I'm an Editor's Pick!

The newest edition of the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival is up, over at Real Life, and I was surprised and honored to see that my post, "Here's a recipe for you", was chosen as the Editor's Pick!

If you get a chance, stop by and check out all of the other wonderful submissions as well - there are some great ones this week! Including a sad good-bye to baby curls, a fun story about sledding, and some advice about teenaged daughters and dating. As much as I hate to think about the dating issue yet to come, I know we'll have to face reality and make some choices about how to handle the issue well in advance, and there's some good advice in this post.

The Carnival is taking a break over the holidays, but start thinking about what you might want to submit when it starts back up again in January... Posts for the next edition are due on New Year's Eve. :)

Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival - October 22nd Edition

Welcome to the October 22, 2007 edition of the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival! I'm thrilled and honored to be able to host for you this time. So let's go ahead and get right into it... :)

Mama Zen presents The Zen of Motherhood: The Ultimate Accessory posted at The Zen of Motherhood, saying, "My beauty secret!" And here's a hint - it's a pretty cute little accessory...

Julie Arduini presents The Surrendered Scribe: Simply Amazing posted at The Surrendered Scribe, saying, "Although it's no longer Mother's Day, I think it's always good for women to get a reminder that they are AMAZING!" Say it right now - go ahead! "I am amazing!" Feels good, right? :)

beingmade presents My Mother. My Daughters. Making Me. posted at Dig Your Toes In. This made me cry and I'm sure you will too. I never knew my own grandmother and have been so blessed that my daughters have had my mother and mother-in-law in their lives so far.

Host Bee presents how to start a mother daughter book group posted at Busy Bee Lifestyle. Now that my oldest is learning how to read, I'd love to find the time to do something like this with her. And there's some great tips here I'll have to follow!

edithyeung presents How to Achieve Your Childhood Dream by Randy Pausch posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act. This raises some interesting (and hard) questions.

Alexandra presents I Love You Mom! posted at Be Beautiful. Lots of beauty secrets here!

Hueina Su presents Mastermind for Personal Success: The Mother-Daughter Project posted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul. More about mother-daughter groups, and made me wonder if there are already any existing ones near me. Something I definitely should check out.

SingForHim presents What I Learned From My Toddler posted at Real Life. What a lovely little budding artist she's got over there!

Donetta presents Transformation posted at A Life Uncommon, saying, "The woman our child." What a beautiful tribute to her daughter she's written!

My submission this week is My daughters are NOT Bratz dolls! posted here at Mom of 3 Girls. Bear with me - I wrote this one in a hurry after being gone all weekend so although it gets at what I think I wanted to say, I can't guarantee that it says it very coherently. You'll get the idea though.

That concludes this edition of the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival! Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.


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My daughters are NOT Bratz dolls!

I've realized something after having daughters. Something that never bothered me much when I was a child or a teenager or a young woman. Mostly because I hardly noticed or thought about it much.

But as a mother, this has been driving me nuts.

Why is it that when you look at the girls' section of just about any retail store, it's filled with clothing that looks exactly like what college kids are wearing, only in miniature?

I mean, it's probably the same in general for boys' clothes - I have to admit that I've not spent a ton of time in boys' departments for obvious reasons. But when I do step into that unfamiliar territory and glance around, I see clothes that are age appropriate. That cover a decent amount of skin. That don't try to turn kids into Bratz or Barbie dolls.

My friends who have boys have pointed out that there are issues with boy clothes as well. These tend to involve the message printed on or referred to and the 'attitude' that comes with a lot of the clothes. And if you have a boy who's not into sports teams, it's almost impossible to find things they will like most of the time. I get that. I do. And I sympathize. I grew up with a brother who wore cowboy boots and short-sleeved izod shirts every day of the year. Who then turned into more of a fashion guru than I, the stressing over fashion teenager, did. Weird, huh! He still is a lot more into fashion than I am too. Then again, maybe it's partially that I just don't seem to like a lot of the fashions nowadays. Especially the ones that involve revealing more of my daughters' skin than I think the public needs to be seeing.

