TLB Newsletter

Are You A Brave Parent or a Wimp? Risking the Mess- Getting Creative with your Kids

March 23, 2016 by theleakyb@@b 1 Comment

Hi Leakies!

Spring Break! Parents of school age children have either been dreading having the kids home for a whole week, or looking forward to it with hopeful expectation. Now that Spring Break is here, many parents can’t wait for school to start again. Even the hopeful ones were grossly underprepared, and they ran through all their fun activities within a day or two. Now what?

Yet other parents are enjoying their time at Disney, or on the beach somewhere, or some other vacation destination full of entertainment for the kids, and cocktails for the adults. Chances are, if you’re reading this newsletter, that’s not you – it’s certainly not me. For the rest of us, we are acutely aware of how many more days we have until the school routine returns with our sanity, while wanting to make the most of the time we actually have with our kids. “Let’s not blow it!” we think. And let’s not forget the work at home parents, who have the extra pressure of still knocking out work with kids underfoot and in their ears – not to mention on their nerves!

How do we keep boredom at bay while encouraging our kids to get creative about play? We have a few ideas for you here.

*This is an excerpt from our TLB email, to continue reading, click here .

Filed Under: Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: advice, kids, Parenting, recipes, TLB Newsletter

Parenting Advice You Can Trash- Take Your Advice And Shove It

March 18, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

Dear Leakies,

New parent?

ALL THE ADVICE FOR YOU!

It goes with the territory. Annoying, sometimes helpful, usually not, and often completely baffling. Everyone has not just an opinion, no, somehow they’re all experts.

I have one piece of advice to give myself…

Just do you and ignore the advice unless you don’t want to, then don’t.

Ok, I have a second one…

Trust yourself. You’re going to make mistakes but you can learn and you can discern. Trust yourself.

Often, we doubt ourselves and a little bit of doubt can be good, can help us sharpen our skills, educate ourselves better, and double check when making decisions. But too much doubt can leave us completely frozen in our parenting. Children don’t need perfect parents (good thing because that will never happen), they just need parents that are trying and doing so with confidence. (In spite of the conflicting voices in their head!

What to do with all the advice? Pick what works for you and don’t worry about the rest.

And when you’re just not sure, that’s what your community is for. Bounce ideas off of them and see what feels right to you. (Why do moms crowd source medical decisions? See here.) You’re doing fine, you’ve got this.

Keep calm and parent on,

Jessica Martin-Weber
Founder, TheLeakyBoob.com

This is an excerpt from our TLB email, to continue reading, click here.

Filed Under: Article, Featured, Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: advice, kids, Parenting, recipes, TLB Newsletter

What is Love? Baby, Don’t Hurt Me- giveaways and more

March 15, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

Dear Leakies,

As #TLBloves comes to a close, we are focusing on the relationship we have with our partner, including what we would like to have with our current or future partner.

Believing that settling is tantamount to giving up, we look for 8 ways to better our romantic relationship in all kinds of places, and it can be helpful to do so, so long as we don’t forget who we and our partner actually are. It’s impossible to fit someone else’s mould.

This week we offer you a smattering of articles and links to inspire you to draw closer to your loved one, to remember the love that you have, and cultivate your relationship so that it can bloom into something beautiful and life-giving. Including this one that sums up a core aspect of our own marriage.

Join us on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter as we share our connection stories with #TLBloves. So grateful for the sponsors we have who believe such connections are important; MilkMakers, Earth Mama Angel Baby, fair trade Pebble Toys, Chompy Chic chewable jewelry, Bamboobies, and Baby K’Tan baby carriers.

Find love, Grow love, Be love.

Jeremy Martin-Weber
Co-owner, TheLeakyBoob.com
Owner, writer, Beyondmoi.com

This is an excerpt from our TLB email, to continue reading, click here.

Filed Under: #TLBloves, Article, dads, family, father, Featured, Newsletter, sex, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: #TLBloves, kids, love, Parenting, partner support, recipes, relationships, TLB Newsletter

Fed With Love- Giveaways and the Drama of Feeding Our Babies

March 9, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

Dear Leakies,

It has been said that the way our babies come to us shapes who we are as parents, that we birth ourselves as mothers just as our children are born into our hearts and arms. I’ve seen that to be true with both adoption and childbirth.

And so I would say, our journey in feeding our children as infants feeds our mothering soul and confidence. The obstacles we encounter and how close we are to meeting our goals can directly impact how we view our own parenting competency.

This is a big part of why we still need infant feeding and parenting advocacy and why will continue doing so. It matters, not just for that moment, but for the long haul too. Sharing our feeding stories in all their diversity, from rainbows and butterflies to steep mountain and lakes of lava, matters. We can normalize just how varied it can be. And down with shame surrounding infant feeding.

