DC Metro Moms

Do I Really Want a Full-Time Job?

... cross posted from our sister site, NYC Moms Blog. It's been almost four months since my husband's epiphany that going to a job he loathed, just clocking in his hours until he could finally retire was not the way he wanted to spend the next 15 years of his life. And so, being that he's attempting to redefine his career goals-- or what he wants to be when he grows up, I've felt compelled to break out of my comfortable but not so well-paying freelance writing career and hit the pavement in search of a full-time job. While I've gone on some interviews, I have to be honest, being that I live on Staten Island, my commute into Manhattan is at least and hour and then some each day-- which means leaving before my kids sit down to breakfast and getting home when they're ready to be tucked into bed. It's the dilemma every working mom faces-- the fact that when you're working full-time-you're probably going to get very little face-time with your kids. I know I'm hardly the first or last mom to feel this way, and maybe if I had gone back to work full-time after my kids were born, this would be a non-issue for me but the fact is I'm having a really hard time making that shift to full-time worker bee. Click HERE to continue reading at NYC Moms Blog.

Internet Withdrawal

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

My hard drive crashed this week, and I feel like I've been enlisted in a detox and recovery program without my consent.  If I could take it in for immediate repair I would do so, but instead we had to schedule an appointment days out with the Apple store, and it's likely that an actual repair could take even longer.

The first 24 hours were the worst.  I paced around, fueled by nervous energy.  I couldn't stop thinking about getting online.  Just for five minutes--just a little hit.  You know, long enough to tell my online communities why I'm suddenly out of reach.  I walked aimlessly through my apartment wondering, What is it that I do, exactly?  That is, when I'm not tweeting or checking and replying to email, or writing articles and blog posts.

I had no idea.

Click HERE to continue reading at NYC Moms Blog.

More?

... cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.
What to do? How to choose? A third? Even a fourth? I’m too old for that I suppose. They grow lanky now my little ones and only need help with homework. They tell jokes - real jokes and have amazing stories of days all their own with me visible only at the beginning and the end. There is much to love in this new realm- many new bits to enjoy. Listening to my daughter recount her sleepover adventures at a friend's house. High-fiving my boy when he successfully sounds out "almanac". We share new books before bed now - more complex stories - making our way toward reading the classics together.

Still those baby days hang both fresh in my mind and lost over eons of growth. I remember the Pampers smell but can no longer conjure it at will. Baby talk and tiny hands. Round bellies and kissably soft necks. Baby food airplanes and potty chairs. I miss it. I loved it. Does that mean I should go back or simply live with the sweet sorrow of its departure? And if I did, would there be enough of me for number three? Would s/he be stuck in a bouncy seat, pacifier in mouth, watching our crazed family rush by like the cars on the West Side Hwy? Eagerly waiting to engage whenever the walk light illums “safe crossing”?

Click HERE to continue reading at NYC Moms Blog.

Role Model Meltdown

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

I never thought it mattered much what celebs were doing. Sure, it seemed ridiculous some of the predicaments they found themselves caught in, but I cared only enough for a minor chat after drop-off or at a birthday party. And, I have to admit, I didn't really understand the big deal with steroids. If ballplayers wanted to risk their lives to hit more home runs, wasn't that their own issue? I'd heard the arguments about athletes being role models, but I didn't really get it. Can't you just talk with your kids about right and wrong? I would smugly suggest. And I did. When Jamie Lynn hit the news - we discussed how having babies was better when you got older. When Eliot Spitzer fell from grace - we carefully discussed honesty and fidelity. When Miley/Hannah showed up on the cover of Vanity Fair - we discussed proper attire for a 15 year old. But I'd never really seen those people as role models - well, maybe Spitzer in a leader of our state sort of way - but well, I was nine when Nixon resigned - politicians are different. In any event, I had it handled, you know, easy. Ha - I can be so naive.

This baseball season, my boy has become a die-hard Yankee fan. Sure, he's watched games with his dad in years past, he's played tee ball for two years. But this year he's taken to watching every game, he holds back tears when they lose, and he reads the sports page in the mornings when he has to go to bed before the game ends. He loves the game and plans to be a "player on TV" when he grows up. And his favorite Yankee? Alex Rodriguez. Who has, in the last week, been linked to Madonna in the tabloids although he has a wife and children. Um, yeah, role models. . . .

Click HERE to continue reading at NYC Moms Blog.

The Wedding Rings

... cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.

Every Monday morning, I drop my eldest daughter at preschool and then grab coffee next door with my friend Kristin. My 18 month-old focuses intently on her croissant as I peer across the small, wooden table at my friend. My eyes always quickly find their way to the wedding bands hanging around her neck. His wedding rings. Just hanging there.

