Southern Girl Ramblings, An Interview with Kecia H.

Tell us more about yourself, your family, and your site:

I am a work-at-home mom, born and raised in Georgia. I have a little boy named Sawyer, and I am married to a wonderful man named James. I wear many other hats, as I am also a blogger, product reviewer, freelance writer, social media enthusiast, and internet marketer. I started SouthernGirlRamblings.com in February 2009. Before that, I owned and maintained IamKecia.com, but eventually grew tired of having my own name in the domain. My blog started as my personal spot on the web to rant, complain, praise, exclaim, etc., but I have grown it into more of a parenting, review, and giveaway blog…with some personalization still thrown in here and there.

What is it like to be a Work-At-Home Mom? What are some of the pros and cons of working at home and what are some of the challenges that you face?

Overall, I love working at home. I enjoy being my own boss, staying home with my son, and getting to work when and where I want. Of course, there are some challenges of being a WAHM. It’s tough to keep a schedule some days, especially now that my son is mobile. Rarely do I work the exact same hours each day, which is usually a blessing. When there are deadlines, however, it can be a curse! Also, you never get to “leave your work at the office” since you live there! Even with the cons of working at home, I love being able to keep my son out of daycare, and I can work in my pajamas if I want!

You have mentioned on your site that you had a miscarriage prior to having your son Sawyer. Tell us a little more about your story. What advice would you give someone who has also experienced a miscarriage?

James and I had been trying to conceive for almost a year before I got pregnant the first time, so of course we were ecstatic. Everything seemed to be going fine, and then all of a sudden, it was all over when I miscarried at 6 weeks. It took about 10 months to get pregnant with Sawyer after the miscarriage, and during that time I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant again or carry a baby full term…but as you can see, neither of those were the case! My advice to others is to know it is not your fault. Most miscarriages cannot be prevented, and many have no explanation, especially those that occur in the first 10 weeks.

Where are some of the places you like to score the best deals? Where and when do you plan on doing some of your holiday shopping?

For children’s clothing, I get the best deals at The Children’s Place. I receive coupons via email from them all the time. Some of them can be kept and reused until they expire. I like to shop at the end of the season, and if you are able to use a coupon on clearance, you get a very good deal. Online, I typically shop on Amazon.com because they tend to have the best prices. For Black Friday, I plan to shop at Wal-Mart for sure, but the other places I go will depend on the sales ads…which I am dying to see!

What are some of the topics you like to blog about? Which topic is your favorite?

I love blogging about my child most of all. Yes, I am a true “mommy blogger.” I would sit down and make a blog post a day about my son if I knew others would read them all LOL! I also like to blog about parenting topics, mostly about my experience or something that I have learned or discovered from parenting sites. I also like to talk about the products that I use…I’m fairly opinionated, and like to give suggestions on whether or not to buy a product so that other moms aren’t wasting their money.

Do you have any blogs or websites you recommend for moms?

BabyCenter.com! I lived on that site when I was pregnant, and still check it out very often. Seriously, I don’t know how I would have made it through the first six months as a mom without being able to access BabyCenter. Also, for any moms wanting to work at home, I recommend WAHM.com. They have a forum which is one of the first places I went when I began working at home…even before I was a mom. I have learned so much from there. I plan to start a site soon that will help WAHM’s (specifically writers) make more money online without having to work so much or so hard.

What are your top 5 tips for moms?

Most of the tips I can think of are geared towards new moms, since I was recently in that position!

1. It gets easier. The crying, sleepless nights, and hours of feeding and changing “poopy” diapers may seem endless, but you will get to rest easier once your baby is a bit older.

2. Try to stick to a schedule with your child as much as possible. Sawyer sleeps, eats, and behaves much better when we follow his schedule. I believe it helps him know what to expect and therefore puts him in a better mood.

3. Grab some “mommy time” as often as you can. If you work at home, that can be difficult, but get Dad or Grandma to watch the kids for a few hours every other weekend so you can have some moments to yourself. It’s so refreshing to go just 2 hours with no responsibilities!

4. Turn on some music if your baby has trouble sleeping at night. Sawyer has listened to music every night since he was 3 months old. The first night we but the music box in his room, he was asleep within 15 minutes, rather than 45 minutes to an hour.

5. Set up healthy eating habits from the start. We avoid buying sugary snacks so that Sawyer only has access to them if he goes to Nana’s. Instead, we give him healthier choices such as yogurt, fruits, and vegetables. It’s much easier to start off with healthy choices than to try to get them to like these foods later.

Contact Information:

Site: http://southerngirlramblings.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/southerngirlramblings

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SGRcom

Email: southerngirlramblings@gmail.com