Real Working Mom

Care.com Free Fri-Sun

2009-11-06T17:38:00.000-05:00

Care.com is opening up its site to everyone for free. From Friday to Sunday, anyone can search for caregivers, post jobs, and get contact information. It’s a great opportunity to try out the site, post jobs, and find a caregiver.

Year of Care Giveaway

2009-10-01T09:39:00.000-04:00

There is a big giveaway running on Care.com. Last week, they started running the Year of Care Giveaway. It's a sweepstakes open to all families across the U.S. We're giving away $12,445--the cost of a year of child care for the average American family.

All parents have to do to win the $12,445 prize is to visit Care.com before Oct. 9th and sign up for a free Basic Membership or subscribe for a full Premium Membership. Or if they're already a Care.com member, they can register through their homepage.

Check it out!

Working Moms Are the Mobile Power Users in the U.S

2009-09-27T12:35:00.002-04:00

Mashable- Working Moms Are the Mobile Power Users in the U.S. - http://bit.ly/TkOQ7

Yeah...we have to be! LOL

working mom book

2009-09-24T20:38:00.002-04:00

Watch for our review coming soon! A book focused on a working mom and her child, ADVENTURE ANNIE GOES TO WORK by Toni Buzzeo published by Penguin Group USA.

THE BOOK focuses on a Saturday when Mom has to cancel a play day with her young daughter, Annie and take her into the office instead. Adventure Annie with her superhero cape and intrepid spirit turns Mom's lost report into adaring escapade.

THE ACTIVITY GUIDE (a free download) tells young readers that "sometimes you have to help your Mom out" and provides all sorts of activities to do while waiting in Mom's office.

REVIEWS: This entertaining book provides a good opportunity to talk with younger children about the challenges, and rewards, that women in the workforce experience when they combine their paid jobs with raising children."--Yana Rodgers, Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children

"The bright, full-color pencil and watercolor pictures are set against ample white space and show the warm relationship between mother and daughter. This is an office adventure that children will want to experience and a heroine they'll love meeting." --School Library Journal

Yonkers Working Moms - foundation set up for you

2008-05-09T16:50:00.000-04:00

Mary J Blige announced she set up a foundation to help working moms. It starts in Yonkers, NY and she plans to expand nationally!!! Check it out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_en_mu/people_blige

Myth of Balance

2008-04-01T14:26:00.001-04:00

Another Real Working Mom friend of mine, Julie, sent me this link to a great article. The article talks about the myth of balance for working parents. The author talks about the teeter totter on the playground as an example. This is my son and my Dad playing on one during a family reunion. Balance is hard to achieve but can be fun!!

Read the article and enjoy:

http://www.womansday.com/home/12797/the-myth-of-balance.html

BA

What do you want from Real Working Mom?

2008-02-10T17:24:00.001-05:00

The Real Working Mom staff is working to figure out what we need our website to be and what our goals are as a presence on the web. We thought it would be helpful to find out from you what you were looking for when you found our site. We'd also like to know what you want to see on our site.

As working mothers, the Real Working Mom staff struggles to find the time to focus energy on the site. We are very proud of the Real Working Mom idea and want it to be a useful presence on the world wide web. We want to improve and grow our site to fill the void of support for working mothers that we have all experienced. Take a moment to comment with your thoughts, ideas and inspirations on our blog. We'll take your input to heart as we work to define the direction of our site to better met your needs.

Thanks!!!!

Voted 2007 Best For Families!

2008-01-16T17:16:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much to the readers of Washington Family Magazine for voting Real Working Mom as one of your favorites!!! Real Working Mom was listed in the "Other Stuff" category.

Great working mom editorial on Oprah.com

2007-12-20T14:53:00.000-05:00

This editorial made me and my working mommy friends want to stand up and cheer!!!!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/12/19/three.mommies/index.html

Great article on working moms and stress

2007-10-16T14:56:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since I blogged here...such is the life of a working mom! A friend (another working mom) sent this story to me so I thought I'd share it here. We all know a bit about stress!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/10/15/hm.stress.less/index.html

Summer is too short for vacations!

