Taking a Break: UPDATE!

(photo taken in May; Hair: two strand twists done on blown out hair, lasted for about 5 weeks!)

Dear Naturally Leslie readers,

So after 7 lovely weeks with my baby boy, I returned to work today. It was tough. People tell you it is hard but you can't know until you experience it. Luckily, my son was being cared for by my husband who decided to take two weeks off. That made the transition back not so bad and I only called home a half a dozen times.

In terms of blog postings, I hope to get back in the swing of things at some point soon but I must request your patience as I get into this new routine. I am not one of those super bloggers who can have a baby, breastfeed, pump, take care of the little tot, and continue to post frequently without missing a beat. I need some time to adjust to this new phase and I am going to take it.

In the meantime, feel free to continue to comment as you wish as I will be able to moderate comments daily. Or, you can sit back and do nothing and just wait until I get back to posting! Either way, I appreciate your readership and support and I hope to return quickly. Also, you can email me topics you would like to see discussed here on Naturally Leslie in the future. I would rather do more posts about things than interest you but I need to know what those are! Send me an email to naturallyleslie@gmail.com.

Ok, off to bed. Take care and we'll see each other soon!

Love always,

Leslie

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UPDATE:

Hey there everybody! I apologize for being MIA for so long. Thank you for all your emails and comments in my absence. School just got out for the summer and I hope to get back to posting really soon. If you sent an email and it went unanswered, please accept my apologies and know that I did receive it. I have been somewhat "unplugged" if you will and have not done much related to the blog. Baby is almost 4 months ( on July 4) and I can say I feel pretty adjusted. We're still nursing about every 2-3 hrs around the clock so that is tough and part of the reason I have not braved adding anything else to my plate! I hope you continue to stick around and hopefully I can star posting again really soon. I appreciate all your support!

Parenting 101: To Spank or Not to Spank...

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So this blog is in no way going to become solely a blog about babies or parenting. However, I am a new mom and I know many of you out there are mommies and daddies too! There are so many issues that arise when thinking about raising children and I would love to share them with you to get your input. From time to time I will be submitting topics for you all to weigh in on regarding parenting.

So, for this first Parenting 101 as this series will be called, I want to know how you all feel about spanking. I was spanked as a child by my dad but not by my mom. I think they disagreed on the act and once they divorced, I was never really spanked again. My only memory of being spanked was waaaaaaay back in the day when I was three years old. We were in Target (the old Target before they became cool and hip again, lol) and I was begging my mom to "up me" or pick me up. My dad was not happy with my behavior because apparently I kept begging and begging, going from whining to an all-out temper tantrum. Well, what is the big deal, you may ask. For starters, my mom was about 8 months pregnant with my little brother so "upping me" was not an option. In addition, I guess I was told to stop and I didn't. So my dad spanked me. Right there in Target. With a belt from the belt section! :-(

Of course then there were the times I spent with my paternal grandmother who believed in sending children to get their own switches to "tear up those legs"! She never hurt us, but liked to be able to remind us from time to time about not getting out of line.

On the one hand, I was more careful around those people who I knew would take to my behind if I started feeling myself too hard and I watched my behavior. I knew the limits and I was diligent about not crossing them. However, I might have responded just as well to really structured time out or other non-corporal punishments.

So, my question to you all is, what do you think about spanking? Are you a "spare the rod, spoil the child" kind of person or do you disagree with the practice? What were your experiences with it and do you think it helped you as a child? Is this an appropriate way to manage behavior in children? Weigh in!

***Oh, and as a friendly reminder, topics like this can get heated and we won't all agree so please stay respectful or both this forum and each other. :-)

Merry Christmas Eve and Happy 90th Grandma!

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Hey everybody! I am back in NC with my family celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday as well as Christmas Eve. How exciting to be home with the family! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope you are safe no matter what your travel plans or traditions. I love all of you and am so grateful for your continued readership and support! Merry Christmas!

Family Ties

Hey ya'll. I just wanted to share a family pic we took a couple of weeks ago. My mom's hair is a twist-out that she did HERSELF (i'm so proud whoo hoo!) and my hair is the result of a set of curled twists that I took down then later retwisted (without re-curling) to create the final twist-out you see in the pic.

The other three lovlies are my dear brothers and my cute grandma. Work it g-ma!