NieNie Dialogues – Salt Lake Tribune Article

I’m sure most of you have heard of Stephanie (“Nie”) Nielson, who blogs at NieNie Dialogues – she’s pretty much the most inspirational person I can think of, and I have been seriously enjoying her new book, Heaven is Here. 

I’ve been struggling with writing this post because I don’t think there’s anything I can say that will do this amazing woman justice – all I can say is if you need some hope or inspiration, or if you want to hear the most amazing story showing the strength of the human spirit, check out her book and blog, and you will never be the same again (for the better!).  She is truly beautiful, inside and out, and the most unbelievable person – an epitome of strength.

Anyway, right before Mother’s Day, I was asked to be interviewed for an article about Nie, and I was beyond honored.  I exuberantly told the columnist that I would be happy to do anything at all (seriously, if she asked me to learn how to knit and make a quilt, I would have) for Nie.  It’s amazing how you can feel so connected to someone you’ve never met, and how much you would do for a “stranger” (in quotes, because after following her blog for years, she just doesn’t seem like a stranger to me). 

I’ve never been interviewed for any kind of news story before – and I was amazed at how much poured out of me the minute the columnist asked her first question.  I was even more surprised at how emotional I got during the interview – I was crying on the phone when talking about Nie and the amazing life she gives her children, and how much she inspires me as a mother.  Luckily, I covered it up and the columnist was none the wiser, except that as soon as the interview was over, I emailed her my confession of tears!  (Can’t. Keep. A. Secret.)  Anyway, this passion and emotion – that is the kind of impact Nie has on people!

The columnist did a great job and it’s a wonderful article, complete with some photos of Nie and her beautiful family (and their latest addition, baby Charlotte!).  I really hope that the article brought a smile to Nie’s day, because she’s done so much more than that for me!

Read the article HERE.

Sunday Smiles – Sneezes Are Funny

Anyone in need of a smile or laugh today, check this out… it certainly works for me!

Good lord, this baby… I can’t take it! :)

Hope you’re having a fan-tabulous Sunday!

Things That Kick Ass – Episode 1

Hellooooo everyone!

Super excited to be linking up with Jenny & Jessica today for the first ever Things That Kick Ass.  Basically, it’s a quick vlog to tell you about something that kicks ass! It can be a product, a moment, a person, anything! As the girls will tell you, sometimes, there’s just no other way to say it than “it kicks ass!”

Still learning how to use the webcam, and have to pat myself on the back for figuring out how to flip the camera so that the packaging wasn’t showing up backwards.  But I’ll kick myself in the butt for barely figuring out how to compensate for this when holding up the products in front of the camera – ha!  Still working on that left is right and right is left thing.  And yes, I now know I am pronouncing my product wrong (more on that below).

So, without further ado, check it out:

Thanks for the horrible screenshot, YouTube. Jerks…

You can learn more about Lifeway Kefir, the “champagne of dairy” (don’t you want to try it even more now?  Champagne?!) here.

After I filmed this lovely video on the first take, I googled, “How to pronounce kefir.” Um, yeah, I was way off.  It’s NOT just like Jenelle’s boyfriend on Teen Mom 2.  And I said it a million times in the video.  Whoops.  But the real way to pronounce it just sounds silly:

And also, don’t get me wrong about the SO Delicious line of dairy-free products.  The probiotic drink is icky, but they have some aaaaah-mazing mini coconut milk ice cream sandwiches that I just die for, and I tested out their coffee creamer this morning (not bad, and WAY better than straight up almond milk as a creamer).

If you try the kefir and love it, let me know!

Have a fab, kick ass weekend!

Big Things, Kids

We’ve been doing big things around here, kids, big things!

There’s not a ton to say about each individual event, so I figured I’d throw them all together in one giant picture post.  I have been holding back a few days so I could include the last big event… Benjamin’s 6 month birthday, which was yesterday.  What the heck – how is he this old already?! 

