I love this. Honestly, I treasure this snuggly baby stage (despite the aforementioned drawbacks), but I'm also really looking forward to the days ahead when we can interact more. Showtunes in the shower sounds like a blast!!
Too cool! I love hearing all of the awesome and diverse things that Jezzies do for a living.
Stick with the lingerie idea, but maybe throw a wrap dress over it instead of the trench, since you may end up out in public somewhere :)
As far as sweets go, it's hard to beat the brownie recipe on the inside of the Baker's baking chocolate box. Seriously, they are the best, and SO FREAKING EASY (1 bowl, maybe 10 min to prep). I err on the side of under-baking slightly, so they're really fudgy. You could let them cool and frost them with pink and white or something (you can be somewhat sloppy applying alternating lines of 2 colors of frosting, then drag a knife through to make a pretty marbled pattern--again, so easy, looks awesome).
Then cut them up, put in cupcake liners and inside a brown paper box with a pretty ribbon? It's all about presentation, after all :) Your local bakery (or bakery in your grocery store) might even give you a box.
I think I may do something along these lines for my hubby. Just need to go find a cute bra that can accomodate my big 'ol nursing breasteses. #Groupthink
I feel like a horrible person. My 90-y-o grandma arrives in a few hours for a visit, and it has me all kinds of stressed out. Reasons being:
1.) We have a 5-month-old who is going through a rough patch with sleep, and we're all exhausted.
2.) Grandma is notoriously negative, and only getting worse with time. She also tries to take on too much, and now that her body can't keep up like it used to, I feel like I have to keep a constant eye on her AND the baby.
3.) My cousin has a baby about the same age, and grandma wants to compare and contrast everything they do. They're both wonderful, happy, healthy little girls, and this really drives me nuts. There's a reason I try to avoid the mommy blogs.
4.) I work full time. From home.
5.) What was supposed to be a long-weekend visit has turned into more like 6-7, maybe 8-9 days, since her other plans to see friends down here in FL never materialized.
I know I should be treasuring this time together, so I feel guilty for having these thoughts. And I know that there will be moments I will always remember, but grandma has always been a challenge, and with my current over-worked, under-rested state, I am going to need some serious patience to keep things in perspective these next few days. #Groupthink
Before you have a baby, it's hard to fully comprehend the level to which it takes over your life. Maybe you'll luck out and get a mellow baby who entertains himself, takes long naps and sleeps through the night. But ours is fairly needy, so Tracie's words definitely ring true.
I'm dealing with a lot of anxiety, because even when the baby is down for a nap or down at night, I still feel like there is a timer that's counting down 'till the next time she needs me. It makes it hard to fully relax, or sometimes, even to sleep, despite being exhausted.
For the first couple of months, our baby would have a meltdown if we tried to set her down for even a couple of minutes. I took a few showers with her screaming in the swing in the bathroom, but generally tried to wait until my husband was around. I learned that the baby carrier was one way I could do some basic things around the house--like fix something to eat. Those early days were freaking HARD.
3 months was a major turning point, when she could sit for a couple of minutes at a time and be happy. Now, at 5 months, she can be in her jumperoo (a godsend) or high chair for 15 or 20 minutes and keep herself entertained while we do other things around her. Even those (relatively short) stretches of time seem like a major victory!
Yes, I definitely want to take our time and discuss it at lenght, since right now we're coming from very different places, and when the time comes, I want to present a united front, no questions asked.
I think this is an issue where the overwhelming tendency is to follow what our parents did (case and point with my husband and me). I want to take a step back and make sure we pick a strategy that will be effective, while maintaining a loving, naturing environment for our kids.
Also worth noting, disciplinary issues are dealt with first and foremost by being consistent, and by teaching kids how they're supposed to behave (basic manners, how to interact with adults, etc.). My brother and I were good kids, largely because we didn't really think there was an alternative!
Cool, thanks for the input. I definitely think I need and want to explore the full range of tools at our disposal, and figure out what suits us best, since it sounds like there are many that do not involve even the "light swat" method.
