tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201Tue, 11 May 2010 00:29:09 +0000For those of us who didn’t get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn’t always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, not to breastfeed.http://flexibleparenting.com/alexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)Blogger829125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-7556228068418399413Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:18:00 +00002010-04-27T07:28:05.739-05:00Did you ever had a secret that is almost delicious? The kind that you think about sharing but is so good that you want to keep it to yourself and savor it for a while? For the past few days I've caught myself smiling for no particular reason and I'll realize it's because of my little secret.I know enough with the suspense already! Last Friday and I did something that I've been putting off for http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/04/i-have-secret.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-3536971721174281449Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:10:00 +00002010-04-26T05:56:38.246-05:00We're back! Actually we've been back for a few days now. Our trip was wonderful. We had a fantastic time.All that being said, I think there's such a big difference mentally between where you are as a honeymooner and where you are when we you've been married for a while. Specifically I am pleased to say the few snafus we hit that would have been big deals during our first year of marriage werehttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/04/our-romantic-getaway.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-1102060453390598688Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:57:00 +00002010-04-14T19:20:22.215-05:00cervical cancerIt was negative! That's right I got the results of my pap smear and much to everyone's surprise it was negative. I called my doctor to basically beg for another prescription for the Pill. Yes, it gave me horrible headaches and I broke out in a rash, but seriously that was better than dealing with Mother Nature. And even though I had tried out about 4 different brands all with the same reactionhttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/04/my-fantastic-news.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-937940405208568199Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:18:00 +00002010-04-09T17:32:22.997-05:00vacationsThe past week has been gorgeous! Well, other than today. My younger son (YS) and I have spent the majority of this week outside enjoying playdates, parks and just our own backyard. It felt like summer, not spring, had sprung.However, as much as I have enjoyed this fantastic weather, I don't mind that it's started raining again. We're going to Aruba next week! The Big Giraffe and I are http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/04/10-year-annivesary-trip.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-2415716103897426258Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:04:00 +00002010-04-06T16:35:41.719-05:00cervical cancerIt seems like just the other day it was December when I was having my biopsy. Then suddenly the week of my follow up pap smear has arrived. Or maybe it just seems like that only when I casually glance back at the last 4 months. In reality, for the most part it has been like that with a few waves of anxiety coming here and there. Just like how a wave a little further out in the ocean is more http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/04/follow-up-pap.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-429860632420740626Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:35:00 +00002010-03-29T17:10:26.650-05:00Humor (at least Attempted)A while ago I wrote a post about how I truly felt about being a SAHM. Not too much has changed since I wrote the blog post except that maybe I've gotten a little more comfortable with some of my secrets coping mechanisms for survival with two small kids. Cat fur all over the shirt because...well...the cat just jumps right into the laundry basket the moment the clothes come out of the dryer. http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/03/laundry-confessions-of-sahm.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-4778809257915215117Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:23:00 +00002010-03-27T11:43:13.010-05:00The Big Giraffe and I went out on a date night last night to celebrate the Pasta Dinner being over and more importantly just to spend time with each other. Alright and there was a Girl Scout babysitting fundraiser going on which someone from PTO had emailed me about and then we received a flyer for it so it seemed like a sign from the universe that a date night was in order.Over dinner and a http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/03/time-marches-on.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-8408152046432606013Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:24:00 +00002010-03-26T08:40:55.335-05:00PTOIt's over and it was a big success! Alright we haven't finished counting up the money so I'm not sure exactly how much we made, but we did great last night selling raffle tickets and more importantly families seemed to have a good time so I feel confident saying that it was a big success. It also was not nearly as stressful as I thought it would be which of course is excellent. The class basketshttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/03/pasta-dinner.