Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's day Mommas!!

On this very special day where we demonstrate love for those around us... 

remember to do something special for yourself too...

even if it's just sitting back a second and taking your life in!

Love is a choice...it's an act of the will, it's what is left when you are exhausted, the feelings have faded, your child throws up on you in the middle of the night, or decides to throw everything at you, or spill tomato soup on the carpet, or draw with permanent marker on all the furniture in the living room....

Love is the choice that you make to keep doing what you NEED to do everyday without breaks, without timeouts, without vacations, (yes complaining...but still doing it).....all for the love you have for your family. Love is the choice we make to watch our babies sleep, spend endless hours looking at baby pictures, and allow yourself to be a living jungle gym!

 I'm so happy to know what it feels like to truly put someone else's happiness and well-being in front of my own. Unconditional Love is what Motherhood has gifted us with!

Happy Unconditional Love day!

Guest Post by Julia Vegas: Dollars and Cents

I'm sure you all have that mom friend that always knows of all these crazy deals and makes you feel like a SPENDAHOLIC...well Julia  is my SUPER SAVER MOMMA FRIEND. Almost every time I talk to her she shares some great deal, super cheap find, and some awesome coupon just saved her a bagillion dollars. SO...I asked her to write a guest post to shed some light on this oh so important topic: SAVING $.  Now we can all be that super saver friend to someone else if we only put to use these great tips. Check out Julia's blog, I never Drank Coffee Until I had Kids,  for lots of other great posts, especially the very real and funny list of things she's learned as a NEW MOM.

Dollars and Cents
By Julia Vegas

Being a mom is hard work. So when Valeria of Making Mommy-hood Easier asked me to write about couponing/saving, I of course said “yes”! Having a child makes you really think about where your dollars and cents are going, because you want to be able to provideeverything their little hearts desire!First and foremost, if you haven’t signed up for Amazon Mom, shame on you. This is the only way I am able to spend $20 a month on diapers, and I change quite a bit of diapers (Jackson really likes spinach smoothies). Amazon Mom gives you the luxury of free 2 day shipping, and 20% of “subscribe and save” items (diapers, wipes, etc) and so much more! You also get 15% off beauty, grocery, household items (think laundry detergent for all the laundry mom’s get to do). It really is a deal. Just today I placed my monthly order for Huggies Overnites 64 count for $13. 99. That’s right folks, what costs the average mom $20 at Target, Wal-mart or any other retail store just cost me $13.99 for two months of wonderful, non-pee soaked crib sheets!
Sleeping Beauty
I purchased Huggies because Pampers Overnight diapers had Jackson waking up wet for a week straight (aka miserable baby, and miserable mommy). I’m a Huggies mom all the way, but to each their own and of course their are great deals on Pampers too! 

How else can one save? Well if your really looking to stretch your dollar, you can make your own laundry detergent! I haven’t tried this, but it sure does sound enticing to spend $20 and have clean clothes for 9 months! There are so many DIY projects that can save big bucks, even on the things you “splurge” on. Try making your own wall plug-ins, instead of paying $12 at bath and body works. Decorating a home, while on a budget can be difficult when your trying to save.Why not buy a gorgeous piece of fabric and using a stable gun, staple it to a blank canvas? In an instant, you have a new piece of wall-art! Want to have pictures taken of the kids, but don’t have the cash to pay a photographer? Tape a piece of fabric to the wall and voila!, instant photo studio! 

Also try Notifinder.com to save you time when searching Craigslist for awesome deals. I just got Jackson a Smart Trike BRAND NEW for $50 that is worth $119.99 at Toys ‘R’ Us. Sure, the kid in the back seat was probaly crying the whole way home after his mom gave it to me, but hey, my kid sure is happy! 

