You've Been Boo'ed

I'm not quite sure where the You've Been Booed phenomenon came from but when it comes out it catches on and it’s so much fun for kids and adults alike.

We were Boo’ed for the first time when we moved to our new neighborhood, I came home from work one day to find a small goodie bag and a note tied to my door knob. When I read the “You've Been Boo-ed” poem and directions it put a smile on my face and made me feel welcomed. Though it’s intended to be a kid’s activity I ran with it at home and at work, our son was only 1 at the time. We passed the Boo onto two of our neighbors but then I drove a few minutes away to two of my friend’s houses and Boo’ed them too J.  The next morning I made another copy and left it on a coworker’s desk along with a candy treat. The office got a kick out of it for the day, not sure if my friends ever passed it on though.

What you’ll need:

Candy or some other item that will make a person smile

A printer or copy machine

Stealth moves

Print out two or three of the You've Been Boo’ed Direction sheets/poem

And two or three of the I've Been Boo’ed sheets

Create a little goodie bag and then pick 2-3 houses to Boo. Go to each house and place the goodie bag and poem in your neighbors mailbox or right on their front door.

If you know that one of you “victims” will need a little help to pass the Boo along quickly, give them a hand and print out a few extra copies for them.

This can also work in an office setting if you work in an environment where it’s okay to have a little fun.

You can find more information at http://www.beenbooed.com/

Thanks for stopping by 

Niki

(If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Bellies and Babies Pt. 3

Maria Kang, a mother of three young boys is “apologizing” after causing an uproar on Facebook, and other social media platforms by posting a picture showing off her flat abs and asking other moms, "What's your excuse?"

Many people took offense to her picture and some even retaliated with their own. 

Though I hate Fox News, I saw that they gave her an opportunity to respond to the backlash and Maria says she was just trying to inspire people.

When asked if she was suggesting to other moms that in order to be happy, healthy and beautiful they need to look like her, Maria is quoted saying “No, that's absolutely not what I'm saying. I'm saying, what is your excuse for not working out? People can take it how they want to. My intention and where I stand my ground is, you know, if I can do it, so can you. Here I am with three kids, 3, 2 and 8 months. I'm able to make fitness a priority, maybe not my first priority. Maybe it's my fifth, but it gets done…”

I hear what she’s trying to say but I feel she could have gone about it another way. When I look at her photo I hear I have kids too, three of them, but I still found time to work my ass off, literally. This, to me, is not inspirational. You know what would have been inspirational…Let us see the pictures of what you looked like right after you popped those kids out, when your stomach was flabby and you maybe tried to hide it by putting on a body shaper. Let us hear how you felt about your body after you had your first kid; if you loved what you saw in the mirror and embraced your stretch marks or avoided seeing yourself naked because you didn't want to face your new mom body. Show us and tell us what it was like to be pregnant 3 times back to back. Let us hear about your struggles to find time to work out and eat well while working a full-time or part-time job, caring for three kids under 4, keeping a relatively clean home and maintaining your sanity. 

It’s not about feeling inferior, as she put it, it’s about feeling judged. No one is privy to all of the individual struggles that we each deal with on a day to day basis, so to sit back and ask moms “what’s your excuse?” comes off as judgmental and smug NOT inspirational; moms don’t need this crap they need support

Sorry Maria

Check out the interview  auto and transcript- Fit Mom of 3 asks “What’s Your Excuse?” 


Thanks for stopping by
Niki

 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connected Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt. 1
Bellies and Babies Pt. 2

My Mom Bag - Modernizing the age old diaper bag

If you’re already a trendy mom or dad this post will seem like old news to you but if you’re like me and you sometimes struggle when it comes to looking “trendy” or “hip” (geez I can’t even believe I just typed that, I’m old) anyway, if you're like me then this post will be right up your alley.

I’m not big on purses, mostly because I’m afraid it won’t “go” with what I’m wearing or even worse, that I’m going to leave it somewhere. Usually when I’m out with the kids I stick my wallet and keys in our diaper bag and keep it moving but last month when I saw my husband's cousin not only “wearing” his son but also sporting his backpack stuffed with diapers, wipes and other kid stuff I thought to myself, why don't I do that?  Not the backpack per se, I'm not a backpack person, but a bag that I like and that could work double duty.

