It's Okay - I'm Doin' Good as a Homeschool Mom

DISCLAIMER: This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Minute Maid and DiMe Media. Minute Maid will provide this prize. Minute Maid is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with the contest – and all opinions are my own.

About this time of year, I tend to somehow end up overloaded. I feel stretched thin and wonder what the heck I’m doing. I struggle to get the school year finished, turn in all my freelance work, run MommyMaestra, answer emails, launch a summer reading program for Latino children, maintain my garden, keep house, feed my family, support my husband, and most important, be a good mom.

There are certainly days when I feel like I’m probably the worst mom on the planet and feel the guilt of not being fully present mentally for my kids 24 hours a day. There are days when my daughter has been talking for five minutes and asks me a question and I blink and realize I have no idea what she said. It drives her crazy. And I don’t blame her.

Sometimes I’ll be reading aloud to my kids from a totally awesome book and my mind will wander to all the things I have to get done before bed. Then I’ll suddenly realize that I have no idea what I’ve just read or what has happened in the last chapter, but apparently it makes sense because my kids are hanging on every word. I didn’t even realize it was possible to read out loud and think about something else at the same time.

There are days when I walk into the living room in the middle of the day and find my kids watching a movie because I got tied up on a conference call. Or days when we come back home from a bajillion errands and I walk into my house and think we’ve been robbed because there is such a mess everywhere and I know I didn’t make it.

There are moments when we are in public and I ask my kid some simple math problem and they have momentary memory loss and I wonder in horror why it is taking them so long to add 2 + 2. And then I think, “That’s it. I’m a total failure as a homeschooling mother. How could I really think I could teach anyone anything?” I concentrate on breathing and looking calm while the witnesses nearby (who send their grand/kids to a traditional school) give me the side-eye, when all I really want to do is look at my kid and say, “Really? You can’t remember here and NOW in front of everyone?”

But it only takes unexpected moments to make all my doubts and fears disappear in an instant. The moments are spontaneous and take me by surprise and it is like someone yanked a pair of really blurry sunglasses off my eyes. Like when it’s my son’s turn to read aloud and I am astonished - and overjoyed - at the ease with which he reads difficult passages. Or when my daughter is doing tricky math problems in her head, and I have to work them out to get the answer! Maybe we’ll be walking across a parking lot and both my kids slip their hands in mine just because.

Or when my daughter laughs and we talk and she is happy and loving and gentle and kind and I know that she is just turning into such an amazing, joyful person with a passion for doing good and making a difference. Or those quiet, early mornings, when my son comes downstairs and peeks into my room, then enters and gently kisses my forehead while he tucks the covers in around me. Or when my husband instinctively reaches out to hold my hand even though he is busy talking to someone or thinking about work.

All these moments combined fill my heart and reassure my mind and I know that I’m “doin’ good.” All the worry and self-doubts melt away, and I embrace those snippets of time and give thanks for my family.

I don’t think I’m the only mom who experiences these feelings of insecurity and guilt.
Which is why I can relate to this video...

What about you? Do you feel like you’re doing a good job? Or do you get overwhelmed like me?

This Mother’s Day, I want to celebrate you. I want to reassure you. I want to recognize all the awesome things that you (or someone you know) are doing.

Do you know a mom who’s doing a great job but may not realize it? Post a shout out or short story about her in the comment section below to let her know that she’s doing a better job as a parent than she may realize. With the comment, you’ll have a chance to win a Minute Maid prize pack, which includes a $50 Visa gift. You can use the gift card to continue “Doin’ Good” with your kids - or give it to someone you think could use it to keep Doin’ Good with her/his family.

Thanks so much to Minute Maid for creating this campaign to reassure and empower parents. To learn more, you can follow Minute Maid online, on Facebook, on Twitter.

Feliz día de la madre.

Lower Your Child's Risk of RSV with These Tips and Resources

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with MedImmune and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Next Monday is World Prematurity Day. As the mother of a preemie, this day makes me remember my first weeks with my daughter and think about how much I didn't know about the special needs of a baby born prematurely.

When I was only seven months pregnant with my first child, I started having contractions. For one month I was in and out of the hospital for preterm labor, until finally, I underwent a cesarean at 36 weeks. Although they told me she was considered term, the reality is that any baby born at or before 37 weeks is a premature baby.

