New Mom | Real Tech Mom

Twitter for moms? Why of course! Check out Twittermoms.com!

September 13, 2008 By erincarrasco 2 Comments

“Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything Better than you.”

Is what Megan Calhoun was singing the night she launched Twittermoms.com—OK probably not, but that’s what she should have been singing.

When I was first introduced to twitter, my husband had just come back from a Microsoft Influencer conference and was on his ~~crack~~ blackberry even more (I didn’t think it was possible-but it was) then he usually was. I asked him what on earth he was doing, so he told me he was tweeting. I LMAO at him, telling him he’d gone off the deep end. What on earth was tweeting?

When I first checked out twitter, I thought, who on earth has time for this. But then again, you make time for things you’ become obsessed with. *ahem-facebook sound familiar?*

New to twitter? Check out my first posting on twitter

I thought, are there any mom’s who are tweeting? Because as it stood, the only people who I knew that were tweeting were my husbands’ work colleagues, people who were working outside the home and people with blackberries. Was I the only Internet obsessed mom? Certainly not.

While surfing twitter a couple days ago, I noticed that sittercity had tweeted that if you were a mom you had to check out www.twittermoms.com, so off I went. And what did I discover? A wonderfully addictive website that has me hooked.

So What is Twittermoms.com?

According to Megan’s site:

Twittermoms is an online version of the three martini playdate. Chat about the adventures of being a mom. It’s always happy hour here!

Megan (the creator of this highly addictive site) is a mommy of two, founder of Twittermoms.com and a children’s book author.

When I joined this site, she personally messaged me to welcome me to the group,she followed me on twitter, she read AND commented about my latest blog posting and added that if I needed anything to just message her!

What a wonderfully personal touch, when’s the last time you were welcomed to a site you joined by a personal message from the founder of the site? —I should mention that TotSpot was also very personal when I joined.

So what can you do on Twittermoms.com?

Meet and tweet with other moms! This means that you can now have other moms follow you on twitter, find other moms on twitter and check out each other’s blogs!
Advertise your blog! I’m sure we’re all searching for those wonderful things we call visitor’s to up our traffic on our blogs, well ladies this is a great place to do that! Gain exposure and ideas for your latest blog postings.
Post pictures of your friends, family, and yes the kiddies! You can even upload videos!
Start Discussions about topics you may want a little advice or input in.
Start a group to find like minded mommies you may want to chat with!

The Bottom Line

I could probably wax poetic about Twittermoms.com all night, but I think all you social moms should really check this website out. I know as moms we don’t have very much “me” time, but if you do tweet on twitter, or you are a mommy blogger looking to meet some other mommy blogger friends this is the place for you.

I was talking with my husband today telling him that most of the successful blogging women I have come in contact with all happen to be women who at one point or another have been successful career women. These career women-who have become mommies, are now looking for an outlet to stay creative, to remain in touch with the real world, and hell just be normal for 30 minutes during the day. Even if the blog does revolve around puking, spitting, peeing or poop.

Above all else, these are funny, intelligent women (who happen to be mommies) are singing at the world, “Anything you can do, I can do better, I can do anything better then you.”

So if you are reading this blog and know of some wonderfully smart women who would benefit from something like Twittermoms.com, tell her to log on and get started! I promise you, she won’t be disappointed!

And if you’re not tweeting yet, why not?

Filed Under: Advice, Mom, New Mom, Product Reviews

10 Things not to say to a new mom: Part 2

September 2, 2008 By erincarrasco 3 Comments

So the list continues with many more things that erk new moms. Please keep in mind, that we know you are trying to instill words of wisdom on us, but as tired as we are, we don’t need the extra “help.”

Keep in mind these are real statements from real mom’s.. including their comments!

**please note that children’s names have been omitted and replaced with X, for privacy sake** Many thanks to the moms on BBC!

11. “awww…another boy the next one will be a girl”, please I could have 8 boys and people will still say the next one will be a girl what do I look like a baby making factory I’m done and happy with 3 beautiful healthy boys we are so blessed

12 “It’s a baaaabbbby” No, it’s a giraffe.

13. “Someone’s sucking her fingers – she MUST be hungry.” – Shut up you moron I just fed her like 1/2 hour ago. I think I, being her mother, would know when she is hungry thank you very much.

