Nurture+Nourish : A Group for New Moms at Baby+Company

I'm an A-type preparer, but when it came to being a new mom - no stack of books or prenatal classes could fully prepare me for the adventure that awaited. When I gave birth to my daughter in Iowa, I stepped into a new world to navigate - minus sleep, plus uncharted daily questions and concerns. (Who knew there were so many wrong ways a baby could latch on? Or the diversity I'd behold for colors and consistencies of poop?) I needed support from experienced moms, and from those who were on this journey beside me.

I joined a new mom's group overseen by a nurse, and it was the best thing I could have done for baby and me. When I moved to Charlotte to have my second and third babies, those classes didn't exist - and I was so disappointed! Now Baby+Company, a boutique birth center in Charlotte near Presbyterian Hospital, is offering a 6 week postpartum group for moms and their newborns. The series is led by baby educator and lactation consultant, Mellissa Willette, RN, IBCLC.

Moms and babies will come together once a week for two hours to learn about their babies, ask questions, share stories and give and gain support. I promise you - as a newly dubbed mommy it will be the most anticipated two hours of your week (aside from a two-hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep of course). You'll enjoy the posh home-like atmosphere at Baby+Company while you settle on the blanket clad floors and learn techniques to calm and soothe your baby through infant massage. The topics in the class will depend on the needs and interests of the moms in the group, but may include mommy-baby yoga, learning about toys and activities that will stimulate your baby's learning center, and products and tips that will make your life easier. Plus - you'll get real answers to the new baby questions that weren't covered in the book or pre-natal class. 

The camaraderie I developed with those new moms in the first weeks of my adventure into motherhood turned into meeting for tea after our classes ended, making play dates as the babies grew, and long-lasting friendships.

Classes cost $120 for local moms and $80 for Baby+Company clients. For more information to register click here. 

Baby+Company is a boutique birth center offering highly personalized, evidence-based maternity and well-woman care. They specialize in prenatal and postpartum care, labor and birth services, annual exams, birth control and fertility counseling. You can learn more about Baby+Company on their website here, and read more about my sneak peek of their center (and view their beautiful space) here. I'm excited to be transitioning my care to their center for my next well-woman appointment. 

This is a sponsored post, but as always all opinions are my own and I only share what I love with my readers. 

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All Un Apologies..

I think that some mommy blogs must have caught a virus lately. Symptoms include wonderful mothers composing long open letters of apology for being human mothers to human children in the real world. 

http://www.scarymommy.com/articles/an-apology-to-my-firstborn-child/

I'm truly baffled by, yet perfectly understand many aspects of this mommy self-loathing phenomenon. As a mom of three I often feel like I'm not getting it right, amen to that - been there, done that, probably doing it tomorrow. 

However what I can't stomach, what really eats at me, is when moms who love and care for their children write letters apologizing for things like their first born being raised around too many adults because they hadn't found other mommy friends quite yet. Did the adults hurt them? No you say, oh, it's just that there weren't other kids to play with every second of the day from the moment the cord was cut onward? Total mommy fail. 

Or apologizing for serving home made healthy (probably effing organic to boot) baby foods that were bland, thus robbing their child of an eclectic pallet. ::face palm people, face palm::

Too many mommies are making a career out of apologizing for ridiculousness like this, creating an unrealistic expectation for what raising a child should be like. One thing is for sure, apologizing to them for experiences that are normal and healthy parts of living and growing up will do them no favors in the real world.

I beg of you fellow mommy bloggers - stop the madness. We are human, we are mothers, and the well-intentioned loving and raising of our children does not need to be apologized for.

I will certainly owe my children an apology for something I do at some point, but like my mother before me, I'll save my real apologies for when I do something awful - like letting my daughter leave the house with her hair like this in middle school. 

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Dining Out with Kids - Like a Boss.

I'd be lying if I told you each time we go out to dinner with our kids, ages 18 months and 5 years old, it's all perfect behavior and warm meals for Mom and Dad. However, for the  most part, we've come up with a plan of attack that allows us the flexibility to go out to dinner and enjoy ourselves with two in tow. Here are my quick and fast tips for Dining Out with Kids - Like a Boss.

1. Dine prepared - I have my dining out bag in my car at all times. It includes:

Bambinos Tidy Table Tray & Flexi Diner

• Wipes/Diapers
• Bambinos Tidy Table Tray & Flexi Diner (which I ADORE)
• Tiny play dough, matchbox cars, crayons, a small notebook of paper
• Snacks (This may sound odd, but think of it as an emergency appetizer if the service takes too long)
• Ipad/Iphone for desperate times and happy parents.

2.  Strategize

• Don't hesitate to ask for a slightly larger table, or a table off by itself, or a larger than necessary booth - this will give the kids a place for some potential wiggle room before the meal arrives. 
• Check out the kids menu first, and order their meals when you order your drinks. This way their food comes out first and you can get them started. By the time you've cooled down, and cut up their food your meal will be on its way, so you can eat while it's hot. 
• Eat on out on weekdays or odd hours on the weekends. If you know there will be a 45 minute wait and it's a Friday night - abort mission. 

3.  Dining out doesn't have to mean McDonald's

• Most nicer restaurants ($15-20/plate) have kids menus and cater to families, including changing tables in the restrooms.
• Don't be afraid to go to restaurants that have linens on the tables and  two sets of forks! Servers at these restaurants know how to meet your family's needs and are usually happy to provide a bread basket or quick munchie for kids to eat. 
• If your children don't like what's on the kid's menu ask if you can get a kids sized portion of an adult meal, they're usually happy to accommodate. 

4. If at first you don't succeed - keep on trying!

• It's not by accident our kids are well behaved when we go out to dinner, it's because we've done it often and they've learned 'how to eat out'
• Don't let a negative experience  make you run in fear!
• If all else fails send one parent to the car with the kids and get the meals boxed up. 

What are the tips and tricks YOU use to dine out with your kids - Like a Boss??

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A Unique Way To Tell Your Husband You're Pregnant

Telling your husband that he's going to be a Daddy is so exciting! I wanted my husband to have a unique memory of the moment I told him he was being upgraded to Dada.

My daughter (his step daughter) and I brought him to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I had printed and stuffed the fortune cookie with a piece of paper saying 'You're going to be a Daddy! Lucky Numbers 7.5.2012' I asked our daughter to pass him the stuffed fortune cookie. He opened it and read it - looked at me and with a surprised smile said "Is this cookie real?!" It was a fun way to share the news. He carries the fortune around with him in his wallet next to a picture of our son. 

How did you tell your husband you were expecting?

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Bye, Bye Nightmares

Our daughter is 4 with a wild imagination, and lately its been running a muck at night in the form of nightmares. Nightmares between ages 2-4 are pretty common, but still upsetting to the little ones. One of the articles I read suggested making a dream catcher. It looked like a fun project, so we had her decorate a paper bowl with her favorite stickers, beads and ribbon. She loved the idea that it would catch all of her bad dreams, and hopefully our project will offer us a nightmare respite.

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Left Shoe Right Shoe

My daughter has trouble distinguishing which shoe goes on which foot. I've tried showing her how to look at the toes and where the buckles are etc. but nothing really helped until I used a black magic marker to put dots on the inside of each of her shoes. Now she just lines the dots up and she knows which one goes on which foot!

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