There are a lot of things I would have done differently had I planned for my second child when I had my first.
For instance, I might have made Mazzy's room more gender neutral instead of the girliest room alive (I lucked out with that one). I wouldn't have given my mother piles of baby clothes to store without sorting and labeling them by size. And I wouldn't have bought a huge single dresser instead of leaving room for two.
But the biggest mistake I made was buying a ridiculously expensive single stroller (I'll leave the price up to your imagination) that couldn't eventually accomodate my second.
Thankfully, I have this blog, and nice people sometimes give me stuff for free. After Harlow was born, Britax kindly sent me their basic B-Ready stroller complete with all the components to turn it into a double. (Before you get jealous, know that I am up at 1am writing this post while you are fast asleep.)
The Britax B-Ready is a modular single stroller that can also accommodate an infant carseat (or two if you have twins), a bassinet and a second seat in over 14 different configurations— the mind boggles, doesn't it?
For the urban dweller, like myself, it has large foam wheels for navigating snowy sidewalks or dirt paths in Central Park, a large amount of storage underneath the seat, perfect for shoplifting diapers at Whole Foods, and most importantly, an easily collapsible frame so you can quickly break it down and stick it in the trunk of a taxi without making a harried mom spectacle of yourself while stopping traffic.
I've been using it for a few weeks now and it handles way better than my single stroller— I barely have to use any arm strength to push both kids. And the components are super easy to interchange, and this is coming from someone who usually asks her husband to do this sort of thing for her.
Look, here's me, traveling all the way to the Upper East Side by myself to meet a friend at the Met. With my old stroller, I never ventured outside of walking distance.
And here's Mazzy looking pleased as punch in the second seat:
To commemorate the Mommy Shorts Facebook Fanpage reaching 10,000 fans, Britax has agreed to give a B-Ready Stroller ($500), in the color of your choice, to one lucky reader. Just to be clear— that's the basic single stroller— the additional components come separately and you can purchase to add-on when necessary. For instance, the second seat costs $150.
I wish I could give you all strollers to thank you for reading my stories and sharing your own over the past two plus years, but alas, I am not Oprah.
Only 7,990,016 fans to go.
——————————————–
GIVEAWAY RULES
1) You must be a Mommy Shorts Facebook Fan to enter. If you are not one already, you can become one by clicking here. Then answer the following self-serving/ego-inflating question in the comment section below:
What is your favorite Mommy Shorts post of all time? Leave the title and link.
2) For a second entry, tweet about the giveaway. Then leave a second comment that you did so. Example tweet:
I entered to win a $500 @Britax B-Ready Stroller from @MommyShorts http://bit.ly/TpEXH9 #giveaway
3) For a third entry, follow Mommy Shorts on Pinterest and pin this post using the top graphic. Then leave a third comment saying you did so.
Winner will be announced Friday, February 8th.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Toddlers are unintentially hilarious is my favorite post.
Only been reading for a short time, and my little girl is only 14 months, but this: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/10/lies-i-tell-my-kid.html is my favorite so far!
(“Lies I Tell My Kid”).
Pinned here: http://pinterest.com/pin/64598575877255852/ after following! (No twitter, so only two entries for me)
10 Differneces between 1st and 2nd time Moms. So funny!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/10-differences-between-first-and-second-time-moms.html
Started following on Pinterest and pinned it!
Sorry but I love yesterday’s post on potty training because it is so true!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/10-things-i-didnt-know-about-potty-training.html
10 Differences between 1st and 2nd time Moms.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/10-differences-between-first-and-second-time-moms.html
My favorite! I just had my second in early November and this was so perfect!
