Movie viewing right here in Kalamazoo!

Laboring Under an Illusion, Mass Media Childbirth vs The Real Thing Click to see the movie trailer

Tuesday, Sept. 8 * 7 p.m.
Laboring Under an Illusion:
Mass Media Childbirth vs. the Real Thing
Lawrence Education Center, Borgess Medical Center
RSVP to (269) 598-1488 or jessica@kalamazoodoulas.com

Join us for this wonderful opportunity to both see an amazing film, and to participate in a community conversation about birth. Looking forward to seeing you there!

 MamaKazoo is proud to introduce the “HAVA” baby sling. The HAVA is the result of 9 years of babywearing and two years of brainstorming on how to design a sling that is not only stylish and comfortable, but also conforms to the desires of many mothers to have a sleek and lightweight sling. We believe HAVA accomplishes all of this. MamaKazoo is happy to have Hava available to our mamas and at a great 69.00 price point.

• Lightweight and compact (half the size of SlingEZee a fully padded sling)
• Zippered pocket in the tail
• Lightweight rail padding, a third of SlingEZee’s rail padding
• Padded rails can be pulled through the rings for greater adjustability
• Decorative ribbon on the tail
• Small, contoured shoulder pad
• Beautifully pleated and gathered around the rings
• Comes with a instructional DVD

~These are so new to MamaKazoo they are not on the shop page yet. Please email mama to place your order leigh@mamakazoo.com

For a limited time MamaKazoo would like to offer  10.00 off any Hava sling. Until September 1st, 2009

Sustainable Avacado and Chestnut AVAILABLE NOW!!

They aren’t up on the site yet so contact me directly for ordering. leigh@mamakazoo.com

10.00 OFF SPECIAL FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST!!

I left the firecracker alone in the kitchen for 2 minutes to go to the bathroom alone. I NEVER go to the bathroom alone….ever….in 14 years I have had a partner or at least little fingers poking out under the door. With questions like “Whatrudoinmomma”???

Well I’ve learned my lesson. In those 2 minutes the firecracker convinced the strongman to give her the queso and chips he was eating. She then proceeded to rub it in her hair, on her arms, on the walls and wipe it on MY BRAND NEW COUCH !!!!

Fun!  Yes I know you are laughing. But you didn’t have to clean it up:)

Spring at the circus. It was a beautiful day and we had been outside all weekend. I was changing the firecracker and “EWWWWW” weird poop. It was greyish-white. Now mind you I’ve seen my share of poop but this I have never seen. I called the peds office to get a call back (really they did return my call in 10 minutes) they urged me to go to the ER because they didn’t have any openings for the day. So off I go. I arrive at the hospital and the questioning begins. No she doesn’t have a temperature, no she hasn’t been acting different ect……. Then comes the “What has she been eating” I came up with cereal, banana, pasta and tomato sauce the night before. That’s about all I could really remember under pressure.

The doctor (a male about 28 years old and not a parent) asks me “Will she poop for me”? “Really”? I respond. Then it occurs to me that he doesn’t believe me. Both the nurse and Dr. are frantically looking in books and online looking for a reason for this mystery poop. The answer for now is a “BAD” liver disease. WHAT!!! The Dr. goes on to tell me that she doesn’t have any symptoms other than the poop color so he’s not really worried …yet.

So we go back to “What has she been eating”???? I’m am literly in pain trying to remember eveything my 15 month daughter has been eating. I mean I even came up with dirt, mulch, grass……..I don’t know and really nothing that would cause her poop to be gray! After the Dr. and nurse took alot of notes and advised me of several reasons we should return they sent us home.

As we pull into the driveway I notice it is a beautiful rainbow of fun  written in SIDEWALK CHALK!!!!

OMG my daughter ate sidewalk chalk and pooped it out the next morning. Thats my poop mystery solved. Never thought of that one.

I may be opening boxes forever……First let me say there are no words to really describe how unbelievably difficult it is to move. Friends and family have sympathized with me but always add in the ” We still have boxes we have never unpacked from our first move”. REALLY ,so it will never end? Move your things, your memories, your kids….. Yes the lion tamer and I have moved with all 4 kids, 1 dog, 1 cat and lots and lots and lots of stuff! Before starting this adventure I looked for the common “self help book” well there is NOTHING on moving with your brood while keeping sane. The circus has gone to living out of boxes and it has been quite interesting. No matter how hard I tried to be super organized by numbering and labeling the first 140 boxes. The last 300 are now labeled by my children “STUFF” sometimes I might get lucky and come upon one labeled “MOM’S STUFF”. My circus has come up with some “fun” to do while you are moving. Brace yourself, this list may become a need for you to follow in the event of a power outage or other non-PlayStation location.

Timed Escape- Take the smallest sibling and tape them into a box and see how long it takes them to escape.

Art Class-Cut open boxes and lay them flat. Give the kids markers and let them go wild. Could also roll siblings in paint and roll them around the cardboard.

Break-dancing Contest-Part 2 of art class. Enjoy wrestling and dancing on the art projects.

Toboggan Run-Get into a box and hang on while another sibling pushes you down the stairs.

Dolly Races-Run around pushing a sibling on a dolly and stop suddenly and see who can hang on.

Disclaimer: Please don’t really encourage your children to do these dirty deeds, just don’t be surprised when they come up with them on there own. (I told you so:)

I hate moving...

I wonder if it may be easier to never unpack and keep moving. Hmmmm, like the traveling circus!

