Competitive Parenting

This Time Magazine cover inspired this little slice of pie.

One would think that we could give up the competitiveness and petty comparisons to each other when we graduate high school and begin our lives as adults. Unfortunately for a lot of women, it just isn’t easy. That habit to continually scrutinize and meticulously pick at other moms because they don’t agree with their parenting styles is just an extension of the immaturity we were supposed to leave behind with graduation. There is always a ‘better’ way to do something; formula vs breastmilk, co-sleeping vs crib, paci vs no paci, cloth diapers vs disposables. The list goes on.

What gives these moms the right to tell YOU that you’re not doing it right? Why is their way the right way? What makes them superior to you? Why is it that they have to make other moms, who are already concerned about whether they’re raising their children right (because, let’s face it, we all are), second-guess themselves? Why do so many moms let the ‘superior’ moms get to them? Who knows?

What I do know is that unless that mom happens to be a pediatrician, her opinion matters just about as much as what that drama queen had to say back in high school.

I happen to be one of those moms that does what’s best for her children, no matter what the public opinion is. I have happy, healthy children who are very loved and as long as it stays that way, I’m ‘doing it right’. Just between Middle A & Little A, we have been all over the parenting spectrum. With Middle A, it was formula, crib sleeping, paci, & disposable diapers until she was over a year old. With Little A, it’s exclusively breastfeeding, paci, all cloth diapers, crib-sleeping AND co-sleeping.  We did what we felt was best for each of our children. No two children are alike. Just because something works for the ‘superior children’ doesn’t mean it will work for yours, and vice-versa.

If you do a quick browse through on any parenting website that has discussion forums, you’ll soon find out (if you didn’t already know) that parenting is a competitive sport. The amount of competitiveness varies, but there’s always a comparison made somewhere, at some point between parents. This behavior is ridiculous, childish, and immature, but it happens. We don’t need magazines covers to insinuate that breastfeeding your three-year old makes you more of a mom. Breastfeeding doesn’t make you a better mom at all. Doing what is best for your children makes you a better mom.

If anyone asks if I’m ‘Mom enough’, my answer will be absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, YES.

I’m dominating in this mompetition.

Wordless Wednesday

Carry Me Please! Blogger Sign-ups

Summer is almost here!  And with the warmer weather comes trips to the zoo and park and ALL sorts of outdoor activities!

What better way to enjoy these outdoor activities than with your baby on your back!

The “Carry Me Please Baby Wearing Event” sign ups are now open!

The event will run run from May 12-May 26!  Prize will be winner choice of an Ergo and Pikkolo baby carrier!

This will be a FREE event!  The only requirement is that you post about the sign-ups and then you post about the event when it goes live!

Links can be Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS.  Sorry No Google!

Sign ups will close on May 10th.  The Rafflecopter and HTML for the giveaway will be sent out on the 11th!

Click here to sign up!

If you have any questions please e-mail Tailormademomma@gmail.com!

That moment when..... (for mommies)

That moment when you realize you haven't heard a peep from your toddler for 10 minutes and you find him creating his best masterpiece on his bedroom wall.....in permanent marker.

That moment when your child tells you she has to pee, you look down, and she's standing in a puddle.

That moment when you're holding your baby above your head playing with him.....and he throws up in your mouth.

That moment when you take the diaper off your baby and realize it's messier than you thought.....and there's only one wipe left.

That moment when your toddler is screaming bloody murder, so you rush to her as fast as you can.....and find out she's afraid of an ant.

That moment when you find out that your child has evidently learned how to remove his diaper himself.....because you're quite positive that stain in your carpet doesn't smell like chocolate.

That moment when you realize you just put the only diaper you had left on your child.....and it's 1:00am. 

That moment when you tell your child to be careful with her drink....and before you can even get the words out of your mouth, she looks like she's bathed in it.

That moment when your kid runs up to you and says, "Look, mom! Tattoos!" because he drew all over his arms, legs, & face with a permanent marker.

That moment when your child looks at you and says, "I love you," just because she wanted to.

That moment when you're snuggling on the couch and you can think of nothing that would be better than that moment.

That moment when you see your kid's face light up because he discovered something new.

That moment when your child comes to give you a kiss just because you're his mommy.

That moment when your child snuggles up close to you in your bed and it's like she fits there perfectly in your arms. 

Drawing Pad & Pencil holder

A very special little girl in my life turned three in March. I wanted to make her something special, so I pulled my chair up to the sewing machine and got busy! Using the tutorial from Skip to my Lou, I whipped up this cute drawing pad & colored pencil holder. 

I've seen crayon rolls before, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted her to have something she could take everywhere with her. Here in Georgia, if you leave a crayon roll in the car for longer than 10 mins, your crayons will have melted by the time you get back. I think colored pencils are the way to go. 

With this tutorial, if you're going to turn & topstitch like I did, make sure you lengthen the width of your inner and outer fabrics by 1" to 1.5". I did the tutorial exactly as it said and my pencils were too long for it to close evenly. Evidently her tutorial doesn't account for lost space in the pencil slots if you turn & topstitch. Just a heads up there.

I will be making these for just about every kid I know, I think. I really like these. I like the convenience. I like that I can personalize them, and I like how easy the tutorial is to follow.

Give it a try! 

Wordless Wednesday

Big Red Ottoman

One of the many joys of having pets and children is that just about every piece of furniture in your house gets abused. Our ottoman used to be the place that Lola, our golden retriever/yellow lab mix, would lay. She's currently staying with my parents, but that's a post for another day.  Anyway, she created this giant tear in the middle of my ottoman. She also made the top of it very dirty and gross. I was ready to throw the thing out, but my husband likes to kick up his feet after a long day so he wouldn't let me. I decided to sew a cover for it instead. 

Do you see how stinkin' gross this thing is!?

There was no fixing this tear without stitching showing.

I decided to cover it in the fabric I'm going to [eventually] cover my couches with. I found this great tutorial online that shows how to recover your couch. I can't wait to do it!

I chose a red microsuede. It's machine washable and wipes clean easily.

As we were walking around JoAnn's looking for the right fabric, my mother-in-law suggested that maybe just buying new furniture would be easier and/or cheaper. In some cases, it would be, but I get 40%-50% off coupons from JoAnn pretty regularly. That makes it more affordable for me.

In the end, it only cost me about $30 to recover the ottoman. I'm sure that's way cheaper than buying a whole new one. I'm pretty confident that I can recover my sofa and love seat for $200 or less.