I tweeted about the giveaway! (@bcvannier)
I followed you on Pinterest and pinned the top photo! I really want this stroller 🙂
Porn for Moms of Toddlers, by far.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/02/ryan-gosling-porn-for-moms-of-toddlers.html
I’ve been reading since the beginning and one of my favorites is still Grandpa’s Baby Death Trap in the Hamptons:
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2010/08/grandpas-baby-deathtrap-in-the-hamptons.html
Intruder in the House!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/04/id-like-to-report-a-robbery.html
I love so many of your posts, but the post that really drew me in had to do with so many of my favorite things: kids, cake, and failure. 🙂 Cake fails–sooo funny! I still bring up that post on dreary days to brighten my day! 😉 https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/11/12-birthday-cake-fails.html
Consider yourself pinned!
i agree with Jen R – your posts are great but i really like the Silver Fox. i work from home and watch/listen to the same channel all day/every day – i squealed a little when i heard your name being announced!!!!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/the-silver-fox-and-i.html#more
The University of Preschool:
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/09/the-university-of-preschool.html
A fairly new one, but very applicable to my current life: ) My husband and I both went to The Ohio State University, him on a full ride, and we pay WAY more for our sons daycare (which is soon to be 2 kids – yikes!) than either of us did for our college tuition! And then, when you added in the parts about the “keg policy” and how it “doesn’t include room and board” we about lost it laughing so hard: )
I’m a fan on Facebook! My favorite post was about shopping for new clothes postpartum https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/shopping-for-post-maternity-clothes-a-play-in-three-acts.html
My current favorite- because I laughed so loud my office mate asked me what I was reading – 12 Things I wish Someone Had Told Me About Potty Training.
Previous favorite was 5 Tips for Servers with a Small Child at the Table. As a former server and a wife to a bartender…..hilarious.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/06/5-strategies-for-servers-with-small-children-at-the-table.html
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/10-things-i-didnt-know-about-potty-training.html
I follow you on fb!
@lalovelylindsay tweeted this! Thanks for the chance to win!
Pinned the top photo and I follow you on Pinterest!
I tweeted about the Britax giveaway!!!
There are too many to list, but a recent favorite is
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/10-things-i-didnt-know-about-potty-training.html because I am about to head into potty training hell!
And my favorite post of all time is about your dads baby death trap in the hamptons!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2010/08/grandpas-baby-deathtrap-in-the-hamptons.html
I pinned the top photo & follow you on Pinterest too! Excited about this giveaway!!! 🙂
Pinned here after following: http://pinterest.com/pin/264375440597523372/
My favorite post: Lies I tell my Toddler https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/10/lies-i-tell-my-kid.html
Tweet tweet!
https://twitter.com/MommysMartinis/status/294447874475974658
Also, I just liked you on Facebook. I just started following you last week as I’ll be a new mom in June, so I don’t have a favorite post yet….but I’m sure I’ll have many in the future!
The first post I ever read is still my favorite 🙂 It’s from November 2010 – Crying it Out – https://www.mommyshorts.com/2010/11/crying-it-out.html
That’s the post that finally convinced me that I wasn’t a bad mom for letting Brady soothe himself to sleep. THANK YOU for that post!!
Of course, there have been LOTS of posts since then that I love…maybe especially the one where Brady made the Evil Baby Glare-Off!
I follow you on Pinterest and I pinned!
Obviously this is my fave mommy shorts post of all time 😉
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/its-a-3rd-birthday-miracle.html
xoxo
Yay for Pinterest!
http://pinterest.com/pin/384776361883368182/
Followed on Pinterest and pinned it here. http://pinterest.com/pin/216735800789216282/
My favortie post. https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/10/lies-i-tell-my-kid.html
I tweeted! @ashley_koz
one of my favorite posts:
Those Elves Get More Inappropriate Every Year
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/those-elves-get-more-inappropriate-every-year.html
have a good day!
Porn for moms of toddlers is one of my favs. https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/02/ryan-gosling-porn-for-moms-of-toddlers.html
I tweeted. @RaisngMadison
Pinned it!
Ohmygosh this giveaway just gave me goosebumps!I loved Babies In Buckets and Baskets. Can so relate! My sister’s a photographer and comments on how boring I am because I don’t like props. Ha.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/babies-in-buckets-and-baskets.html
My favorite post was the one where Mike made fun of all the potential baby names. Because my husband did the exact same thing! To this day I’m still surprised our daughter has a name…
My faves are either of your birth stories. Your husband remind me so much of my own that I had years pouring down my face from laughing so hard. The desperate need to stop for coffee, the “sorry it took so long, I had to wait for them to brew another pot (WTF?!), the nerf football tennis ball substitute. Love.