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-5348902906228648423Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:23:00 +00002010-03-14T17:38:07.766-05:00Exercise and FitnessToys / Clothes / GearHumor (at least Attempted)I know my blogging has been sporadic at best. Between the kids, triathlon training and the time sucker of life aka The PTO Pasta Dinner, somehow blogging has just slipped. Fortunately, everything is good...even the fundraiser.However, March is an important transitional month for me. It is the time of year when I shift from exercise to training, as I prepare for my third triathlon season. Thishttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/03/my-new-fear.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-1524463164637696476Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:44:00 +00002010-03-04T16:28:22.760-05:00MilestonesI was going to write a post about why you should never save jeans that you may some day wear again when you've lost weight. You know after you're all done having kids and everything goes back to the way it was before your first pregnancy? Ha! That however will have to be for another time. Perhaps by then I can include a photo.Today I had my usual addiction carefully monitored time on Facebook http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/03/becoming-aunt.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-8908018027088652096Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:18:00 +00002010-02-25T19:03:30.192-05:00TravelHumor (at least Attempted)After being away for ten day, we slowly turned into our driveway and noticed that something looked wrong. What was different? Our house was still standing. Then we noticed it: our mailbox was gone. Not just hanging at an odd angle as if it had one of its periodic close encounters with a snowplow or a car driven by a teenager who is good at hitting the gas but bad at holding the steering http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/02/something-looks-different.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-2390937796548501873Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:27:00 +00002010-02-07T18:07:29.671-05:00CraftsHolidaysThose of you who know me, know that I am not a crafty mama. Those of you who know me well though know that I do more crafts with my kids than I'll admit. I think it's kind of like cooking. I cook pretty much every night, and it's from scratch and healthy, but I don't consider myself a cook. Basically every month I get a new issue of Cooking Light, and try most of the recipes. The ones I http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/02/valentines-craft.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-7814015587224112027Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:04:00 +00002010-02-01T21:28:13.154-05:00Pets and AnimalsChild Health and Personal Careear tubesHumor (at least Attempted)With all the bad things going on the world right now, it's hard to complain about a bad day. However, it is still possible, and there are some rough parenting days. Maybe the trick is to look at them with a sense of humor...or a really good glass of wine. Seeing as I don't have any of the latter on-hand right now, unless you count the cooking wine, I'll go with humor. Today I needed to take http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/02/lets-not-repeat-todays-vocabulary-word.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-5235065342739625337Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:37:00 +00002010-01-25T05:10:44.467-05:00PreschoolMom-CareHumor (at least Attempted)This past Thursday my younger son (YS) had a pajama day at preschool, or as we call it in our house a no underwear or commando day. When our older son (OS) was YS's age, he wasn't night time potty trained. The morning of the preschool pj day, he took off the overnight pull-up, put on underwear and put his pajama bottoms back on. YS however, has been night time trained for a while. Thus no http://flexibleparenting.com/2010/01/pajama-day-or-no-underwear-day.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-5682389382679750834Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:48:00 +00002010-01-17T12:42:36.278-05:00vacationsTravelMom-CareOur kids have never spent a night away from us. Let me re-phrase that. We've never spent a night away from our kids. Notice the emphasis is on the Big Giraffe and me!When our older son (OS) was younger, he did spend a night here and there with a friend which was wonderful. My mom also came to stay with him a couple times so that we could get away for the weekend. However, once we had two, ithttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/01/ourdare-i-say-itfuture-get-away.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-4586971771059722685Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:48:00 +00002010-01-12T08:06:54.473-05:00Food (Solid)Mom-CareOutings and PlaygroupsHolidaysI entered the last year of my early thirties yesterday. Oh come on! 34 is still early thirties. At least that's what I've been telling myself! Some birthdays are obviously better than others. This one takes the cake, so to speak, for being one of the best ever. Yes, it was really that good!It started on Thursday. Sally HP had previously IM'd me to tell me that she would be picking me up athttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/01/my-birthday-extravaganza.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-2185119114338957235Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:02:00 +00002010-01-07T08:26:54.043-05:00Humor (at least Attempted)Not surprisingly there's not exactly a lot of downhill skiing in Chicago or its suburbs. I didn't learn to ski until I was 14. After that, I went skiing with my youth group in Michigan once a year. Also not surprisingly there's not a lot of skiing in NYC. The Big Giraffe didn't learn how to ski until he was 27. The state of New York was offering a wonderful program called 1,2,3 Learn to Skihttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/01/first-ski-lesson.