Kids In The City--Stay Or Move?

**This is a guest Post written for Charm City Moms.

Nearly ten years ago, my husband bought a house in the city. Two years later, when we got married, I moved in, and we've been here ever since. When we announced we were having a baby, it didn't take long for people to ask, "When are you moving?"

Many of our former neighbors bolted for the burbs when kids started to come along. We stayed.

Baby number one was easy. Our spare room became the nursery. City living provided ample opportunity for afternoon walks along the water, and we made sure to buy a stroller with plenty of basket room for groceries. With the bank, pediatrician, library and numerous restaurants within walking distance, it was easy to get my stuff done without having to get in the car.

A couple of years later, another baby came along and people asked, "Are you going to move now?" And still, we stayed. It was a bit of a squash, but the nursery became the kids room. Living in a rowhome means we don't have things that other people take for granted. Like closets. It means I'm constantly purging stuff, rearranging toys, trying to come up with creative storage solutions for our ever changing needs. It means bedtime is quite often a disaster because two kids and one room don't mix. We're lucky enough to have two bathrooms, but I often wonder what families with only one do with more than one kid in the house.

Raising kids in the city certainly is different than raising kids in the burbs, but I don't feel like mine are missing out on anything. We know all our neighbors, something people in subdivisions can't always say. My kids can't take off with their friends for hours at a time like I did as a child, but the city's parks and museums always provide us with something to do. Our lack of space has really helped us keep our possessions to a minimum and seriously consider if we need something before we buy it. And I'm fond of saying that raising kids in the city makes for good sleepers. Both kids sleep through an appalling amount of noise, be it a loud party next door, early morning engines, or the occasional fire engine screaming down the street.

Still, sometimes we talk about moving out of the city. Wouldn't it be nice for the kids to have their own bedrooms? How great would it be to be able to park in our driveway instead of three blocks away? We could grow all our own produce and leave the lid off the trashcans without worrying about cat-sized rats getting into it. Our children could run barefoot without the fear of broken glass, and I'd no longer have to hear my neighbor sneeze in the middle of the night when the windows are open.

First, the housing bubble popped. Then our oldest child started preschool and we didn't want to move in the middle of the school year. He starts kindergarten this fall and the younger child is in preschool. At this point, there are few easy ways to do it. I used to be anxious to move. Now I don't really want to, because the city girl in me is willing to put up with crappy parking to stay in a community that has made being a family so enjoyable.

City residents--What are your challenges to family life, and do you ever plan to move?

This and That

Sorry it's been a little quiet around here. We've been fairly busy, but not so much that I had anything to really write about. Besides, when you can reduce things to 140characters or less on Twitter, what's the point? I've got some things coming up soon, including a cool giveaway, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here's what we've been doing.

I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to register Johnny for kindergarten, which is so weird. Not because he's not old enough, because we did wait an extra year, but because it feels like school just started and here we are almost finished with the year. Anyway, he still needs to develop fine motor skills a little so he'll be ready for school in the fall, so I've been looking for activities that really use those little fingers.

Johnny's class does science projects (last year he learned about rust) and this year one classmate made crayon disks, and Maureen promptly broke it. Over the weekend, I was in a cleaning mood and found a whole bag of broken crayons, so we made our own. Rather than melt them by steam on the stovetop, or in the microwave in plastic (BPA! Poison!), the kids peeled all the paper off and put the pieces in muffin cups.



10 to 15 minutes at 200 is enough to melt the crayons, depending on the thickness of the crayons and how deep the cups are filled with pieces.



Let them cool completely, then give the muffin tin a twist and dump the disks out. Easy and fun and I didn't have to throw out the broken crayons and feel guilty.

Speaking of science projects, this year we made greenhouses. Maureen always has to do what her brother does, so she made one too and took it into her class. The purpose of these projects is two-fold. Kids, especially girls, lose interest in science quickly, so the projects are intended to foster a love of science early on. As someone who loved science so much I doubled up on it my senior year in high school, I'm all for this! And secondly, it's about helping kids feel comfortable speaking in front of a group.

I always hated science fair in middle school, with that stupid board we were required to use, and the class competing for the experiment that would guarantee an easy A, but science projects with preschoolers is a completely different thing. It was so fun seeing Johnny and Maureen anxious to check their greenhouses for new growth every day. Pictures soon.

Speaking of greenhouses and gardening, I think we're going to try vermicomposting this spring. We borrowed Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer from the library, which is about a little girl who loves worms and uses them to earn enough money to replace her rickety wagon. Both kids enjoyed the book and want to make their own worm farm. So more on that when we get started.

