While everyone I know love summer, I don’t. I don’t like the uncomfortable feeling of being sweaty. While most of the time, it’s sunny and warm from my side of the globe – Philippines is, after all, a tropical country – I love when the rainy season comes.

It’s now starting to rain here in the Philippines. As much as I do miss open-footwear weather, I just love the peace I feel when it rains. I love spending my weekends in bed, with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.  I love the “relax-ness” of it – no one is rushing to get to their dream summer destination, you don’t feel the need to always be in an air conditioned room. Some might say its “lazy weather”, but I say it’s the weather that is most conducive for you to get to know yourself better. Summer inspires you to go out, go to the beach with friends, the rainy season gives you a chance to take a breath, look into yourself and have a better relationship with yourself.

Other pro’s of the rainy weather? Well for one thing, lower electricity bills. You don’t have to turn on the AC all the time. You save on water because you don’t feel the need to take a shower every 20 minutes. You save on clothes and laundry because you don’t always have to go and get changed. See, lots of perks!!!

Ahhh rain, oh how I love you so.

XOXO,

Nina

When my husband and I got engaged, we witnessed a strange phenomenon. For me, the occasion was mostly filled with well wishes and oohs and ahhs at my gorgeous engagement ring. My girlfriends and sister immediately began speculating at what kind of wedding dress should I wear and how I would do my hair for the big day. My husband however, received entirely different responses. When he shared his news, he received jovial, but not quite supportive slaps on the back, accompanied by little gems of wisdom from his married and unmarried friends. Gems such as, “well, your life is over now!” That’s not to say he didn’t hear positive comments now and then – he did, but not often.

My husband and I puzzled over this. It seemed a strange welcome into the married club. At first we thought, misery loves company, but could all these seemingly happily married men really be that unhappy? It wasn’t until I became a mother that I really understood what was going on.

When I became pregnant with my daughter Maggie, I was overwhelmed with joy and expectation. I had it all planned out! My husband and I loved to go out with friends, we loved to vacation, and a baby was just going to add to the fun. We’d get a babysitter once a weekend so we could have date night. We’d take two vacations a year. One for the family and one just for the two of us. When I would share my plans with single friends, they would nod in agreement, and promise to visit all the time once the baby was born. My married with children friends had slightly different responses.

I’ll never forget how, after I detailed my plan to my then boss (mother of three), she just smiled slightly and said “really, that’s a nice plan”. She was almost smug and I have to say it irritated me! Why couldn’t I have it all? Other people, strangers mostly, began to disperse the “gems of wisdom” that were so generously bestowed on my husband during our engagement.

Some gems, I supposed at that time, were meant to be helpful. “get your rest now, you wont get any sleep once the baby is born”. That was a favorite of mine. Like you can actually save up sleep tokens. Other gems focused on my body. Generally, its considered rude to comment on people’s size, especially strangers. However, when you are pregnant, it seems as though the rules of etiquette no longer need to be followed. Strangers would reach out and touch my belly without asking. HELLO PERSONAL SPACE!! And touching my enormous belly was always followed by heartwarming comments. Comments such as, “wow, you are huge!!”, “are you sure its not twins?” or my favorite, “you look terrible”. I’m not entirely certain, but I’m pretty sure that if I tried these comments on non-pregnant women, id be considered pretty rude. And finally, the return of “your life is over!!”

I now understood the frustration that my husband felt when he was told over and over that his life was over. “you’ll never sleep again”, “you’ll never go out again”, “say hello to sweatpants, and goodbye Victoria’s Secret”. It was relentless. I once again was forced t wonder why people weren’t more supportive. Why did people want us to be unhappy?

I have three children now, and I think I finally know the answer.

After Maggie was born, things changed. Single friends slowly stopped calling to see if we could meet for drinks. There was no more staying out until 2am. There was no more sleeping in on the weekends. In fact, just as people had warned, there was very little sleep at all! We didn’t take that family vacation until 3 years later, and 5 years later, we still haven’t taken a trip without the children. My life as I knew it was over, just like “they” said.

However, the part that everyone forgot to add to their gems of wisdom was that a new exciting life was just beginning. I don’t stay out until 2am, or sleep in on the weekends. I do very little for myself, in fact these days showering every day is a luxury! But the truth is I don’t want to do those things anymore (except maybe shower). Sure, partly because I’m always tired (a state that your body quickly adjusts to), but partly because I would much rather curl up on my bed with my three lovely munchkins and read Go Dog Go!! For the fifteenth time this week. My life as a single childless woman was over, and my new lie as a wife and a mother had begun.

