friend Sara at the baby boutique, Baby Cakes, is offering a special promo code to the readers of The Mom Crowd. You may use the promo code ‘momcrowd2′ to receive 15% off any of your purchases.

Stop by Baby Cakes when you get a chance and check out these awesome items!

• momAgenda Babysitter Info (I could have seriously used this a few times.)

• Rock n’ Rule Mom

• Green to Grow BPA-Free Baby Bottle Regular Neck 5 oz Bottle

• Lime with Raspberry Dots Peony Hat

Who doesn’t love a giveaway?

Be sure to stop by Pampering Beki’s blog to enter a contest to win a beautiful handmade pearl bracelet. Her store on Etsy is filled with really cute handmade earrings, hair clips, and so much more. Also, you will have the good feeling of supporting your ‘local’ mom business.

Don’t forget about our own BlogHer Conference Pass giveaway!

Click here for more details about winning a BlogHer Conference Pass valued at $348 dollars.

What is it like? I just experienced going to a home birth as a birth assistant a few weeks ago and it was awesome. It felt so normal and natural for the mom to labor and birth in her own home with her other children nearby. As a supporter and advocate of mother centered birth I have always been excited about home birth and the idea that women should birth their babies where they feel most comfortable. For some women, it is their home. They feel more comfortable and safe in their own familiar environments. They don’t have to worry about poking and prodding from strangers and can simply move from room to room as they feel during labor. Once the birth is over mom can shower in her own shower and then go to her own bed with her baby. So easy! After seeing it firsthand I can understand in a new way why mothers choose home birth.

Where does the mom birth her baby? Wherever she chooses. Midwives have a list of supplies for the mom to acquire before the birth and one of them is usually a clear vinyl shower curtain that can be laid on top of the bed or floor to protect the surface. If a mom thinks she will want to birth in her bed she will put on a set of sheets, the vinyl shower curtain, and then another set of clean sheets on top of the shower curtain. The shower curtain protects the mattress and once the birth is over all the midwives need to do is take off the sheets and shower curtain used to birth on and throw them in the washer and then mom has some clean sheets to lay down on. A lot of moms will birth their babies next to the bed in a squatting position or in the living room. Some midwives have birth stools for the mom to sit on while she pushes the baby out. Midwives will talk with the mom either when she arrives for the birth or ahead of time about where the mom thinks she will birth the baby. If the mom has a good idea where she will want to birth the baby then the midwives will set up their equipment nearby so it will be convenient to get to during labor and birth.

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SAHM is the internet savvy way of saying “Stay-at- Home-Mom.” Stay-at-home Moms choose for many reasons to stay home with their children. For some, the costs of childcare outweigh the income made if the mom worked outside the home. Other moms are miserable working their 9-5 job and are looking for a change of pace. Other moms choose to forego the workforce so they can spend that time with their children. No matter the reason, there are millions of women who are SAHM.

Ask any SAHM and you’ll receive a laundry list of job titles she holds. Childcare worker, teacher, taxi driver, facilities manager, short-order cook, laundry attendant, janitor, counselor, CEO, entertainer, personal stylist, administrative assistant, accounting clerk, nurse, plumber, automotive mechanic, and cake decorator are only a few of her job titles.

While there is no monetary compensation or typical work benefits like 401k’s or sick leave, there are a lot of satisfying rewards in being a SAHM. The obvious include being there with your children for every milestone, boo-boo, and story time. The not so obvious (and somewhat selfish) benefits include, having breaks for yourself when the kids are napping, all day pajama days, and a more flexible schedule (unless Connor is your child, requiring you to be home for his 9:00am and 1:00pm naps because he is too cool to sleep in the car. LOL!)

The hardest part of being a SAHM for me is that I have three bosses (my husband, Darah, and Connor) who do not always synchronize their job assignments for their lowly slave me. Even with the most supportive of husbands, sometimes he will expect things of me that are just not possible depending on the mood of the day. Some days are very laid back and I’m able to shorten my to-do list. Other days are so chatoic and I’m unable to accomplish anything! These days may include a sick child, a child who won’t nap but desperately needs one, or a child who takes off his poopy diaper and smears it all over his crib. The “more flexible” schedule comes at the cost of having to be on call of untimely events.

I found this article which outlines four things every SAHM needs to know. These four things include:

1. Be proud of what you do.
2. Keep in touch with friends.
3. Stay organized.
4. Get in touch with your creative side.

What are your days like? Do you find your job as a SAHM harder or easier than when you worked?

