If you need proof that I’ve been busy, here’s a roundup of all the interviews I’ve done on TV, radio, and the internet promoting Beyond the Sling.

- Here’s a clip from The View, in which Barbara Walters becomes downright obsessed with my sex life. You can watch the full episode here.

- Here’s the Nightline segment on me and the book:

- Here’s a link to the segment on Good Morning America, in which George Stephanopoulos calls Attachment Parenting, “the ultimate hug-it-out” style of parenting.

Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Uncategorized
• Tags: beyond the sling, book tour, interview, publicity

The New York leg of my book tour has ended. Yesterday was “Good day, New York” and a radio satellite tour and an interview with Us Weekly for their website (fancy, I know!).

Here are the top 5 things I learned from this book tour based on the variety of questions I had never thought about answering until now.
1. My husband. I hadn’t quite thought of it this way before, but it was our choice of parenting style (attachment parenting) that helped my husband decide to stay home with our boys. The guidelines of babywearing, bed-sharing, and establishing a deep and powerful emotional relationship through gentle discipline really helped my husband feel empowered and capable in a way I don’t know he would have had we not embraced these “unifying” principles which are for dads and moms alike.
2. I’m Not Judging! I really do believe in being non-judgmental and not espousing the “only” way to raise kids; it’s not just lip service. Meeting the ladies of TheMoms.com really solidified this for me in a powerful way.

3. I Feel Pretty. Much as I don’t fit the traditional mold of Hollywood beauty, having my fantastic hair/make-up artist along for this trip made me not worry and obsess over how I looked. I know she knows how to play up my features and make me feel relaxed and confident.

4. Bling. I love wearing a Magen David, and I don’t really care if it doesn’t “match” the look of the outfit. I like being seen in it and it makes me feel really protected and “myself” in situations that can challenge even the most confident of people.

5. Support. I am thrilled I wrote this book even though it’s hard being attacked and questioned and judged about being an attachment parenting mama. I love that AP moms and dads feel supported and justified to make their own decisions, and I love that non-AP people are learning about it in new ways.

What a crazy busy week. What a crazy busy life. Thank you, Kveller, for helping me learn to write the way I do and for supporting this part of my life. Kvell on!

Read up on the rest of the book tour:

Day 1-Nightline

Day 2–Check out Mayim on The View (spoiler alert: Barbara Walter asks lots of questions about s-e-x).

Day 3–What happens when you wear Spanx too many days in a row?

• Posted in Uncategorized
• Tags: book tour, featured

Photo by Christina House for The Los Angeles Times

Day 3 of the Book Tour was another 6 am to 6 pm whirlwind. VH1, and 5 back-to-back interviews with Sirius radio people including the awesome Jane Pratt were the highlights.

It seems people love the book and we already went back for a second printing. The book was #2 in parenting on Amazon on Tuesday and I feel like my job is somewhat “done” in many respects! Today is the final day and I go home tomorrow with my husband and boys back to our normal crazy life, some book signings in LA, and back to The Big Bang Theory next Wednesday.

Highlights from yesterday:

1. Heels. The 4 1/2″ heels are taking their toll. My feet look like I have been walking around the streets of Manhattan barefoot in a snowstorm.

2. Spanx. I couldn’t figure out why my inner thighs felt like I had bruises on them. It’s the SPANX digging into my legs. Who said being seamless was painless?

3. Autographs. At each appearance I have made, I have been greeted by a few people waiting for me when I get out of the car asking for autographs and pictures. I am fascinated by all of these nice quiet people and think someone needs to make a documentary detailing where they are from, how they get these photos, and what they do with the photos they take with all of the celebrities they encounter.

4. TheMoms.com moderated my Barnes and Noble talk and also hosted a 30 person blogger conference yesterday at my publisher’s office. When I originally heard about them, I was worried they were anti-attachment parenting people out to get me…We have had some really neat conversations on and off camera and I am so impressed by what three women with different parenting philosophies and open minds can accomplish. We have broken down a lot of the judgmentalness and cattiness women are expected to have in discussing controversial differences in parenting, and it’s been a real enlightening experience for us all.

5. Purim and fasting. The New York leg of the book tour coincided with Purim, and I did not eat or drink anything all day yesterday for Ta’anit Esther. I was a little low energy, a tad cranky by 2 pm, and sort of flying high by 3 pm. I did suck on a lozenge for 30 seconds twice when my voice was no longer coming out of my mouth (I am just getting over a cold and laryngitis), but I was really happy that although being on this tour changed the way I would have typically celebrated Purim, I was able, once again, to use fasting as a concrete reminder of the power of the mind the body. We attended schul as a family in Manhattan and my boys dressed up both as Spiderman and Fred was freaked out by the noise and all the people but sat nicely on my husband’s lap, and Miles loved seeing the Purim spiel and screaming “Boo Haman!!” over and over during the Megillah reading.

6. Maccabeats. I may or may not have gone to Washington Heights to hang out with some of the Maccabeats. We may or may not have had some amazing discussions about the purpose of creation, the deeper meaning of Purim, and the unbelievable presence of God in our everyday lives.

I may be exhausted this morning, but the human mind and body can handle a lot. And the presence of Something bigger than me reveals Itself in myriad small and grand ways.

Chag Sameach, and may we all find what is hidden to be revealed for us today and all year.

Catch up on what you missed on Day 1 and Day 2 of the crazy Beyond the Sling tour.

• Posted in Uncategorized
• Tags: book tour, featured, purim

What a day.

Day 2 of the Beyond the Sling book tour began by me basking in the glow of the Kveller love-fest we had the previous night at the JCC, at my talk which was moderated by Deborah Kolben and attended by three fellow Kveller contributing mamas Carla Naumburg (all the way from Boston!), Amy Deutsch (pregnant and adorable) and Cara Paiuk (all the way from Texas!).

Besides closing Day 2 as the #2 parenting book selling on Amazon and the #120 (or so, but who’s counting) book selling overall on Amazon, and being a guest on the Leonard Lopate show right after the very intelligent and awesome Nathan Englander, I think we all can admit that the highlight of the day was me being on The View. If you were on the west coast (like my parents), my episode was preempted by President Obama’s press conference, but you can see it online here.

Here are my Top 10 The View moments: Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Uncategorized
• Tags: beyond the sling, book tour, featured, the view

The book tour hath begun. And with it, the wrath of the book tour. Here is what’s going on.

1. I was originally slated to appear live on “Good Morning America” this morning but last minute they pulled that appearance and used part of my “Nightline” interview instead. It remains to be seen why this switch occurred, but from my faithful attachment parenting-friendly Facebook fans, it sounds like it came off okay, Milwaukee butcher-knife-in-bed anti-co-sleeping ad discussion and all. Watch the video here. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Uncategorized
• Tags: beyond the sling, book tour, featured, publicity