Extreme Play Date

Well I survived...and so did my poor dog! I don't think she quite knew what she was getting into when we adopted her only four months before my daughter was born. But I remind her, she picked us licking, jumping, even peeing and yes, pooping at our feet on the floor of the shelter. We took her anyway...25 pounds over weight and all. But I digress...because both of us survived our first extreme play date.


Technically, it was our first play group. Six one year olds, six moms, two baby pools, a water and sand table, lunch, and a lack of bathing suits. I have to admit it was pretty stinkin' fun (pun intended...at least three of the babies pooped during the two hour ordeal).

We've only lived in our city for two years and when we moved here we didn't know a soul. Since then we've grown to love it meeting lots of friends, many, I'm sure will be lifelong friends. Some have kids, some don't. Perhaps my dearest friend, Christie, lives just up the block. Olivia and I are so blessed to see them at least once at day. Christie and I have always said it's nice we have each other, and the kids have each other, but we'd like to form a play group. Quite frankly two kids isn't a play group, that's a play date. We've invited other moms we meet to get together, but for one reason or another it never works out. Then about two weeks ago I heard about meetup.com. Turns out it's a great place to meet people with similar interests. I joined a mom and kids group for toddlers. I took Olivia to our first meet up and she had a blast. So did I! We met lots of other moms and babies. Two of the moms expressed interest in starting a play group since our children were all born in the summer of 2008. One of them also knew a few other moms who might be interested and I invited Christie and her son. We planned our first weekly play group for yesterday and I volunteered to host it.

The beauty of it was all the kids are within about 3 months of each other (4 within 2 weeks), all are on the same nap schedule (making planning a time easier), all are walking (that was part of the criteria), three live on my side of town, three on the other side (we'll rotate week to week), most of the moms are SAHMs, one or two work from home part time, none of the moms knew all of the other moms, but everyone knew at least one other mom.

We had two baby pools set up, Olivia's sand and water table, and every toy imaginable displayed in the living room. The kids had a blast and the moms did too! I think we all felt great when we left knowing the kids were all going to take wonderful afternoon naps and being assured that yes, green chunky poop is normal and so is not being able to say "mama and daddy plus 3 words by 13 months" as some baby books set as a milestone.

As for the dog, I put her on crumb clean up duty and she was in her glory...

More Tips on Starting a Play Group
Meetup.com Helps Local Moms Meet
Easy Places to Meet Other SAHMs

Making Money Online: My Most Successful Month as a Mom So Far

Far and away, August has been my most lucrative month in my little side business (aside from being a full time mom, of course) as an online freelance writer. I'm really starting to see some serious money rolling into my PayPal account each month. A full year after my daughter was born, and 10 months after leaving my job as a TV News Producer, my online venture is starting to make a real difference in our monthly budget.


As you read down and look at my sources of income keep the following in mind: I am a fulltime, SAHM. I do not have a babysitter any day of the week. I only write or "work" when my daughter is napping (max 3 hours a day) and I rarely do work after my husband comes home (around 4pm) or on the weekends. Some days I do not write or "work" at all because I have other more pressing things to do such as housecleaning or grocery shopping. That being said - it is possible for moms (yes, even those of walking, curious and on-the-go one year olds) to make $500+ a month in extra cash. Here's how I did it in August.

Ehow Earnings: $252.26
Ehow Article Written in August: 0
Note: 100% passive residual income
Learn more writing how-to articles and earning passive residual income on Ehow.com

Examiner Earnings: $44.24
Examiner Articles Written in August: 23
Learn more about becoming a freelance writer for Examiner.com

Examiner Bonus Earnings From Referrals: $150 ($50 per referral)

eBay Earnings: $33.84
Items Sold on eBay in August: 3

Affiliate Earnings in August: $ 15.07
Commission Junction: $1.25
Amazon: $1.32
E-Junkie: $12.50
Total Products Sold thru Affiliate Programs: 4
Note: 100% Passive Income
Learn more about Affiliate Marketing as a way to earn passive residual income

August Dual-Family Yard Sale: $58
_____________________________

Total Online Earnings in August: $ 495.41
Grand Total for August Earnings: $553.418


Through my Examiner column, which focuses on Baltimore SAHMs I have started a weekly series called Make Money Mondays which offers moms creative and legitimate ways to make money from home.

It's Time to Update the Car Seat

My Big-Girl Livvy is moving on up. In the car seat world that is! My girlfriend and I don't usually put both the babies in the car together, but yesterday we decided to carpool to the farmer's market. When I went to pull my base out of her car the big WARNING sticker was staring me square in the face...as in "Hello?!? Get your act together, lady."