14. “Does he sleep through the night yet” – I got people asking this when he was a week old!! No he doesn’t sleep through the night, he’s a week old!

15. “She’s too cold/hot” – I’ve been dressing her for a while now I know when she’s comfortable.

16. “He must be gassy” or “Does he need to burp?” – This happens when he’s fussy in public. Ugh, my baby is tired or overstimulated and needs to sleep, sitting him up or patting him on the back repeatedly will not help!

17. “He looks just like (insert husbands name here)” after hearing this constantly with (first DD)…it drives me crazy…DS and DD look nothing alike, how can they both look like DH…isn’t there some of me in there somewhere???? LOL

18. “Ohhh, he’s still not pooping??? Maybe you should take him to the doctor” Nooooo, really?? Why didn’t I think of that before? WTF is wrong with people??? I’ve already taken him to 4 different doctors!!!!

19. “Oh you think ______ is hard/bad/difficult now… wait until she’s_____ old! ( or is sick or is going through what my kid is going through”) I have one in law who does this ALL the time. Every time she asks how its going and I say great, ok or that I am tired. she makes the comment that’s the same as, “You think you have it rough, you should see my baby/teenager etc!” Ugh. Give ME A BREAK!

20. ” Oh, she’s so cute, I don’t mean to offend you, but I always wanted (or asked my parents) to adopt an Asian baby” – If you think it will likely offend an Asian lady, don’t say it!

The Bottom Line

Unless you have something supportive to say, don’t say it! We are tired enough and stressed enough as it is, we appreciate that you may have done this child raising thing 2,10,20, 50 years ago, but let us figure it out ok?–WOW I don’t sound bitter at all hey?

Filed Under: New Mom, Top 10 Lists

10 things NOT to say to a new mom: Part 1

September 1, 2008 By erincarrasco Leave a Comment

Since becoming a new mom, and having friends who have become moms, there are some things you just should not say to a mom (new or 3rd time around). Here are a few of the top offenders that really grit our teeth when you say them.. you know who you are *gives you the evil eye* now knock it off! Keep in mind these are real statements from real mom’s.. including their comments!

My personal favourite is number 5. Babies cry, they fuss, it doesn’t always have to do with what mommy ate.

**please note that children’s names have been omitted and replaced with X, for privacy sake** Many thanks to the moms on BBC!

The Top 10 offenders!

1. “Your baby is still fresh”… I didn’t know kids could be fresh?

2. “Is it a boy or a girl”… Would a girl be dressed fully in blue?

3. “Enjoy her now because wait until she’s a teenager”… (I hate, hate, hate this expression!!!)

4. “Where does he get his length from” – (in context, it is when my husband and I are both with him)…want to say “my husbands business partner”

5.Oh he’s fussy, what did mommy eat today— it couldn’t be that he doesn’t like the way you’re holding him, you smell funny, he’s sleepy or hungry.

6. “She’s so little” Try lugging 15.5 lbs of baby plus a car seat…. She’s not little.

7. Wow three boys???!!! I guess you weren’t fortunate enough to get a girl!!!!!! (I really hate that.) People look at me with sympathy when they should be happy that I have 3 VERY healthy kids.

8. WOW he’s a big baby for his age, he must get that from your side……(I’m a plus size lady…so THAT comment annoys me and surprisingly enough I hear it quite often from complete strangers!!!)

9. “You have a boy and a girl, you don’t need anymore”….isn’t that for me to decide?!?! But do you know what I hate more than what people say….it’s when everyone feels the need to touch **X** ……he’s not part of a petting zoo!!!!

10. “He is such a good baby…always so happy, I never see him cry”…that is because you see him for maybe an hour at a time…Trust me he cries!!!!! I also hate when people feel the need to touch **X** …especially when I don’t know them!!!!

The bottom line

You know what the worst thing is, no one really knows that they are saying these things to offend new moms. I mean, when I was a non mom, I said a few of these things…

One of the worst offenders is when they see baby sucking on things, that baby must be hungry.. babies have something called a sucking reflex, if you put something in their mouth or near it, they’ll suck.. it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re hungry especially if I just fed them! It’s like if I hit your knee where you have a kick reflex and I hit that spot over and over again, and kept telling you, you must really want to play soccer because you’re good at kicking ….

Filed Under: Advice, New Mom, Top 10 Lists

Yes that’s poo on my clothes…but my son is still cute.

