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Another Parenting First: When your child hurts, you hurt too

Danielle and her toddler Leo

Danielle and her toddler, Leo.

By: Danielle Robinson Bell

This post is republished from Danielle’s Facebook page with her permission. Click here to read some of the responses to LegoEddie’s demise.

This morning, our almost 3-year-old son, Leo, was very excited to take his two Lego men to school with him. They are both named Eddie. One has a blue hat. The other has an orange hat. Before we left the house we could only find the one with the blue hat (!!!) but Leo was committed to a search: “Eddieeee, where are youuuu?” he kept saying in his wittle voice. After a few minutes of looking around we finally found the other Eddie, the one with the orange hat. He was chillin’ with the rest of the Legos under Leo’s table.

When we got to school, Leo saw one of his teachers as the elevator doors opened. In his excitement, Eddie with the orange hat fell down the elevator shaft. [Read more…]

The Screaming Toddler is Asleep. In the Back Seat.

Sometimes I get the most done when the toddlers are asleep in the backseat.

Enjoying some quiet time. In the car.

Trigger Warning: This is a MOM RANT.

I am sitting in my car right now. In my driveway. Typing. Sipping Coffee. In bliss.

Because there’s a two-year-old snoring in her car seat in the back. And I dare not disturb her.

This is what it has come to folks. This is the only way I can find some time to myself, undisturbed, to make to-do lists and write and scroll through Facebook and Instagram and shop on Amazon and Imagine The Possibilities of whatever, collect my thoughts and steady my nerves to get through lunch hour, a bath, and hopefully nap time. [Read more…]

Food Allergies and the Flu Shot

There’s really no place to hide from the flu this time of year.

Honestly, it seems like everyone’s had it and a lot of my friends are on their second round of the illness. With a toddler at home and a four-year-old in daycare, I resigned myself to the idea that the flu would catch up with my family sooner or later.

So this week, it caught up with the most vulnerable and sleep-deprived member of the family: ME! [Read more…]

Trial and Error– Coping with my baby’s food allergies

An outbreak caused by food allergies

I struggled with whether to write this post, and how to write it, and whether to post this picture.

I’ve decided to do so because it’s part of my motherhood journey, a road that has all kinds of hooks and turns and rocky patches.

But this picture tears at my heart.

It’s of my baby girl at two months old, struggling with food allergies—specifically, food in my breastmilk that she was allergic to. I had no idea that the collection of red bumps and scars, facial swelling, and the blood in her diaper were from the food I was eating.

[Read more…]

I’m not the fun parent

20171117_2256111354219021.jpgThere are times when I wonder how my children really view me.

I know they love me. I’m essential personnel around here. I’m the one they cry for when they fall and scrape their knees. They scream my name in the middle of the night to rescue them from a nightmare. And they blame me when dinner doesn’t suit their fickle tastes.

But when they want to wrestle on the floor, or get a piggyback ride, or get flipped off the couch onto the hard floor, I’m not the one they call. They always ask for dad. [Read more…]

Potty Training: Trial and Error

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This post contains affiliate links. When you click on the link, I may be compensated if you purchase an item. I maintain affiliate links to offset the costs of writing an informative, healthful, and truth-driven blog about motherhood. 

Waking up to epic poop outs in the morning, where you need to change the crib sheets and give the baby a head-to-toe bath, is really getting old.

And so am I. I’m getting too old for this. My baby is two-years-old. She is getting too old for this too. We really need to get this potty training down.

That’s one of the reasons I was excited about Tot on the Pot. It seemed to offer a solution in a box, complete with a parent guide, a stuffed toy with her own play potty, activity cards and a nice step-by-step picture book for the baby. [Read more…]

Pee and Poop on Demand: Potty Training Baby #2

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Has your kid ever screamed, or got pee all over the floor, when the automatic flush in a public bathroom went into action and scared them half to death?

Have you ever thought of covering those sensors with a post-it note so your kid could finish the deal in (relative) peace?

Genius, right? Well, I didn’t come up with that. That tip came from Tot on the Pot, a new potty training system designed to coax toddlers to use the bathroom by encouraging play time and rewards for success. They advertise themselves as “potty training simplified for parents.” [Read more…]

The Simple Things

I’m learning how to keep it simple. Low-budget activities. Lower stress lifestyle. Less expensive outings.

Sometimes I over do it, trying to be the Bestest Mommy Ever. I’m always trying do my best, but typically it also means doing too much. It’s the perfectionist in me, and since I’m not perfect, well, I fall short. A lot.

The kids don’t notice anyway. They just want to have fun and be with the people they love.

So while I’m trying to take them to Disney World (again), all they really want to do is go to the playground. [Read more…]

Cuddle Time in a World Full of Ouchies

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My hubby cuddles the kids after a long day at work.

So how did you explain the terror attacks in Vegas to your children?

I wasn’t planning on saying anything to mine. But my three-year-old son caught the tail-end of the news report before I could get around the corner from the kitchen and dining room and hunt high and low for the remote to turn it off. I never did find the remote in time.

“Mommy did those people die? Did that man kill those people?” My heart just ached hearing him say words like “die” and “kill”. Please just let him stay innocent for a little while longer. Let’s turn on Thomas the Train or something happy.

But the questions just kept coming. [Read more…]