Photo by Emily_Dollface

Oh, great. It's not enough that this working mom already feels guilty about not spending enough time with my kids. Now here's another bit of info I'm going to stash away and hopefully never use ...

Being a working mom is not looked on too favorably by the courts during custody battles. No one likes to think about divorce and I don't wish it on any of us. But according to a report in Working Mother magazine, more fathers, stay-at-home dads particularly, are fighting for primary custody of their children -- and winning.

Photo by kelli0585

CafeMom partygal19dani, a member of the Moms of Teenagers Groups, asked members to help talk her out of her desire to have another baby at 39 to fill the void left by her two older kids, a college freshman and junior. She knows deep down that it's not in the cards, but can't fight the feeling from this "transition" period with her kids finally leaving the nest.

Oher moms were quick to agree, and offered some diaper-free ways she can fill the void:

My working mama friend and I were just "freaking out" together about whether our sick days were going to last the swine flu (and regular flu) season, especially when some of us (me) already used a few on a summer "H1N1 scare" and when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wants parents and/or kids (which also means a parent) to stay home at the first sign of "sickness" this season.

Do you have enough sick days to potentially cover you and your kids this season? Or are you one of the many workers with no paid sick leave at all?

Twister game towel; $15

When my kids were a little younger, they were afraid of the big waves and sea monsters in the water. They were content to quietly collect shells and make castles with their buckets in the sand, which was fine with me. I actually got to sit down and breathe the sea air once in a while!

Now that my son is older, he craves action. And danger. The minute we hit the sand, he's making a bee line for the current, while I'm trying to suppress my heart attack. He's not a great swimmer, and you hear so many stories ...

Anyway, I feel the need to bring along some quieter (ah, safer) forms of entertainment, so I might actually survive the trip.

After combing the planet for tons of toys and gear (and playing with them, yay!), the other bloggers and I compiled these Daily Buzz 8 Great Fun in the Sun Essentials for big kids on the beach ...

Madonna's having adoption drama. Why not adopt a foster kid right here?

Adoption is something that I can't stop thinking about. I'm not really ready for another child right now, but in my mind, I see myself with one more. When I think about pregnancy, I just don't think I can do it again. I love to see pregnant women and I remember what was totally amazing about it, but unfortunately I also remember how rough and tough pregnancy was on me.

When the thought of adoption comes to me though, I get overwhelmed, okay, turned off by the idea of going to another country to make it happen. Aren't there thousands of foster kids in this country? How come we don't hear more about them?

photo by Nicholeb211

An anonymous mother asks, "Am I a bad mom?"

In her words...

"My son, yesterday, asked me, "We can do it tomorrow?"

I said, "Yes."

He said, "But you're never awake in the morning. You're always asleep."

We were talking about making a video of him and his toys. It was late at night, around 8:30PM, and I said we should do it the next day bc it was close to bed time...I admit, in the mornings, I do often stay in bed and rely on him to feed himself. He is very independent, so I thought he didn't mind.

There were no kids at my island wedding! We eloped.

You open the envelope and a gorgeous invitation falls out. Another wedding! But then you pause and think, "I bet this means no kids."

I'm in that situation now. My cousin is getting married this summer in the Hamptons (a beautiful Long Island, NY beach town), which is a about three hour drive from me. All my family has booked rooms at a hotel for the weekend, something I'd like to do too, but...the kids. I can totally understand wanting no children (outside of the wedding party) at a wedding; they can be distracting and definitely expensive. Really, who needs to hear wailing from the pews just before they say "I do"?

photo by ButtrflyTattoos.

. Looks like she's ready for the board meeting!

Remember when this used to be called "Take Your Daughter to Work Day"? I guess in the interest of being fair to boys (ironic since the initial reason to create it was because the world was unfair to girls), the idea has expanded to "Bring Your Child to Work Day." Either way, it's a very cool concept.

photo by (my friend!) Peajewel

. Cody and his friends at church camp.

Are you sending the kids to camp this summer? My 5-year-old will be going for the first time this year. Day camp for now, as sleep-away camp is definitely too much at his age. We want him to swim and to go on cool trips, but we also want something that has a little academic enrichment snuck in. And we're thinking about football camp too--something where he can be athletic but also learn the value of team play. The truth is, I didn't realize how involved the hunt for camps would be. There are a lot of things to consider, cost not the least of them.

I don't know about anyone else, but some of the best motherhood advice I ever received was just after I gave birth to my now 5-year-old son. I was barely leaving the house (like new moms are prone to do), even when my husband was home. "Why?" asked a friend. "Because 'he'..."

She cut me off. "If you are about to tell me something your man can't do, that's crap. Tell him once what to do, where everything is, and leave. If the baby is breathing when you come home, all is well," she bluntly said.