Burgh Mom

Save the Date

2009-07-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

It's still a few months away, but October 10th and 11th I will be attending podcamp 4.

Podcamp is a free social media conference. Sessions are offered for all ranges of social media expertise, from Blogger Wannabe to Master of All Things Social Media. If you are interested in learning more about blogging, twitter, Facebook, or everything in between, mark your calendars and make plans to attend.

(For those of you who are familiar with Blogher, it's like that, but FREE, and devoid of all the WHAT WILL I WEAR? drama.)

More information is available at the Podcamp site, and details will be announced as they become available.

Yes, This Saturday

2009-07-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

What: Get Together
When: Saturday, July 11th at 10:00am
Where: Pittsburgh Zoo
Who: Whoever
Why: Just because

Big thanks to Allison and Kelly for putting this together!

Finally, I Know

2009-06-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

What: Meet-up
When: June 26th, 7:00 pm
Where: Green Mango (address says Pittsburgh, but it's more like Monroeville/Wilkins Township. It's in the plaza between the old John Harvard's and Starbucks. FYI--they are BYOB and no charge for doing it.)
Who: Whoever you want. We're easy like that.

Please sign the Mr. Linky if you plan to attend.

Also, I've been trying for a while to get a park get-together scheduled. I was just looking to have us do sort of a potluck near a playground. No fuss, no muss. Problem is that between all the new house crap and how hard it is to get a park pavilion for under a kajillion dollars, the genius plotting keeps getting delayed. Anybody got the time to organize something for a Saturday or Sunday in July? You will be my hero if you do.

I Dare You to Join Me

2009-04-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

Every parent has felt it.

The fear.

The crippling fear that the worst will happen to a child.

Death.

I sometimes irrationally have pangs of that kind of crippling terror. It's always momentary, and it's usually me being silly. Maybe Alexis actually does the unbelievable and naps for more than an hour. Maybe she stays in her own bed the whole night. Or maybe she catches a cold and I just automatically momentarily jump to worst case scenario.

There was one time when it wasn't such a momentary thing. When Alexis was two months old, she fell ill with a crazy high fever. We battled the illness at home for several days, but when she stopped eating, we had to rush her to the emergency room. We watched in paralyzing fear as a team of nurses and technicians pinned down her tiny body to start an IV. I can still hear her screams when I close my eyes and relive that horrifying moment. We held her tight as she slept 48 hours straight, not even waking to eat. We watched as test after test came back negative, and listened as doctors said it was "just a virus--there's nothing we can do."

The lowest point was when a Resident came in to check on her, listened to her heart for a moment, and said, "Huh. Did you know she has a heart murmur?" We didn't, and we were paralyzed in fear as we waited hours for a more seasoned physician to come in and tell us that it was likely an innocent murmur brought on by the fever. I don't think either Mr. Husband or I breathed all through the tests that were done to confirm that diagnosis.

But, we were lucky. It was nothing. Alexis came home after four days in the hospital and was no worse for the wear.

Heather and Mike of The Spohrs are Multiplying* were not so fortunate. They lost their sweet 17-month old Maddie yesterday.

I can't even imagine.

I don't want to.

In lieu of flowers, Heather and Mike have asked for donations to the March of Dimes. We've made a donation, but I want to do more.

If you are in Pittsburgh, please consider joining me in the March for Babies on May 9th along the North Shore in Pittsburgh. You can join the team here.

If you can't be there and you have a few bucks you could spare, please consider making a donation. Every penny helps.

*So much love tried to find its way to the site this morning that it has been down all day. If that link doesn't work, please try again later as the site is being moved to new hosting. FYI--Don't ever do business with Bluehost. They are lacking the most basic human compassion.

****************************************************************************

I've been working on a family friendly get-together at a park or other venue, and have just been waiting to hear back from a few people as to whether we could get registration fees/entrance fees waived. Let's plan to have that get-together on May 9th, after the walk. Exact location is still up in the air, but it will be a come and go as you please sort of event. Mark your calendars, and I hope to see you at the walk.

