I've Moved to www.bump2basics.com

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Cybermummy 2011 Meet & Greet

I can't believe we are almost halfway through the year or that CyberMummy 2011 is already this weekend.  For the non-bloggers out there, this is the second year of this UK parent blogging conference where bloggers get to put faces to names/words, exchange ideas about blogging and just generally chit chat.  Huggies has kindly sponsored my ticket for the second year running and I'm looking forward to another good, inspiring day out.

Carly at Mummy's Shoes has again organized a 'Meet and Greet' to help those of us going recognize each other so here are my "stats":

Name: Tanya
Blog: Bump2Basics
Twitter ID: @Bump2Basics
Height: 5ft 1" but will be in a small heel
Hair: Long Brown
Eyes: Brown
Likes: Talking, morning scrums, running, Pilates, fine wine, long walks, adventure, writing
Dislikes:  Milk, being condescended to, ugly words

Please come say hi, you can tell I like to chat!  This photo is a little deceptive because my hair is tied back and is actually quite long but this is the most recent, close-up shot that I have of me.....LLC gets most of the camera time around here these days, thankfully!!

Witching Hour & Afternoon Tea; It's all a day in the life of LLC

While Halloween festivity seems to be on the rise here, it's certainly all the rage in my native US of States.  I remember some of my early costumes fondly, particularly a bunny suit that matched my dear Floppy-eared Rabbit.  Now that LLC is on the scene I wanted to get in the spooky spirit: Chris carved a pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern, we hung strands of black bats in our window and LLC and I dressed as matching witches to great our trick-or-treaters....of which there was one.   One solitary trick-or-treater.  All my visions of our cackling selves greeting candy-mad children at the door were shattered but we still had a pretty good time making spooky faces at Chris.  Did I say we?  I'm not sure what LLC would have to say about that but she seemed to enjoy my antics..... really, she did.

As if the little lady had not had enough excitement for one week, on Tuesday we joined Huggies and the other Huggies Mums for afternoon tea at The Dorchester in London.   While we chatted about our kids, the Huggies Bundle of Laughs comedy channel and life in general over tasty sandwiches and cakes, LLC scoffed a cucumber sandwich and then enjoyed many cuddles from the Huggies girls and Young Mummy, who didn't even get cross when she knocked her glasses or phone onto the floor.  I'd never been to tea at Dorchester before and fear I may be instilling expensive tastes in LLC from a tender age!

It's been a busy past week in the life of this 9 month-old!

CyberMummy Snapshot

This weekend I attended the exciting, emotional and informative whirlwind that was CyberMummy. The UK parenting blogging community is no doubt well established, and this premier mummy blogging conference only served to take this presence to a new level.

Thank you CyberMummy organizers for a fun and interesting day; thank you Huggies for sponsoring my ticket and all your support and attention throughout the event.

So what did I take away from this hotpot of blogger networking and blogging chitchat? A lot, but here are the things that stood out for me:

• Networking never felt so good – I’ve done my fair share of networking through work and it can be strained and a real effort. I’m really struck by how open and friendly our blogging community was in the flesh; conversation easily flowed; people seemed genuinely happy to be there.
• Good content is more than just good writing – Honest content that others can relate to or discuss emerged as a key ingredient to “good content” and served as a reminder forget the mass blogosphere out there and just keep it real.
• Copyright issues extend to music – Obvious, right?, but I hadn’t considered that by linking a YouTube video to my blog I could be creating copyright fraud.
• Social networking is vital if you want your blog published –I didn’t recognize how important a strong online social networking presence is when pitching a book to publishers as a new author.
• Tactically placed keywords enable SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Be proactive in building your audience; think about the keywords that will deliver users to your blog. Search engines look at your keywords based on density, frequency, prominence, proximity and semantic reinforcement.
• Crowdsourced Keynotes rock - the day's final roundup of posts from bloggers themselves proved an emotional and striking reminder of the strength, widsom and humor to be found in the blogging world - a real reminder of why I enjoy dabbling in this big pond in the first place. 

A small snapshot, but to me a vital one from a fab day. My only regret is that I didn’t get to meet everyone that I’d hoped to!

CyberMummy Here I Come!

I’m excited to be attending the much anticipated CyberMummy blogging conference this Saturday July 3rd. Huggies, who sponsored my ticket, has recently already afforded me the opportunity to meet some fellow bloggers but by and large, this is my first opportunity to meet the people behind the words, which is fantastic and also a little daunting too.

In an effort to get to know each other a bit before the day, Carly at Mummy’s Shoes initiated a ‘Meet & Greet’ so attendees could share a snapshot bio with each other. So here’s a bit on me.

