While I am a little spoiled living in Southern California, I know many of you are thrilled to see the first signs of Spring. Beautiful colors, warmer weather, long walks and play dates at the park, I feel like moms everywhere are  counting down the days. As moms we know that getting the kids out of the house each day, and enjoying the warm sun and fresh air is well overdue by the time Spring finally arrives. Well ladies, the wait is over, and it is official, Spring has finally arrived!! Happy Spring!!

image courtesy of Francesca Bocca del Monferrato

happy spring to our happy hour moms! is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Maternity Checklist

Congratulations!! You’ve just found out that you’re pregnant. After the permagrin of happiness lowers from your face, you’re head starts to spin. Am I eating what I’m supposed to? What doI need? What will I wear to work? Granted if you’re lucky, and don’t experience too many symptoms in your first trimester you should have plenty of time to get your ducks in a row. Take the first few days, at least, to absorb your new found future and find your inner glow. Being pregnant is such an amazing part of life, you must respect the bad times (i.e. little baby kicks to your bladder, stretch marks and killer heartburn) and take advantage of the good ones (i.e.  eating that extra bowl of ice cream if you want, letting your friends and family baby you, and treating yourself to a prenatal massage.) When you’re ready to get organized, just print and head to the mall!

Be prepared for all of the wonderful upcoming events:

Baby Showers

Materni-Tea Parties

Traveling with Kids

1st Birthday Party

Picnics

Personal Notes:

• All of my closest preggo friends swear by the nursing tanks. Where one under any shirt, especially if you feed in public, you don’t have to worry about flashing your slowly shrinking belly. I rather slip a peek-a-boob to my after baby muffin top! They are inexpensive and so helpful.

• Do your self a favor and purchase at least one nice pair of jeans (season pending). If mommy gawkers notice you still sporting cute jeans in your third trimester they’ll be green with envy. Plus, you’ll look totally put together even if you may be falling a part inside.

• It is important to wear sunscreen everyday, no matter what. But, especially if you’re preggo. You know that brown line that develops on your belly, picture that color spots on your face, from too much sun exposure. Stay UV protected!

hhm checklist: maternity mahem is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

“Sometimes (like now) I over react. Yes DH was a bit of a jerk today but I may have blown things out of proportion. I’ll apologise… but not yet. I’m still pissed. I’ll apologise later, otherwise it will sound about as sincere as one of my kids when I *make* them apologise.”

“I normally eat very healthy — whole foods, organic or local when possible, etc. But I’m having one of the worst weeks of my life, and tonight I decided I needed a serious comfort food splurge. So I created the ultimate fast-food feast: nuggets and sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A, fries from McDonald’s, and a Jamocha shake from Arby’s. And I ate it while watching trash on tv. Didn’t solve anything, but I felt a lot better for a few minutes.”

“My husband just confessed he is an alcoholic, and was drinking in private. I had no idea as he’s not violent or abusive. But he always lied a lot. Now he’s at AA. I’m so nervous, I pray he gets better. I don’t want to have to leave him ”

-www.truuconfessions.com

*please note that the “shocking confessions” series are not personal experiences of Shannon and Toni of happyhourmom.com. These are anonymous confessions of moms being brutally honest so that we can all feel a little bit better about ourselves (and then we realize that we can each relate to half of them…)

shocking confessions #95 | happyhourmom.com is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Calling all New York movers and beyond! Most of us have moved from time to time. Others, like us, have moved more times than we even want to count! Carefully and strategically wrapping up all of your breakables and getting organized time and time again is just draining in every thinkable way. No matter how hard you try, you always leave with more than you started with. Hiring movers can end up costing you more than the pain of doing it yourself. But if you could find a reasonable quote the benefits would be priceless. If you are preparing for an upcoming relocation then you need to check out  CityMove.com, a reverse-auction moving website that matches users with movers using a mover blind-bid system.  A user of CityMove can save hours searching for a mover and hundreds of dollars because of the reverse-auction format of the site. Sign up, check out your desired location and find a quote that suits your needs.

CityMove has been featured in the Real Estate section of the NYTimes.com, NY1, CNET, Lifehacker, SmartMoney.com, CBSNews.com, and many other places.

on the move? check out city move is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

And hello adorable! Announcements, invites, and thank you cards have never looked so good. I absolutely fell in love with Hello! Lucky some time ago while hunting letterpress invitations for a wedding I was helping out with.  My love was rekindled when I ran across these amazing samples. While they specialize in letterpress, Hello! Lucky offers the more affordable option of digital printing as well. Whether you are looking for birth announcements to share your precious bundle with your family and friends, or thank you cards to show your appreciation, why settle for anything but the best? With offices in in San Francisco and London, and highly recognizable clients such as Anthropologie, Kate’s Paperie, and Liberty of London, they are far from mediocre. Have a looky at these beautiful collections and be sure to visit their site for more. Which one is your fave? (We love the thank you card on the bottom!)

Also, check out our Hello! Valentine post and our previous Holiday Hello! Giveaway for more incredible designs!

hello! lucky is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Are you sure you can eat that if you’re breastfeeding?

