The Mom Crowd

Are you taking a Christmas road trip this year? Check out the web tool CostToDrive.com if you need to budget how much it will cost to make that road trip this year. All you have to do is enter your destination and the year, make, and model of your car and then it will calculate about how much would spend on gas getting there. My husband recently shared this gem of a website with me. He had read about it over J.D. Roth’s Getting Rich Slowly blog where he does a more in depth review of the site in his post.

CostToDrive.com is pretty cool if you love to budget and plan for trips like I do!

When my husband and I were childless we didn’t not understand what life was like for our friends who had kids. We sometimes wondered why my sister-in-law would leave early from a family dinner so her kids wouldn’t miss their eight o’clock bedtime. We didn’t understand why one night would be such a big deal.

We also had grand illusions of how we would be different as parents. We dreamt of getting sitters often and going anywhere at anytime with our kids. Then reality hit us  with our first baby.

Now that we are parents we certainly have a greater understanding of what it means to parent and we have a lot more grace for other parents.

Here are ten things that we just didn’t understand before our little one came along.

1. Bedtimes and nap schedules are important to keep kids and parents happy.

2. Getting a babysitter is a big deal and expensive.

3. A night out with adult conversation is a treat.

4. How difficult it is to get a great photo of your child.

5. Not feeding kids sugar is important, because it really does make them hyper.

6. You just can’t go anywhere at anytime when you want, no matter how flexible your kids are.

7. Kids don’t always behave as you want them to in public places.

8. It really does take a long time just to get out the door.

9. Don’t assume that a child’s misbehavior is a result of lack of discipline.  Most of the time parents really are trying their best and the kid is just acting their age.

10. Mother’s Day Out and other programs like it are very awesome.

Did you have grand illusions of what parenting would be like before kids? Were there things that you didn’t understand about your friends with kids, but you get now that you are a parent?

• Check out Dave Ramsey’s Creative Christmas Gift Ideas list that won’t make you go into debt. I like the second idea about framing your kids artwork for family members. Ikea has some nice cheap frames. I would love to receive the fifth one down. Who doesn’t want free babysitting?

• A Wild Ride’s blog is featuring a series on Holiday Tips for Special Needs Parents.  Even you if don’t have a special needs child these tips can be applied to anyone.

• Mindi at Moms Need to Know is quickly becoming one of my favorite frugal blogs. I re-discovered her in my RSS reader when I started using it again. She posted about a Macy’s 20% off coupon that can be used until Dec. 15th. (I got my daughter’s Christmas dress there last year for a fraction of the original $54 cost. They may already be marking things down now.) Also, check out Mindi’s post about tipping during the holidays. I agree wholeheartedly with her tipping approach.

• Crunchy Domestic Goddess compiled a list of eco-friendly Christmas crafts. I hear about handmaking gifts every year, but what do you make? This post offers a few ideas.

My post about sex while pregnant has been published over at BettyConfidential.com. So far everyone is giving it a rating of 5 stars. When I looked it up and showed it to my husband this morning, he noticed that my face was bright red. I am writing about s-e-x on the web. So maybe I am like the Carrie Bradshaw of motherhood like the Fox News reporter said. Except my Carrie is married and has only had sex with one guy, but like her, sex can be like a fairytale (except when I am pregnant!) Check out the article here.

I saw in my sidebar here at The Mom Crowd the title  “Body image issues during pregnancy” under the More from BlogHer section. Morra Aarons Mele published a post titled “Pregnant, fat” over at Blogher.com. I had to go read it.  I have been having my own body image issues with my second pregnancy.

With my first I was excited and proud to show off my belly. I worked in an office and proudly wore my heals and dressed up all the way up until the very end. This time I am at home and don’t really have to impress or look cute for anyone. I am casual everyday in my new skecher tennis shoes with no laces. So I don’t feel like I take as much pride in the way I look this second time around.

As a result of my horrible morning sickness and strict gestational diabetes (GD) diet I only gained 25 pounds with my first pregnancy. I felt back to normal and lost it all within 9 months of having Annabelle. Another reason why I am not truly motivated to keep my weight down this pregnancy is because I know that the weight comes off pretty easily after the baby comes.

Since I found out I was pregnant and knowing that I might have gestational diabetes again I have been allowing myself to eat whatever I want. Bring on the cake, pie, cookies, and brownies.  I have tried to ease up on the sweets since Thanksgiving, but not as much as I should. Tomorrow I take my first test to determine if I have GD again. In a way I am completely okay if I have it, because it will help me be super strict with my diet. The only downside is that if I can’t control it with diet and need insulin, then I can’t birth at the birth center I have been attending.

I have let myself go and I feel huge this pregnancy. I already mentioned how I don’t really feel up for sex very much lately and this certainly does not help. I have no energy and I feel fat. I am afraid to get on the scale. Okay, maybe I will just for you guys. I am back from standing on the scale. I have gained 23 pounds and I am only 26 weeks pregnant. ugh. (That is only 2 pounds away from what I gained total the last time I was pregnant.)

It also doesn’t help that strangers and people mention how huge I already am. They don’t believe me when I tell them that I still have three months to go. One person and her mother insisted up and down that I was further along than I think. Really, I know when the first date of my last period is. So not only do I feel huge, other people like to confirm that I am.

I don’t have any helpful solutions for making myself or anyone else feel better about their body while they are pregnant. My only hope is to slow down my weight gain and look forward to when I have my body back to work it all off.

Did you have any body image issues while you were pregnant? Did you really feel fine and happy to be round or did you look forward to having your body back?