Rookie Moms

Cori Howard, author of Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood wants to encourage us all to write down our “momoirs”.

To get started:

1. Get a notebook and to keep it with them at all times. You never know when you might find a spare few minutes, or when and where your little angel might fall asleep. Having a notebook means you’re a mobile writer and all moms are mobile!
2. Have faith in your own story. There’s a lot of writing on motherhood out there, but each of us has a unique perspective and a one-of-a-kind experience and almost all the moms I know, never tire of hearing new stories.
3. If you get stuck and don’t know where to start, to just pick a topic: preschool, the dinner table, saying goodbye, faith. Those usually spark some amazing stories in my classes.

She also tells us:

In the crazy, overwhelming chaos of everyday life as a mother, there is so much to write about, and so little time. From memorializing your daughter’s sentences to your inner struggle with your post-baby identity, there are a millions stories you want to remember. The first thing I did upon becoming a mother (after the identity crisis, the ambition crisis and the marriage crisis sort of subsided) was write a book, an anthology about all this struggle (Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood).

After receiving dozens of emails from women wanting to know if there was a sequel and if I was interested in hearing their stories, I decided to start teaching “momoir” classes, helping women get their personal experience with motherhood into well-crafted words, whether it’s for themselves or to publish in a magazine or as a book.

If you want to learn more, or read some of the new stories written by Cori’s students, check out: TheMomoirProject.com. Canadians can find in-person classes in both Toronto and Vancouver too! Or grab her book, Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood.

Related activity: Track your new mama milestones

After much research on Mexico and Hawaii, Ryan and I began looking at rental houses in San Diego, not wanting to be contained in a resort where our search for a casual restaurant would be an ordeal. In San Diego, we’d get the weather, the beach, and be able to have oatmeal on hand to just make a quick breakfast in our rental. Then, after thinking about packing up everything to fly, we switched our search criteria to Santa Cruz, CA. So basically, our big summer vacation is going to take place about 90 minutes from our house. I am totally excited, almost as if we were getting new stamps on our passports.

To take it to the next level of convenience and cheapness however, we could have just canceled all work obligations for a week and stayed home. Called a staycation by the trend-watching media, this would allow us to spend all the money saved on travel on meals and activities that we never engage in. Just think about applying a $200/day budget to a week at home. Bring your meals in! Bring a babysitter with you to the beach, so if you want to fall asleep in the sun, it’s ok! Rent a crazy backyard tent and sleep out there! Host a margarita party for 20 friends!

Beyond the budget issue, there’s the time at home to appreciate. Not the time to clean out the garage, but rather the time to use those toys you usually don’t feel like setting up. The tunnels, the art supplies, the huge cardboard boxes I’ve been saving for fort-making.

And the outings! The zoo, the farmer’s market, the public pools with cool splashy things. Having the d-a-d at home during the day makes some of these possible for me. He can take the baby to Gymboree or to Studio Grow or to SFMOMA or all the other things that stay-at-home-parents can do. And I can do sewing projects, make pumpkin pie, and build very tall lego buildings with my almost-4-year-old without having baby sis pull at our legs the whole time.

And one more naughty thought for working moms: plan a staycation for you and your partner and KEEP your daycare situation. How much fun would that be? Daytime movies, leisurely bike rides, afternoon naps, lunchtime at a restaurant.

For those who live in the below cities, keep in mind we have staycation guides for each of them.
San Francisco
Washington D.C.
San Diego
Portland
Seattle
New York City
Chicago

If you are willing to write one of these guides for Santa Cruz before August 15, I will be your best friend forever. (Sorry, Heather!)

I was going through some very old emails and found one from my friend Lisa who was pregnant at the same time as I was when we had our first boys. “I found this baby shopping list helpful, although surprisingly anal,” she wrote as she forwarded an email with an attachment from another mom friend of hers. The attached list was in excel and it had 148 rows, each representing an item that might be bought by a very prepared new parent, from a portable bottle warmer to a nursing shawl. From where I sit now, it seems ridiculously silly.

It reminded me that I want to point new readers to our Rookie Mom’s Shopping List where we highlight what to register for, what to buy, and what to borrow. I really get you if you are thinking, “Yuck, I don’t want to borrow anything for my special new baby. I want it straight from the store with all the cute packaging.” Ok, to each her own. Perhaps it takes a veteran parent to appreciate the short life of a Gymini or Bumbo.

So, do as you please, but purchasing 148 new items for your household is sure to break the bank. Before you head out for Babies R Us, check our list. And if you have already finished your rookie year, check our list and see what you think. Any must-haves missing?

You know I’m officially crazy when I stop a mom in the park and ask if I can take a picture of her baby for my blog. As if a blog is something that she should understand and clearly want to be a part of. Cuckoo.

Anyhow, little Natasha’s mom was agreeable, and I am grateful because I really wanted to show the world how cute her superhipster get-up was. Project Runway fans, look out!

Her mom wanted me to credit her friend Sandy for giving her the idea to take her own t-shirt and sew up the sides. Sorry I didn’t get too many more instructions than that, but for the crafty among you, perhaps you’ll be inspired. Plus, just sewing two side seams doesn’t sound too hard. This rookie mom did it by hand. Natasha’s dress has some cute postmodern embelishments, too. A bonus is that the pants (check out the ruffly legs) are also derived from a refashioned t-shirt.

Love it or hate it? Or use the polite term that I learned on BabyCenter - “not my style”.

Related posts:
Make some easy kids pants
Make a newborn hat from a tshirt