It's a struggle, to find the side of the fine line that I want to be on - between dressing my kids so differently from the other girls that they stand out and are ripe to be picked on. Or dressing them in clothes that I don't think are appropriate for teenagers, much less little girls.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive to the issue - my mom made a lot of my clothes when I was a kid, because she had a hard time finding clothes that fit me correctly and had pockets (I was strange that way and insisted on only wearing clothes with pockets apparently). I never owned a pair of jeans until 3rd or 4th grade and then they were boys ones. I remember wanting clothes like the other girls had - I was so desperate to fit in. And I didn't - I was tormented and made fun of all the way through elementary school. Not completely because of my clothes, but that was part of it.

I was lucky (I think anyway!) to be a teenager in the 80's - the era of big, baggy clothes rather than tiny, form fitting ones. I have no idea what the styles will be like when I'm dealing with teenagers, but I can only hope that the 80's will be back in. I can handle baggy shirts over leggings. Or socks layered over the bottoms of your pants (stirrup pants even!). Any style which involves layers of clothing hiding my daughters' "assets" will be A-ok with me!

Sigh. A mom can hope anyway. Right?


This post was written as a submission for the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival.

Mother and daughter similarities

I'm still so amazed every time I look at my children and see little parts of myself in them. Like how Abby has dark hair like mine and my ears, and how she and Becca both have my eyes.

Although Hannah probably looks the least like me physically, I recognize other traits of mine in her. Maybe that's why she's such a Mommy's girl... It's strange too that the child who looks the most like me (Abby) is the most like Ron in terms of personality and the child who looks like Ron (Hannah) is more similar to me (it's a bit early to tell with Becca yet - she very definitely looks more like Ron in appearance though).

One big similarity between Hannah and I is that she sucks her thumb, even still at almost 5 years old. I sucked mine for many years as a child also and ended up with the same overbite that Hannah is developing. And I'm sure that she will end up with braces, just as I did.

Hannah is on the smaller side and a bit immature for her age as well. I have to admit, I think she gets both of those things from me. She cries very easily and is a 'people pleaser', always eager to do the right thing and wanting to be liked by everyone. I was this way as a child too.

And Hannah eats almost exactly the same way that I did as a child - big on the breads and she hates fruit just like I do - she always has, even as a baby. I still don't eat much fruit even though I know I should. Abby and Becca love fruit, so it's offered to Hannah on a regular basis, but she just plain doesn't like it. It's hard for me to push it on her since I know exactly how she feels. :)

I see myself more in her than in my other two girls, which alternately thrills and worries me because I know some of those traits are ones that have caused me problems over the years. I hope that the social nature and ease in getting along with people that she gets from her father is enough to combat the shy and awkward traits that I have struggled with. Although her stubbornness may be an issue as she gets older too, and I think that comes from him as well. Certainly not from me... Nope, no possibility there, LOL. :)

I have no idea where her tendency toward the dramatic comes from since I hate to be the center of attention and she thrives on it. I just know this little girl will end up on the stage someday! And I'll be in the front row, applauding like crazy.

Because no matter how similar or different my daughters are from me or from my mother and her mother, they are each a unique, special, wonderful individual and I'm looking so forward to seeing who they each turn out to be.

This post was written as a submission for the

Two great carnivals to check out this week

Just a quick note to let you all know that two of my posts are included in carnivals this week!

Head on over to From Under the Clutter to read all of the great posts at the Carnival of Mothers and Daughters! My post on Taking Sides is included as well - many thanks to Lynnae for hosting!

And check out this week's Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Mom on Wheels to read an amazing assortment of wonderful posts on topics from family and kids to recipes, tv, fatherhood and 'Going Green'. My post, Only 40 days until Halloween... is included. Thank you to Terry for hosting this week!

Happy reading! :)

Contest round-up

I seem to keep coming across these, so may just make this round-up a weekly thing - we'll see.

Here's what I've found out there this week!

Check out Musings of a Crunchy Domestic Goddess - you could win a copy of "Tummy 2 Tummy: THE Babywearing Instructional DVD"! She's also got a great interview with the creator of the DVD as well. The deadline to enter the contest is by 10pm on September 12th, so you'll have to hurry on this one!

Rocks in My Dryer has a lot of great contests on her 'Bloggy Giveaways' page - I know I'd love to win a doll from Lindie and Friends or a Comfy Easy PC. She's also giving away a Kajeet cell phone and this looks like a great idea for a parent to let their child have a cell phone but still impose reasonable limits on it. I know we'll be looking at these when our kids get old enough to start begging for phones!

