Busy Families Struggling Against More Stress — Okay, the title makes you want to respond with “Duh!” But the article makes an important point (one that many of us know but neglect): dual-income couples with kids need to take care of their marriages and get support from others. This is an old article… it refers to the economy as “booming.”

Every Mom Works — This is the best call to end the mommy wars that I have ever read.

Why Always Blame the Working Mom? — This defense of working mothers was written by a stay-at-home mom. Thank you, Dorothy.

When Every Hour’s a Rush Hour by Christine Bolley and Joann C. Webster (Honor Books, 1996) — This book is a devotional for working moms that is also filled with hints and tips for making your life easier. The authors recognize that all mothers are different and face different challenges, and the stories they use support this. I don’t often use devotionals, but I appreciate the fact that Honor Books published this book. Unfortunately, the book seems to be out of print.

Christian Working Mom — This Web site offers free articles and a newsletter and as well as paid services (coaching and an e-book, neither of which I’ve tried).

Time Out for Mom… Ahhh Moments by Cynthia Sumner, edited by Mary Beth Lagerborg (Zondervan, 2000) — This book offers suggestions on making time for yourself, taking time when there seems to be no time and more. The book is easy to read in the little snatches of time you can find for yourself.

What Every Mom Needs by Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall (Zondervan, 1995) — This book explores the nine basic needs of mothers from a Christian perspective. It includes stories from other moms as well as tips for filling your needs.

Innovation Network — Expand your creativity through the tools offered by the Innovation Network. Check out their Web site, and be sure to sign up for the weekly “Good Morning, Thinkers” electronic newsletter.

Toastmasters — I have to admit that I have a lot of bias toward this resource. I’m vice president of public relations for my Toastmasters club. That said, I am active in Toastmasters because I believe in it. Toastmasters will help you develop your speaking and leadership skills, and it costs far less than any other professional membership I know of.

Books:

Family Manager’s Everyday Survival Guide by Kathy Peel (Ballantine Books, 1998) — This book is full of tips that will help you organize your home and make more time for fun with your family. The book includes quarterly checklists of household tasks, ideas for making ordinary days special and a section on reducing Christmas hassles.

Frozen Assets Lite and Easy by Deborah Taylor-Hough (Champion Press Ltd., 2001) — I have the original Frozen Assets book by Taylor-Hough, but this one is my favorite. It is made up of twenty mini cooking sessions that will allow you to prepare food that can be frozen for future meals. Each session features a certain ingredient, ranging from meat, poultry or fish to tofu, beans or eggplant.

Get Your Act Together by Pam Young and Peggy Jones (HarperPerennial, 1993) — This book presents a system for getting on top of your housework. The book is written from the point of view of a full-time homemaker, so you will have to adjust the system to fit into your work schedule.

Lickety-Split Meals for Health Conscious People on the Go! by Zonya Foco (ZHI Publishing, 1998) — This book makes it very easy to prepare nutritious meals in no time. Some “recipes” (really eating suggestions in this category) take as little as one-minute to prepare, so when you are running out the door on the way to a meeting, you can still fare better than going through the fast-food drive-thru. The book also includes health tips.

Penny-Pinching Hedonist by Shel Horowitz (AWM, 1995) — If you love gourmet food, shopping, travel and other expensive pleasures, this book has several suggestions about how to enjoy these things for less. There’s also a chapter about “how to turn your work into fun.”

Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family by Ellyn Satter (Kelcy Press, 1999) — This book is more of a nutrition book than a cookbook, but it has enough recipes that I am recommending it specifically for the recipe chapters. (You may also be interested in the nutrition part. I was.) If you are uncomfortable with cooking, feel overwhelmed by preparing a meal after work and/or rely too much on take-out meals, the recipes in this book can help. Several of the recipes in the book are quick and easy. In addition, Satter recommends several “grab and dump” meal ideas for days when you really can’t cook.

Simplify Your Life (and Simplify Your Life With Kids) by Elaine St. James (Simplify Your Life is published by Hyperion, 1994; … With Kids is published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997)  Each book offers 100 ways to simplify your life — some easy ideas and some that are quite challenging.

The Weeknight Survival Cookbook by Dena Irwin (Chronimed Publishing, 1998) — Most of the meals in this book are based on leftovers from a large cooking session you do one day each week. The book also includes some quick pasta meals, make-ahead meals, crockpot meals and simple desserts.

Websites:

A Frugal, Simple Life — This is Deborah Taylor-Hough’s Web site (see above for information on her book Frozen Assets Lite and Easy). The site contains articles on frugality, simplicity, family fun, cooking and more. I also recommend signing up for her Simple Times electronic newsletter.

Books:

Boredom Busters by Barbara Vogelgesang, edited by Mary Beth Lagerborg (Zondervan, 2001) — This book includes seasonal celebrations, ways to celebrate milestones ranging from potty training to learning the ABCs, ideas for fun in public places like doctor’s offices or the grocery store, faith builders and more.

Great Books to Read and Fun Things to Do With Them by Jane C. Jarrell, edited by Mary Beth Lagerborg (Zondervan, 2000) — This book features a picture book for each month of the year and offers ways to add to the reading experience with fun activities. Each chapter includes a Scripture verse related to the book, some thoughts on related discussions and activities, and several recipes and crafts inspired by the book. I’ve had one problem with the book: many of the books featured in it are not in my county’s libraries, so I’ve had to order them through interlibrary loan, which can take a long time.