Almost made me feel like a careless mom for not realizing that Olivia needs to be in a bigger car seat - like NOW! I've been so wrapped up in when to turn her forward facing (more on that in a minute) that the thought of getting her into a convertible car seat never even crossed my mind. The labels says "for children under 22 pounds and 29 inches." As of Wednesday's doctor's appointment Olivia was 21.5 pounds and 29 inches. Thankfully I have half a pound to spare. Although with the way she eats, not for long. I guess I know what we'll be doing this weekend. I quickly called my friend and told her about the weight and height limits. She had no idea either.

I've been doing a little research on the car seat laws and child passenger safety laws and I thought I'd share with you what I found. I was under the impression that at one year or 20 pounds children could start facing front. But apparently, there's a new push to keep car seats rear facing for as long as possible. Some advocates are even encouraging parents to leave seats rear facing until the child is 4 years old. (I know, I know!) In my state there is no law on rear facing seats, but double check the laws in your state. At the very minimum children should be facing backwards until they are one year old and/or 20 pounds. Convertible car seats can, and should, be installed rear-facing. Child passengers should be in car seats until at least four years old or 40 pounds, but consult your state's laws. After that children move to a booster until 6-8 years old, again depending on the laws in your state.

Finally, did you realize you can get a free check to make sure your child's car seat is properly installed? It's a good idea since 75% of car seats are improperly installed. Find car seat inspection sites.


Car Seat Safety Resources

National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
Advice from The Car Seat Lady

No Baby Blankets in the Crib...I Learned the Hard Way

I had the scare of my motherhood a few nights ago and I wanted to pass along the horror story to prevent all your hearts from stopping.


I usually put my daughter to bed and don't hear from her for about 11.5 hours...at 6:30 am. Well this particular night, I put her down, then went out. When I got back my husband said she had cried out. She only did it for a few seconds and then went back to sleep. She did this two more times before I went to bed around 10pm. I never check on her before I go to bed for fear opening the door might wake her. This night though something told me to look in on her. I think it was the weird outcries. I went into her room and when I found her in her crib I got hysterical. The blanket that I always lay over her when I put her to bed, was literally wrapped around her head and face like a turban. I yelled her name and tore the blanket off her head. Her hair was soaking wet from sweat. I grabbed her out of the crib and held her for a good 10 minutes as I rocked my sweet baby girl and tried to stop shaking. My husband ran into the room when I screamed not knowing I had even gone in there. When I finally settled down I put her back in the crib and she continued peacefully sleeping as if nothing was ever wrong. I, on the other hand, lay in bed for more than an hour thinking...what if? What if I hadn't been called to go in there? What if had overheated? What if she had suffocated? What if...

The blanket I promptly put in the top of the closet and decided she'd NEVER use a blanket again. (Why didn't I listen to the advice of the experts who say NO BLANKETS???...I thought she was cold.) Then I started thinking what I was going to do when the weather really does get cold. (I don't know why I didn't think of long, footed pjs right away, but whatever.) Anyway, last winter we were still swaddling her. But that wouldn't work now, for one her legs are way too long for the sleep sack and two there's no way she's sleep like a mummy again. That's when I discovered that they actually do make toddler size sleep sacks. You can also buy sleep sacks in light weight fabrics for summer time or if you think your baby gets too hot in a fleece sack. Whatever you do, avoid the blankets...I will be!

Update on the Binkie Plight...or Should I say Fight?

There's no sugar coating it, I'm a mom wimp. I can't help it, I had to give it back. And I'll tell you why...


My poor baby girl cried her little heart out, big crocodile tears, for far too long. She was exhausted and only wanted her binkie. I gave her a few "lovies" that we've been developing as "lovies" for a few weeks now (started that when I started breastfeeding weaning). But nothing was as good as the binkie. How do I know she only wanted the binkie? As soon as I gave it back she went right to sleep.

So why did I give in? Why did I have a change of heart when I was so dead set on no binkie after 1 year? Here's my reasoning:

-She only uses it when she's sleeping.
-She used to have three and now only gets one in the crib.
-She's too young to reason with.
-There's little to no risk of the binkie impacting her teeth or jaw at this age.

I've decided that once I can "reason" or at least explain why we're giving up the binkie I'll try again. A few of my mommy friends have found success in "giving the binkies to the babies." In other words when their little ones were around 18 or 24 months, together, they gave the binkies away saying the babies needed them. Some handed them over to the pediatrician to "give" to the newborns, others floated them up to the babies in heaven on balloons. However they did it, I think their method is better than mine.