Hello friends! I hope you had a fantastic week while I was away. Other than dealing with a pesky head cold, I had a wonderful, reflective week off; I'm excited to be back sharing all sorts of useful and clever awesomeness with you, and I'm also feeling very happy about a new perspective I developed on parenting, work, and balance this past week. It only seems fitting to share these thoughts with you in my first post back. Enjoy!Hello friends! I hope you had a fantastic week while I was away. Other than dealing with a pesky head cold, I had a wonderful, reflective week off; I'm excited to be back sharing all sorts of useful and clever awesomeness with you, and I'm also feeling very happy about a new perspective I developed on parenting, work, and balance this past week. It only seems fitting to share these thoughts with you in my first post back. Enjoy!
Friends, if this summer has been to you what it has been to me, it's sort of been like the summer that never was; full of awesome visits and events and projects but also crazy, crazy busy. As an independent businessperson with an endless number of ideas, it's always hard for me to step away from work (my model was my parents who never, ever took a vacation), but for the good of my body and soul, I'm going to take a break from the internet this week. I want to enjoy time with loved ones, make and eat delicious food, exercise, enjoy growing the baby, and allow some creative ideas proper percolation. Meanwhile, if you need your Boston Mamas fix, scroll down in the left column to peruse over 2000 posts in the archives. And of course, feel free to write in if you have ideas for content you want to see, or to share any other thoughts about the site. I've so enjoyed answering questions via Dear Boston Mamas, and also seeing what other readers share. Have a wonderful week everyone!
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Liz via e-mail:
Hey Christine! A friend and I are celebrating our "friendship anniversary" and wanted some new ideas of things to do. What's a friendship anniversary? My best friend and I wanted to make sure we took the time each year to celebrate what a fantastic and rewarding friendship we have -- we've been friends for 29 years! Think about it -- we never really think about the close relationships we have with our friends... a lot of the time we have relationships with friends longer than we've been with our significant others. Though thick & thin (waists), good times and bad, celebrations and memorials -- our friendship has always been there for us -- why not celebrate it!? On our anniversary "night out" (day/night) we try to do something other than just going out for drinks and dinner (which is nice, but not as special as we'd like). One year we did indoor skydiving, which was a blast, and we're looking for new, fun ideas (that don't cost an arm and a leg). Any ideas?
Today, Heather recommends a fantastic ocean adventure for the whole family:
No visit to Cape Cod would be complete without some type of water excursion. And OceanQuest -- a non-profit marine education program out of Woods Hole -- was one of the highlights of our vacation. The 90-minute cruise is a hands-on, marine educational experience for kids and parents of all ages and truly has something for everyone. Passengers are introduced to the major disciplines within oceanography and are actively involved in manipulating equipment, collecting data, and discovering the wonder of ocean sciences.
Today, Jennifer recommends George's Island for a little island fun:
With my husband on vacation for a few weeks in July, we took advantage of the many wonderful sites and day trips around Beantown. One of our favorites? A trip out to Georges lsland. My husband (a native of the area) loved going there all the time as a kid and was anxious to show our kiddos how fun an old fort on an island can be!
Now, the second of two Dear Boston Mamas questions from Susan via e-mail:
Dear Christine, My mother-in-law is obsessed with feeding everyone, and apparently this includes the baby! She keeps pressuring me to use formula even though I keep telling her that I am breastfeeding. She will not relent and got to the point where she actually did bring me formula. It makes me feel incredibly unsupported with breastfeeding and I am going to lose my cool soon. She knows I go back to work soon and now asks every week what kind of formula we plan to use. This is just one item that I really do not want her to provide and she won't lay off. Any advice on how to handle a formula obsessed MIL?
Today I'll be fielding two Dear Boston Mamas questions -- from Susan via e-mail -- in separate posts:
Dear Christine, I am returning to work from maternity leave next month and I am really nervous about being able to handle everything when I get home at night. So I am trying to make a bunch of dinners to freeze and microwave when I get home for hubby and me. Seems like there is other stuff I could be doing now to make things easier for later. Do you have ideas on how to make the transition back to work easier?
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from @Rhoosting via Twitter:
Dear Christine, What are your recommendations for the best, hip backpacks for toddlers? I'm sure others would appreciate your thoughts, given that back to school season is upon us.
