Guest Contributor, Author at Baton Rouge Family Fun

Get Organized Month – Week Three – Bedrooms

January 19, 2017 by Guest Contributor

Do you get up in the middle of the night and have to walk an obstacle course to get to the bathroom? Well, it’s week number three of “Get Organized” month and we are going to focus on our bedrooms. This could mean your bedroom, your children’s bedroom, or your guest bedroom where your guests can’t sleep because you use it for storage. Remember your tools! Get your timer and 2 different colored trash bags.

Day One: Bedside Tables.

Set your timer. I bet this one can be 15 minutes! Clear your bedside table of all the trash. Now, think about what truly needs to be next to your bed. A clock? A book or magazine? A photo of that special someone? Whatever it is that you truly need, put aside. Now put away or donate the other items. Wipe the table and drawer and put needed items back neatly.

Remember, flat surfaces are not our friend. They are like magnets so resist the urge to place items next to your bed that truly don’t need to be there.

Day Two: Under the Bed.

No groaning. Set a timer. You may need a broom to help you get whatever is under there out. Leah Hennen from HGTV was told by Feng Shui experts that anything under the bed can disturb our sleep. Our goal with this space is to decide if we really need these items. If we need them, where else can they be stored? Let’s go! Trash, donate, or find a new home. 30 minutes! Go!

Day Three: The Bedroom Floor

Don’t pretend you don’t have things thrown on that floor. Set that timer and let’s knock it out quickly. You know this routine by now. Toss the trash first, touch every item, and add to the donate bag what you don’t LOVE (like that favorite shirt that was too small and is now on your floor because you can’t even think of letting it go. Yes, I know it’s there….donate). Put away all other items that are on the floor that do not belong there. Run a vacuum over the space, including under your bed, and wow, look how nice and peaceful! I realized how good it is to have a good watering system at home, here you will find the best water softener systems and I also recommend to check out http://waterdamageatlanta911.com/ where I always find help with any water damage I might have at home.

Day Four: The Dresser (and/or other furniture in your room.)

I don’t have a dresser in my bedroom, but I do have a nice reading chair and thinking to upgrade it to one of the best recliners to relax. Also have a bookcase and occasionally (more often than I will ever admit!) a coffee cup, water bottle, or clothes end up hanging out there until I take the time to clean it up. Now’s the time!

If you have a dresser stuffed with clothes, take 2 drawers a day and knock it out. You can do this!

Toss anything damaged or stained. Donate items that you no longer love, no longer fit in, or just haven’t used in a year. Put away the other items neatly.

Day Five: The Bed

Wash your bedding, pillows included, and make it up nicely. Use your flat iron to iron the edges of your sheets and pillow cases. As your reward, get a glass of wine or a cup of tea, a great book, and relax! You’ve worked hard. Enjoy!

Chaos Organizing – Creative Help and Organizing Solutions for your home or office.

I’m Martha-Carol Stewart, owner of Chaos Organizing. Everything I know about helping others to get organized, I learned during my 18 years of teaching. I graduated with a BS in Child Development and Family Studies and I have trained my staff as I would train another teacher. Kindness and patience are of utmost importance as you go through your items and decide what to keep and what to toss or give away.

My staff and I use the same teaching philosophy with organizing. We individually tailor the organizing plan to what is maintainable for you. That means there is no cookie cutter plan. It also means we have to think outside the box at times. Our organizers are gentle but firm to help keep you on task.

Get Organized Month – Week Two – Entry Way & Laundry Room

January 11, 2017 by Guest Contributor

It’s week number two of “Get Organized” month and I know you are ready to get moving! We’ve tackled our kitchen and made it into a less cluttered and more efficient space. The next two spaces we will organize are the entry ways to our home and our beloved laundry room. (No eye rolls please!). You need your timer and your white and black trash bags. (White for donations and black for trash.) You may want to get a cardboard box for breakable items too.

Days One and Two: Entry ways.

