Sarah E. Ludwig's Profile

Sarah E. Ludwig

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32 Blog Followers

Following: 2
Following Blogs: 10

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Memories in book form

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Jan 24, 2012, 5:48 pm
Did you know that you can make a book from your blog? You probably did know that. I, however, for some reason, did not realize this until recently. When I found out that my friend Laura, who blogs at Wife and Mom Under Construction, makes a blog book every year with that year’s posts, I had to ...
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Needed: Input from nail biters!

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Jan 17, 2012, 5:20 pm
I’m not much of a nail biter myself. My bad habit as a kid was sucking my thumb, which I did every night until, at the ripe old age of 9, I became cognizant that it was very uncool and infantile to be sucking one’s thumb in order to get to sleep. I weaned myself off upon making this discovery, a...
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The Dark Side

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Jan 16, 2012, 12:55 pm
It has been a shamefully long time since I have written much of anything, and particularly since I have written here. Shameful mostly to myself, because writing is such an integral part of my being. Yet whenever I need to do it the most, I stop. You see, this particular holiday season has found me ...
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LeapFrog bundle giveaway winner

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Dec 22, 2011, 11:41 am
Congratulations to Jen from Massillon, Ohio! She won the Peek-A-Shoe Octopus/My First Story Time Pad giveaway. Enjoy your toys, Jen!
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Giveaway: LeapFrog bundle – Peek-A-Shoe Octopus & My Own Story Time Pad

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Dec 13, 2011, 2:48 pm
Wow, I meant to get this giveaway up last week, but between work, sick kids and all the activities we’ve had going on lately, I just didn’t get to it. So, without further ado, here’s the lastest giveaway. THE PRIZE: A Peek-A-Shoe Octopus PLUS My Own Story Time Pad. This bundle is retail pri...
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Review: LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Dec 6, 2011, 12:29 am
My kids are way too young to care about the LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus, so we gave it to their 22-month-old cousin, Ally, to try out. Here’s what her mom, Amy, had to say about it. Ally seemed to really like the songs; she repeatedly pushed the song button. She was also really excited when she ...
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My little gentleman

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Dec 2, 2011, 12:18 pm
The other day, Logan brought home a journal he made at school. I had to laugh at the cover, where Logan had spelled his middle name, as he does with every word he doesn’t know how to spell, phonetically. No comment on the misspelled last name.(He and I have been over it many times.) As I began r...
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Guest Review: LeapFrog's My Own Story Time Pad

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Nov 21, 2011, 10:33 pm
My high school buddy, Dan, was here visiting from St. Louis when my second package of goodies from LeapFrog arrived. One of the toys inside it was this: It’s LeapFrog’s My Own Story Time Pad, and since it’s geared toward kids ages 24 months to 6 years (my youngest is 7), I decided to send it ...
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Tag reader & Solar System book giveaway winner!

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Nov 21, 2011, 3:04 pm
I drew the winner of my Tag reader & Solar System book giveaway yesterday using Random.org. Congratulations to Rondah Stepp of Stoutsville, OH! Enjoy your prize, Rondah!
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LeapPad bundle giveaway winner!

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Nov 21, 2011, 3:01 pm
I drew the winner of my LeapPad bundle giveaway yesterday using Random.org. Congratulations to Angela Winesburg of Frederick, MD! Enjoy your prize, Angela!
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Review and giveaway: Tag Reader & Solar System Adventure Pack CLOSED

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Nov 11, 2011, 10:01 am
If your child has any interest in space, stars, planets, the solar system or anything else that lies beyond Earth’s atmosphere, he will LOVE the new Solar System Adventure Pack for the Tag Reader. Logan latched onto it as soon as he saw it in the box of goodies and has spent many happy hours learn...
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Review: LeapPad cartridge games: Pet Pals 2, Pixar Pals & LeapSchool Reading

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Nov 3, 2011, 11:07 am
One of the best things about LeapPad cartridge games is that they are interchangeable with the Leapster Explorer too! REVIEWS: Pet Pals 2: My boys absolutely love this game (even my 9-year-old) and have squabbled over who gets to play it countless times. Similar to Webkinz in its game play, kids a...
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Review and Giveaway: LeapFrog's new LeapPad CLOSED

