Win it!

There is no remedy for love but to love more…Henry David Thoreau

February is American Heart Month…what are you doing to keep your heart healthy?  

A healthy heart is the center of your body and what gives love to your family, friends and others.  

This month, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we are excited to offer a beautiful Personalized Charm Necklace from B-Side Metalworks. You can have it personalized with your choice of word or initials and it can be a showcase of what is in your heart!  

Do you want to win it? It’s easy!

Showcase what's in your heart!

Required for contest entry:

1. Follow Skinny Gene Healthy Mommas on facebook and share the page with your Facebook friends (leave a comment on this post letting us know you did both!)

Optional for extra entries (leave a comment on this post letting us know you did it!):

2. Check out B-Side Metalworks on Etsy and show some love by giving her a heart (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

3. Like B-Side Metalworks on Facebook (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

4. Follow Skinny Gene (@skinnygene)  on Twitter  (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

5. Post this giveaway on your blog, facebook and/or twitter (leave a comment below for each posting that you share)

This giveaway will end on 2/14 at 11:59 p.m.

Each entry counts as one chance to win.  US Only!  Winner will be announced February 15. Winner will be chosen AT RANDOM by random.org.

3 PRIZES, 5 CHANCES TO WIN A FREE FOOD JOURNAL

I have to admit….it’s only the third week in January and I already find myself backsliding. Thankfully, I have inspirational reasons for keeping my new year’s goals and so I am sticking to them.  How about you?  Have you kept all of yours?

Three of the top ten most popular New Year’s Resolutions are to lose weight, eat healthy and get fit. These are amazing goals to have and we want to help you achieve them.  We have paired up with Around the Plate to offer you some fantastic prizes (for FREE!) to help you stay on track.  

Research shows that the number one way to lose weight is through journaling. Many programs, including ours, encourage or require journaling because it is SO effective. Around the Plate has the most adorable journals to make it more fun!  

We’re giving away three items to three different winners, two ultimate tracker journals and  1 kids tracker journal, and all you have to do is enter the giveaway for your chance to win.

This food journal is not only super cute, it will also help you to achieve your goals!

Required for contest entry:

1. Follow Skinny Gene Healthy Mommas on facebook and leave a comment on this post about what motivates you and why you ARE going to keep those resolutions!

Optional for extra entries (leave a comment on this post letting us know you did it!):

2. Check out aroundtheplate on Etsy and tell us which journal is your favorite (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

3. Like aroundtheplate on Facebook (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

4. Follow Skinny Gene (@skinnygene)  on Twitter  (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

5. Post this giveaway on your blog, facebook and/or twitter (leave a comment below for each posting that you share)

This giveaway will end on 1/30 at 11:59 p.m.

Each entry counts as one chance to win.  US Only!  Winner will be announced January 31st. Winner will be chosen AT RANDOM by random.org.

Honestly, I feel like a day of gratitude isn’t enough (especially if Hallmark has coerced someone into it). Afterall,  being a mom can be a 24/7, 365 day, up at 6, down at 9 (if you’re lucky),  no-sick day, vacation day optional, kinda gig.

As CEO of our household, we’re  given the most important and rewarding job, which comes with long-term job security.  We do more things in 24 hrs than some people do in a month. Watch this clip and you’ll see what I mean!!!!

I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t really understand the importance of Mother’s Day until I started raising my own toddler.

Now when I hear people say things like, “We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves” (which I believe is by Henry Ward Beecher), I actually know what they mean. Then again, I can also related to the “great poop conversations” that seem to take place everywhere I go.

It’s actually kinda funny when you think about it… You know you’ve graduated from college when you receive your diploma, but you know you graduated into motherhood when you are comfortable swapping poop stories. Prior to becoming a mom, when the inevitable poop chat that came up at baby showers, that was the queue to leave the room.

There is no doubt… motherhood is a club, a sorority, a sisterhood all of its own. We rely on each other for advise, encouragement, and reassurance that we aren’t messing up our kids too badly.

During the month of May, let’s remember to praise and show our appreciation to ALL MOTHERS!  An act of kindness, recognition for a job well-done, or maybe a glass of wine at the end of a long day goes a long way.

It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes the support of your “sisters” to make sure it is done correctly!

I want to say THANK YOU to all of our Skinny Gene Mommas, for all that you do!  

As I said, I think Mother’s Day should be for the entire month of May…..

To say thank you for all you do, we want to honor all of our Mother’s that work so hard to provide their children with a  happy and healthy home. 

1^st– For the entire month of May, we are giving you a FREE 12-month membership to our Skinny Gene Online Community. Just Click Here to learn more and accept your gift!

2^nd– I think a little comic relief is the best remedy for a hard day. Please join me in sharing some funny stories about motherhood.  Got a funny forward? Read a funny blog? Did your child do something that cracked you up?  Let’s give each other a little laugh!!! Add your stories to the comment section below!!!

To start us off, here’s an email a friend forwarded to me awhile back. ENJOY!!! 

….

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we are in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old.

And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume. It’s always fully cranked. There have been several embarrassing times that I’ve wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.

Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you’d been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall:

”Mommy, are you gonna go potty?   Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy?  Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now?  Mommy, what are you doing?  Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?”

At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom w hen I walked in. Several stalls were full … 4? 5?  Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.

Cade continued, ”Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren’t you?   Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy!   Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty?  Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh … Mommy!  I’m trying to see In dere.

Oh! I see dem.  Dat is a very good girl, Mommy.  You are gonna get some candy!”

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me.

Where is a screaming new born when you need her?  Good grief!!  This was really getting embarrassing.  I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting.  Trying to divert him, I said, ”Why don’t you look in Mommy’s purse and see if you can find some candy. We’ll both have some!”

”No, I’m trying to see doze stinkies… Oh! Mommy!”  He started to gag at this point.   ”Uh – oh, Mommy.  I fink I’m gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!!  Dat is so gross!!”

As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall.  I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject.  I began to reason with myself:  Okay… there are four other toilets.  If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

”Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now?  I want you to be done going stinkies!  Get up! Get up!”  He grunted as he tried to pull me off.   

Now I could hear full-blown laughter.  I bent down to count the feet outside my door.

”Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy?  You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at?  Mommy?  You wooking at the wady’s feet?”

More laughter…I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation.

”Mommy, it’s time to wash our hands, now.  We have to go out now, Mommy.”  He started pounding on the door. ”Mommy, don’t you want to wash your hands?  I want to go OUT!!”

I saw that my wait ’em out’ plan was unraveling.  I sheepishly opened the door and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. 

My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, where’s the fine print on the ‘motherhood contract’ where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy?

But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I’d sign it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.