2007-06-06T00:35:00.000-04:00

I don't know how others feel, but it seems to me that there is never enough time to fit vacations in during the summer! We have so many things we want to do, so many places we want our kids to experience, but time and money tend to stand in the way. Not to mention that being a working mom means vacation time accrued at work is most often used for illnesses. So we have to be patient and do just one or two things per summer, and usually on long weekends. That's fine, we don't mind, but we don't ever feel like we get a "true" vacation. Admittedly, our kids are pretty young and we have plenty of time to do big things like Disney or visiting Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play (my husband and I are both Cubs fans) or getting to San Diego and Seaworld.

So for the time being, we enjoy doing our weekend camping trips. And these are things we will never give up, because we absolutely love it. But we live in an area where we can go for weekend trips just an hour or so away, so that's nice. We also try to get to the beach for a few days at least once during the summer. Also something we have the luxury of living close to. We are outdoorsy people and we intend to raise our kids that way as well, so hopefully they will enjoy those weekend excursions just as much as we do.

And hopefully they don't mind if they are 10 when they get to meet Mickey and Cinderella for the first time. Wrigley Field isn't going anywhere anytime soon, either.

Summer Vacation

2007-06-04T09:55:00.001-04:00

We've never planned our summer vacations well. We're not really beach people, and summer is a beachy kind of season for a vacation. Being that we are all white as freshly bleached socks, fun in the sun is not a great vacation for us as a family.

Our first summer-time vacation was Rome in the beginning of July. Rome is an amazing city with a thousand places of wonder within it. However it is about a thousand degrees from June until September.

As a teenager I went to Sardegna (Sardinia) in the summer. Sard is an island off the southern coast of Italy, north of Sicily, and is amazing in the summer. Surrounded by water the weather is wonderful, the ocean amazing (although I did burn to a crisp) and the nightlife totally hot. Unfortunately boats & nightclubs aren't on the list these days.

Last year we went to Florida, and did two weeks at Disneyworld. While we had fun, I would never go there in the summer again either. Hot sticky and lots of sporadic rain.

When someone figures out the RIGHT place for pale people to spend the summers, please let me know!

C

Debunking Mother's Day

2007-05-17T15:25:00.000-04:00

At what point is mother's day going to start feeling like a day that is about me? Here we are, my 4th year as a mom, and I still feel like this is a holiday where I should be honoring my own parent. My sweet husband doesn't help, he's never been much of a Hallmark guy, and I think he is stuck in the same thought- that mother's day is about HIS mom. Some days it feels like we're still teenagers. My daycare provider was wonderful though, she had all the kids make picture frames and took pictures of them holding signs that said "I LOVE YOU" to put in the frames. Adorable. I guess even when I'm not quite convinced this holiday is about me, someone else is there to remind me that it is.

Caroline

Japanese Steak House - mesmerized kids and happy parents!

2007-05-08T14:09:00.000-04:00

My family and I went to Vegas this weekend. We wanted to do a nicer dinner, but didn't want to be "that" family (you know, the ones with the obnoxious kids while you are trying to have a nice meal AWAY from your kids). We took them to Bennihana (which is all over the US - it is a Japanese Steak House).

The food was really awesome. The kids were mesmerized by the cooking in front of them, which actually allowed my dh and I to have a REAL conversation and a couple of drinks. The waitstaff was really kid friendly - they even recommended the kids split a kids meal, but brought them both soups and ice creams. My ds, who is 3, loved the novelty of eating with chopsticks. They made him a pair of 'kids' chopsticks using a paper and rubber band. They both ate wonderfully - my ds ate a whole bowl of soup, shrimp, rice, chicken, zucchini, and some of my steak.... and ice cream! I think it's the most he has ever eaten at one meal.

So, if you are looking for something a little nice, but will have the kids with you, I highly recommend the Japanese Steak house - good food and free entertainment!

caligirl34

RWM Final Four Bracket

2007-04-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

We are down to our final four of Famous Working Moms!!

Don't forget to vote:

http://realworkingmom.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bracket

It's down to Sandra Day O'Connor, Toni Morrison, Julie Clark andMeredith Vieira.

