There are plenty of things you can do, not to mention things you can bring, to make traveling with very young children go more smoothly. Some of those things work — in theory. In practice, though? Well…

In theory: Taking an 8:10 p.m. flight — right at bedtime — would mean that my adorable 3-year-old and my angelic 15-month old would sleep on board, and we’d tuck their sweetly slumbering selves into their beds at my in-law’s home on the other end of the trip.

In practice: Not so much. Read the rest of this entry »

The “I Can Be Fitter” Group here at Work It, Mom! is causing me some major anxiety.

I used to be fantastically fit. But that was, like, a lifetime ago. Right now, I am a slug. Or, at least, I feel like I am a slug. Aside from bench-pressing about 20 percent of my body weight in toddler, I don’t get much exercise.

I want to — I really want to. According to William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism, and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, “Regular aerobic exercise increases life expectancy by decreasing the risk of a host of chronic diseases.” And I know I need to — I’m 35 years old, those last few pounds of baby weight aren’t going to melt off by themselves. I just can’t figure out how to squeeze a work out into my already over-scheduled schedule.

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s an old joke about what happens with kids in a large family.

With the first kid, the joke goes, you take her everywhere — playgroups, Mommy and Me gymnastics, the park, music lessons, the library, baby ballet, etc. When the second kid comes along, you take them to playgroups, the park, and the library. With three, you take them to the park. But by the time numbers four and more arrive, you’re taking them everywhere again — to the grocery store, the drug store, the dry cleaners, the doctor’s office…

It’s certainly true in our family.

Our 14, 12, and 9 year olds are plenty busy, but I think our 15-month-old has set foot in the library maybe three times in his life (and he slept through each visit). We have about a kajillion books at home, of course, but still. On Saturday, our 3-year-old wanted to “Go out and DO SOMETHING,” and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she said, “Let’s go to COSTCO and RUN ERRANDS!” Read the rest of this entry »

When I first saw the ad, in a post over at Get in the Car!, I thought it was a cool, retro snapshot. And then I took a closer look.

(You can, too. Just click on it.)

There’s something Rob and Laura Petrie about the whole thing, but the pots on the stove look kind of like the modern-day, hard-anodized cookware I love. The husband’s got that “casual Friday” thing going on, and the wife looks like maybe she just got home from work, in spite of the apron. The backsplash is kind of 1970s, but there’s no avocado- or goldenrod-enameled appliances in sight.

And yet… the ad pretty much flies in the face of everything a generation of women fought for. The journal entry clinches it: “Tuesday. Today I found the perfect paper towel! Viva is so soft! I used it to wipe sauce of Tom’s chin, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Is Viva really paper?”

Please pass the soma! As if we working moms weren’t stressed out enough, now there’s this resurgence of 1950s ideals to contend with. Read the rest of this entry »