Rookie Moms

Quick Macaroni & Cheese (without the box)

2010-09-02T03:34:14Z

Food, food, food! Do I seem obsessed to you? I truly believe that getting dinner on the table Every Single Night is one of the great challenges of rookie-mom-dom. We welcome our good friend, Karen, to share another easy peasy recipe with our readers: Quick (and healthier) Mac and Cheese good enough for kids and adults.

I admit I’m a sucker for that bacon trick. Oh, and the breadcrumb trick. Yummmy!

I am going to tell you a dirty little secret about myself: I like Kraft macaroni and cheese from a box. It might be because I ate it so much as a kid that I have some sort of Stockholm syndrome thing going on with it, or it might be that I am just not all that refined. I only occasionally eat it at home, and when I do it’s totally on the down-low and I shamefully hide all the evidence afterward. In case you’re not disillusioned enough by my bad habits yet, let me also reveal that I put soy sauce on it. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it: the soy sauce actually makes the orange chemical cheese-like product taste more like, well, cheese. Strange, I know.

Of course, the sad thing about that Kraft box is the questionable ingredient list. Aside from the unnatural Doritos-colored cheese powder, did you know that one of the main preservatives in boxed Mac and Cheese is a common ingredient in laundry detergent? Ick.

The good news is that contrary to popular belief, macaroni and cheese is really easy to make from scratch, and offers a lot of room for customization. All you have to do is make a white sauce with milk, flour, and butter, then add cheese. No laundry detergent required! I like to serve it with broccoli and mix it all together on my plate. Pork-o-philes can cook up a few slices of bacon crumble on top. And I know it’s a lot of carbs, but it’s great with toasty garlic bread too!

Recipe: Quick Mac and Cheese Without The Box
serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb. macaroni (or penne, campanelle, or other short pasta shape of choice)
3 Tblsp butter
3 Tblsp flour
1 ½ cups milk (nonfat won’t work- whole or 2% will work best)
1-2 cups grated cheese of your choice (I like the cheddar/jack mix with a little parmesan. if it’s just for grown-ups, I’ll add some gorgonzola too)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Turn off heat and stir in flour with a whisk. Return to medium low heat and add milk, stirring. Cook stirring constantly until thickened and smooth, about 5-10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and stir in cheese. Cook, stirring, until cheese is melted, 1-2 minutes. Mix with pasta and serve.

Not-so-secret hints:

Feed the baby: Mush up some cheesy noodles with a bit of small cooked broccoli pieces.
Lower the calories: Mac and cheese is definitely not a diet food, but you can at least use low-fat cheese. I recommend the shredded “Mexican” blend you see in the butter aisle of the supermarket because a lot of low fat cheese is a little funky in the texture department.
Make it fancy: Put the mac into a buttered casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs. Bake in a 400 degree oven to toast the breadcrumbs. You can also do this with tater tots but I’m not sure that qualifies as “fancy”, per se.
Leftovers? In my house there is never leftover mac and cheese, but if you find yourself in this situation, this sounds like a good idea.
Take a shortcut: We talked about the pros and cons of the box already, right?

Graduating our rookie kids

2010-09-01T03:19:47Z

Today the babies that inspired this website start public Kindergarten. Holy macaroni and cheese.

A moment of reflection today.

As Julian and Holden have grown, we’ve grown the site, adding activities for toddlers, then preschoolers. But now what?

As Heather and I struggle to balance our dedication to supporting true rookie moms with our self-centered desire to blog authentically and document our own real lives, we frequently debate how our readers might be reacting to what we write. Fresh new moms, we fear, will be unable to relate to tales of shoelace- tying lessons and soccer practice.

On the flip side, if we stick to nursing bras and maternity leave outings, we offer nothing to our peers with whom we entered the world of motherhood in the mid 2000s. Of course some of them are doing it all over again, but they are no rookies. (Although aren’t we all rookies? Forever?)

Julian swinging, the same week this website launched.

Julian in the same swing, last week.