The Mom Crowd is giving away a free full conference pass to the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco this July 18-20. This pass is valued at $348!

What’s the catch? All that we ask is that you write up a guest blog post for The Mom Crowd about your experience and what you learned at the conference. The guest post will need to be submitted within a week of the conference ending. Also, all blog posts are better with a photo, right? You can also share a favorite photo from the conference.

Sounds awesome, how do I enter to win? All you need to do to enter to win is leave a comment in the comment section with a short description of your blog and a link to it. You enter to win a free pass and you get to promote your own blog. How super is that? Please include your email address when you fill out the comment form so we can contact you.

You have until Friday, June 6th, at 10:00 p.m. Central time to enter. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Saturday morning.

Thanks for entering!

For more information about the conference:
BlogHer Conference Blog
Conference Summary Page

I’ve just got to start by saying how proud I am of McKenna and Amanda (and her talented hubby!) for producing the most excellent first episode of The Mom Crowd Show. In case you missed it, the grand debut was yesterday, and you can catch it by clicking here. I don’t know about the rest of y’all but I can’t wait to see more! And I am honored to be a part of this blogging crew.

Now, onto another reason I feel proud.

After two pregnancies, a stressful move from one part of the country to another, and hundreds of boxes of Cheez-Its, I was bigger than I had ever been. For many months, I was just too tired and stressed out to worry about it. Come last December, though, two things happened that inspired me to action: the annual Rocket City Marathon came running through my city – heck, my neighborhood! – and a friend of mine in Texas had just completed her first half-marathon. As I watched the runners push themselves and as I read my friend’s awesome account of her marathon experience, I found myself saying aloud, “I’d like to do something like that sometime.”

And I realized that there was no time like the present. I was new in town. I didn’t have a lot of money for entertainment. My phone wasn’t exactly ringing off the hook with social opportunities. I needed to lose some weight. And I needed a self-confidence builder. Enter my new, free hobby: running. I’d never really done it before. But I knew I had to give it a try. We have a treadmill at home, so there really was no excuse!

I started off slowly, with my friend Jan’s coaching. She made me a running calendar to follow, which I did, faithfully, for about ten weeks. I was feeling great, and the pounds were coming off. The psychological benefits were the most rewarding: I felt as though I was the most beautiful mom in the world. And frankly, it’d been a very long time since I’d come anywhere close to thinking something like that.

In mid-February, I realized that our family could not handle the sacrifice of scheduling that’s required of marathon runners. The runs were at least an hour long at that point. I knew I could keep up with it physically, but time-wise, we couldn’t fit it in, unless I got up before the kids (and yeah, that’s not gonna happen.) I knew I was going to have to suspend my marathon running goal, and I was okay with that.

I decided to focus on 5 and 10Ks (3.1 and 6.2 miles, respectively) from that point on. Right around that time, McKenna posted about running her own 5K race, and it was so fun and encouraging to read about her and other moms go for it. I kept at it, and McKenna was a great encouragement to me!

Ultimately, I chose to make my race debut a 5K, and I’m glad I did. I set a goal for myself and made it happen. It was an important accomplishment for me. (You can catch my take on the race at my personal blog.) My husband and the kids have been cheering me on from day one, and Lucy has watched me train day in and day out for the past several months. As soon as the sneakers come on, she asks, “Mommy exercising?” It makes me proud that she sees me do this on a regular basis. (The Cheez-It consumption, on the other hand, I manage to keep hidden from her! )

Why is this relevant to a mommy blog? Many of you may in the same boat that I was: lonely, bored, physically latent. I’d just like to say, if you have a desire to do something like this, go for it. As my friend Jan told me, “If I can do it, anyone can.” If it is possible, ask your husband, friend, or family member to watch the kids while you run for 30 minutes. It ultimately benefits everyone, because as we all know, if Mommy’s happy, the whole family is happy. And exercise is a great booster!

Most of all, when we get bogged down in the day-to-day mom grind, it can be easy to overlook doing things for ourselves. (I should know. I don’t even brush my hair now when I get out of the shower. Ha ha! Up, up, up it goes when it’s still wet.) Finding something that makes you happy and challenges you physically and mentally is great for your self-esteem. And the pride and confidence from your accomplishments is visible to the kids; they recognize it and appreciate it!

Have a great weekend, and do something that’s good for you!