Naptime Blog

Hi everyone! My name is Laura. I’m 25 years old, and I’ve been married to my husband Brett for 4 years. We live in Missouri where we try not to melt during the summer or freeze during the winter!

We had a rough time getting pregnant the first time around, but after 2 years and 6 months of fertility drugs, we finally conceived. Our beautiful little girl will turn 1 in just a couple of weeks. Amy is such a fun kid, although she’s smart and curious enough that she manages to get into all sorts of mischief! We love our little girl, and she definitely keeps us on our toes.

We were quite shocked to find out that only two months after going off birth control, we’re pregnant again! I’m still adjusting to the idea, and we’re expecting this little Nugget right around Christmas time.

After having worked in a hospital for several years, Brett and I decided the best thing for us when Amy was born would be for me to stay at home. I love being a mom! I’m so glad I can stay home with my little girl. In addition, I help take care of my older sister who was paralyzed in a car accident in 2003. It’s a great opportunity for everyone involved, especially since it means Amy gets to spend time with Grammy and her aunt Heather 3 times a week. We have so much fun hanging out with my mom and sister!

I love reading, writing, and learning. I love to laugh! I spend my days crawling around on the floor, building towers of blocks, sorting shapes, cooking and feeding my family, and cleaning. Quiet times during naps are spent catching up on the Internet, chatting, blogging, and researching anything I can think of. Once Amy is in bed, Brett and I love to pop some corn, curl up on the couch, and turn on the TV. Sometimes we watch movies, sometimes we watch documentaries, but we’ve embraced our nerd-dom.

I’m still figuring out the whole parenting thing. Parenting is based on personal choices, and I feel it’s important to do the research, weight your options, and make the choice that is best for YOU and YOUR family. I love babywearing and we’re switching (finally!) to cloth diapers this summer. I look forward to living and learning as my kids grow up.

Heiddi Zalamar is a single working mom of a nine-year-old son in NYC. Along with being a writer, Heiddi is a therapist working at a large foster care agency. She is also a Discussion Leader at Momslikeme.com and founder of The Freshman Writer.com. Heiddi is a contributor at Flaimahmy.com. You can check out more of her work at Heiddizalamar.wordpress.com and can be reached at hzalamar@gmail.com

Welcome to Naptime, Heiddi!  Check out Heiddi’s first blog on Naptime Stories tomorrow!

Hello, my name is Chrystal. I am married and I have one son. My husband and I met through a family friend on Thanksgiving in 2003. We have been inseparable ever since.  It was a long two year journey to conceive our first child and we had lost hope and stopped trying when we got our little blessing. Life is funny that way.

I am 25 and my husband Rick is 38 so he was strongly feeling the urge for a family. We decided it obviously wasn’t meant for us to have children. So imagine our shock and surprise when little clues hinted I was pregnant. I took a test and we were so scared to look at it that the 5 minutes elapsed and we never looked. I sent Rick to the local Wal-Mart since it was the only store open to buy more tests. Six digital pregnancy tests later we sat in disbelief. We were going to be parents. I know most people wait three months to tell people and by our calculations I was only 6 weeks, but we immediately told his parents. As the oldest of three children his Mother and Father had been waiting but not pushing for us to have children.

It seems like my pregnancy flew by, we had many ups and downs. The house we were renting was going up for sale and we had to buy it or be out. Knowing we had this little life coming we wanted something that didn’t need a ton of work like this older house did. So we went to a new townhouse community being built and bought a house. Well we were the second house to purchase, they had just started building. Well the house ran three months late, and the baby ran two weeks late. The day after Tristan was born on October 15th, 2008 Rick left the hospital to sign the papers on our new house. I guess I should mention that we all wanted a little girl so bad we could taste it. It was wrong to be that way I know. The day of my sonogram I was ecstatic to know I was having a boy. I wanted a girl but truly a happy and healthy baby of any sex is better.

