It's been a while since I featured an offbeat DILF. I got some feedback from one reader who said the feature was "so wrong and trashy" and I got a little gun-shy. BUT! I just can't stay away from the pictures of hottie dads, so despite some of you thinking this feature is "like Hooters for women," here's this week's DILF, James!

Helen Jane explains, "Back when I was 22 , I wrote a list of exactly what I wanted out of a husband. Someone who would play guitar to our kids was number one on the list." … Mission accomplished, HJ!

For a couple more shots of James, and a poll about whether I should keep featuring DILFs, keep reading!

Continue reading "This week's DILF, Mr. James Hearn" →

bonnaroomama explains: "After my son was born, complications from my c-section left me hospitalized for about three weeks. My family worked very hard to keep my son near me and support my breastfeeding efforts."

It looks like despite those rough first three weeks, Bonnaroomama and her family have gone on to enjoy a rich life full of music festivals and good times:

I'm a big Glee fan, so this extra cracked me up:

[via Scribbling.net]

I've been blessed with a relatively good sleeper by newborn standards, but even good sleepers have rough nights … and lord knows I've got friends who've said they basically didn't get more than two hours of sleep in a row for the first year. And so, for sleep deprived parents everywhere, I offer this song by Danish bubblegum pop singer Nabiha, which will make you feel like dancing around even if, well, you're fucking exhausted:

(God, I loves me some good bubblegum Euro pop!)

"Who does your Mom sing?"

An honest question asked by my 7 year old to a friend at school. The boy looked at him strange and replied, “nobody.” Ryan came home completely amazed.

“And…Mom! He doesn’t know who Steven Tyler is. Ozzy Osborne, Dimebag or even Kurt Cobain!” He couldn’t believe it.

I laughed and then began to think…how different are we? I grew up on a beautifully peaceful mixture of my Dad’s Beetles, Eagles and Queen and my Mom’s Aerosmith, AC/DC and Michael Jackson with a little bit of New Kids and Salt n Peppa thrown in the mix for fun. Music has always been my thing. And, it’s definitely a staple in our home.

My husband is a musician, and as I study more about Music Therapy and dive further into my Special Education studies, I have found a particular reassurance behind singing.

Who doesn’t sing to their kids though? Whether it’s their ABC’s, prayers or The Itsy Bitsy Spider, children and singing have long gone hand and hand. My generation Disney movies turned musicals hip with singing mermaids and genies. Today’s are computer animated and some almost completely silent!

I sing to my children when they wake up, when we clean, when we eat, when we drive, when they take a bath and most of all, when they go to sleep. I’ve sang many a Flyleaf song and Aerosmith daily. Nirvana is a favorite, Ozzy gets us hyped up. Even Eminem and Tech N9ne have a spot in our world (Who can forget the “Einstein” game the boys played when they were little!!!)…And I do throw a few Britney tunes in there for fun.

So, I gotta know, Moms, who do you sing?

One of the promises that my husband and I made to ourselves when we talked about having children, was that we’d continue to satisfy our desire to travel. We looked forward to carting our future children around the country and around the world.

Our 16 month old daughter has taken three trips in her life, so far. We flew to Austin when she was 8 months old for SXSW, to Krakow for a wedding when she was 11 months old and most recently, to Seattle to visit friends when she was 15 months old.

Taking Alice to Austin for SXSW was pretty rad. My mom, an audiologist, made a pair of custom-fit earplugs for Alice’s wee ears, so that we could go to shows without ruining her hearing. That is probably pretty much the number one rule of traveling with small children — be prepared, so that your style isn’t cramped. Besides the earplugs, I brought along my soft carrier so that we wouldn’t be hampered by a stroller in venues.

We tried to pack as light as possible but since we were renting a car, we had to bring along our car seat. Most car rental places offer car seats to rent but you can never guarantee their availability by the time you make it to the car rental office, and you also cannot guarantee the condition of the seat.

Flying internationally with a newly mobile infant is ‘nother ballgame but again, preparedness is KEY…

Continue reading "Kids are portable" →