So what do you think? Newbie moms, do you enjoy reading about our big kids or do your eyes glaze over when we talk about them? RSS subscribers, we hope you’ll click through today and weigh in. How old are your kids? How long have you been reading Rookie Moms?

Reader tip: Waterproof your photography

2010-08-31T16:01:24Z

One of our longest-time readers, LauraC, sent us this tip. Although it’s late in the summer, I want to share it because it’s super useful, and also because I adore these pictures of Laura’s twin boys in the pool.

I was recently introduced to waterproof digital point and shoot cameras by a friend. I bought one because we spend so much time at the pool and it has quickly become my summer best friend. It is something I think all moms who spend any amount of time near water would enjoy.

No more worries about kids splashing the camera and destroying it
Great for beach shots so you don’t worry about sand ruining your lens
Small and compact to take to water parks, parties with water slides, pool parties
No more developing costly underwater shots from disposable waterproof cameras
No more sitting on the side taking pictures of your kids in the water, you can be in the water taking pics!

I bought my camera refurb for $80, mostly to be cheap but also to be environmentally minded and to test it out to see whether I would get use out of it.

Since my boys are four now, it’s been a long long time since a “thing” was so exciting to me so I thought I would share. I wish I had it when my boys were toddlers splashing like maniacs in the baby pool!

I’m pretty much purple with jealousy at Alex and Nate’s swimming abilities because my son is older than they are and can’t swim. Read more about Laura and her fish-like sons at jonandlaura.blogspot.com.

Related:

Heather reviewed and approved a waterproof digital camera
Get a waterproof case for your regular digital camera on Amazon.com
Get exactly what Laura has: Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Green) but she bought it refurbished on NewEgg.com.

Stocked Kitchen report, week two

2010-08-30T17:18:36Z

I continued on with my Stocked Kitchen experiment to see if I could settle into more of a groove. The answer was kinda YES and kinda NO.

We had two preschool potlucks and a multi-family camping trip and I didn’t have to go to the grocery store one extra time. How flipping awesome is that? Super duper shmuper awesome!

So why kinda NO? Well, my need to be on top of things in my life includes my desire to plan meals. While I love having the ingredients on hand for a classic cheesecake should the obligation arise, I want to know if we’re going to use that whipping cream before it turns chunky.

Because chunky whipping cream is a real tragedy.

For the second phase of my experiment, I was especially aggressive in using up the ingredients I wouldn’t normally buy (such as canned crab and blue cheese).

The weekly report
My grocery bill was less than half of the obnoxious sum of last week ($127) but pretty high because I stocked up on a huge maple syrup. The other extenuating circumstance was that Milo’s preschool just outlawed peanut butter so I grabbed almond butter, tahini butter, and sunflower seed butter so we could have some options.

Our menu:

Sunday: leftovers from last week’s experiment.
Monday: I made Vegetable Tortilla Roll-ups to get through some cream cheese (Alec liked, the rest of us not so much) and marinated a steak using one of the book’s marinades. Steak was good. The boys didn’t eat very much. I suggested that Alec choose tomorrow’s dinner.
Tuesday: Success! We had Beef Tacos with side of Feta Peas; the boys wouldn’t eat their taco meat IN the taco but ate it right next to their tacos. Instead, they made tacos with avocado, cheese and strawberries (not on the sk* list)

