Parenting Sites 411

We’re closing out the month of August with some great posts from around the parenting blogosphere.  Some are funny, some are not.  Some will make you think, and some might make you mad.  But you’ll have to agree, these are all greats posts.

• “Of Buns in Ovens and Bloggers in Need” by Mom’s Daily Dose.   Amy profiled a great post from a great blogger about some of the disturbingly vivid dreams pregnant women tend to have.  She (and this poster) also touched on what makes blogging so great because without the community, blogging would be just words on a screen.
• “Statement; piglets” by Purple is a Fruit.  Linda discussed a subject that is near and dear to my heart:  c-sections.  More specifically, requesting that people not question her, berate her or try to change her mind about her own c-section.  Amen, girl.
• “Celebrity Deathmatch: Jerry Springer vs. Harper Lee” by Rockstar Mommy.  This is a great and hilarious post for anyone who is remotely familiar with the great American novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”.  It’s also a frightening assessment of America’s collective “genius”.
• “Stuff” by Bethiclaus.   What I found interesting about this post was her impressions on her seminary-style class and the political leanings of her classmates and teacher.  Frankly, the ignorance startles and freaks me out.
• “How Old is Too Old” by Rockstar Mommy.  Yet again, RSM shows up on the list for starting a very interesting conversation about when a person is too old to wear miniskirts, long hair and other such fashions.  The discussion that follows in the comments is spirited and interesting to read.
• “Let sleeping babies lie, apparently” by Untangling Knots.  Karla shares a hilarious episode in which her baby shows he has a mind of his own.
• “What happens if every team in the NFL goes 8-8?” by Rancid Raves.  What caught my attention was not the football discussion but her views on gender and stereotypes.  She and I have very similar opinions on this and I get frustrated too when people expect my sons to be hell on wheels simply because they are boys.
• “Betrayed” by Izzymom.  Lastly, we have this gut-wrenching post from Izzy.  She’s going through a rough time and could use all the support she can get.

And once again, here are my weekly collection of parenting blog posts that I think were special, funny or otherwise worthy of attention.  Do me a favor, visit the blog and tell me if you don’t completely agree.

• “The post I’ve wanted to write forever, but I felt like I might be judged too harshly” by hola, isabel.   This post was at the same time funny, honest and insightful.  And seriously made me wonder if I shouldn’t start keeping rabbits.
• “What the J? - Circle of Life” by Hollow Squirrel.   She’s had some rough times lately which is why it’s SO FREAKING COOL to see her have some great news in her life.
• “the things we don’t speak about” by house of h.  This post was about a little bit of everything and I found myself totally identifying with just about everything.  Amen, sister.
• “Consignment” by sweet | salty.  Another beautifully bittersweet post from Kate.  I identify so strongly with each of her posts and she was a beautiful way of looking back and moving forward at the same time.
• “Defining ‘Green’ in the Zoot household” by misszoot.  Zoot talks about the little ways her family is trying to make less of an impact on the environment and makes some really good points about the “politics” of it all.
• “You love me” by Running Stitch.  Brit talks about whether or not her toddler says he loves her and realizes that hearing that isn’t as important as feeling it.
• “You Try To Tell Yourself The Things You Try To Tell Yourself To Make Yourself Forget” by Dad Gone Mad.  I think he captures perfectly just how it feels to have the rug of safety yanked out from underneath you.
• “Potty Talk” from Purple is a Fruit.  A pretty funny post talking about bodily functions during labor and asking how to begin potty training a toddler.

Enjoy these posts, I know I did.

Welcome back to my weekly You Need to Read feature here at Parenting Sites 411!  These are the blog posts that caught my attention for one reason or another this last week.  For that reason, I think you need to read these posts and I hope you’ll agree with me.

