Dear Readers,

I wanted to take a moment and let you know about some big changes we will be making to MomTalk to improve the overall experience for you.

This Tuesday, March 8, we will unveil a new look for all of our blogs. The new design has several exciting features, including:

• Author spotlights
• Improved search
• Improved navigation
• Monthly themes
• More health information you can use
• Shorter posts on the homepage, meaning visibility to more posts on one page

We will also be introducing two new blogs: JustKiddin’, a blog for moms of elementary schoolers, and Middleville, a blog for moms of middle schoolers. Debuting Tuesday, these two blogs replace TweenBeat, which as you know currently spans both school age ranges. We hope that each blog will better align with your children’s educational experiences and be more relevant for parents in these different stages. Not to worry – your favorite TweenBeat bloggers will still be here, they’ll just be blogging for JustKiddin’ instead. Look for them Tuesday!

Additionally, we will be extending TummyTime to cover pregnancy through the first year. We hope this will help moms who are expecting share experiences, conversation and dialogue with moms who are going through the first year of baby’s life. This change means CuddleBugs will focus exclusively on Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers.

Later in the week we will be unveiling a new look for MomTalk. The updates will place more emphasis on groups, as well as the forums & discussion threads. By focusing the experience on the conversations happening between moms, we hope MomTalk will become a better place for moms in the area to connect, share and discuss.

Please note that in order to bring you the changes each of the blogs will be down for an hour or two starting late Monday afternoon and into Monday evening. We apologize in advance for this disruption, but hope that when you return to the blogs on Tuesday morning you will be as excited about the changes as we are.

If you have any questions or comments about the changes, please feel free to email us.

Enjoy the weekend!
Theckla & the entire MomTalk team

I like to think of the holidays like a huge storm.  You know, the kind the news reporters hype up and tell us to prepare for.  We hurriedly go out and buy “emergency supplies” to be ready for it.  Then the storm comes and it is just that, a storm.  You either are prepared or not, but after it passes, it’s calm. The holidays really are like that: For months we try to select just the right gifts, decor, food menu, party plans, etc. Within hours it’s over. I feel like the calm after a storm.  However, it is a good feeling.

This year we tried not to get too caught up in hype.  We tried to focus on the reason for the celebration.  We tried to do more as a family.  We tried to serve and give more than receive. We were prepared.  Prepared not to listen to the hype, not to get caught in the holiday snares, not to forget how blessed we are as a nation, family and culture.

Even though the “big” gift giving holiday is over, the holidays still envelope us. We are still surrounded by our families, time, and gifts. My tween reminded me again of simplicity. We had gotten a MegaBall for the family for Christmas. It’s an ice cream maker that you roll around as a family…you can use it camping, as a game, it’s lightweight and doesn’t require electricity, etc. Weird gift, yes. However, when we asked our children what they would say was the best thing they did on holiday break so far, it was, “having a ‘ball’ making our own ice cream as a family.” It wasn’t all those expensive gifts, it wasn’t anything that anyone had asked for, it was an inexpensive gift and time together laughing, collecting snow since we ran out of ice for the outside and creating “the best ice cream Ben & Jerry’s ever saw.”

It made me realize that being calm, organized and prepared far outweighs all the hustle and bustle of not being prepared and stressed.  It was the quiet moments together reenacting the Christmas story, reading holiday books, drinking hot cocoa, watching films together and just the time spent, together.

What are some of your families favorite “after the storm” activities?

Tomorrow may be the first official day of winter, but we’ve already seen our fair share of cold weather.  As temperatures drop, it is important to remember certain winter safety tips, that will help keep your family safe this holiday season and well into the new year.

Fire safety is especially important around the holidays.  Not only do more families enjoy fires in the fireplace, but candles are put out and trees are adorn with lights.