March Get Together

2009-03-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

When: Friday, March 27, 2008 at 7:00pm
Where: Church Brew Works
What: Dinner
Who: Parents who blog

Sorry for the late notice here, but if you were on the ListServ you would have known last week. Special thanks to Red Pen Mama for coordinating this time.

First Get-Together of 2009

2009-01-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

Who: Anyone who blogs, is a parent, and is interested in meeting other Pittsburgh parents who blog.

What: A get-together of epic proportions.

When: Friday, January 30th at 7:00pm. Don't worry if you're late, because you'll probably still beat me there.

Where: Double Wide in the South Side. On-street parking is available (if nothing is available on Carson, try a street parallel to Carson).

How: It doesn't matter how you get there, just do. If you are interested in carpooling, make sure you are signed up for the ListServ.

Why: Just because we can. However, if you would like to participate in a re-gift swap, bring along a wrapped gift that you have received that you would love to pass on to someone else.

Please sign Mr. Linky so we know who to expect. Thanks!

Step 2

2009-01-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

January 30th it is! Now to pick a place. Poll will close Friday at midnight and you should be able to vote for more than one.

It's a New Year

2009-01-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

It's been far too long since the Blogging Moms and Dads of Pittsburgh had a night out on the town, so let's get the next party started by picking a date. This will be a Friday evening (7:00pm seems to work well, and being late is always 100% acceptable) for the bloggers only.

Poll will close January 10th at 11:00pm.

Please make suggestions for a location in the comments.

Cookie Swap

2008-11-05T19:03:00.001-08:00

November 22nd

Cookie Swap!

2008-10-30T10:22:00.001-07:00

It's time to organize one last get-together for the year. Some of us were plurking (Are you? If not, you should.) and thought it would be fun to do a cookie swap/Christmas party. Given that everybody has crazy schedules once the holidays roll around, we think November would be best. There will not be a December get-together.

Below is a poll of dates that we could hold the cookie swap. You can pick as many dates as you want.

I'm also looking for suggestions on where to hold the swap. Please make suggestions in comments. We'll finalize the plans via email using the Listserv.

Thanks!

A Quick Update

2008-10-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

Some things of note that are going on:

1--Dinner. This coming Friday evening. Robinson Mad Mex. 7:00. Please leave a comment if you plan to attend so I can make reservations. Thank you!

2--PodCamp Pittsburgh. PodCamp is a FREE event similar to BlogHer, but with an supa-cool Pittsburgh twist. It's an annual event, and this year's festivities are October 18th and 19th. You can attend just a few presentations or the whole thing (schedule here). Check out the PodCamp site for more information.

3--There will be a poll to pick a date/location for next month's cookie swap/get together.

4--This site will be launching "for reals" before the end of the year. I'm not putting a date to it because I know that will just end up in it being late, but it will happen.

We Know We're Missing Some Peeps

2008-09-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Kim looked through the Listserv last night and we now know that we're still missing some people. If you are a parent, live in or near Pittsburgh, and have a blog, you are more than welcome to join us for an occasional get together. To get information on the get togethers, we'll need you to join the Listserv since we can't post addresses and such here. The Listserv is used only for communications regarding get togethers, so we promise not to clog your inbox.

Also, if you are not yet on the blogroll, let me know and I'll get you added ASAP. Thanks!

Update

2008-09-10T05:33:00.001-07:00

If you didn't know that the next get-together is confirmed for September 28th at 2:30 pm, it's because you didn't sign up for the Listserv yet, or because the Listserv messages are stuck in your spam folder. Do what you need to do to continue to receive Burgh Mom updates via the Listserv, because this domain is going to be getting re-purposed very soon.

In case you haven't heard what's coming in this space, Burgh Mom is going to be used as was originally intended--as a resource for Pittsburgh Moms and Dads. It will have blog posts from several Pittsburgh Moms (or Dads, if I can find any willing to contribute!) with information such as ideas for things to do with the kids, reviews of local attractions, recipes, smart shopping tips, book reviews, how-to guides, and all kinds of other information that is of use to Pittsburgh Moms and Dads. Burgh Mom will also highlight some of the best blog posts the Burgh Moms have posted on their personal sites.