• “Why kids should always get cookies whenever they ask for them” by moosh in indy.   Yep, yet another hilariously embarrassing post from poor Casey.
• “Fishy conundrum” from Purple is a Fruit.  What do you do in this situation?  Has anyone been here before?
• “Autopilot” from Untangling Knots.  Unfortunately, this here is subject matter that I know all too well and I think she does a wonderfully sensitive job of covering it here.
• “That’s Hott” from amalah.  She details a variety of subjects, the state of construction in her home, her hotel getaway with her husband (where sleep wasn’t so much on the menu) (and not for the reason you’re thinking, you dirty mind!) and some AWESOME progress from her son.
• “The chia and the tyrant” from sweet | salty.  I love her comparisons of her active and energetic (and opinionated) toddler with her sleeping, docile and angelic infant.  How true it is!
• “ladies and germs” from house of h.  Yep, this one is all about ME!  Well, me and her website.  She recently made the move to a self-hosted blog and let me help her with the design.  Yay!
• “I’ll race ya” from Oops!  Did I say that out loud?.  How do you talk to a toddler about race and racism?  Do you even need to?  This is a very interesting discussion.
• “To ‘No Follow’ or not to ‘No Follow’” by miss zoot.  Full of web-geekery and discussion about Frosty Floats, this raises an interesting discussion about crediting your commenters.  Well, interesting if you’re ME at least.
• “Rounding the Bases” by Mom’s Daily Dose.  I love this post about wanting to get pregnant with a second child and being unable (or just having a really hard time) getting pregnant and being jealous of those other people who ARE getting pregnant… pretty much everything she says I’ve felt and thought.
• “Albany” by a little pregnant.  We end with this absolutely heartbreaking post from Julie.  She makes it so real, that my heart aches at the thought.

Seeing as how this week’s list is easily twice the size of last week’s list, this is more than enough to keep you busy while you’re trying not to work today or give you a good reading list for the lazy weekend afternoons.  As if we have those anymore now that we have children.  Ha!  That’s a good one…

Welcome to the new weekly feature here at Parenting Sites 411. Every Friday I’m going to share with you my favorite blog reads from the week. If you’ve read them already yourself, then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then you have some sites to visit and you can thank me later. These are 100% guaranteed fantastic blog posts, ya’ll.

• “It’s been a good run” over at Mom 101. Very sad but so touching. We’ve all been there, haven’t we?
• “Itchy” from All & Sundry. Just reading it again gives me the heebie jeebies.
• “Assessment” from amalah. It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for…
• “Not the recap, just a rant - BlogHer 2007” from misszoot. Something I’ve also talked about on my personal blog, and a big topic this week for those who were at the conference.
• “What’s Dewey Decimal for naked?” from moosh in indy. What does it say about me that I enjoy her embarassment SO MUCH?
• “Like a hotdog down a hallway” from Rockstar Mommy. RSM does the Duggars and it is good.

That is all. That should keep you plenty busy while you’re pretending to work, don’t you think?

This is the last I’ll speak of it, I SWEAR.  But one of the biggest draws of the BlogHer conference is the opportunity to discover new blogs that you might not have checked out before you met their absolutely fabulous and funny owner. While I was in Chicago, I found several of these such blogs.  Some of them I had heard of before the conference, some I hadn’t.  The difference is they are all on my feedreader now and I’m very excited to have found some awesome new blogs to check out.  Here are some of my best mommyblog finds from the conference, hopefully they’ll be great mommyblog finds for you as well!

• Oops! Did I Say That Out Loud? .
• hola, isabel
• Hollow Squirrel
• House of H
• Dirt Makes Fat
• Talpidae

Trust me when I say, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  But these ladies are now daily reads for me that I might never have read before and if that’s all I got from BlogHer (it wasn’t, fyi), then I’d consider the trip a raging success.  After all, it’s always awesome to find a great new blog to read.

