It’s becoming more and more normal to make money blogging, but now that that’s normalized a bit they’ve gone and created whole new bizzaro ways of adding to your income. I use “income” loosely because I include things like getting products and gift cards, which isn’t the same as getting cold hard cash BUT is a way you can contribute to your household.

Here’s a quick list of some of the programs that I’m involved in. Perhaps you’ll see something you can do?

Sidebar Ads on the Blog:

This is the obvious way that I make money. I run ads on the sidebars of all of my sites. Some are direct ad sales, in that I offer ad space, people pay me, and I put the ad up. (I use Passionfruit Ads for this.) Others are through online ad agencies who manage the sidebar space for me and run ads from their own servers. I don’t have any control over these ads (kind of like Google Ads – who I DO NOT recommend by the way…) but I have chosen ad agencies who partner with brands that I’m comfortable with. Right now I’m working with Maingate Ads (Disney sites only) and Lijit (the child agency of ad powerhouse Federated Media).

Sponsored posts through communities:

I’m a professional blogger. I will say, however, that not all of my blogs have huge followings. In fact, many are downright small. What I do have going for them is that I have TONS of content, I blog pretty regularly on many, and I interact with people a lot on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest. This has given me the opportunity to join a bunch of social marketing communities and I do sponsored posts or opportunities through them fairly often. You’ve seen some of those types of posts on this blog, but many are posted on company blogs, in review boards, or as collaborative posts on other people’s sites. If you are a blogger and you’re interested in getting the occasional paid opportunity, these are the groups I work with the most:

• Clever Girls Collective
• Mom It Forward Network
• Collective Bias
• Tidal Labs (via the Lucky magazine community)

Other randomness that helps out:

• I get free stuff by partnering with review companies who send out samples in exchange for my participation in campaigns. Participation can be anything from sending out a tweet to writing a review to taking Instagrams of the product itself. Anyone can join these programs, but you’re more likely to actually receive product if you’re active with social media. Note: these very rarely turn into opportunities to make cold hard cash, but it’s a nice way to get things for free that you would otherwise be buying. I’m currently a member of Influenster, BzzAgent, House Party, and Tryology.
• I occasionally get paid to pin something on Pinterest through the Pinbooster program. You set your price per pin and companies just send you the graphic and what you need to say. Easy money if you’re a habit pinner!
• I take surveys on Sunshine Rewards.
• I receive referral bonuses fairly often from companies that I frequently shop, including Fab, Totsy, Groupon, ModCloth, and ThredUp. I mostly use these to cover holidays, although Groupon feeds us pretty often! (Note: You should NEVER refer people to stores that you wouldn’t or haven’t shopped just to get a credit. You’ll lose your credibility and it’s pretty impossible to get back. Believe me – I have lost faith in quite a few bloggers over the years!)

Be prepared for your mail carrier to (A) be annoyed with your constant stream of packages and (B) think that you’re really, really, really weird. And also maybe (C) know what your underwear looks like.

It was interesting watching the documentary from where I’m at right now, stuck in bed with threatened pre-term labor and no chance of having the euphoric home birth experience that the women in the film had. Truth be told, I’ve been struggling with the idea of giving birth again. Eva’s birth was a whirlwind and a rather unpleasant one at that. I had been told that a scheduled c-section would be necessary since I have heart issues that came up during my pregnancy with her, but my water broke two weeks before my surgery date. The doctor that had walked me through that first pregnancy only stuck her head in for a moment and I never saw her again, so suddenly I was faced with having discussions about trying a traditional birth with people that I didn’t know and didn’t know whether I should trust.

Choosing to try for a traditional birth was the right decision, but it wasn’t one that I made easily and I spent most of her labor second-guessing myself. Eva had a hard time tolerating contractions after I received some of the medications prescribed to encourage labor and I had the worst epidural experience of anyone that I’d ever known. I was only in labor for about nine hours, but I was terrified almost the entire time. As someone who really prefers to study and read and prepare for situations before they come up, I feel like I was thrown into the deep end of the pool with that first birth.

I don’t feel the same way this time, since this isn’t my first rodeo, but this birth will also carry a lot of the unknown. I don’t, for example, have any prediction of when it will happen. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet is already defying medical odds and every time I make a quick trip to the restroom, my insides move around and I say a little prayer that I won’t go into labor before I can get back in bed. When I do go into labor, I have to get to the hospital quickly because it’s likely that the baby won’t be ready and there’s a surgery and a series of shots that need to happen before I can even begin to think about delivering. I’ll be monitored closely, because the odds have gone up that my body won’t do what it’s supposed to. My chances of having a c-section are about 50/50. It’s a sinking sort of feeling to think that on the day labor begins, both my baby and I will be at a physical disadvantage for the task ahead and we may need to be cut apart by a sterile team of professionals.