So one day while roaming the aisles at my favorite store I came across this beautiful red bag and when I opened it up I HAD to buy it, these are my favorite colors.

Zebra!!!! :)

It’s now my “mom bag”, basically a large purse that I also use as a diaper bag for quick trips when I don't need a bunch of kid stuff.

I'm able to get a good amount of stuff in this bag:

3 diapers, wipes, travel size diaper cream, teething tabs, a burp cloth, a change of pants, a magazine and all my personal stuff. Stop wondering why I have so many keys :)

This particular bag has lots of pockets to store my things separate from theirs and that comes in handy when you're trying to keep it all together. 

Little eternal zipper area for makeup, gum, etc.

Mommy's side of the bag

Kid's side of the bag

There's also a zippered area in the middle where I stash a gallon sized zip-lock bag for any dirty or wet clothes, a must.

Like I said earlier, my cousin pulled this same concept off using his book bag, so there's really no need to buy some fancy designer diaper bag system that you don't really like, you can make your own. My next bag will be a basic black so I can avoid the whole "does this match" drama, I have enough to deal with :)

Thanks for stopping by

Niki

To Prep or Not To Prep? This Should Not Be The Question

I debated making this my next “soap box” post because I don’t want people to look at me weird or label me as one of "those" people but then I thought about it and decided that I do want people to look at me differently. I want people to see me as the person I am, a prepared mom dedicated to keeping her family safe and who’s open to talking about it with others who want to do the same.

Right off the back let me just say that I do not believe in the zombie apocalypse and I don't consider myself to be a "doomsday” prepper but I do believe in being prepared in case sh!t happens. I know it may sound a little crazy at first but when you give it a second or third glance it makes sense, especially given all the crazy stuff that happens these days.

Around this time last year people were putting up Halloween decorations, picking out costumes and buying candy. Within a weeks’ time that turned into removing all lawn ornaments, stocking up on nonperishables and bracing for hurricane Sandy. Many families, ours included, were not prepared for the magnitude of Sandy and therefore were not as prepared as they wanted to be. We realized that we needed to be more proactive about our safety and the well-being of our family.

Job loss, power outage, fire, flood, natural disaster, so many things can happen in the blink of an eye and people need to think about what they could do to be prepared for it. Of course you can’t plan for everything but a brief plan is better than no plan.

When I go into work I’m usually very intentional about where I put my personal belongings just in case I need to get out of there ASAP. I began doing this at my last job when I started to hear stories about people getting shot because of one of the services the organization provided. I always keep my keys and wallet in my bag and my bag sits on the floor right next to my feet, I almost never use the cubical locker they provide or lock my bag in my filing cabinet. I plug my phone into my computer so that it’s charged and right in front of me to grab and go. Nothing else on my desk has any personal value and I know where my closets two exits are.

Last week while I was sitting at my desk the entire office suddenly went black; I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face because we don’t have windows where our desks are and the backup lights didn’t turn on either. For a brief second I panicked and worse case scenarios ran through my head, then I closed my eyes (not really sure why) and reached for my phone. Just as I was about to grab my bag and get the heck out of there the lights came back on. The power was only out for about a minute but during that minute I was scared. Luckily I had a plan and it made me feel good to know that if something had gone down, I was prepared to get out.

Since I’ve started being a more prepared mom (I’m no expert or survivalist) I find myself, both at home and at work, creating “What if” types of scenarios and asking “can I quickly find xyz in the case of an emergency” types of questions.

Ex: What If I’m at home and suddenly I need to leave the house ASAP, in a blackout, can I find a working flash light, my wallet with cash in case the ATMs don’t work, my keys, coat and shoes? Then on top of that can we grab stuff for our kids as well, rushing and in the dark? Crazy right….I know, but the answer is YES, I can and you could to if you had a plan.

What if:

You had to leave your house in a hurry…

You weren’t able to go back to it for a day, 2 days, 3 …

There’s a fire…

Your car broke down in the dead of winter and you had to wait...

Your basement, where you keep your important docs, started to flood…

You’re at work and something terrible happens…

You lost your job and couldn’t find work for a month, 2 months, 3…

Your life partner left you…

We all have what if situations that could disrupt our lives but we also have the ability to think about them and to try and formulate a plan so that we aren’t up shits creek.

