The Mom Hour

Routines are powerful. When they're just right, we feel energized and balanced. When they're a little off, we feel unsettled. And when they completely fall by the wayside, we sometimes need a complete reset to get back on track (looking at you, back-to-school season).

LINKS MENTIONED:

• LaCroix water, specifically Meagan’s favorite flavors: apricot, blackberry-cucumber, and cherry-lime
• Music Together, Sarah’s favorite activity for moms and babies or toddlers to do together
• Dear Moms: Sleep Deprivation is Nothing to Brag About (Meagan for The Happiest Home)
• Sarah’s thoughts on early risers (including that handy night-light that changes color at wake-up time)
• Rookie Moms’ genius hack for getting out the door without yelling (which inspired Sarah’s evening lullaby playlist)

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Once upon a time, Meagan and Sarah were new moms. And we worried - a lot. Years later, we look back at some of the things we could have lightened up about just a tad. (Or a lot.) Episode 19 is for new moms - and anyone who can remember being one. We talk about agonizing over ounces pumped and hours slept (or not slept), and offer a little perspective from where we are now.

LINKS MENTIONED:

• La Leche League’s breast milk storage guidelines (Kelly Mom also has good ones)
• Rookie Moms, an online resource for new moms that we both love
• Motherhood Around the World series (Joanna Goddard, A Cup of Jo)
• Babies (2010 documentary from Focus Features)
• Some posts we’ve written about new motherhood:
• On labels & limits: why I no longer calls myself an ‘attachment parent’ (Meagan)
• A letter to my friend, about to be a mom (Sarah)

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Meagan has never identified as a "sports parent," but this fall she has four kids in four different sports. Sarah is still learning to find the balance between protecting precious time at home and allowing her younger kids to explore different activities.

LINKS MENTIONED:

• ‘I love to Watch You Play’ but Not Every Game (Sharon Holbrook for The New York Times Motherlode blog)
• Minimalist Parenting, authored by our friends Asha and Christine

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Do the supply lists and back-to-school clothes shopping expectations overwhelm you? You’re not alone. In this episode, Meagan and Sarah share real-life tips and tricks for minimizing back-to-school stress and enjoying the process of returning to routine.

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Posts from The Happiest Home
• Meagan’s Lunch Box Challenge series from 2011 (the giveaway is obviously years out-of-date, but the featured products remain staples in Meagan’s kitchen)
• 11 Children’s Books About Starting School
• Meagan’s strategy for Organizing Off-Season Clothes & Hand-me-downs
• On Love, Laundry, and Finding Satisfaction in the Work of Nurturing
• That gorgeous bento box lunch is explained in this post (and no, Meagan didn’t make it)
• Other podcast episodes you might love…
• Meagan’s interview with Erica Ladd, teacher and author of Candid Classroom
• Meagan and Sarah’s back-to-school episode of The Home Hour from 2014
• Episode 16 (in case you missed it!) about choosing the right school for your kids
• Meagan’s favorite electric pencil sharpener (similar to this one), and the one Sarah has at home
• Asha Dornfest & Christine Koh’s great new podcast, the Edit Your Life show
• Sarah Stewart Holland’s post on Bluegrass Redhead about Celebrating Without Consumption

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Repeat after us, moms: It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. Choosing a school for your child can seem like a life-altering, permanent decision. In Episode 16, Meagan and Sarah are here to reassure you that it isn't. We share our own experience making school choices for our kids, from private to public to home schooling to charters to magnets to lotteries to... (Nope, not kidding. We've actually experienced, and discuss in this episode, all of those things.)

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Posts on The Happiest Home
• Homeschool, Private School, Public? Education Choices & The ‘Ideal Mother’
• How To Be Confident In Your School Choice
• Why Meagan’s Daughter Didn’t Go To Preschool (And What They Did Instead)
• * Satire Alert! * Mother Still Searching For Preschool That Focuses Exclusively On Her Son (The Onion)
• Sarah’s piece on The Mid: The Homework I Wish My Child Brought Home From School
• Why We Don’t Stress Out About Choosing a School (Design Mom)
• Afterschooling: An Update (The Art of Simple)

MORE HELPFUL LINKS:

• Visit our website
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.