How I’m Weaning my One-Year-Old From Breastfeeding, With Mixed Emotions

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Katie Morton

Most moms have a love-hate relationship with breastfeeding; what’s unique from mom-to-mom is the exact measure of the emotions involved.

No one loves the pain of getting started, with all the glamour of cracked nipples, leakage and balloonage. Balloonage is not a word, in case you’re wondering, but anyone who has breastfed or is allergic to beestings knows what “balloonage” means.

Your baby might start crying because Uncle Francis is wearing too much Aqua Velva. Even though your own eyes are burning and you can taste his cologne in the air, instinctually, a baby’s tears, heck — any baby’s tears, plus probably when dogs bark — and you suddenly feel like your baby is hungry and you’re not making enough breast milk.

Then there’s that first taste of post-natal freedom where you skip out of the house to make a grocery store run. You’ve never been so exhilarated by a solo car ride since you were handed your driver’s license. Then you wind up behind an extreme couponer at checkout, which makes you hyperventilate because you’re going to be late for the next feed.

On the Other Hand… :: keep reading …

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Sh*t The Hubby Says: Coffee Edition

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Katie Morton

Yes, I am ripping off Shit My Dad Says.

The Hubby: Can you make me coffee?

Me: How about I show you how to make coffee? Then you’ll always be able to have coffee whenever you want it.

The Hubby: But I like it when you make coffee.

Me: What would you do if I died? How would you get coffee then?

The Hubby: I’d get remarried to someone who knows how to make coffee.

Get Motivated, Get Happy! 3 Posts About How to Live a Richer and More Satisfying Life

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Katie Morton

Here are the latest Parentables.com posts I wrote to fill our brains with positive mojo.

Click to Read :: How Focusing on Mundane Household Tasks Can Make You Happy

Surprisingly, it’s the act of wishing ourselves away to another time and place that makes us unhappy, not the chores themselves.

Click to Read :: 12 Ways to Take a Small, Daily Vacation This Summer to Let Your Soul Sing

The pathetic tale of how I went from being a feral ice-cream sandwich scarfing, sun-soaking, free-living beast to being a domesticated, prune-nibbling indoor cat, and what I plan to do about it.

Click to Read :: What I Learned From Oprah: Stop Wasting My Life

Time is slipping by. Are you doing what you’re meant to do with your life?

If you like these posts, then please “like” me on Facebook.

I like you, too!

At Long Last, an Update Wherein I Reveal That I Need to Be Liked

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Katie Morton

I must apologize to my email subscribers. I promised to send updates when I blogged at Parentables and I haven’t been doing that.

The post about How to Get More Nutrition Into Your Picky Baby or Toddler (Recipe Included) cost me some subscribers, I’m assuming because that’s clearly a topic that’s very parenting focused, and not true to the original content categories of Swell Easy Living.

And so I was hesitant to continue to supply updates here. But the truth is, a lot of the content I write for Parentables is not purely about parenting. Some of it is, sure, but people can choose to read what interests them, and it’s completely unhelpful of me (and completely ridiculous, I might add) to avoid updating my subscribers for fear that I will lose some!

So all of this to say that I have been blogging, and I need to send a whole host of updates, which I will do in batches with multiple links. I will try to keep specific content categories lumped together in each update as I get us all back on track.

I am going to attempt (near) daily updates until we’re caught up. Beyond that, I do plan to blog much more frequently, and so expect to see emails (more often than never) for subscribers. In case this results in too many emails for some, I am launching a Facebook page. And then if you “like” me, well then, I can hardly be sad if you unsubscribe from my email updates.

Carry on.

How Ditching Technology Helped Me Get Things Done

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Katie Morton

I’m now blogging for TLC’s Parentables! I will blog the post introductions here at swell easy living so you can keep updated on new content as it becomes available. Just click through to read the full post on parentables.

When I had my baby and went on maternity leave, my new existence initially felt off-kilter, like I was missing a limb. For my whole adult life, I’d sat at a desk with a keyboard and a monitor for a minimum of five days a week in the fluorescent-lit offices of large, brand name global corporations. I struck big deals with slick negotiations, I managed global technical and editorial teams and I orchestrated some fairly complicated operations in my day. I was like, kind of a big deal, I thought.

I felt lucky to be employed in such a comfortable way, and I didn’t understand how anyone could be satisfied differently. Oddly, the one thing of my old life I’d missed while on maternity leave was the familiar stance of sitting in front of a computer all day.

I anticipated my return to work as if it would solve everything and life would return to normal. The house would be neat and I would be well-rested and everything and everyone would be back on schedule, tucked neatly within the realm of calendars and obligations.

It would just have to work out that way for me, because women work and they have babies, and they have to function in an orderly manner, right? Isn’t that the way working moms exist, comfortably on schedule, well-organized, methodical and tidy and relaxed and happy?

Ha ha ha. I know. That whole charade. I’d like to know who started that rumor. It’s something, isn’t it?

And then, less than a month after I returned to work from maternity leave, I was laid off.

Life Is Messy :: keep reading …

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How to Get More Nutrition Into Your Picky Baby or Toddler (Recipe Included)

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Katie Morton

When I first had my daughter, I figured it was easiest to just follow the recommendation du jour when it came to feeding. So we breastfed exclusively for six months before introducing solids. What I wish I knew then was that just because you introduce solids doesn’t mean a baby will actually ingest any of them.

In short, I could have introduced solids to my daughter at four or five months, and still “exclusively” breastfed well beyond six months. In the meantime, my dining room carpet would be well-fed.

Now, I’m sure there are plenty of babies who are so excited to eat food that this concept doesn’t apply to them. However, my daughter loved to gnaw on anything but food and is only coming around now as a nine-month-old on the virtues of solids. Of course, I’d estimate that of all the bites that make it into her mouth, about 75% still ultimately wind up nourishing our rug.

“Under One, Just for Fun” is BUNK :: keep reading …

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How Taking My Daughter for Walks Changed My Life

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Katie Morton

Picture it: You show up to a party. The room is dim and a disco ball throws annoying splashes of festive color at the walls. You would rather be home in bed, but people have been telling you that you need to get out more. You see people socializing and having fun. You want to join them, but you are too hesitant to approach.

You feel unsure of your rusty conversation skills. You marvel at that one. You were never so keenly aware before that conversation required skill, let alone the whole possibility of a “rusty” factor. Your clothes are 24-hour clothes, meaning they involve a stretch fabric or perhaps a drawstring, and they can be worn day or night.

You can’t recall the last time your body felt shower spray. Your hair has been falling out, and you didn’t brush it today. You press your butt, your inflated butt, which doesn’t even feel like it belongs to you — it’s someone else’s butt, yet distinctly your butt — you press that butt up against the wall so you can try to make yourself appear smaller in an effort to hide.

You are a wallflower. A smelly, fat wallflower. Such is the experience of some new moms showing up at the party of life.

Why Bother Leaving the House? :: keep reading …

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