I pinned! 🙂
http://pinterest.com/pin/64035625923795745/
and I tweeted: https://twitter.com/BriConstable/status/294458284776247297
My favorite was the post where you found that your mother in law was actually very smart to buy Mazzy a crazy pageant dress, since it got her to walk!
My fav post was your trip planned by your husband and his friends in a house with one bathroom, popping nails, and food poisoning!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/the-new-years-eve-newborn-parent-drinking-game-second-kid-edition.html#more is my favorite post. You are too funny!!!
my favorite blog is 10 different things between 1st and 2nd time moms.. https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/10-differences-between-first-and-second-time-moms.html
I thought this post was hilarious because it is so true and i can relate to it
tweeted!! 🙂 https://twitter.com/Michelle_Lee23
I love all your charts, Family Fall Activities is my favorite. My friend forwarded the post to me after I told her about our pumpkin farm melt down. It was how I was introduced to your blog.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/10/fall-family-activities-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly.html
Pinned it! 🙂 http://pinterest.com/bowlby23/mommy-shorts-blog/
Thanks for doing the giveaway!! 🙂
Follow you and pinned the post on pinterest
http://pinterest.com/lmkl123/products-i-love/
anything where mike gets the props he deserves.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/05/bedtime-routine-from-dads-perspective.html#more
Those Elves Get More Inappropriate Every Year! https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/those-elves-get-more-inappropriate-every-year.html
Hilarious! Thanks!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/08/dear-penelope-kardashian.html so true about Grandma!!!
https://twitter.com/sunshyne1977/status/294463531502428160 tweeted
For the second entry, i don’t have a tweet account, however, i did post about this entry on my Facebook. I am also following you on interest and pinned this post.
I find myself laughing out loud in my office all the time – just recently – this one: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/interview-with-honest-toddler.html
Especially, the thing about Caillou!!
I loved the post on potty training because that’s the stage we are in right now with our little girl and have been for several months 🙁 Potty trained in a week…sure , getting them to tell you when they have to go potty…impossible! lol
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/10-things-i-didnt-know-about-potty-training.html
The Silver Fox and I
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/the-silver-fox-and-I
Tweet! https://twitter.com/PchopCoop/status/294464158202740736
facebook fan here, and I’m going to also be self-serving/ego-inflating with my favorite story. The one staring my daughter as Blue from Blue’s Clues. Oh yes, this is where she started her internet stardom.
It’s The Belated Halloween Costume Awards of 2012!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/11/the-belated-halloween-costume-awards.html
My favorite is The Day Mazzy Was Born- hilarious!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/12/birth-story.html
I tweeted!
http://t.co/JAVHEyeF
My favorite post is 10 difference between first and second time moms.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/10-differences-between-first-and-second-time-moms.html
I try to explain to all my girlfriends who are helicopter parents with their first, and they don’t believe me! I finally just started linking them to this blog, hahaha.
My favorite is “21 Words Butchered by Toddlers” and it’s Part 2.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/03/18-adorably-or-embarrassingly-mispronounced-words.html
“Fork” is the word of the moment in our house right now. Why does THAT have to be his favorite word??
Pinned AND followed!
http://pinterest.com/pin/133419207682766240/
And pinned! http://pinterest.com/pin/60869032435701840/
Tweeted as well!
Thank you for this chance!
https://mobile.twitter.com/SamiTBaker/status/294464566442725377?p=p
My favorite one this year is Elf Shaming! Mostly because I hate all things Elf and Shelf.
My favorite post is 10 differences between first and second time moms!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/10-differences-between-first-and-second-time-moms.html
Tweeted! @kdawg327
My fave (right now, I reserve the right to change my mind a hundred more times) is the day of Mazzy’s birth. https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/12/birth-story.html
I snort-laughed reading it!!
I loved this one: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/the-handy-guide-to-lying-to-your-kids.html
Pinned you!
Ok. Not being lazy here but my favorite ANYTHING is free. =) sooo….. https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/britax-b-ready-giveaway.html The Big Ticket Stroller Giveaway. Potty training was awesome though. I had no idea they even made an iPotty!
the potty training one because it made me appreciate my mother in law all over again
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/10-things-i-didnt-know-about-potty-training.html#tp
I don’t tweet or pint however 🙁
My niece would look good in that
Oh my goodness, it is too hard to choose a favorite post – there are too many good ones! Your recent post “Revisiting Resolutions My 2yo Made Last Year: How Did She Do?” certainly is a good one!