The kind folks at Verizon have also lent me a Palm Pre Plus for the next two months. Unfortunately, I have to give it back at the end, but I promise to use the hell out of it until then. So far, I really like it. It's got a fantastic camera in it, and I'm also playing around with taking and editing video. And the easy access to Facebook, email and Twitter means I don't have to share my laptop with my husband, but we'll see if that turns out to be a good thing or not. More updates to come.

And finally, we're kicking around the idea of buying a new vehicle. John's truck is seriously old and the shocks are worn to the point where it's hurting his back. And seriously, the whole haggling process makes my stomach hurt. "What sort of monthly payment can you afford?" "None of your business, just tell me how much the car costs and I'll let you know if I can afford it." It's also interesting to see just how much money a dealership will knock off when you mention you're looking elsewhere too. Which just proves how screwed up the process is.

Remember the knee injury from skiing? I never got around to going to the doctor but a couple weeks of rest seems to have done me a lot of good and it feels pretty good now. And luckily the race I was supposed to run over the weekend was rescheduled because the snow we had meant the grounds needed some maintenance. So I'm hoping to get back to running this week in time for the race.

Also speaking of this week, my seasonal allergies hit me like a truck today, which makes no sense because it's raining and washing all the pollen away. However, Jameson broke my glasses a couple of weeks ago (and by Jameson broke them, I mean he lunged at my face and I jerked away and hit myself accidentally with my own hand and broke my glasses). So I saw the eye doctor last week and he gave me a script for allergy eye drops, so I won't have to put in a phonecall begging for one like I did last year.

I'd love to know what everyone else is up to as well!

Stay tuned for photos, videos and a cool giveaway soon!

5 Ways To Take Care Of Yourself Postpartum

As soon as the blue line appears on a pregnancy test, many women go to great lengths to keep the fetus growing in our wombs healthy. We may stop drinking diet soda, or stop eating sushi. Some of us quit smoking. We sleep in a position that provides the best blood supply to the placenta, we go to the doctor or midwife frequently for check ups, we ask our husband's to scoop the litter box for the duration.

We also spend time making sure that our babies stay healthy after the birth. We interview pediatricians. We read about breastfeeding, kangaroo care, circumcision, vaccines and babywearing. We childproof the house and make sure all our gear meets current safety standards. We ask visitors to wash their hands.

After birthing a baby though, how many mothers pay as close attention to their own health as they did during pregnancy? How many of us quickly slide back into our bad habits of staying up too late, exercising too little, or drinking way too much coffee? How many of us put our physical health at the bottom of the priority list?

To be fair, it's not always easy to be healthy. If you had a difficult delivery, convenience can trump healthfulness. When you're sleep deprived, it's hard to make the best choices. When you have other children to care for and a To-Do list a mile long, or if you're juggling responsibilities at work with duties at home, it's way too easy to let yourself slide to the bottom of the pile.

**Take up yoga--Yoga is great because it can be done at so many levels. A beginner can benefit just as much as a guru who has been practicing for years. Most poses can be modified to your skill level, and because yoga is low impact, it's a great way to ease a postpartum body back into exercise while sparing your joints and stretched out abs. You can tailor your practice to your needs and in the privacy of your own home if you're shy. Check out Yoga Journal for poses, tons of info, and podcasts, and join Yoga Today for access to a free weekly class.

**Freeze your dinners--Before my second child was born, I spent several days in the kitchen, cooking meals that could be frozen, such as Greek Spinach Pie, Lasagna Roll Ups, Chili, soups and more. Having the freezer packed with wholesome, homemade food not only meant I was eating well after delivery, but it also made cooking dinner a lot easier. Simply thaw the meal and heat it up. This was one of the biggest things that saved my sanity, because my husband went back to work after a week, and my baby took a long time to figure out the difference between night and day. At home alone with a newborn and a 2 year old, and up most of the night with the baby, I was absolutely exhausted. Knowing that we had something to eat for dinner was a huge weight off my mind.

**Order your groceries online--Most of the large chains of grocers offer this service. There are pros and cons to it (you can be very specific about your produce, and your personal shopper collects your order and bags it, but you can't usually use coupons and fuel and delivery charges may apply), but if you're busy trying to establish breastfeeding, or limited physically because of a c-section, having your groceries delivered can be a huge help. Plus, you can shop online at 2AM in your jammies if you want! Personally, I also found that it helped me eat healthier because I stayed out of the junk aisles.