Stand in the most used doorway into your home. Do you get a feeling of peacefulness and joy? Why not? Assess what is there. Do you need to make a space to store those items or can they be put where they belong? I discovered that soccer bags, backpacks and shoes were a constant at my back door entry way so I bought storage cubes that now hold those items that way my children can keep their Best indoor soccer shoes at home, I use the system of storage things I don’t need from long time ago, I even got a storage unit with the best Self Storage Prices for keeping my extra furniture I can’t keep in the house. I also added command hooks to the inside of a cabinet at that entry way that hold my purse and keys. Never again was I on the hunt trying to find those much needed items. Set your timer for 30 minutes. Go! Toss, donate or put away. Now, sweep the floor, clean the glass on the door, wipe the fingerprints off the door handle area and take a look. Nice? Maybe you can even hang a favorite picture or add fresh flowers to a nearby table. Your home is your sanctuary, your safe place to feel happy with those you love. Entering and having a feeling of joy after a long day is important. Spend 30 minutes at each entryway. Of course we understand that you don’t always have the time to do all the cleaning by yourself, work and other responsibilities gets in the way, for those times you can also hire Maid Complete or other cleaning services like >Monster Cleaning Services London

Day Three: Laundry Room upper cabinets.

Set your timer! Empty one cabinet at a time. Wipe the shelves clean. Toss broken or damaged items. Donate items that are useful, but not being used. Now, group like items together. I like the Sterilite latch boxes at Walmart for the laundry room because they stack. The white stackable baskets also work well depending on your shelf size. Some things I store in my laundry are light bulbs, batteries, hurricane radio, candles, cleaning supplies, rag towels, animal supplies, tools, laundry supplies and more. 30 minutes! Go!

Day Four: Lower cabinets

Typically, the lower cabinet in the laundry is the one under the sink cabinet if there is one at all. I have noticed that often times, perhaps because of a leaky pipe, this cabinet will emit a not so pleasnt odor. But I fixed that pretty easily with a sink deodorizer. When it comes to what you store in these use the same protocol as we used on the upper cabinets. Remember, keep chemicals in the higher cabinets and away from children and pets.

Day Five: Flat surfaces in the laundry room

For me, this consists of a space for folding the dry clothes. Everything the kids bring into the laundry room tends to land in this space. Now is the time to get it put away, toss it or donate it. 30 minutes!! Go! Don’t forget to wipe the counter! Stand back and enjoy your work.

Day Six: Catch up on laundry and add laundry time to your daily calendar. Throw a load in the washer in the morning and dry, fold and put away when you get home. Some schedule a week’s worth of laundering to be done in one day. Tip: Use a lingerie bag to hold the single socks waiting to find their mate. Who knew your laundry room was a singles bar!

Be sure to check back next week for the second week of quick and easy home organizations tips!

Chaos Organizing – Creative Help and Organizing Solutions for your home or office.

Get Organized Month with Chaos Organizing – Week One – The Kitchen

January 2, 2017 by Guest Contributor

Feeling overwhelmed with all of the clutter left behind from the holidays? You are in luck because January is Get Organized Month!
Over the next few weeks we will be tackling the clutter in each room of our home. Items needed are a timer, white trash bags(donations), and black trash bags(trash.)

Each day there will be a designated space. Touch each item in that space. Do you love it? Do you use it? If not, put the item in the donate(white) or trash(black) bag.
If it is broken, torn, missing pieces or doesn’t work, it is trash!!
Let’s begin in the hub of our home, the kitchen.

Day one: The Pantry
Set your timer for the time you have available to focus on this one space. I like 30 minutes.
Toss all expired food items. Wipe the shelves. Group like items together.
All snacks can go in a basket or bin. Plastic shoe boxes work if you are on a tight budget. Breakfast foods can be contained on one shelf. Cans can be grouped and organized. All these kitchen advises you can also find at knife blog which helps you get organized.
Dry good can be stored in airtight containers that are clear and labeled. (The OXO containers below can be found at Target, TJ Maxx and Marshalls.)

Day Two: Refrigerator
Set your timer! A simple task. Keep or toss. Wipe shelves and door. Put items that you are keeping back neatly and grouped by use. Quickly check freezer for food over a year old. Toss.

Day Three: Kitchen Drawers
Set your timer! Take one drawer at a time. Empty the drawer, wipe it and put back only what you use. Donate or toss anything you haven’t used in a year.

Day Four: Upper Kitchen Cabinets
Using the same process of empty, wipe, donate or toss, group like items and put back neatly.

Day Five: Lower Kitchen Cabinets
I bet you have the hang of this now! Same process!

Day 6: Flat surfaces in your kitchen
This one can make or break all of your hard work because if your cabinets, pantry and refrigerator look fabulous but your counter is cluttered with stuff, your home will not feel organized! Tackle the piles, put away items that don’t belong in the kitchen and wipe down your counters.

Voila! Feel better?

Be sure to check back next week for the second week of quick and easy home organizations tips!

