NOW Offering EVERSAVE Deals for YOU

Going forward, I am happy to announce that NurturingtheNaturalMama will be offering weekly deals from Eversave.

I have 2 deals for you today:

The first, which you mamas will LOVE, is $30 toward Classic Shapewear for ONLY $15  w FREE shipping!

* Classic Shapewear offers an enormous selection of full body shapers, shaping tanks, maternity shapewear and more in a variety of sizes
* Eversave Extras alert! Spend $70 when redeeming your voucher to earn $10 in Save Rewards

The second, is 2 AMC Silver Experience Movie Tickets ($24 value) for ONLY $13 

* Save Rewards are not valid on this deal - but new members get $3 when they sign up and $2 after they buy and share the deal, giving them $5 towards their next Eversave purchase!

* Act fast, limited quantity available! Check out the deal to learn more about the details.

Enjoy!

Be sure to follow Eversave on Facebook and Twitter and let them know NurturingtheNaturalMama sent you!

Family/ Work Life Balance- Does it Exist?

Individualism vs. Commitment to Family. 

So in this day and age, following the brunt of the feminism movement and a huge thrust in civil rights (while it's all certainly still not perfect); we, as a society, constantly promote self fulfillment and individuality. And as more and more moms enter the workforce, and more and more young parents are forced to have both parents working because of the economy- there is no reason to wonder why 50% of marriages end in divorce, and why more and more children are growing up unattached.

As an intermittent stay at home myself, I can say I have spent a lot of time struggling with my role and maintaining my sanity while staying at home with the kids. Now I am well aware that many moms relish the opportunity to be at home and thoroughly enjoy their time there- I am just not one of them. While I enjoy spending time with my kids, I feel I am legitimately a better mom when I am working and have some time by myself and with other adults.

I have also struggled with the resentment towards my husband after being home with the kids all day,  while he is working, and then we have the perpetual "who does more around here?" argument. He just wants to sit down after a hard day at work... I get mad/resentful that he is just sitting there while I am changing yet another diaper or feeding the kids.... etc. When really- we're all working for the same thing, right??

I am in the process of reading this great book called Towards Commitment , for which the point is clear and precise: commit to your family above all else.

Just to add in another disclaimer: there are clear exceptions- no one is saying to stay in an abusive relationship, etc.

But the authors, married for 47 years, discuss topics like finances, work-life balance, child rearing, school, sex, emotional needs, etc. It's crazy when you think about how really we don't discuss in depth our expectations with our spouse/partner. If you're anything like us, we have surface conversations about how we think things are going to go ; "yea, you'll work this hour to this hour, then the kids go to bed, i'll make dinner" etc. But the nitty gritty about emotional and physical expectations, and problems/issues when the expectations in your mind don't match your reality. In the authors experience, she had to just whole heartedly commit. Commit to her husband, despite their differences, without considering it as "sacrificing her own self fulfillment". I am not going to be able to describe it as she does in the book and do the theory justice- but it is worth a read!

It is more about a family/work fit versus balance, because these days- I'm not sure a true balance actually exists. Would you agree or disagree? and how do you achieve your family/work "fit"?

SAVE America. Start TODAY.

So I saw a poster in a cafe yesterday that had this statement on it:

"We challenge you to change just 10% of your purchases from big box stores to local merchants"

the poster indicated that this small change would create something like 50,000 jobs (and if I remember correctly, that was just considering the state I was in- New Hampshire) and would immediately increase the revenue of the state, and hence America, to help improve our economy.

I believe the group that had sponsored the poster was Seacoast Eat Local. But your 10% shift doesn't just have to be food- it can be anything! But if we take food as an example, it can be your least expensive option. Last weekend, I went over to our local farm Brookford Farm and purchased some fresh veggies (a bag of arugula $3, some leeks $1, and some onions $3), I also purchased some yogurt, cheese, and raw milk. Now, I spent about $20.00.  You need to keep in mind that the yogurt and milk come in LARGE Mason jars.

Additionally, when I am ready for more yogurt and milk, I bring the jars back and get a deposit towards my next purchase. Let's look at the milk. I switch between soy milk and raw milk for my kiddos. Soy milk costs about $4.59/ carton. The raw milk cost $4.50. When I bring back the rinsed Mason jar- I get a $2.50 deposit. My milk ends up costing me almost HALF of if I kept purchasing soy milk from our local Hannaford.

Now this comes right after I heard on Late Night with Diane Sawyer about their Made In America initiative, where they are challenging building contractors to change just 5% of their purchases for building homes to American made supplies. Doing this is predicted to create 220,000 jobs in America!

You can also help this cause by purchasing your very own Made In America T- shirts  which are made of 100% cotton and made, of course, right here in America.

