Mama Speaks

My wonderful friend Amanda of Wife. Mama. Educator. is guest posting for this week's Phenomenal Mom Friday.  Her post comes just in time for World Breastfeeding Week , August 1st-7th.  Amanda is a breastfeeding champ and lactivist.  She shares her perspective below... I breastfeed my son, Ezra. He’s two.   When I was pregnant I knew I’d breastfeed. I just knew breastfeeding was normal—what moms did with babies. I was breastfed for 9 months. My sister breastfed her kids. My closest friends breastfed their children. Even my cousin, who had a baby at 18, attempted breastfeeding. I guess you could say I had a strong foundation laid for me. Friends I could count on and ask for advice, who bought me nursing pads and nipple cream even when they weren’t on my registry. I took a breastfeeding class. My husband happily accompanied me. He supported me, because even though he wasn’t breastfed, he saw the value. Simply put, I had a pro-breastfeeding support system. ...

Today, while making my second trek across the bridge and back, I kept feeling my little toe on the left foot rub up against the toe next to it.  It was driving me batty, so I decided when I got to my turn around point to take my sock off and make sure nothing was in there.  So, we stopped and I checked...didn't see anything.  Upon putting my shoe back on, it felt better. But then it didn't.   We drove back to my house, and I enjoyed the post workout euphoria/endorphins.  We all had a great supper, but as I was walking around the house-barefoot-something kept bothering that same little toe.  I gave Ayla a bath.  We colored on her whiteboard table.  She had a major meltdown because she's 2...and sometimes being 2 can be very tough.   Sidenote:  When bitty finished having her total tantrum/scream & cry fest, we sat in the rocking chair.  She reached up and stroked my face, so sweetly.  I asked her, "Did you get ver...

Our family has recently marked the beginning of our journey participating in the Nestlé boycott .  I won't re-write the posts that have inspired me with information, but I will cover some highlights.  For the entire article, please visit PhD in Parenting here .  Author Annie pointed out the following issues with Nestlé and their practices: Controlling and abusing water sources Purchasing from suppliers who utilize child slaves Anti-union/anti-collective bargaining behavior Advertising formula in a harmful and misleading way (especially in emerging countries where clean water isn't available, see video below explained by brilliant mom blogger Jessica Gottlieb .  Yes, she's in her pajamas.  Mom bloggers rule!) Now, I will be the first to admit that this information isn't brand new to me.  I read some of facts above a few months ago, and I decided it was a battle I wasn't going to fight. Then the information was in my face again, and this time, I coul...

Source My daughter will grow up knowing what it is like to have a mom with chronic pain.  With a disease  (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy aka RSD) that impacts her mom's quality of life in many ways.   My daughter will be impacted by this.  She will be affected.  She already is affected by it.  She knows about my migraines.  When we talk about it, I tell her, "Mommy is sick.  She has an owie here (points to head)."  She kisses my "owie" (head) and tells me "make it better."  Because in her world, a kiss makes everything okay again.   Today she pointed to her head and said, "Kiss owie," to which I told her she was okay, that "only Mommy" was "sick." I am afraid of the moments that RSD will steal me away from my precious baby.  I mourn the moments passed it has stolen already.  It robs me even in good moments because I am always worried about if I will experience agony on her birthday/my wedding day/her speci...

(Phenomenal Mom Fridays will return once my moms have submitted their blogs to me.  You can't rush a Mom's story, so I will continue to post the stories I've chosen as I receive them...) When I was a baby, my mom purchased me a beautiful pink blanket.  The texture was that almost of a thermal blanket, but softer and covered in fuzz.  The edges were silky with zoo or circus animals.  The edges eventually unraveled and disappeared.  The soft fuzz covering the blanket also faded to nothing.  This left behind a beautifully faded, ragged pink blanket, affectionately named "Pinky." Pinky has been with me through everything.  When I was having fun playing, Pinky was my dress up outfit, my cape, or the blanket to my babies as I played with them.  When I've been sad or suffered with years of illness, Pinky caught my tears and brought me comfort.  When we lost a beloved family pet, I cut a piece from Pinky to be buried with my pets.  I gave a...

Friday evening, my lovely future husband and I decided to go out for a date night.   We enjoyed a super tasty dinner at Sonny's, which is one of our favorite "non-fancy" restaurants.  We were both stuffed to the gills, when we decided to catch a flick at a nearby dollar theatre.  I was super excited to hear on Fandango that Bridesmaids was playing there.  I guess that's the perk of a dollar theater--you can catch the movies you meant to after they are out of the big theatres. We stopped at the dollar store to get some candy before the movie started.  Yep, we're those people.  I'm not paying $4 for candy that costs $1. When we got to our seats, we overheard the people behind us.  I should say we overheard the infant crying and toddler chatting behind us.  For a 9:15 movie.  We actually started to whisper about what were we going to do/how inappropriate that was when Brandon started texting me for the sake of discretion. Then, we wat...

This week's Phenomenal Mom is Amber, mom of 3 amazing kiddos.  We met years ago through a military wives/girlfriends support group (I've dated a couple of military guys...) on AOL.  I still remember when she shared her news about Ethan with us, way back when.  Here's her story...   Amber & baby Ethan It is so ironic. You spend nine months saying "I cant wait to meet him/her" and get anxious at the very thought of seeing their perfect little face. Then when they arrive you want nothing more than to put them right back in your snug little tummy. At least there you could control what happened to them...to a point. Children have no idea how fast they can send a mother into a full blown panic attack, and sometimes over something simple like a cut on the knee! "I can't see where the blood is coming from, there's so much of it!" A mothers biggest fear is losing their child(ren) whether it be to death or some incurable disease or disorder t...