Taco night
Wednesday: Fail! Out to eat for me (Paisan, nice) but I confess that I unearthed some veggie burgers that have been frozen for more than 2 years (when we were last Costco members). The failure was not due to the cookbook per se, but without a plan, I floundered.
Thursday: Success! Crab Cakes were loved by all. Unfortunately, I only had one can of crab so I had to halve the recipe. Also, Holden forgot eating his and asked if it tasted like cake. Everybody liked these deep-fried goodies. I’m going to buy more crab for next time.
Second success: Holden had a “Happy Goodbye” celebration at his preschool and we brought the remaining Peppermint Chocolate bars to share with the kids. No baking, no extra buying.
Friday: Dinner potluck at the preschool. I brought the Vegetable Tortilla Roll-ups (eww) and Asian Coleslaw (yum).
Saturday: Hooray for the camping trip. I pre-made Mediterranean Pasta and Gazpacho. Both were great! By virtue of the bounty of a potluck camping trip, we discovered that the Pasta was tasty with sliced spicy Italian Sausage.
Sunday: All from my Stocked Kitchen: Bleu Cheese and Pear Chicken (Holden and Alec loved, Milo and I would barely touch it, but since I loathe bleu cheese, I was just happy to get it out of the house), Baked Potatoes (everyone loved!), Gazpacho (Alec and I loved, Holden ate with enough goldfish crackers and Milo… well, Milo ate his potato). What I did like about the chicken recipe is that I could bake all the ingredients from frozen with four minutes of prep. And it was a thoroughly creative recipe as compared to what I usually serve.

Next Steps:
This coming week, I’ll plan ahead my meals based on my weekly plans and the Stocked Kitchen cookbook and (maybe, just maybe) not purchase some of the ingredients I don’t like (sorry cream cheese!).

For the fourth week, I will take Annie’s advice and shop for some non-can alternatives to the Stocked Kitchen staples (like jarred artichokes and olives) and start working in my own favorite foods into the cycle.

Related links about meal planning and other experiments:

Activity #50 Plan Meals
My experiment with Six O’Clock Scramble (classic) and newer version.
The jam plan – when I tried to jar up all kinds of strawberry jelly with friends (fun but yucky) inspired by Get a Hobby!
Week one of Stocked Kitchen experiment
Stocked Kitchen book on amazon

*sk means on the Stocked Kitchen list.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book and I am letting it guide my life for a month because I think the authors are list-writing geniuses!

Bec and Ben’s Very Rookie Summer

2010-08-27T19:41:30Z

Allow me to share the ninth installment of our Very Rookie Summer series.

Bec is just beyond the official definition of being a “true rookie” mom to her son Ben. Ben is a whopping 13 months old. She is sharing the story of their rookie camping trip together on Vancouver Island at Rathtrevor Provincial Park.

For even more details about the camping trip (and the rest of Bec’s life), see www.becshulba.blogspot.com.

I have a 13 month old, Ben. My husband, son, and I were camping with friends and their children, ages 5, 3, and 16 months. Because camping was their idea, I figured they were pros. I wanted to appear to be a pro myself therefore, packed enough food for 7 days instead of the intended 2 days and packed a suitcase full of clothes for each of us.

Unfortunately, this only made me look more disorganized when I could never find what I was looking for. Thankfully, I soon discovered that our friends had only camped with their brood once previously. Phew. The (imagined) pressure was off.

We spent most of each day at the beach, building sand piles and driftwood forts, finding baby crabs, and unintentionally filling diapers with said sand.

Despite my son’s excitement for beach activities, I brought him back to our campsite for his naps twice each day. Each nap, he lay down in his pack-and-play and slept immediately which was a big surprise to me – but being outside is tiring for little ones! During the toddlers’ afternoon naps, my friend had her 3 and 5 year olds bring out their backpacks with their chosen toys. She laid out a blanket in the forest next to our campsite for them to play on and we hung out in our folding chairs. The shade of the trees was perfect change of pace for the heat of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, sleeping at night was not as easy. 20 – 30 minutes of crying to go sleep the first night. Our friends’ toddler cried for even longer one night when she went down. Leaving a baby to cry-it-out in a campsite is total stress. What we found, however, is that they eventually do go to sleep. We were camping in a camper on the back of pick-up truck. The pack-and-play was set up with a little path to our bed.