It was with this in mind that the idea for a children’s book that celebrates feeding babies and toddlers was born. In conversation with my own children about the different ways babies are fed when they saw a baby with a stomach tube, they observed that the baby’s mom loved him very much. We began looking for images of babies and toddlers being fed with love. Together we wove a story of love in the various ways parents feed their children. Breast, bottle, cup, tube, spoon, syringe… What Love Tastes Like.

We’re looking forward to making our book available with stunning illustrations done by Joni Rae Latham through self-publishing. We’re going to need your help and we’ll be sharing even more about that soon. For now, join us on the What Love Tastes Like Facebook pageand Instagram for a sneak peak at the book and a place to share our fed with love experiences plus recipes and tips.

Every day on TLB’s social media we celebrate fed with love and honor the varied paths parents find themselves on in their infant feeding journeys. This month with #TLBloves, we are taking a look at how it extends beyond feeding and into our relationships.

Feed with love,

Jessica Martin-Weber
Founder, TheLeakyBoob.com

This is an excerpt from our TLB email, to continue reading, click here.

Filed Under: #TLBloves, Article, Featured, Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: #TLBloves, fed with love, food, kids, love, Parenting, recipes, TLB Newsletter, what love tastes like

When Your Kids are A$$holes…

March 3, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

Dear Leakies,

This month we’re talking about relationships, connecting, and bonds with #TLBloves. We all need it but sometimes we take it for granted, particularly with our children.

It seems to be a given that parents will love their children and certainly, that’s usually what happens but without intentionality, we may miss out on connecting with our children. Time and effort are involved and it doesn’t just happen by being around them, being in the same room or home doesn’t mean we’re really present.

There came a point in my parenting when I realized I was always available to my children and I was taking care of them but what I wasn’t doing was being truly present… being withthem. For me, being a stay-at-home-mom was when it was the most difficult for me to be with my children, there was always something demanding my attention and in my mind I had endless amounts of time to connect with them, I could always do it later. It wasn’t until I returned to work that I realized that I may have been there for my children when I was staying at home but I rarely was with them. That had to change.

My daughter helped me work on that when she was 2.5 years old, that story here.

Building intentional connections are important in the best of times, even more so in the worst of times.

Like when we don’t really even like our own kids.

I know, what a horrible thing to admit.

But what a reality of parenting.

And it’s ok to feel like that, even ok to admit it (but maybe not to your child, just to friends) so you can take a deep breath and remember your child isn’t trying to be an a**hole, they’re just being… a child.

So what can you do? How do you avoid damaging your relationship with your child? I’m not sure I have the answers but I appreciate what Jeremy, dad of 6 girls, had to say about this over on BeyondMoi.com, here. We also loved this post on why you should hug your kids when they’re being horrible.

May you find the deep connections with your children in a way that lasts.

Jessica Martin-Weber
Founder, TheLeakyBoob.com

This is an excerpt from our TLB email, to continue reading, click here.

Filed Under: #TLBloves, Article, Featured, Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: #TLBloves, bonding, connection, kids, love, Parenting, TLB Newsletter

Our Secrets For More Sleep… Or Just Commiserating On Wanting More

February 11, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

Hey there sleepyhead! Feeling drained (literally) and lacking in sleep? Welcome to parenthood! Of course this is when the chorus chimes in with “but they are totally worth it!”. Yeah, ok yes, we get that but you know whats nice..not being so tired that you begin to question all the great mysteries of life and you sanity along with them. Sleep is necessary, its important, and especially for a breastfeeding Momma and her partner for that matter. In this edition of our weekly newsletter we are talking about sleep and how you can get more, without sacrificing your breastfeeding relationship. Have a great week Leakies!

-TLB Team

Hey Leakies!

Tired? You’re not alone. Not at all. In fact, studies shown that 4 months isn’t enough to recover from the fatigue that comes from having a new baby.

Lots and lots of parents are tired.

It is possible that it’s that your balance is off and it is something that nutrition and exercise could help with, or maybe it is even more serious and you need to see your health care provider for more information, or possibly it is depression and you need to speak to someone about your emotional and mental health, or maybe you’re like me- a night owl parent trying to function in an early bird world…

This is an excerpt from our TLB email, to continue reading, click here.

Jessica Martin-Weber
Founder, TheLeakyBoob.com

Filed Under: Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: baby sleep, co-sleeping, Parenting, Sleep, TLB Newsletter

Bleeding uteruses of the world unite!

February 4, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

We’re talking about our bleeding uteruses again! But that’s not all, we also have information on breastfeeding and returning to work, sleep issues, bacon, and more. Read all the way through our email for a special discount from our friends at Lunapads!

-TLB Team

____________________

Hey Leakies!

It was an amazing week talking about our menses last week. So great.

