This post is a part of “All About the Bump” Month where the members of Splash Creative Media are writing about pregnancy, new moms, and babies throughout May. We are sharing our stories, helpful tips, and hosting some crazy giveaways. So get ready to share, talk, and learn about great products and enter to win some very amazing prizes!

This Wednesday night, I will be co-hosting our Bump Month Twitter Party where we’ll be giving away over $5,000 in prizes!

Join us from 8-10pm ET/ 5-7pm PST to chat all things pregnancy and baby related.

Follow #bumpmonth and RSVP to win.

Twitter Party Prizes include:

THREE Bump Baskets each valued at over $1,000!

• Britax Baby Carrier ($129.99 – $139.99)
• A collection of products from BabyCenter including a diaper bag, BabyCenter Pregnancy: From Preconception to Birth($19.95) and BabyCenter Baby: The All-Important First Year ($19.95)
• Apothederm Stretch Mark Cream ($89.95)
• Books from Workman Publishing including Bring Back Beatrice ($10.95) and What to Expect the Second Year ($15.95)
• A Baby Hug Blanket ($64) from Silly Monkey Baby
• 3 sets of socks ($30) from See Kai Run
• lillebaby Yucky Stuff Bag ($10) from Scandinavian Child
• Ritmo Prenatal Sound System ($129.99)
• A set of Rhoost products including edge ($14.99) table corner protectors and sling ($9.99) cabinet closures
• Putumayo Kids CD ($14.98) of music from around the world
• A Pure Belly gift card with a value of $59
• Single set of Pump-a-Pair hands free breast pumping support ($12.95)
• Silky Liquid Powder ($22) from MD Moms
• LeapFrog’s My Pal Scout ($21.99)
• Joovy Hook ($69.99)
• Hot Mama Gown ($89)
• A T-shirt or tank from For Two Fitness ($39.99)<
• Episencial Sunblock Kit ($14.99)
• DiaperBuds Multipack ($5.99)
• Crane humidifier ($45.99)
• Booginhead SplatMat ($19.99) and one of the following: SippiGrip($7.50), PaciGrip ($5), or PaciPouch ($8)
• Adora Calcium chocolate calcium supplements ($7.50/bag)

….and a special giveaway from our platinum sponsor Zulily! They are offering “6 months of chic kids” for the winner to spend on whatever you choose from their amazing selection of stylish and fun baby and kid products! You’ll win $50 a month for 6 months so Zulily can help your little one look stylish as they grow!

BRITAX Registry Package over $900 in Britax products!

This amazing giveaway package includes a BRITAX BABY CARRIER: valued at $129.99, a CHAPERONE Infant Car Seat: valued at $229.99,  an amazing ride, the B-AGILE Stroller: valued at $249.99, and the versatile BOULEVARD Convertible Car Seat: value at $309.99!

A Jewels and Pinstripes Celebrity “BUMP” Bag contains the following products valued at $1,050!

Gift Certificate for Baby Kaed Diaper Bag, Ritmo™ Advanced Sound System by Nuvo Group, Novena Maternal Organic Skin Care gift set, [bump] babies Peace, Love & [bump]s maternity shirt in Tranquil, Snuggle Me’z all-in-one infant car seat snuggler, Daddy Scrubs Hospital scrubs set, “I’m the Daddy” T-shirt and hat, Ana Brandt bloomed hat and covers for baby plus coordinating calendar, Mabel’s Labels gift certificate, Gift certificate from Ladybugs and Lullabies hip accessories for cool kids, Cure-Couture Kristin wrap hospital gown in Wavy Navy Tie-Dye,Modern, eco-friendly stationery from Paper Culture, Playtex Premium Drop-ins Gift Set and Breast Milk Storage Kit, Robeez reversible soft sole shoes in counting sheep, WubbaNub™ giraffe and lamb pacifiers,Project Nursery embroidered logo baby bucket hat, nail file and baby comb, a copy of Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine and a copy of The Bump Magazine. The Jewels and Pinstripes Spring 2011 Celebrity “BUMP” Bag will be gifted to Ethan Hawke, January Jones and Ali Landry in celebration of their recent pregnancy announcements.

A Mamaroo! valued at just under $200!

Parents don’t vibrate like bouncy seats or swing like swings. They bounce and sway, and that’s what the mamaRoo does: it moves like you do. Our team used motion sensors to measure the movements of reals moms and dads as they soothed their babies, and replicated those motions in the mamaRoo. It’s the only infant seat with five different motions, all modeled after the natural movements parents make to comfort their babies. It isn’t just another infant seat. It’s our baby, and we made it for yours.

