Mommy Words » Blog Games

Ultimate Blogging Party

Brittany — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:39:40 +0000

I love being a mom. I love blogging. I love parties. Clearly this carnival is perfect for me! I just wish we could all share a real cocktail! Even late (I have an infant so forgive me) I am here and ready to rock!

I can’t wait to find new blogs and new friends and oh…possibly win a fab prize?

You should really check it out, even late like me, if you want to make new bloggy friends and some time with some DOPE moms and dads too! And even if you are not a blogger you can still win the goodies!

About those prizes…I am a mom of 3 kids 3 and under so while I would LOVE to win any of the fabulous hundreds of prizes, I do have my faves!

Clearly the grand prize Toshiba Laptop! Momma could always use a new computer!

I also would love to pick up a $150 gift certificate to Pedal Cars and Retro for Miles (US1) or a Rocking Horse to Love (US3) for any of my little kiddos!

I am sure Sophia could rock a new Tutu by Sweet Patootie’s (US16) or Nellie Bugs (US33). We love us some fancy dancin’ wear!

I bet Violet would LOVE being carried in the lillebaby EveryWhere Carrier (US51)!

And of course, I NEED labels and would love to win the Sunshine Paperie Sippy Cup and Bag Tags (US 53)!

There are tons of prizes I would love to win for my 3 little kids but those are my faves!

I hope you take time to check out the party and join me in making more wonderful friends!

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Lazy Wednesday Wordle

Brittany — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:48:59 +0000

The last time I did this Wordle thing was about half way through the November blog every day challenge for NaBloPoMo. Today, more than 2 months later, I am copping out again because I just cannot write a tutorial when I still have a step to complete on this week’s project. I was delayed on my project and you are seeing the most popular words from this month’s posts because….

I am really flippin’ pregnant and I move at a snail’s pace through my days.
Turns out my crabby (but so adorable) son Miles is sick. We had to go to the doctor and he has another ear infection. I totally adore my little man and he will not be my littlest baby for very much longer so we played extra long tonight and had LOTS of cuddles.
Sophia and Miles wanted to “help” with the project. Given the fact that I was using the drill and sharp screws, it took a long time to keep moving them back from my area every step of the way. DIY with little kids takes FOREVER!
A lovely lady from freecycle shot me a note because she remembered my gorgeous daughter’s love of crafts and said she had an entire bag of arts and crafts supplies. Of course I had to drive out to get it. Free craft loot rocks!
I have not been able to read and comment much this week and I want to see what you guys are up to on your blogs!

And Finally….

I want to cuddle with my husband on the couch for a little bit and not write a blog post.

Enjoy the Wordle and have fun making one yourself. You can enter in ANY words or any blog or a favorite essay or speech or anything. Then you can format it and give is sassy colors you love and neat fonts. I just love playing with words! Too bad I am saying JUST a little too much. I tried to make it go back to the last Wordle I did but I was not swift enough to figure that out. Figures….I mean with my brain missing and all I am lucky it worked at all.

Before I Had Kids: Football

Brittany — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:18:01 +0000

Before I had kids, I loved football. That is because we used to go to a lot of games. Almost every week they played. And get good seats. And get pretty drunk. Please see evidence above. Panthers game. Club Seats. Lots of Beer. Raining and we don’t care. Clearly childless and carefree.

This was all possible for 2 reasons. First, because we could spend the money that now goes to keeping our kids alive and healthy and happy on kick ass ridiculous things like expensive football seats and $5 beers. Second, because we did not have to come home or wake up and take care of any small children who needed us to be sober and highly functioning adults.

Those cute little creatures are quite a buzzkill huh?

By the way, my wonderful husband still goes to games. I am the babysitter. He does not get all tipsy at them though because he knows that when he comes home it is GAME ON – pre-school style!

Do you have a Before I had Kids story? I would love to hear it! This will be a regular new weekly post of mine and I expect that the list is so long it could last through the next year or so! Please play along with the Before I Had Kids game. It’s okay – we know you love them – we all just want to know what you loved to get yourself into before they were tops on your agenda! Make sure to leave a link so we can all check it out! Uh-oh – I may have to get myself a McLinky thing!

Hello from the Beach

Brittany — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:18:12 +0000

We decided to escape to the beach for just one day. In order to not fail National Blog Posting Month I am writing you this note. However, as we are all currently in one bed trying to get the kids to settle down I am going to say bon nuit. I am going to cuddle with my kiddos and return to my computer addiction tomorrow. Thanks for understanding!

My First Win!

