Happy National Waffle Iron Day! Today, we celebrate the joy and convenience our waffle irons bring us. What better time to bust out our waffle irons for a special treat than today? Of course, we can ALWAYS make waffles, but did you know that there are countless other fun things that can be made in the waffle iron? You didn’t? Your postpartum doulas are here to help!
Did you ever realize your waffle iron could do so much? Even we are tempted to give some of these a try! These ideas are great fun for the entire family and are bound to please! What better tool for a busy parent to have, than something you can open up, pop food into and presto!
Breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert is ready! Treat yourself today! Dust that waffle iron off and enjoy!
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Dear Pre-Mom Self: I’m not letting you go
Anna Gannon released an article with the Huffington Post called “Dear Pre-Mom Self: It’s Time to Let You Go.” I always love reading these endearing articles from mother to mother, but this one was unsettling to me. I would like to offer a different perspective. Let me just get this out of the way first, I love myself. It took a long time for me to admit that, for fear of being seen as selfish, a bad mom, or unworthy of being loved. The truth is that loving myself is what makes our family thrive. Being a parent is hard, and what is even harder is that it comes with all these expectations. There is judgment out there that if you don’t let yourself go and become a self-sacrificing martyr for your children, that you somehow aren’t a good enough mother. Friends, family, strangers…they observe your life as if grading a paper. Did she party too much? Did she lose her baby weight? Did she put her kids in daycare? Is her house clean? Does she have a full head of makeup every day? Does she order takeout? No matter what end of the spectrum, it is always so easy for someone who isn’t in our place to second guess whether what we are doing is right. I love my alone time. I love getting massages and pedicures. I love running. I love drinking vodka tonics with my friends and dancing like we are still in college. I love that I can look at my husband and tell HIM to get up with the baby tonight, because my body has worked hard, and I deserve some sleep. I love to work. I love talking to my kids about all of my passions. I love that even though times are hard, I come out of them with support from my friends, who never judge a thing I say. So today, I’d like to say “I see you.” I see you, Pre-Mom Self, I love you. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. This life is hard. I don’t remember the last time I sat on the toilet without someone screaming at me. (Sorry about that, by the way) The days are long, and the nights are longer. You never left though. I’ve made time for you when I can, and that has made all the difference. Thanks for giving me dreams to follow. Thanks for also realizing that my boys have dreams too. But despite all these dreams, you’ve given me an ability to tell them my dreams every day. My oldest son, Tristan now talks about being a doula. I write this with tears in my eyes knowing he’d be a damn good one. I’m so incredibly proud. My boys are strong, determined and inspiring…just like you. You never let us forget that. Thank you for saying “Give yourself some grace. Today was hard, and you can eat the ice cream. Speak up and tell your husband you want some wine as well.” Pre-mom self, you looked good. I look good too. You gave me a strong baseline to grow from. I know that I don’t have to weigh a certain number, or run marathons to show my worth. But I do know that I want my boys to be healthy, and they will only learn if I do it for myself. So I make time with you when I can. We won’t judge others for what they do. I know you thought you were the best parent you knew. But the truth is, you’re not…you don’t even know what it’s like to have kids. I do. Together, we have evolved in a way. We are radiant. You should see how strong I am now. You were so strong already, but I’ve grown from you. I’ve known challenges you’ve never known. Raising children is a struggle, and making time for yourself once you have them is another struggle. It’s also downright amazing in between the struggle. It can be such a mind game. Together though, we are an unstoppable team. Don’t worry. I’ll never forget you. I’ll never leave you behind. My boys love you…you are the inner child that binds us. My husband loves you…you keep our marriage together when every bit of me wants to resent him for working and leaving us alone on another difficult day of teething and poop-flinging. I love you. You give me so much to live for. One day, my kids are going to be old and grown, living for themselves, and I’ll be able to let them go with nothing but happiness in my heart. This is all thanks to you…you were there for me. I would say I miss you, but I don’t have to. You are like the sun. I can’t always see you, but I know you’re there. I’ll never let anyone make me feel the need to let you go. The judgment may be strong, but together we are stronger. The important people know we are a good team and that is all that matters. You guessed it! Today we are talking about finger foods for baby! First of all, all babies are different on milestones, so there is not one single age we can mention in which your baby will have moved past purees and become ready for finger foods. (Or perhaps you are doing baby led weaning and starting with finger foods from the get go!) However, once the time comes, we have a great list of fun things to try with your little one and watch his/her face to see which ones are preferred. The first food we thought of today? Zoodles! If you haven’t heard of zoodles, they’re all the hype. You can buy a special tool to make zucchini into noodles, and sautee to the texture of regular pasta. This can many times be a great alternative for our gluten free friends, or even just those who are health conscious. It is a great dish to cover in marinara sauce, peanut sauce or teriyaki sauce alike. And hey, adults LOVE this food too! Our favorite pick as far as affordable and highly rated on Amazon here. But just in case you aren’t feeling the zoodles, here’s our other picks for finger foods:
