Tiny Oranges – Fresh, fun blog for OC moms

The La Leche League of South Orange County is holding a family picnic event in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week on August 7th, 2010 from 11AM- 2:00PM at Alta Laguna Park in Laguna Beach and I wanted to share the details.

First, the event is FREE!

They will be offering free gift bags to the first 100 families to arrive, including full size and sample size products from Natracare, Lansinoh, Plum Organics, Hylands, Baby’s Bliss, The Water Brewery, Mothering Magazine, and Whole Foods.

You can also check out a mom & baby yoga demonstration, a children’s concert featuring Music Together (Estoy Alegre) and Smile and Sing, and a Q&A and book signing with Dr. Bob Sears.

There will also be a silent auction and opportunity drawings, featuring products from Bumbleride, Beco baby carriers, Steph Fowler Photography, Balboa Baby,  Aliso Laguna Body Talk, Milkalicious, Kamee June Photography, Jenny Mason Photography, and Earthroots Field School.

The event is open to ALL! Please come join them to help support La Leche League of Southern California!

CLICK HERE to download the flyer with the event details and directions!

Today is my baby girl’s 1st birthday!  I can’t believe how fast this past year went. And how much I have learned.  I thought baby number two would be a breeze – I was an old pro – right?!  WRONG! This past year pushed me to the edge as a person more than any year in my life.  As a mom and as a person.

When I had my Dream Dinners party a month ago, I met this sweet mom who was planning her son’s 1st birthday.  It was to be a huge event.  She is Korean and she told me in her culture, the 1st birthday is a big deal. Way back when, the mortality rates for infants in the first year was high, so for a baby to survive the first year was cause for big celebration.

I thought this was a very sweet and significant lesson and it got me to thinking about surviving this first year, not just baby, but mommy too!

So here are the lessons I have learned about surviving the 1st year of my second child’s life…

1. NOTHING was “easier” the second time around for me! I had heard, oh, you will be soooooo much more relaxed, you will enjoy it more, you know what you are doing…HA!!  To endure those hard newborn days with a bright-eyed bushy-tailed 3 year old was 100 times harder than I thought.  To have my attention, time and one pair of hands split between two little humans with different needs was also way harder than I thought.

2.  The sleep-deprived newborn days are torturous, but they go fast. I remember sitting up in the middle of the night thinking life will never be the same.  I will never sleep again and I will never feel normal ever again. I sometimes wanted to sob in the darkness because I was just SO DANG TIRED. When I got like this, I would sing the song in my head “It won’t be like this for long” by Darius Rucker and it would get me through.   I saw it on Oprah when I was pregnant and it made me cry. The song is SO TRUE. If you have 3 minutes today, listen to this song.  Beautiful message.

3. Babies are game changers and you have to be willing to adapt.  Just when you think you have something figured out and things are going somewhat smoothly, they will change the game.  Be it by teething, sleeping (or rather not sleeping), new developmental milestones, changes in mood or fussiness, eating.  You can’t get comfortable for too long.  If things are going well – ENJOY IT – for exactly what it is at that moment!

4. Just when you think you can’t take something for one more day, it will change for the better. Thanks to my cousin Angie for this quote. She has two older kids.  She knows.

5. Control.  Say good-bye. The more I fought to keep control over something, the more frustrated I became.  Learning to let go of things and realize I don’t have total control is an ever-challenging goal for me.

6. Nursing problems – get help if you need it! I had no nursing issues whatsoever with baby # 1.  Nursing was the last on my list of things to worry about because I had already nursed one baby.  With Morgan, I had several problems that persisted through her first 4 months.  I got a lot of help.  In fact, I wouldn’t have gotten through it without the support and expertise of the people at Milkalicious.

7. Reflux & colic can almost send you over the edge. My baby had severe reflux and colic for her first 4 months and it was 4 of the most challenging of my life.  If you are facing this, just know it WILL get better.  I promise.  The early days can feel like hell on earth. But she outgrew it, and we SURVIVED!

8. Seeing my oldest become a sibling has brought me more joy than I ever thought possible. I had no idea how much it would mean to me to see my daughter as a sister.   The unprompted sweetness and kindness she shows her little sister make my heart soar.  No one told me about this.  I love it.  It has made me feel really proud.

9. I have no idea what she “should be doing” as far as anything milestone-wise! I am not reading any books this time (because I have NO time) so when she does something new, it’s like “hey!  look what baby did!  wow!”   The 2nd learns in such a different way – mostly by watching her big sister – and that has been so cool to witness.

10. I realized that for the better part of most days, I’m outnumbered and I need help. I used to think it was a sign of weakness to need help, like I couldn’t handle it all myself, but this time around I smartened up and have gotten more help.  Being a mommy is hard, so get help if you need it!  Find a college babysitter here and there for a few hours, ask family to help, share babysitting with friends.  You got the idea – we were not meant to do this alone!!!  And leave the guilt at the door!

