ramblings

The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to BlogHer

Posted by Nat on Aug 8, 2011 | 3 comments

Well then.  Dang.  I am ti-RED!

BlogHer ’11 was amazing.  Really.  I’ve attended a lot of conferences in my life, and this one was by far the most well-organized, friendly and easy to access conference I’ve ever been to.  Little confusion, lots of friendly faces.  Well done, blogging women, well done.

I have so much to process, as I’m sure many people who attended do.  I need to revamp more and more of this little plot on the internet, and I’m sure that’s going to happen….eventually.  The biggest take away for me:  my blog is what I make it.  And I want to make it about more than crafting, yet stay away from family stuff since I already have my family blog.  The only thing holding me back from making it just that is… me.  Changes are a-comin’.  There’s just one thing holding me back, and it’s this:

photo by my amazing friend Amber of LifeArt Photography– isn’t she outstanding?!

In the meantime, while I get this whole “mommy-of-3-and-trying-to-start-anew” thing down, I thought I’d share the part of the conference that surprised me the most:  boob stuff.  That’s right, I said boobs.  That’s funny for a few reasons, one being that before I had children, I hated the word boob/s, but now… I’m okay with it (ah, the hands of time, how they help us change…).

Before I bit the bullet and bought my ticket to BlogHer, I emailed my friend Tonya and asked her, “Can I bring a baby?  She’ll be really little.  Am I insane to do that?”  Tonya assured me that there would be kids everywhere.  BlogHer also provided child care for bigger kids, and I ran into many people who took advantage of it- hooray for that.  But I couldn’t leave my  nearly-5-week-old Em with anyone- she needed me and my boobs.  So, in case anyone in the future wants to attend BlogHer with a new baby and isn’t sure, check this stuff out and you’ll find that it’s not too bad.  You’ll be hell-a-tired afterwards, but it is possible.

Awesomeness #1:  The Lactation Lounge!

When I received my email with my pdf document containing all things BlogHer I scanned the map of the convention center.  My eyes lit up when I saw the words “Lactation Lounge sponsored by Lansinoh.”  Holy crap.  A place to feed my baby?  Where other moms can pump?  In privacy?  Rock ON!  That’s what I’m talkin’ about!  I didn’t nurse every single time in there, but it was so nice to escape the craziness for a bit and just sit back, relax, hold my babe, and let her do her thing without a bazillion people in the midst.  Every conference with even 50% women should have this available.  Just sayin’.  I actually met some of the nicest women ever while nursing Em.  I even picked up a few nursing tips.  I did have visions of rocking chairs, pillows, nursing swag, soft music, dim lighting, etc.  That is not what it was- it was basically an empty room with a bunch of sectional chairs and some Lansinoh freebies, but it was so much better than a whole bunch of nothing.

Awesomeness #2:  Undercover Mamas

My friend Jane turned me onto these.  Well, actually, she gave them to me to wear.  How cool is that?  If you have not discovered these yet, get some.  They are tank tops that have no straps; instead they hook into your nursing bra and you can layer them with anything from your wardrobe.  Anything.  No nursing top required, no tummy showing.  Awesome, right?

And a side note:  best nursing bra ever:  find it here.  I love it! It’s cute (I need to feel cute right now), comfy and it works so well!  I just noticed it’s a sleep bra.  Whatever- it’s comfy.  Wear it.

Other tips:

Take a stroller

Even if you are a baby wearer, take a stroller.  It’s not for the baby.  It’s for the crazy amount of swag you’re going to get.  Be sure to add a few stroller hooks (I’m cheap, so I use these) so you can just hang those swag bags and move on to the next booth.  Awesomeness.  Aside from the swag it’s nice to have a place to put your baby.  I wore Emily and had her in the stroller 50/50.  In the Expo hall I had her in the stroller, usually covered with a blanket, mainly to keep people at a distance to avoid germs and such.  But it was also nice to just have options.

Take a nursing cover if you need one

I need a nursing cover when I nurse around strangers.  It just makes me feel better.  Not everyone needs one, so if you don’t, feel free to do it your own way- I really was very surprised at how nice everyone was about having a baby at the conference in a general sense, and also how little people cared that I was nursing Em at all- maybe they just didn’t notice.  One of my favorite moments was when Annie of  PhD in Parenting spoke as a BlogHer Voice of the Year.  She shared with us a video she made about breastfeeding in public and telling women what to wear.  It’s an awesome video- you can view it here.  I love it. I was also nursing Emily as it was playing, which was just hilarious to me. I was touched by how much applause it received- it made me feel better about bringing Emily at all, let alone nursing her during sessions, etc.

Manage your expectations

Both of yourself and of the conference.  If you have a relatively young baby like I did, you can’t do it all.  You can’t do it all even if you DON’T have a very young baby.   I didn’t attend a single party, and I don’t feel like I missed out on too much other than seeing some transvestites and petting some cute puppies.  In order to have enough energy for day 2, I had to go home and rest.  I am lucky that I live in the outskirts of San Diego, but even if I was traveling, I would have gone back to my hotel room and passed the heck out.  I’m sure I would have enjoyed the parties, but that will have to wait until next year- in NYC!!!  Boy, I hope I can go (hint-hint, honey… please oh please?).

I hope these were helpful things.  If you went as a nursing mom and have more to add, please do! And if you met me and I didn’t get your card for whatever reason, please leave a comment so I can go see your blog- it was hard to remember to give out cards between feedings, diaper changes and poop explosions.  🙂

BlogHer ’11: Get your blog on!