Chaos Organizing – Creative Help and Organizing Solutions for your home or office.

Dear Les Miles

September 25, 2016 by Guest Contributor

Dear Les Miles,

Can I call you Les? We have spent 12 years together, so I am just going to call you Les.

When I was 21 years old and enjoyed the tailgate culture of LSU more than one probably should, I knew nothing of football. Yet I would walk miles from my boyfriend’s fraternity house to tailgate after tailgate. I hydrated only with whiskey and beer. By the time the game came on I was the boisterous girl you either loved or hated. I never really paid much attention to the man calling the plays. I grew up, much to the relief of my mom. As I grew into the resemblance of an adult, I paid more attention to the game and less to the pre-game. At the helm of the game was you, a man named Les Miles.

It was 2005 when you stepped up to the plate, Katrina had just passed through our coast. You came in, and we wanted greatness. We had gotten a taste of the crystal ball that is the NCAA championship, and we wanted more. We needed a win. You gave us a 11-2 season, and a Peach Bowl victory your first year.

You were a different kind of coach. Just when I thought you were going to let us down, you’d call a play that had us yelling at our screens. Sometimes in anger, sometimes in excitement, but always disbelief. “Why would he call that? HOW DID IT WORK?!” I loved you for this. I felt like your Mad Hatter side was my spirit animal. I longed to be the girl that could upset the dichotomy of this world like you upset the dichotomy of college football.

You ate a blade of grass. You clapped like my toddler when she sees Elmo. You were our coach. You were our Mad Hatter. You led the LSU Tigers to a 2007 National Championship three short seasons after you arrived, and then you stuck around. Tiger fans were in love. Were you who we had been waiting for?

LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles holds back his team before kickoff of a game.

I’ve grown to be a mom since I watched you eat your first blade of grass in Death Valley. For the past 12 years I imagine you’d be the kind of guy I’d want to invite to family dinner. I imagine you’d laugh loudly with us and discuss boudin and smoking pork with the men. I imagine your wife would sit down with us as the kids escaped to the backyard. You like beer right? If not my husband has Swamp Pop in the fridge. None the less, I have always and will always be fond of you. I have always imagined you a good man. That sentiment was supported when I met my husband.

My husband has told me the story of how you looked at him when he was flying you back and forth to Oklahoma and Baton Rouge and said, “I have kids at home, just get me home safe.”

As the college kid, that’s not something I could have appreciated, but as the mom writing this letter to you, I love you for it.

It’s easy to forget at the end of a tough loss, you’re just a man, a husband, a dad. So I write this letter as a parent myself and as a born and raised Louisianan.

Thank you for being kind.

Thank you for 114 Tiger wins.

Thank you for a national title.

Thank you for a 13-0 regular season.

Thank you for 5 top ten finishes.

Thank you for humbleness and class. A rarity in athletics.

Thank you for being unapologetically yourself.

Thank you for embracing Baton Rouge and making it home.

Thank you for 12 amazingly fun years as the Mad Hatter. Your unpredictability is my favorite quality in you.

Les, you showed Death Valley what it means to Love Purple and Live Gold on and off the football field.

I don’t know where your adventures will take you after this, but if they ever need a pause, our home is open. We will cook some food for the family. We will even garnish your plate with a little blade of grass.

Sincerely,

Whitney

What can moms do to help their children at a time like this?

August 23, 2016 by Guest Contributor

Throughout the area, families are dealing with enormous challenges and the stress levels that come along with them. In my role as psychosocial lead for Save the Children, I’m spending time at the shelters working to help families who have no other place to go. The moms I talked to today were worried about so many things that the first thing I wanted to do for them was help them find ways to cope.

I started by really listening to them and acknowledging all the fears and emotions they are dealing with. That went a long way. If you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed, please try to find someone who can do the same for you. And if you can’t, try writing down your feelings, taking a walk, or using other strategies that have worked for you at other stressful times in your life.

Self-care is so important. One of the moms I spoke with today had a young baby and her husband had just been abandoned them after a fight. He had taken the few belongings they had salvaged with him, so the first thing we did was help her find a change of clothes for herself and her child. But then we talked through her other challenges and what she could do to feel calmer and more equipped to start taking them on one at a time.

I connected this lovely woman with some other moms and they quickly offered each other emotional support. Together we discussed how the stress they were feeling as moms could easily transfer to their children. They realized it wasn’t selfish at all to look after themselves, and how important it is for their little ones.