So were the people with “gems of wisdom” really trying to make us feel bad about our decisions? I don’t think so…I think they were, in their own way, saying welcome to the club. Not the misery club as it would first appear, but the rest of your life club. They just forgot to add to the “your life is over” gem that a new fulfilling and exciting life full of unimaginable love and emotion is about to begin. So the next time I’m about to embark on a life changing event. And someone passes on a valuable gem of knowledge, I will smile and say, “aren’t I lucky?”

Here’s a guest post from my wonderful assistant Nina. What do you reminisce about?

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The drive to our destination took too long and the drive on the way home was a breeze. I guess when you’re excited, time passes by really really slowly. I used to love the gas station stops. There was one particular gas station that was an absolute hit with all of us kids. It had a mini-park! I would spend the entire stop see-saw-ing or riding the swing. Once we get to the beach, it would be lunch time and wow, it was a great challenge for me to sit and eat when the waves were calling!!! My mom wouldn’t let us swim immediately after eating because she said our bodies needed to digest the food before we can engage in other activities. That used to drive me nuts! All I wanted was to don my swimsuit and ride the waves, feel the wet sand on my feet and pretend I was Ariel (from The Little Mermaid).

You don’t realize how much you will miss something – until its gone (or in this case, you don’t get to do it as often). That is why this year, I am organizing a beach trip with my family! But this time around, I will be the one with the checklist.

Here’s a wonderful guest post from one of our fabulous customers, Ann Root.  Please comment below.  If you would like to guest post on Raising American Girls we would love to hear from you.

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I’ve recently rekindled my love affair with fitness. I was ready to start making fitness part of my daily routine, but worried that my hour an evening working out would be taking time away from my 11 year old daughter.

Even so, I couldn’t let worries keep me from bettering myself. I needed to be strong and healthy.  So the evening workouts began. While my husband and I worked out our daughter played or read, but always near-by. I noticed that she would “peek in” on us and once found her reading my Oxygen magazine. Next came her questions:

“Mom, can I try your yoga work out?”

“Sure!”

Followed by,

“Can I do your warm up with you?”

“You bet!”

And then last week she asked if she could try our chest and back routine.

“Wow! Really? Ok!”

I was excited at her interest in fitness and her desire to work-out. She didn’t see it as time spent away from her as I had worried. That’s not to say we don’t have our ups and downs. She does get annoyed that mom can do more push- ups, but she’s also delighted that she’s the only one in the family that can do reclining bound angle pose. It’s my hope that the lessons she’s learning in fitness will carry over to other aspects in her life.

1.       Do what you can and don’t worry what everyone else is doing.

2.       Even when you think you can’t do anymore try to do one more- you may surprise yourself.

3.       Change happens a lot slower than we would like.

4.       A positive attitude allows you to achieve much more than a negative one.

5.       Being good to yourself allows you to be good to others.

As moms and maybe even as humans we often resist doing things in life because we worry about how it will affect others. But what a pleasant surprise, by doing something for myself, by being good to myself I’ve given something good to my daughter.

Ann Root

www.annmroot.blogspot.com

A year ago if you had asked me if I would be scouring the planet for 18” doll accessories, I would have said “not me”.  But, alas I have fallen into an obsession with finding and making items that would be the perfect scale for my daughters American Girl® dolls, Nicki, Samantha and Elizabeth. I am notorious for the phrase  “ooh, that would be perfect for the dolls!”

I have to say, my daughter and I are now fans of the Good Will Store, Marshall’s, Ross, the $1 bin at Michaels, Target and thrift stores in our area.  We have found some really cute things that work great for the dolls.  A large wooden jewelry box, for example, works great for a trunk at the end of their bed, to fill with all your found treasures. We found ours at the Good Will for 99 cents!  You never know what you will find!   We also enjoy crafting our own items.  Sculpty clay is now a mainstay of our home, like milk.  My hubby is often disappointed when looking in the oven and discovers miniature pizza and cookies baking for the dolls!  Poor guy.

In this time of economic crisis, it is such a blessing to have a hobby I can share with my daughter that is not going to put us out a lot of money.  It is so fun to sit at the table and make cute items form scraps of material, cardboard, or clay and talk about what’s going on in her life.  It’s a great time to connect with her. Hey, we are recycling as well!  She gets a great sense of accomplishment for creating items for her dolls.  She is learning to sew, and best of all, she is not sitting in front of the T.V.  She’s using her creativity, stretching her imagination.  The thing that I find so wonderful about the American Girl Dolls®, or any doll for that matter, is that they promote such positive values for our girls.  They are learning about history, friendships, struggles and joy. Their doll can be whoever they want her to be.  The dolls can do anything, go anywhere…so the girls learn “so can I”, that’s what it’s all about!