So here at NurturingtheNaturalMama, I am extending this challenge- and I want to hear your stories of how you achieved it! I challenge you to change 10% of your purchases- food or otherwise to American made in the next 30 days. Share the results!!

Was it more expensive? Was it worth it? How did it make you feel? Do you feel you got better or worse product for your money? What type of products did you try?

Belated Confession

Several days ago via Facebook, I promised you a confession. Then I got busy, which is totally unfair as I am sure so many of you were glued to your computers anxiously awaiting my confession. :)


Anyways, I do have something I need to share.

I am an Etsy-aholic.

I love that you are supporting individual people, mostly WAHMs, and all recycling/upcycling for the pre-loved items! I LOVE IT.

So, if you haven't yet discovered Etsy, take a LOOK today! Here are some of my faves;

Guavas and Bananas

Adorn Nursing Necklaces

Rock a Bye Booty

Check it out and SHOP today, supporting WAHMs! <3

Is there such a thing as Thursday Surf? :) Because I have some GREAT new reads for you!

Most recent post by Sparkle Mama is an incredible post about her and her families journey to financial freedom and inherent inability to feel stable in the moment. Following a financial program, they have ceased paying their mortgage and are paying off all their other debt. They are awaiting a short sale or foreclosure, and are now feeling like temporary guests in their own home, until they have a more concrete plan.

I can relate to that in-between feeling having experienced a foreclosure, as well as my 8 moves in 5 years! Ugh! , I hate it. The stress it causes makes me anxious, and NOT a happy person to be around. So what has Sparkle Mama done in order to feel more like she has a plan? She's pregnant!! :) Yayyyy!

Congratulations Sparkle Mama! 

Natural Parents Network just posted an ironic post (given my recent discussion on my preschooler), on Parenting the Spirited Preschooler. I LOVE LOVE LOVE, did I say LOVE?, the suggestions of checking diet, keeping to a schedule, toddler-wearing, and relating to your preschooler as ways to help with the 'spirited' behavior of a crazy toddler!

I, too, struggle with the discipline and "control" of my preschooler at home and in public when his energy takes over :) I am lucky in that my toddler is typically respectful and overall a good listener, but I was SO glad (and relieved that I wasn't the only one) to read this article!

What were your favorite reads this week?

Who has the time?! ... and other realities of Working Motherhood

It has clearly been far too long since I've been able to work AND get my kids where they need to go AND take care of said kids AND blog AND go to school. Just like any other mama, I struggle with the day to day responsibilities of family, work, home, activities, and maintaining my own sanity!

I am now the mama of an official preschooler. My little boy is too quickly becoming a little man! But wow, with the age of 4 comes a whole new set of issues; the 'why' finally dwindles, the tantrums get fewer and further between, and the ability to 'wait' increases by about 1 second. Now, I have found, comes the corrections, the specifications, and the absolute inability to focus for more than a half a second! o.m.g!

What I already find myself regretting, is my inability to properly function as a 'working mother' (who ISN'T a working mother, right?). My days off are spent catching up on cleaning, laundry, and attempting to spend time with kids. Baby A, inevitably, takes the majority of my time. My little koala.

My little Spiderman is a bit more self sufficient, but nonetheless wants to constantly barrade me with questions, watch an endless array of movies, play with action figures (which of course requires my presence lol), color, and create various 'projects' that do little except make a mess of my house.

On top of all of this of course, my husband and I share the responsibility of getting our teenager where she needs to go (usually in her original home town, which is about 40 minutes from where we currently live), and make minimal attempts at making sure our dog is still alive at the end of the day lol! And lastly, I am back in school- so there is homework. Ahhh, how I have missed homework (yes, I am a total dork).  Albeit it's certainly not as easy as it used to be- 3 kids, husband working typically 7 days a week, so no sitter, trying to read/write between naps, while trying to clean house, and spend quality time with the kids. Wowww...

So how do YOU make sure the potentially little time you spend with your kids is full of quality? And do you really think quality is better than quantity when it comes to spending time with your kids?

I am not so sure.

I had a little over six months as a SAHM after Baby A was born. Near the end of that, I was SO happy to go back to work. I wanted a life again. I wanted to be ME again, and not just 'baby A's mommy' or 'spidermans mommy'.  So now I've been ME again for about  nine months- and I'm not sure my kids are benefiting.

It's stressful trying to get everyone where they need to be, being on time (which to be honest, I never am), still not benefiting financially, and then feeling like I have NO time to actually spend with my kids- as in, spend WITH them... in the moment.  The quantity of in the moment parenting time can be what kids need most.

What are your thoughts?

Guest Post: September to Remember

Check out my guest post today over at Little Hearts (Gentle Parenting Resources) for her trip down memory lane in her September to Remember Series. Enjoy!