For Boy Who Loves Tea Parties

My son loves to reenact scenes from his favorite movies, so when he asked me if he could have a tea set to go along with his play food set to reenact the scene below from Toy Story 3, I thought it would be an easy request to fill. 

Toy Story 3 movie- Bonnie introduces Woody to her other toys as they sit around a table near her play kitchen.

I figured I could find a simple, gender neutral tea set at my local Toys R Us but when we got there all they had were frilly pink and white sets with hearts, flowers or “girl themed” characters. Needless to say we didn't leave the store with any of those as my, then 3 year old, son turned up his nose and said "mommy those are for GIRLS". They learn gender stuff at such an early age but I was determined to bridge the gap so I went into my crafty mom mode and figured I could make him a set he would LOVE.

As I started to move boxes around just to be sure I didn’t mess anything I saw this set:

Here’s a picture from the website:

It’s a simple grey and white set that has a heart pattern on it but it’s molded into the plastic so it doesn’t stand out much. When I showed him the set he perked up a bit but was still skeptical because it had two girls on the front of the box. I saw that he wasn't very excited about it but I tossed the set in the cart knowing that I could jazz it up once we got home with the help of some left over stickers we had.

About a year ago I had purchased 2 sets of these stickers from Walgreens for $1.99:

They have the characters printed on clear stickers instead of white so that they will blend onto whatever surface they are applied to. I hadn't opened one of the sets so there was just enough stickers for me to make him a custom Toy Story tea set.

I waited for him to take his nap and went to work on my project. When he woke up I had the set laid out for him and once he realized what it was, he got so excited.

He played with it a lot in the beginning but after a year and his new love EVERYTHING Avengers, it only makes an appearance a few times a month. One day he asked his uncle if he wanted to play tea party with him and when his uncle responded "tea parties are for girls" he said, with conviction, "no they're not, anyone can drink tea, see look at mine." My 20 something year old brother looked at me and then back at the tea set, knowing he was just trumped, took a cup and played. When he takes it out he still smiles and gets excited about it and my heart beams to know that little by little I'm helping my son stand behind what he loves and get passed gender stereotypes. I'm sure it gets harder as they get older but for now he's still a little boy who loves tea parties.

Here are a few shots of my final project.

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

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

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