No one told me that premature babies were at higher risk of contracting winter viruses, most especially Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which almost 100% of children get by the time they're 2 years old. We had our share of colds, and fortunately, none of them sent my children to the hospital. But not every parent is so lucky.

RSV is something that parents should be aware of because it is a virus that affects the lungs and breathing passages. It's a seasonal disease that usually spreads in the fall and peaks in the winter. For most children it causes flu- or cold-like symptoms, but it is a serious risk to preemies, whose lungs have not had time to fully develop before birth and who don't typically receive all of the antibodies in utero. When they contract RSV, there is a good chance your preemie might need treatment in a hospital. In fact, RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization for babies during their first year of life in the United States. It causes approximately 125,000 hospitalizations and up to 400 infant deaths each year in the United States Results in up to 10 times as many infant deaths each year than the flu.

If you have followed my Facebook page on a regular basis then you know that I try to keep parents like you updated on outbreaks of various viruses and other health alerts. With more than half a million babies born in the United States prematurely, I know that there's a good chance that some of my readers may have a child in preschool and a preemie at home. So I want to be sure and make you aware of some of the risks you should watch out for and what you can do to protect your children. Do you know what the symptoms of severe RSV disease are? Here's what you should watch for:

Unfortnately, there is no cure for RSV, so prevention is key! If you have a high-risk baby, here's what you can do to help prevent him or her from getting it:

The RSV Protection site has a lot of great tools to help parents. For example, you might use their map to learn when RSV season hits your state. It also has a tool to help you assess your baby's RSV risk. It's a wonderful site that I wish I'd had 10 years ago!

Wishing you and your family a healthy winter season!

Prep for the Holidays with Appliances from Best Buy

© BlueOrange Studio - Fotolia.com

This is a sponsored post.

It is just so hard for me to believe that the holiday season is upon us! We only have a few weeks until Halloween & Día de los Muertos, followed closely by Thanksgiving, Las Posadas, and Christmas.

This year, one of the books we're using is A Child's Geography by Ann Voskamp. I love the lessons because in addition to teaching the kids about the world we live in, it calls on us to do acts of service for the people we love and those who live nearby. There is a lot of cooking, baking, and more going on over here as we prepare meals for friends and neighbors.

This week we're working on making pan de muerto for the first time ever, too, since I've partnered with our local library to do a class on Día de los Muertos and set up an ofrenda! We shopped all afternoon for supplies. And each year, our homeschool group usually gets together to decorate holiday cookies. It's one of our favorite events of the holiday season. So my kitchen is seeing a lot of action between now and the end of the year.

To prepare for all the activity, I've also been doing a lot of remodeling in my house over the last few months. It's nothing major, mostly taping & bedding, painting, and wallpapering. I'm in the middle of finishing a new pantry my husband built for me in our kitchen. It is SO great to have storage space for food, tools, and the appliances that I don't use everyday! All my cookie cutters (I have a LOT) finally have a place of their own where they wait patiently for December to roll around.

This year, I'm hoping to host the cookie decorating party at our house. My kids have been begging to have everyone over so they can decorate and eat and play and decorate some more. I'm also toying with the idea of hosting a posada at our house one day. I just can't decide if I'm ready to pull that one off, though, as no one here knows anything about it. So it might be a little hard to arrange without practice.

Needless to say, as part of my kitchen upgrade, I'm playing with the idea getting a mixer and a new stove. Best Buy has a Frigidaire FGIF3061NF that has one of those convection ovens that reduces your baking time, and a Whirlpool with a double over (my greatest dream!) so you can cook two dishes at different temperatures at the same time! Can you imagine how much time that would save?? That gives me more time to spend eating decorating cookies. :)

At the same time, though, our local church has been feeding low-income residents once or twice a month. One thing that is really important to me is for our kids to see the needs in our communities and give support when they are able. I'd love for us to be able to cook and contribute food, or even buy an oven for their kitchen - which is horribly outdated and desperately needs improvements made to meet the needs of their program. I want to nurture my children's sense of compassion and doing social good.