We currently live in Maryland, I love it here. Tristan and I can go to the park one day or the Zoo the next. We are close to Washington DC and Baltimore, so there is never a lack of things to do. I can’t believe how the first six months have flown by. As a new Mom I have learned so many things that I wish I knew in the beginning. I found out you can read every book, google every topic you can think of, and talk to every Mom you know, but nothing prepares you for being a parent. It really is a life changing roller coaster ride that I am glad to be on.

Chrystal

Hey all! My name is Krystle, I’m 24 years old, and I am a proud wife & mommy! My husband Brent & I have known each other for 12 years and have been married for 1 1/2 years and we have our beautiful 8 month old son Shaughn. I live in sunny South Florida where I have happily called home for over 13 years. I am a high school graduate who took a little detour from the direct road to college. I still have trouble deciding what I would like to major in, making sure its something that will keep me happy!

In 2007 I moved to Missouri where Brent was stationed with the United States Air Force. Later that year we discussed having a child and decided to give it a try. Well, 3 weeks later and we were pregnant! I married THE love of my life on February 28, 2008 and became a family on September 4! That day, hands down, is the best day of my life! Since Shaughn has been here, we’ve all gotten even more closer than before. He’s such a replica of us and our temperaments that he is a perfect match! Three weeks after he was born we had to pack up everything and move back to Florida, and good for me too because though Missouri was beautiful in it’s own way, I realized I was NOT a “country girl!”

I am currently unemployed while my husband, thankfully, holds a full time job. The awesome benefit to that is being able to be with Shaughn and teach him during this developmental time. Every day is a new adventure!
 
I am a very outgoing person, often called “bubbly” (that’s a good thing, right?). I enjoy meeting new people and always love reading about others, which probably has something to do with my weekly purchases of those paparazzi mags! Yes I am guilty of that. Hey, a girls gotta have fun sometimes. I enjoy all time spent with my family and friends. I love to go out with my husband and enjoy “date nights” when my mother steals Shaughn away. He is so lucky to have the grandparents he does. During Mommy’s quiet time, I am on the computer searching for good deals, catching up with friends, or playing with photos and sending them to my family. Of course all that happens after the loads of laundry are completed, the dishes are clean and put away, and the floors are vacuumed just to get all messed up again when quiet time is over! I also now utilize this time to finally step up and take control of my weight, striving to be at my goal – hey, or lower! – by August so I have many things keeping me busy! I recently re-discovered my interest in reading thanks to the Twilight series! Yep, fell for that too!
 
And most importantly, I believe in treating people the way you want to be treated and not judging a book by it’s cover. Everybody’s got a story to tell, and I like to listen. Hope you enjoy hearing from me as I let you in on a piece of my life!

–
Krystle Hayes

Hello fellow parents and caregivers! My name is Jennifer Nevadomski, one of your Mom Bloggers on Parent’s Choice’s “Nap-Time Stories”! I live in New York City with my husband and three (soon to be four!) children.

I am 34 years old, married to Paul, a wonderful husband and father, since 2007. We were both previously married and we each have a child from that marriage. I have a seven year old daughter named Juliana. Paul has an eighteen year old son named Paulie. We were thrilled to welcome our twin boys, Louis and Anthony, into our family last July. They are now nine months old and a lot of fun. In February, we learned that we were expecting another baby. What a surprise this was! My c-section is set for September 25, 2009. We are expecting another boy.

I have my Master’s Degree in Counseling with an advanced certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy. Prior to the birth of our twins, I was a social worker for a foster care agency here in NYC. I am now a stay at home mom to our children, and although it is the most challenging job I have ever had, it is also the most rewarding. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Yes, I do have my hands full! Thankfully I am now in my fifth month of this pregnancy, so the morning sickness has ceased and the constant fatigue is now only ‘sometimes’ (ok, most of the time but at least now I can keep my eyes open long enough to talk to my husband after the kids are asleep!).

