http://www.mommyq.com MommyQ

Sorry it’s been a little while between posts. MommyQ and DaddyQ took a much-needed vacation before the Back-To-School season officially begins. Good friends, great food, lots of laughs and meaningful moments. In other words, perfection.

As some of my readers may know, I also write for Babble’s unique blog about baby products, Droolicious. Yes, the team at Drool is always seeking out the most fabulous baby items in town. If you haven’t been, take a few minutes to visit. You will love it! Here are a few things to whet your shopping whistle…

If this Denim Military Jacket doesn’t make you want to grab a glittery, white glove… Oh, yes! Toddlers and preschoolers (and their folks) are grabbing up this iconic jacket like crazy! Check it out here!

Sweet & sour wooden condiments for your little chef! Yes, thanks to Melissa & Doug pretend kitchen food just gets cuter and safer. Check it out here!

I’m so impressed with this cool idea, the Simple Stencil. It allows you to create one-of-a-kind stencils for any room and the utensils make it easy peasy. Find out how you can stencil like a pro!

It’s amazing how cute babies look with a set of animal ears! I know, I know. Hard to resist this soft, cuddly, sweet goody! If you want to grab this coat, I suggest buying it sooner rather than later. It will certainly sell out by the end of Fall. Happy shopping!

Always searching for unique and fun baby shower gifts, MommyQ has found this cute 3-piece set from Best of Chums.

It’s a cotton set with a long-sleeve lap tee, pants and a baby hat. It features crocheted applique of – you guessed it – a lion, a tiger and a bear. The outfit is teal & orange, so it’s perfect for baby boy or baby girl. What a cool gift idea! It’s one size fits all and retails for $42 at Arte Bebe!

My father taught my younger sister & I how to play tennis when we were eight or nine years old. We took lessons, practiced regularly and played on the school tennis teams. My father, who is now 73-years-old, is passionate about tennis and still plays 2-3 times per week. Despite his age and slight limp, he can get around a tennis court. Many of his opponents have learned the “you can’t judge a book by its cover” lesson on more than one occasion.

Growing up, we spent many hours on the tennis court together. At times, my mother would join us and we would play a few hilarious sets of doubles together. I use the term “hilarious” because my mother would play the net like a maniac, flying through the air awkwardly to return a lob or totally missing the ball and accidentally tossing the racket mid-swing. I’m sure onlookers thought we were crazy. I remember laughing so hard, I could barely swing the racket.

Today, after nearly 25 years, my father, sister & I still play tennis together. We don’t play often because she lives in a different state and I get busy being mom and doing mom things. When do play, it’s just like old times. We giggle when we successfully drop shot dad and I still run around my forehand because I prefer backhands. My sister mutters funny stuff under her breath when she crushes her forehand and we both blame the other one when a ball whizzes by us on the center line. “That was yours!?!”

We’re teaching my children how to play tennis, although they are still too young to fully understand the concept. It’s a chaotic scene – me, my husband and my father trying to convince two small kiddos to hold the racket steady and swing. They’d rather chase tennis balls, tug on the net, drag the racket on the ground or use it like a golf club. And that’s all just fine with me.

One day, we will all play doubles together. My kids will laugh at my silly antics at the net and I will marvel at the great shots they make. We’ll spend time on the court talking about nothing special, enjoying the physical activity, the smell of new tennis balls and relishing in the perfect cross-court winner.

MommyQ is about to reach an important milestone in her mommy life. It has been almost one year since I first blogged about my son’s autism diagnosis. My first post about his diagnosis, Autism Means My Son Is Happy When He’s Flappy, was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever written. Yes, it was even harder than all of my college research papers and I was an English major, so there were plenty of those.

It is not just an important anniversary for me, but for my entire family. As for my son, he’s doing swimmingly. Literally! This summer he started taking private swimming lessons and it’s as if he was born to swim. His long, lean body glides through the water with grace and ease. His instructor is constantly amazed at his natural aptitude for it. We have to keep a very close eye on him because he thinks he can do anything in the water, which is good and bad. It will be exciting to see how well he does next summer.

His communication skills have improved so much over the past year. He asks for what he wants, identifies his feelings, interacts with others and asks about his surroundings. Thanks to my mother’s influence, he has exceptional manners too. He has fully mastered potty training with not even one accident! He and his little brother are the best of friends and play wonderfully together. He has developed a terrific sense of humor and can be quite the entertainer at times. We couldn’t be more proud.

