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Jan 10, 2008

I’m Waving At You. How About You Wave Back?

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Apparently today is a delurking day – one of those days where those of us who are out here writing all the time ask you to show yourself.

Bloggers love comments. We have to, or we’d be writing in little paper journals kept in our desks. Feedback is nourishment to us.

So just for this one day, leave me a comment to let me know you’ve been here. I look over my stats all the time, and I know there are more people visiting than commenting. I’m not hurt by that – I’m a secret stalker for many other blogs, and sometimes I read my favorite blogs and don’t have anything to say.

But I do love me some comments. Seeing that e-mail pop up telling me I have a new comment on a post is like getting another fix of my favorite drug. When I get a lot of comments, I’m downright giddy.

You don’t have to be witty, or funny, or philosophical. A simple “Hi!” works fine. Anonymous is cool, too. (Spammers and trolls excluded, of course.)

Or if you want a reason to comment, answer me this question:

You have discovered one lonely cookie left in a bag. It’s your favorite type of cookie. Do you:

A. give it to your child
B. share it with your child or…
C. turn the TV on and hide out in the kitchen so your kid doesn’t see you eat the cookie?


OK, let’s see how many people are out there. I’d love to see over 50 comments. And just to add a little guilt:


PS – Want to really make me happy? There are some blog awards going on right now. And I hear there’s a Parenting blog category. And I’ve never been nominated.

Just sayin’. If you think I’m cool enough and all…

Filed Under: me me me · Tagged: ,


Jan 8, 2008

Forgive The Bragging, Please

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I know some of you mommy bloggers out there have been posting lately about your husbands behaving badly. Being wimps. Being lazy. Being selfish, condescending, and mean. The labels “assholes” and “pussies” have been thrown around lately.

I’m sorry, ladies, for the story I’m about to share. But maybe you can show your husbands the end of this post and the testosterone desire to compete shaming sweet tale will convince them to make up for their ways.

Sunday, Aaron and I were given a rare break from the children to see a movie. Aaron wanted to see I Am Legend. I was uninterested. I wanted to see this instead:


Uh-huh. A chick flick. And not just a chick flick, but one containing the actor who is at the upper-most, highest peak, tippity-top of my List of Five.

Allow me a moment of high school girl obsession: *droooooool*

And do you know what my sweet, loving husband said to me when I casually suggested seeing P.S. I Love You, trying to sound as if I was interested in the story and not that I just wanted to stare at Gerard Butler on the big screen for two hours?

“Sure.”

Even knowing I’d be searing every shirtless image, every sexy smile, every word spoken in that hot Scottish accent into my brain, he agreed to see a movie he wasn’t interested in on our one chance in weeks to get out together.

And he dislikes Hilary Swank.

And in a theater filled with women, he was one of TWO men.

And the other guy was so old he probably didn’t remember what movie he was seeing afterwards.

Not only did he agree to see this chick flick without complaint – he enjoyed it. Teared up at times, even! (Note: bring kleenex to this movie. No matter how stone-faced you think you are, it’s a four hankie tear-jerker.)

I’m a lucky woman.

Oh sure, he’s not perfect, and he can piss me off sometimes. Or a lot, depending on the week. (and I’m sure he gets sick of me, too) But I’m glad I have him, and after almost five years of marriage, he’s still willing to do little things to make me happy.

Now, mommy blogger husbands out there, listen up: I challenge you to top this. Do something totally selfless, something entirely for your lovely wives. Make these women unable to resist bragging about how great their guys are.

I want to see some happy mamas out there, because these wonderful women deserve a little special treatment!

Filed Under: Aaron, love, me me me, more than parents ·


Jan 6, 2008

Hey Gerber, Did You Think We Wouldn’t Notice?

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While buying baby food yesterday – something I do at least twice a week, thanks to the bottomless pit we refer to as Mira – I found myself rummaging around looking for more organic choices. I usually don’t buy Gerber organic, but that’s all there was at this particular grocery. There weren’t many organic jars, so I chose a few non-organic jars as well.

Yeah, I know, it would be cheaper to make my own baby food, but I’m lazy and can’t even melt chocolate without nearly setting my kitchen on fire, so a little leeway, OK?

And then, when I got home and lined up the jars to put them away, I noticed it:


No, not my spotless stovetop (See? No cooking!) – look at the jars! Two jars of Gerber baby food. Both Stage 3. One organic, one, uh…non-organic. Or regular. Whatever.

Do you see the difference? Here, let me digitally enhance the picture to show you a little more clearly:


The regular Gerber Stage 3 baby food is 6 ounces. The organic Gerber Stage 3 baby food is 5.5 ounces. That’s 0.5 ounces missing from the organic jar.