Brittany — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:08:15 +0000

The Beanie I Won!

I just want to take a moment to say yippee! I won my first blog contest and I got the prize in the mail. This is so super cool!

I won a baby beanie from I Heart Baby! Thank you so much Jessica! This is a great little Etsy shop and the beanies are just so cute I could eat them up! I picked the Pink Zebra hat in newborn for my new baby girl due in January but I was hard pressed not to get this for Miles instead. She makes these beanies up to a 2T. He would look like a total rock star in this!

Miles Would Look So Cute!

I figured with the cold in January a newborn hat would be the perfect choice. I promise you will see this beanie in her coming home pictures! Get ready for a new baby model Jessica!

Thank you to Marjorie at For the Love of All that is Pretty for having this contest on her blog. I seriously never win anything and could have cried when I got her email! Run over and check out her super cute blog and many many pretty things.

I don’t usually enter many contests but when something is this cute you just have to try. Thanks girls for making my day and keeping my little beans head warm when she arrives with her new beanie!

Lazy Sunday Wordle

Brittany — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:03:09 +0000

It is Sunday and after flying to Florida and back in a period of 24 hours with major babysitting issues happening back here, I am tired. Candice from Bookish Penguin, now an official Bloggy Bestie, provided me with the inspiration for this post Wordle. Wordle is a completely fabulous and awesome site that creates these little word bubbles out of any blog or RSS you give them. The image above is courtesy of this genius little site. You can play with the fonts and colors and come up with some fabulous stuff! Darned if I wasn’t just posting about how much I love fonts and little pretty word designs!

This Wordle is from my blog RSS feed. I am happy with the big words. LOVE. Sophia. Miles. Mommy. Share. God. Thank. Friends. Book. There are so many..,Yes, Dora is in there too. Man we really love that chica! And watch out – if I make this again when the new baby comes the whole thing will say boobs, breasts, poop, vagina, sore, pain, tired, cranky and SO IN LOVE (but that might not be the biggest word – oops!).

I have to report I fiddled with this for about 10 minutes. Custom making my header with words from my heart and Photoshop took, well, many many hours. Other than the purple – a color I adore – I still like my header better. THANK GOD RIGHT? After all that time!

Now if only Wordle could do my 7th Grade Friendship Journal…yes, I posted a page from it and mommy bloggers do not see weekend posts so check it out! I think it would be funny. BOYS. LOVE. HATE. BEST FRIENDS. ENEMIES. HOMEWORK. FRENCH KISS. XOXO. Repeat. Again.

So forgive this time out. Make one yourself. Let me know and I will come check it out! It’s fun!

Honestly, I am Crazy about this Award!

Brittany — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:03:51 +0000

I have been awarded one of the cutest lookin’ badges of honor I have seen out there. My love of yard sales and salvage yards and all things made of old metal makes this just perfect for me! Thank you so much Tanya from The Grab Bag and Kat from Kat’s Confessions! Tanya says her blog is packed with freebies so you can take from her Grab Bag! Excellent! Kat posts on anything and everything – so much to read!

This award is for those bloggers who write from the heart and, well, I just heart this award!

The Rules:

1. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

2. Tell those 7 people they’ve been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

3. Share “10 Honest Things” about myself.

1. I love playing with fonts and making little headers in my posts. This probably causes some posts to load incredibly slow and I apologize…but I am addicted to free fonts! The one I used above is called The Stamp Act. So flippin’ cute!

2. I am a perfectionist and I am trying to cure myself of this. I hate not being satisfied with things when they are alright. This goes for everything from my blog design (I have some big ideas) to the rooms in my home (I have some more big ideas) to planning activities for my kids (I have some big ideas). I need to let go and enjoy more.

3. I sometimes bite off more than I can chew. This causes issues with the above perfectionism. Sometimes things don’t get done because my ideas are too big. Oftentimes I plan too much. I am always stressed about completing something.

4. I want to dress in very high style and I want to rock the latest looks but comfort is WAY too important to me. In my dreams I swear to God I am dressed to the nines and I am very funky and fabulous. I am also tiny and very sprite like in my dreams – every time – but that is another story. In my real life I rock jeans and a t-shirt regularly. In the winter that t-shirt has long sleeves and is paired with boots or my new clogs. In the summer it is paired with flip flops. On walks I put on tennis shoes. Notice no heels. I am going to work on this post baby.

