Any of you mamas have some experience with essential oils? Particularly using them to make your own cleaning products and using in candle diffusers. I've never used them and I'm interested in making my own cleaning products and someone suggested that I use essential oils for the smell and just all around goodness of them. And I also LOVE my wax tart burners, but the tarts are sooo expensive and I'd rather use something more natural anyways, so looking forward to trying the oils in them. --read more >>

DS is about to turn 1 in 2 weeks, woohoo! I'm not worried about him using a sippy cup exclusively just yet or anything, I know it might be a while, but how old were your kid's when they started to do this?--read more >>

along with all the crappy that’s going on that I usually write about.

Ok, total DH brag here, so if you are mad at your guy, or just men in general, you may want to skip --read more >>

Haven't seen her around in a while. Are you still out there, Etta? Anyone heard from her?

Hey mamas, I know I've seen where some of you have made your own leg warmers for your kiddos. Ummm, how? I mean, if any of you would be so kind as to explain I'd be forever grateful Is it possible to do without a sewing machine, just hand stitching? My sewing machine is being a bastard right now (probably cause I've used it like 3 times) and it's not wanting to work. Thanks for any help!

I'm sure some of you remember Greentara, she used to post a lot a couple of years ago, she hasn't posted in a little over a year. Anyways, we live in the same city (or did?) and before my son was born we were going to meet, she was going to give me some clothes from her boys. Well, the meeting never took place, my guy came early and with all the chaos that ensued after, I never got a chance to get in touch with her again. By the time things had quieted down, she wasn't posting here anymore, and I had lost her email address. I never got to tell her why the meeting never took place.--read more >>

I am a fucking moron. I'm a total mess right now, I've just been screwing up at work left and right, and I'm tired of dealing with my crazy-ass, dipshit, idiot of a boss. How much more can I fuck up, seriously?!?--read more >>

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted about what’s going on in my life, just a random update. I know you guys have been waiting with baited breath, it’s okay, you can exhale now I guess I haven’t posted any kind of update or whatever in a while cause not much has been going on. I didn’t want to keep repeating the same thing over and over, I feel like a broken record.

What’s new:--read more >>

Has anyone else seen Waitress? All the talk about Juno made me think of it, both deal with pregnancy, both main characters not thrilled with it, etc. I watched it Sat., and I really enjoyed it. I think the ending was a bit cutesy and cliched, just a bit too "perfect". Anyone else like it or hate it?

Okay, this is pure curiosity here, but I wanted to see who was comfortable with a male doc? Do any of you use them?--read more >>

So I’m contemplating getting a very tiny nose stud after we move. I’ve never had anything other than my ears pierced, so this will be new territory. Any of you mamas have any advice or stories for me? Was it hard to take care of, heal quickly, infections, etc? How painful was it for you? Also, any good places online to buy a nice stud, I want something that is not a jewel. I’m just not a big fan of the sparkly things, maybe a marcasite stone or something earthy or just plain. Can I bring my own stud to use or do I have to use one of theirs? --read more >>

Okay, wise mamas, help me out here. So I am totally at my wits end with my babe and nighttime. I’m sleep deprived and am getting resentful and cranky, and I hate it. Let me give you a typical night: he’s almost 11 months old, and we have a pretty set bed time routine. At around 6-6:30 he has dinner in his high chair, at around 7-7:30 he has a bath (not every night, usually every other unless he’s particularly dirty), then around 8 or when he starts to show signs of sleepiness he’ll get a bottle and either me or DH feeds him and he’ll go to sleep drinking the bottle.--read more >>

I know this has been discussed before, so I need you mama's opinions. My babe's first b-day will be in May, and I'm trying to figure out how to word his invites. I'd love to encourage people to bring books or pool toys (my parents have a pool, so hopefully he'll have lots of water time this summer). A part of me thinks it's tacky to ask for specific things as gifts, I mean, it's a gift, not a right. But another part just says to hell with it. I don't want a house full of crap toys that overrun his room and the rest of the house.--read more >>

My babe is screaming his head off in his crib right now. For the last 3 nights he won't let us put him down at night, he's teething something horrible. I have to work tomorrow, I've not gotten much sleep this week, and I don't know what else to do. I've never let him cry it out, I've never needed to. Normally he is such and easy babe, never gives us any trouble. I've pretty much held him the past 2 nights, I just can't tonight. He won't even lay beside me in bed, only holding him. I feel horrible and sad.--read more >>

Teething is a mother fucker . That is all.