When it came time for us to sneak in to our camper, our friends whipped out glow-sticks! As it turns out, glow sticks (you can a pack of them for a couple dollars at Michael’s or Wal-Mart) are the best kind of night-light for camping! They’re not bright but in the pitch dark, they’re all you need. Even though we took our glowsticks and tried our best to get into the camper bed quietly, Ben woke up. He definitely seemed scared of the shadowy shapes carrying tiny beams of coloured light so I quickly picked him up and assured him it was his mommy. I gave him a comfort bottle in hopes to resume drowsiness but no such luck. Wailing ensued. At 11:30pm in a campground. If I had thought crying at a 7pm bedtime was stressful, it was nothing compared to this. Now, I’d read many a blog post and heard from many a friend that when they were camping, their kid ended up sleeping in their bed with them. While I could never quite imagine this working with my baby boy, I pulled him out of the playpen and popped him in between my husband and I. Terrible idea. I don’t know who these kids are who lay down and sleep between their parents when camping and they are not Ben. Ben was instantly full of giggles and energy. Back into the playpen he went. Yes. We let him cry it out at 11:30pm with our friends camping right next to us and the sound carrying far and clear to many a campsite nearby. Sigh. But he fell asleep.

Both mornings that we were camping, Ben woke up between 5:30 – 6am. After bad sleeps, this was way too early but it got me up and going for a half hour walk each day. And thankfully, this campsite has a Nature House that also sells Organic Salt Spring Island Coffee…mmm…

So, camping with a toddler – was it worth it? I didn’t even tell you the “how do we clean the sand off this baby?” story! Let’s just say that we made some memories and I’m sure we will be back but maybe we’ll wait a year or two until next time so we know that he will actually remember it too. :)

If you’re ever in British Columbia, Canada, more specifically on Vancouver Island, I would highly recommend Rathtrevor Provincial Park as a place to camp with children. The bathrooms are clean and have showers. There is not only forest to play in but beautiful beaches with both rocks and sand. The water that comes out of the taps is drinkable. These are all must-haves in my book when camping with wee ones.

Related Rookie Moms Posts:

Activity #152: Go camping
What to Wear: toddler camping version
Find your own glow sticks or glow bracelets on Amazon

Activity #257: Meow, bark and tweet at the pet store

2010-08-25T03:48:44Z

My friend Mary (who had her son Del in the same hospital the day after I had Julian) gave this idea to our moms group. She said that 13-month old Del loves the pet store where he can check out the animals, especially the birds.

To kill two birds with one stone (no-offense, bird lovers), you could be a really nice friend and offer to pick up pet food for that post-partum friend of yours, meanwhile taking your older baby on a super fun and free outing.

We think a pet store or aquarium is actually better for young toddlers than the zoo because they can get so much closer to the animals.

Thanks for the sweet ride, GMC!

2010-08-21T06:48:45Z

Now that I’ve been home for 2 weeks, I have finally recovered from my family vacation. Because we live on the West Coast and our families live Out East, every time we cross the Mississippi, it turns into a full-on Family Vacation, capital letters required.

Three thumbs way up

This year, we managed to sync up my plans to go to the BlogHer conference in New York City with my mom, step-dad, sister-in-law, sister, brother, nephew, and niece so that we could visit all kinds of people at once. We augmented our already ambitious cross-country flight with a monster road trip.

Big shout-out to GMC for providing the wheels (and car seats!) for this adventure.

We flew from SFO to JFK on my favorite airline, Virgin America. It was smooth (well, all but the gogo wifi, which was patchy and made me grumpy!). The awesome dude who coordinates such things with bloggers made sure that the GMC Terrain was waiting for us at a mysterious off-airport lot (with cool elevators for the cars!) and we were good to go.

Alec and I stuffed it full of luggage and explored some of the neato features of the sound system before rolling away. We hit the road with the passenger-as-copilot monitoring the iPhone maps and headed for dinner in the Bronx. Apparently, that was our first mistake.

Upon getting into the Terrain after dinner, our GPS seemed confused. Rather than shooting us Up North through New England, she was now suggesting we go Down South through New Jersey. Uh oh. We seemed to be on an invisible boundary between totally different routes. Every time our car faced one way, we’d get one set of directions; and when we turned around, we’d get the opposite directions.