The twins are hysterical! They are now both crawling (and following them around makes me even more tired!) and their babbles are starting to sound like real communication. With my daughter, we used to have play dates with her little friends once a week, but with the twins, we have play dates every day! So when they fight over a toy, I just break it up and in three seconds they have already forgotten about it (for now… I know this will change in a few months!).

My daughter is the princess… even though my stepson lives with his mother and has his own life (he is pretty much an adult!), she is surrounded by brothers, and loves it! She was thrilled to learn that the new baby was a brother also. She is seven going on seventeen… or maybe she is seventeen already! The attitude sure seems that way sometimes! Otherwise, she IS our Princess, and although she is a girly girl, she is crazy about playing softball and basketball (and is pretty good at it!).

As for Paul and I, we have each been given a second chance at love, and with that also a second chance at life. I feel like I have known him forever, and our family is awesome. Paul is my best friend, and although we face parenting challenges daily (what parent doesn’t?), I think we are doing a pretty good job!

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (9m) and Anthony (9m)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com

My name is Shanta. I am a 32 yr. old mother of 2 great boys: Jeromy Jr. 8 & Jayce 4 months. Jeromy Jr. Loves everything sports and of course video games. As for ‘Baby Jayce” we still haven’t figured out what he likes yet, other than his bottle and paci!!

My husband Jeromy & I were high school sweethearts; we even went to the senior prom together!! We will be celebrating our 10 yr. wedding anniversary this July. We hope to add to our family 1 day soon.
 
We are both active members of our own “Relay For Life Team”. We both lost our mothers to cancer within the last few years and this has been a great outlet for us.
 
My family LOVES going out to eat. My oldest son is pretty good with chop sticks!!

I work full time outside of the home and I am a full time student. I enjoy all types of music and traveling. I would like to think of myself as a techy, I love love love my laptop and cell phone!!
 
I look forward to getting to know you all!

 
Shanta’

Hi, my name is Shannon and I’m the wife of Andrew and the mommy of two boys, Finley and Kieran, born 366 days apart. They just celebrated their first and second birthdays in April with a big back to back birthday party.
Here they are. Cute huh? (By the way, the correct answer is “yes” hehe):

And here we are as a family:

I have two (somewhat) patient furchildren named Mandy and Chloe:

I am a stay at home mom and a blogger, but that wasn’t always the case. I have only been a stay at home mom for one year and a blogger since last summer.
 I started a blog as an easy way to share photos and updates with family and friends, but it turned into much more.  Blogging is my creative outlet. I worked at a newspaper for 10 years until 2005 when I married and moved away. I love to write. I also worked as a DJ at a country radio station for six years. If someone tells you I did a polka show, I might deny it, but, ok, it’s true. As “fun” as that experience was, I wouldn’t change it for the world since that is how I met my husband.

I love to try new things for my family and share my experiences with my readers. The name of our blog came from my eldest’s nickname. He is my little Finleypotamus, which has now been shortened to Potamus. My youngest is my little Kierbear. My blog can be found at www.potamusprefers.com.
When I’m not blogging about life with a one and two year old, I’m living it. We love to go to the park and feed the ducks at the pond. Our neighborhood also has trails and there is a horse farm nearby. The boys love seeing the horses and other animals (such as squirrels). Another fun thing we have recently done is go to the strawberry patch. We try to find free or cheap things to do as much as possible.

One thing I’ve learned quickly, as a new mom, is to do your research on store brands and buy used when you can. With our oldest, we bought everything new and everything name brand. I wish I knew then what I know now. It is possible to save a ton of money and still get quality food, clothes and other items for your children. I buy generics at Wal-Mart of staples such as formula, milk, graham crackers, etc. and I trade clothes with friends. They pass down clothes that no longer fit their children and I pass down clothes that fit smaller children. I am also a fan of Freecycle and Ebay.

I look forward to getting to know y’all better and am excited to be a part of Nap Time Stories.

Shannon
Potamus Prefers
http://www.potamusprefers.com/