So, as the title of this post states, to prep or not to prep, this should not be the question.

If you’re looking for some basic information the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management has a great interactive website with tips on being prepared and know that you can always leave your questions or comments here.

Thanks for stopping by

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Bellies & Babies pt. 2

Let me start by saying thank you. I was blown away by the number of people who viewed and shared my post yesterday, Bellies & Babies, looking at body image post pregnancy.

 “I recently had a similar conversation with a close friend of mine and I found myself saying ‘I’d show you mine but I don’t want to scare you.’ Looking back on it I wish I would have said ‘I’ll show you mine when/if you’re ready to see what a real mom’s post pregnancy body looks like.”

Within 10 minutes of hitting publish on that post I had 60 page views and when I looked at it the following morning it was up to 147, today it's at 206 and everyday at least one person finds their way to that post. It reinforced my original thought that people do really want to have open and honest conversations about what pregnancy does to your body and your self-esteem, someone just has to be willing to start the conversation. After the post was shared on Pinterest a video link was sent to me by one of my followers and I wanted to share it with you all.

This video is a brief interview with Jade Beall, poet, dance instructor and photographer, who put together a great collection of stories and photos of real moms in an effort to redefine what it means to be beautiful.

Once you view Jade's video please check out the Beautiful Body Project website

Thanks,
Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connect Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt. 1
Bellies and Babies Pt. 3

“Paleo style” Chicken

So I’ve been seeing a chiropractor for about a month now to help deal with my ongoing rheumatoid arthritis pain, that’s another post all together. During my first visit he suggested that I try to change some of the foods that I’ve been eating and to drink more water, which I’m horrible at.

He gave me 2 gallon jugs of ionized alkaline / acidic water  with unlimited access to their filter during business hours and made a few food suggestions: less red meat, more veggies and try gluten free foods. My hubby called it Paleo style and I had no idea what that meant so I looked it up.

Turns out this “diet” is based on eating like our pre-agricultural, hunter-gatherer ancestors and it’s said to “slow or reverse progression of an autoimmune disease” along with a bunch of other health benefits. Right then I said "let’s give it a try."

Here’s my first Dr. Wayne approved “Paleo style” meal (easy peasy)

Chicken breast (cut into bite sized pieces and seasoned)

2-3 Carrots (sliced)

A bunch of Green Beans (cut of the tips and cut in half)

Broccoli spears (Keep as much or as little of the stalk as you like)

2 Bell peppers (sliced, color doesn’t matter)

A bunch of mushrooms (sliced)

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

I use a wok for this dish but that’s only because I like to pretend I know how to stir it like a professional J

Start by heating the oil and cooking the chicken until it begins to brown

Throw in the carrots and the green beans and lightly season the veggies while they cook

Place a lid on the pan and let it sit for about 5 minutes

Throw in the broccoli, mushrooms and the peppers. Lightly season this layer and then stir. Place the lid back over the pan for about 5-7 minutes

Remove the lid and you will see that the veggies will have begun to soften and that a bit of liquid has started to form on the bottom of the pan (note: I don’t like limp broccoli or peppers so I don’t cook them down that much).

Turn up the heat just a bit and stir for a few minutes while the liquid evaporates from the pan. If you like your chicken with a bit of broth, don’t turn up the heat and after you stir it put the lid back on.

This can be served over white rice or pasta (NOT Paleo recommended foods) or by itself.

Enjoy!

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).
 

 

Bellies & Babies

Yesterday I came across a 2011 article from Today: Parenting on real moms’ bodies and it made me want to write this post for other moms, and people in general, about this issue of unrealistic bodies post pregnancy. The article starts off with the following few sentences:

“Bonnie Crowder’s moment of truth came as she sat in a café in Anaheim, Calif. Like many moms, she didn't like her body: Despite efforts to lose the baby weight, her stomach still looked fat and unattractive to her eyes. Then a fit-looking mom walked by, and as she hoisted up the infant carrier in her arms, her shirt hiked up to reveal a glimpse of flabby tummy – the same post-baby belly that Crowder had thought was her secret shame. “I thought, maybe this isn’t my fault,” Crowder says. “Maybe this is normal.” Then Crowder had a third thought, one that would change her life and change the attitudes of thousands of women: “I thought, more people need to see this.”