Mom, he's touching me

Ultimately, we headed towards Jersey and didn’t make it too far out of The City before finding a hotel for the night.

In the morning, we packed up our gear into the (ample) trunk and headed off for the real road-tripping. We made pretty good time including a few rest stops (for wrestling and running) and a few meals.

Wrestling Stop

While we were in the Adirondacks, the Terrain served us well for beach excursions, hikes, rainy days, runs to the town dump (sorry GM!), and it even carried the bike and cheering section (us) for Alec’s victorious triathlon with my family.

Ready for the beach

After a week of Vacation, I took the train back down to NYC for BlogHer while Alec stayed up with the kids and MY parents at the lake. I wish I could get him to tell more of that story. He is a super hero.

I really liked driving the Terrain. It certainly helps that it’s about 5 years newer than my current car. For a big crossover vehicle, it handled well. It felt like I was driving a car (except for one or two minor complaints)

What I liked:

Rear view camera: it was very handy to see the little things (like people, curbs, and vehicles!); I did some practice reverse-parking and found it a little trippy
USB port: LOVED being able to easily charge and listen to our iPhones
Bluetooth wired through the car speakers: when it worked, it was awesome. Seems to support up to 3 phones, but when we tried to test it by calling each other (within the car, mind you), the car got confused.
Steering wheel controls: access to the music system and phone answering without reaching too far. Good thinking, smart car design-y people.
XM Radio: in the mountains, there are very few regular radio stations. Thank you XM!
Good MPG (better than my Subaru) and high safety ratings

What I didn’t like:

Wide turn radius: it seemed impossible to make tight corners. Maybe this perception was exacerbated by us being lost so many times.
The brake pedal: it was too high. I had to wonder if my petite friend Whitney would have been able to drive stop this car at all.

Bottom Line: All in all it was a great car to drive for our trip. Do I think every trip I make to the East Coast should involve a multi-day drive-a-thon? Not so much.

On being alone, even though you are probably not alone

2010-08-23T03:22:28Z

I saw this video “How to Be Alone” on my friend Andrea’s blog and it stuck with me. I like the style and the tone, so there’s that. But mostly I wanted to share it because I believe loneliness is the aspect of new motherhood that is most surprising. Do you agree?

I thought some of you might enjoy the piece and the encouragement it provides. I’d guess that we all interpret it in our own way.

Auntie Karen’s Crock Pot Pulled Pork

2010-08-21T00:17:56Z

Our good friend Karen is amazing in the kitchen. When she invites you over for a fabulous dinner party, you don’t want to miss it. She assures us that she also can cook a quick dinner using regular-person ingredients.

We put her to the test and asked her for four terrific, easy-enough-for-a-rookie-mom recipes to share over the next few weeks.

I love pulled pork, and I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to work that hard for it. You can put 4 things in a crock pot before work and come home to a delicious-smelling house and a happy family. Plus, you get to eat sandwiches for dinner. Sandwiches!

This recipe will serve 6-8 people and gets dried out if you try to make less, so invite the neighbors over or have it 2 nights in a row! You can make this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts as well. I like it on a soft bun with some coleslaw, but it’s also good wrapped in a tortilla.

Recipe: Crock Pot Pulled Pork
serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 boneless pork shoulder, about 2-3 lbs, chopped roughly into 2 inch cubes
12 ounces of your favorite barbecue sauce
2 Tblsp honey (unless your BBQ sauce is very sweet already)
salt to taste (1-2 teaspoons)

Method:

Put everything in a crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Serve on a bun with coleslaw.

Not-so-secret hints:

Feed the baby: As long as it’s not too spicy, the pork and bread should be OK to cut up.
Picky toddler: If your kid likes meat there is a good chance he will go for this. Of course, peanut butter and jelly on a bun is a distinct possibility too.
Lower the calories: Make a lettuce wrap instead of using a bun; the bun is the caloric culprit here.
Make it fancy: Pulled pork ain’t meant to be fancy! {but you could be an overachiever and make your own coleslaw}
Leftovers? Do it all over again. I can eat these sandwiches for 3-4 meals in a row before getting sick of them.

