Blog Posts by MQ

I've been a mother for about five years now and one of the most important things I think you can pass down to your children is the gift of a meaningful lifelong sport. Obviously things like self-confidence, manners, ethics and honesty are extremely important, but don't forget about the active side of life.

My father taught my younger sister & I how to play tennis when we were eight or nine years old. We took lessons, practiced regularly and played on the school tennis teams. My father, who is now 73-years-old, is passionate about tennis and still plays 2-3 times per week.

Growing up, we spent many hours on the tennis court together. At times, my mother would join us and we would play a few hilarious sets of doubles together. I use the term "hilarious" because my mother would play the net like a maniac, flying through the air awkwardly to return a lob or totally missing the ball and accidentally tossing the racket mid-swing. I'm sure onlookers thought we were crazy. I remember

MommyQ is about to reach an important milestone in her mommy life. It has been almost one year since I first blogged about my son's autism diagnosis. My first post about his diagnosis, Autism Means My Son Is Happy When He's Flappy, was probably the most difficult thing I've ever written. Yes, it was even harder than all of my college research papers and I was an English major, so there were plenty of those.

It is not just an important anniversary for me, but for my entire family. As for my son, he's doing swimmingly. Literally! This summer he started taking private swimming lessons and it's as if he was born to swim. His long, lean body glides through the water with grace and ease. His instructor is constantly amazed at his natural aptitude for it. We have to keep a very close eye on him because he thinks he can do anything in the water, which is good and bad. It will be exciting to see how well he does next summer.

His communication skills have improved so much over the

Many parents are skipping vacations and opting for staycations instead. Is it because of the economy or is it secretly because traveling with babies & toddlers is such an ordeal! Diapers, bottles, formula, wipes, baby shampoo, baby creams, baby food, etc. By the time you pack for your baby, there is no room left for anything else. You quickly find yourself in a Kimora Lee situation with lots and lots of luggage.

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In the chaotic day-to-day life we lead, time gets away from us. As children, time seemed like the one thing we always had to spare. Growing old was never a reality. There would always be plenty of time to do this or finish that or wait for something new.

It's funny how becoming a parent forever changes your perspective of time. During pregnancy you're constantly anticipating the next stage. When am I going to start showing? When is the baby going to start kicking? When is my water going to break? Nine months would have seemed like a lifetime when we were small. An eternity, in fact.

The reality is nine months blow by so incredibly fast, it seems like a cruel joke. The first birthdays are fifth birthdays. Our little infants are big kids. The bumper pads, onesies and burp cloths we couldn't wait to buy have long since been packed away and are now stored neatly in the closet in a dusty box. From rolling over to crawling to walking, we've been there for the milestones and the

There, I said it. One of my friends on Facebook recently admitted to liking the new Miley Cyrus song, "The Climb." I have a lot of respect for people who willingly admit potentially embarrassing truths, so I took her lead and decided to throw props to Tori Spelling, especially in the wake of her mother's continued public betrayal.

I have to be honest, I wasn't a big fan of Tori Spelling during the 90210 days. In fact, I didn't really like the show at all. The plot was horribly predictable and the amount of hair gel being used on the boys was obscene. Last year, I started watching reruns of Tori & Dean: Inn Love and was just amazed at how quickly I started to like Tori. She was funny, sincere, sweet, honest, goofy and even vulnerable.

The show didn't seem overly contrived me and the whole notion of a Hollywood couple trying to downsize their lives (while pregnant) and renovating a B & B at the same time was pretty entertaining. I haven't seen the new show, Home Sweet

My wonderful friend, MissFitness, shared a funny story with me a few weeks ago. She was sunning and funning on a boat on Lake Travis (Texas) during a holiday weekend, so the lake was packed with people. It was roughly 100 degrees outside. She spotted a very pretty girl in a metallic bikini with perfectly fixed hair, gorgeous make-up and so on. Yet this stylish gal was sporting some unusual kicks.

She was wearing a pair of Ankle Boot Sandals. Yes, now the hip, fashion-forward shoe is an open sandal/boot. That means your ankles can be warm and snuggly, yet your feet and toes are free to wiggle and roam. And what makes them even worse is the ridiculous price tag. No, just because half of the boot is missing does not lower the cost. I couldn't find the exact style that girl was wearing, which is a bad indication. If you don't know which words to use to Google a pair of shoes, they are unsavory shoes to say the least. Scary!

They even come in a few different forms, so you can

Every so often I come across baby gear that floats my boat. When my diaper bag from Kirsten James Handbags arrived in the mail, I was in awe. This bag was not only beautiful, but also perfectly crafted and absolutely flawless. My mother was with me when it arrived and immediately tried to coax me into letting her have it. Sorry, mom! Not this time.

Kirsten has a variety of styles to choose from, but I picked The Eden Bag. The size is exactly right for a busy mom who needs to use it as a diaper bag, toddler tote or overnight bag. It has a heavy magnetic snap closure and four roomy inside pockets. The designer fabric options are stunning in person. She also has eco-friendly options for green mommies. It shouldn't come a big surprise that her bags reflect quite a bit of innovation. After all, Kirsten is a NASA engineer.

She worked for United Space Alliance as a Computer Programmer and Corrective Action Engineer. The United Space Alliance is the prime contractor and handles all

I was watching the All-Star Game last night and taking note of Obama's first pitch. The toss was fine, but something was amiss. Was it his jacket? Well, I was ticked it wasn't a Yankee jacket, but that wasn't it. The hair? No, that looked nice. It was his goofy, non-designer jeans! Wait a second. I thought he was ultra-stylish? What's with the dorky denim choice?

Maybe he was going for comfort or maybe he just wanted to look like one of the guys. No matter what the reason was, he made a huge fashion faux pas. Let's face it, we all know expensive designer jeans are the new 'cool guy' uniform. And my gal Sarah Palin would have never walked out in dowdy mom jeans! I'm not sure which brand he was casually sporting - Levi's, Wrangler, Lee, Canyon River Blues from Sears - all I can say is, "yikes!" This guy needs to Bluefly!

What Obama needs is a slim fit with a slight flair. I'm not saying he needs a skinny jean. He should be slipping into a pair of True Religion, PRPS, 7 for All