5. I knew very early in my life that I wanted to have a family and that I did not want to wait to do this. I made a heart wrenching decision not to follow my Broadway dream and go straight through college and get a job because I knew that the chances of me finding love and settling down early while pounding the Manhattan pavement were slim. I still sing and dance constantly and plan to be a community theater freak as soon as I am done being pregnant. Still, sometimes I wonder….

6. As much as I heart the Internet, books are my first love and they always will be. I devour them. I can’t get enough. I am secretly angry when people in book club have not read the book. I love the wine but I actually want to discuss. Oh some would hate me if they knew…

7. I miss the North and do not think I will ever fit in down here. It really is different. I miss my old girl friends every day. I am only in North Carolina – it is not that far south. And it is beautiful. And there are great people. It is just not the same. I would love to be back in New York or Massachusetts.

8. Cheese is far and away my favorite food. All kinds. Soft kinds, smelly kinds, goat kinds. I love em. Coupled with bread and wine I am in my own food heaven.

9. I want to learn to make Jewelry. I draw pictures of what I like and want but I have not yet made a piece. It is a dream of mine to make what I imagine!

10. I DVR whole seasons of shows to watch while I am breastfeeding in the middle of the night or whenever. Second to actually meeting the baby – I am so pumped to watch all the shows you are watching now – in January! Otherwise I never watch shows. Due to my book and Internet addiction of course.

See there it is again – that is SouciSans font. So cute right!

1. A Southern Fairytale - October is breast cancer awareness month and Rachel Blogged for Boobs by posting stories of survival and loss, of grief and joy, of women who lived with, died with or kicked the ass of – breast cancer. There is nothing more honest than this. Please check out the site, read the stories, and take care of yourselves. Do your regular breast self exams and get your mammograms! If you are at a higher risk, like me, talk to your doctor about early testing and the possibility of getting the BCRA test.

2. Her Bad Mother - Catherine makes me (and tons of other peeps, I know) laugh and cry and think and ponder and want a drink and oh – if you follow her on twitter and you are pregnant you will die because she is a coffee lover and reminds you every second of that sweet drink that you can’t have. I still love her though. She is one of my Bloggy Besties, even if she doesn’t really know me.

3. Nine Months to Life – Sarah Caitlin is as honest as they come. She is unexpectedly expecting her first and I thoroughly enjoy her posts.

4. If Evolution Works – Nancy is… Fabulous. Funny. Honest. A friend I wish lived down the block. Her posts are usually shorter and fabulous and still poignant or gripping or hilarious – something I try at and fail at every time (I am already at 800 words here).

5. Shanty 2 Chic - These DIY chicks rock my world! Their projects are so great I have increased my to do list almost every time I visit their site!

6. Bookish Penguin - Candice is a great bloggy friend and I LOVE having friends both IRL and online without kiddos. Candice likes me even though I blog about my babies and well I honestly love that! She also loves books like me and has a great sense of humour and wonderful writing style.

7. Momversation- I know this is not really a blog but a vlog by a group of brilliant and HUGE bloggers but I love it! These chicas dish their real thoughts on a host of motherhood issues and provide food for thought – and for blogging each and very time. It is honest and I love getting to see video of bloggers. It makes me feel like I know them.

Enjoy these details about me and these great reads! And of course, have a wonderful weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: My Boys

Brittany — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:54:06 +0000

The Look - Guys Get Each Other

The Laugh - These Guys Think I am Funny

These are the boys in my life. I can’t get enough of them. And by the way, men cuddling with their sons and showing so much love is one of the sexiest things I can think of! I totally dig these guys!

National Blog Posting Month

Brittany — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:48:14 +0000

You are laughing…right…because I post on average 3.5 times per week and this would mean 7 times per week? I am insane but I am going to try it. Supposedly it helps you to focus on your audience and where you are going with your blog. Regular writing also improves your writing – or so I hear. Wouldn’t you just love that?

I am already cheating because this is my post for November 1st, 2009.

I am hereby participating in the 2009 NaBloPoMo (crazy hard to remember) challenge. 30 posts in 30 days. You, my readers, will either get to know me really well and develop a crush on me or you will become afraid and run for the hills.

I am hoping to accomplish some changes to my blog design this month and I think the regular posting will help with that. I am also hopeful that this more regular posting may help my thoughts become more concise, bearing the gift of shorter posts for you to read. I am nervous that my ability to comment immediately upon receiving one or blog hop each and every day may suffer. Have patience with me – I will get to your blogs – I love them!

Wish me luck! This may kick my ass but what does not kick ones ass…well you know!