There are so many wonderful crafting sites on the web for 18” dolls, and YouTube has some great videos on how to care for your dolls and make fun stuff for them.  If you have a fun craft idea…let me know, Id love to post it on my blog!    http://lorisemilyrose.blogspot.com

Here are some sites to get you started: makingfriends.com, dolldiaries.com. If you like to sew, check out dollclothespatterns.net, and Emily Rose will be offering patterns for some of their outfits soon!!

It is wonderful to be able to provide the Emily Rose line of products and pass on the great savings.  Hosting an Emily Rose Party costs you nothing!  What a fun way to spend the afternoon, a house full of giggly girls, their dolls and moms!

If you live on the Central Coast of California between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, would like to host a party or find out more about Emily Rose @ Home, contact me at: lorispillman01@yahoo.com

Spending time cooking with your daughter can be fun, educational, and a great memory builder. Even if cooking isn’t tops on your favorite things to do, it can be an adventure you and your daughter can embark on together. Show her that you are willing to try new skills and that no one is too old to learn.

Whether your daughter is a preschooler or a tween, or somewhere in the middle, start at her level and yours. If cooking is your thing, have her pick your favorite dish. Help her gather ingredients, give her some kitchen tips along the way, throw in some math or nutritional information that’s age appropriate. Make your cooking sessions a monthly special time during which the kitchen is off limits to the rest of the family. If you have several children, give each one their own turn with Mom in the kitchen. You will be surprised at some of things they will start talking about when you are working on something together.

As your daughter gets more experience in the kitchen, work up to preparing a full meal. Let her choose the menu, if possible take her shopping with you. Give her a budget. It really will impress her how you manage doing this week in and week out for all the family’s meals. There’s sure to be bumps along the way, but giving your daughter a positive environment to experiment in, will really grow her self esteem.

If cooking isn’t your thing, then let her know that this will be an adventure for the two of. Even grown-ups don’t know everything or are good at everything, but we try to do our best for our families. Your tween and teenager are sure to admire you for sticking it out. Who knows, maybe your daughter will even be able to teach you a new trick or two. If nothing else you are still spending time together and making memories, not to mention a mountain of fun.

What to do if the meal is a flop? Talk about what you learned and how you could have done it differently. Think of a girl friend or mentor who you could ask for help. Girls need to learn how to solve their problems without getting frustrated or giving up. And just to make sure no one goes hungry, you can always have a frozen pizza ready to pop in the oven. Being prepared for any kind of outcome is another good life skill that it’s never to early to learn.

And don’t forget to include your daughter’s favorite 18-inch doll, with bite sized portions just for her doll.

Susie Hyde
www.houstonemilyroseathome.blogspot.com

Susie and her fifth grade daughter, Katie, are Emily Rose at Home Founders Circle members. They enjoy lots of time cooking and baking together in their Texas kitchen, along with trying out new doll-sized recipes for Katie’s American Girl dolls. Send them your favorite recipe at skdollclothes@gmail.com or a picture of you and your daughter cooking in the kitchen, and they will post it on their blog.

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Emily Rose clothing and furniture is generally recommended for ages 6 – 12. But I would like to tell you a story about a very special two-year old and her Emily Rose Wish Table and Chairs.

Taylor has Down’s Syndrome, and she has to be taught skills that other children may be able to learn on their own. One of these important skills is imaginary play. Taylor’s mom, Cyndi, saw my table and chairs and thought they would be perfect for Taylor to use for tea parties with her bears and other stuffed animals. I must admit that I was a little skeptical about how practical the furniture would be for a two-year old, but I accepted the order and delivered the table and chairs right before Christmas.

On Christmas morning I received a text from Cyndi saying that Taylor loved the table and chairs and was happily playing with them. I asked her a few weeks later how things were going. To my delight Cyndi told me that Taylor played with her table and chairs all the time. The table is the perfect height for her to stand next to, and she likes to stack her blocks and other toys on it. Her therapist uses the table and chairs to help Taylor practice imaginary play, like feeding her baby doll or stuffed animals and having tea parties with them. Once the table got something sticky on it and Taylor saw her mom wiping it off. Later she got a rag and practiced cleaning the table herself, which was the first time she had imitated that kind of behavior.

Taylor likes that the set is “hers” and doesn’t belong to anyone else in the family. Cyndi likes how durable the furniture is, holding up to Taylor sitting in the chairs, flipping over the table, and even throwing the chairs across the room on more than one occasion. (I don’t recommend that you try that last one at home!)

As a retired special education teacher, I thought sharing an Emily Rose @Home business with my two daughters, ages 9 and 11, would be a great way for us to learn, work and play together. I never imagined that it could also be a way for me to continue helping “special” children like Taylor.

Donna lives with her two daughters, 3 cats and 2 dogs in St. Louis, MO, and would love to “bring the fun home” by helping you to host an Emily Rose @Home Party.
Click here to sign up for a party or special offers!