As you know, I’m very close to giving birth to our baby boy. I have about two weeks left, unless the baby decides to make a grand unscheduled entrance beforehand. Things are quite hectic in our house as we prepare for his arrival, but also for the many other events happening in December: baby girl’s birthday and birthday party, holiday-related events/parties, and of course, Christmas itself. December has always been a busy month in our family, but this year it’s even busier with the new addition.

I’ve been busy working on scheduling posts for when I go on maternity leave, wrapping up business items, etc., in an effort to leave things “in order” for when I take some time off. You may remember that I have a loose plan for preparing for the upcoming changes in our family’s work-life balance. I’ve definitely had to slow down the last few weeks as I get further along in the pregnancy and focus on the must-do tasks before I run out of time.

Because of all that, you may find that some days I have more to share than others. So, today, I want to share other blog posts that you may be interested in reading. Some are mine and others are from within my blogging community. All are worth a click.

Around my Community

The Kids Are Alright – Marta of My Big Fat Cuban Family shares how this year’s Thanksgiving was very different for her and why she’s ok with that. I saw a bit of my family reflected in this post, so it was a wonderful read.

Spanish Tips for Semi-Latinas – Marta’s Tiki Tiki Blog partner, Carrie, shares some humorous tips for speaking Spanish even when you don’t know how.

Exploring Culture as Part of Your Curriculum – Ideas for integrating learning about a culture into a homeschooling curriculum.

Twitter Moms Sponsor Campaigns: Contest Or Call For Submissions? – She Posts covers the Twitter Moms debate on whether certain campaigns should really be called contests.

Green Eggs & Facebook: 15 Social Media Tips from Dr. Seuss – Applying lessons from Dr. Seuss to social media.

Mentioning Me

Women in Blogging: 125 Fearless Female Bloggers – Kristi Hines of Kikolani provides a list full of interesting women bloggers and includes yours truly! Some amazing women are featured, so definitely take a minute to check them out.

Spotlight on Melanie Edwards: Blogger & Entrepreneur – Angelica Perez of New Latina aims to empower Latinas to be successful and live balanced lives. She frequently highlights Latina businesswomen, bloggers, and artists. Click over to read my interview on New Latina.

Written by Me

Tubes Tied or Vasectomy? – I debate whether or not I want to have a tubal ligation as we approach the birth date and have no plans for more children.

Keeping your Online Personal Brand Consistent – Tips for developing your personal brand and keeping it consistent across social media.

Do you have some blog posts to share with us? Either your own or others you found useful and worth a read?

I cannot believe it’s already the middle of October. And here in Florida, it’s still in the mid-90s most days! It definitely doesn’t feel like fall. Yet, many stores around here already have their Christmas sections up. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I wanted to take the time to share with you some recent and upcoming events going on in the blogging community.

Article Republished

• My post on Latino terms of endearment and cultural differences has been republished at MyBrownBaby. Denene has shared my post with her readers and I’m so glad that there’s so many out there that can relate.

ModernMami part of Community Site Warming Party

• This Friday, there will be a #community site warming twitter party hosted by the queen of twitter parties, Amy from Resourceful Mommy. You can RSVP for the party here and join us on Friday night as my site is one of the blogs featured!

Tastemaker Challenge

• The U.S. Potato Board has partnered with nine bloggers, who have officially been deemed the “Tastemaker” Challengers. And guess what? I’m one of them! You can read all the details here, but just know that I’ll be playing Iron Chef a bit. Only thing is, we already know the secret ingredient…potatoes! Follow the conversation on twitter with hashtag #tastemaker.

Got any news to share yourself? Go ahead and let us know in the comments. I’d love to hear about it.

And don’t forget to join the twitter party this Friday! See you there.

I’ve been home pretty much all week due to my mom being sick and having no childcare.

Then my daughter got sick….again. She was just sick a few weeks ago.

So the latter half of the week has been spent tending to a sick child.

I’ve been trying to work from home the days I’ve been out, to try to keep up. But, without proper preparation, equipment, and software, the work I can do from home is limited.

Anyway, I just wanted to provide a quick update and really wanted to remind you about a few things:

• Don’t forget to enter the Central Florida Home & Garden show contest! Last day to enter is today. You can win 2 tickets for the show next week.
• Check out my first post at Family Eden. I will be posting every other week over there. This first post is all about what being latina means to me.
• Please vote for Modern Mami in the Scholastic Parent & Child magazine Mommy Blogger Awards! I would really appreciate your support.
• And, finally, Susan Payton of The Marketing Eggspert blog wrote a guest post earlier this week about being a mommy to two “kids”.

Here’s to a more routine week next week.

Since I know you can’t get enough of Modern Mami™, you now have the chance to read more from me via the Family Eden blog.

You can now find me over at Family Eden every other Wednesday. I am the newest blogger to be added to their team.

