I get this way at all holidays – I want to bust out my inner Martha Stewart. I want to decorate the house, and bake special treats for the kids to enjoy. I am on a bit of a homemade cookie binge these days… here are two cookies that I will be trying to make for Easter this week.

Little Peeper Cookies

Have you ever seen anything so cute? Looks quite straight forward – chocolate chips for the eyes, yellow candy coated licorice and orange gummies for the decoration.

Easter Basket Cookies

I love the look of these – and they are filled with icing which is quite possibly my favorite food on the planet. And there is the added bonus of the jellybeans in the basket.  Who’s to say chocolate mini eggs couldn’t pop in there too?  Just sayin’.

What are you making this holiday?  Any fun and cool recipes?

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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By unanimous vote the other night, we had tacos.  We love them, and I just figured out why.

We can all eat them our own way.  They are like a personalized dinner all wrapped up in one preparation.

First – the tacos – I always get the packs that have hard and soft shells – a little bit of variety is the spice of life.

I usually puree kale and cauliflower and add it to the meat mixture – then I can relax if the kids don’t choose a veggie to put on their taco. I feel quite smug as I watch them eat their dinner knowing they are consuming veggies and they are none the wiser.  I wonder how long I can be so sneaky?

SO. How do we like our tacos?

I turn mine into a massive salad.

The Husbands loads his up with everything.

The Boy specializes in meat and cheese tacos.

The Girl specialized in soft shell tacos – hold the veggies. wink, wink.

And The Baby… well he specializes in eating the straps on his highchair.  He doesn’t eat tacos yet.

How do you eat your tacos?

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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I did it with my mom, and loved it.

My mom did it with my grandma, and loved it.

My grandma did it with my great-gra…. you get the picture.

I do it with my kids too.

It’s our favorite rainy day activity. Or Friday afternoon-we-are-tired activity. Or my-brother-is-on-a-playdate-and-I-feel-left-out activity.

Cooking with kids. It’s the best of times – and can be quite challenging at times. But the end results are always worth the pain.

5 Things to Accept when Cooking with Kids

1. It will take longer.

2. It will be messier.

3. There is a higher risk of contamination. (sneezing, coughing, dirty fingers licking)

4. It will test your patience and force you to lower your standards.

5. You will remember it and cherish the time and talks that come from being productive together.

Today The Girl and I made banana bread together. Since I have about a 50% success rate with baking, I am pleased to announce the finished product was delicious. The Girl and I were able to solve many of life’s problems (at least those applicable when you are 3.5 years old) together while we were measuring, stirring, sifting, mixing and giggling. That to me, is time well spent.  I am still trying to get the flour out from between the stove and counter, but I loved every minute of it.

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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I love Valentine’s Day. Not in a mushy, romantic way… but in a “I-Love-to-Celebrate-People-I-Love” way. I find our days go so fast and furious that we don’t necessarily stop and take the time to tell those we love… that we love them.

The kids are all over Valentine’s Day this year – they are finally getting the hang of the hype of the holidays – it is very fun.  The Boy has been laboring over his Valentine’s Day cards for several days now, he takes it very seriously – painfully writing out each of his classmate’s names in his 5 year old chicken scratch handwriting.  The Girl is loving to write them with me, hand in hand. The Baby – well he just coos and giggles.

To surprise my little love machines this year, I am planning a Valentine’s Feast Dinner.

We are going to have a Valentine’s Pizza. We add on chopped up broccoli, kale, corn kernels and whatever else I can convince the kids they want on their pizza!

Then it’s dessert time.  My favorite. I can’t decide between the following three choices – which one would you choose?

Valentine Cookie Pops

or

Valentine Parfait Cupcakes

or

Valentine Sandwich Cookies

How sinful would it be to eat all three?  yummmmmmm

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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OUR MISSION: SAVE MORE LIVES.

The mission of the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) is to reduce deaths due to heart disease and stroke by 25% by 2020. That’s 25,000 lives – the size of a typical town – that could be saved every year.