Certainly this is a scary and uncertain time for many children. They look to their parents and caregivers for guidance and reassurance, but sometimes we aren’t sure of the best way to manage. Here are basic ideas I hope can help.

10 Tips to Help Kids Cope with Disasters

Limit TV time. Watching television reports on disasters can overwhelm younger children who may not understand an event is being replayed and instead think the disaster is happening over and over again. Overexposure to coverage of the events affects teenagers and adults as well.
Listen to your children carefully. Emotional stress results in part when a child cannot give meaning to dangerous experiences. Begin a dialog to help them gain a basic understanding that is appropriate for their age and responds to their underlying concerns.
Give children reassurance. Let them know that if any emergency or crisis should occur, your primary concern will be their safety. Make sure they know they are being protected.
Be alert for significant changes. Be aware of changes in sleeping patterns, eating habits,
concentration, wide emotional swings or frequent physical complaints without apparent illness. They will likely subside within a short time but if prolonged, we encourage you to seek professional support and counseling.
Expect the unexpected. As children develop, their intellectual, physical and emotional capacities change. Younger children will depend largely on their parents to interpret events, while older children and teenagers will get information from a variety of sources that may not be as reliable. While teenagers seem to have more adult capacities to recover, they still need extra love, understanding and support to process these events.
Give your children extra time and attention. They need your close, personal involvement to comprehend that they are safe and secure. Talk, play and listen to them. Find time to engage in special activities for children of all ages.
Be a model for your child. Your child will learn how to deal with these events by seeing how you deal with them. Base the amount of self-disclosure on the age and developmental level of each of your children. Explain your feelings but remember to do so calmly.
Watch your own behavior. Make a point of showing sensitivity toward those impacted by the disaster. This is an opportunity to teach your children that we all need to help each other.
Help your children return to normal activities. Children almost always benefit from activity,
goal orientation and sociability. Ensure that your child’s school environment is also returning to normal patterns and not spending great amounts of time discussing the crisis.
Encourage your child to do volunteer work. Helping others can give your child a sense of control, security and empathy. In the midst of crisis, adolescents and youth can emerge as active agents of positive change.

We are sharing these tips with parents in the shelters when they bring their kids to our child-friendly spaces. It’s wonderful to see the children play, smile and have fun again, but we all know there is so much more work to be done to help these children and their families bounce back.

If you’d like to support our response and recovery work, please consider donating at www.SavetheChildren.org/Gulf-Floods.

Thank you!

Anjana Dayal de Prewitt

You Just Don’t Know Yet : The Storm with No Name

August 16, 2016 by Guest Contributor

It was about 4:30 am when the transformer blew, it made an awful crash. I thought it was just a terrible storm. At 5:45 the alarms for school went off. At 6:00am the first National Weather Service alarm went off. We lived off a street that flooded easy. We may be able to make it to school, but we wouldn’t be able to make it back. So we all went back to sleep, ignorant.

When we all got up our back yard was full of water. The gravel road we live off of was shin deep. We did what any family from Louisiana does, we put on our shoes and started wading in it. We took funny pictures and the kids celebrated a good ole’ South Louisiana Storm Day. Yankees have snow days, we have hurricane and tropical storm days, but this was the storm with no name. I opened up Facebook and ignorance quickly left, devastation rolled in.

Friends were putting their feet down in water. They waded out of their house with the clothes on their back and the pets in their hand. Then there were the posts about the ones who couldn’t get out. This was just rain, the worst was yet to come, but we didn’t know that yet.

I live off a gravel road with 13 houses. We lovingly refer to it as the compound. Moving here was the best move we could have made for our girls. They can walk down to their friends house without worry. There’s a group text that rolls around, “Can someone send my child home?” We played hard that day. When the neighbor with the high truck went to the store, do you know what I asked for? Coke. I asked for coke. I had no idea what devastation was happening around me.

I think somewhere after the red beans and rice our neighbor made for us and trying to figure out how to get to my mom’s, it hit me. The river will rise. The worst is yet to come. My husband and I sat on the couch and talked about the river cresting. If it’s going to get in our house, we need to move the furniture up. We need to prepare. He just kept saying, “I know. I know.” I cried a bit. Then I went to bed.

When I walked downstairs my feet hit the floor. I sighed. I looked out the window. Our water was receding. My feet were standing on dry floor. I grabbed breakfast for my 12 month old. We ate, blissfully unaware.

I sat down on my couch and I opened Facebook to see, “We need rescue by boat. We are at 123 Main Street. 2 adults, 1 kid, 2 dogs.” My best friend, trapped.

