Too Tired to Cook a Real Meal?

I just made the main dish of what is, quite possibly, the easiest dinner to make. OK, maybe a bowl of cereal is as easy, but we stopped doing that when we finished college, right? ...right??

When you're pregnant, let's face it, you're also TIRED! During my first pregnancy, I slept all the time. I even bought a travel alarm clock so I could nap during my 15 minute work breaks! Then, when I became pregnant with #2 and #3, I was tired AND I was chasing other children. So much for napping whenever you want to.

But, being pregnant doesn't always exempt you from all those other duties that you may be responsible for. At the end of the day, when it's time to start thinking of dinner plans, it's hard to come up with something nutritious and tasty that you also have the energy to actually make. Enter one of my favorite kitchen appliances...the crockpot! It really makes cooking so easy and, best of all, you don't have to put too much energy and thought into making a great meal.

So, here's the ingredient list to my fabulous main dish - 1 roast, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup. Yup, that's it. Think it can't get easier? Think again. Here's the instructions - 1. Place roast in crockpot 2. Place soup in crockpot 3. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Isn't that easy?? You can toss that all together in the morning before you leave for work, set it on low, and the roast will be fall-apart-fantastic by the time you come home! And, because of that soup, it makes its own gravy while it cooks! So simple. Steam some veggies, whip up some mashed potatoes and you've got a meat and potatoes meal to satisy everyone in the family. Now you can make a great meal for the family and still have time to put your feet up for the rest of the evening!

Bonus tip - get a roast that will allow you to have leftovers. You can take a roastbeef sandwich for lunch the next day and/or make some wheat pasta the following night, warm up the leftover meat and gravy, and spoon it over the pasta for another quick and easy meal!

Is Breast Always Best?

Is breast still best when it belongs to someone other than the child's own mother? It's an ethical debate that our generation has never been challenged with before but that has recently been brought into the spotlight. It's no big secret anymore that Salma Hayek rocked the world when she was recently filmed breastfeeding a child that wasn't her own. But, if you've been in a cave (or have pregnancy brain) and aren't sure exactly what I'm talking about, here's the deal...

Salma, who has admitted to being addicted to breastfeeding her one year old daughter Valentina Paloma, was in Sierra Leone on a goodwill trip to support a tetanus vaccination project when she encountered a mother with no milk and a starving child. The child, one week old and coincidentally born on the same day as Salma's own daughter, nursed while Salma expressed her amazement. She said her decision to nurse the child was made, in part, out of compassion for a suffering child. She recalled a story her grandmother had told her about her great-grandmother making a similar decision many years before in a small Mexican village and said that she plans to always teach Valentina to be a generous and caring person.



So, the question is this...what would you do? Of course, there are issues to consider such as the passing of infections, the psychological implications, and the decrease in milk supply in the donor, but what if those were taken out of the picture? What if you were confronted with just a baby in need? Would it make a difference if the baby belonged to someone you knew versus a stranger's child? And, what if the tables were turned? What if something happened to you and you were unable to nurse for 36 hours? How would you feel about having someone else nurse your child?

Eternal Maternal Mama isn't here to make a judgement call one way or another. The answer to whether breast is best in every situation is a very personal one, and one that a mother must make for herself and her own child. Applause to Salma, though, for such a selfless act of compassion and for being so forthright about it, too!

How Will You Decorate the Nursery?

Decisions, decisions... Pregnancy is full of them. One decision that many people struggle with is how to decorate the nursery. What used to be an easy pick of blue for boys, pink for girls, and green or yellow for neutrals has turned into a deer in the headlights look while you stand in front of the paint chip boards at your local home improvement store. There's good news, though, mommies! If you're struggling with what colors to use, here are some great new trends for 2009 that are beautiful and will transition well as your precious bundle grows up.

First, it's hip to be cool. No, not cool as in trying to fit into "the" high school crowd with all the right labels and logos. That's exhausting! I'm talking cool as in the color palette. We're moving away from warm browns as neutrals and moving toward cool grays. Gray? Yes, gray. It's not your grandma's gray, though. Think about stainless steel appliances. They’re basically gray, right? But, they’re gray that is sophisticated, high end and goes beautifully with just about every other color. So, think of grays with silvery undertones. Or, if you don’t like the silvery look, go for green or blue undertones. Each one gives a slightly different feel; but, in either case, creates a beautiful neutral to anchor a room. Now that's gray with some character!

So, if you're using gray for your neutral in a room, what color should you accent with? One of my favorite color palettes is combining gray with burgundy and pink. It's a beautiful trio that is classic without feeling old-fashioned. Add some small touches of black here and there, and you've got a lovely room for your princess. Want something a little brighter? Try magenta or fuscia with the gray. Both pull from a base color of purple, which is also popular this year.

But, what if your bundle is prince? Or maybe you're not sure if you're getting a prince or a princess. Greens and blues pair wonderfully with gray. Go for softer, understated tones, and you'll create an atmosphere that will be relaxing for any baby. Still feel like you need a pop of color, though? Try some yellow. It's cheery and hopeful and mixes well with blue or green.

Remember, choosing colors doesn't have to be overwhelming. Pick the color that you like - burgundy, fuscia, blue, green - and then find the shade of gray that is most complimentary with that color. You just began creating your color palette! Wasn't that easy? Now throw in an accent color - for example, pink with burgundy or yellow with blue or green - and you're definitely on your way! No more deer in the headlights look for you! Happy decision making and happy decorating!