Related Posts:
Activity #358: Declare Crock Pot Night
Who’s Auntie Karen?
Coleslaw recipe from simplyrecipes for overachievers

Let us know if you make it and what you think!

The great Stocked Kitchen experiment, week one

2010-08-22T22:12:58Z

Whitney turned me onto the concept of the Stocked Kitchen before I ever set eyes on it. She told me that it’s a cookbook with a set grocery list and once you buy all the stuff you can make any of 300 recipes. So clever!

I totally admire the authors’ obsession with preparedness and list-making. Also great that the ones bossing me around are one curly redhead and one straight-headed brunette. I feel like you can really trust a pair of gals with a problem to solve.

Once Whit received the cookbook, she was somewhat disheartened that there were so many meat dishes, but that did not sway me. Bring it on.

When I received mine — they sent her three, so prepared! — I was bummed by the over-reliance on canned goods, but still I wanted to give it a true run. Rookie Dad Alec and I discussed waiting until Winter to test the book so we could continue to enjoy the fruits from the Farmers’ Market in the short-term.

Whatever.

Did I tell you that the cookbook includes a magnetized tear-off shopping list with spaces for checking off what you need? I couldn’t help myself.

$294 later I was stocked up. I bought canned foods that I had never even considered like (organic) mushrooms, crab meat, artichokes and still others that I had not seen since childhood like mandarin oranges and pears. Ready set go!

True to my fears, the canned foods were heavy and overwhelming. In fact, they sat on my counter-top for 2 full days before I undid and redid all my cabinets armed only with a sense of purpose and my label-maker.

The counter in my kitchen for two days

Because this was the first week of our experiment, I had some other food to purge eat before we could fully embrace the new system. I bought all the food and didn’t do a meal plan, confident in my ability to pull together any meal at any time.

This week, we ate:

Monday: from my own stash: Zachary’s pizza and Brussels sprouts
Tuesday: Chicken Fajitas (a little too heavy on the cumin, but I think that was user error that added 2T rather than 2t)
Wednesday: Italian Stew (with penne and sausage) and toast because I didn’t think to defrost the bread dough in time.
Thursday: from the stock: Asian Vinaigrette Coleslaw; from my own supply: frittata with real mushrooms and bacon, toast.
Friday: date night, no cooking.
Saturday: from the stock: Flank Steak, Glazed Carrots, and Chocolate Peppermint Bars (good, but too minty); from my own supply: Israeli couscous, Swiss chard, and pomegranate seeds.

Over the course of the week, we used up a few of the foods (of course) but I expect tomorrow’s shopping trip to be much much (much much) cheaper. I’m going to buy a few of my SK staples, a few lunchbox and breakfast favorites, and then see how the week goes.

This time next week, I may opt for more of a meal plan using the system so I don’t get stuck with heavy whipping cream and cream cheese (or pounds and pounds of coleslaw mix) if I’m not going to use them.

Speaking of getting dinner on the table…tomorrow, we’re starting a recipe series of fun, fresh, easy recipes for rookie moms by our friend Karen from off the (meat)hook. In the meantime, I’ll continue on for a month with my stocked kitchen and let you know how it goes!

Kristi and Nora’s Very Rookie Summer

2010-08-20T14:00:55Z

We’re happy to share the eighth edition of our Very Rookie Summer series.

Kristi is sharing three short stories (the final one is a love story) about a great big green ball. Her daughter, Nora, is 6 weeks old. They live in smokin’ hot North Carolina. She blogs at Here we go…

This story is about the Giant Green Miracle Ball (also known as Exercise ball, Core strengthening ball, Balance ball, or Birthing ball but to us it will always be the Giant Green Miracle Ball of Goodness). Call it what you want. THIS lone item has saved my sanity over the past six weeks since Nora was born. Let me explain.