When it comes to food, you would be surprised by how much you throw out. I, however, was tired of throwing food out, so now I’m thankful for my freezer. One of Jackson’s favorite dinners is a turkey meatloaf I make from my “Deceptively Delicious” cookbook, which is all about using puree’s in dinners to get your kid’s to eat vegetables. With the help of my freezer, I am able to cut and save slices to easily serve later to him when I am in a rush to feed him dinner. I won’t eat the meatloaf (something about knowing puree’s are in it) so it makes it easy to make a whole batch knowing it won’t go to waste. I almost never throw food out anymore(unless it’s rotten). If Jackson only eats half a banana, the other half goes in the freezer for a smoothie another day. Won’t eat his vegetables I made? Make a tomoato sauce and throw the veggie puree in there, they won’t notice a thing! 

Coupons help save some bucks too! If your new to couponing (I am, thanks to Extreme Couponing on TLC) you can easily come up with ways to stretch a buck. I don’t know anyone who every spends full price at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They practically beg for you to have everything at 20% off! Look for your store’s weekly ad and match sales with your coupons. Doing so, I have managed to get free dog treats for Bruno, free toothpaste, shampoo for less than 25 cents, etc. I wish I would have done it sooner! You can easily print coupons from manufacturer websites up to FIVE TIMES per I.P. address! Think about the savings! The Krazy Coupon Lady is an awesome way to get in on the action of couponing. She even tells youwhat coupons to use at which store. She does the work for you, so what are you waiting for, get to saving! 

Living in Austin, I am lucky enough to have Free Fun in Austin to go to when I am in a rut for things to do without spending alot of cash. Maybe in your city, you have something similar just haven’t looked. If you don’t, why don’t you become the city guide for things to do on the cheap! You will be able to learn all about your city, it’s hidden gems, and all there is to do for free! 

Groupon, Living Social, and Eversave are just a few of many deal sites that you should definitely look into, if you haven’t already. I have been able to take Jackson, myself and Matt to the zoo three times so far for $6 total each visit! Fandango movie tickets are a great snag when they are available because what mom doesn’t need a date night with the hubby for $5 each? It’s a great way to splurge on the kids as well! I have been able to buy Jackson a month membership to My Gym for $49, which was worth $175! A few months ago, when I was not pregnant, I bought vouchers to Bikram Yoga for $30 for 5 classes! Each class at my local studio is $17 plus mat and towel, but I was able to get mat, towel and 5 classes for $30! What a steal! There is always something for everyone when you visit a deal site. Oil changes, restuarants, movies, sky diving, hotels, if you can think it, you can save money on it! 

When it comes to toys for the kids, I wouldn’t hesitate to check out retailers online websites before buying in the store. For example, I bought a pathfinder wagon for Jackson’s first birthday that was at Wal-mart for $79 in the store. Online it was $62 withfree in-store pickup. What did I do? I paid for it online, got in my car, drove the 2 miles to Wal-mart and picked up my $62 wagon that was in the store for $79. Online and In-store prices are almost never the same. Check first! 

Remember, saving doesn’t mean have a  ”boring today”, it means saving for a “better tomorrow”. You can get a deal on just about anything if you just know where to look.Good Luck saving!

Thanks Julia for sharing your WISDOM!!! 

Spicy Black Bean Dip

One of the great things about the Bootcamp4Moms that I coach is that even thought the classes are localized and rather "private--meaning a few moms", you are actually part of a VERY LARGE TYSON METHOD COMMUNITY. When you sign up for a program, you gain access to a great on-line community where there are a whole bunch of different moms posting things on blogs and forums about  how they are managing to mix workouts with mommy life..... plus you get quick ideas for recipes that might be a slightly healthier version of something you already make.... and little you can see little tips here and there that about random topics that can make that "Get back in shape Journey" a little smoother...IT TAKES A VILLAGE for everything these days.

But anyway...to my post point, I got this dip recipe from the Tyson Method Social Website. And I just wanted to share it with you, cause I love dips.  They are quick to make and when they are in the fridge I tend to OPT for the dip as opposed to...say.... the rest the the pantry and refrigerator! My only caution with DIPS is  that once I DIP, I can't stop! So I have to watch how much I scoop out or even make (to be honest)....cause I can easily devour it all in one sitting. At least with this one I won't feel so bad about it since it's only a 104 calorie ''snack'' if I can contain myself and eat only 2 portions...lol.