Websites:

Nick Jr. magazine and Web site — Both the Web site and the magazine are packed full of activities to do with your child, which can include party ideas, recipes, crafts, field trips and more.

Breastfeeding Secrets and Solutions by Janis Graham (Pocket Books, 1993) — This book is organized by topic and includes information about breastfeeding myths, your milk supply, remedying breast problems, going back to work, breastfeeding problems and how breastfeeding may affect your marriage.

Nursing Mother’s Companion by Kathleen Huggins (Harvard Common Press, 1999) — This book is organized chronologically, covering information that you might need to know at approximately the time you need to know it (before birth, the first week, the first two months, etc.). It also includes a chapter on special mothers and special babies (i.e., nursing the adopted baby, nursing the premature baby, nursing more than one baby, nursing when you have diabetes, etc.).

Breastfeeding.com — This site probably has everything you need to know about breastfeeding and then some! It includes a question and answer center; video clips on latch-on, positioning and more; a directory of lactation consultants; information on equipment and clothing; and even breastfeeding art and humor.

La Leche League Web site — This site contains links to breastfeeding information and can help connect you with a La Leche League group if you’d like to join one.

Medela Web site — This site includes some information on breastfeeding and pumping and a page that allows you to find Medela distributors and breastfeeding specialists in your area.

Motherwear — This site offers clothes for nursing mothers, including some outfits that are suitable for work. The site also includes articles and other reference materials.

Mothering the New Mother by Sally Placksin (New Market Press, 2000) — This book can help you with all aspects of being a new mother, from breastfeeding and postpartum depression to going back to work (or staying home) and forming a support network. It also explores the ways different cultures handle the postpartum period and the issues you will face adding an additional child to the one(s) you already have. The guide has a resource list at the end of almost every chapter.

Taking Care of You: The New Mom’s Guide to Stress Relief (Sound Bite Press, 2001) — This book is easy to read (a blessing for new moms) and offers tips to help you adjust to and thrive in your role as a new mom.

Your Emotional Well-Being: Understanding the Blues — This Web page covers the baby blues and postpartum depression, offers a quiz that can help you determine if you are blue or depressed (interestingly, however, even a “perfect” score of zero falls under “mild blues” — are all new moms supposed to be blue?), and offers some tips for dealing with the baby blues.

The Postpartum Stress Center — This is an excellent Web site that offers assessments, information for family members about postpartum depression, tips on talking to your doctor, a list of things you can do to feel better and more.

The Bible — If you aren’t reading the Bible daily, I encourage you to get into the habit and watch how your relationship with God grows. Many wonderful translations are available. Not sure where to start reading? You may want to follow a “read the Bible in a year” guide (Verse of the Day offers three different plans), or start with one of the Gospels.

More Jesus, Less Religion by Steve Arterburn and Jack Felton (Waterbrook Press, 2000) — If you feel like your church experiences have been dominated by a requirement to conform to a certain image, pick up this book. Arterburn and Felton write about a faith that means following Jesus, not meeting a “toxic” church’s requirements.

Renovaré — Renovaré is a renewal movement among Christians of all denominations. People who embrace this movement commit themselves, in utter dependence on Christ, to seek continual renewal through spiritual exercises, spiritual gifts and acts of service. The movement balances seven traditions which can be found in different forms within the Christian Church: the contemplative tradition, the holiness tradition, the charismatic tradition, the social justice tradition, the evangelical tradition and the incarnational tradition.

1-2-3 Magic by Thomas W. Phelan (Child Management Inc., 1995) — This book offers a simple, effective method for disciplining your children.

Do I Have To? by Patricia Sprinkle (Zondervan, 1993) — If your children aren’t helping out around the house, read this book for tips on age-appropriate tasks and how to get your kids to pitch in.

Infant Massage by Vimala Schneider McClure (Bantam Books, 1989) — Bond with your baby through infant massage. The book teaches you how to massage infants and older children and gives songs and rhymes to use during the massage. It helped me to borrow the video Baby Massage: A Video for Loving Parents (Pacific Communications, 1996) so that I could see the strokes done (rather than just looking at pictures). McClure is a contributor to the video.

Protecting the Gift by Gavin de Becker (Dell Books, 2000) — This book tells you how to protect your children from violent crime.

Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka (Harper Perennial, 1992) — If your child seems a bit “more” than other children (more intense, more energetic, more sensitive, etc.), this book can help you understand and work with your child.

Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child by Robert MacKenzie (Prima Publishing, 2001) — Some children test limits more than others. This book will help you set firm limits in an assertive, not abusive or passive, way.

She’s Gonna Blow! by Julie Ann Barnhill (Havest House Publishers, 2001) — If you’ve ever struggled with anger toward your child, this book will be a tremendous help.

Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) — This Christian organization exists to support mothers of children under the age of six. The ministry includes MOPS groups that are sponsored by individual churches, a radio spot on Christian stations five days a week, a Web site and much more. MOPS leaders wrote or edited several of the books listed in this resource guide.

Babyzone — I’m recommending this one for the “free stuff” section of the site.

Childlures — This site contains tips on keeping your child safe from crime.

Parentsplace — There are many parenting Web sites with message boards, and you may find one that you like better than this one. Parentsplace is near and dear to my heart, however, because of the positive experiences I had posting on my due-date board and later on the working and pumping board. I credit the latter with helping me succeed at pumping milk for my baby when I returned to work. [Note: Parentsplace now charges for access to its message boards.]