DC Metro Moms

Silicon Valley Moms Group Acquired By Technorati Media

Reports of our demise, as the saying goes, were premature. The Silicon Valley Moms Group of sister sites is taking up residence in a new location. Look for that great timely, opinionated, poignant, and sometimes just plain funny parenting content you're used to seeing on this site over at The Women's Channel at Technorati. After 6 great years of blogging here, we've moved to a new home.

Fondly,

Jill Asher, Beth Blecherman & Tekla Nee

Co-Founders, Silicon Valley Moms Group

A Promise Is A Promise

The "blogosphere" is a strange world to enter.  There are no real guidebooks or maps.  Your starting point may be your first, "hello, is anyone out there?" post, but you have no real idea what the final destination is or what the milestones along the way are (oh, sure, you may THINK you know what they are, but you don't REALLY know what they are).  And while there are certainly a lot of statistics (How many readers?  How many uniques?  How many subscribers? How many return visitors?  How many Twitter followers? Blah, blah, blah.), there isn't really a great way to measure your journey through the blogosphere.

So I consider it pure coincidence and happenstance that I ran into a bunch of great bloggers at the beginning of my blogging journey, actually pre-Caffeine And A Prayer and learned about the Silicon Valley Moms Blog Group and the DC Metro Moms Blog.  Back then I only had a private, for-the-family-only blog, but I knew I was going to launch a public blog soon.  And I decided when I did, I wanted to be able to be a writer for DC Metro Moms.

Of my checklist of things to accomplish with my fledgling blog, receiving SV Moms Blog founder Jill Asher's call was one of my most thrilling.

Safety Gates on the Internet?

As a young mom I safety proofed my house, used car safety seats until the kids were 8 years old, held hands when we crossed a parking lot, and cut their food in to teeny tiny pieces. You might think that I would be relieved to remove the last door knob cover, but safety proofing doesn’t end when your child can open a door. Now that my children are no longer babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, why would I let down my guard?

When my oldest first asked to go online she was about 5 or 6. She had heard a commercial. She desperately wanted to go to Nickjr.com to play Blues Clues. I sat with her as she clicked around in the games. l taught her to stay on the Nick website. Her Nick days faded when a friend told her about Club Penguin. Club Penguin was pushed aside when Webkinz hit Hallmark stores and everywhere. Webkinz were the Silly Bandz of 2008.

Holding Firm...or Not

My husband and I do not see eye to eye on all parenting issues. Sometimes I am the heavy in the argument. The one who pushes my agenda down his throat. Occasionally he is the one who is insistent on an issue. There is one issue that we agree on. One issue that we both declared was a topic not up for discussion or consideration. Contact sports.

As a young couple -- we met when I was just-21 and he was almost 20 -- we quickly moved from getting-to-know-you conversations to deep discussions. I was a senior in college, while he was a junior. We weren't engaged. Nor had we dated long. It sounds strange to think about now, but we did talk about marriage, kids, and even death.

We talked about what we would name our due in the distant future kids. We tut-tutted at the way a couple at our health club brought their young kids to late night wallyball game. (Wallyball? I am dating myself now...big time. Wallyball was played in a racquetball court.) Sports was a big topic of conversation for us.

My husband is a sports nut. Nowadays he plays sports, watches games, coaches our children, and plays video games. As a kid, he played very few sports due probably to the long hours his dad worked and his mother's health. I have never played a team sport, except for P.E. classes. We both agreed that our children would play sports. My husband was excited to coach the kids in ANY sport. I wanted my children to have something that I missed out on -- the experience of being part of a team. We liked the idea of our future offspring being a part of a team.

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok: A SV Moms Group Book Club

Transplanted from Hong Kong to New York City as a (very poor) young girl with her mother, Ah-Kim or Kimberley, struggled to make things better for her family, to learn English, to walk the line between traditional Chinese duties and the Americanized teenager she grew into. Join us today as we discuss the book Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok.

Here are what the SV Moms Group contributors ave to say today, all inspired by the book Girl in Translation:

• Marinka from Motherhood in NYC tells her immigration story in America, Baby
• Pamela from 2 Much Testosterone felt empowered
• Emily from Mama Sick has hope for her son
• Sharon from Channeling Ricky recognizes her own childhood embarrassment
• Vanessa from Chefdruck Musings goes for a taste of America
• April from It's All About Balance is a girl in gratitude
• Emily Paster from West of the Loop examines secrets below the surface
• Melanie from tales from the crib just wanted to fit in
• Elena from Cara Mamma reflects on dreaming big
• Lisa H. from Hannemaniacs has aunts just like Aunt Paula
• Alma from Marketing Mommy had culture shock
• Kristine from Mommy Needs Therapy or a Bottle of Wine was moved by the reality of immigrants who come to the U.S. for a "better" life
• Rox from Rox and Roll has thoughts about honor
• Julie from Just Precious opens her eyes in her own neighborhood
• Jen B from Anybody Want A Peanut? tries to translate autism

Silicon Valley Moms Blog is hosting the book club discussion this month. Please leave a comment here to join in the discussion.

