Red Stick Mom

While taking my boys out to a local park for some bike riding practice, I found myself walking around the area and noticed a good bit of litter on the ground.  With nothing else to do, I decided to pick up a few pieces.  Before I knew it and without me even asking them, the boys picked up on what I was doing and starting following behind me to see who could pick up the most! Everything is a contest in their minds.  Within 10 minutes, we’d gathered up an entire milk crate of garbage and I felt immediate gratification from being able to leave the park better than we found it.  I also felt a sense of pride in...

This series is brought to you by Indie Plate, Fresh.Groceries.Delivered.  Here at Red Stick Moms Blog, we know how important it is to get healthy and delicious meals to our families, but we also know how difficult and time-consuming it can be as well.  We are so excited to bring you this sponsored series by Indie Plate, a company that truly “gets it” when it comes to getting healthy and delicious foods to your door with just the click of a button! We hope you enjoy this week’s recipe! Homemade Dirty Rice We're featuring a dirty rice recipe this week that allows a busy mom to cook a gourmet meal in bulk, in one pot. The recipe is designed in a non-conventional...

When I moved to Baton Rouge and became a stay at home mom, I knew I needed to find some creative ways to save money for my family.  I had seen shows about couponing, but it always seemed like way too much work. But, I decided that I needed a way to keep my mind sharp between temper tantrums and playground trips.  Couponing = math = keeping mommy brain at bay (sort of). It definitely took a lot of time and learning on the front end, but soon it was second nature. Here are a few steps to help you get on a money saving roll! Step 1: Find Coupons - The traditional way to accumulate coupons is from newspaper...

It hit me while I was laying in bed one night, my baby girl doing what felt like cartwheels in my belly, my sleepy thoughts wandered until they landed on: uh, I’m going to be responsible for this little life in a matter of weeks. Maybe that should’ve sunk in earlier than 7 1/2 months pregnant, but y’know, everyone moves at their own pace. Initially responsibility brings to mind things like breastfeeding and colic and trying not to obsess too much over every little breath she takes. But after some time thinking (falling asleep is hard), I started to venture past the first few months of her life, on to the more substantial things that Jeremy and I will be responsible for as...

I’ve never been a competitive person. It’s actually a running joke in my family that I never really cared if I won a board game, or a softball game. This isn’t to say I didn’t want to do well in school, or in other endeavors, but I was never someone who really compared herself to others. Until I had a baby. When I was pregnant, reading about “What to Expect” and listening to people’s advice, I heard a lot of, “every baby goes at their own pace” and “don’t get caught up in numbers.” But when you are focusing on your baby’s development, there are a lot of numbers: height and weight percentiles, sitting up by this age, crawling by that...