Anyway, before I get all emotional…

Oh, too late.  Moving on…

In the past few weeks, we:

Bought a piece of land where we will eventually build our new home…

Heck yes we take photos when we have a real estate closing!  Doesn’t everyone?

My husband turned 30 (Old man… ha! Except I’ll be joining him soon…)…

Seriously, 30 seems soooo grown-up.  Which I suppose we are, but it certainly doesn’t feel like that…

We celebrated our first Mother’s Day as a family…

We enjoyed a super delicious lunch, right before an impromptu house showing, that *hopefully* will result in an offer this week!

We hardly exchange gifts for anything anymore (boo, unfun adult expenses!), so I was very surprised when Benjamin “gave”(okay, it was really more Derek) me my now favorite gift of all time – a “Mom” necklace with his initials on the back.

Matches my unfortunately-missing-at-the-moment bracelet, which is engraved with “H&D.”

I had my MBA graduation ceremony…

Hooray! 5 years of work and money, and now I can put that to good use looking for a job, caring for a baby and keeping a clean house!  Okay, kidding about the clean house…

Well, at least we got some decent family photos out of it.

And finally, Benjamin turned 6 months old (cue sobbing and panic attack…. NOW!)…

Ack – how did this happen?

So, I’m currently trying to recover from the realization that my baby is halfway through his first year.  Yikes.  He has been here for 6 months, and in another 6 months, he’ll be walking, talking, and will be a legit little boy instead of a baby.  Sigh.

Almost gives me “The Fever” all over again!

I Would Never Series… Pet Parenting Edition (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COOPER!)

 

Okay, I think I am going to turn last week’s “I Would Never” into a series, since this topic is always coming up!

This week’s edition: pet parenting.

I always swore that when we had children, we would never neglect our first child – our furry son – a Brittany named Cooper.  We named him Cooper after Cooperstown, NY, where the Baseball Hall of Fame is, and where my husband has some of his best memories of times shared with his dad.

Everyone warned me that once we had Ben, Cooper would be a second-class citizen in our house.  “NO, NEVER!” I would say.  And yet it’s definitely happened.

How did I fully realize this?

This arrived in the mail yesterday:

 

Whoops.  Oh rhymes-with-truck.  Totally forgot that it was Cooper’s birthday yesterday (you have no idea how fitting this card is for him).  My mom remembered (she and Cooper share the same birthday), and her card is how I realized this memory lapse.  While in most homes, pet birthdays are not a big deal, we have always celebrated them!

Last year: Cooper’s 2nd birthday.

Complete with gifts:

Yes, he is often a giant pain in the butt.  Yes, he chewed up our brand new kitchen island when he was a puppy.  Yes, his latest “trick” is trying to escape our house to run around the neighborhood.  Yes, I cannot cook anything without his fur somehow ending up in the food.  Yes, he won’t stop licking EVERYTHING (himself, the floor, the cabinets, the couch…).         Yes, we cannot get him to stop french-kissing our baby.  Ew.

But, he’s a total sweetheart and tolerates a lot:

Like Benjamin kicking him in the head:

He is a great “big brother.”

I swear I honestly did not pose this picture – Ben really did put his hand on Coop’s head!

He tolerates me dressing him up like a pumpkin for Halloween, and Santa for Christmas:

He tolerates me dropping food on him while I cook:

And even though he drives us crazy sometimes most of the time, I love that nutty dog.

July 2009 – a few days after returning from our honeymoon, and one of Coop’s first days in our house.

I love you, crazy dog.  Happy 3rd birthday.  I’ll try not to forget next year.  And I will take you out to the pet store today to pick out a nice gift :-).

Snaps to Sears! And a Few Words on Time Magazine…

I have never really been big into Sears – it always seemed old-school, not cool, and not “like me.”  I’ve been eating my words lately though – between the Kardashian Kollection, and their latest Kenmore marketing campaign.

Have you seen the latest Sears commercial yet?