Round Peg, Square Hole

2007-04-18T20:21:00.000-04:00

I don't fit in well in today's society as a working mom...or at least I don't feel like I do. It is hard enough to fit in as a woman in the workforce especially the IT field. I work with mostly guys. It was easy to fit in with the late hours and going out for drinks before kids. But now with the rush to get to daycare before 6:00 PM, it is impossible to hang out and be one of the "boys". They also don't always understand why the daily struggles of just getting to work. By the time I have my three year old and myself dressed, fed, and in the car, I'm exhausted. Then I have to face rush-hour traffic and the who-knows-how-it-will-go drop-off at daycare. Three year olds are manic little personalities. Some days he is happy to go play with his friends...other days he's crying and begging me not to leave him. Either way, I've had a full day before I even get to the office!

Then you get to the office...who do I fit in with there? I've already talked about the guys. They mostly have SAHM wives who handle the family details for them. The other officemates are singles. They don't have a clue or even care about your struggles with kids and work. So, there's not much to chat about with them beyond the standard water cooler issues. However, because I got to bed early or spend the evening watching Krypto the Superdog cartoons I really don't know what is going on in the world! Those conversations don't last too long.

So, I've made it to lunch...this is where I either go workout or run errands. I seem to always run into the SAHMs during this hour. On the days where my son cried when I left him at daycare, I feel insanely jealous of the mommy pushing her son through Target casually shopping for things while I run as fast through the store as I can grabbing what I came for and forgetting most of what I needed. There is no time for conversation to make friends with the SAHMs in the store. I'm not sure what we'd talk about anyway. Our lives are so very different!!!

The one group I do fit in with and who understands all that I go through, are fellow working moms. However we are too busy to barely keep friendships alive. I have a group of friends in my city that are all working moms. We manage to do lunch together about six times a year and have a magnificent Christmas party every year but that is all. We love each other dearly but our children are the focus for now. Friendships have to just maintain the status quo.

Online friends are the main way I fit into society. Bulletin boards such as www.RealWorkingMom.com and www.disboards.com and www.scrapshare.com allow me to have a community to feel at home. The boards are always there...during my breaks at work and even at 2 AM when I'm up with a sick child or just plain insomnia. Thank God for the Internet or I'd feel all alone in this working mommy thing.

BA

Fitting in As a Real Working Mom

2007-04-15T13:30:00.000-04:00

We don't fit in with SAHMs, we don't fit in with the corporate climbers anymore because we don't have the extra time to give to work. So, how do we fit in withe the other women in our lives????

Our blog team will be posting thoughts on this topic over the next two weeks. If you have something to share with us, email webmaster@realworkingmom.com. Or head over to our bulletin boards to talk about this and more.

http://realworkingmom.proboards106.com/

BA

Elite Eight

2007-04-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

This is so fun. The Elite Eight are ready to vote for :) This is going to be interesting to see who moves forward.

Here are the competitors:
Katie Couric v. Meredith Vierira
Julie Aigner Clark v. Jodie Foster
Toni Morrison v. Emme
Sandra Day O'Connor v. Paula Dean

Go Vote!

http://realworkingmom.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bracket

RWM Famous Working Mom of 2007 Voting Has Begun

2007-04-04T09:59:00.000-04:00

It's time to help RWM select it's Famous Working Mom of 2007 and we need your help. Come vote for your favorite famous working moms as we go from the Sweet Sixteen to the Elite Eight to Final Four to our winner!You have until Saturday, April 7 to vote for the Sweet Sixteen bracket.

Have fun and thanks for participating.

Here's the link to vote: http://realworkingmom.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bracket

RWM Best Working Mom Bracketology

2007-04-02T20:40:00.000-04:00

With all the bracket mania going on for March Madness and basketball, RWM will be having our own "Best Working Mom" bracket. Here's our initial field. Watch for polls to vote to advance through the bracket.

Sandra Day O'Connor - Supreme Court Justice, supported Roe v Wade
Toni Morrison - Nobel Prize winning author. She also wrote children's books with one of her sons.
Paula Dean - Famous television chef and author. She has a restaurant business with her sons.
LaKisha Jones - Single mother going for her dream on American Idol.
Cindy Crawford - Original supermodel, designer, breast feeding mom
Meredith Vieira - TV News personality -- "one of the most visible working mothers on television"
Angelina Jolie - movie star and activist, biological and adoptive mother
Julie Aigner Clark, founder of Baby Einstein
Liz Lange, founder of Liz Lange Maternity
Sharon Osbourne - TV personality, wife to Ozzy Ozbourne and mother to three children
Emme - plus-size model - www.emmestyle.com
Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) actress, activist
Jodi Foster- actress, activist and breast feeding mom
Katie Couric - First female nightly news anchor, activist and mother
Elizabeth Vargas - quit the big job for more time with family/children, television news
Hillary Clinton - politician, running for President in 2008, former First Lady

Must haves from the convenience queen.