No, seriously.

It was like a breath of fresh air. We think about our periods a lot, think about them monthly, manage them for days at a time, and try to forget them frequently. Talking about them was freeing and refreshing.

And to think, people used to douche for that feeling and all we had to do was talk.

We learned that there is a wide range of normal, that extreme pain and bleeding through a full size pad in an hour aren’t normal and can be indicators of a more serious problem, that our cravings have meaning, with A Girl With A View we learned that there is some crazy menstrual history out there (here), that many of us wish we had been more prepared for our menarche (first period- 5 things one girl wishes she had known here), and some surprising realities we weren’t expecting about our postpartum periods here. If you’re interested in reading on, click here.

Jessica Martin-Weber
Founder, TheLeakyBoob.com

Filed Under: Article, Featured, Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: bleeding uteruses, periods, TLB Newsletter

That’s it..I QUIT! I am not enough…

January 25, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

We are now three weeks in to 2016. Do you find yourself already trying to keep up, catch your breath, and are you drowning in broken new years promises and resolutions? Take a moment and reflect on the amazing ways you have been stretched, grown, and learned who you are. Take that positive energy and say “I AM ENOUGH”. Now, repeat. Friends, you are indeed enough, no matter who you are or in what season of life you find yourself. Come join us Leakies for this weeks edition of our newsletter as we talk about that “one thing” that we can do to become the change we want to see in the world (and start with your little world right in front of you).

-TLB Team

____________________

You are enough.

Let’s make that statement a given. Whatever you are facing today, whatever challenges, whatever insecurities, whatever voices in your head, you are enough. No matter what people say to tear you down, or keep you down, you are enough.

It’s a great starting point. It’s the best starting point. It opens you up to all the possibilities of growth, change, creativity, healthy relationships, balance, adventure, and everyday tasks done well.

You are enough.

With that as a given, how can you be the best version of yourself today?

That’s a difficult question to answer, and the millions of vehicles on the information highway all have a their own “right” answers to this question, in all its various applications: how can you be the best mother or father today? Or the best partner? How can you be the best cook for your family, or for yourself? How can you be the best working parent? Or the best sexual partner? Or the fittest version of yourself? The most compassionate? The most inspiring? The most self-actualized?

We are multi-faceted individuals, and for each facet we are faced with the question: how can it be all that it can be? And for each question, an information-storm of answers is at our fingertips, thanks to the internet, not to mention our friends’ take on it and what our mom, dad, and grandparents had to say about it growing up (and still do), and our own pastor/yogi/Oprah/mentor has to say about it too.

That’s it, I quit, I am not enough.

But I am enough.

You are enough.

So where do we start? To continue reading, go to HERE.

– Jeremy, The Piano Man
BeyondMoi.com

Filed Under: Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: #IAmEnough, TLB Newsletter

The Letter We Know You Won’t Read- You’re not really gonna open this are you?

January 6, 2016 by theleakyb@@b Leave a Comment

This email is generously sponsored by our friends at

Well, now you’ve done it. We warned you but here you are…GOOD cause you’re in for out most lighthearted newsletter yet, stocked full go hilarious videos, satire, and wit. We hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and we are so glad to have you apart of The Leaky Boob community. So sit back, relax, make a cup of Hot Momma Cocoa and get ready to laugh. Happy New Year!

-TLB Team

____________________

Hey Leakies!

If you’re reading this, I’m surprised. Welcome to the irrelevant TLB email this week. We figured nobody would read it anyway, this week is like Tardis, transporting you through time with no real sense of how you got there.

Hope your holidays have been great! And if they haven’t, welcome to the club. I took one of my tips here to heart about how not to gain 10 pounds this holiday season and got myself sick. Don’t get my wrong, I have enjoyed the holidays with my family, for the most part. I haven’t enjoyed the wrecked schedule, my nasty cold, and the unbelievable and unending pile of dishes. Starting to dream about kicking our Christmas tree to the curb.

I’m getting through with some “cleaning” breaks AKA checking social media on my phone. Since my children seem to be allergic to cleaning, I’m left completely alone for as long as 10 minutes at a time! That’s a lot of Facebooking.

I’m not one to pretend I’ve got this parenting thing figured out or that I’m perfect in any sense. The holiday just seem to highlight that reality for me. I’m really just winging all of it.

Winging it is so much less disappointing when I’m at least laughing all the way (Christmas carol reference right there- I’m winning some things, right?). To read more about some of the things that have made me snort and cough in laughter through this nasty cold that I’ve come across this week, click HERE.

_____________________

Jessica Martin-Weber
Founder, TheLeakyBoob.com

Filed Under: Newsletter, TLB Newsletter Tagged With: letters from The Leaky Boob, newsletter, TLB Newsletter

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