The ladies over at Pinks and Blues Girls are holding a Hanes Kids Back To School Giveaway! Ten people will win an apparel package from Hanes that includes a whole bunch of great things! You have until 5pm EDT on September 13th to enter.

There's still time to enter the September Write-Away contest over at Scribbit, on the topic of learning! I've entered - have you? You have until September 19th and you could be the winner of a handbag that Michelle herself made!

5 Minutes for Mom is having another great giveaway - you could win one of two $50 gift certificates to With Character Kids! Becca is becoming a little "Dora-a-holic" so I know this would come in handy here... You have until September 21st to enter - but if you check out their page before September 12th, you could also have a chance to win some incredible prizes offered from With Character Kids. I mean it - you'll need to check this one out!

Over at Adventures in Babywearing, you could win a Rockin' Baby sling valued at over a hundred dollars! And it's a gorgeous style as well! You have until 10pm on September 10th, so you'd better hurry!

And this one isn't necessarily a contest per se, but it looks like a lot of fun. Katja over at Skimbaco is asking what the 'mom' trends in your neighborhood are. Share about the products that you see all around you and what the most popular baby and kid 'must-haves' are. I'm looking forward to seeing how our trends here in Michigan compare to other states and around the world!

And a couple of plugs here for the Carnival of Family Life - my post on "Mommy's Little Helper' is included this week, and the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival #2 - my post on "Three Sisters" is included!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Carnival fun!

My Fathers and Daughters post has been included in the first edition of the Mothers and Daughters Blog Carnival, hosted by Real Life. Please stop by and take a look at all of the other wonderful posts that were submitted!

And my post on my kids' first taste of freedom has been included in this week's Carnival of Family Life, hosted over at Sandier Pastures this week - there are 80 or so great posts to check out over there!

Fathers and daughters

My husband is completely outnumbered.

There are 6 females in our house. And him.

Poor guy.

Yes, even our two cats are female, so added to three daughters and one wife = one very girl-centered household!

This is what he has to put up with:

1. Bedrooms decorated in pink and lavender with flowers and butterflies. No footballs, cars or 'boyish' pursuits in sight. (Not for lack of trying on his end though!)
   
   
2. Hair bows. And barrettes, ribbons, rubber bands and other frilly, twisty things that he has no idea what to do with. Not to mention having to remember to brush the kids' hair instead of just patting it down and going.
   
   
3. Trying to figure out why you can't put a red shirt with a pink pair of pants - they are in the same color family after all.
   
   
4. Remembering which cute little ruffly shirt goes with which cute little ruffly skirt. And which cute little ruffly socks.
   
   
5. Lots and lots and lots of pink!
   
   
6. Being asked to play this over and over again.
   
   
7. Being asked to attend tea parties with stuffed animals and baby dolls and to brush 'hair' on little multi-colored ponies.
   
   
8. Being surrounded by Dora. Strawberry Shortcake. Disney Princesses. Hello Kitty. My Little Pony. Polly Pockets. Barbies.
   
   
9. The $145,432,340 cell phone bill that is sure to come someday.
   
   
10. Thoughts of 3 teenaged girls in the house someday, 4 women PMSing, how to keep boys away from his 3 daughters, way more feminine products, hair accessories and makeup than he ever wanted to see in one room, paying for 3 weddings and did I mention how to keep boys away from his 3 daughters?

And...

1. Little girl kisses at bedtime and whenever else he wants.
   
   
2. Being their hero when he puts a new bike together or builds a snow fort.
   
   
3. Freckles and curls.
   
   
4. Little girl smiles and laughter when he tickles them or gives pony rides.
   
   
5. Always having someone willing to snuggle with you.
   
   
6. The joy to come watching 3 strong proud women and knowing he had something to do with them turning out that way.
   
   
7. Proudly giving away 3 brides.
   
   
8. Sons-in-law!

So even though I suspect there's a slight bit of disappointment there that we haven't had any boys - I know he wouldn't trade his three girls for anything in the world!

You can have fun with a son,
But you got to be a father to a girl.
-- Oscar Hammerstein II

In love to our wives there is desire, to our sons there is ambition;
but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.
-- Joseph Addison

This post was written as a submission for the:

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