While we are thankful for all of his accomplishments, living with autism is not easy. I still find myself wondering if he was born normal and a vaccine changed him forever.  I feel frustrated when I can’t understand him and I feel sad when I realize I may never see the world as he sees it. Thinking about the future and whether or not he’ll be fully independent one day, is too much to handle. The day a teacher, classmate or friend makes him feel inferior in any way haunts me. My brain reminds me, “One day at a time. Take it one day at a time.” My son’s smiling face and big hugs speak volumes. Tomorrow is a new day!

If you’d like to read my previous posts about autism, you can find the links below or just click on “Advocate Mommy” for all posts:

-Autism Rides Off Into The Sunset
-Swallow Your Pride: Get Your Toddler Speech Therapy

The trend in baby products has thankfully moved far beyond cartoon characters and babyish themes. The more grown-up baby gear looks, especially crib bedding, the better. There are a few items that have been overlooked during this process. One in particular is the activity mat. The majority of them seem to be really tacky with horrible bright colors and cheapo plush animals. My son had one with an orange and yellow, Ostrich-looking, plush bird that was downright creepy!

That’s why I really like this fun option from Skip Hop. It’s the Funky Farm Fun Activity Mat and although it’s quite colorful, it’s cute. The animal characters are quirky and sweet, while the mat itself has lots of great eye candy for baby. I love the plush, striped carrot with the bunny and the goofy pig that is actually just a circle with a snout.

Find it at BabyEarth for $60.

In the chaotic day-to-day life we lead, time gets away from us. As children, time seemed like the one thing we always had to spare. Growing old was never a reality. There would always be plenty of time to do this or finish that or wait for something new.

It’s funny how becoming a parent forever changes your perspective of time. During pregnancy you’re constantly anticipating the next stage. When am I going to start showing? When is the baby going to start kicking?  When is my water going to break? Nine months would have seemed like a lifetime when we were small. An eternity, in fact.

The reality is nine months blow by so incredibly fast, it seems like a cruel joke. The first birthdays are fifth birthdays. Our little infants are big kids. The bumper pads, onesies and burp cloths we couldn’t wait to buy have long since been packed away and are now stored neatly in the closet in a dusty box. From rolling over to crawling to walking, we’ve been there for the milestones and the victories.  The sweet voices that once called out, “mama” are now speaking to us as if they were already adults.

I’m often asked to give advice to new parents, so my advice is as follows – embrace the moments life gives you and squeeze them for all they’re worth. Forget about the reality of time. Don’t listen the people who say,”they’ll be grown up before you know it.” Pretend you’re a kid again and live in the moment. Stop looking for the next distraction and allow yourself the freedom to indulge in complete and utter ignorance when it comes to time. There may not be enough of it, but you can certainly learn how to make it last.

With one foot out the door and the other trying not to slip on Lightning McQueen, you’ve managed to fix your hair, do your makeup, put on a dress and toss on a pair of heels, only to realize that your attempt at looking stylish will be totally smashed to bits by your hideous computer bag! U-G-H!

Your bulky, manly, awkward, ugly and non-ergo-friendly bag isn’t helping your “I’m a hip mommy” image. (And neither is that spit-up stain on your shoulder.) Meet the Shine from Ice Red! This fabulous computer bag is so cool and glossy, you might just find excuses to carry your laptop around more often. It’s classy! It’s modern! It’s shiny! What more could a mommy want?

It comes in three shades – Pink, Black and Silver – and they’re all perfection.  Aside from the glossy, vinyl exterior, the interior boasts an organizer for pens, change, phone, iPod and more.  The straps can be snapped together too. The large compartment fits up to a 17″ laptop. Find it at Ice Red for $70.

If you’re looking for a smurfing great gift idea for the smurfy mom in your life, give her Smurfette-approved glam!

This limited-edition eyeshadow collection called ‘So Smurfy’ is from Too Faced.  The compact contains four easy-to-use shades that can be used individually or together to create a signature look. The velvety shadows glide on smoothly creating a seamless blend of gleaming color.

If you read through the comments, you’ll see quite few ladies say the shadows are really glittery with big pieces of glitter. This means you may be wearing these smurfy shades all over your face and clothes. I personally cannot wear glittery eyeshadow. I’ve tried expensive, cheap, wet, dry, dark, light..within two seconds of applying it, my face is a sparkly mess. Reality is never as smurfy as it seems.

However; I give this item an A+ for the unique retro compact design! Get Smurfalicious for $32.50 at Sephora.