I scrolled a little more, “We need rescue by boat. We are at 345 South Street. 4 adults, 3 kids, 1 dog.”

The posts were endless. Phones were out, wifi was all we had. Social Media was all we had. Hundreds of posts calling for rescue and help. Desperation typed out in Facebook statuses. Hundreds turned to 1,000. Yet somehow, the rest of the world had no idea.

Over the next hours every man and woman with a truck and fishing boat would convoy as they have our best tips for fishing. They would walk a pirogue filled with children and trashbags of belongings to high ground. Bass boats would perform rescues. Motorists stranded for 24 hours were being dropped food, by helicopter. National Guard was rolling in. Coast Guard coming. Calls for help and check-ins all over Facebook, yet do you know what was trending? Trump. Hillary. Kardashian. Justin Bieber. I guess if the storm has no name it doesn’t trend very well. #stormwithnoname isn’t pretty. #LAFlood

Look, I get those things are infinitely more fun to talk about than the 30,000 people rescued and the 15,000 in shelters. I understand that 11 deaths and still rising waters may not be your favorite topic of conversation, but it’s happening. Your fellow Americans are experiencing a flood that is now being called the 1000 year flood. It’s still happening. The river is still rising and the flood waters have to go somewhere. South Louisiana is drowning and communities are rallying not waiting for federal aid, but lifting their neighbor up, both literally and figuratively. I get that you just don’t know yet.

If you have never been here you may not know, but we shine in tragedy. Any other time we are your fun cousin you take to your party. We are the aunt or uncle you want manning the grill or cooking up a pot gumbo. We are notorious for front porch soul and down home cooking. We like our whiskey and we love our swamp pop. We in Louisiana have four seasons, and the rest of America loves us for it: Football season, Mardi Gras, Crawfish Season, Snowball Season. We will always welcome you down here for any of them, but right now we are in a season of devastation and, because we are Louisiana, we will soon be in a season of rebirth and rebuild. We hope you’ll love us for that too.

If you want to help the efforts you can visit the “How to Help” portion of our South Louisiana Flood Guide.

20 Rainy Day Activities For Kids

August 12, 2016 by Guest Contributor

When it’s too hot, wet, or cold to go outside, you’ll need something for the kiddos to do to keep your sanity. Here are 20 rainy day activities and things to do with kids that should help keep the kids entertained for a day or two. 😉

20 rainy day activities to do with your kids:

Get out the crafts – Let the kids use their imaginations and create a masterpiece.
Make a fort in the living room out of blankets.
Play Restaurant – Let the kids help in the kitchen for a day – bake cookies, make lunch and dinner together and have them “critique” meals on paper.
Write letters to friends and family or fill out a years worth of birthday cards.
Have a fashion show or photo shoot or better yet, make a photo both and take lots of funny pictures. Making photo props can be fun and allow the creative juices to flow!
Read books.
Put on a puppet show. During Hurricane Katrina, we had our boys put on a play with puppets, or paper dolls. They drew the characters, cut them out, glued them to cardboard and glued a stick on the backside, fixed a stage out of a large shipping box, wrote a script and put on a play. This entertained them for hours!
Make paper airplanes and have a flying contest like this review by Top9Rated.
Cleaning party! Crank up the radio and have a dance party while cleaning the house! Clean, de-clutter and exhaust the kids. It’s a win win!
Skype or FaceTime Catch up with friends and family you haven’t seen in a while or talk to friends fellow home-bound friends.
Donate – Go through your home with the kids and find items {clothes, toys, appliances} to donate.
Camp out– Create an indoor camp with tents and use the microwave to make s’mores.
Make snowflakes and tape them to the windows.
Try to make Origami – this site has tons of great ideas.
Go to the movies at home– pop some popcorn and catch up on movies you have yet to see or revisit an old favorite.
Puzzles, board games and Charades are always a must on a snow day…try to change things up or make up your own games. Use this Charades generator to get ideas.
Learn something NEW: there are so many tutorials online these days, you can learn to do just about anything, including coding for kids! Take a few coding classes and create your own video game!
Decorate the house and get a head start on Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day crafts!
Go through old photos – this always offers plenty of entrainment.
Go play! Bundle up the family for some gold old outdoor play time, even if it’s only ice!

We would love to hear your ideas for indoor activities, please share them on our Facebook page!

I am hungry.

August 7, 2016 by Guest Contributor

I am hungry.