As I am woken up on this Thanksgiving Day I am truly thankful for several things. I think of my day to day. The little things that I have become so used to. I forget that there are women who will never experience what I have. It really takes a special day and time to be able to look through the chaos and see the beauty of what moms do every second of there lives.(like college beer goggles)As I am currently sick with something and have lost my voice. I am actually thankful that I simply cannot yell at the kids. I have given them the day off. We don’t need to be anywhere until 1:00pm so what’s the rush. The day will move slow and I don’t need to shower or even get dressed until noon. So onto my reflection of what I am most happy to have……..I am thankful that my son wants to snuggle in my bed with cereal and warmed up milk. I am thankful for the cries at 6:00am from the firecracker on my technical “day off”. I am thankful that we have coffee. I am thankful that we have a roof over our heads and carpet under our feet. I am thankful that I am the chosen one who will get up with firecracker. I am happy to FIND 5 pair of underwear, 3 undershirts, 1 bra, 1 cami, 8 socks(notice I said socks, we don’t have any pairs anymore), 3 belts,1 hair bow, 3 ties, 1 suit coat,1 pair of panty hose, 1 headband, 1 pair of tights, and iron 3 dress shirts, 3 pair of dress pants, two dresses, one skirt and one blouse.  I am thankful to have the lion tamer to keep me warm and to hit snooze when the alarm goes off for the 3rd time. I am thankful for kindergarten morning breath. I am thankful that lion tamer keeps the sheets warm after I get up with the firecracker. I am thankful for the good morning hugs from my babies. I am thankful for the wonderful friends I have to keep me sane. I am thankful to all the mama’s out there who are raising ladies and gentlemen. If you have just one moment today. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, hug your babies and be thankful for the chaos!!

Ahhhhh, I can still hear the cries now. Mom my nose is bleeding, the skin is gone on my knee, I scraped my elbow……….. again. OR My favorite I need a spongebob band-aid. “Why” I would ask when said injury had no blood. “Because it makes it feel better”. Wow the band-aid companies really have  kids bamboozled.  Whatever works! A couple weeks ago my glittering acrobat was sitting still (so she says) and a gushing nose bleed started. While she made her way into the bathroom leaving a grisly trail behind her I kept thinking, they didn’t tell us about this in mommy class. I remembered from my high school years in softball to pinch the bridge of the nose. Well that didn’t work. Now my lion tamer has decided to join in on the first aid front. He insists that we put ice on the bridge of her nose. That didn’t work either. Mind you we are trying to entertain some friends while all of this going on. After about 30 minutes of frustration and thinking we may need a trip to the ER. I opened the bathroom cabinet and staring at me was a box of tampons. The light bulb went off, I mean the Dr. friend of Mariandas’ in Sex in the City did it. Maybe it could work. I took out a tampon and cut it lengthwise and put it in her nose. It worked! My acrobat was absolutely mortified and refused to come out of the bathroom. I left for a minute to explain to our guests what was going on. Upon my return my lion tamer was trying to explain to my acrobat what those “sticks” were really used for. I stepped in and gave a full explanation. Now ever more mortified my acrobat wanted to get away from us and go play. I removed the first set of “sticks” and put fresh ones in place and sent her on her way. No worries, I cut the string off.

My circus, all dressed up for the next performance!

A circus, a circus , a circus has come to town. Yes it definitely has (but without the creepy clowns and caged animals) This is my life, a literal circus everyday. I have had several friends and family members tell me to write about my daily “freak-show”. So I will attempt to share with you my crazy life in the hopes that you will laugh with me as I accomplish day to day tasks as a mother with 4 (ok 5 if you include my husband) sideshows!  I will start with my oldest son. A 13 year old boy going on 23. He is growing at an astonishing rate and is forever surprising. I have to frequently do a double take when he speaks, I expect this sweet little voice and in turn hear the beginning of an obscene phone call. He is full of whit and actually has a great sense of humor. (Thank god for that) He is an amazing child with magic at every turn. I will call him the “Magician”.  Next is my 9 year old daughter she is truly wonderful , a daredevil and has no fear! We used to find her walking on the 2nd story deck railing at age 3. She is always sparkling both in personality and in her choice of clothing. A specimen of physical ability. I will call her the “ Glittering Acrobat  “.  My 6 year old son is next in line. He is surprising and has a slight double personality. He is the sweetest most snugly child one minute and the next asking me what the insides of dead squirrels look like. He is incredibly strong for a little guy. Mostly because he has to defend himself from his siblings. He is very creative and likes to draw “sounds” I will call him the “Tattooed StrongMan”. In December my youngest daughter graced us with her presence. She is also a great performer. Very loud (if you want to be heard around here you gotta be loud) this summer it was hard to distinguish between her and the fireworks outside. She is a very easy baby (I know I will regret that I have said this) and loves her brothers and sister. She is also very stubborn and refuses to drink milk from a cup, bottle or spoon. (We will see who wins in the end of this battle) I will call her my ‘Firecracker”.  Next is my husband, my parenting partner, my best friend (come on no gagging) He is there to listen to my daily outbursts. He is really the one and only person who truly can make me return from the “parenting darkside”. When things get tough he is the cool one that puts out the mom vs child fires. Of course he is sometimes annoying but it would be more difficult to run this circus without him. I will call him the “Lion Tamer”. That leaves me, I am a self proclaimed “Ringmaster” I attempt to control the chaos that is my circus. I most likely would have been fired by now if I were working for a “real” circus.

One thing stands clear in the land of animals, clowns and funny cars. I love my family and my job as a mother. We all have to laugh, because “Mothering is Funny”

Visit us soon to read about Leigh’s adventures in motherhood.