A month ago, Kristin's husband died of cancer. He had been battling the disease for seven years. They fought tirelessly together, committed to beating this horrible, evil thing. And then one day the call came. He had died. He was 39 years-old. They had been together for 22 years. They have a 4 year-old daughter.

People said well meaning things like, "Well, at least he's no longer suffering." Everyone was so desperate to find some kind of silver lining they couldn't see the pain they caused Kristin with their words. Suffering? Kristin knows her husband would have done anything to stay on this earth with his wife and his daughter. He was not concerned with enormous suffering. He was concerned with living and loving and providing for his family.

I look at my friend across the table and I, too, always fear saying the wrong thing.

Click HERE to continue reading at New York City Moms Blog.

The Helicopter Parent

....cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.

Two weeks ago I wrote about the fact that I became dangerously close to becoming a stage mom, after taking my daughter to what seemed to be an audition for her favorite Nickelodeon show but turned into a fiasco.

Well this week, we had something way more traumatic happen. I question whether I should talk about it but something tells me if I don't get this off my chest I'm going to burst. You see, this week the letters arrived. If you are a parent of a "gifted child" what that means is, the letters announcing that your child has been placed in a special gifted program for the next two years started arriving in mailboxes all across my neighborhood in Westchester this Monday and Tuesday.

I first heard that the letters were being sent out by a good friend of mine who didn't receive anything in the mail and decided to call the Deputy Superintendent to see if her child made the grade. And unfortunately, she was devastated to learn he didn't.

Click HERE to continue reading on NYC Moms Blog.......

picture perfect

....cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.

I know a lot of women that are completely skeeved out by the idea of having maternity photos taken, or belly casts made. Not me. I am so proud of my body and my giant baby belly. I love everything about being pregnant, the way I feel about the world and about the way the world sees -- and treats -- me. I even love the comfort of the maternity clothes and the responsibility of making a life. For me, I've spent a lifetime feeling uncomfortable in my own body. I've spent years and thousands of dollars trying to shape myself into something I  don't really ever believe I'll be. I have hips and a belly and breasts. I am self conscious from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, and likely in my dreams, as well. But with pregnancy, I feel like it's the only time I ever look good. It is truly the only time in a woman's life that it is socially acceptable to have a large belly.

For me, pregnancy is a celebration of a body that I have such a hard time loving.

Click HERE to continue reading on New York City 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

Katie Couric on her interview with John and Roberta McCain

...cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.  Written by Katie Couric.

Hey, it's me again.  First, let me say to PunditMom that I'm so appreciative that you think I get it. Woo!! (Just don’t ask my kids the same question.)

I wanted to tell you about my interview with Sen. John McCain and his mother Roberta.  I must say, I've always thought that you can learn a lot about someone by talking to their mother, and that was definitely the case yesterday.  At 96, Roberta McCain is still as sharp as a tack. 

First, let me say the woman is beautiful.  She is really pretty and I hope I look that good at 56, let alone 96.

One thing that struck me, she is absolutely as straight-talking as her son.  It seems that "maverick" streak runs in the family.  As a college student, Roberta ran off to Tijuana to elope with Senator McCain's father.  She told me she took her school books with her on her honeymoon! It actually reminded me of my honeymoon. I took copies of Jane’s Defence Weekly (they spell it that way) with me because I was going to start reporting from the Pentagon when I returned. My husband told me he hoped that was not the kind of hardware I would focus on…but I digress.

(Click Here to see the YouTube video interview between Katie Couric, John McCain and Roberta McCain).

Roberta has clearly always had a lifelong quest for learning.  She loves museums, and told me that she particularly loves D.C. because the museums are open seven days a week and are completely free.  During 

Click to continue reading on New York City Moms Blog

I Love A Good Spanx-ing

...cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.

My parents always told me: you can be anything you want to be.   Sure, I thought, except a football player (wrong gender), a mathematician (wrong skill set), or a fashion model (just plain wrong). I'm not saying that I'm unattractive, but neither am I runway material...unless the runway is in the supermarket and I'm headed down the cheese aisle.

All that changed, however, when my friends from Role Mommy organized a mother-daughter fashion show at Macy's and invited my daughter and me to be in it.  My daughter, whose first word was “shoe,”  was beside herself with excitement. Me? I wasn’t quite as ready to tackle the runway.

I knew my daughter would look pretty. She’s smiley, she’s (naturally) blond, she’s got the little turned up nose I had until puberty robbed it from me. She’s eight. What could be bad? But what about me? Would I look pretty? Well, I wasn’t gonna look like a fashion model, that’s for sure. I mean, how many Jewish, 5’ 7”, frizzy-haired, size ten fashion models do you know? Something had to be done.

Click Here to continue reading this post on NYC Moms Blog......