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Nov 2, 2011, 1:35 am
As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’ve been using and loving LeapFrog products for YEARS, and now I’m lucky enough to be a LeapFrog reviewer. What does this mean? It means that my boys and I get to try out all the newest LeapFrog gadgets (for FREE!) before they come out and give our honest op...
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Small pleasures

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Oct 22, 2011, 3:14 pm
My birthday this year was absolutely FABULOUS. My ex-sisters-in-law (I prefer to call them my sis-out-laws) and I decided to get together in Minneapolis for the weekend. There are three of them, and the youngest of the bunch is attending school in St. Paul, so we drove the 6 hours or so it takes to...
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When innocence is lost

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Oct 5, 2011, 1:00 am
Cody reminds me a lot of myself as a child. He loves to read, gets a little thrill from anything remotely historical, has trouble getting to sleep due to his night-owl tendencies and he’s highly sensitive to unpleasant situations. All of these factors came crashing together last night when Cody f...
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Remembering 9/11

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Sep 12, 2011, 12:40 am
If you missed tonight’s documentary on CBS entitled “9/11: Ten Years Later,” you really should make a point to watch it. Andie and I were absolutely riveted by the amazing footage of events caught by a pair of filmmakers on the scene as they happened, the poignant memories of firefighters who ...
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Taking my name in vain

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Sep 10, 2011, 10:30 pm
There are many reasons why I’m actually happy that summer vacation is over. This is new for me, as typically I adore having my kids home all summer. Perhaps the biggest relief? The cessation of hearing my name called so often each and every day that I began to tire of the sound of it quite early ...
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Back to school again

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Aug 24, 2011, 1:12 am
Every year, I post a picture of some or all of my kids on the first day of school. This year will be no different. L-R: Rachel, age 13 (8th grade), Cody, age 9 (3rd grade), Logan, age 7 (2nd grade) and Andrea, age 13 (8th grade). The wisps of gray that you see are courtesy of the cloud that had a...
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You just can't teach that…

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Aug 19, 2011, 5:43 pm
The kids and I went shopping for school supplies on Tuesday. They were over-tired to begin with, as I had just picked them up from a 3-day stay with their aunt and uncle where bedtimes were much later than normal. Logan, especially, was whiny, as he tends to be when he hasn’t gotten enough sleep. ...
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Baby fever, part 3…or maybe it's part 100 by now…

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Aug 12, 2011, 2:09 pm
My newest nephew, Tristan Alan, was born last Thursday, August 4. To say his birth was as exciting to me as my own babies’ births would not be at all an exaggeration. The reason I feel so strongly about Tristan’s entrance into the world is because my sister, Trina, asked me to be there for his ...
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Back to blogging

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Aug 7, 2011, 6:39 pm
I haven’t blogged for a reeeaaalllllyyyy long time. Which, I guess, duh, you’ve probably noticed, if you’re a regular reader. My dear friend, Amy, a freelance writer who is currently fighting her second battle with breast cancer and has a gorgeously-written blog on the subject, It’s in the ...
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Giveaway winners: What to Expect the Second Year

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Jul 2, 2011, 4:18 pm
Well, not too many people entered my giveaway, so picking two winners out of 12 entries wasn’t too hard using Random.org. Here they are: Ann from Fort Worth, Texas and kolpin4680 from West Hollywood, CA. Congratulations to you two and thanks to everyone for entering!
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Book Giveaway: What to Expect the Second Year

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Jun 16, 2011, 6:05 pm
I’m betting that most women who have ever been pregnant in the United States of America have read the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I know it was my pregnancy bible while I was growing the girls, and I even consulted it quite often in my next two pregnancies, despite my familiarity ...
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Blogathon lessons

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 31, 2011, 11:43 pm
Today is the last day of the Blogathon. I don’t want to have a boring recap, but I do want to reflect on the biggest lesson I learned this time around. Being forced to blog every day, even though it was self-induced, definitely stifles my creativity. A few times, I’ve written about unimportant...
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Wordle post

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 30, 2011, 11:55 pm
Since today is a holiday, everyone in the Blogathon has been invited to do a creative post using Wordle. I did mine using the feed address from my blog. The largest words in the resulting Wordle are the ones that you use the most. Here’s my result: I knew I used the word “just” a lot, but t...
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Quiet time