If you are interested in contributing and we haven't already talked about it, shoot me an email at burghbaby@gmail.com. It pays absolutely nothing, but is a chance to drive traffic to your site (if you want) and to share your knowledge with others in a semi-public forum. You can contribute as often as once per week, or only occassionally.

Thanks!

New Peeps!

2008-09-06T20:35:00.001-07:00

A couple of new Burgh Moms were just added to the blogroll, so go say hi to them!

Unreserved
Every Day Baby Steps

Action Required

2008-09-02T20:23:00.001-07:00

A while ago, Kim and her husband were kind enough to set up a listserv for us to use. Listserv is a fancy way of saying electronic distribution list. It's also a piece of software but the term is often used generically, kind of like Kleenex. For the record, this list is run with Mailman software.

It works like this: You send an email to one address and all the list subscribers get it. Pretty simple.

Here's where you go to join the list (or "subscribe"): http://lists.mulberrymail.com/mailman/listinfo/burghmoms

Once subscribed, you'll get instructions for sending messages to the list and managing your subscription.

This will allow us to send confidential information, such as addresses, without posting them here and will let us have "conversations" much easier than comments. Go sign up!

Friday Night Fun

2008-08-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, there was a whole lot of this last Friday:

And that would be the only decent photo I took. Oops. It turns out that when you have eight kickass bloggers together, the service is relatively acceptable, and the food is good, there is plenty of time to chat. Chatting leads to fun, but not many photos.

Speaking of eight kickass bloggers, here's the rundown of who was there, just in case you happened to be joining us for the first time and are now afraid of our collective inability to shoosh. (Hiya, Vanilla Icing! Hope we didn't scare you too terribly bad!)

Susan
Jen
Allison
Irene
Me
Vanilla Icing
Kim
Red Pen Mama

(Using real names for people who routinely post using real names--anybody wants their name changed, just let me know.)

And that leaves us with September and October to plan. Kim has cordially invited us all to invade her home for September, but wants the group to pick the date. Please vote and let her know whether you prefer Saturday or Sunday:

(Poll closes at 9:00 pm Friday.)

Exact times are yet to be determined, but I think it's safe to bet that early to mid afternoon will be the start time. Your whole family is invited, and it's going to be potluck, so cook up your favorite dish and show off!

October will be bloggers only at Mad Mex in Robinson Township.

Thanks for Helping Me Make a Decision ;-)

2008-08-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

It's a tie. A TIE, PEOPLE! So, I think that means we need to take Jayesel's suggestion and do BOTH Ichiban and Mad Mex. They happen to be basically next door to each other, so it will be quite easy to dine at Ichiban then wander over to Mad Mex for cocktails.

7:30pm this Friday, August 22 at Ichiban it is. THAT IS A TIME CHANGE (reservations were only available at 6:30 and 7:30). Spread the word and leave a comment if you plan to attend. If you're coming late, I would expect we'll shift over to Mad Mex around 9:00. We should be easy to find as we are the LOUD people. Oh, and the reservation is in my first name. (See! I can be trained!) If you aren't so fortunate as to know my first name, indicate so in the comments and I'll get it to you.

The plaza with both restaurants is on Route 19, North of the 228/79/19 Interchange. It is North of Cranberry Mall and Wal-Mart and just South of Safari Sams. More information is here.

(BTW, RPM, Ichiban is fantastic about cooking the tofu and vegetables FIRST before putting the meat on the grill. I've never had tofu there that even came close to being on the grill with the meat. That sort of thing icks me out, too.)

Woohoo! See y'all Friday!

August Dinner

2008-08-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

What happened to August? Yikes! We are due for another get-together next Friday, August 22nd at 7:00 pm. This one is bloggers only and will be in the Cranberry/Mars area. Vote for a restaurant below and I'll post the final decision no later than Wednesday. Feel free to pass this on to anybody who may not know about it.

