Encouragement

Yup, it's true, this homeschooling momma has taken off her homeschool hat and put on the public school hat (I live a life of extremes.) Like many, many, oh so many, mommas before me I ventured into the parenting journey scared and clueless, yet somewhere along the way I learned that the only one in charge of this is me! Could I have continued homeschooling this year? Yes. Do I still believe homeschooling is ultimately the best option for my kids? Yes. But, for my own reasons, I decided to pack up my kids, move to a completely different house so I could enroll them in a good public school, and do something completely different this year (and if...

Disclaimer: This is a guest post from Dr. Leanne Redman, associate professor of women’s health studies at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. You can get to know her more here and read her first post here. Her facts and opinions are based on her personal research. Red Stick Moms Blog was not paid to promote any specific medical viewpoints or studies. Always consult your physician with any medical questions. As we heard from Lisa earlier this month on the blog, August is National Breastfeeding Month. And as can be seen by the several blog posts on Red Stick Moms Blog recently, breastfeeding is one of the hottest topics on social media right now. Most of the stories making the news in the...

Today was the day.  I bit the bullet and got Blaison his very. first. cell. phone. Let me start by saying that I don't think there's an exact age, a mathematical formula, or even a certain grade that would be classified as the right time for a child to have a cell phone.  I truly feel that each situation is different and in our case, we waited.  I told myself years ago that I was going to wait, despite the trips to visit his mom or the cross-country practices that may or may not have rained out, WE were going to wait.  I was going to wait until the day or even days for that matter, that I told myself "...ok, so...

Before I ever got pregnant, even married for that matter, I dreamed of what it would be like to be pregnant. I just knew it was going to be one of the greatest times in my life. I would feel great, have the pregnancy glow, be fit because of all the prenatal yoga, and look incredibly cute in all the latest fashions. That is what pregnancy was to me. The time you felt best in your life! One morning in July 2010, I woke up convinced I had the flu. My whole body hurt and I could barely move. That night I was so nauseous, I couldn’t eat dinner. After a few days of this, I had the thought, “could...

I was going out of my mind. My son, William – my sweet, loving, adorable son – would not nap in his crib! At 6.5 months old, I was spending hours out of my day holding him while he slept. He would fall asleep nursing and then wake up almost every time I put him down. Occasionally, I was able to gently lay him on our bed or on the couch and he would stay asleep. But that still meant that I needed to hover over him constantly to make sure he didn’t roll off. So I was spending all day playing with him, feeding him, or watching him sleep. While there is nothing I love more than spending time...