Spreading Hope

12. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Anxiety, Depression, Health/Fitness, My happiness project, Websites to look at · Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s an extra special Mother’s Day for me this year because I’m part of something very meaningful to me and many others–the fifth annual Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health, hosted by Postpartum Progress–the world’s most widely read blog on postpartum depression (PPD) and all other mental illnesses related to pregnancy and childbirth.

The Rally is a 24-hour event that features 24 letters (one posted each hour) from survivors of PPD, postpartum anxiety (PPA), postpartum OCD, depression after weaning and/or postpartum psychosis. Their purpose is to inform and encourage pregnant and new moms who may be struggling with their emotional health. In Katherine Stone’s (of Postpartum Progress) words, the rally is a “massive dose of love, understanding and wisdom from lots of moms who’ve had postpartum depression and anxiety and the like.”

You’ll find me over there tonight. My post goes live at 8:00 pm (Eastern). It’s a post I wrote last year, but did not publish here, about my personal experience with PPD and PPA after Jax was born. It was difficult to write and required courage and strength to share. This holds true for the other 23 letters, too, so your support and words of encouragement over at Postpartum Progress are greatly appreciated.

If you’re active on Twitter, you can join the conversation by following and using the hashtag for the rally, which is #momsdayrally.

Here is the posting schedule:
Midnight – Welcome message and Sarah Pinnix, Real Life
1am – Lauren Hale, My Postpartum Voice
2am – Miranda Wicker, Not Super Just Mom
3am – Ana Clare Rouds
4am – Arja Lytle, Balance Body & Soul
5am – Yael Saar, PPD to Joy
6am – Cristi Comes, Motherhood Unadorned
7am – Robin Farr, Farewell Stranger
8am – Jen Hajer, The Martha Project
9am – Lori Bollinger, I Can Grow People
10am – JD Bailey, Honest Mom
11am – Abby Berner
noon – Andrea Scher, Superhero Life
1pm – Lori Garcia, Mommyfriend
2pm – Jane Roper, JaneRoper.com
3pm – Katie L., Overflowing Brain
4pm – Jenna Rosener, Blogged Bliss
5pm – Ninotchka Beavers, Twice Blessed
6pm – Alison Parson, Ms. Moody Mommy
7pm – Jessica Cohen, Found the Marbles
8pm – ME! :)
9pm – Kristen Chase, Motherhood Uncensored
10pm – Amber Koter-Puline, Beyond Postpartum
11pm – Jennifer Marshall, Bipolar Mom Life
I am deeply honored to be included in this event and look forward to reading every letter. May is Maternal Mental Health Month, and I can’t think of a better way to spread awareness than this rally. Click the image below to join us!
Mother's Day Rally

One of My Pregnancy Regrets

20. March 2013 · 2 comments · Categories: Ad-free sponsored, Baby time, Oops, the parenting club, Websites to look at · Tags: , , , , ,

When I was pregnant in 2008-2009, during one of my OBGYN visits, my provider asked my husband and me whether we were interested in cord blood banking. Being interested in science and healthcare, of course we were very interested, especially given the health status of some of our family members and the uncertainty of the future of anyone’s health. However, we had just bought a house months earlier and found ourselves in a tanking economy, complete with my husband’s job loss and my impending reduced paycheck during a 12-week maternity leave. Can you say scary?? There were moments in my pregnancy when I didn’t think I could afford to have a baby, let alone bank his cord blood.

It isn’t cheap, but it’s something we should have invested in. Looking back, I now wish I’d thrown the expense on my credit card. It would have been paid off by now, and I wouldn’t have this regret in my gut.

Through cord blood banking, you can collect and preserve potentially lifesaving stem cells, and doing so could one day save the life of your child or a blood relative. You can bank even more stem cells by collecting them from two usable sources of stem cell-rich blood: the umbilical cord and the placenta. This service is called Placental and Cord Blood Banking, and it’s available only from LifebankUSA.

The ability of stem cells to save lives via cord blood banking has proven successful for replacing abnormal or diseased cells, and treating life-threatening blood disorders such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.  In fact, since 1988 stem cell transplants have been used to treat some 80 diseases.

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Like I said, I regret that we did not think more about how we could have banked Jackson’s cord blood and placenta tissue. Every parent, I’m sure, has his or her regrets when it comes to the birth of their firstborn. This is one of my biggies.

So if you are pregnant or thinking about having children eventually, I hope you’ll visit LifeBankUSA’s website and learn more. Throw it on a credit card if you must. It’s that important.

LifeBankUSA is having a contest on their Facebook page that runs until midnight on 4/30/13. You can visit the page and enter the contest here: www.facebook.com/lifebankusa. They’re giving away THREE top rated, Britax Marathon 70-G3 Convertible Car Seats in a random drawing. The value of each car seat is $231.99. Winners will be notified the week after the contest ends.

Thanks for reading! Good luck in the contest!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but all opinions–and regrets–are completely my own. Please check out LifeBankUSA. :)

Dressing Confidently for Work

11. January 2013 · 2 comments · Categories: Ad-free sponsored, Websites to look at, Working momma · Tags: , ,

I am the proud daughter of a hard-working mom who was once a hard-working single mom, way back when. My mom has always been and always will be my number one role model: ambitious, kind, generous, understanding, and with an amazing ability to balance her work life with taking care of her family.

