HEY!! You guys, I am so sorry that I haven’t had time to post before now, but I am telling you, they keep us hopping during this conference! This is seriously the first chance I have had to sit down and blog since I got here Thursday afternoon. We have what they call an “unconference” today, which is actually a real thing, there’s a facilitator and everything, who guides everyone through deciding what topics to discuss, then we break up into groups and just do our own thing. It’s like Zen Conferencing, which I could so use right now.

My Feet are KILLING ME, for real, like I was laying in bed last night trying to fall asleep and the bottoms of my feet were throbbing. I need to go on a 52 week prepare-my-feet-now-for-next-year’s-BlogHer program or something. Or, you know, get up and walk around more in my regular life.

So anyway, thanks to a spectactular nap yesterday afternoon (OMG the Westin’s “Heavenly Beds”? They are not kidding about the Heavenly, I want to buy one and have it installed in my bedroom at home), and going to bed not drunk, I woke up at 5:45 this morning! I took a shower, dried my hair, got dressed, and went outside for a walk up to the 24 hour Walgreen’s to get some cash and some souvenirs. I hope the snowglobes I bought survive in my suitcase, I’m probably going to have to, um, “borrow” some washcloths from the hotel bathroom to wrap them in. sssh, don’t tell

I have photos, OMG do I have PHOTOS!! But the connection here is not fast enough, it takes for-EVAH to upload anything, so I promise once I get home, I’ll get them all on Flickr as fast as I can, and I leave the link to my Flickr page in a post for anyone who wants to check it out. I decided this year that everyone person I shook hands with or hugged (and I did a LOT more hugging than hand shaking, that’s for sure), I would ask if they would pose for a photo with me. And fortunately, they all said yes So I have about, oh, 200 photos of me with the most spectacular bloggers on the planet, all of whom are gorgeous and amazing and made me feel like a rockstar all weekend, which honestly, how flattering is it when someone you don’t even think knows you exist goes OMG TABLE FOR FIVE!! AAAAHHHH!!!! Pretty big boost to the ole blogging ego for me!

I’m gonna wrap it up now and go print my boarding pass, so big smooches to everybody and I promise I’ll give you all the fantastic details in a post tomorrow (but not too early since I’ll probably sleep a bit after getting home)(and spend some time loving on my kids and smooching my husband :)(and you know, unpacking the fifty pounds of stuff I’m bringing home)!!!

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I was filmed answering questions to be used in a client pitch. I finally got to meet my P.R. guy Charlie, who works for this company:

Setting Up In My Living Room-nice to meet you, Scott!

Charlie and I got along great and my dog LOVED him!

Afterwards I picked up the kids and we had lunch.

My answers to the interview questions will be edited together with answers from three other bloggers and used to pitch Blogger Outreach to (extremely popular company). So if it goes well, bloggers might start getting pitches from (extremely popular company) to try new food products when they come out. It was an honor to be asked to participate, and Charlie and Scott were terrific to work with. This is an example of a P.R. company who GETS IT.

current giveaways-
enter to win a box of personalized note cards from Paperlicious, open to U.S. only
enter to win one of two $10 Gas Cards good at any BP-owned gas station, U.S. only
enter to win a BornFit Cameron Maternity Pullover

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On Thursday October 12, 2006, Mimi Writes had an idea. What if on one day, bloggers joined together to post about peace, using an image of our beautiful Earth which she called The Peace Globe. She suggested we all title our posts “Dona Nobis Pacem”, which in a literal translation from Latin to English means Grant Us Peace. What if……

….. we added the power of the written word - and our blog names - to the face of our world? A world that we share with each other through our written words, A world that so many of us have already begun to realize is smaller than we ever imagined. From that came a project that I am so proud to be participating in today, The BlogBlast For Peace. This is my Peace Globe:

There was a time about two years ago when I came very close to quitting blogging. An anonymous commenter left me a horrible comment regarding my feelings for my mother in law who had just passed away, and there seemed to be this wave of hatred sweeping the blogosphere. It seemed like every day another blog in my blogroll was dealing with nasty commenters. It was then that I made a decision that has stayed with me to this day-

I will only use my blog for good. Never for Evil.

I also came up with what I think of, cheesy as it may sound, as my Golden Rule of Blogging:

Comment Unto Others As You Would Have Them Comment Unto You.

To this day, I have never left a nasty comment on a blog, and I don’t write posts saying nasty things about other bloggers. That is my way of contributing to Peace in the Blogosphere. It might not make this blog as popular as some, but it makes it a blog that I would read if I didn’t write it myself.

