Touring the country with your band… and your baby (part 2)
What we’ve learned is that traveling with a baby isn’t a whole lot different than a regular tour — you just have, well, a baby. You might stop a little more frequently, or you might not — at least no more than if you have a tiny-tanked bandmate. You still stop to stretch your legs or to get gas, and that’s when you pop on a fresh diaper and feed the little guy. You set out to explore a city, and you stuff the little fella in a sling or carrier, and off you go.
Downtown Portland family photos with a touch of snazz
If there’s one thing I love, it’s moms who are also professional photographers. Of course, I might just be biased.. since I’m both of those, too. Either way, these shots from Portland, Oregon-based PDX Momma are the coolest.
Caring for biracial hair: how I keep my daughter’s hair soft and curly
Serenity is my beautiful biracial baby girl, and one of the very first things people notice about her are her wonderful curls. Let me tell you — she doesn’t jump up from bed every morning with her hair in perfect little ringlets. It takes a little time, effort, and some awesome products to create curls like this
Having a baby didn’t stop us from touring with our band — we just bring him along (part 1)
There is an air of impossibility about two musicians touring with their baby. If you don’t travel with a caregiver, the logistics aren’t concrete: There needs to be a lot of breathing room along with a dedication to adaptation. You need to be able to say, “I guess we’ll both do solo sets.” It’s important for us to remain expectation-less about how a show is going to go or how our child is going to respond to the energy of a venue or the people.
What do you do when you can’t answer your kid’s homework questions?
My public-schooled fourth grader is a good student, and my partner and I do our best to help him out with any questions he might have about his homework. We don’t do his work for him, but if he needs help, we give it. Every so often the three of us hit a roadblock: there are simply some questions that none of us can answer.
This is what kids playing Quidditch in Central Park look like
I follow the International Quidditch Association on Facebook, and my heart nearly flipped out of my body when I saw photos from a recent event in Central Park: kids (and adults) held a QUIDDITCH MATCH! As in, real-life Quidditch, in your face, really happening.
Baby wearing is hard — but putting her down is harder
I spent a very big chunk of time the other day “wearing” and holding my three week-old daughter, Evelyn. The night ended with a bad stomachache (hers triggered mine) and by the time my husband got home and scooped Evie up in his arms, I was relieved. I slept for four hours, alone, in a pitch black room. I practically melted into the sheets. It felt good to be a separate entity, even if I was asleep for it.
Social media and social faux pas
The use of social media in modern-day event planning and celebrating is a relatively unexplored territory, short of making events and inviting people to them, marking them private or public, and waiting for the RSVPs to come in. Most of my friends keep their more formal, more intimate, or more serious gatherings off Facebook entirely; it seems to be the province of housewarmings, open birthday parties, drunken meet-ups, and house parties. Wedding invitations, funerals, bar and bat mitzvot, anniversary parties — all of these seem to be too formal for an event on Facebook, at least in my social group.
However, the post-party roundup seems to go un-addressed in a lot of modern etiquette discussions. Putting an album of pictures up on Facebook where friends who weren’t invited to the party can see them? Deciding whether to post a status thanking your biggest helpers and supporters so they can get some community love? Handling how to address the people who were invited but didn’t RSVP, or the people who weren’t invited who feel like they should have been? None of these things are handled in advice columns…