Be sure you’re following our Bumpin Bloggers!

• Julie Meyers Pron : @justprecious
• Andrea Fellman: @savvysassymoms
• Jessica Rosenberg: @kikarose
• Laurie Cooper: @clueless_mama
• Leticia Barr: @techsavvymama
• Alison Ray: @sassymomchicago
• Grace Duffy: @graceduffy
• Whitney Wingerd: @WhitneyMWS
• Kelly Whalen: @centsiblelife
• Splash Creative: @splash_creative

Please follow our amazing sponsors on Twitter:

• Zulily: @Zulily
• Britax: @Britax
• Apothederm: @Apothederm
• Babycenter: @BabyCenter
• Scandinavian Child: @scanchild
• Ritmo: @RitmobyNuvo
• Rhoost: @Rhoosting
• Putumayo Kids: @PutmayoKids
• Pure Belly: @PureBelly
• Pump A Pair: @PumpAPair
• MDMoms: @MDMoms
• LeapFrog: @LeapFrog
• Hot Mama Gowns: @HotMamaGowns
• For Two Fitness: @ForTwoFitness
• Episcencal: @Episencial
• Diaper Buds: @DiaperBuds
• BooginHead: @BooginHead
• Adora: @AdoraCalcium
• Crane @Crane_USA

RSVP to Win!

RSVP with your twitter handle and email address below (don’t worry we’ll only use these if you win!). You MUST be RSVP’ed and attend the twitter party to win.

Clicking through my “drafts” folder, I found one dated April 13, 2010. It read:

She quit on me. Just like that. No warning. No advance notice.

My milk supply being what it is (read: SUCKY, pun intended), my days as moo cow ended with little fanfare.

My daughter was eights months old– a full three months older than my son was when he stopped nursing. To this day, I can still feel the the mix of relief, mourning, and failure in those words.

This was the first of an endless series of “my baby’s not a baby anymore” moments. While it was a relief that she took to baby food so well and wasn’t so totally dependent on me for her nutrition anymore, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat despondent about it as well. I planned to nurse each of my children for the “requisite” year, but my milk supply just could not sustain it. I had also planned to have dramatic, but natural birth. Following two c-sections, I loathed my body’s inability to do the very thing it was biologically meant to do– have and feed my children.

I remembered hugging my son a little tighter as I fed him his bottles to make up for the extra “love” I assumed he wasn’t getting because I could not nurse him. I’ve beat myself up for years, blaming my poor milk supply on my tired, fat body, my decision to go back to work, and about a hundred other things.

I had better luck with nursing my daughter, but I think it was because I no longer had that expectation of getting it right… and I had the privilege of staying home. I made my own nursing cover and nursed on demand- everywhere and anywhere, but even that wasn’t enough.

Breastfeeding was painful. It was embarrassing and awkward. For me, there was only one natural element about it and it was  the moments of closeness and tenderness that it brought. Oh my goodness, I was going to miss those moments so much! I loved the “you and me”- ness and having to stop everything to take the time to just focus on one another. Even if I did have to supplement with formula immediately afterwards, I am grateful to have experienced those moments with both of my children.

In looking back on my nursing experience as a whole, I realize now that it wasn’t quantity they really needed. It was the quality.

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This post kicks off the third week of “All About the Bump” Month! Eight bloggers and I have teamed up to spend a whole month to talk about all things moms and babies.

We’ve shared some heartfelt stories and wonderful companies who have help us along the way. Read the other Bump Bloggers stories about their nursing experience here.

I micromanaged and monitored every second of my first pregnancy. I kept track of every tiny development and every kick, pain, or craving. Clearly, a sign that I was going to be SUCH a great mom! (That is, if drafting lists and reading parenting books was all it took.)

I attempted to do the same with my second preganancy, but found myself a bit distracted… you know, with moving back to the US from across the globe, settling in a new place, taking care for my firstborn, and all….

I quickly learned that real life gets in the way of afternoon naps and counting the grams of protein I’ve eaten today. With my husband starting a new job and gone most of the time and a dire lack of outside help, I know I didn’t take enough time for myself or track every new development or change.

How could I? I had TWO little people depending on me for everything- one running circles around me and the other masterminding cravings and mood swings from within. Again, I have no idea why I thought already having one child would make me an expert on having second? If anything, I felt even more the clueless new mom!