Name: Tanya
Blog: Bump2Basics – Random Musings from an American Mom in London
Twitter ID: @Bump2Basics
Hair: Long brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5ft 1, but probably will be wearing some type of heel, though nothing too ambitious
Will be wearing: Something non-breastfeeding friendly; it will make a refreshing change!
Likes: Running, writing, pilates, fine wine with family & friends, long walks, exploring, yoga, salsa dancing and talking (please come say hello on the day!)

I’ve been inspired, surprised, educated and engaged by the UK blogging community once I realized it existed so Saturday promises to be a day to learn a lot, and to remember.

Breaking Bread with Fellow Bloggers

Yesterday LLC and I attended our first “blogging event” a la Huggies to chat about my new role as a Huggies Mum and to meet fellow Huggies mama bloggers.

What does it mean to be a Huggies mum? We’re not paid (aside from travel expenses to meetings), or roped into writing rave reviews of every Huggies product under the sun – Huggies is providing a platform for UK mum bloggers to meet, network and keep up to speed with Huggies products and events. They’ve kindly sponsored our tickets to the much anticipated Cybermummy and occasionally pass on some free goodies for our little ones. I was psyched to be offered the opportunity to get involved.

So bloggers event virgin I am no more! Several members of the very friendly, baby-loving Huggies team (LLC received many cuddles and I even had my nails done!) met us in London and I got the chance to meet some of the bloggers I regularly read along with a number of their adorable kids. Check out their blogs for some great reads:

A Place of My Own
Young & Younger
Glowstars
Me, The Man & The Baby
Babygenie
A Mothers Ramblings
Perfectly Happy Mum
The Alice
Wahm Bam

It was a lovely, laid back meet and greet. We also learned about some cool competitions Huggies has on the cards for bloggers (more on this in a future post). Thanks for a lovely afternoon Huggies.
 

Speaking of blogger love, I felt all warm and fuzzy last week when I received two blogging awards.
First, the Beautiful Blogger Award from the lovely, witty Nappy Valley Girl who currently resides on my native Long Island. This award involves revealing seven things about me and tagging other bloggers to do the same. Hmmmm, what is worth sharing....

• I met Chris in a nightclub in Plymouth, UK while on a high school trip to England. I blogged about this recently but you may have missed that....
• I wrote a small children’s book series as a kid called The Pam & Beth Stories; writing hooked me from an early age
• I bought my wedding dress on Ebay from a girl in Texas –it cost about $200 and looked as good as new. Don’t discount the power of the bay...
• I’ve had a crush on Christian Bale since I saw him sing and dance his heart out in Newsies – I try to ignore his venomous tongue and temper of late and concentrate on the fact he is h-o-t
• I’m a sleep freak – i.e. a very light sleeper who has trouble sleeping in front of other people
• I played soccer for about 10 years as a kid – midfield because of my stamina, heh.... – it’s really popular for girls on Long Island where I grew up

I’d like to learn some fascinating facts about A Mother's Ramblings, Living with Kids and Deer Baby.

Next, the Prolific Blogger Award from the fabulous Michelle at A Mid-Atlantic English, a fellow American Expat.

This award comes with the following rules from originator Advance Booking:

1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award (see above).
3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners.

I’d like to share this award with the following excellent bloggers that always keep me coming back for more, some that I’ve been reading for awhile and some more recently discovered: MWA, A Place of My Own, Glowstars, Angels & Urchins, Readily A Parent, Tiddlyompompom

Whew.....

CyberMummy Here I Come

I didn't understand the massive scope of the blogosphere when I began blogging.  I naively didn't recognize the force that is the parent blogging community on both sides of the Atlantic.

This was probably a good thing to start, as it allowed me to actually start writing and blogging rather than spend hours delving into other blog content.  I re-discovered my writing and established a blogging rhythm of some sort.  And then I stepped off the deep end into the blogosphere.  It's been a thought provoking and inspiring leap. 

The 2010 CyberMummy Conference is a testament to the UK parent blogging tribe that I now mix with.  It's an opportunity to talk blogging, exchange tips with and meet the characters behind my Google Reader.  I really wanted to attend yet at £100.00/ticket the price was a bit steep for my maternity leave budget.  

You can thus imagine my excitement when Huggies contacted me out of the blue and offered to sponsor my pace at CyberMummy.  I've graciously accepted and look forward to this eye and mind opening event.  Thank you Huggies.

Fortunes – In my cookie, and in blogging

My fortune cookie yesterday read: “Your wish will be granted after a long delay.” Does that mean labor will start today? I’m saving this one.