I will be giving Family Eden a Latina flavor and will be posting on similar topics as those I write about here.

Check out my first post as a Family Eden blogger – What Does Being Latina Mean to Me?

A teaser:

…being Latina is not just a matter of “I listen to Spanish music,” or “I eat rice and beans.” That is not what makes me Latina.

Be sure to leave some comments over there as well.

I am beyond ecstatic!

I woke up this morning and found myself as a finalist on the Scholastic Parent & Child magazine Mommy Blogger Awards!

Thank you to those of you who nominated ModernMami™.com and continue to offer support!

The news has been spreading on twitter and facebook and many of you have already voted and retweeted the information. For that, I say THANK YOU! You have no idea how awesome you are.

Now…if you enjoy my content on being a working mom, parenting, motherhood, or just my occasional rant, then please vote for ModernMami™.com at http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogcontest.

Please?

Me love you long time.

l’ve been tagged twice this week!

Chris Marsden (@cruciformity) of ChrisMarsden.com and Melissa (@WebBetty) of The Web-Betty Blog have both tagged me to tell you 7 things about me.

It’s actually the same meme I did back in April.

But, let’s give it another go-round and see if I can come up with 7 new things to tell you about.

1. I’m actually pretty short – only 5’1″.
2. I have an Industrial & Systems Engineering degree.
3. But, I currently work in e-learning and have taken a keen interest in it.
4. I used to dance to commercials when I was little. (In Puerto Rico, commercials have actual songs in the background, not just jingles and such. Well they did back when, at least. Don’t know if they still do.)
5. I still love to dance and miss going out clubbing. Not for the club scene, but just for the dancing.
6. I never had an Easy Bake Oven as a girl, even though I wanted one. I’ve contemplated buying one for myself. I mean, for my daughter. When she gets old enough.
7. I cook good. So I’ve been told by friends and family. And the husband.

Now I get to tag 7 bloggers so I/we can learn more about them.

• Philippa – http://pchanner.blogspot.com – @pchanner
• Chris Channer – http://itsbasic.blogspot.com – @chrischanner
• Jai – http://mamistimeout.com – @JaiMami
• Coqui – http://www.visit-the-coqui.com – @coqui2008
• Lymari – http://besitosdecoco.com – @lymari
• Nancy Nally – http://www.scrapbookupdate.com – @ScrapNancy
• Melody – http://feistfamily.blogspot.com – No Twitter?
  

To quote Chris:

Check out their sites. Follow them on Twitter. And if you want, consider yourself tagged as well, follow the rules below, and leave a comment here with your blog address and twitter address. And don’t forget to follow me on twitter too [@modernmami]!

THE RULES:

• Link to the original tagger(s), and list these rules on my blog.
• Share 7 facts about myself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag 7 people at the end of my post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

Do you feel like you know me a little bit better? How about you share some information about yourself?

Leave a fact about yourself and/or a link to your post in the comments so we can all learn more about each other!

I was honored and surprised to find myself on the Top 20 Twitterers List in Orlando posted by Etan Horowitz of the Orlando Sentinel. When posted, I was in the Top 10 and believe I still am as of today. The list was not created by Etan, but is done by Twitterholic.com.

I also was included in the Top 10 Twitter Elite in Orlando, FL list created by Twitter Grader.

What does this all mean?

Well, it means that ModernMami.com is getting some publicity. As Susan Payton, the Marketing Eggspert, explains in her post, “First of all, it is GREAT when you can make any list at all…It’s free publicity.”

Just like Susan, I’m planning on going through the lists to find more local folks to connect with. As I build my network, others will find me either by reciprocating my follow or by finding me through the lists themselves.

I guess all that time spent on Twitter is actually paying off.

Have you found Twitter to be an useful tool for building your network?

I hope to hear all about it in the comments. And, don’t forget to connect with me on Twitter!

A quickie today…

If I’m not posting for a few days, pick one of these as my excuse:

1. I’m cleaning, cooking, and preparing for Thanksgiving, which will be hosted at my house this year. I’ll be cooking for a group of 20+ family members.
2. I’m playing Guitar Hero World Tour and singing either Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer or Michael Jackson’s Beat It. I rock both too. Oh yes I do.
3. I’m working hard to get this site redesigned, reformatted and ready for the relaunching of ModernMami.com! No date set yet, but believe me, I’m working on it.
4. My laptop has died on me. I don’t do as good when I actually have to sit at desk to use desktop. It’s so restricting. Laptop + couch = much happier & productive mami. This makes #3 a little harder.
5. I’ve crashed on the couch due to lack of sleep.

But, fear not. You can get a daily dose of your Modern Mami addiction by following me on twitter.

I’ve also got a few guest blog posts coming, so be sure to stay connected. The best way to do this? Subscribe to my feed so you’ll be sure to get all Modern Mami content.