Past SV Moms Group Book Clubs have included:

• I am Nujood, Aged 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
• The Body Scoop for Girls by Dr. Jennifer Ashton
• Just Let Me Lie Down by Kristin van Ogtrop, Editor of REAL SIMPLE magazine
• National Geographic's Green Guide Families by Catherine Zandonella
• Top 100 Finger Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel
• The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman
• The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase
• Coco Chanel & Igr Stravinsky by Chris Greenhalgh
• See Mom Run by Beth Feldman
• Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done
• This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Topper
• Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer
• Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.
• What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
  
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
• Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
  
• It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
• Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
• The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
• The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Click here to read all about the SV Moms Group Book Club.

He Has a Point About Father's Day

I asked my husband what he wanted to do for Father's Day this year and he stated with a smirk, "A hike." I looked at him oddly and asked why he said it so sarcastically.  He explained, "Every year we go on a hike.  Every Father's Day it is all about being out as a family.  It's always the same."

Huh.

Except last we went to a nearby Potomac Nationals game.  He went on a bit more and said, "Mother's Day is all about rest and relaxation. There are spa treatments, Mom doesn't cook. She's pampered and left alone. Father's Day is all about being up in Dad's face."  OK, I might have paraphrased a bit in that last line, but it's precisely what he meant.  He doesn't go off alone to play golf, hang with other Dad's who just want to sip a good pinot noir and watch the sunset or get a massage.

Remembering That Ch-Ch-Ch-Change is the Only Constant

My daughter came home from Kindergarten last Thursday acting out of sorts, blue, and really, really down.

I asked her what was going on and what happened that made her feel that way.

Our Word Wall is down.  The walls in our classroom are getting empty, and we took everything out of our cubbies today.  It's not my same class, and it just. . . makes me feel funny.

Ahhhh, the ole "a new change is-a-comin' syndrome"--the same one that I still suffer from with the change of seasons, change of schedule, change of just about anything.

DC Metro Moms Blog - Brand/Blogger Symposium Event at The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City

On Sunday, June 6, 2010, SV Moms Group and BitDefender brought together 50 local DC Metro Moms Blog bloggers and 20 sponsoring companies to our fifth Brand-Blogger Meet-up. This time we convened at the lovely Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City. The intent of our meet-ups is to connect brands targeted to women with influential mom bloggers and to build community.

A huge thank you to our fantastic Co-Host sponsor, BitDefender who hosted a lovely brunch and private feedback discussion! And also to our Platinum sponsor K12. 

Also attending as sponsors were: Bosch Appliances, TLC, Stonyfield, Cinnabon, iGo, Army of Women, Cultural Care Au Pair, Lawry's, Lice Happens, 23andMe, Yoplait Kids, Dorel Juvenille Group, Eden Fantasys, and Easy Print Design. Thank you so much for participating and making this event possible.

Check out photos from the event at the Flickr stream.

A brunch hosted by our Co-Host sponsor, BitDefender, opened the day, after which an open and honest two-hour discussion was held, led by SV Moms Group advisor Samantha Fein and editor Vanessa Druckman, about how brands and bloggers are working together.

Following the two hour round-table discussion, the brands and bloggers moved into the ballroom for drinks, food, and one-on-one networking. Here is what a few of our attendees had to share about their experiences meeting with brands, networking and catching up (IN REAL LIFE) with fellow SV Mom Group Bloggers in Washington, DC.

• Stimey from Stimeyland had her socks knocked off 
• Thien-Kim from I'm Not the Nanny hangs with people who understand her twitter addiction
• Cara Mamma from Cara Mamma is playing with the big boys
• Amanda from Parenting by Dummies provides a profile of a power mom blogger
• Minky from Dial M for Minky dials M for Minky, Motherhood and Mimosas
• Kimberley from Petroville parties like a blog star
• Rebekah from Mom in a Million has a weekend adventure in blogging
• Elaine from Connor and Helen Grow Up engages in cupcake wars
• Claire Jess from Crunchy Chewey Mama wheels away with goodies and gets lucky
• Jill from Musings From Me discusses the big event and the litl webbook she won: @litl: Works for Web-Surfy Family of #mom #dad #kid #tween #teen and @litl and cloud computing
• Leticia from Tech Savvy Mama reveals lessons learned about relationships from brands and bloggers
• Amy from Teach Mama gets life lessons: babies, bloggers and brands
• JJ from Caffeine and a Prayer sucks less (power) with the iGo charger and writes about social media: the new power of women

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Check out the recaps from the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles/Orange County and Chicago Moms Blog and New York City Moms Blog Brand-Blogger Meet-ups too.