August 4, 2008 By erincarrasco 7 Comments

It’s funny how those things used to gross me out. I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t stand up and announce that I have poo on my clothes to celebrate it and jump for joy, but I also don’t freak out that there is human feces on my clothes. When did that change?

When you take the spit, puke, poo –or whatever is oozing out of your baby and wipe it on yourself because you have nothing else to wipe it on, you’ve entered the MommyZone/DaddyZone.

But entering the MommyZone,DaddyZone isn’t all bad or disgusting. Especially when you get the giggles out of them, or they recognize you in the morning and give you huge toothless grins. It always amazes me when he sees things and ”looks” like he’s seeing them for the first time–well because he is. It’s this amazing innocence and lust for life that is so precious because one day it will be gone.

How can the ceiling fan keep his attention for so long, just what secret does it have?

All of our kids have quirks–things that only you, and your family may find cute but I’m going to share what my son’s are because well this is my blog and they make me crack up!

In his Jolly jumper, he only bounces with one leg, he’ll touch down with two but lift up the other one and bounce off with only one leg.. why who knows. He actually looks kind of gimpy LOL I’ve made sure that he can touch with both etc. but alas it’s just one leg bouncer for now.
He whacks his head to sleep. And I mean hard! He’ll be trying to “soothe” himself–how this sooths him I’m not so sure but none the less he is semi-sleeping, and then when he goes through his sleep cycle, he starts to bonk himself to sleep. Hard enough to shake the video monitor in his crib… it’s so funny, I may just take a video to show you all!
This last one comes and goes, it was more so when he was really young. When he was about to sneeze, he’d go. Ahhhhhhhhh really loudly, like “oh my god something is happening to me” and then he’d sneeze a few seconds later. So it was nice to have a warning for the sneeze. Now it’s more of an afterthought. He’ll sneeze and then go uhhhhhhhhhhh. So cute!

What do all of your kids do that crack you up?

Filed Under: Babies, New Mom

Ok so twitter away….

July 25, 2008 By erincarrasco 5 Comments

This whole phenomenon I had hoped would pass me has sucked me in. I’ve caved. My husband www.realsoftwaredevelopment.com has been tweeting away for some time, and until this week I have successfully resisted. Thinking, who cares what I tweet, what on earth is a tweet, and why on earth would I “status” update people who have no idea who I am. Which brought me to this:

What’s a tweet:

A tweet is essentially an update on what you are doing. You have 140 characters to make it count. Essentially it’s a “status update” for those of you familiar with Facebook.

Who tweet’s:

Everyone. From your best friends, to people you’ve never met, even David Usher is on twitter. Oh and for those of you who are American, even Obama is on Twitter! So recently and willingly I’ve become a fan of twitter and it’s nuances– I get surprised and stupidly excited when someone “follows” me on twitter. Now, note, someone can be “followed” (ie.—you get their tweets) but they’re not necessarily following you. So if someone “famous” has 4000 people following them, they may only be following 600 people.

Why does anyone care what I tweet:

Why does anyone care about blogs? Because it allows you to peak into the little things in other people’s lives. Most people are Voyeurs at heart (hence the lasting popularity of reality TV 10 years later). People generally like to hear that so and so is playing with their kids, or so and so is out for lunch with the girls. It the space in between the emails and blog posts!

Something I found out because of Twitter:

Tweightloss-This new weight loss support team is scheduled to begin on Monday July 28th! This fly by night motion for weight loss came about when Audrey McClellan (Former NYC fashion maven, raising 4 boys under 4–she’s my new superhero) posted on her twitter feed that she had wanted to lose some weight. Low and behold many, many, many others also responded that they too also needed to drop some weight. And a new baby was born–Tweightloss. Please check out her blog to find out more about this next new craze on losing weight!

So do you want an in depth walk through on Twitter? Please click on Jane’s blog for a really in depth walk through on how to get on the wave that is Twitter!

The bottom line

It’s a cute little tool that let’s people know what you’re up to, from folding laundry to getting your dry cleaning. You can have the “updates” sent to your cell to always be informed. Although I’d be interested to know how many more people who have blackberries tweet. Texting on my cell phone is horribly slow, I’m sure that if more of my mommy friends had blackberries, twitter would be a bigger craze among the mommy crowd.

Follow me on twitter!

Filed Under: New Mom, Product Reviews