The other day, I received an email about Spiegel, and it took me right back to my pre-teen years, when I used to sit on my bed and flip through my mom’s Spiegel catalog. I remember one Spiegel outfit in particular that my mom bought and wore to work as an Administrative Assistant at a hotel in the 80s: It was a color-blocked sweater and skirt set, teal on the top half of the sweater and black on the bottom, with a black skirt. Later, I inherited (or stole from her closet) the sweater.

My mom relied on Spiegel back then to enhance her professional image as she climbed the ladder from waitress to Admin Assistant [to a bunch of jobs I can't remember] to HR Service Center Manager for one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies.

As much as we say image isn’t important (or at least it shouldn’t be), clothes give us the confidence we sometimes need to do our jobs well and to grab the attention we deserve for it.

Looking through catalogs is still something I love to do from time to time, but online shopping is now my preferred method of seeing new styles I can recreate myself. So the other day, I spent a little time on the Spiegel website and found a few outfits I would feel confident (yet also comfortable) wearing at work.

How cute is this one?

 

 

The pants, shoes, bag, and sweater are all from Spiegel; even better, they are all currently on sale. The sweater is $34, as are the pants. The pumps are $59, and the bag is $109. All of the items are versatile enough that I would get a lot of wear from them over the years.

Do you have a favorite outfit, whether you wear it to work or not, that makes you feel confident?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Spiegel, but all opinions are mine.

Lipstick for the Legs

26. December 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Ad-free sponsored, favorite things, Websites to look at · Tags:

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I actually googled "how to wear colored tights" the other day. That's how terrible my sense of style is these days. I fail at even the simplest things, things at which I used to excel. "Too busy momming" and "I just want to be comfortable" are my main excuses for not trying as hard as I once did.

But it's time to put the jeans back in the drawer for a while, because No nonsense has made it pretty easy to change up my look with minimal effort and maximum comfort.

No nonsense mailed me a pair of brown leggings and a pair of green tights and asked me to give them a try with my wardrobe. I suspected it would be easy to pair the tights with a work outfit, given that green is my favorite color and I like to dress up for work and have plenty of green-friendly clothes to work with.

Here's what I did:

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I paired a "denim" skirt from LOFT with my green tights and some clunky brown peep toe heels. Cute & comfy. The tights were very soft, very comfortable. Easy to wear during my 8.5-hour day. Jill Martin, fashion icon from Access Hollywood and who is now partnering with No nonsense, calls No nonsense tights "lipstick for the legs" and I cannot agree more. For a girl who loves makeup, these tights are an effortless way to add a little more color to an outfit–and unlike lipstick, the color doesn't wear off an hour into your day!

The brown leggings were equally comfy and easy to wear. They were my Christmas Eve day outfit, paired with a tan belted sweater and tank top. I failed to snap a pic of that outfit–or maybe I just don't want you to see me without makeup! But here's a "mom look" I put together on Polyvore, and it's WAY cuter than what I wore:

 

 

What I loved most about the sample pairs of No nonsense I received is that they're incredibly soft. Or maybe it's that they're inexpensive–I can buy a complete wardrobe of tights and leggings for the same price as one pair of jeans! And they're comfortable. And No nonsense tights and leggings are offered in so many colors (like lime green, my favorite!), at so many locations (all of my local drug stores and my local Target all carry No nonsense tights and leggings).

I dare YOU to be daring and try a bold pair of No nonsense tights. They'd look awesome with your New Year's Eve outfit, I bet!

Check out No nonsense on Facebook and Twitter for more ideas how to wear their products.

 

Visit Sponsor's Site

Mama’s Comfort Camp Is Celebrating!

12. December 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: favorite things, My happiness project, the parenting club, Websites to look at · Tags: , , , ,

Nine months ago, something magical happened in Facebookland: Mama’s Comfort Camp was birthed by Yael Saar and 6 of us called “Den Mothers.”
Mama's Comfort Camp

 

We are over 400 members and growing now. Soon we will celebrate our first anniversary. I am honored that Yael invited me to help her with this back in March, and I look forward to seeing how the group evolves and the beautiful new friendships that are nurtured there daily.

Want to know more about Mama’s Comfort Camp? Here’s a reading list for you:

http://www.ppdtojoy.com/blog/mamas-comfort-camp-fb/

http://www.notjustaboutwee.com/2012/12/12/mamas-comfort-camp-nine-months-on/

http://tranquilamama.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/online-support-and-setting-boundaries/

http://jamesandjax.com/2012/05/23/being-well/

http://www.farewellstranger.com/2012/05/13/on-mothers-day/

And, finally, if you click only one link today, please make it this one and do your soul the favor of reading Yael’s soothing words: http://www.mamascomfortcamp.com/skills-for-happiness-9months/

If you are a mom–whether a veteran or a newbie–and this sounds like a community you’d like to be part of, please like our gateway Facebook page and let us know there that you’d like to be added. Every Monday (and sometimes Tuesday), we add new members. I’d love to see you there!

 

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