Spicy Black Bean Dip
Practically fat-free and an excellent source of fibre. The dip can also be spooned onto plates and served as a light lunch, accompanied by warm whole-wheat pita bread.
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 can (540 ml) black beans, rinsed and drained (see the variation if using dried beans)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2⁄3 cup chopped fresh coriander
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 pickled jalapeño chili peppers, finely chopped

 DIRECTIONS:

1.In a small saucepan of boiling water, cook the garlic for 2 minutes to blanch. Drain and transfer the garlic to a large bowl. Add the beans and mash with a potato masher.
2.Stir in the vinegar, lemon juice and cumin until the ingredients are well combined.
3.Fold in the coriander, green onions and jalapeño chili peppers and serve. (This recipe can be made ahead and refrigerated. Bring the dip to room temperature before serving.) 

PER SERVING: Serves 8: 52 calories, 3g protein, 0.4 g fat, 1g sugar, 3g fibre, 23mg sodium
No oil, no sour cream, no cream cheese—there’s simply no added fat in this black bean dip, and the powerful seasonings mean that you’ll never miss it. Canned beans are a handy pantry staple. They are an excellent and inexpensive source of protein and fibre, and contain little fat.

Let me know what you think.....
Happy Dipping!!

Zulily.com- Deals for Moms, babies, and KIDS!

Deals definitely make mommy-hood easier! And there are all kids of these momma deal websites, but I had never seen this one, Zulily.com. This morning I came across it randomly by "doing research" on FACEBOOK (it's not THAT much of a waste of time to be on FB, lol).

Zulily.com is similar to those one-day deal websites like KIDS.WOOT.com but it allows you time to think...3 days. Sometimes when I find a great deal online, my phone rings, my son starts crying or wants food, I randomly get distracted (since these days I have the attention span of a 3 month old!), or I go look for my wallet to put my credit card info in...and I forget what I'm looking for and start making dinner or something random. Hours or days later, I see something that reminds me of the DEAL....BUT by then IT'S TOO LATE! Zulily cater's to this scatter-brained tendency by giving us MORE TIME with each DEAL, but at the same time is always adding NEW DEALS. Sometimes you know what you are looking for and what you NEED. But there are other times that you don't know what you've been looking for UNTIL YOU FIND IT!!

Each weekday they have great offers that can be up to 90% off!!! That's insane! Some deals are even better then going on Craigslist-getting things used like right now you'll find:

$100 off and FREE SHIPPING for Phil&Teds Strollers

55% off Peace Love World Clothing!!

40% off Kickboard USA Scooters for kids

65% off Echo Design, Women's scarfs and winter apparel

55% off Paul Frank baby wear and gear

55% off All Boxed UP: Storage Solutions--Now who, with kids, doesn't need more storage?!?!?!

This is only a tiny list of the things that you'll find on the website. I'll be here forever posting if I were to even put a dent in the list of options!....The website is great, easy to navigate, and full of fun stuff! Just go check it out and see all there is to SAVE!

Signing up to be a member is FREE, and you'll receive emails with the deals on tap!!

If your interested in signing up, GO HERE!

A CLEAN fix to sneaking a workout into your LAUNDRY day

As with everyday, there are way to many things on the To-DO List from the second you wake up. If, on top of the usual stuff, your child threw up the night before....then add a couple hundred more things to that list.

Well that's how my day got started... I realized that my 30 minute run was going to be quickly pushed into the "i'll get to it later" pile since I had vomited sheets, crib guard, carpet, my clothes, Nico's PJs, towels plus the rest of our week's laundry to do thismorning before "working" for a couple hours on my book and then picking my son up from Daycare! Just writing that sentence made me tired.