I have to say, I was stunned (in the best way possible!) when I saw this a few weeks ago:

And when I was searching for that video for this post, I found this older spot:

Notice anything superawesome about these two videos?

BABYWEARING!

I have to hand it to the marketing department at Sears (and whatever agency they use for their spots) for featuring babywearing so prominently in their commercials.  My background is in marketing, so I’ve been in TV commercial strategy meetings with ad agencies.  There are long discussions about what to feature, how to portray the product, exactly what the actors should look like, etc., all down to the tiniest detail.  So this was a conscious decision for Sears, and I have to give them much credit. 

I am so excited about this, I’ll try to ignore the out-facing baby in the second commercial (not good for the baby – read here) – and just appreciate that they are showing babywearing in a mainstream commercial!

Benjamin looooves being in any one of our <gulp> 5 carriers. :-)

So, snaps to Sears for showing a little piece of attachment parenting in a positive light…

Unlike Time magazine for making attachment parents look like freaks and putting a negative connotation on the phrase, “attachment parenting,” [This is exactly why I hate using that term to describe some of our parenting choices.] and honestly, a negative connotation on breastfeeding too.  By negatively portraying people "on the fringe” of BFing (we don’t all BF up to elementary school!), they degrade the entire practice, which is a huge setback.  Moms need support, not people criticizing their positive choices! 

I picture a new mom on the fence about BFing – seeing negative portrayals of BFing, such as a sensationalistic photo of BFing a 3-year-old may lead her to question if BFing a baby is weird too.  Showing your average mom nursing a baby would have been a better, and more  realistic choice.  I love ice cream, but I wouldn’t choose a picture of a morbidly obese person to depict one of my favorite foods!

Okay, would I BF until my children are 3?  Definitely not.  Have I had my own conversations about it being a little strange?  Yes.  But after squirming through an uncomfortable conversation about the Time article at a party this past weekend, I wondered what the party guests would think about my plans to BF for a year or a little over.  Despite the fact that science is more than on my side, I think these women would have thought it strange, and the article certainly doesn’t help portray my choice in a positive way. 

The woman who started the conversation, with a scornful-toned-comment, “Did you see that Time magazine article?  UGH!” has no children and is past child-bearing years – I assume she probably doesn’t know much about the benefits of BFing in general.  The Time Magazine article is where she learned what she knows, which is really unfair.  Another person said, “The boy on the cover is not even a baby anymore!”  True, true.  But Benjamin could easily start walking in the next few months, at which point, he’s really a toddler (because he’ll be toddling!), and not a baby, but I’ll still continue as planned.  It’s something I’m usually proud of, but at that moment in the conversation, I kept my mouth shut, embarrassed to say anything.

And I’ve been kicking myself for not speaking up ever since, hence today’s word vomit on the topic!

Anyway, that’s a whole lot more than I planned on saying about Time (I started with one sentence only!), so that’s all for now!

In short, yay to Sears, and thumbs down, Time!

Check it, yo!

No, I did not turn into a rapper overnight, but I couldn’t resist saying, “Check it, yo!” (What. A. Nerd.) in reference to checking me (and some other wonderful women!) out at:

I am super excited to be participating in the first ever Sponsor Swap Sunday at The Memoirs of Megan!

My most wonderful, amazing BBF (best bloggy friend - thank you for sharing the term, Megan, now I can use it allthetime!) absolutely made me blush this morning with the intro she wrote for me.  Love. Her. 

So, go check it out (yo), read some random facts about me (and appreciate my long-windedness, in taking a “5 bullet points” assignment and turning it into 5 mini-paragraphs!  Whoops… tee hee!), and, stay awhile to read more from Megan (and enjoy her pics of the cutest photobomber ever, little Miss Vivien.  Megan and I may or may not discuss a possible arranged marriage between Miss V and Benjamin in the future :-) ).

Peace out, yo, and word to your motha (you know, since it’s Mother’s Day!).

I Would Never…

There are SO many things I swore I would never do as a parent… before I actually was one.