Not in a figurative sense. Not hungry for a new pair of shoes or hungry to achieve a new milestone in my career.

I am literally hungry. My stomach feels empty more than it feels full these days and my fridge and pantry are so bare it seems that they are taunting me each time I open them to inspect their contents. I save all non-meal food items for my kids because even though I am nursing a baby and need the nutrients, I can’t stand to hear the tiny voices of my children every time they go to the cupboard only to discover there’s nothing there to eat.

I hope that they don’t remember this. I pray that, instead, they remember the laughter we have shared as I try to distract them from their desire for food. I hope that they forget the tears that fill my eyes at the thought of their tummies growling, but remember the smile on my face as we have dance parties in the living room to Taylor Swift.

I don’t even know how we got here. It all happened so fast, when just months ago the thought of going without food seemed like something that could never happen to me. We work hard, we love Jesus and we serve Him to the best of our abilities. It’s crazy how one decision made even with the best of intentions can alter the course of your life in ways you never imagined. It’s eye-opening the compassion you can express for others when you are walking through a situation you could’ve never thought you’d find yourself in.

Lately, when we do get to buy groceries, it’s only the bare necessities. I hate that I fuss at the kids the minute they run to the pantry or to the fridge for a snack because they want to sample all the food they haven’t seen in days, but I know the sooner they eat it, the sooner it’s gone. And when it’s gone, I have to hear them cry about their hunger, and it kills me.

How do you explain rations to small children? How do you tell them “If you eat this now, you will be hungry later?” How do you live with yourself as a mother when you’re digging sugar soaked fruit out of a donated can from the food pantry to feed it to your children for lunch and they beg for more but it’s all you have?

I try to thank the Lord for His provision. I try to smile while I shop at the store while I furiously calculate every penny we are spending and simultaneously determine if we will be able to keep our water running once I buy these items. I try not to cry when a friend orders us a pizza for dinner because she knows otherwise we would not have anything to eat.

I try not to hate politicians who say that people like me should be drug tested when we are already living in overwhelming grief and humiliation. I try not to be offended by fellow church members and Christians who want to withhold government programs that we need just to survive. I try not to resent my husband- who works tirelessly and without complaint, often three jobs at once- for us being in this position.

I try to understand what it’s like for other moms who never get a reprieve from this reality. I try to imagine what it’s like for families who don’t have electricity or comfortable beds or adequate shelter. I try not to get angry at those who have excessive amounts of money but want to hold on to it for dear life, because they somehow deserve it more than I do. More than my kids do.

I try to keep it together and to put on a happy face for those around me, but most of all for my kids. The hunger pangs screaming from within my hollow stomach burn so strong that they turn me into a person I don’t like, a mother I don’t recognize. I try so hard to be what they need me to be, but…

I am hungry.

The above is written anonymously by a fellow Baton Rouge mom, a mom living in our community, this mom could be anyone’s neighbor. Hunger is everywhere: It’s in every community, it can also be invisible. Some 47 million Americans live in poverty. All told, 17.5 million households and 16 million children—one out of every five—struggle with hunger. Visit the Baton Rouge Food Bank to learn how you can help those hungry in our community.

Becoming Mom Strong : Baby Boot Camp Baton Rouge

May 26, 2016 by Guest Contributor

ouIn November I had this four month old infant and I was struggling to find my place as a mother and regain my health. I visited gym after gym, none were a fit for me. Enter Baby Boot Camp Baton Rouge. I reached out to get some questions answered and had the pleasure of speaking with Mauree Brooksher, the owner, who come to find out had just had a baby. So she was already winning in my book. I was not answering client emails a week after birth. She helped me sign up for my first class. It was free and I had nothing to lose.

I went to my first class and Christina was teaching. She was sweet. She took the time to calm my baby girl. She brought the fitness to my level (that level where you haven’t worked out in 18 months). I was hooked. All the moms. All the kiddos. I knew I was in the right place. I wanted my Birdie to grow up seeing her mom taking care of herself, becoming strong, mom strong. I know I couldn’t do Baby Boot Camp justice, so I decided to talk to Mauree and interview her in my best Rolling Stone interview skills.

Mauree Brooksher, Owner of Baby Boot Camp Baton Rouge

Not sound cliche, but tell us about yourself. How many kids? Are you from here? Etc.

I am a wife, mommy, fitness instructor, & business owner. My better half is Steven & he is my rock & adds so much fun to our family! We have 3 children whom we have been blessed with: Christopher (5), Marguerite Jane (3), & Anna Beth (6 months). Fitness and early childhood education are my two passions. And Baby Boot Camp is the best way for me to merge the two!

