2015 has been a big year for Knoxville Moms Blog. We’ve held amazing events and grown in our readership as well as all our social media! We’re thankful for our Knoxville community that has supported us throughout this journey.
Without further ado, the top 10 posts for 2015!
8 Reasons to Love Daycare ::
“Daycares get a lot of flack. Germs (germs, and more germs), strangers watching your kids, the rising cost, etc. While I don’t love the cost of daycare, I am learning to love daycare (yes, even the germs). Sure, no one is going to love my child like I can, but I know the teachers love her and know her idiosyncrasies just as well as I do, if not better. Daycare has definitely become a part of my village, and I am finding more and more reasons to love daycare everyday. So if you are a new mom stressing out over sending your little one daycare or even if you are a seasoned mother who still feels guilt about daycare, I’m sharing my list of eight reasons to love daycare.”
Unmarried with Children :: What I Learned from Dating After My Divorce :: “Dating with kids means that 99% of the time I cannot do whatever it is that a potential mate wants to do unless we take the kids along, which is fine after we’ve all logged time together, but is a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in the beginning stages when I am trying to keep my little men separated from my romantic man. Honestly? I’m tired. And I don’t want to drop $40 on a babysitter so I can go to a bar, movie, dinner, party, etc. on a Wednesday…you know, normal date night stuff that people do. And there are very few men who want to spend their nights at a tee ball field or an awards banquet or at my grandma’s house when a great band is playing or there’s a happy hour in a trendy bar downtown.”
If You Can’t Say Something Nice :: “One day while venting to my mom, I said something along the lines of, ‘These kids are crazy!’ and her response changed my parenting from that day forward. ‘You really need to watch what you say about them,’ she replied. I brushed it off with an ‘Aww, mom…’ and defense that the big kids were napping and the baby couldn’t understand me. ‘No, that’s not what I mean,’ she contended. ‘Calling your kids crazy will make you think they’re crazy. They’re not. Come up with some better adjectives.’”
Knoxville Family-Friendly Daytrips :: “When you start having children, there’s no denying that the affordability of vacations goes right out the window. Not that we don’t adore our children, but vacations are a luxury we typically sacrifice as parents. Luckily, even if you can’t afford a trip to Disney World or a cruise to the Bahamas, there are quite a few family-friendly getaways within a hop, skip and a jump from Knoxville. Enjoy this list of family-friendly daytrips just a gas tank away from you.”
Stop Telling Me to Enjoy My Babies :: Young motherhood is not just “motherhood.” It is a season of hardship, making ends meet, postpartum depression, losing family members, moving states away, making friends with total strangers, getting phone calls about loved ones with cancer, and eating leftover lasagna three nights in a row.
Confessions of a New Stay at Home Mom :: “This was going to be magical! This was going to be a dream come true. Sisters… let me tell you… I am two weeks and one day into this ride (upon publishing of this post) and I am finding out I had some really large misconceptions about Stay at Home Momming. These are the confessions of a working turned stay at home mom.”
Why I Hate Mother’s Day :: “The whole day was awful. I didn’t even have words to speak to celebrate our moms, much less to get them a gift or a card. I think most people in my life didn’t know what to say to me, so they just avoided the subject, which only made me feel worse. It was a day where I had to truly put one foot in front of the other and just.get.through.it. I needed to get my head on the pillow that night and never repeat that day again. After trying my best to just show up on that day, I was spent in every way imaginable — physically, emotionally, mentally.”
Why We Chose Peaceful Parenting :: “We have decided to take a more peaceful route of parenting. Our parenting style may change over time and may change with future kids. I know that what works for us now may not work forever, or in every situation. However, physical punishment has never made much sense to me. I don’t hit my husband when he angers me. Additionally, hitting is one of the undesirable behaviors in our children. So, why would we hit them in an attempt to ‘correct’ them? I always think of the ironic example of spanking a child for hitting a sibling. It just doesn’t make sense to me. So, I’ve decided not to do it.”
15 Motherhood Life Hacks :: “We all know that motherhood can be one of the most rewarding and challenging roles ever. Instead of making things more difficult, let’s work smarter, not harder, with these 15 tried and true motherhood life hacks, kid tested and mother approved by yours truly.
I Lied About Being Pregnant :: “‘When are you due?’ she asked. NOT THIS AGAIN! ‘Excuse me?’ I ask, knowing that she, as a woman, will hopefully have enough time to think quickly on her feet and reevaluate the question that was asked. ‘When are you due? You’re pregnant, right?’ NO YOU DIDN’T. I looked directly at her, shaking my head from side to side. This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening.”
A few more good reads for you over the holiday break:
The Great Divide :: Parenting Kids 10 Years Apart
Why I Stopped Hating My Husband
I Don’t Know How Many Children I Have
Hey Workin’ Mamas! Don’t Feel Guilty, Be Proud!
Strange Danger :: A True Story of a Tricky Man
Step Away From the Baby: Shutting Off from Motherhood
A Love Note to the Work-From-Home Mom
A Mother Against Distracted Driving
Parenting After Losing a Parent
