Bunchland

Stephanie Potter has some boundaries, y’all

Earlier this month, popstar Pink (or P!nk) and her motocross racer husband Carey Hart just welcomed a baby girl into the world. People are excited to see this new edition to their family. So excited in fact, the paparazzi were following them around trying get that first picture of baby Willow Sage. Pink was more than a little pissed about the aggressive lengths photographers will go to in order to snap that pic.  Pink’s rant awakened the protective mama bear in Stephanie Potter, who has the following to say:

Back when I was swimming in my Mother’s tent covered belly, social media, let alone the internet, wasn’t on her mind. She worried about our neighborhood, what friends I would have, and how she would protect me from local strangers and potential creeps. She had no need to worry about people one city away, let alone folks in different time zones.  Read more...

Stephanie Potter is moving. Because with three kids under three and another on the way, she’s not quite busy enough.

My family is moving. Possibly four of the most terrifying words I can utter. We’re not moving far really; just to the other side of town. We’ll be taking over my parents’ old townhouse once they’re done renovating my grandfather’s home in town beyond recognition. Including the first apartment my husband and I started renting a month or so before our wedding, we have moved six times as a family. Every move I’ve either been pregnant (usually about six months or so) or we’ve had an infant in tow. This is our fourth pregnancy, so now that I’m six months pregnant, we are, of course, packing up and moving. For the first time we are hiring movers (as opposed to coercing family members or bribing co-workers with beer) and I couldn’t be happier. We are moving plenty of the little stuff ourselves (the benefit of moving into my parents’ old house is that we can move in quite a bit gradually) and I won’t have to angle my cumbersome belly around awkward boxes. Instead my husband and I will watch as a crew of movers lift our necessarily gigantic furniture (it’s hard to get a couch that seats a family of 5+ in and out of a small townhouse) and pile our boxes. Over the past five years of moving we’ve learned a few things and certainly made our fair share of mistakes. I hope these tips will help those of you who, like us, have to move with infants or toddlers!  Read more...

Indoor EXTREME! is all about the great things to do with your kids so you don’t feel cooped up in the house. In our first installment of Indoor EXTREME! Stephanie Potter shows us how to make a simple puppet theatre to entertain your kids, so they can entertain you.

After all the excess and wildness of Christmas, we thought it might be fun to try something a little simpler to expand the kids’ imaginations. After some thinking we settled on an impromptu puppet show with things we had around the house. Now, your house may not be as full of random craft things, but if it’s not you can do a little bin diving for ends and buttons at your local craft store.  Read more...

Stephanie Potter to big family haters: Just mind yo’ bizness

Inspired by fearless new mom Megan Pettit taking on the judge-y moms, Stephanie Potter sent us her thoughts on the judgers:

Every time I see those two pink lines I smile. Another baby. Another nine months of waiting and excitement. Then I frown a little as I remember the gauntlet of judgements and comments sure to come our way. My husband and I just celebrated our fourth anniversary in October, and this is our fourth pregnancy. Despite the fact that we are always inundated with comments of “Are you sure this is what you want?”, “What about your finances” and “Aren’t you busy enough?” from friends, family and strangers, we can’t help but want to share our joy with anyone who will listen. No one can dampen our enthusiasm. We were born to be parents. We’re not always great at it, but boy do we love it. However, in those nine beautiful months of planning and waiting there are always the comments. Here a few gems from this pregnancy and some previous ones:  Read more...

Stephanie Potter explains why she’s in favour of the Santa myth

Some parents painstakingly plant reindeer hoof-prints and snagged bits of red suit to convince their kids that Santa’s really out there, while other parents refuse to let some myth take credit for their hard work. One mom shares why she’s Pro-Claus:

When my husband and I (then my boyfriend) were celebrating our first Christmas together, we were fresh out of the convent. Seriously. I was studying to be a nun, and he a monk. But that’s a love story for another day. Suffice it to say, we are well-rooted in our religious beliefs. We’re big fans of keeping the Christ in Christmas. However, hubby-to-be surprised me that Christmas as we talked about our future. As we spoke it became clear that he was a big fan of Santa for kids. At first I thought maybe it was because he didn’t want them to be the only ones who didn’t believe. Then I realized it was more than that. There’s the obvious fact that Santa teaches lessons about sharing, charity, selflessness and of course, being nice to each other. Still, that’s only a fringe benefit.  Read more...