That’s the same way I felt after reading this article, not only that more people need to see this but that more moms should be open and honest with their first-time pregnant friends (their close ones anyway) about what really happens to their bodies, and their lives for that matter, post pregnancy. Of course everyone’s experience will be different but there tends to be many shared occurrences and some great conversations can be had.

I recently had a similar conversation with a close friend of mine and I found myself saying “I’d show you mine but I don’t want to scare you.” Looking back on it I wish I would have said “I’ll show you mine when/if you’re ready to see what a “real" post pregnancy body looks like.

I’m a mom. I have the stretch-marks and emergency c-section scar, to boot

That’s not to say that I don’t have body hang-ups like many people do after having kids or that you won’t find a few pairs of spanx in my dresser drawer along with a minimizer bra or two. Like many, I get sucked in when I see magazine covers of celebrity moms talking about how they lost their pregnancy weight in a short amount of time and now they want to show off their flat and stretch-mark free bellies in a two piece. I have to remind myself that they’re airbrushed, WELL!! and that for some of these women if they don’t look a certain way they’re out of a job, so of course they’re hitting the gym and dieting like crazy as soon as their doctor gives them the OK.

What I've found is that many people are very comfortable showing off their bellies when there’s a baby cooking away inside of them, no matter how big they are (hence my pictures), but after that…not so much. I do find myself wondering what my fellow mom friends have hiding under their shirts but I've never dared to ask. Part of me feels that asking would be inappropriate, though I’m pretty sure I've already had some risqué encounters with a few of them :) , another part of me knows that it’s just not something on the top of peoples “things to share” list.

After I had my first son I joined a new moms support group and what shocked me was that many of the women didn't have complaints about their babies not sleeping well or concerns about feeding, their issues were that they weren't happy with how their bodies looked after having a baby. Some of these women’s babies were only 5 or 6 weeks old. They were depressed about still looking pregnant, having stretch-marks, jigglie bellies, c-section scars and had an overall sense of “no one told me it would/could be like this”.

How is it that though many of us know what a woman’s body can look like after having a baby, we have still allowed main stream media to convince us that the post pregnancy body is not attractive, something to get rid of or worse, something to be ashamed of. Why is it that we’ll give advice (sometimes unsolicited) on how to deal with pregnancy symptoms or how to parent but we tend not to talk about how bodies change once you have a baby? Guys, I’m talking to you too because I’m sure it’s not just the women who have fallen prey to these unrealistic post pregnancy body ideals.

My closing thoughts. If you are a first-time pregnant woman, try to have a realistic idea of what your body could look like after your pregnancy. If you’re a friend who doesn't mind talking about your post pregnancy body drama, do so; it may help a new mom cope. If you’re the partner of a new mom, be realistic, be supportive and keep her away from the magazine racks.

Thanks for stopping by,

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connected Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt 2
Bellies and Babies Pt 3

A little Spray Paint Goes a Long Way

Four years ago I bought this yoga frog from Pier One and I wasn't happy with the color but I knew that could be an easy fix.

With a few coats a $3 silver metallic spray paint I created something I now love. The key to getting a good finished product is to keep your hand moving while spraying and allow each layer to dry before adding the next.

Here's the most recent photo of my final project, surrounded by my shrine to lavender :)

Thanks for stopping by. Please check out my other posts and if you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me :)

Niki

Halloween Costume - Pregnancy Reveal

If you're pregnant and looking for a last minute costume idea, do I have an easy one for you.

Last year when we were debating how to tell people we were expecting I found this great idea on Make It & Love It and I wore it to my nephew’s costume birthday party and again on Halloween. It ended up being a great pregnancy announcement for family members I haven’t seen in a while. I wore the baby with the boy or girl symbol above (we didn't know the sex yet) and my hubby wore the burger, fries and beer. A lot of people thought the costume was store bought and my hubby got a lot of compliments for his stencil work.

This costume is an easy last minute (1-2 day before) job because it doesn't take many supplies to pull of but it does involve some prep work and patience.