2007-03-31T14:20:00.000-04:00

I personally, love the gadgets. I love anything and everything that will make my life as a working mom easier. Unfortunately when I had my first child, NONE of my friends were working mothers, and some of their needs were different than mine, so over time, I discovered "my" list of must haves. I will try to do them justice:

Infancy:

Carseat: A good lightweight 5 point infant carrier that will last at least 6 months. I prefered to get the seat and the Snap-n-Go rather than a full size stroller. I used our umbrella stroller when she was awake (long time spent in a carseat isn't good for baby, so take them out as much as you can!) I hated the travel system I had with my first child. For my second baby we had the Graco Safe Seat and it was a GREAT carseat.

Swing: Full size or travel size, this was a must in our house. My kids both loved to be rocked, and there's only so much rocking a mommy can do when she's cleaning up dinner too!

Breast Pump: If you are nursing, the Medela Pump in Style is a great take to work pump, and it comes in a backpack. Since I was pumping a lot, I also had a Medela Symphony that I rented.

Boppy Pillow: For nursing or formula feeding, this is a must! Or a pillow like it, but I loved my Boppy and my 18 month old still uses hers.

Swaddle Blankets: I got a few from the hospital but when it became clear I had babies that LOVED being swaddled, the Miracle Blanket became my best friend! It swaddled my daughter until 8 months.

2 diapers bags: 1 stays in the car, stocked with everthing but the kitchen sink. Then a little one I can throw on my back with a couple diapers a snack and pacifiers to run into a store!

Sling: I loved my Peanut Shell and New Native carriers for the first year. They are easy, compact, and very very comfortable.

Bumbo Seat: my daughter loved this seat.

For Daycare: I love the idea of sending a disposable camera to school, so that your daycare provider can take pictures of your kid(s) during the day. It's wonderful to see them!

Older Babies
Again, a good carseat. Convertibles that have higher height and weight limits (look for high top slots) will ensure your child gets the MOST use of out their convertible seat. And allows them to rear-face longer (which is safer, for more info go to http://www.carseatdata.org. )

Umbrella Stroller: I have a double and a single, which is nice when I go out with only 1 of my two kids. The Chicco, Inglesina lines are a less expensive alternative to the well known Maclarens, and they hold up really well!

Caroline

"Must Have Baby Items"

2007-03-27T10:20:00.000-04:00

I think a lot of "must-have" baby items vary from baby to baby. Each kid is different and has different needs. When you're about to become a parent for the first time there's a certain amount of pressure to buy the right things and have certain things. But the truth is, a lot of this stuff can wait until after baby (your baby's personality may not require it) or simply not be bought at all. Here's a few things I've discovered as the mom of two.

What should every parent splurge on before baby comes?

A high-quality carseat. There's no price on safety.
A good digital camera and video camera. You can't get those moments back!
If you are going to be breastfeeding--get a Boppy pillow (or some other specially designed support pillow) and bring it with you to the hospital.

What should you wait until after baby comes to buy?

Bottles. You need to buy SOME but don't go nuts. Buy a pack of the ones you'd like to try. Just remember that Baby may have a different opinion and want a completely different kind.
Miracle Blanket. Not all kids need to be swaddled. My first one didn't, but my 2nd one did. And when she started wriggling out of her receiving blanket swaddle, the Miracle Blanket was a lifesaver!
Baby Bjorn. My first child didn't care for being carried this way. Of course I had the cheapo version of the Bjorn which really hurt my shoulders and back so that might've made a difference. My 2nd child wanted to be held and carried all the time. I was reluctant to use my old front carrier because it was so uncomfortable. A friend loaned me her Bjorn and it made all the difference in the world. I carried baby everywhere in this thing and my back was fine.

What can be skipped to save some money?

