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

This past weekend my husband and I flew to Cancun, Mexico.  We spent four nights in Shangri-la, while our son stayed at home with visiting grandparents.  It was our longest time away from our son.  The weather was nice.  It was slightly overcast part of the time, but as long as I could sit in a lounge chair by the pool with my husband beside me, I was euphoric.  Blake was thoroughly entertained and happy at home, and the grandparents were thrilled to be with him.  What could go wrong?  Me.

Apparently, I need to take a vacation from my brain.  For the first day of my trip, it just wouldn’t stop the movie reel: what if our plane crashes?  What if Blake desperately cries for me for hours?  What if they put him in the warmer pajamas but the heat is turned too high and Blake overheats in the middle of the night?  What if they forget to read him “Goodnight Moon” at bedtime?

What if I shouldn’t have left my baby?   (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…)

Most people think about the New Year as a good time to lose weight, exercise more often or stop smoking.  But when one is pregnant, the New Year means something entirely different.  We stop dwelling on our appearance and start thinking about who we are, our purpose in life and what values and lessons we can share with our baby-to-be.

Taken from my journal during the time that I was expecting, here are my six New Year’s resolutions for becoming a better person, a better parent and a better partner:

1) Give Grandparent Goodness.
Pay more attention to the soon-to-be grandparents.  Cherish them for all that they give to us and for all the ways they care about us.  Call them more often.  Recognize that we are going to need them much more than we had ever imagined.

2) Be Happily Married.
Fight less with my spouse.  Once a baby enters the family, there is so much more to bicker about, so put on my mediator’s hat now and learn to fight less and compromise more before a little one is around to listen to our arguments.  (For tips on how to stop bickering with your spouse read my article on Web MD.) (more…)

On December 3, I had the privilege of participating in It’s Time to Talk Day, an event in New York City sponsored by Liz Claiborne, Inc. and partners to encourage public dialogue about domestic violence and teen dating abuse.  I interviewed a handful of talented people that day (I will blog about those interviews later), but today, I want to share my surprisingly candid interview with Tim Gunn from Project Runway, who is the Chief Creative Officer of Liz Claiborne.

You rose to fame as the charming mentor to the designers on the reality television program Project Runway. Then you created your own TV show, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style. Where did the idea for your TV show come from?

My TV show Guide to Style came from my book A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style. Abrams imprint had asked me to write a makeover/self-help book and I didn’t want to do it.  So many fashion books and shows preach about the right and wrong pants and such.  You see people being dressed by stylists and then they leave, now what?  I’d rather help someone who thinks she is in a fashion rut and needs help getting unstuck.  I don’t care how people dress, as long as they accept responsibility for it (unless someone is bearing midriff on a city street).  I can’t shop for someone.  I will shop with, not for.  People ask me if I want to do follow up visits with the guests on my show to see if they stuck with the change.  I tell them, “no” because I don’t care if they stuck with it.  It’s their choice, their freedom. (more…)

When I was single I was selfishly happy. Not in a hurtful way to others, but in a natural way because I was my number one priority. Those were the days when I could choose whatever time was best for me to socialize, eat, sleep, work or take a long, hot shower.

Then I got married and that selfish feeling began to diminish, for good reason. That selfish single “me” became a less selfish “we.” I’d wake up in the morning and make coffee and eggo waffles for both of us. We’d take our turns using the bathroom, and then talk about what would be best for us to do together that evening or weekend day.

Then I had a baby. In just one day I went from a slightly selfish “we” to a totally unselfish three. Sleep? No way, I have to feed a baby. Eat? Whatever’s leftover will do. Socialize? No thanks, I have to save up my energy for those early mornings. Bathroom time, um, better hold it in until later. The baby needs a diaper change, like right now. When the newborn stage moved to the baby stage things calmed down a bit. I might have tried to take a relaxing bath while my husband cared for our son, but then I’d hear my son’s whaling cry and oh, well, maybe I should go help. So I’d shut off the water and scrap the bubble bath for a quickie shower. (more…)