Today, Carole Arsenault of Boston Baby Nurses shares some tips to help expecting moms cope with swelling during pregnancy:
Mild swelling due to the accumulation of fluids in the tissue is normal during the third trimester of pregnancy, especially in the heat of summer. You may notice that your shoes are feeling tighter and that your rings are starting to get uncomfortable. Fluid often accumulates in the hands and feet. So what can you do to alleviate some of this swelling?
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Jillian via e-mail:
Hi Christine! I have been faithfully reading your site since my daughter was born almost two years ago. Thanks for sharing all of your insights and recommendations. They're invaluable!! Unfortunately my family is moving to London, England in the next few months and I'm a little nervous to be moving to a different country without at least the online resource you've proven to be for Boston and the surrounding towns. Please please please tell me you have a counterpart in London that you love and would recommend to a new-ish mom. It would be great if you had a twin doing the same type of blog in London!
Hello friends! So, my original plan was to line up all sorts of awesome editorial to publish from New York, but the truth is, I've been buried in client work (all fun and awesome, but still...) and this pregnancy recently has been kicking my rump a little in terms of general fatigue. However, and more importantly, BlogHer -- and the ability to connect in real life with so many talented writers and friends whose work I admire -- only comes around once a year and I want to be present in the moment while I'm there, not holed up in my hotel room posting and moderating comments. So, I'll be off for a few days and hope you have a fantastic rest of the week! And if you need your Boston Mamas fix while I'm away, peruse the archives (scroll down in the left column to read by month or category), which include over 2000 (!) posts, or you can see what I'm chatting about in New York over on Twitter. And of course, if you'll also be at BlogHer, please come say hello if you see me!
Today, Kate recommends a book that teaches kids about the value of family and pitching in:
Books for children come in all different styles -- silly, scary, spooky, fantastical, challenging -- just as children need a variety of types books to help their minds and imaginations blossom. In picking out books for my young daughter, however, I find that I gravitate to those that are, whatever their genre, fundamentally comforting, both in word and image. Not sappy and not rote, but gentle and kind and with a message that the world can be a good and peaceful place. One of our favorite new books of this type is Our Corner Grocery Store by Joanne Schwartz and Laura Beingessner (who have each written other cool books for kids).
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Lela via e-mail:
Dear Christine, I am a first time mom and my son is now just about 9 months old. It's a great time because he's learning to be more observant and responsive. We love tickle time and baby talk but I think we are ready for the next step, developmentally. I would like to start engaging him in other ways that are still fun for both of us. Any ideas?
Even though we've been in our home for two years, we're still not completely settled, and one area of the house that troubled me for a long time was our dining room. We have one big wall and I had no idea what to do with it. A single sideboard seemed pricey while not filling the space and what I really needed was a lot of storage to accommodate the contents of Laurel's open bookcase (that was exploding with art supplies), and other platters and vases and things. I recently hit on the perfect storage solution and several visitors have since asked me for the specifics about our setup so I thought I would share it here.
Well my friends, I have some big news to share with you today. Regretfully, it's not that I have figured out a way to achieve world peace or halt man-made ecological disasters, but it's big news in my corner of the universe all the same. I am pregnant. Hang on while I type that again because admittedly, I'm still sitting here in a state of shock: I am pregnant.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas question comes from Nan in Minnesota via e-mail:
Dear Boston Mamas, Growing up in the suburb of Belmont, I recall entertaining myself by hopping the bus to Harvard Square, eating copious amounts of Ranc's ice cream, skinny dipping in Walden Pond, and stealing traffic cones. As I sit pondering a visit back to Massachusetts later this month with my almost 2-year old daughter, I certainly hope to let her enjoy two of those activities, but am looking for some ideas on what else we can do. Thoughts and ideas on fun activities for a youngster in and around Boston would be appreciated!
The other week we received some zucchini from our CSA share and I immediately wanted to make these fritter-like zucchini rounds my mom used to make. I called my mom and she recommended using savory pancake batter instead of an egg wash (my original guess). I used my tried and true scallion pancake recipe and it worked amazingly; the centers of the zucchini became deliciously creamy while the edges remained firm -- a fine contrast to the salty deliciousness of the batter. I didn't think Laurel would touch these zucchini rounds because of her stance that zucchini is "disgusting!" but she gobbled about six rounds right off the griddle and came back for more later. Here's the easy how-to: