If there’s anything I love as much as books and dispensing advice about motherhood, it’s a social media success story. So I was thrilled to discover someone who has combined all 3: meet Jennifer L. Cowart, author of “Baby Notes.”
A freelance writer and photographer and mother of 3 girls, Jen sat down to write up her best motherhood advice when her brother and his wife were expecting their first baby in 2009. She packaged it all up into a cute little homemade book and gave it to them for their baby shower.
As more of Jen’s friends began to have babies, she decided to share her list of advice on Facebook. “The response was overwhelming,” writes Jen. “Many of my friends wrote to me, asking if they could share my list with their daughters, granddaughters and nieces. The list had made them laugh and cry. They were happy to hear that other mothers felt the way they did, that they weren’t alone in the newness of motherhood.”
That list became “Baby Notes,” a pocket-sized book of tips, advice, and funny baby photos. (Many of which are Jen’s own family.) It’s like one of those Hallmark gift books people give you for Mother’s Day, only more realistic and not as sappy. A few of my favorite pieces of advice:
- Don’t be afraid to let Daddy be the favorite. That way, when they are crying in the middle of the night, they cry for Daddy, and Mommy can stay in bed.
- If you accidentally wake a sleeping baby, never make eye contact! [Seriously, people. It’s more dangerous than looking directly at the sun.]
- If something’s going to happen, it’ll always be on a night, a weekend, a major holiday, during a vacation or a natural disaster.
Throughout this blog, you can find hundreds of MY tips and observations, but I’ll list a few here:
- Don’t rush to change the baby’s diaper the minute it’s wet. He may not be “done” yet, and you’ll only waste a diaper.
- It’s a fact that if choosing between the newest award-winning educational toy and a random household object, the baby will always pick the measuring spoons or the toilet-paper tube.
- Most people who say their baby slept through the night from an early age are either flat-out lying or they’ve forgotten because it was so long ago.
So, moms, got any of your own advice to add? Leave a comment here by 5pm EST 4/3 for a chance to win a copy of “Baby Notes” signed by the author. (I’ll pick a winner at random.) If you want your advice to be considered for possible publication in the next book, you can submit your own baby note on Jen’s web site.
Happy Friday, everyone! Here’s hoping disaster doesn’t strike your house this weekend. ;)
3/31/11
Baby Advice & Book Giveaway
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6 comments:
Thanks for sharing the baby advice.
If you send them to daycare in an outfit that you don't want to get dirty- it will. Be smart- send them to daycare in the back up outfit- then change after work to go out.
I picked up this book last weekend! I just love it! I went back and got one for all my friends that are expecting! My advice: boys and girls are the same but different. Boys are physically exhausting and girls are mentally exhausting"!
Don't know if I'm still eligible for the prize, but I will say:
1) Both of my kids slept thru the night by 3 months BUT: that meant my hubby never really fully understood my exhaustion. He only had to get up a handful of times before I went back to work and he shared in the random night wakeups. I did not forget, I was truly blessed (and worked to get my babies on schedules) to get babies who loved to sleep like their mommy!
2) My advice? Mommyhood is not all peaches n cream and it's not some secret sisterhood (which I thought). You know your child best. Some moms will try to push their views on you and get mad when you don't listen to them, and every child is different. And sometimes you will wonder if you're crazy. You aren't. But you are a mom :) Just go w/ the flow and don't tell those other moms you think their way stinks! haha
I love all the advice! It's the little things people never tell you because they are too worried about if your baby is wearing a hat or not.
My advice is pack a spare change of clothes for you. I can't even count how many times I remembered to pack clothes for my baby, but not me. Any time I forget, he's stay perfectly clean but I'd get spit up on, a diaper would blow, his lunch would spill. Never failed.
Here's a freebie: one I never put in the book, but all the spare clothing change advice made me think of it: I always wore something dark to pediatrician visits where they were getting shots. I learned my lesson when they'd get a shot in both legs as infants and they'd instantly start screaming so I'd pick them up to hold them, only to get the blood from their legs on my shirt.
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