A recent HSF survey reveals that Canadians aren’t making time for healthy choices, which is contributing to the fact that heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women, and the cause of 1 in 3 deaths in this country.  In fact, 82 per cent of Ontarians say they would be more active and 63 per cent say they would eat healthier if they could, but cite time as a barrier preventing them from doing so.

The HSF wants Canadians to help them reach their goal of making one million actions to Make Death Wait by the end of February 2012.

How can you Make Death Wait? Check out the Make Death Wait website and make a healthy action.

• Take the Heart & Stroke Risk Assessment
• Download the Facebook App
• Donate
• Volunteer
• Perform a Healthy Action

Join me in the Make Death Wait movement and help the Heart & Stroke Foundation meet their goal!

To encourage participation in their campaign, The Heart and Stroke Foundation is generously giving away a Make Death Wait Prize Pack. Valued at over $150, the prize pack includes:

-          A live or virtual nutrition counseling session with a HSF registered dietitian,

-          heart healthy cookbook,

-          pedometer,

-          water bottle,

-          measuring spoons, and

-          reusable HSF bag.

How to enter? Easy! Leave a comment telling how you take action against heart disease and stroke.  That’s it!

Want extra entries?

1- ‘Like’ The Heart and Stroke Foundation on Facebook. Leave a comment telling me that you have!

2- Follow @TheHSF on Twitter. Leave a comment telling me you are following them.

3 – Become a Practicalmum fan on Facebook. Leave a comment below telling me you’ve signed up.

4 – Follow @practicalmum on Twitter and tweet this giveaway (once a day!). (Leave me the link to your tweets below)

Win an amazing heart healthy prize pack from @TheHSF and @practicalmum Make Death Wait #giveaway {Cdn only} 29/02 http://ht.ly/8SkPv

5 – Create an account at practicalmum.com. Leave me a comment with your username once you’ve signed up.

6- Post or share about this giveaway on your blog, or any of your social media outlets.  Leave me a comment for each post you shared.

Contest is open to Canadian readers only through February 29th, 2011. Winner will be chosen using the “… and the winner is” plug in and contacted via email. The winner will have 24 hours to respond.

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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The Boy just turned 5. And the birthday was simply not going to happen without a Cars2 cake. The challenge was on.

Not bad for an amateur huh?

So how did I make the Cars 2 Cake? Easy!

1. Make a slab cake using any easy recipe. I am a huge fan of the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake mixes.  For this particular cake, my mom saved the day and baked a phenomenal chocolate cake from scratch because our oven was broken. Long story for another time.

2. Make your favorite buttercream icing. I often buy the Betty Crocker buttercream frosting, this time I made it from scratch.  I bow to your applause.

3. Divide the icing into two – leave part plain, and add green food coloring to the other part. Ice the cake with the plain icing to create the perfect “surface” on which to create.

4. Ice the top of the cake green – this is your track surface.

5. Throw some chocolate wafers through the food processor, or crush them by hand.  This is your track.  Lay your track in whatever configuration works for you. I chose the figure 8, but would do the oval track next time to make it less busy.

6. I experimented with the leftover icing (I don’t believe you can ever have enough icing – it is possibly my favorite food on the planet). I tried a few different tips to create flowers and bushes – I find it gave the cake nice texture (love when experiments work out!).

7. I made a gravel viewing area using Rice Krispies.

8. I printed a finish line and checkered flags from the computer and attached them to toothpicks.

9. I included a few of the cars characters on top.  Of course, Lightning McQueen is a must and Mater – they are The Boy’s favorites.  I also added on Francesco Bernoulli because it was one of his birthday prezzies and he loves saying “Francesco Bernoulli” in an Italian accent. I laugh every time he says it.

10. Candle on top, light candle, sing the song then… eat!

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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Sooooo – have you kept your resolution? They say it takes 28 days to establish a new habit… so is it working?!

The most common resolutions are to eat healthier and exercise more. Sound familiar?

One thing I have been pushing in our house is to increase fiber in our diet.  A scoop of ground flaxmeal has been quietly added to many meals- nobody is the wiser! Hint: There are many high fibre recipes at the lifemadedelicious.ca site.