At the same time, I like and trust my doctor and I don’t feel like I’m in danger at the hospital. One of the biggest problems I had with the Business of Being Born series of documentaries was that I felt like it pushed too much fear onto pregnant women about choosing hospital caregivers. I enjoyed how the movies celebrated women’s natural ability to give birth, but the reality is that we can’t all do it that way. Home birth was never an option for me because cardiac care isn’t something you can expect a midwife to worry about. This time around, if I had chosen not to see an OB and had seen a midwife instead, that extra ultrasound wouldn’t have happened, cervical incompetency wouldn’t have been diagnosed, I wouldn’t have had surgery, and our baby likely would have been born at 22 weeks old – too little to save.

I am the poster child for why medical intervention is necessary, so it does irritate me when I feel like the message is, “you could do it at home if you tried hard enough” or “you gave birth at a hospital because you didn’t trust your body” or “doctors don’t have your best interests in mind”. It’s belittling, especially when we had to practically claw our way into making that 5th pregnancy (Eva) turn into a living child after four losses. My delivery wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t woman enough to man up. I needed help.

So, I was interested but wary of watching this documentary. I love the thought of empowered birth, but I didn’t want to be preached to about the horrors of hospitals. I admit that in the first five minutes, there was a lot of “us vs. them” comments about midwives and obstetricians, but this documentary didn’t get hung up on that like I felt the others I’ve watched did. Instead, it really focused on the grace and peace of the midwifery practice at The Farm and went through the history of how these people came together with a different vision of how to live…all the way through to the end of that vision for many of the original people. It was a fascinating peek into an unfamiliar way of life and I feel like it would speak to a lot of people my age. There’s such a trend now to be natural, wholesome, family-oriented, spirit-oriented, and harmonious with the planet. We just do it with apps and Luna bars.

My favorite part of this documentary (and the part that would make it worth buying/watching for any pregnant woman) was the births. The film shows quite a few deliveries, including situations that would call for c-sections in hospitals today, like breech deliveries and shoulder dystocia. It was incredibly interesting to see how these teams of women handle situations like that and very comforting to watch all of these women have babies without the screaming and IV tubes and general panic. These births were calm, beautiful experiences and, as someone who is staring down the barrel at an all-natural birth, I feel like I’ll carry those images with me when labor becomes difficult. The last birth of the film in particular is probably the most graceful delivery I’ve ever seen.

I’m glad I watched the film. I wish my birth story was going to include a quiet cabin and a warm tub and a circle of seasoned midwives, but just seeing the strength and harmony that can be had in birth helps me feel less afraid. Ultimately, I think that was the big message of the movie. Birth, in itself, isn’t something to be feared. Feeling peaceful about birth will make it easier and leave you with a better memory. Babies come out one way or another whether you yell and writhe and make a big drama out of it or not. Why wouldn’t you want to enter into it feeling empowered and strong if you can? Ina May Gaskin has impressive statistics compared to hospital delivery rooms and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if her success is 98% attitude. Hopefully this film makes it into the minds of laboring women everywhere so if they can’t have Ina May, they can at least hear her voice in their heads telling them that everything will be fine.

See the trailer, buy the DVD, or download the film here. The movie is also available on iTunes or Amazon.

Disclaimer: I received a free screening of this film as compensation for writing this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

For Eva’s 2nd birthday, I went with a pale pink and gold color scheme. I searched high and low for a non-Pepto-Bismal pink balloon at the party store, but the only ones I could find had things like “It’s a Girl!” written on them. As for the balloons, all of the gold ones looked a little too dull or a little too shiny. I was trying not to be too particular, but since color was the only theme we had really come up with it didn’t make any sense to settle.

As a quick fix, I bought a ton of clear balloons and picked up some superfine Martha Stewart glitter at our local craft store. I also grabbed some glitter star confetti, since I knew that Eva’s birthday cake would have stars on it and she loves all things starred. Once home, I used a creased index card to pour glitter into the balloons and then blew them up. We decided against helium this year, since it didn’t hold up well last year, so we just blew up a ton for the kids to kick around. The glitter and confetti mix turned out even better than I thought it would and the balloons made the most delicious sandy sound when we shook them.

Tips:

• Be sure not to inhale through your mouth at all while you’re blowing up these balloons. I was spitting out glitter for an  hour.
• The bigger you can blow these, the better because you want them as clear as possible.
• You do need quite a bit of glitter to get even a hint of color, so plan on buying a good amount.
• If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on glitter and confetti, blow up two or three plain clear ones for every one you fill. The clear ones look like bubbles and don’t detract from the color scheme the other ones create.
• These are glitter bombs if they pop, so if that’s not your thing this might not be party decor for you. We don’t mind glitter around the house and it all vacuumed up eventually, so it worked for her party.

In the summer of 2011, when Eva was four months old, we celebrated her birth at a red egg and ginger party. The party was held in Napa, California, where my parents are from and hosted at the church that my grandparents helped to build.