I didn't use the freezer paper as suggested in Ashley's blog due to the fact that I couldn't find any near me so I just had my hubby cut out a stencil from poster paper, which he free-handed from Ashely’s pictures. I'm sure if you Google the images you'll find a bunch that you can copy. 

I taped the stencil down with painters tape and put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt just in case the paint came threw. 

Using white fabric paint and a fabric paint brush I blotted on the first and second layer, placing it in front of a fan in between coats to speed up the drying process. After it dried I removed the tape and used a black sharpie to touch up the edges.

Ashley does a great step by step tutorial here.

Happy Halloween!

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Saving for Christmas Year Round

I come from a pretty big family and I married into an even bigger family, so for a while the Christmas holiday season started to stress us out a bit. One year we tried doing a Secret Santa gift exchange, another year we said we'd only buy gifts for the kids. Needless to say both of these ideas were a flop financially because we still ended up spending more than we had originally intended; there's no way grandma is not getting a gift when she takes care of our little ones M-F, rain, sleet, snow or sickness.

So three years ago we decided to start saving for Christmas at the beginning of the year in an effort to lessen the blow of the cost of gifts, food and holiday shenanigans we'd partake in. As we come close to the end of year 3, I'm so glad we did this.

It's really simple to do, every week on payday we set aside $12 as a priority for the holidays. We take the money out of our general account and put it in an envelope that we are not to touch, unless an emergency comes up of course. At the end of 50 weeks we've effortlessly saved $600. With that we buy gifts to donate to Toys for Tots, gifts for the family, take nice day long trip to NY to see the tree and lots more.

Two years ago we decided to bump it up to $35 a week and plan, not only for Christmas but for our kids birthdays, a fun summer event, and Halloween. 

We started off in January with $13 in the Christmas envelope, $13 in the birthday party envelopes and $9 in the summer fun event envelope and we gave a savings cutoff date for each, except for Christmas, which continues year round. Once one event passed, we moved the money to start saving for the next thing.

Here's the breakdown for the year:
$13/w Christmas (January 4th - December 20th)
$13/w Birthday (January 4th - August 23rd) then move this $ to Halloween
$9/w Summer Fun Event (January 4th - August 2nd) then move this $ to Halloween
$22/w Halloween (October 4th - October 25th)
Once all of the years' events are over we continue to save the $22/w in case of an emergency like when the heater decided to blow out in January

For some people $12 is lunch for 1 day, so bring your lunch one day and set aside that money for the holiday season. Before you know it you'll have a ton of cash and it won't feel stressful spending the mone wwhen it comes time to do your shopping. 

Give it a try it can’t hurt.

Happy Holidays

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

A Bit About Me

Thanks for finding your way to my blog my name is Niki, one K not two :)

If you were to ask me how I identify myself I’d tell you that I’m a 30 something year old wife and mom to 2 boys. If you’re into classifying people by their personality traits, I’m an “S” on the DISC survey- “People with high "S" styles scores want a steady pace, security, and do not like sudden change. High "S" individuals are calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable, consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced. Low "S" intensity scores are those who like change and variety. People with low "S" scores are described as restless, demonstrative, impatient, eager, or even impulsive.” On top of that I’m also a Gemini so you never really know what you’re going to get. 

In my professional life I’m a trainer, community outreach worker and student adviser. I work with teens, college aged youth and professionals on health related topics and life skills development . I started this blog a few years ago and just recently decided to dust it off, update it and continue posting. I’ll apologize now for any grammar issues that come up for folks, I type the way I speak so you get what you get :)

Some of what I write about:

1. Parenting- Attachment parenting, babywearing, co-sleeping, going from 1 to 2 *caveat, I’m no expert.
2. Living with rheumatoid arthritis- I was diagnosed at 26 and have been coping ever since.
3. Party planning for kids- This would be one of my dream jobs if there weren’t so may DIY mammas out there
4. Crafts- I’m crafty in spurts, when I get an idea I have to run with it and then I may not tackle another project for some time. I have an extensive Pinterest page where I re-post most of my crafts under “I pinned and I conquered”.
5. Talking to your kids about sexual health from day 1: age appropriate topics and language.

Enjoy!

Thanks,
Niki