Work It: a blog for Working Moms

Helping Less Fortunate Women this Mothers Day

By Pam

This is my first Mothers Day as a new mom. My family is healthy and happy; we have a comfortable house and steady income. I have everything I need.  Now don’t get me wrong, a new piece of jewelry, a weekend trip, or having the popcorn texture scraped off my living room ceiling would be great, but I’m looking for something different to commemorate my first year on the mom end of this holiday.

Obviously our nation is the midst of an economic crisis. I feel fortunate that personally, other than my pathetic 401K performance, I have not been particularly impacted by this situation. But many others have not been so lucky and I am looking for a way to help. With Mothers Day quickly approaching I wonder what a mother in a completely different economic situation hopes for if she can have one wish granted. I imagine in many cases she would want basics related to health care and education for her children. Suddenly my unattractive popcorn ceiling doesn't seem so bad.

After much thought I asked my family to help mothers with concerns greater than I could ever imagine as my Mothers Day gift. Save the Children has a catalog full of ideas for helping mothers around the world as well as here at home. There are ideas for any budget and related to a variety of programs including Health, Education, Early Childhood Development and many more. After reading through the information I have decided I would like my first Mothers Day gift to be the purchase of newborn care kits as part of the Save the Children Survive to 5 program. The kit contains items to promote hygiene during delivery, a warm cap for the baby, and education for the mother on breastfeeding and infant care. These items seem very basic but could save the life of a newborn and provide a new mother with the skills to care for her child.

For Mothers Day, I urge everyone to check out your own favorite organization and find a way to help less fortunate mothers. Small gifts can go a long way, so try giving up a latte or soda for a few days and put that money toward helping mothers in need. There are women both right here at home and all around the globe who would appreciate a little help.

Stroller Skepticism

By Pam S.

Strollers seem like they would be a no-brainer, right? You buy one; you use it to push your kid around, end of story. That was my naïve thinking before I had my daughter. Now I know better.

Our first stroller was chosen because we liked the pattern. It is part of a travel system and came with a cute, and most important matching, car seat. I wondered why so many moms have a garage full of strollers when they could buy just one to accommodate all stages from infant through toddler. I felt like a very stroller-savvy-mommy-to-be for picking out such an attractive and versatile stroller. Somehow we lucked out and ended up with a really great product. My only complaints are that the stroller is too big to maneuver through store aisles and it gets heavy lugging out of the back of my vehicle.

These complaints, along with the need for something smaller when traveling by air, led to our second stroller. This stroller is one of those nifty, lightweight frames you snap the car seat into. It is very no frills but much smaller than our travel system. It works great for store aisles, traveling, and is small enough that it doesn't take up the entire back of my car. I knew this would eventually be replaced by an umbrella stroller but our options were limited because we needed the car seat accommodation.

Now it's just a couple months later and I'm searching for a jogging stroller. I need something I can use outside on pavement and gravel as well as the indoor track at my gym. Ideally it would also accommodate the eight inch height difference between me and my husband. Joggers are expensive so I intend to buy one which will meet all our needs but my search is leading me to believe I may eventually end up with two joggers. I'm hopeful I can find one that will work for everything but my naivety has been replaced with stroller skepticism.

If alternatives were not available would I be content with my original travel system? I would likely be complaining about the size, crashing through store aisles, and most definitely not running with my daughter. So I will swallow my pride, deal with the garage full of strollers, and be happy we live in a world full of options.

Exercising with Baby

By Pam

Before I became a mommy I was faithfully at the gym five days a week. I love boxing, cardio, weights, swimming…you name it, and I love it. During my pregnancy I continued exercising with pre-natal yoga and water aerobics and while on maternity leave I attended “mommy and me” classes held during the day. It never crossed my mind that I would stop exercising when I went back to work; exercise is an important part of my life. Then maternity leave ended and everything changed.