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Feb 8th, 9:10 PM Email blogpost@themommiesnetwork.org if you're interested in being a guest blogger! See other posts at http://themommiesnetwork.blogspot.com Feb 5th, 12:54 PM ClevelandMommies.com launched today through The Mommies Network! It is a FREE group for moms in the Cleveland, OH area! Spread the word =) Feb 5th, 12:52 PM The Mommies Network launched SacramentoMommies.com today -a FREE support group for moms in the Sacramento, CA area. Help us spread the word! Feb 5th, 12:50 PM PhiladelphiaMommies.com opened today, serving the Philadelphia, PA area! It is a FREE support group for moms through The Mommies Network! Feb 5th, 12:49 PM The Mommies Network launched OrlandoAreaMommies.com today, a FREE community for moms in the Orlando area of Florida. Spread the word! AshevilleMommies Blog
The Super Hero 5k I remember trying to run to get in shape after I had Tyson in 2006. I could barely run a mile in twenty minutes. After weeks of struggling, I reached my peak time of a little over 12 mins. Running was my least favorite exercise as I preferred the Denise Austin 30 min. cardio routines. I quit running for a good bit because I had no results weight wise and thought it was a hopeless exercise. Who would have known years later, I would run a 3.1 mile race?
Kelley, one of our members, suggested a running club a couple months ago and that we should train for the Super Hero 5k that was in November. It was something new and there were many of us who have never ran a 5k, let alone any type of foot race! Kelley had ran a half marathon last year and probably several 5ks. I started working out with the training club and was very excited to run with people who were at the same starting point as I was! I missed several training clubs, but worked out by myself quite a bit...probably not to the extent I should have.
Race day was here before we all knew it and the adrenaline rush was just crazy. Once everyone lined up, the start whistle blew (or whatever they used, because none of us heard "go")we all started running. When I usually run at the gym, I am totally focused on the songs playing on my MP3 player, but this time, I couldn't even concentrate, on the beat and could only hear the loud voice in my head pushing me forward. I had to stop a few times to catch my breath, but once I crossed the finish line, it was all worth it. I finished in 32:01, which I am sure I could have done better if I wouldn't have walked. I am a fairly competitive person, but I was more concentrated on finishing and my time in the race, rather than who I was in front of. A couple of times, I would challenge myself to run and keep ahead of a certain person, but that would often change.
When I woke up this morning, my husband who couldn't be there because of work, had bought me a card, sour patch kids, and some cookies. Maybe next time when I finish with a better time, he will buy me a car...haha wishful thinking!
I am really happy and proud of everyone who participated. This was an excellent group event and hopefully more people will run in the next one! Here is a picture of all of us before the start of the race!
Donate to the TMN Fund Drive!! November is a month for giving thanks. At TheMommiesNetwork, we have so much to be thankful for. We have over 100 network sites, and nearly 31,000 members in 29 states. And we are growing every day! We have a brand new server that has allowed us to deliver better performance to our existing network sites, and has allowed us to resume opening new sites.
TheMommiesNetwork is hitting the bigtime in a major way. And we have you to thank for it. Our members, our moderators and managers, our Site Administrators, and the numerous TMN Staff volunteers who all help the network run.
We are on a mission. Did you know that? TMN?s mission: To provide a safe, secure, free place for mothers to find support and encouragement from other mothers and to empower them to be better women, parents and community leaders.
Providing this place to all mothers for free is deep in the core of our values. Your site is available to you for free. Think about that for a minute. How many other mom?s clubs are there where you don?t have to pay dues, there are no membership limitations, and the only thing you have to be is a mom? Not many, and certainly not many that have a nationwide network to support them.