But the reason I am writing this post is because I got a BRILLIANT IDEA... It's probably not new or earth shattering but it was a simple fix to my problem! I decided that since I needed to wait 30 minutes while the clothes washes before putting it in the dryer, I was going to go for a 30min RUN! And so I DID; a quite lovely run, I might add. 32 minutes later I changed the clothes into the dryer and came home to continue chipping at that To-Do List (aka- write this post).

SIDE NOTE:Now I know some of you may be wondering--why did you GO do laundry? Those of you who have the luxury of having an in-home washer and dryer, you don't understand, but for the rest of you how have to pick a LAUNDRY DAY to walk your stuff over to the laundry room and wait for 30 minutes then change your clothes to the dryer and wait an hour to pick up your clothes, fold them and then walk back to your apartment....THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO INCORPORATE SOME EXERCISE INTO THAT ROUTINE!

If running isn't your thing, there are lots of other options for you. In my article: Take 10 minutes for yourself on Examiner.com you can find some other options like short workouts from a BootCamp4 Moms site or even a list of 10 minutes of ABS that you can do.

Let's face it, we have to make our health a PRIORITY...which is hard-I know. But if we don't take care of ourselves, how are we going to take care of our families?

So next Laundry Day...

Get those workout shoes on and go get your sweat-on!

Online Clothes, books, and Toys Swapping at ThredUP.com

I'm sure you've all come to the realization that our kids grow way to fast and it's financial impossible to keep dressing their cute little bodies with NEW, brand name articles of clothing every month...If it is possible for you...then STOP READING and go buy something new for your child. As for the rest of us that are creatively trying to make ends meet and constantly looking for new and creative ways to clothe our kiddos, this site is really cool. I've mentioned to a couple mom friends that this would be great to do in our own complex or at a friends house but most of us with the older kids would be left without anything in return and the mommas with the younger kids would be left with all their clothes plus a whole bunch more. This site helps solve that issue...After we have our own clothes swap. We can go here and post up the rest of our stuff and FINALLY MAKE SPACE in our son's room.

thredUP.com is a place where moms like you and me swap clothing, books and toys online---just like they say on their site.

The proces is pretty simple:

1. Pick: Browse our list of thousands of boxes full of preloved kids clothes & toys - just $5 (+ $10.95 USPS shipping). Get your box delivered to your doorstep in just a couple of days.

2. List: Post your own box of preloved clothes/toys your child no longer wears on thredUP. It takes just minutes to list out the great items your kids no longer use.

3. Send: When another member picks your box, send it 100% free of charge. We provide boxes, postage, and even schedule the pick-up.

Daily ThredUP is a place where moms can discuss one interesting topic per day. Check it out...you might find something interesting to discuss. It's always nice to practice NORMAL ADULT CONVERSATION and THOUGHT PROCESSING throughout the day....hahaha. It Can probably help you keep from say BUH BYE to a future employer or signing THANK YOU to the Cashier at the grocery store.

Happy Swapping!

Using NotiFINDER.com to Find Things Faster on Craigslist

Noifinder.com can save you time and money by sending Craigslist post to your inbox once you answer a couple simple questions about what you are looking for!

We all know that children can help you run up HUGE tabs when getting clothes and toys that you know they will grow out of and stuff on some shelf before you’re already back in the store again. So by now you probably have learned that getting used things Craigslist is the way to go. However Craigslist takes forever to sift through the different posts under the different topics, which sometimes makes the experience more agonizing than helpful.

Well fret not more.

I am proud to say that my husband, Peter Flores and our friend, Ashish Patel created an incredible and FREE tool to help us all navigate through Craigslist, Notifinder.com.

It allows you to set up a search with specific criteria in 4 simple steps!