Seeing this difference in jars makes me wonder:

  • Do pesticides weigh 0.5 ounces?
  • Is organic somehow more dense?
  • Do babies who eat organic not need as much food? If so, can you tell that to my devourer?
  • Do they assume that organic is fed only to babies of celebrities, who don’t want their kids to get too fat, cause, like, you know…fat cells stick with you for life?
  • Is the organic jar somehow edible as well? (the ultimate green packaging?)

I should also point out that the organic – the smaller jar! – costs 50% more than the non-organic.

What’s going on, Gerber? There is no reason why a jar of organic baby food should contain less food than a standard jar. My child needs that 0.5 ounces – I’m not cracking open another jar to give her that little bit extra. Besides, if I do, then I’m down an entire ounce for that jar, requiring me to open another jar to replace that ounce, and then more math is involved and my baby girl cries in hunger as I try to figure out how much food is just enough without being so much that she spits up all over me, thus requiring more food again.

Suddenly making my own baby food isn’t sounding so bad.

So do me a favor, Gerber: give me back my 0.5 ounces. Do you want this little face going hungry?

You don’t want me hungry. I’ll eat your nose off.
Filed Under: domestic zero, Mira, rant ·


Jan 4, 2008

Haiku Friday: The Power of a Hug

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A major event:
Two little people hugging
Watch the video

I can’t even begin to tell you how my heart was nearly bursting witnessing this small interaction between these two. It came out of nowhere, too, making it the first (fully) unprompted affectionate gesture that Cordy has shown Mira.

This has been a long time coming for me. Mira is now seven months old, and for most of those seven months, Cordy has largely ignored her little sister. 95% of the time, Mira didn’t exist to Cordy – she was only an object that mommy was obsessing over. (You know, like a new computer.) She wouldn’t hold Mira, wouldn’t help me with her, and generally pretended like this small, screaming being was not right in front of her. I wish I had that power of denial sometimes.

Mira noticed Cordy long before Cordy noticed Mira, and it’s easy to see how much she wants to be seen by this bigger kid who is around her all the time. At the same time, I wanted Cordy to notice and love her little sister. I’ll admit that for awhile, I was afraid she might never care for Mira, but now I’m starting to see the bonds form, and it makes me giddy.

And so I grabbed the cameras as Cordy wanted to hug her little sister, and Mira gladly put up with a little rough handling.

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below or at Jennifer’s blog with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your generic blog URL). If you need help with this, contact Jennifer or myself.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button above.

Filed Under: Cordy, family time, Haiku Fridays, Mira, sisterhood ·


Jan 1, 2008

2008 Un-resolutions

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Everyone out there is writing about their New Year’s resolutions for 2008. I tried to think of some, and there’s none I can think of that aren’t 1. obviously easy for me to keep, making them no challenge at all, or 2. so hard that there’s no way in hell I have a chance of keeping them.

So I’d like to present my list of un-resolutions for 2008 – things I will not be doing in the new year.

1. Go to the gym. We have a gym membership and I haven’t used it yet. Why start now? Besides, we have Dance, Dance Revolution now. It has a workout mode. I’ll get fit and fit in at the local arcade at the same time.

2. Wear more makeup. Hahahaha! It’s not that I’m a total slob (please, people! I do brush my hair and teeth every day!), but any morning prep that takes longer than five minutes is too long. For now, I’ll stick with my current makeup routine – only for holidays and maybe my anniversary.

3. Stop procrastinating. It’s 9:25pm as I write these un-resolutions, less than three hours before the new year. I somehow doubt my procrastination tendencies will improve.

4. Blog more. I wish I could write more, maybe even every day like some crazy people. But then there’s nursing school. And a preschooler with special needs. And a baby who demands that I do a song and dance for her every five minutes to keep her entertained. And I have a house that occasionally needs cleaned. Now do you see why I can’t get to the gym and don’t have time for makeup? I do hope to at least keep up the pace I currently have of 2-4 posts a week.

5. Clean my house. See #4.

6. Learn a new hobby. See #4.

7. Lose weight. Nearly everyone says this, don’t they? I could make some valiant declaration about dropping x number of pounds before 2008 is done, and then silently fail as Valentine’s chocolates lead into St. Patrick’s Day stews and soda bread, which then is followed by Easter chocolates and those evil Cadbury caramel eggs. Better to not set a goal, enjoy my food and if I happen to lose a few pounds, great! After all, I weigh 20 pounds lighter than I did at this time last year. Of course, I was pregnant then, too.

8. Allow less TV time for the girls. I possibly could have accomplished this one, until Noggin announced they were going 24/7 as of tonight. Knowing there can be Dora at 4am almost makes me want to put a TV in Cordy’s room in the hopes that I could get more sleep. It’s all about survival, people.

That’s enough for now. The big hour is getting near, and there is champagne calling my name.

What about you? What are your un-resolutions?

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Filed Under: holidays, me me me ·