If you are looking for ways to streamline your own party hosting, or are ready to upgrade your kitchen before the holidays hit, or even if you are looking to give back to your community by supporting your local non-profits - Best Buy has some great ideas. You can read more about them on their website Holiday Prep page.

Disclosure: I'm a Best Buy Ambassador, which allows me to share with you special deals and information like this. I was compensated for this post, but all opinions, thoughts, and stories are completely my own!

Tips from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on Preparing your Preschooler for a New Sibling

One of the biggest changes in a child's life involves the birth of a sibling. For many families, a second baby is often born when the first child is under five years old. This was our situation. My daughter turned 2 a month before my son was born. I worried so much about how she would adjust and whether she would feel left out or less special. While things did change, my love for her never did.

Is your family expecting another child soon? Do you already have a preschooler or kindergartner? How are you preparing your firstborn? Do you worry about how a new baby will affect him or her? Are you wondering how to tell your oldest child or how to help him or her adjust to a new sibling?

Well, help is on the way with PBS KIDS! This Monday, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is welcoming a new character: Baby Margaret. The one-hour special will give children some of the tools they need to cope with the arrival of a new baby brother or sister. It explores the feelings a preschooler might feel when they find out a new baby is on the way.

Angela C. Santomero, the creator of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, also offers this advice to help parents share the news with their children.

• Don’t Spill the Beans too Soon – While it’s always helpful to prepare your preschooler about what to expect and talk with them about new experiences, young children don’t understand time the way adults do. Since it can be difficult for them to wait for events happening many months in the future, try to wait as long as possible to tell your child about the new baby.
• Discuss What to Expect When You’re Expecting – Talk with your child about what to expect from newborns – they sleep a lot, cry, and can’t play games or talk (at least not the same way as your preschooler can)! If you know a family or friend with a new baby, make a brief visit so your child can see firsthand what an infant can and can’t yet do.
• Crown Your New “Big Helper” – Involve your child in caring for their new sibling right from the start. Encourage them to pick out items for the baby’s room, get the diapers when it’s changing time, and sing or talk to the baby. Giving them specific ways to lend a hand helps preschoolers feel needed and more grownup.
• Make “Mommy/Daddy & Me Time” – When the baby arrives, set aside “just you and me” times with your older child. Whether it’s a trip to the library or simply reading a story together before bed, it’s important to make sure your older child doesn’t feel left out.
• Let Them Know How Proud You Are – Help your child to feel proud about being the older brother or sister by showing your appreciation for all the things they can do that the new baby can’t yet accomplish such as using their words. Reinforce your older child’s role in the family as the big brother or sister to the new baby.

In addition to the episode and addition of a new character to the show, they've also released a new app!

Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings is geared towards kids ages 2-5 and is available on iPad. The app is designed to empower kids to identify and express their wide and complex range of emotions. The four socio-emotional activities in the app offer kids a variety of interactive ways to accomplish this.

Inside the app you'll find:

• Trolley Game – Drive the trolley to discover more than a dozen mini-games about feelings.
• Sing-Along – Choose from 18 of your favorite Daniel Tiger songs, each one fully animated.
• Drawing Easel – Use paints, crayons, stickers, and more to express yourself.
• Feelings Photo Booth – Take pictures of yourself that show lots of different feelings. Daniel will help you pose!

JOHNSON’S® Baby Products are Now Safer for Your Baby

As an educator, I focus on products, materials, and services that help children learn from the time they are born until the time they go off to college. But I also feel it's important to provide parents with the knowledge they need to keep their kids growing safe and strong. So many of you are raising more than one child. And some of you have babies. For these reasons, I wanted to be sure and share with you something you can feel good about!

When my daughter was born, I was amazed at the surge of protectiveness I felt for her. I wanted her to grow up strong, health, happy, and free to follow her own interests and passions without any health problems. And I still do. I was careful about which foods she ate, avoided chemical-filled products as best as I could, and looked for those that were made with natural ingredients. All these feelings were strengthened with the birth of my son. It's part of the reason why we choose to live in the country, away from the smog and toxins that come with living in a large city. But we were lucky to have that option. Not everyone does. While we may not all have a choice in where we live, we do have a choice when it comes to what we give, put on, and feed our kids.