If exercise is your resolution, how about setting a specific goal? Get your booty out there for 20 mins and put your hard work to the test… how about using the Fibre 1 Challenge as the first tangible goal for 2012?

Presented by The Running Room, the Fibre 1 Chill Challenge is an opportunity to get active by walking or running for 20 minutes, on Wednesday February 29th.  PLUS as bonus, the first 10,000 people to register will get a free toque!  Abandon the hibernation and get outside – click here for more information.

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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Hey Mom Entrepreneurs! Do you need a time out?
Invest a weekend making your business successful AND enjoying some much-needed “me time”?

The Mom Biz Retreat
January 27, 28, 29, 2012
The Amalfi Hotel in Chicago!

If you are an established mom business owner, or a work at home mom, or thinking about starting your own business, ponder this:

• Working harder at your own business than you did when you worked for someone else?

  

• What if your business is viable?

• What if you had someone to guide you on the next steps?

• What if you had support to get to where you’re going?

• What if the number of hours you spent went down and your profit went up?
  

• What if your family saw more of you?
  

• What if you knew how to find more ideal clients? The ones you love to work with?
  

• What if you worked hard AND got paid for it?

• Connect with other like-minded mompreneurs who understand your world?
  

• Are you ready to learn how to build a successful business, and then to make a plan to do it and start taking action IMMEDIATELY with an experienced business coach to mentor you each step of the way?

• What if you ate five excellent meals that you didn’t have to cook?

• Imagine two nights of uninterrupted sleep in a luxurious hotel surrounded by unbelievable beauty!

• What if you had on-site spa services to pamper you and make you feel loved?

Psssst – use promo code ‘Chicago100″ and receive $100 off your ticket! WOW!

When you come home on Sunday, You will have in your business toolbox:

• A killer Time Map to provide clarity around when you are actually available to work.

• A clear picture of the viabilty of your business and a better understanding of what to modify to make it more sustainable.

• A rockin’ elevator pitch that gives you the confidence to market yourself and qualify clients.
  

• An EASE Mindset designed to help you do only the work you love with clients you love to serve.

• A proven, well-designed business model that leverages your expertise and keeps your customers coming back.
  

• A tight engagement marketing strategy showing you where to find your target clients and how to build lasting, profitable relationships with them.

• Specific systems and support structures to allow you to grow and prosper.

• Your one page business plan for the year.

• A weekend away to work ON your business, not IN it.
• Incredible memories and relationships with 20-30 motivated, inspired, incredible women who have been where you are and live in your world.
  

” I went away with a stronger intention to be kinder to myself and my health. I also went away with a sense of strength knowing that I had great clarity about the direction of my business. ” Leigh Mitchell, Founder of Women In Business Network

More good news. You also get;

• An accountability network of like-minded mompreneurs who truly GET IT, and understand what’s important to you, who are willing to help you get there.

• Two breakfasts, two lunches, coffee breaks and one exquisite dinner at a landmark Italian Steakhouse (complete with wine) that you don’t have to cook (or clean up after!).

• Uninterrupted sleep, no laundry, no kids (did we mention no kids?), no husbands.

• R&R: come in your yoga (or comfy) pants, relax and refresh your body with our private yoga sessions each morning (we provide the mats).
  
• Access to all manner of in-room spa services to help you get the relaxation you crave and deserve.
  
• All sorts of shopping opportunities to reward your hard work.
  
• The chance to hang out with a group of like-minded women who will probably say “Me, too!” more times than you can count over the weekend!

Now is your time to think about:

• branding
• business planning
• time management
• work/family balance strategies
• social media marketing plans
• creating systems and structures to support you, what to delegate, how to manage your business, and where to find more clients…

Let’s do it together so you get it DONE!

