Blog Posts by MQ

I've had recurring dreams for as long as I can remember. I either end up on a rollercoster that goes up, up, up into the clouds, I'm running from a tornado, I'm naked (and not in a good way) or my teeth are falling out. When I was pregnant, I always had dreams about my cats.

The teeth dream is the most disturbing by far. I'm just casually talking to someone and I feel something in my mouth. I start spitting out teeth - one after another. What's odd is my sister has the exact same recurring dream about her teeth. It's nice to know we aren't the only ones! (Although even after reading this, I still have no idea what that dream means.)

I came across this article by Dayna Davis about dream symbols and wanted to share my favorite parts:

Nudity
You're walking down the street, going to work, or just standing in a crowd … naked. You're mortified that you forgot your clothes, but nobody seems to notice. Sound familiar?

According to Gustavus Hindman Miller's 10,000 Dreams

Affordable, cute, unique, functional and fabulous too? Y-E-S.

My favorite baby store BabyEarth , launched a new gift category on the website just in time for holiday shopping. Meet the "Under $10" category, my new best friend. And these gifts are cute too. There are even organic and eco-friendly items. I love the "Daddy does my hair" message onesie for $5.95 and the cute Green to Grow bottle for $8.95. Oh, and the WubbaNubs...they make great stocking stuffers.

Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashers and pie;

Smiling at your crazy relatives as the time slowly passes by.

Noticing lettuce in Aunt Sally's teeth;

Asking politely for a small slice of roast beef;

Debating whether to get another helping of green beans;

Knowing you won't be fitting in your favorite skinny jeans;

Listening to the same old stories you hear every year;

Subtly reaching for another cold beer;

Family gossip launches laughter;

Politicians get a bad rap;

Tryptophan making MommyQ sleepy;

It's time for a nap.

Want to know what your baby would look like if the father was Brad Pitt? How about George Clooney? Dads, what would your kiddos look like if Carmen Electra was the mama or maybe Gwyneth Paltrow?

The RoutanBabymaker3000 is a funny, yet oddly disturbing application that creates a customized bundle of joy especially for you. Simply upload a photo of yourself and your partner and the application produces a picture of your virtual baby. I gave it a whirl and our (my husband & I ) virtual baby looks very similar to our REAL baby. Luckily our real baby isn't as creepy.

Here's my baby with Brad Pitt. Not sure about this one. After your baby is created, you can share it with a virtual birth announcement or even post it to Facebook. Clever. I forget what this is actually advertising....oh yeah, that car Brooke Shields likes. Go figure.

Tell MommyQ what you think of your results? Now I'm going to see what my Derek Jeter Jr. will look like... Here he is! Ewww...

Based on these wacky photos, I'm

As a 30-something mother of two little boys, I don't get to play with dolls very often. When I visit my neighbor who has two little girls under the age of five, I walk into a pink fantasy land of glittery, girlie wonders. Barbies, princesses, baby dolls, My Pretty Ponies, Polly Pockets - it's awesome! Were I 20 years younger, you could never make me leave that house.

As a little girl, I loved two things. Fashion Plates and Barbies. My younger sister and I played with Fashion Plates all of the time. In fact, we named each 'plate' girl head and then renamed her when we switched her outfit. We had about 30 fictitious names committed to memory. When we got bored rubbing the girls onto paper, we started writing books. There were plots, personalities, do-gooders, evil characters, etc. We spent hours and hours coloring them and laughing at their silliness. I'm pretty sure my mom still has pages upon pages of our creations stored in a dusty forgotten box somewhere. Boy, would I love to

As the mommy to a four-year-old with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), I've discovered many wonderful mainstream toys that are both fun and therapeutic. Toys that improve language development, sensory and motor regulation, build core strength, muscle tone and coordination. Toys that spark my son's inner drive, encouraging more engagement and child-lead interaction.

Here are five of MommyQ's favorite toys, from $18 - $300. Most of them are eco-friendly, which I personally love. I'm not speaking as a medical expert here, just as a mom. If you're the parent, relative or friend of an autistic child, maybe this list will make your holiday shopping a little bit easier. I hope so!

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Wheely Bug - If you haven't seen these cute little ride-on critters, you need to check them out. I bought the cow for my boys last month and my ASD son loves it! (Also available in bee and ladybug!) It really helps him with coordination and balance, while building his core. We he first started riding

On the heels of the cabbage soup diet and the cookie diet, another ridiculous weight loss plan had been born. The OCD Diet. And by OCD I do mean Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The diet does not restrict calories, carbs, sugars, salts or fat. It simply requires you to eat foods in rhyming combinations. Like crepes and grapes. And it encourages recurrent restrictive rituals. Yeah, this sounds healthy. Tell me more!

MommyQ desperately wants to believe this is just another amusing urban legend. However, the Hollywood grapevine (and NBC) thinks it's real. So we make history electing Obama (big steps forward) and then promote the OCD Diet (big steps backwards). Come on, people! Can't we keep the intelligent momentum going for a while? A few days. An hour. Ten minutes, perhaps?

To me, it's obvious that poets should avoid the OCD Diet at all costs unless they're wanting to bulk up. However; most ordinary folks will absolutely starve to death. No wonder celebrities love it!

In

During my 45-minute commute to work this morning, I happened to catch a funny morning show bit. They're usually too obnoxious to handle, but this one was different. In fact, it had me laughing out loud (yes, LOL) in the car!

The segment was called, "Does that Make Me Crazy?" and listeners would call in and talk about their bizarre or just plain crazy idiosyncrasies. One caller was a med student and said she never touched pages of diseases out of fear of catching them. For example, if during her studies she comes across a photo of a child with measles, she would never touch that page because she didn't want to get measles.

Another caller said she was afraid of Claymation cartoons due to the freakiness factor. The movie Wallace & Grommit scared her to death! A male caller said he made up stories and did improv routines for his 3 cats, Stupid, Sexy and Claudia. A female caller said when she brushed her teeth, she had to brush her tongue until she gagged or she felt she didn't