Thursday Feb 23

Parenting OC Bloggers

Our Parenting OC Bloggers discuss life and work in Orange County, fun things to do and the latest news in health and parenting.

Facebook serves a lot of different purposes for a lot of different people. Some use it to connect with old friends, some use it to stalk ex boy/girlfriends, (or current ones for that matter), some to show off how cute their kids/pets are, and some to keep us up to date on EXACTLY what they are doing every other minute. My personal favorite aspect of Facebook is to keep up on how teenagers communicate with one another. 

It’s bedtime for my son, and my husband is upstairs doing the bath.  My 8-month-old daughter and I on the couch snuggling up and enjoying some girl bonding time. I have always wanted a daughter to bond with like this. It’s during these special moments that I can start to prepare her for the world that awaits her. So that is why we are curled up together watching…that’s right…”THE BACHELOR.”

About 10 years ago I noticed I was having a hard time hearing people, so I had my ears checked. I assumed they’d do a thorough cleaning and find some wax build up and I’d leave with squeaky-clean ears. Instead, I was informed that I had major hearing loss in both ears. “WHAT?” I asked incredulously (which I said partly because I was shocked, and party because I couldn’t hear).


When my son was born, I documented everything to ridiculous proportions. He opened his eyes! Wow! 20 photos. He YAWNED! Video. Oh look, sleeping on Daddy’s chest, another 50 photos, and another 50 the next night of exactly the same thing. Tummy time!? Yep, 20 more. 

When I was little, I remember feeling so deflated when Christmas was over. All that build up, all the anticipation, the thrill of waking up to a sea of gifts and unwrapping them, the high of playing with all the new toys, sharing them with friends, and then…BOOM. OVER. Now I am experiencing Christmas for the first time through the eyes of a 2 year old and I have to admit, I feel the same way all over again

I have always gotten a kick out of photos of toddlers or babies with Santa where they are screaming their heads off. I think it’s funny, is that bad? Something about the concept of trying to force a child to look happy while sitting on some random stranger’s lap is just amusing for some reason.  

You know you have done it. Or at least thought about it.  You need to run a quick errand but your kids are asleep in the car. What do you do?  Do you really have to unbuckle both kids to drag them with you and disrupt that peaceful time they seem to be having with Mr. Sandman? Can’t you just run in real quick or will you be arrested?

Leave it to toddler story time to help me figure out the meaning of life. As I was sitting with my two year old listening to the storyteller read a Thanksgiving story to a room full of squirmy toddlers, all I kept thinking about was how thankful I am to not be a kindergarten teacher anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I loved teaching kindergarten, but now that I have my own little ones I am more than happy to let somebody else exert that kind of energy.  It was nice to be in the audience for once, and I enjoyed hearing the story from a child’s perspective.


They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So for this week's blog, you get a picture that says it all. Here's a fine example of when a toddler tries to help out with the baby.  Thank you, Honey! (I see blackmail in your future)...

Rainy days are here again. I love lying in bed listening to the sound of the rain on the roof, staying in my pajamas, drinking coffee, reading, watching movies, or catching up on DVR shows. Basically I think rainy days give people an excuse to be lazy and just relax. Oh wait. I have a 2 year old and a baby. Never mind. Scratch that. Scratch ALL OF THAT.

Isn’t it funny how your perspective changes on everything once you become a parent? Halloween is the perfect example. As a kid, you never ever think twice about trick or treating, you just do it! It’s FUN! It’s a rite of passage in our country to do the trick or treating thing. From a kid’s perspective, it’s all about getting as much loot as possible, counting and sorting it when you get home, comparing with your siblings and then hiding it. At least that’s how it was for us. 

I used to be really crafty. As in arts and crafty.  I have a closet full of drawers filled with glitter, pipe cleaners, googley eyes, buttons, construction paper, markers, and yes, I own a glue gun and I know how to use it.

Today is my brother’s birthday. I need to call him. I will do that in a minute. I just want to write about him for a second, because I am sitting here thinking how happy I am to have him as my brother. He is one of my best friends and I don’t think anybody makes me laugh harder. And we really like to laugh at just about everything, and we always have. Lately, though, we spend most of the time laughing about the current stage in our lives that we are both experiencing…. PARENTHOOD.

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Do you ever feel like someone is watching over you? Or that there really is a sort of pre-destiny? I know we all wonder about the what-ifs-all the time.

Everyone has one…that one love. The one who took hold of your heart the moment you met-and never let go. The one who made you fall fast and hard. The one who inspired you like no other. The one who ignited a spark in you that you never knew you had.

There are so many decisions to make once you become a mother, it makes your head spin. I never realized how many issues I would face as a new mom. Breast feed or formula? Vaccinate or no? Circumcise or not? How 'bout this new one to not give your child a gender? Really? OK, baby Pat.

One of my favorite things about articles online is reading the comments by readers that follow. People get so heated; sometimes it feels like they are about to start throwing virtual blows.

When I was about 13, I went to dinner with a friend and a friend of hers, whom I met for the first time. I’ll call her Jill. Well, I mean, that's her name.

One of my favorite stories that my husband tells is one where he was three years old and was grocery shopping with his mom.

Reality TV has gotten way out of control. The ideas keep getting more and more lame-yet somehow there is money to produce this stuff.

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