Shrinkx ...Off To Europe!

More exciting news with Shrinkx! I Just got my first order from Europe!

So a Shrinkx Hip Belt will be travelling to Alja in Slovenia...how exciting!! If only I could fit my 5ft frame in a 4 x 4 x 14 box...

Ladies You Gotta Bookie Boo!

If your not a member of the Bookie Boo Community already, then you need to at least check out this site!

Talk about information, support, sense of community, insight, direction, in ABUNDANCE all in one place! Awesome.

I will definitely Bookie Boo regularly now...once I figure out what that really means...

Always Room For More...

I was chatting with a friend today that just had her second child, and though she was overjoyed, she had this sadness as well...Boy did that hit home, and I think so many of us Moms can relate.

The second child process...

As beautiful as it is and such a gift...a sibling!
But somehow with it, for a moment...or two, comes this bit of sadness. Feeling like somehow you have placed this precious first born on the "winter" shelf and your now bringing out the "summer" clothes!

I NOW know that we place that on ourselves and that isn't at all what our child is thinking or feeling. But at the time I didn't feel that, and it took the words and wisdom of a child to open my eyes...

When I had my second, my kids are just over four years apart, and I was sitting and nursing...again...and my son is sitting watching a program, and I'm feeling horrible that he's sitting watching a program, so I apologize to him.
I said I was so sorry that we weren't at the park or playing a game together, and he looked at me so sincerely, and at 4 1/2 years of age said "You have two kids now Mommy...It's ok...I'm ok."

Of course I cried....

As our families grow, our hearts grow as well, always room for more...

New Baby Shower Trend & Shrinkx is On Board!

In the past, baby showers have been all about the new little one that is about to arrive.
This is wonderful, and absolutely necessary, due to the fact that you need so much for this new addition that you will not just have laying around the house!
But usually, the new Mom ends up having more than one shower, so one can be a Baby Shower and the other a Mommy Shower!

So the new Baby Shower Trend is to not only think of baby, but also Mommy!

Here are some of the top Mommy Shower gifts!

*Spa Treatments for Mom! These spa treatments, like the treatments provided by the Home Body Studio, are designed specifically for the New Mom or Mom To Be!

*The Belly Bandit or Tauts Belly Wrap and our own Shrinkx Hip Belt are designed to get Mom looking fabulous in no time after baby arrives!

*Meals for Mom and Dad...like the ones from Magic Kitchen , prepared fresh and healthy and delivered to her door for the first week home....awesome!

I think this new trend is awesome and obviously well deserved! And we all know that there will be no Mommy pampering once the little one arrives!

For those of you that have already hosted a Mommy Shower...You Rock!

Oh Those Summer Days...

I love summer!

I love having the kids home...waking a little later...feeling like my day is more mine...

Today was one of those wonderful summer days. I woke feeling refreshed! Got in my office and started taking care of business, stopped and got a great workout, got my house in order...all before the kids arose!

Then, off to Home Depot...love Home Depot! Got a few flowers to add to the backyard, got sandpaper and paint to complete a project outside while the kids swam.

Happy, happy am I!

Planted all my flowers while watching my wonderful kids swim in the pool...finished my project, which turned out quite nice, while the kids are swimming in the pool...Dropped the SOLID metal umbrella stand on my big toe...while the kids are swimming in the pool...Hobbled to the pool and soaked my throbbing toe...while the kids are swimming in the pool...

Now I'm blogging to all of you at almost 1am and drinking a glass of wine because my toe is throbbing so badly that I can't sleep and I'm praying the glass of wine will take the edge off!

Oh, those summer days....

You CAN Do It!

Fit without the Gym? Yes, You Can!

This post on Healthy Fit Mama is awesome! Simple and do-able!

So many new Moms struggle with the baby weight because they put so much pressure on themselves when it comes to the "type" of exercise they are doing post pregnancy.

You do not need to do the same thing you did prior to pregnancy in order to get back your pre-pregnancy body, you just need to DO!

Actually, starting a routine that is completely different and almost random can actually shock and benefit you more than sticking to the norm.

New Moms, use your home and what's in it to get fabulous again!

Climb up and down the stairs for ten minutes straight twice a day. Promise yourself that you will do 25 push ups a day and 50 crunches a day. Get a DVD that motivates you and just do it 3X's a week. Do-able!

Don't let your body post pregnancy make you feel defeated, but instead be inspired to be a Mom that doesn't look like a Mom!

You deserve to have your body back...or even better...it may be my tag line with Shrinkx, but it's the truth and it's do-able!

With Kids...Honesty is the Best Policy...

While driving in the car with the kids this morning my oldest painfully reminded me of something that happened when I was pregnant with his sister...

My son was only turning 4 when I was pregnant with his sister and would constantly look at my tummy and ask "How is that baby going to get out of there anyway?" I just wasn't ready to REALLY answer that question. So I decided that I would just claim that the baby would come out of my belly button. How cute right?

He would look at my belly button and get real worried and always explain how small that belly button was and that baby just can't be that tiny...can it? I would just tell him not to worry and that the Doctor would get her out just fine.

Well, I have been a fan for a while of TLC the "Learning Channel" and had it on that station in the living room while I was getting ready in my bathroom. My son came running into the bathroom, wide eyed....the program on TLC had changed to the Baby Story and was following the delivery of a new, healthy baby...but not out of her belly button!

So with HUGE eyes he says "Mommy that baby is not coming out of your belly button, it's coming out of your bottom!" I felt a twinge of panic as I confessed that yes, he was right, that the baby wasn't coming out of my belly button...

Then the worst of it....My son asks me, "Mommy was that your first lie?"

Ouch!

Note to self, and any new Mom out there....just be honest, or at least honest enough.

Home Stretch For Heather Armstrong!

In case your not one of the half million followers of Dooce the ever entertaining blog written by Heather Armstrong, you need to go check it out for the next several days, should be extra entertaining.

Heather is days away from delivering her second child and shares the most hilariously entertaining and private accounts of this journey.

As I have stated before in an earlier blog, Heather does not have an edit button, so you never know what she will be writing about...in detail.

Like her most recent post that's all about her "mucus plug".... Oh yeah, she went there. If you don't know what that might be, google it and then go to images...just not before or too early after dinner.

Bitter Sweet for Locks of Love!

My daughter Kailey was born 8 years ago healthy, beautiful, and with a head of hair!

This head of hair has almost become her signature...

She would just smile shyly every time someone would comment on that long beautiful hair, so it came as a bit of a surprise when she announced that she wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love!

A huge part of me was so proud of her and so grateful that she "had not become her hair", that she didn't feel like she "needed" that hair.

But....honestly, another part of me was a bit sad. I would constantly run my fingers through that long beautiful hair....as she grew, it grew.

It was almost like I was losing a piece of my "little girl" once the hair was lost.

Crazy I know, and not real proud of it, but just being honest...

I supported her and was proud of her, but it also made me think how quickly they grow up and no matter how well they do this, as a parent it's still bitter sweet.

On May 30th at 4:30pm Kailey donated 10 inches of hair to Lock of Love...with a huge smile on her face that made me so proud of my big girl!