Six Ways to Scary

Brittany — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:22:00 +0000

In honor of the new movie Motherhood, Scary Mommy (actually a lovely mommy named Jill) is looking for some other Scary Mommies out there. Since I have some pretty scary motherhood moments I am entering my own terrifying post! I am at least 6 ways to scary – if not more. Some are funny and well, some are really scary. I am just glad to know there are other moms out there going through the same things! Thank you Jill, for leading me to my people!

Let’s just get this out of the way. In my opinion, if I were to walk around naked on the night of Halloween, people would be scared. Sophia has already told me that my body looks scary. First of all, I was not always body scary. Before all the cancer risk stuff I went in the sun and had an nice glow. Before I had kids my boobs were perky and a good, steady size. I had nice skin. My tummy did not have stretch marks. And the kicker, you could not see all the veins in my entire body.

Yes, you heard me right. Sophia asks what is wrong with me. When I was pregnant with Sophia, my husband asked the same thing. I am pale. I mean white as a ghost pale. When a pale chick like me gets pregnant, the increased blood flow through my body makes my veins resemble a highway map across my whole body, most prominently displayed on my boobs and chest. I literally have BRIGHT BLUE lines running all over my chest and boobies, down my arms into hands that glow there are so many veins! It is pretty scary looking!

Moving from my boobs down to my belly – it just don’t look like it used to round these parts. The veins run through tatas that were a C before all these babies. Then, with my ENORMOUS milk supply, they swelled to an E. You heard me, an E, after I had Sophie. Then after nursing two babies for a year, they shrunk down to a small B and lost a good deal of their perkiness. Now, they are growing again but so are the nips (as you know if you have been preggers) and so now, in my opinion my nips are too big for the boobs. And while there are no veins popping out on my pelvis, there are stretch marks courtesy of my babies, who are always born late and drop early. Thanks guys. Again, scary. Man I want my good boobs back.

Oh, like many other moms, I also am not able to get in a good shower every day, have boogers wiped on me constantly, sometimes find spots of poop from a wayward diaper change on me and oh yes, when I am pregnant my nose runs constantly.

So here I am naked with blue veins running all over my death pale body with nips too big for my boobs and stretch marks down to my hoo ha with a huge belly and this whole lovely picture has boogers and poopie on it. And I am making funny noises to try and keep the boogers in my head.

Told you I was scary.

My kids do ask me to be scary. Even Miles, who cannot speak, has a special mumble for scary faces and monster games. It started with singing songs like the Purple People Eater and acting it out. Then, I am a big theater chick so we always play games where we are monsters or animals or princesses. Well, Sophia is usually the princess and by request, I am the scary monster. Miles just toddles around like a pee wee Frankenstein. No words but if he sits on you you’ll be sorry. My hubby is a hot ticket for this game too. He is a great monster and adds tickles to the mix. We love to roar, to pretend to breathe fire, to make ugly scary faces. And yes, we do jump out of corners and actually scare them sometimes. So far, they have always laughed afterward. I am proud to be a Scary Mommy Monster.

I know this about myself. Sometimes I just run out of steam. Sometimes I want to take the easy way out. I definitely am honing this skill with kids. First, all activities are now close to home. We no longer drive 20 minutes to the kiddie gym. We put tons of pillows on the floor and have our own kiddie gym. Sophia and Miles have pre-school less than 1 mile from our house. Sophia’s ballet – 1.2 miles. Sophia’s soccer – 1 mile. Most of our play dates are on our block. Some of this has to do with the fact that Miles still naps and Sophia has not taken a snoozer since she turned 2. More of it has to do with my not wanting to haul them all over the place.

Lazy Scary also means that I fully believe that “Noggin is like Preschool on T.V.” If I am busy – they can watch shows. If I am super crabby – they can watch a show. If I really don’t feel like doing cutting exercises with Sophia – they can watch a show. Usually they play with the show in the background but still – I put that tube on and expect to get a little break for it. I will admit to you that Miles’ first word was definitely DORA. It is still the word he says most clearly. He has the major hots for her. He should since he has seen her since birth! What can I say, I am really tired with these two and anther on the way. I have let Sophia watch shows in order to get her to lay in my bed so I can take a nap. I have let them watch something in the morning so I can sleep for another 15 minutes…or 30. It is just the easy way out…actually…it is scary how easy it is.