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2013/01/15-resolutions-my-2yo-made-last-year-how-did-she-do.html#more
Pinned!! Hope I win! (Fingers crossed)
I love the post about how you came up with Harlow’s name: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/11/say-hello-to-harlow-eden-but-not-too-loudly-shes-sleeping.html#more
and tweeted! @rosehillbennett
I really love both of your daughters birth stories, but this one gave me all kinds of emotions while reading.. I think I’ll go with Intruder in the House. I seriously thought there was someone breaking in until I read the description of the “intruder.” It was like a suspense movie and then turned into an instant comedy, followed by a love film at the end. I loved it.
My favorite was the toddler as a wedding date. Fitting, as I had just taken my three year old to a wedding. Wow.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/04/id-like-to-report-a-robbery.html
Here’s the link.
Pinned on Pinterest!
Ianppropriate elf was my favorite all-time: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/12/the-inappropriate-elf.html
Tweeted! (broodyhens)
Grandpa’s Baby Deathtrap in the Hamptons
(I especially love photo number one, of grandpa blissfully napping while Mazzy explores)
My fav post of all is 5 Most Innappropriate Childrens Books, too funny!!! https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/05/5-totally-inappropriate-childrens-books.html
I also loved the series on the Day Harlow was born. She’s adorable and I loved your photos.
OOPS! Forgot the link. I’ll recomment because I’m not savy enough to delete…
Grandpa’s Baby Deathtrap in the Hamptons
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2010/08/grandpas-baby-deathtrap-in-the-hamptons.html
(I especially love photo number one, of grandpa blissfully napping while Mazzy explores)
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/the-new-years-eve-newborn-parent-drinking-game-second-kid-edition.html#more
Definitely the New Years Eve Newborn Parent Drinking Game. It almost made the Husband and I feel normal about going to bed at 8:30. Sorta.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/10/lies-i-tell-my-kid.html is my all time favorite! I adopted many from the comments section as my own.
(“Lies I Tell My Kid”)
This is a tough one for me, I love a lot of your posts!
Funniest: Hurricane-Schmurricane: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/08/hurricane-schmurricane.html
Most Touching: The Day Mazzy Was Born – https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/12/birth-story.html
Most Honest (in such an important way that most parenting blogs aren’t): Welcome Back Mom, You Suck –https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/09/welcome-back-mom-you-suck.html
If I have to pick only one favorite? I Don’t Know How She Does It All Either – https://www.mommyshorts.com/2011/09/i-dont-know-how-she-does-it-review.html. As a working mom, it was like you were writing this for me.
Tweet Tweet! Jenny @jennifercmark
I entered to win a $500 @Britax B-Ready Stroller from @MommyShorts http://bit.ly/TpEXH9 #giveaway
My favorite is when you were trying to win the contest and tried bringing the box of Jingos on the helicopter to view the city 🙂 The way you explained how you snuck one on was priceless!!!
There are so many to pick from, but my favorite is: “Naming a Baby Would be Easy Without My Husband”
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/07/naming-a-baby-would-be-easy-without-my-husband.html
1) Because “Mike” answered my comment on that post and it made me feel all famous and
2) My husband and I are trying to conceive, and right about the time of your post, we had a very similar conversation about baby names. I would say, “What about Madison?” and he would say, “Madison sounds like a stripper,” and I was all, “Where am I? Did I just land inside the Mommy Shorts blog?” lol
I am already a Facebook fan. Doing the stuff for the other entries sounds like too much work though. But here’s hoping I get lucky with the one! lol
I have to pick just one? Hmmmmm…my favorite is probably How to sell poop in a box. https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/05/how-to-sell-poop-in-a-box.html
But a close second is Mazzy’s Mini-Me giveaway cause your kid is so darn cute to watch on video!
All time favorite this week: 10 Differences between 1st and 2nd time Moms.
https://www.mommyshorts.com/2012/12/10-differences-between-first-and-second-time-moms.html
Pinned here: http://pinterest.com/sara_knight/behbeh/
I don’t have a twitter account but would totally tweet (twit?) if I had one. Does that count?
Pinterest done!