“The collective wisdom of this group was incredible! I’ve always said that “Together We Are Stronger,” and the Mom Biz Retreat has proved the theory ten-fold! ” Karen Climans, Founder Tail-Wags Helmet Covers

Your 3 day agenda to sucess:

Friday

Arrival and Check-in
Why We Work and What We Want
Secrets of a Successful Mompreneur Business

Friday Night

Meet and Greet (w/appetizers and drinks) at The Ups Store!

Saturday

Wake-Up Yoga
Gourmet Buffet Breakfast
Time Mapping—How to Handle All Your Priorities in the Time You Have
Mastering the E.A.S.E. Mindset
Delicious 4 course Lunch
Branding—How to Attract your Ideal Clients and Keep Them Forever
Coffee Break
Engagement Marketing
Accountability and Action Steps
Free Time (Spa or shopping, anyone?)

Saturday Night
Exquisite Gourmet Dinner With Our Group at 437 Rush Street

Sunday

Wake Up Yoga
Another gourmet Breakfast
Set Yourself Up For Growth
Coffee Break
Create Your Business Model
An exquisite Lunch
One Page Business Plan
Coffee Break
Challenge of Change
Finish Time is 4:30pm

“Lara and Shelagh, you are both motivating, inspirational, driven, caring, supportive and committed to the Mom Biz Retreat participants, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to other women! ” Judy Ranieri, Owner Small Biz Cafe

This is a learn and DO event. You are working ON your business in a supportive and nurturing environment.

This weekend, you walk away with awesome tools for your business toolkit–plans, guides, checklists, action items, next steps… You’ll be doing the work of business owners, the stuff it takes to build a successful business, that you often push aside when you’re busy.

So much business coaching and training is packed into this weekend, so you accomplish much in the short time you are away from your family.

“I was soooo inspired by all these women you brought together. I really enjoyed the weekend and learned a lot about so many things. I was telling everyone about it and I have more women interested to join. ” Ravi Choudhry, Founder Neuro Health, Inc.

Private coaching clients pay $300 per hour to learn these tools over weeks and months of one-on-one coaching. This information is $3,000+. It has been packed into one deluxe weekend for mom.

They say that if you take money out of your pocket and invest it in your mind, then your mind will find a way to put it back in your pocket and then some.

Early Bird (until November 15): $495 ENDED

Bring-a-Friend rate (until December 16): $450 each
(Bring-a-Friend rate only available when you and a friend sign up together and both names are listed in the registration field on the EventBrite sign-up page.)

Regular rate (until January 27): $595

Use promo code ‘CHICAGO100′ and receive $100 of your ticket! That’s a good deal!

How powerful will you feel when you are clear on your brand, your business model, your business plan and your marketing strategy? How happy will you be when you create a schedule that gets your work done without feeling guilty about stealing time away from your family?

What if you were one of the 30 incredible women in that room for 3 days?

Now is your time to draw a line in the sand and jump in with both feet.

You deserve this.

Your family deserves this.

“ Life changing. I can’t stop thinking about the Mom Biz Retreat and everyone that was there. ” Susan Schenck, Technology and Tools for Kids

Come and indulge yourself by staying Friday and Saturday nights at the Amalfi Hotel, where all the meetings, Meet and Greet reception, and Wake-Up Yoga Sessions take place.

The Amalfi Hotel Chicago

You can have a special Mom Biz Retreat participant room rate of $109/night (+ taxes) for a deluxe room with a king bed or $119/night (+ taxes) for a deluxe room with two queen beds. Click here for the MomBizRetreat Hotel Room Reservation link.

Or you can call 877-262-5341 and mention “MomBizRetreat.” Make sure you book by January 1 to guarantee our special rate!

When you book your room, also consider booking your massage, facial or pedicure to round out the Retreat!

What’s Included:

The Retreat includes two-and-a-half days of workshops on Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and all day Sunday, two breakfasts, two lunches, snacks, and one gourmet dinner with wine on Saturday night. It also includes the morning Wake Up Yoga Sessions on Saturday and Sunday, and the evening “Meet and Greet” reception in the Ravello Lounge, plus all your workbooks, checklists, plans, templates, models, how-to guides, fill-in-the-blank exercises and other resources we provide to help you get things done. We are providing tons of hands-on, do-it-now tools that are critical to your mompreneur success. It’s like six months of business coaching in two days!