The first time I was introduced to one of these balls, it was a core strengthening ball. Some fanatical dare-I-say-PERKY class instructor at the gym introduced it as a miracle tool which would help our balance, strengthen our cores, and basically give us all the abs of a bikini-clad 18 year old model. She then led us through 25 minutes of crunches in every possible position imaginable: sitting on top of the ball, reclining with our upper backs and shoulders on the ball, holding the ball between our knees while lifting our legs in the air and crunching up to transfer the ball to our hands (don’t even try to picture that last one; it took coordination that I do not possess).

I hated the ball that day. I hated the ball the next day. And I’m sad to say that me and my almost-30-year-old-abs hated that ball the third day after the class also.

The second time I was introduced to one of these balls, it was birthing ball. The lovely woman who taught our childbirth classes at the hospital taught me that sitting on the ball during labor could help with the pain of contractions (something about distributing pressure evenly across my back). This lovely woman told me a lot of LIES about childbirth… (Trust me – this was one of the things I yelled about while I was pushing…that this woman LIED TO ME!! I have yet to determine whether it was on purpose or whether she has the absolute WORST case of placenta brain known to man) …BUT…BUT…BUT… she was right about the birthing ball.

I sat on a birthing ball for several hours during my 33 1/2 hours of labor. It did magically help with the pain of the contractions. Okay crazy woman, ONE correct piece of advice to 47 LIES. Deep breaths…therapy session on Tuesday…moving on…

The third time I was introduced to one of these balls, it was a miracle ball. A woman leading our infant care class casually mentioned that her giant “miracle ball” had saved her sanity during the first few months after her child was born. She claimed that holding her baby close while sitting and bouncing on the ball stopped her baby from fussing when nothing else would. I made a mental note of this comment and went right back to taking notes and wondering how in the world we were going to handle an infant.

Fast forward to two weeks after Ms. Nora was born. Don’t get me wrong, she is a good baby, but like any baby, there are times that she cannot be soothed. We tried everything those first few weeks: swaddling, shushing, singing, and there were times that nothing would work.

Finally I remembered the “miracle ball” idea, so we ran right out and bought one. Four weeks later, not a single day has passed without Nora and me bouncing on that ball. And you know what?

IT WORKS. Oh my goodness it works.

I would estimate that 95% of the time, Nora calms down almost immediately once we start bouncing, and then 70% of the time, she is asleep within five minutes of bouncing. Yes, there are still a few times when she is inconsolable, but anything with a 95% success rate deserves a blog post in my book! I LOVE this ball. I will seriously be giving these “Giant green miracle balls of goodness” as baby shower gifts from this point on. I’m not saying that this is a solution for every baby, but for us, it is probably the single most useful item that we currently own.

So again, call it what you want. Use it for whatever devious, weird, or useful purpose that you want. I will call mine a Giant Green Miracle Ball of Goodness, and I will use it to soothe my sometimes fussy baby.

Related Rookie Moms Activities

Activity #19: Bounce it out
Activity #210: Roll, bounce (more uses for the yoga ball)
Buy a yoga ball miracle ball from Amazon.

BlogHer ‘10 Highlights (and lowlights)

2010-08-19T16:48:04Z

Now that I’m back home and into my normal groove, reflecting on BlogHer feels surreal. Was I really there? I spent an amazing long weekend feeling totally B-List. And that’s a good thing (I felt neither invisible nor obligated to be the funniest person in the room). I know a solid handful of people, although admittedly it was tough to find them in the throngs. Here at home, I’m lucky to be on the D-List (somewhere between whichever child is screaming and the alpha chicken).

I told Whitney that I was stressed to write about the weekend for fear that I can’t do justice to my experience. There’s so much that happened and I’m not sure who cares about it. If I say too much, y’all will be bored. If I say too little, I’m leaving out something important.

