Holly at Nap Time

My recent post on having mixed feelings the first time you find out your pregnant was so well received that I have decided to share another pregnancy freak-out with you that I had - realizing that at some point the baby was actually going to come out and become part of our family.

My first pregnancy was a dream - I didn't have any morning sickness or other annoying symptoms besides fatigue, and generally I was feeling great. I credit a lot of this feeling great to my prenatal yoga classes, which I highly suggest any first time mom take full advantage of, because you're not going to have very much time for it the second time around!

We had just moved from our little apartment in New York City to a quiet townhouse in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, and because I was planning on being a stay-at-home-mom I didn't bother looking for a new job at the time. I was still doing some work for my previous employer online, but for the most part I had the last 6 months of my pregna…

Source: rshcatalog.com via Gigi on Pinterest I know that I have mentioned it several times this holiday season, but we are having such a great time starting this Elf on the Shelf Tradition with our two year old daughter. There is nothing quite like watching here face light up each morning as she searches and finds our elf, Sam, up to new adventures in our house. The memories we are making are so precious to me! There are still a few days left to get creative with your Elf on the Shelf (check out my post on hilarious Elf on the Shelf ideas) but this Saturday is already Christmas Eve, meaning that elves all over the world will be making their trip back to the North Pole, only to return after Thanksgiving next year. Throughout my search for fun ideas, I have come across a lot of stories about sad partings with the Elf on the Shelf. Stories of sobs from little ones who measure the time between…

Wow! In the last year the Elf on the Shelf's popularity has sky-rocketed across the US. Santa is sending out elves left and right to keep an eye after all the little boys and girls and make sure they are good this holiday season.

We were so pleased to give away an Elf on the Shelf to a lucky Holly at Nap Time reader earlier this holiday season. I really wish that I had 400+ elves to give away to all those who entered, but if you don't already have an elf, I can assure you that the $30 is a great investment. To learn more about Elf on the Shelf, click here.

My daughter is only two years old, and this is our first year with our Elf, Sam, so his hiding spots and antics are pretty obvious and don't really tell much of a story. My friends with older kids, however, are getting pretty creative, and moms all over are sharing their ideas on Pinterest, which begs the question: Is Elf on the Shelf more fun for children or parents?

I'll leave that up for you to decide. Some of t…

As if the physical toll of carrying a child isn't enough, the mental toll that pregnancy takes on a woman is almost downright hysterical when you think about it. At 34 weeks pregnant now, today I'm feeling (or at least for this moment) level-headed enough to share some of my chaotic with you.

When I got pregnant with our daughter in 2009 it pretty much came as a total shock. My husband and I had decided that we were open to having a child but that we weren't going to necessarily try to have a child - yet. I don't know what literature we had been reading, but it was clear to us that even the healthiest, normal couples could have to wait up to two years to conceive. We decided to give it six months and see where that took us. Three weeks later, I was pregnant.

My first symptom was complete lack of energy. It was a Friday in New York City, and happened to be my last day at a job that I loved and was leaving for life in the South with my husband. My brother-in-law was to…

It's no secret - today's moms are busier than ever. Mostly by our own doing (ahem - signing our kids up for countless activities and groups, volunteering over and over again and somehow always forgetting how to use the word "no" somewhere along the ways). That's why if you're looking to market to today's mom, Internet marketing is the only way to go.

"But why?" you might ask.

Mail advertising just doesn't work. Who has time to read their mail these days? We receive so much junk mail that I inevitably let it pile up on my kitchen counter until the stack is falling over, at which point I dig out the bills that need to be paid and throw the rest into the recycling bin.

Commercials are becoming nonexistent. Every once in awhile my mom will ask me if I've seen a commercial that she thought was interesting or funny, but my answer is always the same: nope. Any television I get to watch these days (not including the many hours of Nick Jr. that g…

'Tis the season for shopping, shopping, and more shopping for holiday gifts! I will admit that before having children I was all about the draw of Black Friday deals and being among the bustle of the eager crowds. I almost don't believe it myself, but one year I insisted on taking my sister-in-law to Macy's in Herald Square (yes, the Macy's smack dab in the middle of Manhattan) on Black Friday. I guess I was pretty young and crazy back then.

This holiday season I am eight months pregnant, and the stories of pushing and pepper spraying are plenty enough to keep me out of the crowds even in the slowest of shopping hours. Here's an easy equation for you:

8 months pregnant + concerned about the safety of my future son + Black Friday = BAD IDEA!

This year, I'm all about shopping online for the holidays. Nerdy people like my husband call this using ecommerce solutions - I call it "making my life a heck of a lot simpler."

Now it's easier than ever for b…