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The Snip and Quit Method

Pacifiers are one of many subjects that are often raised in parenting circles and forums. Should you use one or not? When should a child be weaned from his or her pacifier? I know that many of my friends are against the use of pacifiers, but we happily used them with both Claire and Aerin. Pacifiers — or "binkies," as we referred to them to the girls — provided great comfort, especially at times when we couldn't immediately be there for them (e.g., during car rides or while we were sleep-training). They helped tremendously when it came to the girls not putting random objects into their mouthes. And they were almost always guaranteed to quiet and calm my daughters when we were in...

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Toilet-Training Claire [Or, How We Completely Lucked Out]

As is the case with most mothers, my parenting style has really loosened up with time and the addition of another kid. Minor injury? Eh, they'll live. No clean clothes left in the drawers? Go to the hamper and sniff out something presentable. Dead-tired at the end of the day without much food in the kitchen? Special K with whole milk for dinner! I always thought I would be diligent — if not my usually neurotic self — about potty-training Claire, but I surprised even myself by being so lax about it. Contradictory to my nature, I didn't do much reading about potty-training; I asked my mother and MIL how they toilet-trained us, and they both replied that whenever we notice Claire pooping, to sit her...

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Mom/Parent Memes [For When You Need a Laugh]

There will be no PicDump today because…well, have you ever had one of those days when you feel like your kids will be the death of you?

I’ve been having one of those WEEKS.

The physical evidence includes a bruised left knee which is so swollen it hurts to bend (from lunging to prevent an injury which led to injuring myself from slipping on a toy left on the floor) and a fat, bleeding lip (Aerin threw the remote control at my face this morning).

But the emotional trauma of dealing with seemingly-endless tantrums, quelling fight after fight, and painstakingly preparing meals which will be rejected with, “Umma, I want cereal!” can be much more exhausting, no?

Yesterday, I shared the following Someecards on my personal Facebook account and received a bunch of sympathetic — and “Omg YES!” — comments in response.

you_know_youre_a_mom_target_vacation

So I’ve decided to gather a bunch of motherhood/parenthood memes from the web and share them with y’all.

Because although it may be a Friday, weekends no longer equal breaks once you become a parent.

Because we can’t get through this without support from one another.

And, because we can all use a laugh. 🙂