For ten years I thought my daughter weighed ten pounds at birth. Oops.

The Legend of My Ten-Pound Baby

Did you enjoy? There’s more where that came from.

Order Blacklisted from the PTA in paperback or Kindle now.

Like This? Try These:

• Podcast: Easter Bunny Blues
• Podcast: Got Hotel Rooms?
• Podcast: Does Sam’s Club Count as Date Night?

Audio: Lela Davidson

Image: D. Sharon Pruit, Pink Sherbet Photography, Flickr

I cannot tell you hwo happy I am that the whole Easter Bunny thing is behind me. I still gather treats for my sweets, but no longer must I suffer the pressure of protecting their childhood rabbit fantasy. We are in a happier place now – me, my kids, and our 2-pound bags of chocolate.

The Case of the Easter Bunny

Can you relate? There’s more where that came from.

Order Blacklisted from the PTA in paperback or Kindle now.

Like This? Try These:

• Podcast: Got Hotel Rooms?
• Podcast: Does Sam’s Club Count as Date Night?
• Podcast: Holiday Baking Disaster

Audio: Lela Davidson

Image: jonfeinstein, Flickr

My kids love to play pranks on April Fool’s Day. They also enjoy trying to play me for a fool every other day of the year, but I don’t take their lies seriously, and I don’t think you should either. Fool’s Day or no, if you live with a child of your own making, any of the following may be lies:

I’m not texting; I’m playing a game.

Of course the new puppy went #2.

Yes, I cleaned my bathroom/made my bed/fed the fish.

I have never traded my apple for chips and candy.

Taylor’s mom is going to be there the whole time.

Read the rest of this post on MSNBC TODAY Show Moms.

Image: Stef Thomas, Flickr

If you’re pregnant there are a million different things to consider: names for your baby, a color scheme for the nursery, whether or not you will breastfeed exclusively, and increasingly—how to prepare the placenta. Yes, my gestating friends, many of your contemporaries are adding “consume placenta” to the list of your maternal duties.  Mad Men star January Jones swears by a hearty serving of placenta. She told theTelegraph, “We’re the only mammals who don’t ingest our own placentas.”

Sacramento pediatrician Dr. Melissa Arca says  that while there are no reliable studies that prove the maternal benefits of eating one’s placenta, the anecdotal evidence is abundant.

Read the rest of this post on MSNBC Today Show Moms.

Image: Gabi Menashe, Flickr

Couldn’t be more excited about our Listen To Your Mother Northwest Arkansas cast. We had to up our line-up from 12 to 14 to accommodate all the amzaing stories we heard. Head on over to the LTYM page to see who will be reading on April 29th, and then order your tickets. We will sell out quickly!

Image: Rev Dan Cat, Flickr

Doesn’t this picture look exactly like a Neil Young song? Or, every Neil Young song?

And how do you not love The Godfather of Grunge? Well, turns out if you’re so young you think grunge is Old People Music, you have zero tolerance for Young.

The other day I was playing Prairie Wind in the car when my son got in.

Big dramatic sigh grunt, and then: “PLEASE turn off this Neil Old crap.”

I didn’t.

“When did you buy this CD anyway?”

“I dont’ know. A few years ago. Why?”

“How did you feel when you bought it?”

“Admit it, you love it.”

“Seriously, Mom, were you, like, depressed? Because this is like, suicidal. Or, were you just deaf.”

That was the day I realized I could keep him in line with a simple threat to blast Neil Young with the windows open. Boys are so easy.

Image: Oslo In the Summertime, Flickr

Increasingly my children characterize my husband and I as the supporting idiots in their lives. Intellectually, I get it.

But it’s hard to transition from the gods they once thought us to be, into these obsolete fools they need us to become in order to fully become themselves. So senseless are we that we must be tolerated and – more often – corrected.

Recently my husband upgraded the operating system on his iPhone. I’d rather iron socks, but to him this passes for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon. The task inspired him to extol The Cloud any chance he got.

