Lullabelly

Last week on MomSpace TV (our web show if you missed it… every Tuesday night 8-9pm on www.minglemediatv.com ) I talked about 3 great products for new moms! One of those was the Lullabelly.

The Lullabelly is a prenatal music belt that is basically an alternative to using headphones on your belly like women used to do while they were pregnant. Your iPod can plug right into the super soft belt as you play music for your baby in the womb. Playing music for your baby is said to help with fetal brain development, reduce stress levels, and creates a bonding experience with your baby. Active listening usually begins around the 24th week of pregnancy. I used to play music for Brody all the time when I was pregnant with him. I would listen to Coldplay, Jack Johnson, and he would seriously kick like crazy! To this day, he still loves the same music!! He claps and gets so excited when he hears the same songs that used to excite him in the womb.

The Lullabelly is great, you can use it while walking, working out, or just hanging out at home. The fabric is really soft and it comes in pink, blue, or green, it’s perfect for a shower gift! I loved receiving this belt, since I am pregnant with my second, I am usually running around chasing Brody and I have slacked off doing things like reading to the baby in my belly… but I left the Lullabelly on our kitchen table and it was a reminder to pop in my iPod and play music for the baby. You will be hooked once you feel your baby instantly move and kick when the music starts. The Lullabelly is such a cute, comfy, easy way to start bonding with your baby.

You can purchase your Lullabelly,
or a Lullabelly for a friend right
on their website at:
www.lullabelly.com



disclosure: cmp.ly/1/ie4oar

Creative Juice Group~ MomSpace TV~ Mingle Media TV

So in case you missed our web show Tuesday night, let me just tell you it was one of the most unique experiences of my life!
Not only because I co-hosted the web show for the first time, but I started off doing it painted and topless! AHH! LOL!

Okay, it sounds worse then it really was. So let me start from the beginning… a couple months ago I was asked if I would be up for getting my pregnant belly painted. MomSpace was planning an event with Sandy O, the owner of Creative Juice Group ( www.creativejuicegroup.com ) and she does body painting. Sure, why not! I thought it sounded so fun and different, and anyway, how often are you asked if you want your belly painted?!?! Plus, I have heard the baby actually likes it (which I believe now b/c as my stomach was blue and painted, she was fully kicking like crazy!)

The event ended up being postponed, but Sandy was still interested in painting my “belly” and doing a photo shoot for MomSpace Magazine. Plus we were still shooting MomSpace TV at 8pm ( on www.minglemediatv.com)

I showed up at Sandy’s studio in Manayunk and met her, Tania, and Katie. Within about two minutes they had told me what they would like to do and for some crazy reason I said OK! They were thinking to make my belly like a vase, and then have sunflowers & black eyed susans coming up over my chest. I am not sure if it is because I am pregnant and my body just feels almost like an extension of itself anyway, or that Sandy, Tania, and Katie made me feel immediately completely comfortable… but whatever the reason I agreed! Haha!
Which I am still thinking was hilarious and crazy, especially for me, I turn away if I am changing in a room with my friends, I change or shower at the gym and stay completely covered… this was so NOT something I would normally ever feel comfortable doing!

Maybe it is partially after having one child you start to lose your inhibitions a little. I remember being in labor in the hospital with Brody and you can only get “checked” so many times before it becomes routine… or when the cute guy comes to take out your staples from your c-section! Ah!

So the MomSpace web show ended up being a success and we had a wonderful time as well! I would like to thank Sandy O for making it such a wonderful night and it was great to meet Marilyn & Desiree! Marilyn is a tarot card reader who is just incredible! She didn’t want to be on camera during the show, but I did mention her and we hope to have her at a future event, she is just a joy and so fun to be around! Desiree was part of the show on Tuesday night, we showed her incredible desserts, like little mini hamburger & french fries actually made out of brownie and cake. I have posted pictures on our MomSpace Ashley Facebook account and I will try and post some here. Definitely check her out for your next party! Her desserts are not only delicious, they are absolutely adorable!

Thank you everyone for such a wonderful night!
& please don’t forget to watch our MomSpace webshow, (thanks Stephanie!)
Tuesday nights from 8-9pm on www.minglemediatv.com

Sandy O, Tania, & Katie
Creative Juice Group
www.creativejuicegroup.com (check out their site!!! It’s just incredible!!!)
juicy@creativejuicegroup.com
215.651.5369 ~ 215.487.9544

Desserts by Desiree
Desiree Hawthorne
DessertsbyDesiree@hotmail.com
267.626.6815

Marilyn Sukonick-Zeff
Professional Tarot Card Readings
Corporate & Private Events
tarotbymarilyn@comcast.net
215.941.6312

YAY! Second Trimester!