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-6872154012351549263Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:06:00 +00002010-01-03T18:44:03.424-05:00vacationsTravelHumor (at least Attempted)HolidaysBack in November my aunt had offered to let us use her time share in New York City for the New Year. Not the whole year, silly, from December 30th - January 2 at the Manhattan Club which is located just north of Times Square! This was right around when Merlin got sick though and so while we really appreciated the offer, we couldn't accept it. A little while after he passed away though I calledhttp://flexibleparenting.com/2010/01/ringing-in-new-year-in-new-york-city.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-3101763906680158677Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:43:00 +00002009-12-30T10:59:55.007-05:00Humor (at least Attempted)HolidaysSometimes there's nothing to do, but laugh, right? The Big Giraffe and I do not have the same last name. Here's the honest truth about it. It really annoys me when people call me Mrs. Giraffe although not as much as when they call me Mrs. Big Giraffe and use my husband's complete name. If your name is Susan would you want to be called Jane? Probably not. You would probably correct the personhttp://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/playing-whats-my-name.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-6704381865219069768Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:37:00 +00002009-12-27T22:08:04.300-05:00Food (Solid)HolidaysIt's no secret that I hadn't been feeling too much in the Christmas spirit this year between Merlin and the my surprise procedure that I had last month. In fact the Big Giraffe was the one who did all the Christmas shopping this year because honestly mental state aside, I just physically felt crummy.Christmas can be a tough time for me anyway because I tend to get homesick. As much as I enjoy http://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/chicago-pizza-christmas-party.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-2744106417353824939Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:00:00 +00002009-12-21T21:32:28.116-05:00HolidaysToday is the winter solstice and my younger son's half birthday. He was born on the summer solstice, June 21.As Unitarian Universalists, we hear about the winter solstice in the winter pageant the kids in our church put on every year. We talk about the physical and the historical aspects of it. There's one family though in our church who actually celebrates it, and it's such a neat story of http://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/winter-solstice.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-8771627036195932685Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:50:00 +00002009-12-19T20:31:17.930-05:00Humor (at least Attempted)This past fall I needed to go buy Sudafed for my cold. It was either that or walk around feeling like my teeth were going to fly out of my mouth any moment and zoom across the room like a button popping off a pair of pants that are too tight. Apparently it had been a long time since I had bought Sudafed because I was surprised to learn it is now a controlled substance. I needed to go up to thehttp://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/controlled-substances-marijuana-sudafed.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-1038952201551858721Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:05:00 +00002009-12-18T21:42:54.850-05:00TravelHumor (at least Attempted)HolidaysDid we really light the last candles of Hannukah tonight? Is Christmas really next week? The holidays seemed to pop out of nowhere...as they do every year. Seriously have you ever had a year where you felt completely prepared and unrushed? Our younger son (YS) finished his last day of school before break complete with a holiday party with terrible looking hair. Somehow I never got around to http://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/bus-driver.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-6706860287032899247Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:58:00 +00002009-12-15T19:54:21.435-05:00The week Merlin died was terrible to say the least. A couple days after he passed away, I got a phone call from my ob/gyn. Since when do doctor's ever call with good news? I couldn't figure out why he was calling me at all.I forgot I had gone in for a pap smear. Every year since I turned 18 I've gone in for one without fail and it's always been negative. This one it turns out was positive. http://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/cervical-cancer.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33314201.post-377710036982593756Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:49:00 +00002009-12-13T08:39:07.127-05:00Mom-CareHumor (at least Attempted)I like to say that my aunt is a live copy of Our Bodies Ourselves. By that I don't mean that she is an open book. Rather, throughout the years she has given me honest information about what happens to our bodies as we age. She tells me all the obvious things like at 35 I'll have to get a mammogram, but she's also told me a lot of things that no one ever talks about like floaties in your eyes http://flexibleparenting.com/2009/12/resembling-andy-rooney.htmlalexelliot@flexibleparenting.com (Alex Elliot)1