BLOG
It’s New Years, so bring on the resolutions, right? I’m guessing that 85% of people’s resolutions revolve around food and fitness. Fewer desserts, more miles on the treadmill and the like. I’m no nutritionist, nor fitness buff, but from years of working out with learned professionals, and years of training as an athlete, I’m going to opine here on 5 steps to a healthier you this year. Welcome 2013! 1) Water is your number one drink. Eliminate soda. Limit coffee & tea. Really limit beer (calories!). Eradicate energy drinks (so unbelievably terrible for your system). Pace freshly squeezed juices. Continue with milk (cow, almond, soy, rice, coconut). Pump up your water. Water comprises 60% of your body. It’s necessary for almost all bodily functions…
READ MORE
It’s Christmas. For us that means lots of religious customs. We’re religious folk, AA and I. Our sense of spirituality is bizarrely similar, given that we were raised with fairly different approaches to it. We love tradition. We love dark churches lit by candles. We love Latin chanting. We love a quiet session in the Adoration Chapel. We love private prayer. We love our parish {see article I wrote on it here}, the same one I was born into, and now the same one our children were! Spirituality and religion are so profoundly personal. And not everyone wants a sense of either. And many of us are still on our journey of either/both/one. Given that each person has a particular journey, why start religious instruction…
READ MORE
Obviously my child is unattended. Seen here about to be eaten by our 6 pound Siamese cat. Did everyone see this HuffPo article out yesterday? It was viral in my newsfeed on Facebook. Of course, that’s probably because of all the mom groups I’m part of (yes, I’m that mom on Facebook). It’s by Amy Morrison, blogger at Pregnant Chicken, entitled “Why You’re Never Failing as a Mother.” See it here. She’s clever and funny. She talks about all the insanely over-the-top things you’re supposed to be an expert in/amazing at as a mother, while mothering, and probably while working. Two things hit me from the article: 1) How much our family culture has changed: “If you think about it, if you had a baby…
READ MORE
Every December starts with a whoooosh. Thanksgiving pies settle in our stomachs and before you know it, it’s the beginning of Advent, the Catholic’s celebration of starting a new liturgical calendar and prepping for the celebration of Christ’s birth. Then it’s holiday shopping, holiday baking, holiday parties, and the actual holidays, and then New Year’s, and then recovering from all the goodies you wolfed down and resolving to work off all those calories. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But, I’m resolved to follow these five steps to prepare better to truly enjoy and celebrate the holidays this year. 1) Shop ahead of time. Go local, go artisan, go upcycled. Buy the same thing you can get at a big chain from a mom& pop…
READ MORE
My sister and I with her little girl when she was 7-ish months and me pregnant with SweetPea. Giving birth radically changes your body in so many ways, on the surface of your skin, and inside on a cellular level. And to top it all off, you have a new human being as the biggest change of all. My body bounced back more quickly after SuperBoy, and still isn’t quite normal 8 months after SweetPea. (Of course, the caramels and real cream in our mashed potatoes doesn’t help.) This is my little guide to loving your post-baby body. 1) Remember that you share(d) your body with another person–with that comes many changes. Your child grew inside you. What you ate affected them. The sounds around you…
READ MORE
This is a common developmental occurrence. Child prefers one parent to the other. It can vacillate, or it can seem like a perpetual stream of “dadadadadadadadada” or “mamamamamamama” to infinity and beyond. Here’s how this plays out in our life, and how we handle it. 1) Encourage love of the other parent. I’m with SuperBoy and SweetPea all day long. When AA comes home, I want to encourage them to be excited, clap, hug, go wrestle him/leap into his arms. I practice saying “da da da da da” all day long with our almost 8 month old daughter. I’d be delighted if it was her first parental address, as it was SuperBoy’s. It’s not a competition. Conversely, AA encourages SuperBoy to take a break during…
READ MORE