Posted by Nat on Aug 4, 2011 | 2 comments

Hello everyone,

If you’re reading this because you’re at BlogHer ’11 in San Diego, welcome!  If you’re reading this because you subscribe to my blog:  you are rad!

I wanted to put up a fresh post and make it easily accessible to learn a bit about me, because if you’re at BlogHer, then you’re probably clicking around during a session learning about all the amazing women in one place, under one roof.  So here are some tidbits about me, Crafting Crazy, and what I’m all about:

–  Crafting Crazy started as an outlet for me to get my craft on and not have it mingle with my family blog posts.  With a house to redecorate, three kids, and a serious urge to make stuff, I claimed my territory in cyberspace about a year ago and started documenting away.

–  In May of this year I resigned from my teaching career.  I was an elementary music teacher and while I loved the kids and my colleagues, it was not the life I wanted.  Perhaps it’s because I recently gave birth to baby #3, Miss Em, or perhaps her arrival was the final kick in the pants I needed to move on to something new.  Either way, I’m on a new course, and I have no idea where it leads.  No clue.  At all.  Whatsoever.

–  The one thing I do know is that I want Crafting Crazy, and blogging in general, to be an outlet for me, and perhaps part of a new career.  I have no idea WHAT career.  This is unlike me.  I’m a planner.  But I’m letting go and seeing what happens.  I did recently change my tag line from “I fully admit I have no idea what I’m doing” (still true), to “Life is crazy.  Craft it well.”  I want to find out what it takes to craft a life that is beautiful, full of the right balance of busy-ness and relax-ed-ness (I make up words sometimes), and fun.  I want to take advantage of this time with my kids and my husband to really feel like I’m in charge of my destiny and that I’m in the right place at the right time.

–  I have a long list of “to do’s” for my blog.  I need to re-do my blog roll.  I need to rethink my theme.  I need to make a signature.  I need to find out how to place ads without making my blog look horrible.  I need to convince my husband that I need a new camera so I can take prettier pictures.   I need to write a boat-load/butt-load/crap-load of posts, but hey- I just had a baby– cut me some slack.  Right now I’m at BlogHer to take in information.  The rest will come, I’m sure.

If you introduced yourself to me, thank you!  I hope I was equally friendly because I am super nervous and excited about this 2-day adventure.  I can’t wait to post about what I learned, and see what happens after this milestone for me.  I’ve been looking forward to it for months, and here it is!  If you’re visiting via BlogHer, please leave me a comment so I can go visit your blog, too!

Well hello there…

Posted by Nat on Jul 27, 2011 | Comments Off on Well hello there…

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks.  I’m having to reassess my ability to jump back into things in the blogging world.  In the meantime, please meet our newest addition, Emily Lou.  If you’d like to read more about her, click here.

I have lots of things in the works… in my head.  Some are already finished and I just need to write them up.  Others are projects that I’m longing to do, but just haven’t found the time yet.  I am also attending BlogHer next week, and that is going to take some prep work.  So, please pardon the sporadic posting, and hopefully BlogHer will give me the jumpstart I need to… do whatever it is I’m going to do with myself. 🙂

More to come!

Under Construction!

Posted by Nat on May 23, 2011 | Comments Off on Under Construction!

I am making some major changes to the blog this week.  I’m hoping a week is all it will take to get things back to 100% awesomeness.  We shall see!  Thanks for you patience!

I’m baaaack…..

Posted by Nat on May 19, 2011 | Comments Off on I’m baaaack…..

Hi everyone… or should I say…. Is there anyone out there?  I’m back!

I am working on some major changes on the blog, so if you’re visiting and things look Crazy with a capital “C” please bear with me.   But don’t bare with me- that would be inappropriate.  🙂

I’m changing things up and taking a huge leap off the WordPress cliff of themes, code, and a whole slew of stuff I don’t understand, so things could get interesting.  I backed everything up and am going to start messing things up soon- I hope I’m at least mildly entertaining as I get things going where I want.  I have lots of posts planned, lots going on, and lots to talk about once I am ready, but first I want to make things pretty.

More soon!

Love,

Nat

Hello 2011, Goodbye 2010

Posted by Nat on Jan 10, 2011 | Comments Off on Hello 2011, Goodbye 2010

Hi everyone,

I’m not even sure who “everyone” is these days- I know I don’t have a huge following on this here blog (yet).  I’ve been thinking the last few days about this blog and what I want it to be.  I have yet to totally arrive at any conclusion to that, too.  I do know that, with as much change as I’m going to see in the coming months, I need to take it easy on myself.  The readers will come, the crafting will get done- eventually.  And perhaps someday I will have thousands of followers and I can refer back to this post and laugh.

What I do know is that right now I must go easy on myself.  Work 4 days/week, expecting #3, and trying to keep my head above water:  that’s all I need to focus on.  I’m still sewing every once in a while, I’m still using good ol’ Mod Podge where I see fit, but my hopes of being a renegade, craft-at-all-hours, multiple-posting blogger WHILE doing all of the things I must to keep myself and my family healthy and sane- those were futile hopes, I fear.

So I guess in a way I’m sort of giving myself public permission to “let my blog go” for now.  I will post infrequently, as I see fit, and I will not feel bad about it.  I will keep my blog floating with minimal supplies, and come summer time when all of my big changes happen, then “Howdy, folks!” I will be back and blogging (I hope).

Until then I hope to bring you fun posts as they come- maybe once a week, maybe once a month… maybe longer.  I thank you in advance if you stick with me through this tough time- because it’s tough for me to work 4 days/week and try to maintain any presence…anywhere, let alone online. 🙂

Hugs,

Nat