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

You find out you’re pregnant.  You start shopping, or at least thinking about it.  When is it reasonable to buy maternity clothes?  8 weeks? 12 weeks? Second trimester?  Do you have to be showing before you start looking at cribs and paint colors?  Is it ridiculous to stop moms in the street to ask them about their stroller?

One of my closest friends just entered second trimester.  After nearly 10 weeks of waiting, she has released herself from the hold of “no shopping until…” and off she went to buy and buy and buy.  Her husband thinks the shopping is a coping mechanism to deal with the pregnancy.  I don’t.

I think it’s (more…)

Mothering: The most exhausting test of endurance I have ever experienced.

Not only does this sport require tremendous energy and money, it also requires parents to be constant activity planners.  That’s where moms Heather Flett and Whitney Moss come in.  They make parents’ lives a little bit easier with their creative blog www.RookieMoms.com (I guest blogged for them last week about 5 activities to stay in love, even when you have young children!) and book. Meanwhile, their book  The Rookie Mom’s Handbook: 250 Activities to Do with (and Without) Your Baby expands upon the blog by sharing helpful, funny and totally necessary advice for new moms, making it a great baby shower gift.

One of their blog posts, 25 Activities to Try During Your Maternity Leave, was oh so fitting for me because (more…)

Today, I’m excited to share my guest post on guest post on RookieMoms.com.

I wrote about 5 fun activities to do with your spouse to keep your relationship strong.

My husband and I know that our son adds a lot of stress to our relationship, so we use these activities to stay connected.

Perhaps they will make a difference for you too.

When I discovered the blog www.AtYourCervix.blogspot.com I was shocked, to say the least. A courageous Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse (who remains anonymous) blogs about what goes on behind closed doors at the maternity ward in the hospital where she works. AtYourCervix is a smart and savvy lady with more than eight years of experience in Obstetrical Nursing. She currently works in a teaching hospital in Pennsylvania where over 4000 babies are born annually. With a commitment to service and a voice of compassion for mothers, she shares her insights with us in today’s guest post. Thank you AtYourCervix, for your words of wisdom. (more…)

When we pick a child’s name, parents-to-be consider many factors from potential namesakes to a name’s popularity.  We think about how the first name will sound with the last name and what nicknames might ensue: Emerson = Emmy, Abigail = Abby, Jacob =Jake.

But should we also think about the first impression the name will create?  One study showed that children with desirable names (Karen, Lisa, David, and Michael) received higher grades than children with undesirable names (Bertha, Adelle, Hubert, and Elmer) when near- identical papers were submitted to the same teachers for grading.

In Freakonomics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner discuss the impact of a child’s first name, particularly a distinctively black name.  Read an excerpt here on slate.com.  They found that children with distinctively black names fare worse in life, but it’s not because of their names.  It’s because of the poorer economic circumstances in which children with distinctively black names tend to grow up in.

So which is it?     (more…)