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Welcome to 1 Mother 2 Another! To read my most recent weblog entries, scroll down. To read entries from one category, click the links at right. To read my journey from the beginning, click here. To find out more about me, click here.
Top 5s
Short on time? Click here to go to my Top 5s Page - links to my top five recommendations in every category from Breastfeeding Sites to Urban Living Solutions.

Nostalgia

Madeleine’s been eating rice cereal for almost a week now, and she’s on a vitamin supplement with iron.  We just had a diaper insufficiency incident, and I never thought I’d say this, but –

I miss the yellow seedy stool.

Thanksgiving's Greatest Hits

Back safe and sound in our happy home.  Visiting was great, but traveling as new parents is so exhausting that I feel more tired now than I did at the beginning of our “vacation”!  Madeleine is so happy to be back in her small familiar circle; she’s crowing and smiling and scooching all over the familiar terrain of the living room floor, saying hello to her long-lost friends.  Having survived our first full-on family assault (go to Dallas and take no prisoners!) I thought I’d give you the rundown of the items that helped make life a little more bearable.  The mini-bar in the hotel is a given, and is not listed here, but that’s more for Mommy.

Top 5s Teaser

Are you looking to cut to the chase? Need advice on a product or area NOW? Jump here directly to our convient TOP 5'S PAGE where we tell you our opinion (and yours) on the top five items/sites in different categories.

Buy Now, Pay Later

My girlfriend Abby is often fond of saying, “Every decision you make as a parent comes down to this:  Do I want to pay now, or pay later?  Do I enforce a rule now, or do I let it slide and deal with it when it’s a bigger mess later?  Do I lose sleep tonight when I sleep-train my baby, or do I lose sleep for the next three years as I get up to soothe him back to sleep every night?”

I’m starting to really understand what she means.


Being Grateful - What Else?

We spend every Thanksgiving with my husband’s large family, and one of our traditions just before dinner is to go around the table saying one thing that we’re thankful for.  I still remember the year my nephew Nick said, “I’m thankful for Nana’s mashed potatoes.”  When his mother looked at him sharply, unsure if he was mocking, he said, bewildered, “Well who wouldn’t be thankful for her mashed potataoes?”  With 22 people at said table, you’d think the kids would get impatient, but by the end there’s more than one misty eye in the room.

Kitchen Sink Not Included

When I was a ballet dancer, I had the biggest dance bag in the company.  A very large weekend tote bag, my dance bag was stuffed with – aside from the basics like pointe shoes and warmers - everything from a big roll of duct tape to a full-sized hammer.  Everyone teased me, but they all came to me to borrow band-aids or sew on ribbons or – yes – hammer something.

Little did I know that hefting that thing around was training me to be a mommy.

And We Get To Do It Again Next Week

We’ve done it – we’ve successfully navigated our first Holiday Travel Day.  I’m having to start mentally gearing up for the return trip already.

When we went to Wisconsin, Madeleine was three months old.  I was incredibly nervous, but the trip went smoothly thanks to girlfriend tips and the fact that Maddie was pretty young and so amenable to hanging out anywhere as long as we were with her.  Now, at 5 ½ months, she’s got some definite opinions about sitting in one place for too long.  Who knew.