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 29, 2011, 11:49 pm
My boys are staying at their cousins’ house for a few days. To be honest, the girls and I are pretty thrilled to have a break. Our boys are loud, busy and energetic, as little guys tend to be. I’m betting by the time they get home Tuesday night though, all three of us will be glad to see their...
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Playing catch

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 28, 2011, 3:43 pm
I sent the boys outside to play catch today for the first time, an activity I plan on making a daily habit starting next week. Unfortunately, the only ball we have is a hard baseball that I bought last week for Cody to practice with, since he just started playing baseball this spring. After about ...
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Another first

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 27, 2011, 5:59 pm
So today the girls had one of their friends over for the afternoon. Why is this yet another of many upcoming firsts? Because their friend is a 14-year-old boy. J, as I’m going to call him (he’s an avid reader of my blog and I told him I’d use a pseudonym — even though he doesn’t mind me...
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Rats!

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 27, 2011, 12:06 am
I just logged in to start writing today’s post when I saw that the post I wrote and thought I published yesterday was still in draft mode, meaning I didn’t publish it at all. So, I went ahead and back-dated it to yesterday, since that’s when it was supposed to go live, and am hoping that I wi...
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Facebook first-timers

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 25, 2011, 11:32 pm
My daughters will be 13 next month. As promised, I will be setting up Facebook accounts for them very soon. I don’t know why, but this freaks me out. I guess I’ve heard enough horror stories about Facebook that it makes me wary. Of what? I’m not sure. My worry has no name or face or appropria...
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Blog catch-up

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 25, 2011, 12:46 am
My daughters have been spending the last few days reading every post on my blog. They have never read it before, but now that they’ve started, they can’t seem to stop. Rachel’s favorite post so far is The Game Boy Addiction, one of my personal faves as well. She also liked “‘Hot’ — T...
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A new favorite

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 23, 2011, 11:29 pm
Andie loves to look for new recipes to make, bless her heart. She is particularly fond of Allrecipes.com, where she often goes to enter ingredients we have on hand in order to find something to whip up for supper. Tonight’s Shepherd’s Pie was a huge hit. It was comfort food at its finest. I’v...
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Screen Shutoff Day: Are you up to the challenge?

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 22, 2011, 5:50 pm
Screen Shutoff Day is not a new concept, but it’s one I’m going to be embracing starting the week of May 29. Initially, I wanted to take away the TV for the entire summer break and severely limit other screen time, such as computers, Leapsters and phones. Then I realized that to ban the kids fr...
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An homage to gardening

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 21, 2011, 11:27 pm
I was going to plant my garden this weekend, but alas, the weather did not cooperate this week and it’s too muddy. Still, to celebrate the fact that I CAN start working in my garden soon, I’d like to share an essay I wrote about gardening that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor a few yea...
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Book recommendation: Eat, Pray, Love

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 20, 2011, 11:34 pm
OK, so book recommendations don’t really have anything whatsoever to do with parenting (unless they’re parenting books, of course). For some of us busy parents, though, reading a book is a great way to escape, even if only for a few minutes at a shot. Right now, I’m reading Eat, Pray, Love by...
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How I know the kid is mine

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 20, 2011, 12:31 am
There are times when I look at two of my children and wonder if they have acquired any of my genes whatsoever. They look so much like their dad’s family, I used to joke with my mother-in-law that they could easily be mistaken for her kids rather than mine. I have managed to find my imprint on And...
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Confessions

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 18, 2011, 11:08 pm
Tonight Logan plopped next to me on the couch and said, “I want to tell you something, but it’s embarrassing.” “What is it?” I asked. He covered his mouth with his hands in that shy, embarrassed way he does, and glanced at his sisters, sitting nearby. Then he leaned over and whispered, ...
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Discussion of the day: Money-saving tips

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 17, 2011, 10:30 pm
We can all use a few extra bucks here and there, right? So why not exchange a few money saving ideas to help each other out when it comes to pinching pennies? Here are a few of the tricks I use, a couple of which you may have heard me talk about in the past: I signed up for a few Subscribe & Save ...
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Want a guaranteed smile?

