DC Metro Moms

Why the BlogHer Conference Sucks

... cross posted from our sister site, NJ Moms Blog.
Because I'm not going to BlogHer, that's why! My head will explode if I have to read how awesome it will be - ONE. MORE. TIME. It seems every time I fire up Feedly I'm reading about shopping for BlogHer, road trips to BlogHer, parties at BlogHer, or the sessions at BlogHer. I just may vomit. Of course if I were going it would be a completely different story (I would be rockin' a new pair of shoes for sure), but I'm not going. I can't go. I have two kids, and one of them is breastfeeding. I barely get to leave the house alone to grocery shop, let alone jump in a plane (or a hybrid car) to go to the other coast for a few days and hob-nob with women I've only read about. Instead, I will be sitting at home, attending BlogHer in Second Life, hoping like hell the stream hold up, and drinking wine, all while in my mismatched pajamas. No after-parties, no female bonding, no blogging enlightenment. Nothing.

Click HERE to continue reading at NJ Moms Blog.

Working Mom Burnout

... cross posted from our sister site, NJ Moms Blog.

Being a working mom is an extremely brutal job and I am sure I am not alone when I say this. This is not to say staying home at home with your children is easy. I only know from my personal experience, which is that of a working mom, and the only way to describe it is brutal.

Every day as I leave for work, I dream of crawling back in bed for a little extra sleep, playing with my kids all day at the park, taking them to the library, picking them up from the school bus, being able to be room mother for all their class events, hanging out at the shore, or lounging by the pool watching them splash with glee. I remember worrying about what I was going to do with all the time when I was on maternity leave and believe me we filled it easily. Moreover, add in a little mommy guilt for leaving my children in daycare, exhaustion from staying up late, and stress from getting everything we need to do in a single day. I have only been at this working mom thing for five years, however, it seems like my entire lifetime, and I have forgotten life outside of being a mom. Truly, it is amazing that working mothers do not just spontaneously combust from it all.

Click HERE to continue reading at NJ Moms Blog.

I Saved Date Night

....cross posted from our sister site, New Jersey Moms Blog.

Date night is not a regular thing around here. What can I say? We’ve tried, but it is hit or miss. Usually date night happens because: A) I am desperate to get out alone with my husband and avoid our daughter’s dinner-bath-bedtime trifecta; B) There is a special occasion (like an anniversary) that demands attention; C) the opportunity suddenly presents itself (i.e., grandma wants to take the kid somewhere).

The one constant? I’m the one who makes it happen. And, while it’s true that I have control issues and publicly relish my role as High Commander of the Family Calendar, I would still like to be swept off my feet once in awhile. Or maybe just have my husband be the one to call the babysitter

Click HERE to continue reading on New Jersey Moms Blog.......

Kung Fu Panda-monium

Our contributors from the New York City Moms Blog, New Jersey Moms Blog and the DC Metro Moms Blog with their families, compliments of HP and DreamWorks, celebrated the release of the new movie Kung Fu Panda. The kids made their way through activity centers, nibbled on food and then joined in with the special performers, the "Kung Fu Panda" dancers as they performed the "Pandamonium". We loaded the public pictures from the events on group rooms we created at Snapfish.com for NYC/New Jersey Moms Blog and DC Metro Moms. Listed below are the related posts from the event:

DC Metro Moms Bloggers:

Nicole posted at BananaBlueberry

Jodi posted at Jodifur

Leticia posted at Tech Savvy Mama

Robin posted at My Life As It Is

Niki posted at the DC Metro Moms Blog

Jean posted at Stimeyland

KC posted at Where's My Cape

Linda posted at Monkey Business

New Jersey Moms bloggers:

Fiona Charles posted at Mommyvents

Lynette posted at  Lynette Radio

Vanessa posted at Chefdruck Musings

New York City Moms bloggers:

Amy O posted at Selfishmom

The (Self) Worth of the At-Home Mom

...cross posted from our sister site, New Jersey Moms Blog.

As a mom, I'm worth about $171,647 a year and responsible for the physical and emotional well being of two human beings.   Serious stuff to be sure.  But what about my own worth?  My husband has an incredible job that gives him the opportunity to really use all the knowledge and experience he's honed professionally.  Every day he has stories of how the project he's on is turning around and shaping up.  At the end of every week he can look back and list bullet points of how he's improved procedures, fixed code, and averted a crisis.  And they give him a paycheck to boot.

I change diapers.  All.  Week.  Long.

When is it Okay to Be a Bitch?

....cross posted from our newly-launched-sister-site, New Jersey Moms Blog.

