babies | James & Jax

Spreading Hope

12. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Anxiety, Depression, Health/Fitness, My happiness project, Websites to look at · Tags: anxiety, babies, blog hops, depression, life, PPD, pregnancy, self-care, websites, wellness

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!

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: babies, health, pregnancy, values, websites, wellness

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.

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. :)

Green Your Little’s Lunch a Little (A Giveaway)

25. September 2012 · 39 comments · Categories: Ad-free sponsored, favorite things, Giveaway, Living better, Talking about food!, Websites to look at · Tags: babies, blogging, food talk, giveaway, goals, safety, toddlerhood, websites

I have a confession to make: I am a Ziploc-aholic. Yes, I know how wasteful it is to use disposable baggies, and plastic ones at that! Actually, they’re made from polyethylene plastic resin–doesn’t that sound like something you’d want to store food in?! But I have continued to use them over reusable containers because they’re flexible–meaning they can be crammed into Jackson’s overstuffed Spider-Man lunch bag.

Until today. This morning, with the hope of overcoming my Ziploc addiction and decreasing my carbon footprint a smidge, I ordered two sets of snack bags from my friend Kristina’s shop, Sew Curly. My order totaled a mere $12, including shipping and embroidery–what I’d spend on 3 boxes of Ziplocs (which wouldn’t last me very long). Sew Curly snack bags are reusable, made from machine-washable 100% cotton, with a velcro closure easy enough for kids to open and close. And if you’re into cuteness, you’re in luck, because the bags come in a variety of adorable patterns. I chose the Space pattern for Jax because he’s obsessed with anything to do with space. He’s more likely to eat veggies if they come inside one of these bags, I bet!

My favorite thing about the snack bags is that most of them can be embroidered. I’m having my kiddo’s name embroidered on his bags. This means no more clear Ziploc (read: boring) baggies with “Jax” written across them in Sharpie as I nervously fret about whether the ink will seep into his snack!

Bad momma, I know. But I’m changing my ways, I swear!

Look at these cute patterns!!

So let the second blogiversary celebration continue today with an offer from Sew Curly. First up, we have a 20% off coupon code that is good until midnight on Sunday, September 30: Use the code “Jax” at checkout. In addition, one of you commenters will win a set of two snack bags.

There are 5 ways to enter this contest; choose 1 or choose all 5 to increase your odds of winning! Each comment is an entry.

1) Visit the Sew Curly shop and take a look around. Then come back here & leave a comment below sharing your favorite snack bag pattern.

2) Follow @SewCurlyK on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you’ve done so, including your Twitter name.

3) Follow @jamesandjax on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you’ve done so, including your Twitter name.

4) Tweet something about this contest, including a link to this post and mentioning @jamesandjax and @SewCurlyK. Comment below with the URL of your tweet.

5) Subscribe to James & Jax and then leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

One winner will be selected randomly via random.org on Friday, September 28 and notified via e-mail. Winner will receive two snack bags from Sew Curly in the pattern of choice. Contest open to all U.S. and Canadian residents. I received no compensation for hosting this giveaway.

When you’re done, why not head over to yesterday’s 2 giveaways? And stop back tomorrow for the fourth & final giveaway.

Something for Kiddo (A Giveaway)

24. September 2012 · 15 comments · Categories: Ad-free sponsored, favorite things, Giveaway, Websites to look at · Tags: babies, blogging, giveaway, toddlerhood, websites

Another thing I love most about autumn is that slippers are a must. Last night, I pulled my pink fuzzy slippers out of my closet and happily shuffled around the house in them all night long. Jax still fits into his BePe Baby slippers from last year. They’re adorable–read this post about them and see for yourself why we love these slippers so much and will rave about them forever.

To help celebrate my 2nd blogiversary, BePe Baby has generously donated not only a pair of slippers for one winner, but also a 20% off coupon code (use the code jamesjaxs). This code can be used through October.

There are 5 ways to enter this contest; choose 1 or choose all 5 to increase your odds of winning!

1) Visit BePe Baby’s website and take a look around. Then come back here & leave a comment below sharing your favorite design. If I had a little girl, mine would be the Canterbury Flower! So cute, right?!

2) Follow @bepebaby on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you’ve done so, including your Twitter name.

3) Follow @jamesandjax on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you’ve done so, including your Twitter name.

4) Tweet something about this contest, including a link to this post and mentioning @jamesandjax and @bepebaby. Comment below with the URL of your tweet.

5) Subscribe to this blog & leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

One winner will be selected randomly via random.org on Friday, September 28 and notified via e-mail. Winner will receive one pair of baby or toddler slippers. Contest open to all U.S. and Canadian residents. I received no compensation for hosting this giveaway.

When you’re done, why not head over to today’s first giveaway & try to win something cool for yourself? Tomorrow I’ll be hosting another giveaway, and then one more on Wednesday! Woohoo!

“I’m a Good Mom”: An Exercise for New (& All) Moms

17. February 2012 · 6 comments · Categories: Baby time, Books, Depression, Health/Fitness, My happiness project, Reading is fun, the parenting club · Tags: anxiety, babies, depression, PPD, reading, self-care, values

My friend Diane Sanford, PhD, co-wrote an incredible book with Ann Dunnewold, PhD, for new mothers, called Life Will Never Be the Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide. She mailed me a copy, and since I received it a few months ago, I occasionally turn to it when I’m having one of those “I’m a terrible mother” days. You know those days? I hope you don’t, but I think they’re an inherent part of this motherhood gig, unfortunately.

This book is one I wish I could loan to all of my pregnant postpartum friends–but I can’t bear to part with it. So I’ll recommend it instead. Especially this exercise in the book, called “Two Minutes for Yourself”:

Two Minutes for Yourself

Take out a sheet of paper. Fold it in half length-wise. On one side, write your strengths. The flip it over and write, “The mom I want to be” on the other side at the top. List the ten qualities that you think make a good mom. Your list may include virtues such as patience, drive, and organization, or more diverse elements such as joyfulness or an affectionate nature. Now take a deep breath and view the lists. Which qualities do you intrinsically posess? Many of these attributes may already be on your strengths list. Circle the matching ones on both lists. Recopy these (or the top five, if you have more than five) onto a three-by-five note card with the heading “Qualities I have which make me a good mom.” Tear up the other list and throw it away. Rather than fretting about what personal aspects of a stereotypic good mom you lack, focus on the strengths you bring to this new relationship. There are as many ways to be a good mother as there are opinions about getting a baby to sleep through the night. Put the card in your purse or wallet and review it regularly to build your confidence in this new role.

Doesn’t that sound like a lovely way to spend a few minutes? When I did this exercise myself, I was surprised to see that many of the qualities I listed as possessed by a good mom are ones I had also listed as my strengths. I think you will be similarly surprised.

This book delivers what it says it will & then some: “clinically-proven strategies for surviving and thriving during both the postpartum period and a lifetime of motherhood.” Two and a half years into mothering, I’m thriving in my role, in part due to books such as this one, a helpful and supportive community of women like me, and my friends and family.

What are your go-to resources for motherhood survival?