Thanks!

What You Missed

2008-07-30T18:28:00.001-07:00

At Saturday's meetup, there were puppies.

And more puppies.

There was a pony.

There was CUTENESS OMG THE CUTENESS!

There was a whole lot of playing.

There was a monster.

There was even a Rummel or two or four.

Way more (some even better) photos are posted over here.

Next up is Cranberry dinner August 22nd at 7:00 pm. We still need to decide on a restaurant, so suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

(Names intentionally withheld. If you don't know who everybody in the pics is, then you just need to get with the program and show up to a get-together or two!)

Hey, About This Saturday

2008-07-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

Reminder: There's a get together scheduled for this Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 12:00 at Karen's house. I don't want to post the directions here, so please leave a comment if you are planning to attend so that we can get the details to you via email.

The hostess has asked that I warn you that there is a kiddy pool available in a very convenient location. If you don't mind your tike(s) getting wet, plan accordingly.

I for one plan to bring some mac-n-cheese along for everybody, and there isn't a single thing Ms Rocking Pony can do to stop me. Just sayin'.

Oh, and if anybody is looking to carpool, feel free to discuss in the comments.

See y'all Saturday!

A Break in Our Regularily Scheduled Posting

2008-07-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

An update is coming soon on our upcoming getaway at La Casa De Rocking Pony, but first a quick little unrelated something for y'all.

The infamous Woy (AKA PittGirl's Butler) is expecting a baby ANY.TIME.NOW. There's a pool over at here if you're interested in making some bucks as we greet the new WoyGirl.

Also from Woy comes this message:

Subject: Moms of 12-16 year olds

Hey - do you know any Moms here in Pittsburgh that have kids that are between 12-16 years of age, either generally speaking or in the blogging world? I have a work-related focus group happening Thursday night that has a need for Mom's in that group.

Let me know, and thanks in advance!

If you're interested or know someone that might be, let me know and I'll pass on the word to Woy.

Coming soon: Details about an email listserv that will help immensely for us to all stay in touch, more about the Rocking Pony meet-up, and the REAL honest-to-goodness launch of this domain as a place for Pittsburgh Moms to get information. If you think you may be interested in being a contributing blogger to Burgh Mom, start putting on your thinking caps and coming up with ideas.

This Week and Into the Future

2008-06-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

What: Get-together
Who: Bring 'em all
Where: Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium
When: Saturday, June 21, 2008
Meet at 12:00--look for me at one of the tables furthest from the ice cream place
Please leave a comment if you plan to attend.

What: ANOTHER get-together
Who: Bring 'em all
Where: Karen's humble abode
When: Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 12:00
Directions will be sent via email as well as information for car-pooling. Karen has puppies and ponies and all sorts of fun things to do. Her place is a ways East of Pittsburgh.

What: Yet another get-together
Who: Bloggers only
Where: Cranberry Township--exact restaurant TBD (recommendations wanted!)
When: Friday, August 22, 2008 at 7:00 pm

A Quick Question

2008-06-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

We've got some loooooow responses going for the Zoo this Friday. The pavillion idea isn't going to work out, so we are not tied to a weekday. Would it be better if we did Saturday?

Either way, I'm thinking we meet up at about 12:00 in the little food area. That way, you can come as early or as late as you want, but can still get a little ice cream or French fries.

The poll closes at noon on Wednesday. I'll post the answer then, as well as information on our next TWO get-togethers. Cause I'm getting all organi-mi-zized like that.

What? You've Been Waiting for Something?

2008-06-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

So. Get-togethers. First up, the Pittsburgh Zoo. Nothing is set in stone yet, but June 20th is looking like the most likely date. I need a head count, though, to continue with planning. Please leave a comment indicating how many people you would bring if we were to do a day at the Zoo.

You may not resume living your lives.

So We Can Pretend We Read Each Other's Blogs

2008-05-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

I know lots of people have started checking out other people via their blogs, but how about leaving a little summary paragraph about yourself before the big night out on Friday?