From the monthly archives:

January 2008

Activity #508: Make a terry pad for your pump parts

by Whitney

Marketing Mommy is a blogger in the Chicago area who has two kids born pretty darn close to mine. And we both had a victorious VBAC with #2, and, we are both in marketing, so we are like, totally best friends, even though we’ve never really had a conversation.

She works full time, so pumping is part of her every day life. I feel for her, because I so hated the pump and all of it’s parts when I worked outside the home during Julian’s babyhood. Also, there were random drips of breast milk on my pump’s carrying case and sometimes on my lap. Sorta gross, even though I’m not sure why.

Miss Marketing Mommy invented herself a solution. She called it the “Pump Parts Terry Bag,” and like a good marketer, she sells us on it by describing the problem it solves:

My breast pump came with an ugly black tote bag (which I don’t use), but it didn’t come with a good solution for toting all of the pump’s parts and accessories, the horns and valves that come into contact with milk and have to be cleaned between pumping sessions.

Since I pump twice a day, I was washing those parts with dish detergent and hot water and giving them a cursory drying with paper towels. But they never seem to get really dry.

I’d been keeping them in a gallon Ziploc bag in my backpack, but I didn’t like how fogged up the bag would become and I hated using damp parts. Also, I found that cleaning the Ziploc bag even once a week was a pain in the butt. And I was never positive that it was really clean.

Enter the Pump Parts Terry Bag!
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This velcro-close bag, designed by me and sewed from an old towel by my sweet mother-in-law, holds all of my pump parts and doubles as a lap pad for me, protecting my work pants from inadvertent milk drips.

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No more damp horns and I can throw it into the wash every couple of days!

Nice work, MM!

Related activity: The Pumping Project (Share your story!)

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Activity #99: Count your steps

by Heather

Invest in a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps each day. You’ll be surprised how many steps a mom can take just running around the house, but if you’re going to reach 10,000, you’ll need to take a walk outside for sure. This is good motivation to get some fresh air.


Both Whitney and I enjoy tracking things and counting steps has become an on and off obsession over the past year. One day, I called her and said something ridiculous like, “I hope you don’t want to do anything with me before Baby Brigade because I walked 17,000 steps today so I’ll be on the couch.” Being in the middle of my maternity leave, I thought this was a totally normal thing to say.

Whit recommends the Omron pedometer (pictured) because it has a memory function that lets you look at the past 7 days worth of data. Additionally, it tracks both your total daily steps and your aerobic steps, or those that were part of a 10 minute or more walk. More fun with data!

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Activity #105: Take unbelievable photos

by Whitney

Julian is only 3 months old!
If you can believe it, this is Julian at not-quite four months. Sort of an odd moment that was captured here, when we propped him against the couch and moved our hands just for the picture to be snapped, as the kid did not actually crawl until 10 months or walk until 14 months.

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Activity #487: Go huntin’

by Heather

We asked Christie Mellor, author of Three-Martini Family Vacation to suggest an activity for rookie moms. Put the fun back in some of your routine outings by “going hunting” with your baby or preschooler as defined by Christie:

The Three-Martini Playdate: A Practical Guide to Happy ParentingYou want to spend a nice morning with your baby, but you need to sneak in a few errands too. It’s time to go hunting! Going Hunting is much easier if you can walk, so choose a few errands that are in walking distance of your house or apartment, if possible. Insert baby into a sling or front carrier–or a stroller if it’s easier–and head out.

Describe to your child in enthusiastic tones that you are Going Hunting, and as you start down the street, tell your child that you are hunting for… Buses!! When you see your first bus, point to the bus while exclaiming excitedly that you found a bus. A bus! Get them all hopped up about the bus. Bus! Bus! Dang, a bus! Big bus! Yay, for the brave bus!

Repeat the exercise with the next bus you see, until you notice your child making similarly rowdy noises the moment he spots a bus. Jeez, it’s a bus! Can you believe it? It’s a freakin’ bus, did you see the size of that thing? Whoa! That is some bus. Bus! You may hear only squeals and gurgles, but trust me, your child is simply astounded at the bus he has spotted.

So you head to your little neighborhood park, and announce that you are hunting for…squirrels. Squirrels! Holy cow, check out that furry squirrel! Park benches, ducks, trees, pigeons, you can go hunting for anything that you know you will be seeing a lot of. If you’re on a city street, you might hunt for red cars, or tow trucks, garbage trucks, more pigeons.

Three-Martini Family Vacation: A Field Guide to Intrepid ParentingEventually, you may need your child to enthusiastically help you track down a grocery store, so that you can pick up a few necessary items, and of course after all that excitement you may need help hunting down a nice cup of coffee for yourself (and maybe an apple juice or a biscuit for your hunting buddy.) Happy Hunting!

More info on her site about Christie’s books and projects and my enthusiastic book review on our blog.

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