But it is not free to run the free nationwide network. Website hosting isn?t free. Bandwidth isn?t free. Disk space isn?t free. Since we charge no membership fees, we operate solely on the money obtained from donations and sponsorships. When we had a handful of sites, this money wasn?t very difficult to raise, and the network wasn?t very difficult to run. Now with over 100 sites and counting, it is more important that we run things in a way that is sustainable and can allow for growth. We are going after major nationwide sponsorships that will allow us to spread the word about our network in a way in which it has never before been possible. And that excites us tremendously! The larger we are, and the more well-known our name is, the more weight it can carry when we seek sponsorships that help us pay to maintain the network
However, just like regular business, sometimes it takes money to make money. We have to be formidable enough to attract the attention that will take us to the big time. The bigger we get, the more each and every site can benefit by better site performance, top quality network staff, improved software, additional opportunities to enjoy the TMN network, and improved ways to promote your own products and services.
Just to give you an idea of some of our 2010 goals:
National Forum: You've been asking for it for a long time and we are nearly ready to launch our National Website and forum. We are currently researching software options and finding cool applications, games and forums for you to enjoy, along with any other TMN member across the country! We are also planning on a national business directory (all you moms with internet businesses -- think of the exposure!) and instant messaging built right into the site. We are hoping this will be a great benefit to our members and look forward to opening it in 2010.
Liability Insurance: We started the Trekaroo fundraiser to raise money for liability insurance, but we didn't get enough Sad Because of the complexity of risk involved with our organization (multiple sites, lots of moms and kids, nationwide), we are looking at a minimum premium PER YEAR of $15,000.00! That's a lot of money, but its worth it to protect our members and TMN. We really feel it is important to take care of this pressing issue and are hoping to procure liability insurance in 2010.
Complete Website Redesign: Do you guys even KNOW that we have an entire website outside of the forums? Don't feel bad if you don't. We haven't done a great job of providing good content outside of our forums. We have some fabulous ideas for a new site design that has regularly updated content, fun applications and lots of local information and stuff to do! We want to invest and make our community sites places that you want to go to for all your local mom/family-friendly information!
In addition to that, we want to come back to our mission a little bit and increase focus on charitable giving. After all, women and children who need a little help are part of our communities and membership. In giving to them, we are giving to our membership. In giving to them, we further our mission. An escaped victim of domestic abuse who has no clothes to wear to a job interview, or a mother who doesn?t know how she will be able to afford a coat for her child this year, needs our support and encouragement. Women struggling to survive cannot afford to strive to be better mothers or community leaders. We want our local sites to be giving back to their communities in a MAJOR way and to set the example, TMN is pledging to donate 30% of our funds to partner organizations that assist mothers and children. By partnering with these charities, we further OUR mission by providing support and encouragement to the moms beyond our websites.
For the first time ever, we are directly soliciting you, our membership, for donation to our network. Last year, we received a total of $123,542. Most of this money was raised by individual sites and is used for local events and charitable donations. Of the money designated for TMN nationally, most came from sponsorship space sold on our forums. Only $8,000 total came from contributions from our members and sites.
In 2008, we spent: $11.8 thousand given to charities by our sites $28.6 thousand spent by our sites on events for the membership $18.5 thousand spent on the internet hosting for the sites, promotional printing and postage, etc. $26 thousand in salary (our lone employee, our Sponsorship Manager, handles national sponsorships for the entire network!)
In 2010, we need to spend much more money on technology in order to keep up with the growing network, as well as plan for the future growth. In 2008 we were caught with our knickers down when the network grew too large for our old equipment, and we had to stop opening new sites for several months while we raised money (the Insider Pages fundraiser) in order to equipment that will perform better and allow us to grow. Unfortunately, during the waiting, we did lose several mommies waiting to open new sites. We do not want to ever be in that position again. TMN is catching on nationwide, and we need to meet our future head-on. Not play catch-up to it.
So, we are asking you to put your money where your mommie is. We are asking you do donate money to TMN. At the top of each forum and on each home page is a place where you can donate. If TMN has made a difference in your life, we ask that you help keep us running so that we can continue to make a difference in the lives of moms across the country.