You are capable of accomplishing in one weekend what some people take a year to do. Then socialize, relax, and indulge in the treats a world-class spa offers with a group of women you’ll call BFFs before the end of the weekend.

“ I just wanted to thank you all for taking me into the fold and being such an inspiring group to bounce ideas off of. What a great retreat and wonderful learning opportunity. “ Anjum Nayyar, Founder and Editor Masala Mommas

The small print:

What is not included in your MomBizRetreat registration fee is your hotel room at Amalfi and the lovely spa services you choose yourself.

You owe it to yourself, your family and your business to take care of yourself, to be the best mom and business owner you can be.

Take this time to do the visioning, planning and strategizing that will allow you to be successful on your own terms and create a business that you and your family love!

Let us remove all the risk for you.

The return on your investment is guaranteed! If at the end of the weekend, you have done all the work and you don’t walk out with the tools, knowledge and strategy that you need to make money in a business you love, we’ll give you 100% of your registration fee back. Guaranteed.

Still have some questions? We would love to answer them.

Call or email Lara (lara@mombizcoach.com) or (Shelagh.Cummins@gmail.com) to talk it over.

Interested in getting a whole bunch of digitally-savvy mom entrepreneurs interested in your business, product or service? We’d love to help you with that. Various sponsorship levels are available. Just contact Lara or Shelagh for our sponsorship deck: lara@mombizcoach.com, shelagh@biztrainher.com or DM them on twitter.

*We are unable to offer refunds once tickets are purchased. You are, however, welcome to transfer to an alternate date/city or sell your ticket to another person. Your credit will remain on file for a future event. The credit is good for 18 months. Please email us for details.

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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Just because the holidays are over, doesn’t mean the parties need to end.

I love parties in January- a little pick me up after the post holiday blues, the back to work, the back to routine… the perfect time to get together and survive the dark days of winter together.

Sometimes a little home made food is just good for the soul -and in my world, the best thing for my soul? Dessert. The other best thing for my soul? Girlfriends.  Put the two together? A 5-alarm dessert night with my girlfriends! Who needs a main meal?

We feasted on a Double Chocolate Treasure Cake.  Hello, divine! So rich, so chocolate-y, so smooth, simply delicious.  The other perk? Really easy to make.  This is on my ‘to make’ list for upcoming birthdays.

We also nibbled on some chocolate shortbread cookies. Hello deliciousness. I ended up making a batch, and batch of Oreo Truffles to giveaway as hostess gifts and to neighbors.  The truffles were a hit – absolutely sensational – and made with 3 ingredients; cream cheese, oreo cookies and Bakers chocolate.

I love that Kraft Canada has a partnership with Food Banks Canada… Kraft Food for Families is designed to enable communities across Canada to have improved access to food.

Starting December 2, every week for ten weeks, each name added online at www.kraftassists.ca will equal one vote for any of the 29 participating food banks. Every week, the food bank that receives the most names of support during each weekly voting period, will receive a $1000 donation from the Kraft Food for Families program.

Inspired by the tremendous support for the program since it launched last month, Kraft launched a second phase to allow Canadians to continue adding their signature online at www.kraftassists.ca in support of their local food bank.  Each week, the totals reset at zero and the tallies start from scratch – so Canadians can add their name daily each week until the end of the program on February 10.

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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The gloves are off. I am taking no prisoners.  I am going to win this battle.

I am fighting postpartum depression with everything in my arsenal.

Before we go any further, let me be crystal clear. I am not a doctor, nor an expert in the area of post partum depression (PPD). I am simply sharing my experience.  If you think you may be suffering from PPD, please, I beg you, do yourself a favor and go to see your doctor. Just tell them you haven’t felt like yourself since your baby was born – they know exactly what to do next.  Please. Take care of yourself. Or reach out here, leave me a comment, I get it. Don’t suffer in silence.