Read the rest of this post on Brooke Burke’s Modern Mom

We talked 2012 parenting trends on Parenting U a few weeks ago, but in this video I talk to Laurie Gelman from BabyCenter about their predictions. I’m not sure I agree with all of them, but it’s always fun to talk to the experts.

Trending Topics we discussed:

• The Year of the Dad: We decided to employ nanny cams to see if stay home dads are really doing the housework, or just watching Mob Wives marathons.
• Fertility as you age: How many times can Laurie repeat my age? (Note to self: Don’t say your age on live footage that will not be edited)
• Too much technology? She likes XBox Kinnect. I like texting my kids from the kitchen.
• Is everyone looking for their 30 minutes of reality fame? Please pray that my kids don’t figure out how to post to YouTube.

About Laurie Gelman

Trend and Lifestyle Expert Laurie Gelman has 20 years of national broadcast experience including stints at “Fox After Breakfast,” and co-hosting a national parenting show in Canada called, “The Mom Show.”  Laurie was also a contributing editor for Cookie magazine, and she has written for The Observer Playground.  Laurie is the mother of two little girls and currently the house mom to her 4th grader’s class. She is married to executive producer of “Live! With Regis and Kelly,” Michael Gelman. Laurie is also a regular contributor to BabyCenter’s Momformation blog.

What trends are you seeing, or predicting, for 2012?

(I’m hoping duct tape attire makes a comeback.)

I’ve been talking about Listen To Your Mother everywhere, except here. So I thought I should. I am thrilled to bring this show to Northwest Arkansas for so many reasons, but come on– New York City, Chicago Washington DC, San Francisco and Northwest Arkansas? Taking it up a notch my friends in the 479. This show gives people a chance to read heir personal writing about motherhood in front of a live audience. You don’t have to be a writer or have any experience in front of an audience. We want anyone and everyone who has something to say to submit an audition piece! To find out all the details on LYTM, check out our fancy new page on the national site.

Audition For Listen To Your Mother

Stephanie McCratic, and I have already heard from an amazing group of women. Yes, they are sending in audition pieces, and you should too. We are creating an amazing depiction of what motherhood really is– the good, bad, ugly, scary, and sometimes funny. So send in your writing about motherhood now! We are going through the submissions  and will be contacting those we would like to see for live audition.

Save the Date!

If you don’t want to be IN the show, be sure and mark your calendar for April 29th at 2pm. Walton Arts Center in the Starr Theater.

And Now, a Word From Our Sponsors…

If you would like to sponsor this event, please let me know! This is a wonderful opportunity to interact with some very influential women in Northwest Arkansas and beyond. Sponsors have opportunities to get in front of the performers at the auditions and at the rehearsals, as well as exposure in posters and print advertising. If you’re looking for Mother’s Day business, we’ve got a spot for you! Listen To Your Mother is a perfect opportunity to align your business with an amazing event celebrating motherhood.

Net proceeds from Listen To Your Mother Northwest Arkansas will be donated to various charities, including Arkansas Visitation and Exchange Center. 

I love doing the ParentingU segment on 5News. I love learning about the cameras and the mics and the when I’m supposed to shut up and when I’m supposed to talk. I even love getting up super early once in a while for the boost it gives the rest of my Monday.

And I LOVE those guys at KFSM. Mitch and Shane and… that other guy. The only thing I wish is that they’d offer up fashion advice when I need it. Like when my holiday cheese intake has been at odds with sweater, so that when I attached the mic (I do that myself, now, because I’m all like, knowledgeable, and stuff), I wish the boys would let me know that my sweater was all bunchy.

Oh, well. It’s not like I was there on a fashion assignment. We were talking parenting trends.

Slow-vaxing, home-birthing, yeah, yeah, whatever. My favorite part of this segment? Mitch’s joke about helicopter parenting. You’ll just have to watch.