YAY! I finally made it to the gym yesterday! First time in over two months…
I was still teaching my mommy and me yoga class but at least at my own class when I had the feeling that my breakfast was about to come up I could walk around the class and just shout out yoga positions. I didn’t look ridiculous going on my hands and knees instead of a downward dog. I also had Brody in class with me, so he was a welcome distraction to get out of a forward bend as my reflux was getting worse. The last couple weeks I have started to feel better, still sick in the mornings but as I did when I was pregnant with Brody, I am starting to manage it. Wake up, sharp piercing headache, get Brody, he runs around while I get sick (sometimes slamming the toilet seat into my head while mimicking me gagging, yes…this is very special), get Brody breakfast while I get my cup of coffee that I can not function without (don’t worry~ my only caffeine for the day), and take zofran (anti-nausea medicine~ my savior!) So within a half hour the nausea is gone and I can actually leave the house! YAY~ second trimester!

I’m really making it sound worse then it is~ I have it down to a routine at this point. I was the same with Brody and it pretty much lasted all 9 months. I was just saying to one of my friends, if you talk about how you are feeling, list everything that is wrong, everything that doesn’t feel right while you’re pregnant, it sounds so bad! (This of course being for those people who get sick, and not including the women who have perfect pregnancies with more energy, no morning sickness, and hardly any weight gain… so unfair!) So, I want to make sure I am more just stating what happens and not complaining, because it is hard to complain when it is so exciting underneath all the ailments. It really is one of the coolest experiences; creating another human… it’s just crazy.

I also had to bring Brody to Kids Club for the first time in a couple months too, he was miserable walking in. He started clinging to me before we even entered the doors. Crying hysterically and not letting go of my sweatshirt. We are only giving him his binks (binky) in his crib now, so he was fully just flipping out. As always, I know the second I leave he will be fine in 2.3 minutes, but it still doesn’t make it easy. I wanted to scoop him up, walk back to my car, and just be like “okay, we are not ready, we’ll try again soon” but I knew I got all the way there (not late for once) and I wasn’t just leaving! I left Brody hysterical, flailing in the woman’s arms and I walked to yoga. I paused down the hallway as I could still hear him crying and it was breaking my heart.

I got to class and two minutes in it felt great to be back! Wow, does a couple months off make a difference though! My balance is off, my flexibility not as great, and I definitely stumbled a few times. I do like the feeling though now that I have something to work towards, to achieve (and it’s not just my never successful headstand) I need to even work my way back to a tree pose without falling! Or other poses that I am lacking at now, but this is fun. When I was pregnant with Brody was when yoga became something deeper to me, something new even though I had been doing yoga for years, and now I am finally entering that stage again. The stage in pregnancy where I am not just laying around waiting for the next wave to come when I need to make a run for the bathroom, the stage where I can feel good, and workout again.
Like I said before, YAY second trimester!

Cherish Every Second, Even at 2am….

It’s no secret to my family and friends that I love my sleep and do not function well without it. This is especially difficult when you are the mother of a young child. Somehow luckily Brody has come to be a great sleeper. For awhile now he goes to bed at 8:30 and wakes up at 9am, we don’t hear a peep from him overnight. (I am always nervous to talk or write about this for the chance that I might jinx it!) I also have been sleeping until 9am. One of my friends actually has a theory about how a child sleeps, that the child will end up sleeping how you did when you were pregnant. This could be true too, when I was pregnant I was working at Banyan Productions and our start time was 10am… ahhhh, the days at Banyan. So I did sleep until about 8:30-9am too. Whenever I complain about not having enough hours in a day, my husband always comes back with “You could just wake up earlier”. Ugh! Who feels like doing that...? I know one day soon Brody will have school and he and I will have to start waking up earlier, so why not enjoy the sleeping in now?

So anyway the other night I hear crying at about 2am. I go in to check on Brody and he is screaming and completely inconsolable. He wouldn’t let me hold him, rock him; he wouldn’t sit in the glider with me. He threw his body on the floor and was screaming and slamming his right leg into the ground. I just started to rub his leg and foot, thinking maybe his foot was asleep or it was a Charlie horse? Do toddlers get Charlie horses? He started to calm down a little bit and I brought him downstairs to get some water.

As we sat on the couch, he drank his water and cuddled up with me and rested his head on my chest. I couldn’t help but cherish this moment. His one little hand grasping onto mine, even though it was about 2:30 in the morning at this point, I still didn’t want the moment to end. I always think about how he won’t be little forever, one day he won’t sit and cuddle up with me, or be small enough to sit on my lap. He won’t have these little chubby fingers and tiny hands that grasp mine. I just sat there and kissed his head. I love this child so much.

Also pretty soon it won’t just be us, when new-baby comes~ oh yeah! Btw, if you didn’t know I am pregnant again! I’m due in June, so Brody and the new baby will be two years apart. We are really excited and I am just hoping everything goes okay and the baby is healthy. But anyway, soon it won’t just be Brody and I, over the last year and a half I have gotten used to doing everything with him. He is my little sidekick. We are together every day and do everything together. I can count the times I have left him overnight, which has never been two nights in a row (I have no clue how I am going to leave him for a week in Feb when we go to Paris) I guess just for now I will continue to cherish every moment with him, what else can you do?

Have you had moments with your children that seemed annoying or inconvenient at the time, but you ended up cherishing?