11.  I have realized this year just how crucial it is to have something just for me… time to take care of myself. I made my health a priority and have made regular exercise (running for me) something that is not-negotiable.  No excuses.  I always was filled with excuses before.  No time, no energy, blah blah blah.  My advice, if you are feeling run-down, spent, exhausted, unhappy, start to take 1 hour 3 – 4 times a week to exercise and you will not believe how much better you will feel all around.

12. Anything is possible if you believe you can do it.

13. The love I feel for my children is so equally overwhelming it can almost take my breath away. I never thought it was possible to love another child like my first, as I had never known love like that before. Then Morgan arrived and it was astounding to me how much the human heart has the capacity for such overwhelming love.

14.  Close mommy friends, my “mommy peeps” are more important than ever. And by mommy peeps, I mean the mommy friends you can be REAL with.  The people that you can call when you need to cry, or laugh, the people you can complain to or share joys with and you know you will never be judged. The sort of friends you don’t have to start the sentence with, “I really love my kids, but…”  Or the ones that you can have a play date and if your kid is a nightmare or does something embarrassing, you don’t have to worry that they think you are a bad mom, because they KNOW you.

15. Fifteen is a favorite number so I think this is a good place to stop.  The biggest lesson I have learned this year, is that the most challenging years/times can also lead to the most positive change. These are the situations that force you to learn more about yourself and who you are as a person.  This year almost kicked my butt but I feel so empowered that I SURVIVED,  and we survived as a family. I am coming out of it feeling stronger overall.   Our family feels stronger.  And complete.  It’s a peaceful feeling.  We made it through together and we are happy.  I really believe our kids are here to teach us about life, love, and ourselves.  And what a GIFT that is.  This baby, my one-year-old baby, has been one of the greatest gifts I could ever imagine.

So a very happy happy happy birthday to my Sweet girl!

Have a great weekend everyone, and have a VERY HAPPY and SAFE 4th of JULY!!!!!!

XO
Jen

StressBusters Lifestyle Day Spa is having a special event this Saturday for pregnant and new moms! There will be complimentary 20 minute pre & post-natal massages, food & beverages, goodie bags, drawings for gift baskets & discounts offered on products and services.

I had a 20 minute pregnancy massage at a Milkalicous event last year and it was A-MAZING!  Nothing better to a pregnant mama than a little back rub to soothe those aching muscles.  My parents also treated my sister (who happened to be pregnant at the same time!) to an at-home StressBusters pregnancy massage when she was on bedrest at the end.  Isn’t that a great idea for a mom-to-be on bedrest who might need a little pick-me-up?

Here is the information!

Pregnancy & Post-Partum Event
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 from 10am – 1pm
26548 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, CA 92653
(at the corner of Moulton & La Paz, next to Chuck E. Cheese’s)
949.831.1988

For more information, contact Jen at jhood@stressbustersspa.com.

…will be better than last years for me.

I was crabby last year on Mother’s Day.  Thinking about it now makes me laugh.  I was about 34 weeks pregnant, hormonal, uncomfortable and knee-deep in managing my gestational diabetes.  I was bitter.  I felt like that Mother’s Day of ALL Mother’s Day I should have been handed the world on a silver platter.  My poor husband could do no right. He grilled fish for dinner without asking me, and I was not in the mood for fish.  The nerve!  Oh my gosh, I was a nightmare.

What a difference a year makes.   This Mother’s Day already feels like the BEST one ever, and it is not even Mother’s Day yet!  I have a healthy, happy 10 month old and a spunky, growing up so fast, almost 4 year old. Life is GOOD.

Here are my two little monkeys that make me a MOTHER.  A very, very happy mother.   Sometimes I think “I am so happy God gave me these two!”  I feel so lucky to be their mom.  I often look at those two little faces and wonder how I got so lucky.  Must be living right or something.

This Mother’s Day, all I want to do is be with my family.   Maybe a little outing to Laguna and a margarita and chips & guac on a patio somewhere would be fun too, but mostly I just want to be together.

I wish all of you hard working moms a VERY happy Mother’s Day!   Our job is hard no doubt.  It’s relentless, 24/7 work. But it’s the best job in the world.

Thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate all my mommy readers more than words can express. So what are YOU doing this weekend?

{QUICK NOTE ON THE BABIES MOVIE EVENT on Saturday, May 8th!   The time has been changed to 3:00pm! }

{Photo by Image 23 Photography taken at the GeTogethers Valentine Event}

There is a new movie opening this Mother’s Day weekend called BABIES and it looks SO cute.  It follows four babies from birth through their first year in four very different parts of the world.  From the first breath to their first steps, this visually stunning movie celebrates the parent/child bond that forms during the early stages of baby’s life.  Watch this cute trailer by clicking on the graphic…

Milkalicious Breastfeeding Boutique in Aliso Viejo is having an exclusive screening of the documentary film BABIES this Saturday afternoon!  Here are the details:

Milkalicious Mother’s Day Event
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
3:00pm (UPDATED TIME!)
Rancho Niguel 8
25471 Rancho Niguel Road, Laguna Niguel, 92677 (click HERE for a map)

$10/person

There will be giveaways, a raffle and movie munchies.  Bring the whole family!  You can purchase tickets online, in-store, at the theater or by calling 949.831.6455.