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life before kids

Life Before Kids — ‘That Time I Puked in My Coach Handbag’

FAM, self By August 5, 2016 No Comments

Looking back, it’s clear that motherhood has tamed me.

Not that I was jumping out of airplanes, or burning my bra in the good old days—but I certainly wasn’t the Pinterest-loving, laundry maiden that I am now, either. Life before kids was something entirely other.

As a dedicated mother of two, my days consist of order, routine and responsibility. I bend to the will of my children, and my entire existence is spent keeping them safe, happy and healthy. But, there was a time—before the days of yoga pants and early bedtimes—that I wasn’t quite so organized and responsible.

Before mom-hood, I was a small town girl who liked beer and football on Friday nights— fancy wasn’t really my thing. I worked in a small salon and threw darts with my friends on Sundays. We preferred hole-in-the-wall bars with mismatched carpet; I’d take denim over lace any day of the week.

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dream water

Looking for good sleep, Mama? Here’s where it is.

health, LIVE, nourish, rest, self By July 27, 2016 1 Comment

You know that warm, tingly feeling you get when you’re sitting on the couch watching tv in super soft flannel pjs and you’re just starting to get tired? When you yawn and stretch before padding upstairs in fluffy slippers and you slide into bed and slip immediately into a deep sleep? Well, it’s usually not me feeling those feels. It’s usually someone I’m watching on tv as my sleep deprived brain whispers, “that person is about to have the best sleep of their life.”

But things have changed.

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central park playgrounds

NYC’s 5 Best Central Park Playgrounds

FAM, kids, LIVE, play, ROAM, USA By July 26, 2016 1 Comment

Nearly everyone who comes to New York City makes a point of visiting Central Park. It is, quite literally, the heart of Manhattan, and any guide to NYC will direct you to explore this green oasis, which is so full of wonders, it can make you feel like a kid again.

But for those of us with actual children in tow, sometimes you just need the relative sanity of a fenced in playpark, where you can sip a coffee while the youngsters burn off some energy. For us, some of the greatest gems sprinkled throughout Central Park are the 21 different playgrounds—all 100% free, open from dawn to dusk, many of which have been renovated by the Central Park Conservancy over the last few years. As a resident of Manhattan since my children were two and three years-old, I’ve done some serious investigation of at least two-thirds of those parks and have whittled down my favourites to these five Central Park playgrounds.

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cry it out

Cry It Out, Baby: How Sleep Training Saved My Sanity

baby, grow, nourish, rest, Unpopular Mom By July 15, 2016 2 Comments

It’s true. On the surface, I do look very much like your typical crunchy-granola attachment parent. I breastfeed, make my own baby food, buy organic, wear the babies, redirect rather than punish (or try, at least), and even do a little bed sharing. Letting my baby cry it out would be the last thing a mom like me would do.

You might assume I’d be one of those moms who pops up in your Facebook newsfeed, all sanctimommy in my choice of shares, doling out judgment and unsolicited advice—but you’d be wrong. You won’t find me mom-shaming anywhere. My philosophy is ‘we’re all in this together.’ And try as I might, living with my headstrong 3 ½ year old daughter leads to considerably more yelling and empty threats than I ever thought would be in my mommy wheelhouse.

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Emotional Intelligence

7 Tips for Raising Kids with High Emotional Intelligence

FAM, Featured, health, kids, nourish, self By July 14, 2016 5 Comments

How do you react to stressful situations? I will be the first to admit that my anxiety is clearly linked to my inability to effectively manage my emotions during stress. I am famous for catastrophizing and overreacting. Growing up, I was always known as the one who would freak out all the time. Today, I know that I just needed to develop my emotional intelligence. It doesn’t come naturally and it’s something I will continue to work on throughout my life, but if I can give my children these tools much earlier on in life, I hope that they won’t have to freak out as much as I did.

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Teach kids patience

Teaching a 4-Year-Old Patience

grow, kids, LIVE By July 8, 2016 No Comments

“Wait for me!” yelled my 4 year old daughter, Dari. My 8 year old son, Phineas and his older buddy had already raced out of our yard. They were half way up the street by the time my daughter got to our backyard gate. She couldn’t reach the latch and burst into tears.

“You can’t go with them, honey,” I told her. “You’re too young.”

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puro headphones

Sound Epidemic: Save Your Kids’ Ears.

GEAR, health, kids, tech By June 30, 2016 1 Comment

My father doesn’t like to sit still. He’s always outside: tinkering with his tractor, using a chainsaw, or flying in his small airplane. He got his pilot’s license the same year I was born and I grew up riding alongside him in his single engine airplane, peering out the window, yelling at the top of our lungs to communicate with each other.

Over the years, his love for flight hasn’t changed, but now I have to yell to speak to him even when we’re on the ground. The constant exposure to the deafening sound of the engine took its toll and, at 60 years old, he was forced to admit he needed hearing aids.

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family movie traditions

7 Gross Things Basically All Moms Do

kids, laugh, Uncategorized By June 29, 2016 No Comments

Motherhood is a lot of things—some beautiful, some awful, and some really, really gross. So many bodily fluids that need tending to, so many smells…who knew that peeing on that little stick would be practice for all the years we’d be elbow deep in the sludge of motherhood? But moms are soldiers—we handle the grit and grim with aplomb. So let’s own it, shall we? Let’s pull back the curtain on the gross things we all do and nod our heads in solidarity.

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