Please use your blogs for good. Please spread Peace around the blogosphere. Please blog for Peace.

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When Kristen from Motherhood Uncensored invited me to this virtual baby shower for our friends Mrs. Chicken, Chicky Chicky Baby, and Her Bad Mother, I got a little teary, I did. I haven’t been to an actual baby shower in years, and the only bad thing about a virtual one is that I don’t get to give each of them my favorite baby gift, which is a soft teddy bear completely dressed in baby clothes. They’ll each just have to close their eyes and image it, just like I’ll close my eyes and pretend I’m playing “baby bingo” and “guess what kind of baby food this glop on the paper plate is”.

My gift to each of them is to debunk the worst advice I ever got while pregnant with my second child. And then, I’ll tell you about the great door prizes you can win from the host of the shower, Cool Mom Picks and Better than a Playdate!

By far, the worst thing I have ever heard anyone say to a woman pregnant with her second child is “ooooh, your first child is going to be so JEALOUS. He/she is going to HATE the baby! Watch out he/she doesn’t try to KILL THE BABY IN IT’S SLEEP!!”. All right, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but there does seem to be this general feeling that the first child will automatically be jealous of the second. I’m here to assure you that this is not, in fact, always the case.

Ryan was 26 months old when Nathan was born. For a long time, it was like having two babies. My diaper bag was stuffed with two sizes of diapers, the whole tub of wipes, sippy cups, bottles, two sizes of clothing in case of accidents, two sets of blankies and lovies and oh my GAH. How did I ever manage to leave the house?! At first, Ryan didn’t really pay much attention to Nathan, except to come running to find me anytime Nathan so much as mewled, saying “Mama! Babeee cwying! Babeeee cwying!” He also felt the need to point out crying babies everywhere we went, and I had to reassure him that the other baby’s Mother was right there and everything would be okay. It was sweet, really.

Because we had a small house, we moved Ryan out of the crib and into a twin bed and put Nathan in the crib, in the same room. I am convinced that Nathan woke up crying far less than Ryan had simply because Nathan wasn’t alone in the room. And once he was big enough to climb out of the crib, I would go in their room in the morning and find Nathan had crawled into bed with Ryan and was fast asleep. Once Nathan started walking and interacting, Ryan picked right up on his playmate potential, and soon the two of them were a little team, playing together, eating together, watching cartoons together. There was never any jealousy on Ryan’s part, ever.

So my dears, please don’t listen to the ass-vice givers who will try to tell you that your first child is doooomed to hate the new baby. Help your older child feel important about their new role as big sister, play up the fact that you are now a TEAM, that everyone is important and needs to HELP. And whatever you think you need to leave the house now, take twice as much.

You can play along too and enter to win some kick-ass gifts courtesy of Cool Mom Picks. Write a post sharing the worst advice you ever got, and send your link to motherbumper@mac.com by Sunday, May 4, along with the name or number of the gift basket you want if you win in your email. Your post will be shared on Better Than A Playdate and three posts will be chosen at random to win one of these gift baskets:

#1 Her Bad Basket ($200 + Value!)

* Rowdy News Scoop Bag
* Puj Baby Sling
* Bla Bla Bird Rattle
* Belly Ups (2 sets)
* BOOB Nursing Dress (size Large)
* Pedipeds Boys (12-18 months)

#2 Mrs. Chicky’s Chick Basket ($250 + Value)

* O Yikes! Diaper Bag (Magenta/Orange/Brown)
* My Turtle Baby Nursing Cover (pink)
* Pedipeds Girls (6-12 months)
* Pink Oopc Bib
* Zutano Snapsuit in Floral (12 months)
* Bella Tunno Bib (pink/black)
* Flower Child Poetry DVD
* B Delicious Onesie
* Bink Link Paci Clip

#3 Chicken, Cheese, or Whatever Else You Want ($200 + Value)

* $100 Credit for Gift Certificate of your choice from Leverage, that you can use at any of dozens of shops including Amazon, Home Depot, Macy’s and Bath and Body Works
* “Love Life” Hand stamped Concentric Circles Necklace by Lisa Leonard
* Mominatrix T-Shirt
* Crystalyn Kae Vegan Leather Clutch in Green

Seriously, that is AWESOME. Each Mama is also getting a $25 donation made to the charity of their choice through Johnson’s Global Charity. You can also stop by Better than a Playdate to grab the code for the cute baby shower button up there at the top of the page if you want to use it on your own post. Congratulations, HBM, Chicky, and Mrs. Chicken!! You’ll be just as awesome at parenting two babies as you are at parenting one

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