I made it home in one piece.  Though it was touch and go there for a while while I was flying over Utah (I knew it was Utah because those 767’s have that nifty “map” feature where you can watch a little teeny plane inch across your personal video screen and when you’re desperate to get off the plane, that can actually make it TAKE LONGER).  But I am home and definitely nursing a BlogHer Hangover.  I met so many interesting people, saw so many interesting sights and learned so many interesting things that I feel as if my head is about to burst.  But I did want to direct you all to some great parenting sites that are a little “BlogHer” in theme.

The last panel on Friday afternoon was the “State of the Momosphere” panel, where discussion revolved on what it means to be a mommy blogger and can you actually make money doing it?  According to BlogHer, here is the description of the panel:

It’s no secret that MommyBlogging has changed a lot in the past two years. Sort of like actors who toil away for years before becoming overnight sensations, MommyBloggers are now seen as power influencers by marketers and the media. Whether managing what amounts to small publishing juggernauts, or cranking out posts mostly for family and friends in their not-so-copious spare time, MommyBloggers are getting a lot of attention… individually and as a “segment.” Has the attention and opportunity affected the way you blog? Should it? What are some of the non-negotiable boundaries you have when you consider commercial relationships? Has all the attention and increasing opportunity also affected who you read? This panel will take a look at how MommyBloggers continue to express themselves, support one another and build their platforms under a microscope. It may also give those outside the Momosphere a better understanding of what MommyBloggers want, and how they want to be engaged, if at all. Come join the discussion and answer the questions above for yourself! Jory Des Jardins leads what is sure to be a lively discussion amongst the diverse community of MommyBloggers, including Catherine Connors, Lena Lotsey and Chris Jordan.
This session is sponsored by Five Moms

I think you should definitely check out the blogs of these three women who were on the panel.  They are funny, real and intelligent gals.  I enjoyed the panel quite a bit and the room was packed to the gills so there were many other BlogHers that probably enjoyed the panel too.  So stop by their blogs and tell these awesome ladies that they’re the bomb for getting up in front of all those women.  Because while I did speak at BlogHer, my session was a LOT smaller and even that had my palms sweating profusely.

I may make this a regular feature here on Parenting Sites 411. What I will be doing today is showing you what sites and posts are showing up on my Google Reader this morning. Maybe you’ll see a site on there you haven’t seen before or maybe you’ll find an update from an old favorite.

• MissZoot posted a guilty admission about tossing garbage in someone elses’s dumpster. That criminal! She also posted about the NY Times posting a review of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” that included spoilers. For the outraged Harry Potter fans out there (like me), she has a letter you can send on to the editors to let them know this is NOT OKAY.
• Kate at sweet| salty posted a followup to the “childless people are pussies” posts she wrote earlier in the week, by answering the age-old question of “WHY do people have kids anyhow??”. It is an amazingly touching answer and I think hits the nail on the head quite nicely.
• Karla at Untangling Knots posted about some challenges she’s had in her breastfeeding relationship with baby Nate. It was very brave of her to post that and I think I know a little of what she’s feeling right now about it all.
• Frema (also from What Are You Lookin’ At) Parental Discretion Advised posted about getting into the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy. I really enjoy reading a “first-timer’s”perspective on the joys (and agonies) of pregnancy and Frema never disappoints me with her witty writing.
• Plain Jane Mom has put out yet another fabulous edition of “Go Read It Today!” and I will heartily second her recommendation as she has highlighted some great posts and news.
• My good friend Brit over at Running Stitch has posted about missing her “me time” to go running in the morning (but how she wouldn’t trade it for the world either).
• There’s also a slew of new stories over at Parent Dish, including an interview with Jaime Pressley, a loveletter to the family dog, the joys (and agonies) of choosing a day care, a gossip tidbit about Bridget Moynahan giving birth on Gisele’s birthday (read for why this is juicy), Harry Potter stamps in Britain, and a boy who got $88,000 from eBay. That’s a lot of news for a Thursday morning!

That’s all for now! Thanks for staying with me while I caught up on my blogroll.