Have you always had a passion for health and nutrition?

I have! I grew up active. I’m always looking for a way to keep my body moving.

I grew up participating in gymnastics, tumbling, dance, cheer leading, swimming, tennis, & running. As soon as I got to LSU I fell in love with first walking the lakes, but that quickly turned into running the lakes outside my sorority house & I completed my first half marathon my 2nd year at LSU. I’ve been running races ever since. I’m not fast, but I love the goal races provide me. I took nutrition courses at LSU with Mrs. Myhand and have enjoyed learning about nutrition ever since. I’m a firm believer that the key to nutrition and maintaining a healthy body is eating nutritiously and clean 70-80% of the time and other foods 20-30% of the time.

Let’s get to what the people what to know, what is Baby Boot Camp Baton Rouge?

Baby Boot Camp is a stroller-based fitness franchise. We offer fitness classes for moms in which they are able to bring their baby to. Our classes are for the prenatal & postnatal mother.

STROLLFIT is our most popular class format. It is one hour of cardio, strength training, core work, & stretching. During class we engage the children by singing, reading stories, blowing bubbles, & more while we provide moms with a challenging yet fun workout!

STROLLGA+core is a class I added my own touch to based on the needs of my clients. We offer this class in the evening so that moms can come for one hour without baby to focus on themselves and have a a 1 hour break from the busy week. It is 30 minutes of mat-based Pilates where we focus on our “mummy tummy” and 30 minutes of Yoga. My goal is that moms feel sore in their core the next day & that they walk away from their Yoga mat feeling rejuvinated to return to serving their families at home.

At Baby Boot Camp we also offer running training once in the Fall & once in the Spring.

We also offer a community called Stroller Friends, we have the best double strollers. Through Stroller Friends we offer opportunities for our moms (& families) to connect on a social & emotional level. We offer a play date & Mom’s Night Out once a month.

I am a mom who is not in great shape, could I still follow along?

ABSOLUTELY! This class is for YOU and for the mom who has participated in Baby Boot Camp for 2+years. EVERY single exercise can be modified and taken up a notch, I also recommend checking buysteroidsonline org which can help you better your health. At every STROLLGA+Core class I always remind moms, “this is your yoga, not your neighbors” and I mean this for STROLLFIT too. Every single mom has a different goal. Baby Boot Camp is not a cookie cutter program. It is a program that welcomes ALL fitness levels and caters to each. I want moms to focus on working at their own pace, not trying to keep up with their neighbor or instructor. Yet, they may be inspired by their neighbor. We want no mom left behind. It takes a village to raise our children and a village to reach our individual goals. We cannot do it alone. I do not believe we were created to be alone. We were created to be in community with one another supporting one another. I strive to keep a positive atmosphere at Baby Boot Camp.

What kind of work-outs/classes can a mom expect?

STROLLFIT is one hour. We begin with a warm up. We do this is so the mom running 5 minutes late can sneak on in and jump right into the warm up. After warm up, we alternate between cardio & strength training. We mix up moving the strollers and stopping the strollers, jogging and everything, we read about the Best Jogging Stroller Reviews and took off from there. Babies like to be on the GO. We end class with 10-15 minutes of core work & stretching on our Yoga mat. During this time babies can come out of the stroller and play with a bag of toys. Class ALWAYS ends with stretching out our most important stretch of all, our smiles and a sticker for each baby!

What makes Baby Boot Camp unique?

Gosh, there is SO much that makes it unique. However, if I had to say one thing, I would say our amazing community! Community is SO important to me! I know every mom and child’s name. I know what type of stroller they push. I remember most mom’s first class too. And my amazing instructor team does too. And if we don’t know a mom, we are making it a point to get to know them! If a mom hasn’t been to class in a few weeks we are asking about her. We have a very holisitic approach to gaining optimal health & wellness. We celebrate when a moms has a baby and we support moms who miscarry. I believe this is why our moms stick with Baby Boot Camp for so long. They feel they are a part of our supportive community.

Is BBC only for stay at home moms?

NO! We 3 evening classes a week & class on Saturday mornings 🙂 We are for moms who work at home & moms who workout outside the home!

Now for the question I was so concerned about…What if my baby/toddler/kiddo doesn’t sit still when I bring them to work out?