So just as I did with my previous pregnancy, I went to the source for everything all things pregnancy and new baby related. “Paging Dr. Google” Umm, not quite…  Of course, I’m talking about Baby Center.

If it wasn’t for the BabyCenter emails that faithfully appeared in my inbox, I wouldn’t have known how for along I was.

Am I thirty-two weeks pregnant in this photo or thirty-three weeks?

(Actually, I’m thirty-four weeks and probably craving a hot dog topped with Cheetos, or something equally as gross…)

I’ll let you in on a little secret. To this day, I still use BabyCenter to track how many months and weeks old my children are and mentally brace myself for their next big “milestone”.

Of course, they used to be sweet things like “learning to coo” or “taking those first steps”. Now, it’s stuff like, “So, your daughter has probably started biting her friends, isn’t she? Here’s how to apologize graciously” and “How to get your son to stop talking about his penis. No, really. It’s all kinds of awesome, but enough already”.

Well, BabyCenter has since taken all of those same great resources– the milestones and helpful tips, not the biting– and spun it into an app for the iPhone, iTouch, and Android.

The BabyCenter My Pregnancy Today app is a daily guide for your pregnancy, filled with smart advice, updates, guides to help you eat well and manage cravings, tracking tools, and of course, to-do lists and reminders. There’s a reason it’s called “pregnancy brain”…

Oh, and the app completely free to download and use. Bonus! Now if only it came with a “way back when” machine so I could have used it two year ago…

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BabyCenter is one of our wonderful “All About the Bump” Month sponsors and I was pleased to have any opportunity to write about them.

Please join us for a Twitter party on Wednesday, May 18th 8-10pm EST/5-7pm PST. RSVP here and follow the hashtag #bumpmonth for chances to win over $5,000 in prizes.  Also, don’t forget about our awesome giveaway happening on all nine bump bloggers sites.

It’s hard for me to pinpoint the exact moment when I felt like a mom, since I can no longer recall the time when I wasn’t one. Even before those two little pink lines confirmed that everything just changed, I thought about my children constantly–what kind of mom would I be to them, what would they look like, would I stay home or keep working, what kind of people did I dream of them becoming…

Before my children existed they were real to me, so there were no huge cognitive shifts, blind leaps, or convincing required. Since becoming a mother, my life’s been filled with gradual changes, little shifts in thinking, minor adjustments here and there, but I can’t think of a singular, monumental “this is the moment” in becoming a mother. I’ve wanted this for so long that it just seems… Right.

While motherhood may have been a natural progression for me, it seemed to be more of an abrupt jolt for everyone else in my life. With far fewer martinis being spilled on dance floors as I started spending my nights in, certain friends stopped calling or cut me out all together. People who I thought would be in my life forever stopped being as interested in me once I became pregnant, and I suppose, I in them. On the other hand, I’ve seen strong alliances built around the shared experience of  picky eaters, tantrums, sleep deprivation, and Gymboree classes.

I once asked a friend, the father of a then preschool-aged girl, what was the biggest surprise about parenthood to him.

“The constant buzzing in your head,” he said. “No matter where you are or what you are doing, in part of your brain there will always be running ‘Where’s my kid? Where’s my kid? Where’s my kid? Is she okay? Is she hungry? Is she safe? Where’s my kid? Where’s my kid? Where’s my kid?’”

I laughed at the time,  but a year later, as I cradled my newborn son,  I understood for myself that the buzzing is real and it truly never stops. From that moment on, my life was not my own. Whatever I’m doing, whatever I’m thinking, and every choice I make revolves around my children.

I can’t even tell you what used to fill that space in my brain. Advanced math? A foreign language? Remembering… stuff?

Every once in a while, I’ll see glimmers of my former self. There have been girls’ weekends away or a day spent shopping on my own. Every once in awhile, I’ll join a friend for a night of clubbing, which incidentally has always feel ridiculous. On one such occasion, I offered to be the designated driver so my friend could fully celebrate her birthday. (How very “mumsy” of me. I know!)

As we made our way to the club with me behind the wheel, the single girls in the back kept yelling, “Can’t you drive any FASTER? Ugh, you’re such a MOM.”

“Why, Yes. Yes, I am,” I told them and kept the car a reasonable speed to make sure I stayed that way.

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It’s still “All About the Bump” Month! Eight bloggers and I have teamed up to spend a whole month talking about moms and babies- sharing stories, tips, and the wonderful products that have helped us through those wonderful (albeit hazy) first few months.

Read the other Bump Bloggers stories about when they first felt like a mom and be sure to enter our fantastic Bump Basket giveaway worth over $1,000. With nine bloggers each having a basket to giveaway, it’s like nine times as many chances to win.