As a thank you, we have some super-cool, limited edition Fund Drive 2009 Gear! We'll post more about that in the next day or two, but believe me when I tell you -- you are going to LOVE it Very Happy
Additionally, every time you donate $25, you will get an entry into our Fund Drive Raffle, to be in the running to win lots of cool prizes, such as: An iPod Nano An iPod Shuffle Britax (winners choice of any product (limited edition excluded)!) Nintendo DS My Virtual Tudor Reading Savings Angel memberships A $50 Dress Barn Gift Card A Dress Barn Tote Bag A Dress Barn Pashmina A Febreeze Gift Basket A French Food's Gift Baskets A Baby Banz Sunscreen Kit A Six-Month membership to Netflix A 3-month membership on Care.com A Manischewitz Kosher food basket A $10 Papa John's Gift Card A Clearwater Infant Bath Tub by 4Moms A Wooden Musical Band Drum Set A Black Alphabet Zoo ReStik Wall Stickers Set
Please consider donating to TMN this month. We are excited about the coming year and look forward to reaching out to many more moms in 2010 -- and we will have all of YOU to thank for that!
Fun @ Bounceville USA!! This past Wednesday, our group met up at Bounceville USA for a "bouncing" good time. The owner, Gayle, gave us a discounted admission as well as the whole place to ourselves. Check them out at www.bouncevilleusa.com for more info! Become our fan on facebook to check out the pics from the event!!
How to Have an Amazing Birth Many people are becoming aware of the basic natural laws of creation in the Universe. My goal is to assist women in using these laws to create more desirable birth experiences. Part of creating the experience you desire will be educating yourself about all of your options. Your options are what you say they are. If you wish to experience home birth you will find a way. If you wish to have a birth center or hospital birth you will also find a way. Think about who will be there with you. What might you be wearing? What will you be saying and hearing? What are the sensations you will experience? Will you want silence upon the baby emerging? Will you keep the cord intact until delivery of the placenta? What other things do you want for you and your baby? I want you to take some time and think about what you expect to happen. What do you imagine afterward you would say? The reason for this is when I was collecting stories for my book: Embracing Birth: A Collection of Inspiring Birth Stories I was able to see the amazing power of belief in action. Many times a mother would say "I knew this would happen" "I told people that this would happen". They may or may not be aware but those things they "knew" would happen did happen because they expected and believed that they would. This is great if it was something they desired, but not so great for things that were bad. Consider thinking things like: I knew I would have a great birth because of all of the love I poured into my baby. I recommend that you use the 3x a day approach for maximum effectiveness. Morning, noon and night take a moment to create your birth. Your subconscious mind will be overloaded with these amazing new images and thoughts about what you wish to experience. Imagine your birth exactly how you would love for it to be. Write out your birth story how you want to experience it and read it once a day. Write out all of your fears and burn them. Have beautiful affirmations written on flash cards to look at regularly and when labor comes to remind you. Imagine the faces of the people in your company during labor. Hear the loving supportive words they are speaking to you. Learn self hypnosis through hypno-babies or other hypnosis programs. Read positive loving birth stories of other women who have created desirable outcomes. Watch videos of beautiful births to help your visualization processes. Create a vision board of your dream birth and baby. Imagine it in your mind over and over. Feel good, smile, laugh and bring joy to the images. Affirm your belief in your baby and your body's ability to work together in harmony. Imagine the perfect outcome. Have complete faith that this process is bringing you to the perfect end result you desire. When we take responsibility for our thoughts and for our lives amazing things begin to happen. We are able to experience miracles by having faith in ourselves. You are the ultimate co-creator of your universe and your experience. You can create the labor and birth of your dreams. Birth can be amazing, it can be pain-free and it can be exactly what you want it to be. Jessica Levesque is a mother of two, a childbirth doula and a dedicated birth advocate. She can be contacted through her website www.embracingbirthbook.com at Jessica@embracingbirthbook.com
