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Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year!

Ah, what a year. Amazing. Last year while we were watching the New YEar's festivities in NY, we had a sweet little baby, who, after some major fussiness, was sleeping like a newborn upstairs, with not a tooth in her mouth. This year...um, yeah, we have the same. But not for long.

Whoo-hoo! (This is a sarcastic 'whoo-hoo', btw.) The girl is teething. (We're pretty sure.) And she may or may not have a runny nose cold type-thing. She woke up with a lovely crust over her nose. So pleasant. Don't know if it's a genuine cold (she was passing around the sippy cups w/ my friend's 20 month-old twins at Friday night's party, and they apparently woke up with nasty cold the next day.) Or, "unexplained" sniffles can be a sign of teething. Either way, we see something popping through there, and please noticed the new blinkie:



Yeah, had to break out the infant Motrin, and we heard quite a bit of yelling before she finally consented to be put to sleep. I of course had to sneak in later and check her. Poor kid. Happy New Year, she'll wae up to crusty nostrils.

Eh, whatever, there's worse things.

We went out to Red Lobster - damn them and their Cheddar Bay biscuits, they had me at hello! - and rented The Simpsons Movie and hung out, munching on our Christmas leftover goodies. The doggie is quite happy we're home. Now we're heckling the Home Shopping Network actors, and wondering why our hick neighbors have been setting off fireworks 12 minutes early. It's very nice here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Cheers for Actually Showing the Tears

Although LOOONG overdue (but when do I have time to watch prime-time TV?) I want to say a big CHEERS to "Scrubs". I just started watching the 6th season on DVD (Thanks Dad!) and within the first few episodes, there's a very happily expected birth. One of the main female characters, Carla, gives birth, and for once the event doesn't include cute little huffs and puffs followed by a perfectly clean, healthy pink (aprox. 3 month-old) bundle being passed around while mommy sits back and glows, her lipstick still looking fresh. Carla instead labors for hours only to be given a C-section - a little nod to the harsh reality that the act of birthing NEVER goes the way you wish and plan for it to go.

In later episodes the male characters gradually piece together that Carla is showing signs of early postpartum depression. It's the big kicker at the end of a particularly great episode - remember, this a commedy - but as a woman watching the episode, a MOMMY, that is, I was practically yelling at the screen "Carla has PPD, duh!"

And it's not just cute little baby-blues sniffles. She's bawling uncontrollably. She's sobbing because she can't get her baby to latch on (Oh! What's this? Breastfeeding isn't perfectly easy and natural? But it looks so easy on TV! When they actually dare to mention it on TV, that is...) She's a depressed, panicked, sleep-deprived, desperate mess. She feels like she can't do it, has to get a break from the baby, isn't a fit mother. She was lying in bed holding a tiny, beautiful newborn, sobbing her brains out.

And I watched this silly-stupid sitcom that usually could make me snort coffee through my nose, and said, "oh my God...that was me."

It is awful, it's never the same mommy to mommy, and of course, it does eventually go away, and life seems absolutely beautiful a year later. I think I was lucky. But yeah, I remember it well.

Cheers to for showing that sad, scary-ass side of new mommyhood.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

My New Year's Resolution:

"A mother who radiates
self-love and self-acceptance
vaccinates her daughter against
low self-esteem
."


~Naomi Wolf


PS - I also resolve to take more walks, particularly with my girl, in her little red wagon.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Are you absolutely and totally bollicking crazy?

"Well, I can't believe I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and the stuff I can't believe is not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter are not butter, and I believe that they both just might in fact be butter, but in cunning disguises, and in fact there's a lot more butter out there than we believe."

Love Vicar of Dibley

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Well, I always did have to have an "A"

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around
Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want
You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you.

When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back
Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love!
You live life to the fullest - incorporating the best of both worlds

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

And a Merry Non-denominational Holiday to You!

After receiving an email forward of a report that rated major retailers in America based on how they addressed Christmas in their stores and advertisements, I pretty much got pissed off.

Old Navy, for instance, was on this report's BAD list, as one of the stores that "censors Christmas" because it lists its sales as "Holiday Sales" and has a "Holiday Gift-Giving Guide".

I'm sorry, WHAT? American stores should alienate everyone in the country who doesn't celebrate a particular holiday? Am I wrong, or was this country not first settled by people in search of religious freedom? And now we're all supposed to be Christian, or go stick our heads in the sand during the entire month of December? GRRRR...

I whole-heartedly love Christmas. I have no problem with business putting up trees or mentioning Christmas. It's kind of why most people are at the mall in the first place. BUT some people are there Hanukkah shopping. Or getting food for a Kwanzaa or Divali celebration. We should punish retailers for opening their doors to these people? What, they don't get to shop too?

(I have a feeling that these are the same people who think we shouldn't allow any more immigrants into the country, legal or otherwise, forgetting that most likely somebody let their ancestors in!)

I guess I'm a bad evangelist. I really, really object to the idea that I'm supposed to make sure everybody knows I'm right and they're wrong and they'd better hurry up and be whatever religion I am. Live & let live. I'd be pissy if somebody tried to push "Hanukkah Only" sales on retailers. And I hate the policitcally correct, sensitized version of school programs and curriculums that completely pretend there isn't a major holiday in many major religions this time of year. If we don't teach this stuff, we're just widening the cultural gap. It's big enough. So the second I could, I put Hanukkah, Christmas, and yes, even Kwanzaa into my winter concert. (Kwanzaa is nice, and I do teach it, but let's face it, it's a very newly created holiday that doesn't carry near the weight of the other big two...plus I have to first cover Ramadan and Divali. I'm a busy girl here. Plus, NONE of the students at my school celebrate it. African-American or not. And I have dozens of Muslim and Indian kids. Gotta teach to your own population, I say.)

I should really add that the main reason I was filled with the pissy spirit upon receiving this forward (any many like it, I might add) is that the sender just assumed that I felt the same way as she, that I would actually read and follow the report's guidelines, and that I actually think that we should pretend that everybody whole-heartedly celebrates Christmas as the birthday of Jesus. They don't. Yes, I'm sure the majority of the country celebrates Christmas. But I don't think they should HAVE to, nor should they be given the cold shoulder by retailers in their native country, because they happen to celebrate other things. So I am going to continue to shop at Old Navy, Lane Bryant, and Lowe's, and perhaps go to them first because they at least acknowledge the fact that not everybody in the country is a dear little W. A. S. P. (Said the W. A. S. P.!)

On a more festive note, I'm celebrating big-time this year. I think I'm more excited about Christmas this year than I've been since I was a kid. One reason, I'm sure, is because I actually have a kid, and although she doesn't have a clue about the whole Santa thing yet, we do, and we're psyched that Santa's coming to our house again. But another reason I'm totally embracing Christmas and all its little traditions is that last year I really didn't get one. Up all night with a newborn, nursing had failed, and the baby blues hormones were raging. I barely noticed what day it was. I don't remember much of it, except the part about my kid having major gas and having to be on soy formula for tummy troubles. Soy formula stinks to high heaven, btw. I was not in the spirit. And now life is busy and crazy, but pretty darn sweet. SO Merry Christmas. I will be baking cookies and singing carols from here on out. And "Christmas on Sesame Street" is currently in the VCR. (Yes, I'm watching it while my kid's in bed. Deal with it. I love Big Bird.)

So, in conclusion: Do I think everybody should have to bow down and surrender to the Christmas tree? Hell no. Free country. But as for me, I go downstairs just to smell it sometimes. I'm looking forward to Christmas - and winter break - like crazy.

Saturday, December 08, 2007