**Fit exercise into everyday activities--Who has the time or energy to spend an hour on the elliptical when you have a new baby at home? Rather than writing off exercise altogether, try splitting it into smaller doses. Studies have shown that ten minutes of exercise three times a day is just as effective as thirty minutes at once. Do toe raises while folding laundry, push ups during commercials, or spend a few minutes stretching before bed. It adds up.

**Identify your stress causers and then streamline to avoid them--Sleep when the baby sleeps is a great piece of advice, but it's not always practical. Figure out what you're okay with letting slide, and what absolutely needs to be done, then find a way to make it happen. For me, I'm pretty particular about the cleanliness of my house. Letting the laundry pile up or not vacuuming for weeks was just not an option, because of the stress it would cause me. So before my baby was born, I spent a couple of days deep cleaning each room, so the house was nice and clean when we came home from the hospital. Afterwards, I tried to stick to a rough cleaning schedule so all the usual chores were split up throughout the week. Changing the cat box on Sunday, bathroom on Monday, dusting on Tuesday, etc. My house stayed looking relatively neat, and I could rest easy knowing I didn't have a huge mess to deal with when I did get a chance to take a nap.

What about you? What advice do you have to stay healthy while recovering from childbirth and caring for a new baby?

**crossposted at API Speaks.

More Like It

After a winter of record snows and way too much cold weather, the past few days of sunshine and warmth have been incredible.

Today we did bike riding out front in the morning, and then Maureen decided to not nap. So we spent four hours in the backyard, digging and picking up rocks and more bike riding. (Well, actually the kids did all that. I sat in the sun and read a book. Heaven.)

What's more, there was no usual sibling bickering.

It's about damn time.

Happy Spring!

55 Degrees And Sunny--Our March Ski Trip

The thing about the Olympics is the athletes make it all look so easy.

We watched a lot of the coverage of the games in Vancouver last month, and at one point, I told my husband, "You know, I think I'd like to try skiing."

He used to go often enough that he has his own skis, but they've been sitting in our basement for the past ten years. And I've had enough knee problems in my past that I assumed skiing was just one of those things I couldn't do.

I should have known that when my husband gets an idea in his head, he takes it and runs with it, because while I meant I'd like to try skiing some day, he was excited at the prospect of NOW.

And that's how we found ourselves on a mountain in Pennsylvania.

As it turns out, March is a really great time to go skiing because A--it's warm and B--all the serious skiers have gone home and it's not crowded and C--in an effort to make some money since all the serious skiers have gone home, the ski resorts slash prices.

The weather earlier this week was so incredibly warm that I was starting to worry, but it turned out just fine.

On Wednesday, I woke up with a stiff back, and later that day at work, a dog jumped on me and something in my lower back popped. And by the time we go to the ski place in PA, I was in agony, which may have had something to do with miles of driving straight up on bumpy, windy, incredibly dark mountain roads. Yet, I chose to ski the next day anyway.

Skiing with the kids was a mixed bag. Maureen was super excited and couldn't wait to get her skis on, but it took so long to do that, by the time we actually got outside, she was hungry, tired, and totally not cooperative.

And Johnny, he took a private lesson, and then followed along while I had a class lesson, and the kid is amazing. It hurts my pride a little to admit it, but my 5 year old skis far better than I do. (And I'm just guessing here, but I think the age thing might have something to do with it. I'm much more aware of what might happen to one when one goes hurtling down a slippery mountain on two sticks strapped to one's feet. Because I'm certain that fear of head-meets-tree was holding me back.)

Here is Maureen, getting fitted for skis, in the smallest ski boots I've ever seen.

And here she is posing with her tiny, tiny skis.

Suited up and ready to go.

Johnny waiting for his lesson.

Johnny and his instructor (in the red) ski off down the beginner hill.

And here they are getting off the lift.

This was taken after my lesson. He didn't want to look at the camera. But I think that his little skis next to mine is hysterical.


By the time my lesson was over, my back was hurting pretty badly, and so was one of my knees from a bad fall I took. Turns out maybe there was some truth to that knee thing after all.

Still, the plan was to go back for more on Friday, and I was planning on staying in regular boots and working with Maureen on a flatter section while Johnny and John skied together. Except it rained all night and we woke up to thick fog and patchy snow and decided to head home instead.

So we're home, and three loads of laundry later, things are looking back to normal, except Johnny wants to know when he go can ski again. I'm putting the winter coats and boots away soon. Maybe he can water ski this summer.