I really love when brands and companies take the time to listen to their customers - especially when it comes to improving their products and making us feel safer about using them. So I was really moved by the video below and the knowledge that JOHNSON’S® Baby is improving their baby products by removing formaldehyde-releasing preservatives and reduce traces of 1,4 dioxane from all of their baby products, everywhere around the world. Their change in formulas also includes the removal of parabens. Research has shown that 99% of breast cancer tumors show traces of parabens. So I really have to applaud Johnson's for listening to moms like us and removing it and other controversial ingredients from their products for babies. The upgraded products include:

• JOHNSON’S® Baby HEAD-TO-TOE® Wash
• JOHNSON’S® Baby Lotion
• JOHNSON’S® Baby Shampoo
• JOHNSON’S® Baby Shampoo & Conditioner for Thick and Curly Hair
• JOHNSON’S® Baby Shampoo & Conditioner for Thin and Straight Hair
• JOHNSON’S® Baby Shampoo with Calming Lavender
• JOHNSON’S® Baby Soothing Vapor Baby Bath

I want more companies to care about our kids. How about you?



This is part of a sponsored collaboration with the Motherhood. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

3 Ways to Carve Out Me Time

© kentoh - Fotolia.com

The following is a sponsored post.

Whether you are a homeschooling mom or one with children who attend a traditional school, I have no doubt that your life is insanely busy with a full schedule. And in addition to being moms, we are so many other things to so many other people. We are also wives, daughters, sisters, or friends – sometimes all of these. We’re active in the PTA, at church, and maybe our local non-profits. We go to work or run businesses out of our home. We teach classes, run fundraisers, work out, and go to school functions.

When Blue Bunny asked me to write about this topic, I said yes. I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while now because I have friends and people who write and ask me: Do you ever take time for yourself? The short answer is: YES.

Otherwise, I’d go nuts.

I need time to decompress and just be me without having to answer to anyone else. I need time to just think about things I love…or not think at all. And I believe it is important for all of us to take the time to do so. I know that it makes me a happier person and a more relaxed mom (and probably an easier to get along with wife). But how do you carve out time when your schedule is jam-packed?

Here are three ways I make time for myself. 


Lunchtime Is My Time

As a homeschooling mom, I have to establish boundaries and the first thing that I do every day is make lunchtime my "me" time. After I make my kids lunch, I take my own food and head to my office. When I am eating at my desk, my kids aren’t allowed to bother me. They have to hold their questions until after lunch, or go ask their dad. I use the time to catch up on emails, revel in Pinterest, or read. In between picking crumbs out of my keyboard, that is.


Nighttime Is Quiet Time

At night, after everyone else has gone to bed, I usually work, but sometimes on the weekends, I just sit and relax with ice cream (in the summer) or hot chocolate (in the winter). This is the time I get to spend creating printables, reading, or even watching episodes of Downton Abbey. Sometimes I just sit and listen to…nothing! The sound of silence in this noisy house is blissful. (Or at least it is as long as I know that everyone is safe and sound in their beds. Silence in the daytime makes me suspicious or nervous!)

Mom’s Night Out

And lastly, once a month (or less frequently), I meet the other homeschooling moms in my group for a mom's night out with dinner at our local Italian restaurant. This is actually my favorite me time because my husband watches and feeds the kids, while I enjoy the evening talking with girlfriends and eating yummy food. Who can beat that? This usually takes a little more preparation on my part since my husband doesn’t cook much, so I usually leave a complete meal in the crock pot to make it easier on everyone.

I wonder, how do you find time just for yourself?

I want to thank Blue Bunny Ice Cream for inviting me to write this post and the samples of ice cream they sent my family. After spending the afternoon engaged in a scientific study (hooray for dry ice!), we gobbled down some of their Sweet Freedom Krunch Lites. The chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream has no sugar added, which is very important to me.  

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I was compensated for it and even got some free ice cream!! All thoughts and opinions, though, that are shared in the post above are completely my own.

Junot Díaz on Twitter for First Time

Today is for the mamis who love to read. For more information or to RSVP, click here.

NOTE: This Twitter Party has been POSTPONED in light of the Boston Marathon tragedy. We'll reschedule, probably for next week.