According to the National SAFEKIDS Campaign, 40 percent of residential fires that kill children are caused by children playing with flammable products, such as matches. In addition, a lack of working smoke alarms can significantly increase the chance of dying in a residential fire. However, by taking appropriate steps to make your home safe, you can protect your children and your family from fires:

• Keep flammable products, such as matches, lighters, and candles locked and out of the reach of children.
• Install and maintain smoke alarms in your home.
• Maintain heating equipment: regularly have your furnace inspected, and turn off and unplug supplemental heaters when sleeping.
• Only burn logs in the fireplace with a fireplace screen in place to protect against sparks. Have your chimney cleaned and inspected yearly.
• Develop several fire escape plans from each room in the house and practice them regularly with your family.
• Make sure items such as clothing or blankets do not cover lamps that are turned on.

Click here to read the full article, for more tips on family fire safety and burn prevention.

I know I have posted before about my tween having eagle eyes and loving to explore, discover and observe.  She has taught me to slow down and smell the roses.  In a hurried world she is often the one in her own world of imagination.  Although this can sometimes frustrate me, I decide to chalk it up for positives in a society that keeps wanting to move faster and often overlooking the simple things.

We recently sent away for some caterpillars.  We have a butterfly house that we haven’t used in a while.  The kids were very excited when we got our five caterpillars that would sooner than later transform into 5 spotted painted lady butterflies.  After watching them make their chrysalides and transplanting them to the “house,” we quickly had 5 butterflies.  I don’t think we transferred two of them soon enough as they had some wing damage.  Of course my children were very concerned about their survival.

After the first day of school, we decided to let our butterflies free.  The healthy 3 took off in immediate flight, and my children swear they are the ones still around our flowers in our yard.  The less injured of the two took a little longer to get it’s wings moving fast enough to take flight, but it eventually flew off, too.  The last we strategically planted on a flower and watched for a while as it gathered nectar from the flower.  It was too injured to fly, as it had tried and fell and we had to reposition it on the flower.  My children were in awe over this entire process.  My tween especially was empathetic to the weakest.

My husband loves animals, insects, etc.  I love nature, so between the two of us, we are constantly trying to encourage our children’s sense of discovery.  There is learning all around us, but it is up to us to slow down and capture it and either learn with our children or teach them.  We recently got hamsters so the quest of learning is on again.  However, my tween asked me some hamster anatomy questions that involved “stick, hard, sacks, eww.”  Not sure I want to go there, but I used it to maturely go over some of the same talks we have had fielding questions about human anatomy, etc.  AGGHH!  (Wasn’t ready for that one, but am getting better with it as questions continue to arise…)

How do you foster an appreciation of nature and science?

Alright, so Jon’s still deployed … and … fingers crossed … everything has been pretty smooth.  The girls had a touch of the stomach bug on Thursday/Friday, but hey, we made it through four days of school, which at this point, seems to be a miracle.  Jon called last week, late in the week, which made me feel a whole lot better.  He said that everyone was okay which in itself was a relief. 

Meantime, here at home, I just can’t get ahead.  I got behind from the kids being nonstop sick for the past month and a half and can’t seem to make any progress.  It’s getting frustrating!!!!  I live off of Red Bull some days. 

However, hiring the cleaning lady has been immeasurably helpful and taken some of the weight off my shoulders, however I still can’t remember to pay the sewer bill (had it in my purse for three days now), and can’t seem to put an end to our laundry crisis.  This month the dogs need to be taken to the vet as does the cat.  I’m hoping that nobody gets sick, myself included.  The toilet is broken (you know the plastic piece that attaches to the handle) and has been for roughly a week and a half.  After I’m done writing, I’m on my way to Lowe’s so that I can get the part to fix it.   

Other than that, I’m just praying that everyone over there is okay.  Quite honestly, in Jon’s previous deployments, the media wasn’t as precise and “in your face.”  People are sending me tons of articles and pictures about what they’re doing over there and quite honestly, I’d just as soon pretend that he was on a vacation to the Bahamas for a few months.  I’m growing increasingly tired of the politics behind it all; don’t even get me started.

If you’re a military spouse, stop by our Military Mattersgroup on MomTalk to share and connect with other parents facing simliar issues.