And now a word on blogging fortunes, in reference to a tag from insightful parenting blog/site Angels and Urchins in response to a Communities, cliques and a new meme. This meme asks bloggers to share three of their favourite, newly discovered blogging reads in an effort to share great content. I thought the meme was a fine idea, and made the following comment on my impressions of starting out in the blogosphere on the original post by Who’s the Mummy:

"I am also fairly new on the blogging scene. It can be overwhelming at times but I find the further I dabble the more I get to grips with how to share my own stories, discover the fantastic content of others and network in general. For me it's a gradual process. I blog because I love writing and hope others can relate/connect to my posts. I sometimes need to remind myself that there is a balance to be had between gaining traffic and worrying about how to get noticed amongst the masses when I'd rather focus on actually writing. Memes like this help create that balance - thank you."

Thank you Angels and Urchins for bringing this meme back to me. While bouncing on my birthing ball, I’ve recently been reading the following three excellent blogs:

A Day in the Life with Baby V – a beautifully written chronicle of a mother’s quest to balance motherhood, marriage, career and fitness

Young & Younger – a witty and spirited account of a first time mum to twins – her nursery photos are gorgeous too!

Single Motherhood Challenges – the honest and touching ins and outs of a young single mum and her little boy

I’d like to tag Mid-Atlantic English, Loving & Supporting Mamas and The Dotterel with this meme; their blogs are also excellent and no doubt they'll have some other blogging gems to share.

Looks can be deceiving: the My Object Meme

This is my first dabble with memes, inspired by The Dotterel who opened up his meme to the masses... (FYI a meme is when another blogger posts on a topic and then invites other bloggers to write a post on the same topic – I’m finally in the loop after some confusion!)

Anyway, this meme is about choosing an object that tells the story of my family and/or me.

So I’ve chosen my worn and weathered, comfy and cozy, not aesthetically but always emotionally pleasing Russell Athletic sweatshirt. Before you scrunch up your nose or question whether my pregnancy hormones have finally led me off the deep end, I’ll explain.

Chris and I are not chronic hoarders but sporadic hoarders all the same. We both glean significance from a range of random little tidbits like my heart-shaped rock, his House of Lords whiskey and the first hand-written letters that we exchanged while living across the ocean from each other.....

This Russell Athletic sweatshirt stands out from our motley of “special objects,” as a symbol of togetherness, hope and unadorned contentment. More than an old item of clothing, it’s a sweatshirt that holds good memories of past, even when the going was tough and it still comforts me in the here and now.

This sweatshirt belonged to Chris and he gave it to me when I was 19 or 20 and we were in the midst of a long distance relationship. If you’ve ever done long distance, you will sympathize with the overwhelming, stifling emotion of wanting to reach out and hold your special someone’s hand and knowing that it’s not to be for some time. We were both at University, just on different sides of the Atlantic. Not close friends but many others questioned our fidelity and challenged me about pursuing a long distance relationship at my age.

I must have known back then that Chris and I were the real deal, for I never felt threatened by these obnoxious remarks, just frustrated that I wasn’t with my guy. Day in day out, I had a little piece/scent of him in this Russell Athletic sweatshirt. It didn’t matter that it was three sizes too big, worn out and faded – to me it was a piece of Chris, our solidarity, a sign of hope for good times to come. I didn’t wear it out much but it was always there for me to come home to.

Fast forward to the present, the sweatshirt moved back to England with me in 2002 and continues to be a near and dear symbol of the special bond that Chris and I have and that changed my life really. Now that I’m pregnant with the little lady (still pregnant) it’s the perfect size for bump and me to fit into physically, and emotionally its magic and the bond it represents has extended from the two of us to the three of us and the new life balance we are soon to carve out.

If you passed me on the street in my Russell Athletic sweatshirt you wouldn’t blink an eye aside from possibly noting that I am one heavily pregnant lady in a big old sweatshirt. And that’s okay – it just goes to show that the magic for each of us comes in unexpected places.

Every Little Bit Makes a Difference

I promised to post on another topic rather than my labor waiting game, and today would like to share a post from Heather at Notes for Lapland highlighting a much bigger issue: the Bloggers for Haiti ShelterBox campaign started by English Mum for survivors of the traumatic earthquake that rocked Haiti last week.

Sitting in my South London home, it’s hard to imagine the entire fabric of my life and that of hundreds of thousands of my neighbours being ripped to shreds in an instant by forces of nature. Unfortunately in this crazy world natural disasters like this do happen, and as we all know, did just happen in Haiti.

I’m not currently rolling in dough but every £1 and $1 donated for towards this effort will make a difference and I will be making a donation tonight.  Lately I've been thinking a lot about the responsibility of giving my little one a solid start in life; herein lies an opportunity to help give a another person further from home another much needed start.

Hear Hear to the blogosphere for spreading the word about this valuable effort. Tons of bloggers have made similar posts; please continue to spread the word/make a donation if you haven’t already!