This is my first time uploading and posting a video, so here goes....

My babe LOVES his bath time, so we just had to capture it on tape. Notice how he tells that washcloth who's boss, and my husband's goofy baby voice.

Did any of you mamas have numbness on your stomach afterwards? My stomach, well above the actual scar, was numb for a really long time afterwards, just now starting to get most all of the feeling back, and it's been almost a year. Just curious if that's happened to anyone else?

No, not the nasty kind. Well, I suppose drool, spit-up, and stinky diapers are nasty, but anyways. My babe officially invaded our bed last night. Now, I've never been opposed to co-sleeping by any means, was just something that we chose not to do. Key words being "we chose", but apparently Roo has his own plans. I don't think that has been his main intention of waking up everynight and not wanting to go back to sleep in his crib, but it is now the outcome. Silly guy was sleeping fine throughout the night in his crib for a while, no problem.--read more >>

Okay mamas, I'm ashamed to admit, but I'm completely in the dark when it comes to antibiotics, what the harms are. I mean, I've always heard that you shouldn't take them for a long time or too much, etc. But lately I've just heard so many people who avoid them completely like they are the plague, and I've somehow managed to miss the reason as to why. So any info you guys could give me would be appreciated!

Still no offers on the house, but it's only been on the market for a month. I think the worst part is just the not knowing when we'll get this whole process started. I mean, if we knew for sure that we would be moving in a year, it would suck for it to be such a long time, but doable. Just to know there is an end in sight helps. Oh well, can't stress about it too much, that won't change anything. We would love to be back home at the beginning of June. My parents are going to volunteer at a state park ,that my brother is a park ranger at, for 3 months.--read more >>

but am just now getting around to posting it.

I want to go home and curl up under the covers and just cry, I'm in such a funk today. I hate it when everything just seems to go wrong all at the same time, why does the universe work like that? --read more >>

Just wanted to update anyone who saw my request for vibes in this post, http://hipmama.com/node/37254 . My friend had an appt. today and they heard the heartbeat loud and clear!--read more >>

Okay, so my babe is 9 months and he’s been eating solids for about 3 months now. I’ve been making his food, you know, the whole steaming/boiling/baking and pureeing thing. He’s been a phenomenal eater, loves everything he’s tried, will finish the whole bowl most every time, just loves the food (like mom and dad!). Well, for the past week or so, he will gag on the first one or two bites, seemingly for no reason. It’s like as soon as it hits his tongue he gets this horrible look on his face and he’ll gag. He may do it a second time, but then after that he’ll be fine.--read more >>

Hey ladies, have a vibe, thought, prayer, good wishes, etc. request. One of my best friends is going through a rough time in her pregnancy, it's still very early. She's only about 7-8 wks along, and has had some bleeding on and off for about a week. They did an ultrasound last week and determined that she has a bruise on her uterus and that was the most likely cause of the bleeding. Apparently it is quite large, they usually heal fairly quick without anyone even knowing it was there, but not hers. They said this does raise her chances of miscarriage or preterm labor.--read more >>

Or actually just over, but whatever. DH and I have decided to move back to our hometown, after being away for almost 9 years. Wow, 9 years, I still feel like I’m barely out of teen hood, but I’m a full grown adult with a child of her own and selling her first home. Time really does fly. We moved to where we live now back in ’99, when we got married. I was 19, DH 20. God, we were just kids. We only live 4 hours away from our hometown, but it feels like a lifetime sometimes. We live near a large city, back home is pretty small, compared.--read more >>