It’s ok! We encourage moms to be consistent! Consistency not only helps mommy achieve her goals, but helps baby learn our expectations. Our instructors are happy to push the stroller, if baby prefers to move or even hold baby! Our instructors also carry a giant bag of toys for children to choose from.

What benefits are there to bringing your kiddos to work out?

The children are learning that exercising is FUN! And they are learning at a young age the importance of taking care of your body. The children get to listen to stories & songs which has many language development benefits. They children are learning to count, the days of the week, & the months of the year too! The children also benefit socially as they meet other Stroller Friends!

If you could share one thing with a mom, what would it be?

Love the season you’re in & savor the season you are in. My oldest starts Kindergarten in the Fall & I cannot believe it. He won’t be riding in the stroller any more. Every single season comes with its own challenges & joys! Whether the challenge is lack of sleep, toddler tantrums, potty training, colic, accept it, learn from it, & choose to be grateful for the blessings. Once your baby moves on to the next stage of life, you will miss the previous stage. No matter how hard motherhood can be, be grateful for its gift.

You can get more information about Baby Boot Camp and chat with Mauree yourself by emailing her at mauree.brooksher@babybootcamp.com!

The Truth in Step-Parenting

February 22, 2016 by Guest Contributor

Deciding to spend the rest of my life as my husband’s wife was not the easiest decision I’ve made. Being a wife was scary, being a step-mom was scarier. On top of the normal fears that come with marriage, I constantly questioned whether or not I could be a parent. I did what every new parent does, I jumped in with both feet. I researched till I was frozen in fear, then I went out and did it my own way. I busted my butt a lot and stood with pride other times.

Step-parenting comes with a set of blessings and obstacles and unless I am overly positive it seems like I’m not allowed to speak about it, not publicly. There is a truth in step-parenting; it’s a tightrope you never quite learn to walk. It comes with unspoken rules and regulations. Those rules and regulations are constantly changing.

For one, you have to find a way to be a parent, without being a parent. My sole job as a step-parent is to be a bonus parent. When a kid has two parents they adore, what does bonus parent even mean?

Then I must remember that I wasn’t there for years before I met her dad. I will never forget the first time my step-daughter said, “You don’t get it, Dad does, he’s been there.” Shot. To. The. Heart. I realized at that moment, I am the one that walked in and changed the rules. I often don’t know whether to feel pride or guilt about this.

Not to mention, you will get used to the rules and then you will change them with a biological child of your own. It is something I can’t explain, but I struggle with ~~daily~~ hourly. Where’s the balance of the pride in the creation of a tiny human and the nurturing and empathy for the child who looks at you as a constant reminder that mommy and daddy are not married.

Lets not forget, your step-child has been around longer than you have. There are families to build relationships with, lots of families. When I chose to become a wife I also auditioned for the title step-mom, it went like this: Meet a boy. Fall in love with boy. Juggle balls. Spin plates. Illustrate homework skills and leftover dinner magic. Marry Boy. Honeymoon. Have another child. These auditions didn’t just happen for my husband, they happened for my step-daughter’s mom, her grandparents and a slew of others. It is an exhausting ride, but one that I am a better person for (and pretty thankful I got the starring role as step-mom).

I wouldn’t change any of this, but I should be able to talk about it. I see mom blogs, and we laugh, cry and celebrate motherhood, but very rarely do I see the step-parenting side discussed. Noticing this, I reached out to a few friends who are step-parents themselves. Do you know what the main complaint was?

It wasn’t that it was hard. It wasn’t a complaint about anyone else in the family. It wasn’t about the step-child. It was a simple complaint, “I feel like I am alone in all this, and I am not allowed to talk about it.” You see we can all complain and celebrate motherhood, it’s come to be an art form of mom-bloggers the world over. The existence of this in step-parenting is scarce.

I want that to change. I got with a couple friends, we talked, we chatted. We decided, let’s do it, let’s create a venue for step-parents to unite. So we are starting small, with just a forum. Moving forward with demand to get-together and the elusive play dates with the kids, because let’s face it, being a step-kid is hard work. There needs to exist a place where we step-parents can figure things out together. We shouldn’t feel alone watching from the sidelines; let’s cheer and carry on like mad people from the side-lines. Enter Step-Parenting in the Red Stick.

Our hope is that we can start a safe place for growth as parents, as step-parents, as people. A forum where we can learn from each others trials an triumphs. A place we can laugh about the little things that make us, us. If you are a step-parent in Baton Rouge or the surrounding area, we invite you to join the forum here.