Our amazing “All About The Bump” Month sponsors have given each member of Splash Creative Media a Bump Basket to give away to our readers. This prize is the ultimate win for any pregnant or new mom. Second, third, fourth… time moms are welcome to enter too, since we all know every new baby is like starting over.

The collective value of this basket exceeds $1,000! Woot!

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Just take a look at the impressive list of items that can be found in each “Bump Basket”. One lucky winner gets it all!

Books from Workman Publishing including Bring Back Beatrice ($10.95) and What to Expect the Second Year ($15.95)

A Baby Hug Blanket ($64) from Silly Monkey Baby

3 sets of socks ($30) from See Kai Run

lillebaby Yucky Stuff Bag ($10) from Scandinavian Child

Ritmo Prenatal Sound System ($129.99)

A set of Rhoost products including edge ($14.99) table corner protectors and sling ($9.99) cabinet closures

Putumayo Kids CD ($14.98) of music from around the world

A Pure Belly gift card with a value of $59

Single set of Pump-a-Pair hands free breast pumping support ($12.95)

Silky Liquid Powder ($22) from MD Moms

LeapFrog’s My Pal Scout ($21.99)

Joovy Hook ($69.99)

Hot Mama Gown ($89)

Apothederm Stretch Mark Cream ($89.95)

A t-shirt or tank from For Two Fitness ($39.99)

$25 Gift Card to use at Zulily.com ($25)

Episencial Sunblock Kit ($14.99)

Your choice between 1 of 4 Britax products to be determined

DiaperBuds Multipack ($5.99)

Crane humidifier ($45.99)

Booginhead SplatMat ($19.99) and one of the following: SippiGrip ($7.50), PaciGrip ($5), or PaciPouch ($8)

A collection of products from BabyCenter including a diaper bag, BabyCenter Pregnancy: From Preconception to Birth ($19.95) and BabyCenter Baby: The All-Important First Year ($19.95)

Adora Calcium chocolate calcium supplements ($7.50/bag)

Plus, a very special gift from our platinum sponsor, Zulily!

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TO ENTER: Leave a comment sharing what item is a must-have for new moms or if you’re an expectant mom, the one item on your registry that you really and truly covet! Be sure to include your email and/or Twitter handle in your entry to be valid!

DEADLINE: Drawing held at midnight PST on Monday, May 30. Please see fine print below for more rules.

For extra entries you must complete the above comment and do any or all of the following:

1. Tweet this daily and leave the link to your Tweet in your comment: @graceduffy is giving away a #BumpMonth basket with $1000+ in products perfect for new moms!  Enter to win here: http://ow.ly/4OfP4
2. Change your Facebook status to read: “I want to win a Bump Month basket from FormerlyGracie.com w/ over $1,000 in products perfect for new moms!” Then leave a comment letting me know you’ve done this. Removing this method of entry per Facebook’s revised promotional guidelines, effective May 11, 2011.  Entries of this nature made prior to that date will still be counted. Thank you and sorry for any confusion this may cause.
   
   
3. Subscribe to Formerly Gracie via RSS Feed and let me know you’ve done so in the comments.
   
   
4. Like Formerly Gracie blog on Facebook.

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There are also EIGHT other chances to win an identical Bump Month Basket from any of the other Bumpin’ bloggers’ sites. Leave a comment letting me know whose giveaway you entered!  Include your email/Twitter too!  Links below will go live as giveaways are posted:

Alison Ray from Sassy Moms in the City @sassymomchicago

Andrea Fellman from Savvy Sassy Moms @savvysassymoms

Jessica Rosenberg from It’s My Life @kikarose

Julie Meyers Pron from Just Precious @justprecious

Kelly Whalen from The Centsible Life @centsiblelife

Laurie Cooper from Guessing all the Way @clueless_mama

Leticia Barr from Tech Savvy Mama @TechSavvyMama

Whitney Wingerd from Mommies with Style @WhitneyMWS

This post is a part of a series of posts inspired and sponsored by “All about the Bump Month.”  To learn more, please visit our sponsor page.

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CORRECTION: We originally had a MamaRoo bouncy seat ($199.99) listed in the giveaway basket. This product will only be given away during the Twitter Party. Our apologies for the confusion.

Please join us on Wednesday, May 18th 8:00 pm – 10:00pm EST/ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm PST and follow #bumpmonth for a chance to win the a MamaRoo bouncy seat and much, much more!