Text4Baby Gives Pregnant and New Mothers Helpful Reminders

Mamis-to-be are getting some extra help with text4baby, a free mobile information service for pregnant and new moms. This educational program sends moms who sign up for their program, free weekly text messages that give helpful reminders and tips for your pregnancy and caring for your baby through his or her first year.

So far 135,000 women have signed up for this service, which celebrates its first anniversary this month. Managed by The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Baby Coalition, text4baby has received support from hundreds of partners in both the private and public sector. The goal of the program is to provide women with resources and the information they need to deliver and raise healthy babies.

The program is available in English and Spanish. All you have to do to sign up is send the text message BABY for English, or BEBE for Spanish to 511411. Afterwards, you will be prompted to enter some information, like your baby's birthdate, so that your weekly messages will be customized to be relevant to your stage of pregnancy or baby's age.

For more information about text4baby, you can visit their website at www.text4baby.org. The New York Times also ran a great in-depth article about the program, which I encourage you to read.

Con cariño...

New Mamis Salsa Their Way Back Into Shape

This week I happened upon this article talking about how the Salsa Babies program is getting new moms back into shape by teaching them basic steps to Latin dances. As an added bonus, mamis can enjoy the program with their bebés by wearing them in a baby carrier. It’s designed for moms with babies ages 6-8 weeks old and up. The babies seem to enjoy shaking their little maracas and bouncing to the Latin beats.

And for older kids, there is Salsa Tots, which combines movement and play with lively rhythms that parents and kids can both enjoy.

The company was founded in Toronto by Jennifer Torres, and in fact, most of the Salsa Babies branches are in Canada. However, there are a few licensed owners/instructors in the US, including New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Vermont. For those of you not located near a facility offering Salsa Babies classes, don’t despair! The Salsa Babies on-line shop is in the works and it appears that DVDs will soon be available.

To learn more about how you can Salsa your way back to fitness, check out their fun web site here.

Really, I don't need a job !

Hola y Felicidades Navideñas !

Monica has graciously invited me to join the wonderful mamitas that will be contributing to Cielito Lindo (ayy ayy ayy ayy, canta y no llores....) - sorry about the spontaneous singing.

My name is JoAnna Ordóñez. I grew up deep in South Texas and now live in the Texas Hill Country. Just about 4 years ago I decided to leave my engineering job and stay home with my family, we have been blessed with 4 children (ages 6 to 9 !) who are the light of my life. Vidriosa Glassworks has grown in many ways since I first began making glass pieces and today is a great success, and it affords me the luxury of staying home with my children. Life in our home can be very busy, but there is always time for play, travel and fun.

Really, I don't need a job !

In my business I meet so many people from many different walks of life. Art shows are a way of life for my family and I'm blessed with being able to share my story with my customers. It seems lately that every time a man who seems really interested in my work comes into my booth, they then call about 1 to 2 days later offering me a job. And not just any job, no sean mal pensadas !

A little background... In a former life, I was a Chemical Engineer and making very good money. But one day I woke up and what seemed like the perfect life, a house, a dog, 2 great cars and all the toys we could ask for, was just not my idea of what it was I really wanted out of life. Although I'd followed my parents plan of finishing school and getting a great job making lots of money, I really wanted to be a Mamí. My little sister, whose career is very important to her, gave me the whole "how could you do this to women" speech, but there was a real yearning in my heart to have little ones running around the house.

My husband of 18 years and I decided it was time to start trying for those babies and after a long run of fertility treatments we were just not able to conceive. It was by the grace of Diosito that we were able to adopt a beautiful little girl of 18 months. And then 2 years later we were blessed with 3 hermanitos. Our adoption story is a great one filled with the ups and downs and blessings that only could have come about through divine inspiration.

Fast forward to this last fall and my many art shows... It seems that every man that has come into my booth and looked interested in my product has something to offer.

From Xango to Pampered Chef, to Nona-V, Airbonne and Tupperware, there is always an offer of a way for me as a stay at home mommy and as a great sales person to make some extra income.

If they only knew, that I thoroughly enjoy being at home with my children and not having the stress of a 9 to 5 job. If they knew that Vidriosa is doing wonderfully thanks to the following and relationships I've been able to create with my customers, that to date we have over 45 wholesale accounts and counting. And, If they only knew that 25 of the 24 hours in the day are filled with childrens activities, working on my glass and craft projects with the kids, being the Arts Writer for Insite Austin Magazine , being the creator and Director of Artejanos, volunteering for Meals on Wheels and our ACTS Community, playing Bunko with the ladies, and keeping the house in "semi" order, they would never even dream of offering me a job !

Thankfully Vidriosa has blessed me with more business than I can keep up with in a day and I really don't need a job !

I'd love to hear from you and your experiences with this "dilemma" and if you're doing this I applaud you, I just really don't have time for another job. You can find me online at Vidriosa Glassworks and on facebook and myspace too.

Many blessings to you and yours.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo - I want to wish you a merry christmas, I want to wish you a merry christmas, I want to wish you a merry christmas from the bottom of my heeearrrrt !

~* My children are singing too ! *~

JoAnna