10 Habits of Happy Moms

I found this on Yahoo and thought I would share..

Here are 10 things happy moms do--so remember these tips in your day-to-day life!

1. Find time for yourself
Happy moms know they deserve a little time to themselves. When you know you're going to have a little room to breathe later on in the day, it's easier to take on everything that's in front of you. Our formula? Take 2 hours out for yourself every 3 days.

2. Don't make a happy baby, happier!
We all do it...you see your baby's head at what you're sure is an unnatural angle snoozing in their car seat. You just know they'll be happier if their head was straight. So you move them. And they wake up. Then they scream. Or, you see them playing happily in the sand. You just know they'll be happier if they played on the slide. So you interrupt them and move them to the slide. And they're angry. And they let you know they're REALLY angry. Here's the thing, they were happy. It can be hard to do, but if your kid's not complaining, leave them be! Happy baby = Happy Mommy.

3. Embrace the mess
So your house doesn’t look like something out of a magazine. That just means it’s cozy! Your children have hands coated in dirt from the playground and faces coated in spaghetti from dinner. It’s not gross—it’s an adorable photo op! Life is about how you look at things. Next time that pile of laundry that’s been sitting on the chair for three days starts to get you down, just remember… it’s probably feng shui.

4. Make time for your friends
Your family can survive without you while you make time to see friends. You are a woman with your own identity and its imperative that you and that identity go out for some margaritas once in awhile!

5. Stop blowing yourself off
While you may be the one taking care of everyone, it doesn't mean you can't also get what you want. Help your family realize your needs are as important as theirs and when mom is happy, everyone is happy, but when mom is not....

6. Get in the zone
Take 10 minutes to do absolutely nothing but rest. Take a break from your day, close your eyes, breath in slowly and deeply through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Repeat several times. Think about a place you love that is relaxing, spend 10 minutes there in your mind.

7. Remember your dreams and goals
Everyday we are encouraging our children to reach their full potential. But sometimes in the midst of being a parent we forget about our own dreams and goals. The best thing you can do to encourage a child is to lead by example –happy moms hold on to their dreams and goals and don’t let go.

8. Be lighthearted
Don't be the uptight mom. Be silly and dance with your kids to their music or tv show tunes. Be romantic and pull your partner into a waltz. Dance in slippery socks in your kitchen while making dinner.

9. Bend the Rules
One of the best parts of making the rules is occasionally breaking them. Maybe it’s taking your child out of school for half a day on their birthday, or waking them up in the middle of the night to see a sky of shooting stars. Happy moms know how to turn the mundane into fun.

10. Mind your own business
Concentrate on creating your life the way you want it. Take care of you and your family. Don’t get overly concerned with what other people are doing or saying. Don’t get caught up with gossip or name calling. Stop seeking the validation of others and be confident in yourself.

Tv and Torticollis

When Max was three months old we started noticing that his neck always tilted in the same direction and he made no effort to turn it the other direction. We let it go for a few weeks and tried to see if he could fix it on his own but when we realized it wasn't working we turned to PT.


Max on the Fourth of July. 3 months old.

Max Was diagnosed with Right Sternomastoid Torticollis which basically means his trap muscles woulnd't let his neck turn left. The easiest way to explain it is that the muscle on the right side of his neck is to short, causing him to tilt to the right and also preventing him from turning his head to the left. It also keeps him from being able to lift his arms over his head. not getting this fixed could lead to life long issues. After I got over calling him baby Zoolander (he couldn't turn left) I had to figure out how to get my THREE MONTH OLD how to exercise. I'm 25 years old and hate to exercise.. How do you make this tiny person do it? Easy Peasy actually, You bribe them with television.



Max on August 4th. 4 months old and still tilting his head


I always thought that I would be one of those moms that outlawed TV and bad books and high fructose corn syrup.. turns out I'm not. The only way to get Max to exercise his neck during tummy time was by letting him watch TV. Now I'm not going totally out of line with this, All he's allowed to watch is PBS... and Teen Mom. I can't help it if he's in love with Maci. After tonight though he is actually banned from Teen Mom as well. Who would have thought that Elmo and Big Bird would help him with his neck?



Tummy Time helping him hold his head up (This is Sesame Street)




So now the only problem we have is that he is ADDICTED to TV. He's only allowed to watch it during tummy time IF he's having a hard time.. but if he even sees a TV screen he's addicted. He even LOVES my iPhone. Crazy Boy.