Obviously there are a few clear answers to the above question. Like, for example, when a clueless camp counselor, or a bully, or even the willfully oblivious parent of a bully poses a threat to your child. Or, say, when the drunken divorcee with the boob job comes on to your husband at the company holiday party. However, as the parent of three young girls, I question my default policy of always attempting muzzle my inner Alpha Female in the service of setting an example of how to be “good.”

I wonder: am I really doing my girls a favor? For every time I pat myself on the back for not cursing like a sailor at some moron in front of me driving like an elderly, inebriated Cocker Spaniel I clutch my head in my hands while watching my 9-year-old daughter’s soccer team. Since The Striker, the star player who used to score the majority of their goals, moved up to the travel league they struggle to maintain their formerly prestigious ranking in our little town. The Striker was the kind of kid who, whenever she even smelled the ball, would seize it and drive it straight to the opponent’s goal with everything she had, regardless of who was in her way. And guess what the mother of one unfortunate recipient of an elbow-to-the-ribs called The Striker during one particularly heated game? Yep, “That Little Bitch.” (The extreme gentility and superior breeding of The Striker’s mother are the only reason that woman still has teeth in her mouth. If someone had said that about my 9-year-old daughter that would have been the last thing she ever said without lisping).

Now that “the Bitch” is gone, however, The Lawyer and her teammates frequently do not resemble young athletes engaged in competition as much as members of the Soccer Ball Appreciation Society holding a convention.

Click Here to continue reading this post on New Jersey Moms Blog......

The Launch of our newest sister site: the New Jersey Moms Blog

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our newest sister-site, the New Jersey Moms Blog.

New Jersey Moms Blog is a collaborative group of mothers living or working in New Jersey. Salty on the outside, but soft in the center, these East Coast moms are not only hip, they say what they mean and mean what they say as they write about their lives in The Garden State, where they spend way too much time driving in traffic, being stuck in carpool lines, and dodging tourists on the Parkway or Turnpike. But they know that nothing beats strolling the boardwalks on the Jersey shore, hiking along the Delaware River, or rooting for the New Jersey Devils. These quintessential Jersey Girls will show you far more than the concrete, iron and rubber that you'll see in the opening credits of Sopranos.

Meet the fabulous and talented ladies behind the New Jersey Moms Blog, sign up for their RSS Feed and come back day to day as you follow the lives of these incredible women!

New Jersey Moms Blog is the fifth sister-site to join Silicon Valley Moms Group LLC.  These sites include Silicon Valley Moms Blog (launched March 2006), Chicago Moms Blog (launched April 2007), DC Metro Moms Blog, (launched September 2007) and New York City Moms Blog (launched December 2007).
 

When did you turn into my mother?

Cross posted from our sister site, New Jersey Moms Blog

When does it happen?  When do you realize at some point you have become your mom?  It's a slow process.  One that doesn't seem to actually happen.  Until one day, you hear it in your voice.  The tone!  The first and middle name!  Flowing off the tongue like water flowing out of the spicket.  You take a step back, shrug it off and think, nah just coincindence. 

Then another day you bogged down with life, the kids are giving you a hard time, the house just never seems to stay clean and your husband just so happens to need to run an errand at the exact time that chaos has broken out.  You think to yourself, when do I get a break?  When do I get to run an errand?  That's when you realize, you have turned into your mother.

Sure it's not a bad thing.  It's something that happens to most of us and we accept it without much thought.  This is the woman who raised you, who taught you that Cheezits is not a good breakfast food

Continue reading on New Jersey Moms Blog

Calling all New Jersey Mom Bloggers

It is not like we don't have children to raise, spouses to contend with, homes to organize, laundry to fold, or jobs that demand our focus and energy 24/7. It's not like our lives are THAT busy.... Oh pish, what is one more blog to add to our community of mommy bloggers? As a displaced "Jersey Girl" who grew up in the Garden State (Go Montclair, NJ!), spent the summers and the Jersey Shore (Go LBI) and graduated from Rutgers University (Go Scarlet Knights!), it is my pleasure to announce the upcoming launch of the New Jersey Moms Blog; the newest sister site to Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Chicago Moms Blog, DC Metro Moms Blog, New York City Moms Blog and the soon-to-launch, 50-Something Moms Blog.

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Isn't this a lovely banner?  Thank you Kris Loew for another INCREDIBLE BANNER!

But wait... we first need our initial group of "Mommy Bloggers" to join the New Jersey Moms Blog! (Yes, that is pretty much needed before we can launch the site!) if you are a Mom living anywhere in the Garden State, can commit to at least two posts per month and want to learn more about our networking/blogging community, please click over to the New Jersey Moms Blog and check it out! We would LOVE to hear from you....

Gosh, do I miss living in Jersey!!!  Fondly, Jill Asher