Blog Posts by Babble Bloggers

I'm, um, kind of a nerd. That's probably not a surprise. And no, my husband doesn't think I am, because he is an uber-nerd (and proud of it). But see, I was never one of the "cool" kids in school. And now? Not much has changed. I've found out that there are still social circles and cliques and, sort of, "cool" moms now. And I'm definitely not one of them!

I'm okay with that, though.

Hey, did you hear the world is going to end tomorrow? If this is true, there is one thing for sure -- with so little time left in this mortal coil, it is time to get busy. Now is the time to do all those things you've been putting off (and I'm not talking about purging your underwear drawer). And who should you be doing these end of day activities with? Who should you be spending those last days, last hours and last minutes with? Why those people you brought into the world in the first place -- your kids. May I present to you 21 things to do with your kids before May 21 a.k.a. Doomsday?

Now do not get me wrong. I am not condoning doing all the things on this list. But even if the world doesn't end tomorrow (which it won't), it's worth doing some of them anyway, regardless of the coming of apocalypse (especially numbers 2, 4, 8, and 21).

More from Sunny: How my kids think I'm doing as a mom

1. Go see a landmark you've always wanted the family to see -- from Yellowstone to

So we've got just a few short days before May 21, 2011, when according to Harold Camping the world will end. I was sitting here reading about it and I thought about what I would really do if that were true. For starters, I'd spend my last days with my loved ones and let them all know how important they have been in my life and how truly blessed I have been to be their mother, wife, and daughter.

But then I pondered some things that I wouldn't have to do as a parent myself anymore.

When you consider how much time we spend as parents planning for the future, it's startling, and the last thing I would want to do if given just a few more days on Earth would be to waste time.

"In movies, and particularly in television films, when people have babies they are sitting in a hospital room and there are flowers everywhere. They are made up, magically, and they have a baby in their arms and it's all really lovely. They start getting pink baby clothes … [But giving birth] is a truly, truly murderous business. It's violent. If one doesn't embrace that [violence], if one can't embrace it -- and it's really tough to do that -- then you're up a gum tree because it means you're going to be cutting off a whole part of yourself."
-- Tilda Swinton, speaking from the red carpet at Cannes just last week

Swinton is starring in a new movie about motherhood called, We Need to Talk About Kevin. It's based on the novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver and it should get lots of attention if it's anywhere as good as the book.

There are things we do before becoming moms from which we must refrain the second we discover we are with child. And for me, near the top of that list is posing for magazines in skimpy bunny costumes when we are obviously pregnant.

Ivanka Trump, who usually appears to want to carry herself very publicly as a sophisticated businesswoman, inexplicably struts her slutty stuff in the June issue of Harper's Bazaar in a getup generally reserved for women in soft-core porn magazines. (Not to mention the fact that she converted to Orthodox Judaism before getting married, and I can tell you the last time I ever saw an Orthodox Jew dressed so provocatively: never).

Is there some kind of expectant mom syndrome that I am unaware of that's the equivalent to a bachelorette who feels it's appropriate to act or dress inappropriately before she enters the next phase of her life?

More from Meredith: Bottoms (or bras) up! Does breastfeeding really prevent bratty children?

Are there factors that can predispose a marriage to success … or failure? Apparently - and many of them are things you may not have control over. Marriages are obviously as unique as the individuals in them, but a new piece at The Daily Beast culls together a list of 15 factors that raise your chances of getting a divorce. There's a pretty good chance you've got at least one of them going on. (I know I do.)

But I look at these lists like I try to look at all statistics. Having a risk factor for something doesn't mean you're doomed to it. It might, however, help you keep an eye out for "symptoms" in the future, tend to your marriage, and improve it.

1. Did you want a child more than your husband did?

You are twice as likely to divorce as a couple who was equally excited about having kids. (This goes for the first kid and subsequent ones.)

More from Rebecca: What are the real benefits of family dinner? We reveal them + 5 ways to make it work

2. Do you have boys, girls, or a combination?

I never thought I'd be one of those co-sleeping parents. In spite of that, here I am, sleeping with my baby. My other son slept with us when he was waking up in the crib all the time. Then he slept exclusively with my husband when I couldn't sleep because his every move and grunt woke me.

Fuzz sleeps in his crib for the first half of the night and then he joins us. My elder sleeps alone for the first part of the night, and with Daddy from around 5 a.m. until he gets up -- anytime between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Sometimes I worry that we're training the kids not to be able to sleep alone ... ever. I think about all those sleep books I've read and tried and failed and read and tried again.

Then yesterday, I had lunch with my friend, and she told me that her brother was a terrible sleeper until they put him in a bed with her and then he slept fine. He eventually moved out into his own bed.

More from Naomi: 5 embarrassing things I never imagined I'd do as a parent

So I got to thinking (I do that sometimes): Why is it that we train our children to sleep by themselves from such a young age?

Oh, Tina Fey, patron saint of modern conflicted motherhood, great peaches-and-cream complected hope of funny women everywhere. Your brilliant "The Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter" has been meme-ing around the internet, amusing mothers of daughters everywhere. Also making them steel slightly every time they pass the intersection of Broadway and Houston in Soho, where Hollister is located ("For I will not have that Sh*t, Lord.")

But what about the mothers of sons? They, too, need to pray for their children, lest they be lost in the musk of masculinity. Actress/writer Jamie Denbo has a daughter and a son. After reading Bossypants, she started to wonder what she might offer her son in the way of a prayer. And as a homage to Fey, she has taken a stab at a prayer for in Fey's style:

More from Rebecca: Is there a right way to raise your kids? This advice will change the way you think about parenting

The Mother's Prayer for Its Son

"First, God, make him gay. For we all know