It's hard to believe that he's going to be six months old on Monday. Its been more that six months since I was put in the hospital on bed rest and this almost six months since this miracle boy made it into the world. He's such a great kid. I only hope the next six months are just as much fun.

Baby Food

I am such a bad blogger. I think I'm finally starting the get the hang of writing as well as keeping up with class on top of my already full time job of being Max's mommy. So hopefully my posts will be more frequent.

When I found out I was going to be a mom something I was EXTREMELY adamant about was that I was going to make Max's baby food.. sans cereal. While its possible to make baby cereal I didn't feel to strongly about trying to recreate dry cereal. Max's Daddy has been interested in this process as well but we really didn't know where to start. Max's nutritionist gave us some helpful advice about what to start with and when to start.. but everything else has been trial and error. This was Max's first attempt at rice cereal. He actually did pretty good!



So armed with a small amount of information and a ton of ideas i set out on my adventure of making food for Max. Today was my first day and actually.. I think I did a pretty good job. The first thing I needed was a food processor or chopper that pureed food. I bought a cheap little one for ten bucks at HEB. Food processors can get pricy but this chopper actually works really well. I decided to start with something easy and made sweet potatoes. After a ton of googling I baked a sweet potato until it was soft and then cut it in half and put it in the food processor. His nutritionist recommended adding formula to thin out the food and to boost the calories since he's still under weight.





After making the food I had the problem of trying to figure out how to store it. Turning to google I learned the best way to store homemade baby food was in ice trays, because each cube equals a one ounce serving. I actually ordered these really cool baby food storage containersbut until they get here I'll just keep using the ice cube trays. All you have to do is freeze the food and pop them out a cube at a time for a perfectly measured meal every time.




I mixed his food with Barley Cereal (which he hated) the first time. After that I've alternated between Rice Cereal and Oatmeal (which I accidentally bought with probiotics and upset his belly) and he loves the rice cereal.



After going though all of that.. Max LOVED the sweet potatoes. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of eating from a spoon but he seems to really enjoy playing with the food. He's such a happy guy and it doesn't take to awful much to make him happy.. but playing with the food made him really giggle. I love seeing him smile.




This mommy stuff is all trial and error but I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING. Max is the only reason I keep going in all that I do. The best part of me will always be him.

Mad Max Forsythe

Three months ago the most amazing person entered this world. His name... Max. This blog isn't just to tout all of his merits.. although he has many. It's really more to chronicle raising a baby and figuring each other out along the way. The first photo is Max at three months old. The second picture is Max at five weeks old and the third picture is Max at three days old.

Max's Story

Max was born three minutes after midnight on Easter Sunday. His birth was a little bit of a shock as he was six weeks early and VERY sick. Max had fluid in his abdominal cavity as well as his lungs as a result of an infection I had had early in pregnancy. However he was a little fighter and after a month in the NICU he made his way home to be with mommy and daddy.

At three months Max is still seen by several specialists as he is somewhat of a miracle. As of right now there has been no known damage due to prematurity and is actually advanced in several developmental areas. He is our Million dollar Miracle Man. We do have some lingering health issues that should be resolved come summers end. Max has to have surgery to have a hernia repaired as well as one more visit to the audiologist to have his hearing checked. I'm fairly confident that both of those will come work out great.

Every month ECI, early childhood intervention comes to our house to visit Max. The point of their visits is to ensure that Max is not falling behind developmentally or size wise. As of right now, Max is on the cusp of being on the charts size wise. For his adjusted age he actually is in the 50th percentile. For his actual age he's still below the fifth.

Being a parent is amazing. Everyday is something new.. and while its not always something new AND fun.. It definitely stays interesting. Did you know that no matter how fast you change a little boys diaper.. they're going to pee on you? They make these really cool products now called pee pee tee pees. They go over a little boys penis to avoid the spray of urine. My son is so awesome that when I used this product it just sprayed him in the face. In fact my son has now peed on his face more times than he's peed on me. I've also learned not to change him on my bed at 2am because he WILL get my sheet. Every time.

Max is my new adventure. He's everything I wanted in a little boy and so much more. He's my own little piece of history and I want to do everything I can to make sure his days are filled with adventure and learning. I don't want to be my sons best friends. Nor do I want to be that cool Mom that lets there kid get away with everything. I want to raise a child who is capable of being himself while taking parts of me and my husband along with him. I don't think parenting should be making your child exactly like you.. rather it should be you learning from your child while helping them become who they want to be. We're in for along ride... Approximatley the rest of my life. My son is amazing... and I can't wait to watch him grow.