Highchair. We bought the fancy highchair for our first child. We have a small dining area and the thing took up SO much room. I was so happy to move her into a booster seat. It straps to one of our dining room chairs and can be used with a tray or just pushed up to the table. When our 2nd one came alone, I did not want to pull that highchair out of storage. We tried her in the booster seat from day 1 (six months old). It worked great and took up much less room. If you have a small dining area like we do, go straight to boosters and forget the highchair!
Changing table. Some people love theirs. But think twice before shelling out the big bucks on one of these. With both kids we actually used it AS a changing table for maybe the first 6-8 weeks of their lives. After that we just changed them on a floor or couch or bed. The changing table was just a storage place for diapers, wipes, etc. Now we have this thing to get rid of... I wish we would've spent the money on an extra dresser instead. We could have used it for diapers early on and clothes now.
Umbrella stroller. Again, this is just me. Some people love the convenience of the umbrella stroller. But personally, I never used ours. The regular stroller folds up almost as compactly AND it has cup holders, a tray, a storage basket for the diaper bag, etc.

Happy shopping!

Must Have Baby Items!

2007-03-26T17:57:00.000-04:00

My "baby" is almost four years old now. Man time flies. Anyway, I'm having a hard time remembering the things that helped me the most during his infanthood. Memory is a tough thing when you are in multi-tasking overload as a working mom!!!

Here are a few things I felt were useful:

camera -- take millions of pics - time goes by fast (see paragraph above!)

Baby swing -- if they make them now where they plug in that would be better. We used TONS of batteries in the one we had. It was the only place he would sleep most of the time.

Playtex bottles with disposable inserts -- made bottle feeding easier since you tossed the insert and didn't have to wash inside those long & thin bottles.

Something I'll buy if I ever do it again: co-sleeper baby bed. I ended up co-sleeping (still do) with my son and I wish I had started that way from the beginning.

Sense of Humor -- babies and sleep deprivation make you crazy! Try to laugh....lots! :)

BA

I have to have it!

2007-03-19T00:39:00.000-04:00

When I was pregnant with my first child, I had a long laundry list of items that were "must haves." This according to the magazines, friends, and fancy advertising to catch naive eyes like mine. We had all the newest and finest accessories. We were set--we just knew our baby was going to be so happy with all of these things!!!

Wrong.

The only thing that was actually worth the $100 was the Baby Bjorn. It was a lifesaver with my daughter. As an infant, she was colicky, and not happy unless she was being held. So the Bjorn is the only thing that gave my arms a break. And, daddy could wear it, too. She hated the swing, took a long time to warm up to the bouncy seat (and then quickly outgrew it), and used her exersaucer for maybe 3 months because she was an early walker.

When my son came along, we were veterans and knew not to buy into all of those gimmicks again. Sort of. We did need to buy some new things, since we had passed a few of our older things onto friends. It was hard to resist the temptation to buy all brand new stuff, because man things had changed in just 2 short years! My one sadness was the loss of our Bjorn. It had literally been lost and we don't know where. But finances were tight and we couldn't see spending another $100. So I spent $15 on a cheaper version. And guess what? It worked just as well as the Bjorn and our son loved it. Go figure.

Other things that were handy but not quite so valuable would include the booster seat/high chair, the travel swing that my son liked much better than the large contraption bought for our daugter, and our small co-sleeper bed that both kids used for the first few months of life. Beyond that the best thing anyone ever gave us was diapers!!! You never stop needing those. I actually requested a casserole/diaper-themed shower when pregnant with my son because I learned how important those practical gifts were after the first child.

So I guess when it comes down to it, go practical. The fancy stuff sure is appealing, though.

Volunteering

2007-02-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

It's so hard to find time to volunteer but I always feel so good when I do it. I also want to teach my kids by example. I am an active member of the PTO at my son's preschool. The PTO's main priority is to raise money to help buy things for the school and the kids. For example we recently purchased a new computer for each classroom. In the past we have helped buy some playground equipment, books and other supplies for the classrooms, a digital camera, and a die cut machine. Every Christmas we also help organize the adoption of a family through a local children's hospital. It is truly wonderful to see my son and the other kids benefit and grow from these things.

I also help out church. I don't do nearly as much at church as I would like to but as my son gets older I hope to do more. Each year at Stewardship time I try to sign up for one more thing. So far it's working.

I also do a lot of things at work for the United Way. This is great because I am allowed work time to do these things. Which means I don't have to give up any time with my family.

My story is not terribly exciting. But there it is!

Sam