It has been 10 weeks since The Baby was born.  He is thriving.  He’s packing on the pounds, we have him on a 3 hour routine. He is filling his diapers appropriately – he is an absolute gem of a baby.  We love him to bits and couldn’t ask for a better baby.  I am so blessed.

You see, cognitively I know that I am blessed.  I know how much I love him.  I would do anything for him – or for any of my kids for that matter. I just wish my feelings were connecting to my head. That is one of the effect of PPD – you are numb.  I know when I am happy, but I don’t always feel it. I am anxious about silly things. I have irrational anger (just ask my husband). These are all symptoms of PPD.

So how am I fighting it? Here are 10 things I am doing to help fight Post Partum Depression. I have not won yet, but I am having more good days than bad!

1. Shower every day.

Yeah, I know.  So simple right? HA! It is not as simple, nor as easy as it sounds but wow does it make a difference. When you’re nursing the hormones are elevating which means body odor and sweat is elevated which means… ew. Wash it off Girl!

2. Get dressed every day.

Get out of the jammies. Even if it is into a clean pair of sweatpants, get out of the jammies. You need to start distinguishing day and night, just like your baby does. Clean clothes after your shower – gold.

3. Get outside every day.

Get out and breathe the fresh air. On bad days, stand on your porch and give yourself 10 big breaths of fresh air. On the good days, go for a walk. If it’s raining, walk the aisles at the grocery store or mall. Visit a friend. Go to the library.  Just get out and have a change of scenery.

4. Turn off day time TV.

It can suck the life right out of you. It was actually one of the first tips our Public Health Nurse shared with me and I was surprised. Don’t watch hours on end of day time TV. Read, listen to music, call a friend, get out, shower… anything but the tube!

5. Supplements

I swear by my natural supplements. I take two EPA fish oils, Vitamin B Complex, and 2000mg of Vitamin D daily.  They are a game changer in my world.  I need my husband to supervise their ingestion as the self sabotage of not taking them is part of the PPD. Don’t ask me why, just is. It takes 3 days on the supplements to clear my head and for me to notice a visible difference. My concoction was prescribed by a naturopath – please visit with your own naturopath to find out what works best for you. These supplements apparently mimic an antidepressant medication (which I didn’t want to take while  nursing)- but consult with your own medical doctor for advice that works for you!

6. Sleep.

8 hours in a 24 hour cycle. This for me is the hardest. The Baby is #3 – so it’s really challenging to sleep during the day. And since I work for myself, I am still working now and often find evenings are when I am most productive and able to accomplish anything. So instead of hitting the hay at 9pm like I should, I am up until the first night feeding around midnight/1pm.  Not enough sleep is debilitating. Do as I say, not as I do.  This holiday, sleep is my focus as I take a breather from work.

7. Connect.

Girl, you are not alone.  Seriously. I feel strongly that every mother experience varying degrees of PPD. Reach out and find other new moms.  Meet with them regularly.  Get online and chat with other new moms – if you’re on Twitter there’s a great group called #zombiemoms. Connect with others who are experiencing what you are. Seriously, it may feel it, but you are not alone.

8. Awareness

Knowing when you are lashing out irrationally, or when you are feeling anxious is half the battle. The more you talk about how you are feeling, the more natural it will be to talk about it… know what I mean?

9. Simplify

Simplify your life. From cooking to cleaning to laundry.  Implement systems to make your day as straight forward and stress free as possible.  Look for quick meal ideas to help with the meal preparation. Do one load of laundry a day so it doesn’t become overwhelming. Clean one room a day to keep on top of things. Keep It Simple Baby!

10. Breathe

This too shall pass. It feels like an eternity right now, but having a newborn is really a nanosecond in an eternity of life.  Just breathe and ride it out.  Things will get easier and better.

Please don’t suffer in silence, or alone. We’re here.

About Shelagh Cummins

Shelagh Cummins is the founder, editor and Mum-in-chief at Practicalmum.com – an online community parenting resource & blog. She is also the Principal at BizTrainHer.com, a boutique firm specializing in desiging, developing and facilitating training for women in business.

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