Crying It Out (Chana Lew's Personal Rant)

By Chana Lew 
Chana Lew is a mother to 5 sons, 2 daughters and 1 husband - and working on growing up herself. Loves: self-respect, all things birth, informed choice & fresh, clean food. More at www.chanalew.com

CRYING IT OUT

(MY PERSONAL RANT)

I'm continuously disturbed by parents who allow their children to 'cry it out'. For those not familiar, this is a method used for teaching babies to sleep. Baby is placed in the crib and kissed good night. Lights go out, doors are shut, baby screams. There are different variations that include parents coming back into the room after 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc. Baby usually is asleep by the time they reach an hour. The second night takes 1/2 hour, the third night (or so) baby knows that crib means sleep and doesn't fight the process. Some parents actually stay in the room but will not take their babies out of the crib.

Mom Shot #12: Look Around

I remember when my son first saw Elmo off-screen. He literally stood there staring at this Elmo doll, his mouth dropped, finger pointing, with an audible, breathy "huuuuuughhhh!"

Have you ever been shocked to find your favorite friend/food/movie/store in an odd place? We can learn from our children - everything we love is all around us. We just have to open our eyes! 

10 Reasons To Love Being a Jewish Woman

By Mimi Hecht

10 Reasons To Love Being a Jewish Woman

1. Any time a man attempts to interfere in our role, we simply say “No, no, no. That’s my territory! God said so. Just look it up.” 

2. There are enormous stereotypes that validate all the guilt we live with. 

3. We actually make our kids Jewish. So there’s one dependable thing they are and always will be...simply because we are their mother. 

4. There are an abundance of places, events and privileges that are “For Women Only.” And I mean more than that one-hour at the JCC swimming pool. From socials to lectures, we are a part of a truly connected and celebrated elite club. 

5. The Mikvah system forces us to have that spa-like deep cleaning we would otherwise never find time or energy for. The good thing is, it’s the kind of appointment nobody can make us reschedule. 

6. At the end of every week, we host dinner parties to show off all our prowess in the kitchen. It’s called Shabbat, and even though it’s not exactly a Day of Rest for us, we still love it.

7. Every Friday night, our men sing a song praising us as “Women of Valour.” They look at us and smile in love and appreciation. Even if the song is more of a metaphor and, um, actually addressed to God, we still get to enjoy the hullabaloo. 

8. We have awesome role models in our Biblical matriarchs. Sarah had four doors on each side of her tent to draw in guests of all kinds. Rivkah maintained her identity while being raised in an immoral environment. With heroes like that, we’re practically a lost cause. But at least an inspired lost cause. 

9. For the Orthodox amongst us, when we get married, everyone incessantly compliments our hair. It’s almost like by the very fact that it’s not our own real tresses, we must look “uhhmaayyyyzeeng.” It certainly makes all the sheitel-trauma worth it as we “wig-gle” our way to our ideal look. 

10. And finally, we love how our religion is always revealing the spirituality in everything we do. We can’t light a candle, talk to our husbands or cook for Shabbos without it being Larger Than Life. We constantly feel like superhumans. Or better yet, Goddesses. Ya, that’s right, Goddesses.

Do you relate to this list?
What do YOU love about being a Jewish woman? Comment with your additions!

Summer Makeup: How to keep it from melting

By Ettel Chava Rosenbaum

Chava is a 26 year old mother of two girls living in Kensington, NY.  She has been a practicing makeup artist for nearly seven years and recently began doing makeup for the exploding field of religious women's theater...in which she also loves to perform! Chava offers lessons to women, teaching them how to apply their own makeup like a professional. In addition to makeup, her passions are singing, comedy and keeping her kids out of her shoe rack. Chava is available to do makeup for simchas and productions in New York. You can contact her to book a consultation or job by e-mailing beautybychava@rocketmail.com

Mention LadyMama when you book me for any occasion and get a 20% discount on TWO faces(including the Kallah's). And as usual, kallahs get a free trial! Spread the word! Call me at 718-986-1211.

Summer Fun With Makeup

How to keep your makeup for melting off your face in the humidity!

We all know the feeling, especially if you're in New York. The air is soupy in the summer months and makeup doesn't stand much of a chance. So how do you keep it on?

Rule number one: the less there is in the first place, the less that can come off. Keep the look simple and light so there is less weight. For example, most people don't need a daily foundation in general, so to even out your skintone and protect your skin from damage use a tinted moisturizer instead of foundation. It absorbs into the skin rather than sitting on it, so it won't come off as fast.

Great tip: Don't have tinted moisturizer? No problem. Mix some of your mineral powder or liquid moisturizer into your regular moisturizer to get your desired level of tint and apply with sponge or fingers.

Tacky cheeks from moisturizer, or sweat or oil, can make your blush stick to your skin as you apply it and streak. To avoid this, dust a thin veil of colorless translucent powder on first so your blush with have a dry even surface to blend onto.

Great tip: Coral blush is the must-have color this summer and its looks great on everyone! Coral is like peachy pink but brighter, more tropical looking and leaning more towards the pink side than orange.

Eyes can be tough durring the summer. Lids get oily, you sweat, mascara smears, liner melts...

Mom Shot #11: Size doesn't matter

Here are two of my sons current favorites, which I make sure to set aside when I clean up his toys. If this were real life, this dog would be considered obese, the horse anorexic. It's a good thing that when it comes to our kids, size - and realistic proportions! - is a non issue!

My Daycare Journey

By Mimi Hecht

 "Working from home with an adventurous and constantly hungry

 toddler is akin to riding a boat on pavement - it just doesn't happen."

MY DAYCARE JOURNEY

So how exactly did I know it was time to send my first child into the world of daycare? How did I realize I was ready for the next stage of his barely two-year-old life, sending him off every day into some other woman's competent arms?

In short, I was going nuts. 

There, I said it. I know, I know - that's not exactly a feel-good explanation, not a thought-out analyzation of his little-man needs. I was just losing my mind. You see, I'm not a stay-at-home mom. I mean, I definitely do stay at home, hardly ever putting on makeup or any other shoe wear but slippers. But it's not because I belong to the noble group of women who dedicate all their days towards caring for and occupying their little ones at home. It's because I work from home. And let me tell you, working from home with an adventurous and constantly hungry toddler is akin to riding a boat on pavement - it just doesn't happen. Every time I would sit at the computer to work, my 20-month old would think I was starting "Elmo" or "Eli" from Mitzvah Boulevard. When he kvetched and shrieked his way into my lap only to discover a boring document of "ABCs," the scream got louder. The result? No work. Just lot's of puppets.

Too fat for the OB?

Some ob-gyns in South Florida turn away overweight women

 In a nation with 93 million obese people, a few ob-gyn doctors in South Florida now refuse to see otherwise healthy women solely because they are overweight.

[Read full article here]