The list of finger foods can go on and on! There is truly no choice. Some parents like to introduce foods a little at a time to easily target any allergies which may occur. However, as far as feeding your baby, you are in the driver’s seat, and may parents even feed their babies off of their own plate. There is no wrong way to do this, however we can only hope that maybe just maybe, your baby will love something on our list! *tap tap tap* Is this thing on? EXCUSE ME, SLEEP DEPRIVED PARENT! SLEEP DEPRIVED PARENT! HELLO??? STEP AWAY FROM THE SEARCH ENGINE… I REPEAT … STEP AWAY FROM THE SEARCH ENGINE, AND GO BACK TO BED! It’s so tempting, isn’t it? The second we see some dry scaly spots on our baby’s forehead, or little miss isn’t acting the way she usually does, we jump right on yahoo or google and type in the key phrases that will yield us our instant response. Answers will range from “It’s simple baby acne…” to “It could just be lymph node but my friend’s sister’s baby ended up having a tumor.” Well, there goes tonight’s chance of sleep… One situation that seems to repeat itself with parents is the incessant googling. It’s unavoidable, and hey, our babies are precious…we don’t blame you at all! However, we have started to see the pattern that often this little extracurricular activity can do more harm than good, and can even at times become addicting! Today we want to discuss the BEST alternatives to google or yahoo when it comes to your baby. 1. Your Doula Your postpartum doulas are trained to know all of the latest research and safety guidelines about raising babies. They also are trained to recognize normal situations versus abnormal situations in both you and your baby. If you are ever in doubt, and are worried that maybe asking someone else may be a little uncomfortable, ask your nonjudgmental, professional doula! If we can’t give a definite answer, we can at least give a great referral for a provider that may be able to help, and a side of support and encouragement! 2. Your Family and Friends Sometimes, it feels good to go to someone we are comfortable with. Maybe this person is experienced and inspirational –what you strive to be as a parent! Ask your questions to them and get that warm, well known support. Our only caveat is to be sure the person isn’t someone who may make you even more uneasy, as some people in this circle can do! 3. Your Provider Here’s our bottom line. Your provider will always be the most reliable source. If you are truly concerned and worried about your child’s well being, a call to the doctor is the best way to go. If you are feeling extremely nervous about a particular issue, we suggest this option, as it decreases the chain of people you will have to talk to and gets you right to the source. Get that number up on your fridge and wash those worries away! In the early postpartum days, sometimes we just want simple, and often google seems to be that way. For some parents, this option works great. However, if using search engines is causing more harm than good, find a good circle of support to have on speed dial (or text!) …we know those thoughts love to creep in during the 3am feedings! It is important to remember that anyone can put anything on the internet, and that your individual journey is what is most worthy of assessment! Is your baby a Xerox image of what the baby books predict they will be if you try their methods word for word? Or do you have a little rebel on your hands? Today, we want to bring hope that NO baby is a Xerox of anything and all babies are different. While some books may work for your baby, we want to urge you to not get to discouraged if the same methods don’t work that worked for your best friend’s baby. Just to show the silliness of how much pressure we put on ourselves as parents, today we have changed the words to one of Britney Spears’s greatest hit songs “Lucky.” Feel free to put on your karaoke and sing along with us!
*dramatic chords ensue* This is a story about a baby named Xerox… Early morning, they’re asleep Knock, knock, knock on the door And no one wakes up, peace and quiet It’s 10am they’re waiting for And Folks say Aren’t they lucky That textbook family And they say, She’s so lucky She just smiles, while our kids cry cry cry And it breaks our hearts Thinking, Dr. Karp has Five darn techniques and Why is my kid up all night Lost in an image, it just seems That she rarely wants to be picked up And the world is spinning and she keeps on grinning But tell me, what happens when she stops? She won’t. Aren’t they lucky That textbook family And they say, She’s so lucky She just smiles, while our kids cry cry cry And it breaks our hearts Thinking, those darn baby books Went and they lied and Why is my kid up all night Aren’t they lucky That textbook family They read the baby books, and they really worked, So why is ours up at night? And they say, She’s so lucky She just smiles, while our kids cry cry cry And it breaks our hearts Thinking, those darn baby books Went and they lied and Why is my kid up all night I’ll never forget when I was past my due date with my second baby, walking through the aisles of target and buying all the discounted Easter candy. When I got to the checkout, the cashier made typical conversation asking how far along I was. When I answered I was 41 weeks, she instantly responded “Did you know that sex can help get the baby out?” I was instantly appalled and shocked a stranger would ask me this.
