Melina Gerosa Bellows - The Fun Book for Moms: 102 Ways to Celebrate Family

M elina Gerosa Bellows is the editor-in-chief of National Geographic Kids magazine and the author of the novel Wish . A former senior entertainment editor at Ladies Home Journal, she is also a freelance writer for many popular magazines.

Melina first discovered the power of fun growing up in Larchmont, New York, and perfected the art of it at Boston College, where she majored in English. She met her husband-to-be in 1998 and soon wrote The Fun Book for Couples. After their children were born, Melina had to find new ways to have fun for the whole family. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area, with her husband, Keith, and their two small children.

E-mail her your favorite flavors of fun at .

Also by Melina Gerosa Bellows

Wish: A Novel

The Fun Book for Couples

The Fun Book

The Fun Book For Moms

Copyright 2007 by Melina Gerosa Bellows. All rights reserved. Printed in China. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews. For information, write Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, an Andrews McMeel Universal company, 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.

E-ISBN: 978-0-7407-9929-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006931967

www.andrewsmcmeel.com

Add credits: Cover illustration by Sarah Wilkins.
Author photo by Karine Aigner

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Andrews McMeel books are available at quantity discounts with bulk purchase for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information, please write to: Special Sales Department, Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.

For Chase and Mackenzie

The most important thing shed learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.

* Jill Churchill, Grime and Punishment

As I am ridiculously blessed in the friend department, there are too many pals to name here. But a few I must. Heartfelt gratitude to Karen Hamilton, Lindsey Truitt, Isobel Coleman, Annie Belt, and Rebecca Ascher Walsh for whispering me through the dark woods and into the light. Special thanks to editrixes Barbara Graham and Susan OKeefe, to idea geniuses Margaret Zackowitz, Kristin Starr, Mary Fehrnstrom, and Laura Quill, and to my willing researcher, Erin Bauer. Of course, The Fun Book for Moms wouldnt exist without the talents of my patient agent, Claudia Cross; gifted editor, Kelly Gilbert; and stylish illustrator Sarah Wilkins. I am grateful to my own mother for setting and tirelessly continuing to set such a stellar example. And most of all thank you to Keith for blessing me with my meerkats, Chase and Mackenzie, and being my hero in general.

Nudie Scarf Dancing. That sounds provocative, sexy, or even NC-17, right? Well not exactly. Let me explain.

I was sitting on the beach with my friend Isobel. Now, lounging next to this skinny blond mother of five could make anyone feel depressed by comparison. But Ive known her since high school, I needed advice, and I figured she just might have some good insider tips. After all, in college Isobel was best buds with Brooke Shields, who admitted in her memoir that she knew a thing or two about the state I was in: Planet Ugly, aka postpartum depression.

I couldnt stop crying, and I alternated between being barely able to cope with the daily responsibilities of motherhood, and mind-numbing confusion. I was stumped. What did I have to be sad about? Seventeen months after giving birth to my son, Chase, God had blessed me with my daughter, Mackenzie. Instant family, my dream come true. Still, I felt as if I were sinking, drowning, and disappearing into toxic black ink.

My dirty secret was this: I just didnt see what was so great about motherhood. My days seemed like a marathon disaster movie starring me racing around after my kamikaze toddler to prevent him from hurling himself from high places, swallowing metal objects, and/or gleefully electrocuting himself. My nights were a protracted exercise in sleep deprivation, with Mackenzie getting up every two hours and screaming from acid reflux. Plus, talk about psychological whiplash. I had just experienced nine months of being treated like a pregnant princess, and now I felt as invisible as a ghost. A fat ghost.

I told Isobel about my plight, and she immediately flew into action, rattling off all of the wonderful ways she whiles away the hours with her brood: family karaoke, eating chocolate-chip-cookie batter together, firefly-catching contests. I was years away from all of this, but I scribbled the ideas down anyway. Then she mentioned Nudie Scarf Dancing.

What that? I asked.

Isn it self-explanatory? my skinny blond friend said.

I glanced down at my stretched-out stomach, which was lying next to me like an affectionate pet. Surely, she, couldnt be suggesting

The tears welled up in my eyes. I felt horrified and hopeless. There was just no way I was up for this, no matter how fun it was.

Not you, silly! she said, laughing so hard that she was beginning to snort. Daughters! Dont you have a box of ugly silk scarves from the eighties that you have no clue what to do with? Turn on the music and its a way to kill time with little girls before their baths!

Isobel was now giggling so hard that she was on the verge of actually wetting herself. Before I knew it, I started laughing, tooat Isobels snorting, at myself, and at the thought of the now-undulating pet attached to my midsection with a paisley scarf wrapped around it. Or maybe a feather boa. I laughed harder and harder until I was crying, too, a condition that Dolly Parton called her favorite emotion.

Then it hit me: Fun was going to show me the way out of my drowning pit! The relief of reclaiming my long-lost sense of humor embraced me like a bear hug. The problem wasn that I was exhausted, scared, or despairing, because motherhood comes with all of that. The issue was that I wasnt having any fun to offset the exorbitant emotional cost.

Im no stranger to the powerful, provocative, and even healing power of fun. Fun had first come to my rescue when I was single. My Knight in Shining Armor, fun never let me down even when my dates did. Back then, fun was a single girls best friend. Possible anytime, anywhere, even when you least expected it, fun was a Zen master when it came to reducing stress, a