More specifics about the ShelterBox are below; to donate please visit the Bloggers For Haiti JustGiving page. 


A ShelterBox

Each box costs an average of £490 including all materials, packing, storage and distribution to individual recipients worldwide. Based on six months use only this equates to 27 pence per person per day.

Shelter
At the heart of every ShelterBox is a ten-person tent. It is custom made for ShelterBox by Vango, one of the world’s leading tent manufacturers, and is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, high winds and heavy rainfall. Internally, each tent has privacy partitions that allow recipients to divide the space as they see fit.

A smile
Every box contains a children’s pack containing drawing books, crayons and pens. For children who have lostmost, if not all, their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.

Warmth and protection
In addition to the tent, the boxes contain a range of other survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall. Where malaria is prevalent mosquito nets are supplied, as well a life saving means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.

Self sufficiency
A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters can be found in every box. These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.

Fit for purpose
Every item is durable, practical and brand new. The box itself is lightweight and waterproof and has been used for a variety of purposes in the past - from water and food storage containers to a cot for a newly born baby.

A heart to the home
A key piece in every box is either a wood burning or multi-fuel stove - that can burn anything from diesel to old paint. This provides the heart of the new home where water is boiled, food is cooked and families congregate. In addition, there are pans, utensils, bowls, mugs and water storage containers.

Adaptability
We keep a broad range of equipment in stock so we can adapt the contents of a box to a specific disaster. For example, following the Javanese earthquake in 2006, when some resources were available locally or could be salvaged from one storey buildings, the overwhelming need was for shelter – so we just sent tents, packing two in each box.

Donating couldn't be easier. Simply go to Bloggers For Haiti JustGiving page.

What happened to a simple story?

I just received this NPR link from both pregnant E and my mom. It's all about "Blog-ola" or the free goodies, products, trips and perks many marketers are giving mommy bloggers in return for favorable publicity and positive product reviews. Mommy bloggers by and large admit to only posting positive reviews so they can cash in on freebies and now the "ethical nature" of these blogs has come under fire.

Now I have added AdSense to this blog, and my focus is pregnancy (I have no clue about the million baby products on the market) but I never thought of using this forum as a PR/marketing tool. Maybe I don't have enough of a commercial hat....maybe I'm just too traditional and am writing to share an honest story...Though sometimes it seems this world is social networking, online marketing crazy that can easily spiral out of control. I'm happy to keep it simple.

I'm pleased to report that my blues of yesterday are now a distant memory - I think it had just been a long day...and those hormones....I'm still blaming them for all irrational feelings!

Google = Crazy Brigade

My pregnant friend E suggested I read Teresa Strasser's blog, 'Exploiting My Baby.' E knows that I love TMI, and Teresa tells it straight. For those that don't know her (I didn't), she is now 6 months+ pregnant, a successful journalist and co-host on the Adam Carolla show. To me she looks pretty damn glamorous and put together, but her honest and witty blog is a first hand account that even seemingly calm, cool and collected celebs don't always feel that way, particularly when slightly unhinged by a surge of pregnancy hormones.

I especially related to Teresa's forays into the genius turned devil that is google. It's my first pregnancy and I'm a novice who needs to learn fast as the 9 months quickly recede before me. Trying to stay informed throughout my first trimester I found myself googling a host of pregnancy issues/topics/conditions.....'avoiding varicose veins'....'avoiding constipation'.....'signs of miscarriage'....'are essential oils dangerous in pregnancy'.....'are herbal teas safe'.....'running in pregnancy'.....'toxoplasmosis'......'toxoplasmosis and cats'.....and on and on an on until I had the urge to throw my computer out the window in a mix of fear/disgust/worry. Fortunately I avoided defenestration, and instead tested the patience of Chris and my dear mother by asking ridiculous questions based on my online adventures to which I was given a swift reality check.

Google searches take you to all sorts of crazy articles and forums that may not be credible and usually lead to scare mongering. So if you are a pregnant lady seeking insights through google, I suggest you stop now before you cross the fine line between being aware and a being a little more crazy than you already are. Otherwise before you know it, you'll be throwing out all your lotions and herbal teas, washing your hands every time you touch the cat and sitting at home in a 'safe' bubble missing the world go by. Let's hope I can keep my own advice....information overload is dangerous craving for many of us pregnant gals.

Teresa also mentions in her blog that she gained 14 pounds during her first trimester, which made me reconsider my remarks about not having a baby bump and kind of wanting one so I can really 'feel' pregnant. I guess I should be grateful that I still fit into my regular clothes and can sleep without discomfort. I reflected on this during my lunch break as I popped a couple of rollos in my mouth and then polished off a 'small' bag of fizzy laces, taking comfort in the fact the laces had no artificial colors or flavorings. At that rate, I won't be far behind.