First input your location. Here is Los Angeles we have a couple sub-locations to choose from when creating a search:

los angeles - all california

los angeles - westside-southbaycalifornia

los angeles - SF valleycalifornia

los angeles - central LAcalifornia

los angeles - san gabriel valley california

los angeles - long beach / 562california

los angeles - antelope valley

After deciding what your location is, type in what you are looking for. As you start typing, you will see a pop-up letting you know how often a new listing is posted. This will help you gauge if your search is too broad, too specific, or just right.

Next determine if you would like to know right away, once a day, or once a week about posts that match your search criteria.

And last but not least add your e-mail, sit back, and wait for the Craigslist posts to arrive at your inbox! Once you get what you wanted, you can just unsubscribe with one click.

I know you might think it’s too good to be true, or that I'm a little biased but you just have to try it once

and you’ll be hooked. Simply check Facebook and other sites like these, Killer Start-ups, AppScout,

Techie Buzz, to read about how people all over are using NotiFINDER.com to make their lives easier.

Techie Buzz said “With an easy-to-use interface, no hassle of signing up for an account and a dead

simple idea, NotiFinder is one of the most useful Craigslist tools on the web.”

What are you waiting for? Sign up for a search and find out for yourself just how simple and time-saving NotiFINDER.com really is.

Happy NotiFINDING!

Continue reading on Examiner.com Using NotiFINDER.com to Find Things Faster on Craigslist - Los Angeles Motherhood | Examiner.com

Why I started this BLOG...

Mommy-hood is a complex state in which us women have to all of a sudden become experts in all areas of life from Art's and Crafts to Accounting. The second we are "with Child" we start morphing into this SUPER BEING--educator, manner's enforcer, nurse, sanitation engineer, savings specialist, Rachel Ray Prodigies, mom-prenuers, artists, musicians, magicians, referees, bankers, interpreters, and SOO MANY MORE THINGS that are TIED into the STATE of MOMMY-HOOD!

With this blog, I hope to look for things that make mommy-hood easier; helpful sites, creative people, and other tools out there in one helpful place so that we can use them to make our MOMMY-HOOD journey a little easier.

I will try and divide my articles into the following Sub-TOPICS:

• Health/Fitness- Articles and posts in this topic will include nutrition tips to how to find the right bootcamp or exercise class for you and everything in between. This will be one of my personal favorites since I already write for examiner.com about LA women's Fitness and LA Motherhood as well as teach a BootCamp4Moms Class here in the Marina.
• Child Development- This Topic will attempt to organize and located some of those parenting sites that help you FREAK OUT about what your child should be doing at what age.
• Home Improvement- This will be a wide range of articles that all deal with things of the home, whether it's figuring out what cleaning products are best for the home to how to turn articles of clothing into other useful things.
• Technology- These articles will discuss those NEW TECHNOLOGY things that might infact not be too complicated for us and CAN HELP us Multitask MORE than we already do.
• Working Mom- Articles that pertain to those moms who work outside the home or have created their own businesses.
• SAHM (Stay-at-home-Mom)- Articles that relate to those moms who work from HOME taking care of their littles ones.
• Arts & Crafts- This will be a list of all the FUN and CREATIVE crafts that I find that you might enjoy too, from sewing to simple ways to transform things into OTHER things!
• Mommy Break- articles and posts related to those things that give mommy a 5 minute time-out.
• Enrichment- Posts that relate to books, intellectually stimulating things, and cultural activities that can enrich us as moms, our kids or our whole family.
• Family- anything related to our families whether it's how to deal with overly-opinionated family members to keeping the family nucleus at PEACE..which is sometimes easier said than done!
• Local Events- Things that are happening in this neck of the woods. If you would be interested in sharing what is happening in your area, just let me know, and I'll hook you up!
• FREE STUFF- Enough said eyy?!?

If you have any ideas for articles, want to share your opinion on a particular topic, or questions you would like answered, please email me at valeria.rodez@gmail.com with the MMHE in the Subject line. (MMHE stands for Making Mother-Hood Easier).

I look forward to sharing my findings with you as we all keep learning how to adapt and change with our new roles as they are thrown our way....but we must admit, WE WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!