So, I offer it in list format, because writing a list helps me relax. Here are 22.5 personal memories from BlogHer 2010 complete with links and pictures (just like being there!):

Listening intently to the Voices of the Year keynote (where 15 kick-ass bloggers shared some of their best work).
Being invited by Lisa Belkin to the New York Times for lunch with a few of her favorite bloggers (like Dawn Meehan, Victor, Lenore Skenazy, and Moxie). How did I get on this list? Not sure, but it was an honor.
Learning the hard way that pancakes should not wrap sausage on a stick.
Talking about diaper donation at the Huggies booth, spending time with Jackie, Amanda, Jenny, and Caroline (but where oh where was Jessica?!)

Jackie, me, Jenny
Seeing dear friends Asha Dornfest, Anna Fader, and Julie Marsh who did not attend last year. I could spend a long weekend just talking with these fine ladies.
Running in a sparkly-skirt-tutu through Times Square with Siel for the #tutusfortanner 5k (Worth noting: the run was one day earlier in reality than it was in my head, so I overdid it the night before. Seeing all the bloggers gather in the lobby wearing tutus while Tanner smiled nearby was the best excuse for only 4 hours sleep that I’ve had in a while!)
Psyching up to organize the second season of Eat. Blog. Run. with Christine and Marie. Eating, blogging, and catching up after the run with some of my teammates.

Eat Blog Run gals (minus Marie) me, Kari, Linsey, Christine, and Samantha
Having a slumber party with the Social Luxe Lounge girls the night before their huge partay. I met Jyl Johnson Pattee (AKA Mom it Forward) for the first time by sharing a bed with her.
Getting taken for a ride, literally, on a $63 pedicab ride with Whitney and Jyl. Frustrating at the time, but pretty funny after.

Jyl, Whitney, me as seen by jerk pedicab driver
Getting a blue-toed pedicure with my sister who lives in New York with her big baby.
Test-driving a GMC Terrain with the family up to the Adirondacks.

Terrain trunk filled with family vacation gear
Leaving said family in the Adirondacks so I could have fun at the conference. My husband is awesome.
Meeting people I’ve only known online.
Taking a “bangs and glasses” picture of Whitney and Danielle.
Wearing my new dress from Berkeley designer Lesley Evers and pretending I always dress like this. Since the stylish Lindsay Ferrier featured ME on her BlogHer fashion list, I guess I fooled her.
Dancing on top of a cheeseburgher-bed with Alma and Wendy.
Pretending to eat the butt off a unicorn cake. {See picture from Wendy}
Signing our book, The Rookie Mom’s Handbook, at the BlogHer bookstore next to Amy Wilson, Rita Arens, Carleen Brice, and Jan Sokoloff Harness (even if we sold only one book, it was to a very nice rookie-mom-to-be!).
Sneaking off-campus for a low-key dinner with some friends, new and old.
Meeting Meagan Francis (AKA The Happiest Mom), whom I was calling my sister from another mother because I totally wish we were related (and we kinda resemble each other).

What do you think? Could we pass for sisters?
Fantasizing about a future girls getaway weekend to Portland with Isabel. (I realize that sounds like I’m dreaming of running off with her, but the plans involved other girl bloggers in a calmer, less humid place.)
Watching + cheering as a pregnant Kristen as she did the Running Man during the SparkleCorn party.
Pretending that the Pillsbury Dough Boy was really played by the hard-working Liz Gumbinner because she vanished (and he appeared) right after being in this picture. Hmmm.

Overall, I had an amazing time. Reflecting on my original goals for the conference, I feel victorious that I flubbed only one item: I totally spaced on going to the Aiming Low party. I’m bummed not only because I heard it was awesome, but also because I feel such a kinship with their mission site name.

Ok, now that I revealed all my dorky, fan-girl experiences at BlogHer this year, won’t you please say something nice in the comments so I don’t feel so ridiculous. Thanks!

+++++

This was the fourth BlogHer Conference for me and Whitney. This year, we are grateful to the Huggies Every Little Bottom program for paying our travel and conference expenses (except for that crazy pedicab ride, of course!).