When a new mother decides to breastfeed her baby, she is often immediately bombarded with advice from a variety of sources. Her neighbors, her sisters, even the gal sitting next to her in the doctor’s office waiting room all seem compelled to offer some tidbit of information or to share their own sagas of breastfeeding with her to guide her way. She is then charged with the task of sifting through this multitude of news clips to determine which are valuable and which can be disregarded as “old wives’ tales.” One area that seems most confusing is the issue of mom’s diet while breastfeeding. She will hear that she can’t have broccoli, onions, or cauliflower, but she should eat plenty of vegetables. She will hear that spicy foods will make her baby fussy, but she should eat a good variety of foods. She may hear one mom say she needs to drink milk to make milk, but another will tell her that dairy causes babies to get stomach cramps. It can be mind-boggling.
The good news is that research has shown that breast milk is consistently a quality product, even if mom sometimes fails to have perfect nutrition. The mother’s body tends to withdraw from its own storage to meet the baby’s needs. It has been estimated that there are around 500 calories per day diverted to breast milk production, but research now suggests that mothers do not necessarily have to increase their dietary intakes by 500 calories per day to compensate for this. They just have to fortify their body’s with energy-rich foods to stay healthy.  In other words, there is a need to eat well, but not necessarily to eat more. Continuing on prenatal vitamins while nursing the baby is advised to help mom sustain a healthy base while the breast milk production continually pulls from her body’s stores.
As to the question of avoiding things like beans, or broccoli, or spices, the truth is that there is no evidence that these foods cause all babies to react. Sensitivities would be different for each individual baby, as they would be for the rest of the population. Dairy products, for some, will cause gastric distress in the baby, but certainly not for all. If there is a known family allergy to something like peanuts, it would be wise for mom to avoid peanut products while nursing the baby, to reduce his exposure. However, if there is no family history of a problem, there really is no reason to avoid any particular food. People of all cultures breastfeed their babies, and their diets are quite different from one another, yet breastfed babies thrive equally well in all regions. It turns out that strong foods like garlic or onion do flavor the milk a bit, but research suggests that babies tend to become more accepting of food variation from this, and may be less picky eaters as children. The current advice, then, is for moms to enjoy an unrestricted diet, with a colorful variety of foods, unless a problem comes up. If it does, a lactation consultant can help determine whether a food, or something completely unrelated, is causing the issue. Call Tess Johnson Lactation Services at 905-6635 for more information!

tess johnson | are you sure you can eat that if you’re breastfeeding is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Most people love sushi. Some only go for the mild flavors of California Rolls, if they don’t have the palate for eel, roe and wasabi. While we were still in Lebanon our great friends invited us to a buffet brunch at Jeita Country Club with spectacular views of the Christian city, Jounieh. We dined on some of Lebanon’s finest cuisine. Mioara and I were equally intrigued behind the thought of the sushi salad we were introduced to. We decided to create our own rendition of a California Roll Salad including a Middle East favorite, Labneh-a yogurt cheese made from cow milk, similar to cream cheese with a mild taste. Take our favorite ingredients in a sushi roll and stack it upside down in a bowl including, rice, seaweed, avocado, cucumber, crab and a mixture of yogurt, cream cheese and a dab of mayo. Brown with toasted sesame seeds and soy sauce and sides of wasabi and ginger. My mouth is watering already, enjoy Happy Hour Mom’s Sushi Salad.

mioara | sushi salad recipe is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

“I’m sick and I’m talking it easy. DH is taking care of the kids by himself. They’re all tiptoeing around mommy. My confession? I may have exaggerated my symptoms a teensy bit because I’ve been desperately needing a break and there just wasn’t one in sight.”

“Everyone in my house pissed me off today, even the damn dog!! Trying to get ready for houseguests and F’ing DH expects me to do everything!! SO over today.”

“I had to pull the batteries out of my vibrator to power the kids’ Operation game”

-www.truuconfessions.com

*please note that the “shocking confessions” series are not personal experiences of Shannon and Toni of happyhourmom.com. These are anonymous confessions of moms being brutally honest so that we can all feel a little bit better about ourselves (and then we realize that we can each relate to half of them…)

shocking confessions #94 | happyhourmom.com is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

We are excited to launch our newest addition to Happy Hour Mom, the HHM Newsletter. It is an absolute must-have for EVERY Happy Hour Mom! As yet another way for us to share the love with our die hard fans, we will be offering exclusive giveaways and coupons in our Newsletter only. For starters, every individual who signs up for the Happy Hour Mom newsletter will receive 10% off all items in our OpenSky Shop. Not to mention additional special offers and more discounts for our Newsletter recipients. Offered once a week, our Newsletter is your link to all things mom and baby. From special coupons and giveaways to, to exclusive content, event reminders and featured articles, our Newsletter is your weekly link to Happy Hour Mom. Every mom deserves a happy hour, and what better way to spend it than with us! So make sure you sign up today and get your exclusive offer in our next Newsletter (enter your name and email into the ‘HHM Newsletter’ form in our sidebar).

**Please note that if you had previously subscribed to our Newsletter feed, your information has been updated. If you are not sure, please enter your name and email in our sidebar to.

happy hour mom newsletter | special offers is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

“I am the world’s worst dieter. If I eat breakfast, I eat all day. So rather than do that, I skip breakfast and lunch and have a decent dinner. I’ve lost weight doing this and I wish everyone would just stop judging me. I know what works for me.”

“Maybe if I just quietly slip into my room and go to bed they won’t notice that I haven’t eaten today…”

“33 weeks. 7 to go. Curiousity got the best of me & I stepped on a scale. I wanted to cry. I did it, baby girl. I did it for you. I fed both of us. Soon I will hug & kiss you & thank you for giving me a reason to want to live again.”

-www.truuconfessions.com

*please note that the “shocking confessions” series are not personal experiences of Shannon and Toni of happyhourmom.com. These are anonymous confessions of moms being brutally honest so that we can all feel a little bit better about ourselves (and then we realize that we can each relate to half of them…)

shocking confessions #93 | happyhourmom.com is a post from: Happy Hour Mom