Whether you’re a day late or a week late, being “overdue” can be hard. People are constantly calling and asking when the baby will make an appearance as if we are psychics, and you are obsessing over every twinge and cramp, wondering if it’s time. It can be hard to take your mind off of baby’s impending arrival, but today we are giving you a list of twenty things you can do to try. After all, once the baby comes, many of these things may not be as easy to do! Give it a look and see if anything might be fun for you!
It is an exciting, but terrifying time for the Big Island of Hawaii as Kilauea, a shield volcano on the island, is currently erupting. While this situation is far from upstate New York, emotions range from seeing the awe-striking beauty of the lava flowing, to the catastrophic damage to peoples’ houses and personal belongings. Many questions arise. Some may ask “Why would people even build their houses on a volcano?” Others may say “Building a house on a volcano is perfectly safe. The chance of a house being wiped out by lava is so rare.” But, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. That doesn’t mean that the people whose houses are being wiped out did anything differently or less correct than the house a hundred feet away from them, which is standing perfectly safe. We don’t berate the people whose houses were destroyed. We are thankful for the scientists who were able to see this coming and evacuate people to safety. It’s the same in the birth world. Society is on a nature-kick these days. It is insistent on putting everything into a natural box, assuring that nature will take its course and shaming away anything man-made that may intervene in a natural process. Many people have formulated opinions about birth, quite similar to the volcano. Some are scared for it, while some are excited and can see beauty in it. No feeling is invalid, it is just a matter of perspective based on our different paths. You may see one family plan for an intervention-free birth and have everything go as planned, where another family may end up needing intervention. Is this because one family trusted birth more? Is this because the family with the intervention did something wrong? No! It’s nature. Nature doesn’t make plans. If we use the volcano analogy, these two separate birthing families could have lived right next to each other on the volcano. One was hit by lava and one was not. Thankfully, this is birth we are talking about, not a volcano. When “lava” flows in our direction, we can use interventions that keep us safe. What is our biggest takeaway? We want families to make decisions as they choose. Natural can be great for some, but harmful to others. We need to be mindful of this when making recommendations to our friends. In fact, as doulas, we often see that a client’s INSTINCT is key. We want to be there to support and nurture that instinct, whether your choices are made by nature or not. The beauty of pregnancy and birth, but also the scary part, like volcanoes, is that it can change from minute to minute. No one can truly predict the path of the “lava.” Natural can be beautiful, but it isn’t always safe. The best thing we can do in this day and age, is to support all decisions, and in the case where they don’t go according to plan, accept that this too is a turn of nature. Here at New York Baby Co. we want to assure you that no matter what turn the lava takes, we are there to support you, whether you built your house on the volcano or not. We always trust in the choices of our clients, and validate any emotion they may feel. Today on the blog, we want to uplift you. The journey to becoming a parent, as well as the parenting journey can be hard. Every feeling, at any given stage of this process is completely valid. However, sometimes we can forget that, as many times we are so isolated in the time when we need validation the most.
This is why, today we invite you to sit back with us. No need to think, just read. Here are ten affirmations to help you get through your day. Take what you love, write it on a post-it and put it on a mirror to find some inner strength if it helps you!
So there you have it! These are our hand crafted modern affirmations, and we hope you find one that resonates with you today. In this modern world, with research and opinions at our fingertips every minute of the day, it can often be hard to be gentle with ourselves. Today, we are here to tell you that it is entirely ok. “The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off.” – Gloria Steinem
Okay, so we aren’t here to piss anyone off today, but we do want to unleash the TRUTH of self care and set you free. When we think self care, we think bubble baths, women in their 20s-30s, the newest trend of shared blogs, spa days. This can be self care, self care DOES apply to everyone, no matter who you are. We especially believe it is important for parents of all stages, in order to raise children to be strong, self sufficient people who also believe they’re deserving of self care. It seems though, that we really don’t understand what self care is in society. Sure, bubble baths and spa days can be great, but when people resort to those strategies for self care, they often start to feel as it is an indulgent thing that can only be taken advantage of sometimes. The TRUTH? Self care is common sense. Self care is for everyone. Self care can happen every day. It’s all about how much of a priority it is in our lives, and here at NY Baby Co. we believe it should always be a big one! So how do you figure out what YOU need? How do you take care of yourself without in turn stressing yourself out about when you can fit a bubble bath into your day? We are so glad you asked! It’s one simple question. “What will bring me joy today?” That’s right! Self care doesn’t need a box. Self care can be different thing for different people. Here are some common ones we see among our clients:
But really, self care can be ANYTHING! It is anything that makes you happy or fills your cup. Yes, it can often be hard to set aside time, but when the time is set aside, we are recharged and refreshed for whatever the day (and probably night) has to bring us! What about you? What are your favorite self care tactics? |