(Car) Size Matters

I haven’t had an unobstructed view of the road since 1998.

Before you go calling the cops to report some crazy lady driving around with seriously screwed up vision or something, let me explain.  I drive a Honda Civic.  It’s small, it’s efficient, I can park it anywhere, and it perfectly suited my needs as a single girl in her 20s.  It’s not quite as perfect in my current mode as 30-something suburban mother, but it’s fine. The car seat fits in the back, the stroller fits in the trunk along with a few grocery bags, and the gas mileage is still good. Plus I don’t have the money for a new car and this one is paid off. So, until the day it dies and I have no choice, the Civic is my mode of transportation.  And I like it.  It’s a fun little red car and driving around in it with the sunroof open and the music playing still makes me really, really happy.

But, boy, does it sit low to the ground.  Especially compared to the fleet of minvans and SUVs that have taken over the roads since I bought my Civic 13 years ago.

Aging at the speed of time

"She's growing too fast." "I wish he would stay this way forever." "I can't believe how big she's getting!"

Do you ever think any of those things about your kids?

I never think those things.

I have a relative who always drops those cliches on my kids' heads. "They grow too fast," she always says. I always reply, "no they don't."

They grow just right. They grow a little every day. I've never understood the sentiment that wants to freeze them in time. It's selfish, isn't it? To preserve them in amber so that I can admire their dimpled elbows and funny pronunciations? I want them growing every day, because if they aren't, what horrible disease has befallen them?

The iPhone Is Breaking Up Our Family (Plan)!

Apple's iPhone has caused quite a bit of discord in our family.  Debate over it has caused many phone calls, trips to the mall, conversations with friends and family members, and ultimately, a divorce.  A cell phone plan divorce, that is.

Yes, we're going splitsville.  Our family plan is headed to Divorce Court and the final decision is who gets custody of my mother -- who uses maybe 10 minutes a month and has minimal requirements of a phone.

I'll take responsibility for being the plan-wrecker.  I'm the one with the wandering eye.  Sure, my Verizon enV2 was good enough for me when I got it not quite two years ago.  But then my iPod Touch entered my life -- I just happened to win it in an online contest.  Suddenly I was lurking at iTunes at all hours of the night, using gift cards to update my music collection, and one thing led to another, and there I was, at the App Store.  No one warned me the iPod Touch was the gateway drug to the iPhone, but it is.  Because once you start downloading apps, you want them all the time, but stray away from home and you realize that sadly, you can't have your apps at your beck and call, because you don't have your wireless access everywhere.  What's a girl to do?

Start coveting an iPhone.

Graco and DC Metro Moms Donate 3 Car Seats to Fallen Officer's Widow Expecting Triplets

It was my pleasure, on behalf of Graco and DC Metro Moms, to give the Montgomery County Police 3 brand new Graco car seats for Melissa Ayala, widow of Officer Hector Ayala, who died in the line of duty in April.

A Police Officer, who was also a dear friend of Hector Ayala, came to my home to pick them up and he also gave me some information to tell everyone in our community and beyond.

Melissa is doing as well as can be expected, and will most likely give birth this week.  She and the babies are healthy, although she is in pain and discomfort (but we all know as mothers, that being pregnant with triplets cannot be easy).

I also learned that the gender of the babies is unknown, it’s been too hard to tell… 

Yeah, I know.  I swallowed hard learning that.  Not only is this woman giving birth to triplets IMMINENTLY- without her husband- she doesn’t know any of their genders…

Hey AAP: Ready to Reverse Course on Male Circumcision, Too?

I run in a pretty “crunchy” crowd. Or rather, I used to run in an ultra-crunchy crowd. You know - the kind that grows vegetables in the backyard, argues about the conservative media bias, and generally considers Birkenstocks to be perfectly acceptable for the office. I never seriously considered a hospital birth because I knew from the start I wanted my babies born at home if at all possible. But I knew when I was a new mom I needed to flap my social wings a bit. I found myself socializing with other mamas, if only for the reassurance that my son’s (remarkably poor) eating and (remarkably poor) sleeping was normal. (It was). Imagine my surprise, then, as I sat with a group of moms at a Friday jazz program at the National Gallery of Art when the conversation turned to circumcision.

It's Not Summer Yet For Me

All of my friends are talking about the beginning of summer.  And I'm reading blog post after blog post about graduations.  Preschool, kindergarten, middle school, high school, and college.  We are talking about Father's day.  July 4th merchandise is arriving in stores.  Pools are open.  After-school classes are ending. 

But it is not summer for my family.  My son's preschool runs on an 11 month calendar.  So he doesn't end until JULY.  His preschool graduation is not until July.  So when people ask me if I have decided about kindergarten yet, and I say no, it is because I still have not had my end of the year conference.  School isn't over for us yet.