A red egg and ginger party is a Chinese tradition in which a new baby meets the family and receives a name. Originally, the family didn’t meet and name babies until after the first month because the mortality rate for infants was so high that it wasn’t worth the trouble until they had been around for a while. These days, that cushion of time gives the parents (and grandparents – the traditional hosts) time to plan the party. It also means that you aren’t passing your newborn baby and their underdeveloped immune system around to everyone you know the first week of their life. Since Eva was four months old, she was much more alert and full of personality than she would have been if we had held it earlier, so we’ll probably wait at least that long for baby #2.

The red egg and ginger party was pretty exciting for me, because it’s such a celebration of the addition you’ve made to the family. I suppose it’s probably how other people feel about their baby showers. I didn’t have a baby shower because Eva arrived the week before it was supposed to be held, but showing her off at the red egg party was much more fun than I think a shower would have been (especially for her vaguely socially-anxious mother).

Traditionally, red egg and ginger parties are all about the food.  Eggs are boiled and dyed red to symbolize happiness and fertility. Ginger symbolizes both the roots of the family and the energy of life. It was also traditionally given to the mother after the birth to strengthen her, so I got a big helping of most of the ginger dishes. There are other foods that I needed to eat for symbolic reasons, including pigs feet and whiskey chicken, but we didn’t have those at the party since they’re really just for the mama. Instead, we served the traditional favorites that we have at most celebrations: long noodes (long life), shrimp chips, stir-fry, and the barbecued pig that big celebrations demand.

We didn’t have a formal dessert, so I dipped oreos in red candy melts and scattered bowls of red candies on the tables. We also had plates of cupcakes with red frosting and a few red frosted cakes scattered here and there. I really like dessert displays being set out on the dining tables instead of on their own cake tables, because I feel like it makes it feel more like a family party. I also think people are more likely to eat the sweets if they’re right in front of them. Nobody wants to get up to get a second slice of chocolate cake at a party, but if it’s right in front of you and there’s plenty to go around…

Random mom moment: I couldn’t find red sprinkles in July for the cupcakes so I bought a couple of red, white, and blue sprinkle mix and picked out the blue ones by hand. See, you just never know the underlying vein of crazy that might be accompanying the event you’re attending…

I also blew up a bazillion red balloons and created my first balloon arch since we didn’t have much else in the way of decor. It looked a little bit like a car dealership, but people definitely got the red theme and Eva was pretty impressed with them. The red Mickey balloons in the photo at the beginning of this post were from a party pack I received to promote Walt Disney World travel. We threw them in because we like to have at least a little touch of Disney at most of our events. They ended up being sort of fun because everyone wanted their picture taken with them. (Maybe we should just hold the next one at Disneyland…)

One of the best parts of the party was how many people were able to make it. Both sets of parents came out from Utah to be there for the party, so I had members from my mom and dad’s side who were able to meet the baby. Kyle’s parents also flew out and one of Kyle’s uncles drove up from another part of California. Plus, my friend Kate was able to come with her parents, which was amazing because I never get to see her. Kate’s in the army and her parents live in California, so her visits to Utah are brief and far between. Since she’s Eva’s godmother, though, it was wonderful that she could be there to help us officially welcome her into the family.

Eva wore a peach party dress. It was actually a pink party dress that I had attempted to dye red, but my dying skills are pretty lacking. The result was a beautiful peach color – not totally traditional for a red egg and ginger party, but rather becoming on the little peanut. Peaches are a good luck symbol in Chinese culture, because there’s an old folktale where a woman had a garden that grew peaches of immortality and eating one meant that no harm could come to you. So, I suppose that helped me sneak the little peach by tradition.

Overall, the party was lovely and Eva received tons of licee (lucky money) and gifts from party-goers. She also received her Chinese name: “Gam-Sing”.  It means golden star, which is touching since we named her after the star Evangeline from Disney’s Princess and the Frog. It was mostly fun just to get face time in with the family I never get to see (especially since a few of them hadn’t even met Kyle before!).

I’m looking forward to the one we’ll have for Baby X this fall. I think we might have it in a slightly smaller space this time, since the hall at the church is pretty overwhelming for casual family gatherings. Or, you know, Disneyland.

First Book Ever:

• Oh, Baby, the Places You’ll Go! A Book to Be Read in Utero by Tish Rabe

Board Books:

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
• Look, Look! by Peter Linenthal
• Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli
• Wheels on the Bus by Raffi
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Activity Books:

• Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
• That’s Not My Monkey by Fiona Watt
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
• Curious George at the Zoo by H.A. Rey
• Where’s the Poop? by Julie Markes

Picture Books:

• The Napping House by Audrey Wood
• Olivia by Ian Falconer
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
• Llama Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

Storytime:

• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
• The Giving Tree by Shel Siverstein
• Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
• Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag