ExpectingWords.com - Helping expecting couples find the right words at the right times

Welcome guest blogger Robin Gorman Newman, founder of Motherhood Later…Than Sooner where she blogs about life in the “later” mom lane. Robin’s honesty is stunning; her story is heart-warming.  Thank you Robin for opening yourself up to us today.

I didn’t plan to become a later mom.  Life took its course.

I met my husband when I turned 30, and he was 29 .We were on a singles trip.  He had gone to SUNY Binghamton with my sister, and if I had ever visited her at college, we might have met sooner.

I’ve always been one to believe that things happen as they’re meant to.  We married two years later, and we both had active careers.   (more…)

There’s a trend among moms I know with toddlers:  Eventually they all complain, “How come my kid is perfect with the nanny or babysitter or grandparents, but he’s just a little devil with me?”

How come he listens to his babysitter when she tells him to clean up, but when I ask him to do the same thing, he just runs away?

Why does he scream when I put him in the stroller?  He jumps right in with a smile when he’s with his grandma.

How come he eats the food his nanny prepares, but when I cook for him it’s all on the floor within minutes?

The fear underlying these concerns is the desperate question: Is the nanny, babysitter or grandma a better parent than I am?

I can’t answer the question for you, but I can say (more…)

Hello friends! In the last month I’ve come across ten more pregnancy and parenting blogs that I love.  Some are funny, some are cynical, but all of them remind us that we’re not alone in the saga of family.  Here are some of their recent posts that caught my eye:

Janice, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom, wrote a beautiful poem called “No Daffodils Tonight” about being unable to make it home in time to tuck her daughter into bed.  I think most moms, and every working mom, has felt this pang of guilt.

Julie at A Little Pregnant writes about misadventures in infertility, pregnancy and parenthood.  Most recently, she asks is it ever okay to laugh at your child?

At Your Cervix writes the hard-core truth about being a Labor and Delivery Nurse at a hospital.  Written anonymously, she guest posted for us at Expecting Words about How to Take Charge of Your Labor and Delivery.  On her blog, she recently gave a behind-the-scenes look at how a nurse takes a baby’s footprints at the hospital.

Denise offers up her Confessions of a Mean Mommy on her blog.  Most recently, she admits that as the mom of two boys, she still wishes she had a little girl.  Would Freud call that “girl envy”? She writes, in jest (sort of), “Another Farewell to the Daughter I’ll Never Have.”

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer, posts about (more…)

The funny thing about having a baby is that this special being goes from being imaginary to real, oh so real, in just seconds.

Can you remember when you found out you were pregnant?  I do.  My husband and I were about to go out for a Sunday afternoon happy hour on a warm Fall day.  I figured I might as well take a pregnancy test before having a few too many.  Nothing about me felt pregnant, so I just assumed the test would give me a go-ahead to drink.  It didn’t.

I laughed and smiled and announced to my husband, “Guess what?  I don’t think we should go for drinks.  I’m, um, pregnant, I think.”  It was surreal.  How could I be pregnant?  I was standing there, physically the same as I felt the day before.  But today, I was pregnant.

We could barely wrap our heads around the idea of it.  (more…)

I ask this question because in a recent New York Times article, “The Latest in Strollers? Mom and Dad,” by Jennifer Bleyer, some women were identified as babywearing anti-stroller moms.

I agree, babywearing makes a lot of sense.  It can be easier for the mom, it can calm a crying baby and it can help create a nice physical bond between the two.  But why would one’s love of babywearing have to go so far as to be against strollers?

It takes a lot of energy to be against something, and I’m not sure how any mom could find an extra burst to be against a piece of transportation equipment.

Either way, babywearing is in fact making a huge impact in the mommy market.  (more…)