Waying in on Mom bloggers

How did my New York Times obsessed husband miss this little gem about mommy blogging?


Go on and read the article and this one here too and then come back and read my thoughts on it.


I'll give you a few moments

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(Ha! I wasn't trying to be obscene, but that kinda looks like a boob huh?)

Like I said I have no idea how Shawn missed this one considering he is on the NY times website all.day.long. But nevertheless he did....Men always seem to miss the important things huh?

But here's my two cents.....I can't necessarily tell if the journalist is coming from the angle of "bad mommy bloggers" or "bad mommy bloggers that sacrifice writing for reviews and free things". I'm going to assume it's the later considering Ms. Jennifer Mendelsohn is a "mommy blogger" herself.

But I'm going to have to take the {probably) unpopular road and agree with her. 

What "Mom" blogger doesn't think sometimes that it would be great to turn her little rants & recipes into something huge like Dooce or Pioneer Woman? I think that. But I can't get behind the ones that seem to sacrifice good writing, humorous stories, and beautiful pictures for sponsored reviews, giveaways, coupons, and free cleaning products all for numbers.

It seems that when you Google "Get more blog exposure/readers" the results come back and its a bunch of SEO things I don't understand or tips designed to leave insincere comments on blogs in hopes people will bite and hop on over to your Wordpress or Blogger site.

Maybe I'm bitter that I had planned on attending this particular conference thus I could have been interviewed had my blog listed, driven ridiculous amounts of traffic to my blog and been able to make six-figures, get an HGTV show and written a book-had I not forgotten. 

But I digress.I'm not bitter....really I'm not (AHHHHHHH!!!!!! Like me! Like me! Like me!) ok seriously kidding.

But I think that if we could go back to the dark ages maybe "mom" bloggers wouldn't get such a bad rap? 

In a nut-shell, lets stop being so commercial for crying out loud! Not knocking blog conferences or networks. I belong to a few, but I will never sacrifice my content to get some free garb or have 28,000 views a day. 

But I can say I have been guilty (more than a time or two) of putting dinner on hold, changing a dirty diaper late (and you know its late because the poop is totally like concrete on their butt), or leaving the laundry for days to finish posting or reading blogs. 

But hey, just because I'm a mom doesn't mean I can't have a life too.

Now where's my kid again? 




Oh there he is....walking into traffic. Guess I better go.

Baby Sign vs. Actual Words

Phoenix is 16 1/2 months old now and says close to 40 words and phrases.

I attribute this to the fact that we talk a lot to him. And he may be an only child, but he is constantly with my family. At least twice a week. Hearing all 12 of us talk surely helps him heaps!


Recently he has developed an extreme love for books (His favorites are Once Upon a Potty & I Love You Through And Through<--- this book taught him where his nose, toes, and hair were) and this really helps (as we all know) build our little ones vocab.

I actually keep a list on the right side bar. I try an update it as frequently as he picks up a new word but I often forget. I try to keep this list because I am super bad about writing in his baby book. Yet another thing I should add to my list.

You've probably heard me say before that I've been around kids all my life so I picked up a lot of baby and kid tips. One thing I remember hearing about that I thought I would do was baby sign. 

I've tried a couple times to teach sign to Phoenix because of heard from other moms and mommy blogs that baby sign is an excellent tool to use.

Last week I tried putting in a signing video for Phoenix to watch and we got through Eat, Milk, and More before he jumped off the couch (but not before actually saying the words) 


So I thought. "Maybe this isn't for us"


But I can't seem to feel bombarded with signs to try baby sign.


In fact just in today's email I get a Baby Center Bulletin about toddlers using baby sign AND Babysteals.com has Baby Signing videos today.



The only sign Phoenix has picked up has been"All done" he does this more of a joke then actually letting us know he's "all done"

So my question is how many of you moms use(d) baby sign and is it worth it? And should I try and teach it now or just continue with words?

We communicate great I think for a mom and a 16 month old but this can always be approved upon. My concern is possibly hindering or slowing down his speech by introducing something new.


It also would be helpful if you could recommend the best videos to teach baby sign

Bad Toddler Behavior

If anyone has a toddler out there I'm sure you'll be able to identify with my post for today.

Toddler Behavior!!!

Yikes! Phoenix has always been a little tyrant. Screeching, screaming, and hitting when he didn't get his way. And positively delighting in all things DANGEROUS and DIRT.

I am seriously at the end of trying to figure out what to do.

We're at the point where going to restaurants, church, Target, or car rides make us look like the parents with the tot laid out in the aisles because they can't get candy.


He's as adorable as can be so of course it's hard to discipline him or tell him no. And don't even get me started on how cute he is when he tells me no back!

I picked up Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers and I'm almost finished with and I am really hoping that these techniques will help us grab hold of the tantrums. 

 I don't want to be a housebound mommy!

What do you do to help get your toddling toddler to behave?

Top 10 Reasons I'm a bad mommy

My philosophy on blogging has always been to:

Be yourself. Be transparent.

Be random. Be you....regardless

So in that vain I'd like to be honest and make a post of the top 10 reasons that make me a very bad mommy.

10. I let my son sleep with blankets in his crib starting at about 4 or 5 months, completely ignoring the whole "no blankets! no bumpers! no nothing!" that other moms tend to follow. The good thing is. He's still alive and we've never had any problems....Well there was...

9. The time I went to check on him and his swaddle blanket was    wrapped on his head.....So for a bit I did stop that.

8. I let my son drink juice most of the day and always forget to give him water.

7. I just started remembering to brush his teeth daily.

6. I planned an over-the-top first birthday party, kept him up for hours, gave him an entire cake to himself, and completely "over-stimulated" him.

5. I'll probably let him keep his paci until he's 10. It's just a battle I don't want to fight. 

4. I let him play with pens. Yup. That's right. Writing pens. But only if the cap is on and I watch him like a hawk. Whatever it takes to keep him from screaming.


3. When he was a baby, baby, I would shower while he was on my bed. I did this until he was about 3 or 4 months old. He never went anywhere.

2. I let him watch as much TV as he wants.

1. We cuss around him and because of that yesterday he started saying "Bish, Bish"....any ideas what that word is?! Oy vey!

Phew! That feels so much better since I've gotten it off my chest!

::Putting on my shield and armor for the stones....::

What makes YOU bad a mommy?