by Whitney
An enthusiastic reader of this site and our book, Sam, who lives North of the border and blogs at temporarilyme.com, is hosting a weekly challenge on her site.
She has acknowledged that being a new mom of two is just as intimidating as being a rookie when it comes to getting out of the house.
She’s helped me look at The Rookie Mom’s Handbook with fresh eyes, actually. I always explain to people that you never get to do your rookie year over again. When you have your second child, you don’t have the long, empty days that need filling. You are busy dealing with the logistics of the first child and there is far less down time. However, now I totally get that we are all rookies with two. It’s our first time getting out of the house with two kids. Taking two kids to the grocery store. Getting two kids to a playdate at the park. And most challenging of all, staying home with two kids alllllll day long.
Sam wants to do more with her two kids, so she’s signed herself up to do three activities from The Rookie Mom’s Handbook each week and invites readers to join her.
She has picked three specific things to do this week, wants you to pick one to do, photograph yourself doing it, and then post your links on her site. There’s a badge to go with “the program” too.
Go visit her, pick an activity for this week, and report back pronto.
by Whitney
Today I saw an infant carrier whose plastic parts had been stickered by an obviously much older sibling with punk rock and skateboard stickers. The upholstery had a patch sewn onto it, Beastie Boys proudly displayed just above the infant’s head. Very cool, I thought, a car seat with “flare”. Then, I spotted these on Nested. I LOVE THIS IDEA! Add flare to my diaper bag to commemorate significant episodes in my life as a mother? You betcha. The badges come in ten skills, allowing you to boast about your motherhood survival skills on airplane rides, shopping trips, through diaper blow-outs and temper tantrums. Do you breastfeed? Give yourself a badge!
From the
Mama Merit Badge website:
mama merit badges was started as a response to the dearth of authentic recognition for the very hard work of mothering. Overly sentimentalized depictions of motherhood belie the actual daily duties that alternately feel like drudgery, brave political acts, and absurd performance art. This irreverent award system invites public dialogue about and visual recognition for the unpaid and often ignored labor that is parenting.
The badges are 1½ inches, iron on, and 100% embroidery. They can be worn on your diaper bag, purse, tote, jacket, jeans, scarf or baby carrier. Stick them on your wall, fridge or bulletin board.
How awesome is that?
by Heather
A fun suggestion from our friend and fellow rookie mom, Rosa, is to pack yourself up and head into the city for a museum outing. Assume you go to a cocktail party sometime soon. When someone asks what you do, instead of mumbling about maternity leave or bursting into tears when you think about how you can’t drink much because you have to nurse every 3 hours and wake up at 6 am, change the subject and say “Have you seen the Rothko show?”
Many museums waive admission fees on the first Tuesday of the month. Make that your big day.
Rosa reports that SFMoMa was a successful outing. “Both babies were intrigued by the colorful modernist paintings and sculptures,” she brags. “Mommies get to chat and enjoy the art too.”
For our Bay Area mommas, she suggests that you arrive late morning to San Francisco and use the Nordstrom mother’s lounge as home base. There is a great changing/nursing area for comfort and privacy. You can lunch in the mall’s basement food court, Sony Metreon or if the weather permits, eat outside in Yerba Buena Gardens.
Becky in Boston said that her baby Nick was a trooper at the Museum of Fine Arts. “He was patient. After lunch he nursed and went to sleep in the stroller, I pushed him around and looked at art, when he awoke, we looked at art together - I was amazed at what a great day we had together.”
I took Holden to the BAM/PFA here in Berkeley with some other mommy friends and he enjoyed it a lot (which means no screaming fits — yay!). We ate a nice lunch at the little cafe and negotiated tables, strollers, nursing, and crowds. Parking was kind of a pain. Seriously folks, what do you do when someone parks too close to your car and you have a bucket car seat baby with you?!
by Heather
What could be better than molten chocolate, some close friends, and very little cleanup? Precious few things, I tell you.
I stumbled upon this idea on the Student Cook website and decided it would be a fun time for at-home, once-baby-is-down-for-the-night socializing.
We hosted the other Rookie Family for chocolate fondue and games not too long ago (I guess it was kinda a while ago because I was still pregnant, but whatever). Pick your favorite dip-ins and delegate those to your friends, potluck-style. It’s fun to tell your pals, “bring organic marshmallows and a pineapple please” while you make a delicious dark chocolate soup.
[I'm only sorry the picture shows cheese and not chocolate, but cheese is fun too.]