Let’s just say Miles can also say nugget. As in chicken nugget. And I like to cook. Let me rephrase, I liked to cook. Before I was cooking for kids while they go through everything in the kitchen, ask to help crack the eggs, pour the milk, turn on the stove…the list goes on. Making dinner is now a nightmare. It takes forever to make something that at least recently, I have a 30% chance of success with. My kids never want dinner. That is, they never want dinner at the table with vegetables and milk and such. They always want dinner on the porch at their kids table with their Happy Meal and their toy. They also like Nutri Grain bars for breakfast, Lunchables for lunch at school (although I have stopped this because my husband got so mad), Wendy’s Chicken Tenders and KFC Popcorn Chicken. Yes, we do this once a week. I am embarrassed. No, we don’t supersize, but still. Scary.

Sometimes mom comes first, and please don’t think it is one of those things where moms need some time too. I get some time. Pre-school is my little miracle in the mornings. This is just me being selfish and picky and not always wanting to share. So do I sound like my scary toddler to you yet? I hide expensive candy, my weakness, so that I do not have to share. When we color or do crafts, we both have our own projects or pages because I really hate it if my stuff gets messed up. Maybe I am anal retentive scary too! When we go to the mall with the play place, sometimes we go in the other entrance that is near Anthropologie so I can go in my store for just a few minutes and we don’t have to go on the jumpies. If I get a milkshake or frosty (see above) I put it in the freezer right away to be my treat later. Sometimes I give them a bite first. Not usually. I know this behavior is scary because I feel bad about it. I’m trying to teach my kids to share and be honest and instead I am hiding away my treats and hoarding my beautiful pictures with all colors in the lines. Boo on me.

I am not exactly who I thought I would be as a mother. I truly believed, despite what my own lovely mother told me, that I would be a sea of beauty and calm surrounding my children. I thought my love for them would be so great that I would always WANT to put them first, that I would never regret leaving my job, that I would always have on the front of my head and heart that I am a mother and I love my kids more than anything in the world. I do love them this much, but in truth, it is scary how often my love for them is not the first thing on my mind.

Having a very sensitive, high strung and independent 3 year old is only wonderful when she is being good and her feelings are not hurt. At other times her emotions overwhelm us both. Her sensitivity lends itself to enormous fits that are hard for her (or me) to get under control. I actually took her to the doctor when she was almost 18 months old because I could not get her to stop crying and screaming and I thought something was wrong. There was a nurse there with 6 kids who said she had 2 like mine and that there was nothing wrong – I just had a “live wire”. She was right. Her independence can turn to rudeness and a complete disregard for the rules and the feelings of those around her (usually me). She lashes out at her brother and can hurt him when she is very angry. She is trying to control her temper but sometimes I lose mine before she can.

I have held her down and buckled her into the car while she was kicking and screaming to get her out the door. I hate this. I have screamed at her, and not just to get out of the street or hold my hand in a parking lot. I have actually screamed “Sophia Elise, What are you thinking?”! She cried and she told me that I was scary. I would like to say that the heart break I felt at that moment kept me from ever screaming again, but it has not. In fact, there have been times when she is so bad I have considered giving her spanking, even though my husband and I decided we did not want to parent this way. If you are wondering, so far Miles is laid back and calm. Thank God for small miracles. I do every day. His temper fits are few and far between and they are manageable. While still overwhelming due to the pitch of his screams, he is not directing anger at me. That makes me able to deal.

To remain calm is my biggest challenge as a mother. I, like Sophia, am outspoken and passionate about the things I love. It took me a long time growing up to learn to be calm. The minute I had a toddler I had to start re-learning this precious skill. I have screamed, I have physically put them in their car seats while they were pitching a fit. I have put my toddlers in their cribs and let them cry while I cried in another room or took a moment of quiet on my porch. Not only am I scary to them, I am sometimes scared of how angry a 3-year old and an 18-month old can make me. Thank God I have friends (both bloggy buddies and in real life) and family who tell me that I am not insane. My lovely friends have reminded me that they understand how very scary angry toddlers and pre-schoolers can be themselves. They are right.

Still, I never thought I would be a seriously Scary Mommy to my kids. This is my confession.

If you ever read this, my babies, I love you and I have screamed at myself and I have cried and I have apologized for being so angry with you and for losing my temper. I never meant to scare you. You are all parts of my heart, and I will always be here for you.

You can open your eyes. Well, there you have it. Or at least some of it. I am a mom and I am not perfect. I am a person and I will always be striving to be better. Yes, parts of me are a SCARY MOMMY, but I okay with who I am. I am a good mom. I adore my kids and my husband – so much it sometimes scares me.

If you enjoyed this post – please make sure to check out the other Scary Mommy entries at Scary Mommy. Also please vote for me in the comments section of her post! There will be a winner!