Who's Your (Grand) Daddy?

What do you call your grandparents? For myself, it was the traditional Grandma and Grandpa, with the notable exception of my paternal grandmother who was Gram. The only really different name that was ever used by family members of my own was Bobsha (I hope I spelled that correctly). It's the name some of my cousins called their father's mother. She was Polish and I'm told that the name means "grandma" in Polish. My own children call my stepdad Papa, but that's as unusual as the monikers get in my immediate family.

The traditional Grandma and Grandpa titles seem to fall a little short, though, in a world where we routinely come across more and more unique baby names. So, just when you thought all you had to choose was a new baby name, there may be the added pressure of figuring out just what the right grandparent names should be, too. Just in time to save you, though, comes The New Grandparents Name Book by Lin Wellford. Containing hundreds of names for the new grandparents, you'll have fun finding the perfect aliases for your folks and his. You could even wrap up this cute little 5"x5" book and give it as a gift to them to announce your new arrival.

As for the Eternal Maternal Mama, my kids are still young so grandparent status is years off, but I currently am thinking I'd make a great Grammy. Any other suggestions?

Support us in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition

Eternal Maternal is participating in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition, and we need your help! Please follow the link below to vote for us!!

You can vote once per day and voting continues through midnight Pacific time on March 31st. Winners will be decided by popular vote so be sure to bookmark the page so you can vote for us everyday!

Thanks for your support!

Support us in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition

Are you a lotion girl?

If you're like me, you're a lotion girl. I love lotions. Give it to me in a tube, jar, bottle, pump, or spray. You name it; I'll try it. I have to admit that my favorites are those that are a bit heavier and creamier. They're just dreamy. If there's one thing I don't like, though, it's the lotions and potions that are overly perfumy (is that a real word?) or that go on beautifuly but leave your skin feeling thirsty again within 10 minutes. In the case of the less than thirst quenching formulas, I'm always left with the thought, "What's the point?"

When it comes to those lotions, butters, and so-called creams that always leave me wanting more, I have to wonder if that is the point. Give me a product that costs an arm and a leg and then somehow coerce me into applying it six times a day so I'll have to buy more in two weeks. Seriously, though, what's the point of a lotion/butter/cream that doesn't actually hydrate? Isn't that why we apply it in the first place? And why is that so many are like that? I'll give it to you in one word...water.

Water? Don't we usually associate water with hydration? Well, yes we do. The problem is that water is really only hydrating when consumed. However, when water is applied externally, what we're left with is something more like a drying agent. Think about it. If your skin is dry, do you apply water? Nope. That would be crazy, right, because what happens when you put water on your skin? It evaporates and, in the process, also strips your skin of its natural oils which leaves it drier than what it was before you applied the water! Like I said, crazy.

So, here's a little test for you. Go find your favorite lotion/butter/cream and check out the ingredient list. What was the very first ingredient (ingredients, by the way, are listed in order from greatest amount to least in a product)? Go on; go check. I'll wait... What did you find? Was it water? If your favorite moisturizer is anything like most of them on the market, it was. Now, go find another lotion somewhere in the house and check its ingredients. Water again? It doesn't surprise me. It's rampant throughout the cosmetic industry. And, here's another little tidbit about water in your cosmetics or moisturizers...if water is an ingredient, there MUST be some kind of preservative, typically a chemically derived one, as one of the ingredients, too, because water is a breeding ground for bacteria. Yuck, right?

I recently did a test of my own. I went to a local variety store and checked out 30 different lotions, butters, creams and moisturizers ranging in price from $4 to $47.50 (and that was for only 1.7 ounces!). Many of them had words like "organic", "natural", "repair", "ultra healing", and "naturally therapeutic" on them. We see those words and assume that they're true but guess what? Every single product I checked had water as the very first ingredient! That super expensive $47.50 moisturizer had some form of water as the first four! Wow. My favorite, though, was the cream that was labeled as "(product name) with cocoa butter and vitamin E". There were a total of 24 ingredients in this little jar, which included sucrose (that's sugar), fragrance, stearic acid, and, my favorite, borax. Borax???? Oh, and there was cocoa butter and vitamin E. They were ingredients #8 and #16 respectively.

It's startling, I'll admit it. It was a startling realization everyone at Eternal Maternal had when we set out to do research and development for our bellybalm. Momma's skin is precious and, especially during pregnancy, it's often in need of some extra pampering. That's why our bellybalm doesn't contain a drop of water; only natural shea butter and oils that are healing and soothing. One would think that it might be greasy, but it's anything but that. We chose ingredients that were light and easily absorbed by the skin, so, unless you really overdue it, it will soak right in and leave your skin feeling wonderful all day long. The other delightful thing about it is that, because it's 100% natural and contains no water that can evaporate, a little bit goes a long way. Good news if you're using it everyday and, like many women, all over!

So, if you're a lotion girl like me, give our bellybalm a try! We've never had an unsatisfied customer when it comes to this product. We even have several dads that like it, too!

Welcome!

Welcome to Eternal Maternal's blog, Belly Notes. It's been a bit of a process, dare I say "labor", to bring this blog to life but we're hopeful that it will bring you some valuable information. All the technical stuff is certainly not my strong suit, so I'm sure there will be some bugs to work out initially. Stick with us, though! Once we get through those, the writing is the easy part!