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 16, 2011, 10:59 pm
Then watch this. I couldn’t stop smiling. My cheeks hurt by the end. I’ve loved Paul Simon since I became severely addicted to the “Graceland” album back in the summer of ’91, thanks to my pastor playing it non-stop on a youth trip to Wisconsin. I love Paul even more now. Paul Simon and a...
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Travel destinations

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 15, 2011, 11:46 pm
In the vein of yesterday’s list-style post, even though no one has responded yet, I’d love to hear the top places to which you would like to travel and why. I’m a die-hard travel lover and I want to go everywhere I possibly can, but here are my top five: 1. Italy. The history, the landscape...
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My list of gratitude

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 15, 2011, 1:10 am
Every once in awhile, someone on my writer’s board starts a “gratitude thread.” We have an assortment of positive and negative posts, but sometimes the negative ones seem to far outnumber the positive and that’s when a gratitude thread takes form. In that vein, I’m starting a gratitude th...
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Thought for the day: Boredom

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 13, 2011, 1:37 pm
I learned at a young age that claiming to be bored did not fly with my parents. “Only BORING people are bored,” my dad would remind me, whenever I made the mistake of expressing said feeling. I took my dad’s words to heart, primarily because there is not much more disagreeable to me than bei...
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Goals, continued

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 12, 2011, 10:48 pm
Yesterday I talked about my plans for the kids over summer break. One of my ideas is to make up some goals for them to work toward, mainly life skills that they need to know. My main goals for the boys are for them to learn to tie their shoes and ride their bikes without training wheels. Yes, I kno...
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Summer vacation is almost here. Gulp.

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 11, 2011, 9:52 pm
Let me preface this post with the acknowledgement that I love my kids dearly. Seriously. I love spending time with them, I love having them around me and they bring me a great deal of joy. However. I’ve gotten used to this whole being-at-home-by-myself routine and I must say, I’m quite product...
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Mother's Day 2006

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 11, 2011, 12:24 am
Mother’s Day had me thinking about my former mother-in-law and how much I miss her. Five Mother’s Days ago, Carmen was just home from the hospital. I don’t remember which time it was because there were so many, but I know she was rail-thin and therefore always cold. That particular Mother’s...
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A post of gratitude

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - May 9, 2011, 11:19 pm
I don’t mention the kids’ dad, my ex-husband, Glen, very often. Because I don’t talk about him much, I’m using this post to publicly express my gratitude to Glen for all the support he gives me and the kids. He goes WAY above and beyond the call of duty of an ex-husband. Thankfully, we both...
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Catching up

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Apr 6, 2011, 5:55 pm
This year, I’m really excited to participate in the annual Blog-a-thon. Why? Because I have become so rotten about posting. It’s funny, I write posts in my head all the time, but I never seem to get around to typing them out. And now that I go to actually post something here, I can’t remember...
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When our kids [inadvertently] impress us

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Mar 18, 2011, 3:19 pm
Let me preface this post with the following back story: The kids were out shopping with their dad around Thanksgiving time and Logan saw something that caught his attention and held it for months. He came home all excited to tell me about the Bigfoot toy he saw at the store. “It costs $100!” h...
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Guest Blogger: Leah Ingram, author of "Toss, Keep, Sell"

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Feb 2, 2011, 11:32 am
Today I’m thrilled to have Leah Ingram, author of “Toss, Keep, Sell!” as a guest blogger. Leah, one of my cyber-writer-friends, saw my post on timers a couple weeks ago and knew right away that this excerpt from her book would be perfect for my blog. Congratulations to Leah on her new project!...
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Just for fun

Sarah E. Ludwig posted an article on parenting by trial & error - Jan 28, 2011, 9:15 pm
1. One of my college buddies/fellow English majors/good friends is, evidently, married to a blossoming painter. Though my friend has mentioned his wife’s paintings before, I had no idea until today just how good she is. I mean, the girl has only been dabbling in painting since college, and really ...
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About Me

I am a freelance writer and mom of four; twin girls and two boys. My specialties include parenting, larger families, multiples, family issues, pregnancy, health and agriculture. I've written for a variety of publications such as The Christian Science Monitor, TWINS Magazine, Motherhood, Farm Journal and Farm Industry News. A born and bred city girl, I now live in the middle of nowhere and can currently be stared down by the grazing cows across the road (which is, admittedly, a bit unnerving). I enjoy reading, loud music, dancing, gardening and camping.

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