I think the purpose of having pre-child lists of “Oh I would NEVER!” is only to cross them off that list once you are living the life of a mom.  And I’ve been crossing items off that list with rapid speed lately.

Among the highlights so far: 

If you told me a year ago that I would regularly sleep on poop and pee, I would have tried to put you in a room with padded walls. To be honest, this wasn’t even on my list of, “I would never,” because I couldn’t even imagine this situation. But when your baby’s diaper leaks in your bed at 3am (let’s be honest, even if it’s 8am) and you just want to sleep? You throw a towel over it and go back to bed. And strip the bed and wash the sheets promptly that morning a few days later.

And speaking of babies in beds – what the heck? I said I would never be one of “those people” who lets their baby sleep in bed with them.  And yet somehow, it gradually happened.  And I love it.

Could you toss this cute little cuddle bug out of your bed? I cannot! (And don’t be alarmed, he sleeps on his back during the night – this is in the morning when he’s half awake and I’m up.)

Next: speaking in the third person.  Pre-Ben (and honestly, it still annoys me when I see other people do it, but of course, it’s fine for me to do…??), I used to get so irritated by, “Mommy wants you to get in the car!” or “Mommy thinks you look so handsome today!” Like honestly, why talk in the third person just because your audience is a baby?  Unnecessary.  But, at any given moment in my home, you will hear, “Smile for Mommy!” (camera in hand), or “Mommy is tired, Benjamin. Let’s take a nap,” or some other variation of a third person sentence.  Argh.  I annoy myself sometimes.

“Mommy loves your Christmas jammies, Benjamin!”

Never did I think I would pick someone else’s nose.  Enough said.

I swore I would never take a child less than 5 years old on a plane. I would never be THAT mom with the crying, screaming baby that everyone wants to lock in the bathroom, mid-flight. What business do babies have on planes anyway, unless they’re flying to a funeral (the only acceptable excuse!)? Well, next winter, my parents are turning into “those retired people who go to Florida for a month in the winter,” and they are offering us a free vacation there with them.  Free vacation to Florida?  Um, yes please.  We’ll absolutely be trying the Benadryl route.  I’d rather have a quiet, happy baby than irritate the bananas out of everyone else.  Judge away.

I can already feel myself weakening on the “no-TV-until-age-3” rule I set for Benjamin, but haven’t broken down yet.

Hopefully in the future, I can keep my strength and Benjamin will never wear light-up sneakers or clothing with characters/licensed stuff all over it (Though I could possibly make an occasional exception on that one for inside the house only.), but we’ll see.

What things have you done that you swear you would never do?

The Girl Behind the Blog Vlog – Fave Beauty Products

First Kay did it, and I thought, “Ooh – what a fun idea!”  Then Megan did it, and I knew I had to jump in.  So, I’m linking up with Jenna & Ashley, finally.  I’m late to the party, but at least I showed up!

Whoa.

My first vlog.

Promise not to laugh too much.  I have a million outtakes of me giggling and swearing after mixing up words, etc.  For some reason I look oddly pissed off in the beginning of the video before speaking, but I promise I was happy to do the vlog. 

SO, If you don’t want to look like this:

Heck yes that’s me in the best Halloween costume ever!

Or this:

Then watch the vlog on my favorite self-tanners!

If you’re thinking, “Heather, it looks like this was filmed in a bathroom,” well, then, you’re right. It had the best lighting!

Hope you enjoy!

Web Skillz

Heck yes I just spelled “skills” with a “z” – if you can forgive me for it, check out my “mad web skillz"!

I made myself my very own, brand-spankin’ new, BLOG BUTTON!  And a matching signature!  And if I play my cards right, at some point in the future, a matching banner.

Check it out!

And, a fancy new signature (see below!).

I realized after the fact that they’re a little Secret Life of the American Teenager, but I love them anyway (and… I may or may not love that show… ).

So, the button is up for grabbing – grab away!