My husband and I have had several discussions about this recently as it pertains to how we'll raise our children. We have a 4-month-old together, and he has a 6-year-old from a previous relationship.
My husband was raised in a household where severe spankings were a regular occurrence at the hand of his father (a man who was raised with flat-out beatings). I, on the other hand, probably got a light swat on the bottom twice growing up. It did NOT do me any kind of lasting damage, and only hurt my pride at the time.
I tend to lean toward following what my parents did. I think a light swat on the bottom can be effective in cases of severe or dangerous behaviors up until you can reason with a child. My husband still supports more "rigorous" spanking as necessary, and he has spanked his son on numerous occasions (I tend to stay out of that, since I'm only around his son on occasion).
As we approach the toddler years, I think I need to find some resources and have us BOTH read them so we can formulate a plan together. If anyone has recommendations, I would love to get them.
Wow, how cool! I can certainly see why you feel a special connection to the show. I grew up riding, too, but mostly Dressage, so the world of horse racing is still pretty foreign to me (hence all the Googling!).
Yes! She's a total spitfire in real life. I've seen her in some other roles where she doesn't use her Irish accent, and love that she sounds like herself here. I think I annoy my husband, because every scene she's in, I'm like "Yay, Kerry!" I cheered for her name in the credits last night. Hopefully this will fade in time.
Not weird. I really didn't want to, for the exact same reasons, but curiosity got the better of us and we gave in. As an intelligent person, I find it really frustrating/annoying not to be able to follow along with the plot of a freaking TV show. (Lost was NOT a show for me.)
My husband and I were talking about this last night... it seems like they've chosen to throw viewers into the deep end with little explanation, and let things become clearer as we go (let's hope, anyway). We had to pause and Google some of the racing stuff, including how a Stake race works.
The Irish jockey is also played by one of his good friends, so we're committed to seeing where this thing takes us. HBO has definitely earned the benefit of the doubt in my book.
My hat is off to you--I went 6 months without my now-husband in 2010. He is an Iraq war vet, but this last time was over there as a contractor. We definitely had it easier than most military couples--he was in a pretty safe location, and we got to video chat regularly, but I still MISSED HIM SO MUCH.
Having him back was surreal. But not so surreal that we didn't get pregnant pretty much the day he got home, despite me being back on birth control. We joke that the 6 months apart made his swimmers super-strength. Probably TMI, but be warned!! ;)
Good luck with this next stretch, and feel free to emo vent any time--it's completely understandable.
UGH, I went through this last year, and it was a bitch and a half. Fortunately, I didn't get flack about my many, MANY bathroom trips, but I got all kids of pressure about my maternity leave.
I'm the first full-time female employee at my company to have a baby, so I had to blaze the trail on compensation and leave arrangements. I'm mostly paid by commission, and had to fight numerous battles about what, if anything I would get credit for while I was out (despite most sales being repeat business from clients I found, developed and have served for years).
To top it off, my bosses kept referring to my "long" maternity leave (I took 11 weeks), and repeatedly pestered me about my plans to return ("are you SURE you're coming back?" x100).
As someone who's been with the company for 5+ years, has sacrificed nights and weekends, schlepped to cover shitty tradeshows that no one else wanted to attend, is a star employee, and has earned the company millions, it shocked me how quickly my pregnant status made them question my abilities, loyalty and honesty.
I'm 2 months back to work now (and KILLING IT, thankyouverymuch), but as you may be able to tell, I haven't completely gotten over my hard feelings.
Totally!! And I think he's gotten edgier in the past year, which makes him all the more so.
Ok, I never really had an opinion about her one way or another, until recently. And it's like she's on a one-woman campaign to WIN MY HEART!
She is so freaking hilarious and self-depricating. It takes some balls to show that video footage of yourself on national television looking like kind of a basketcase, and to have the wherewithal to laugh at it. That combined with some of her comments about her relationship, (lack of) wedding planning, etc., are downright loveable.
Agree on Channing Tatum. I watched The Eagle with my hubby last week, and it was PAINFUL--you can practically see the gears turning.
For me, I don't care how objectively good looking you may be, if you're dumb, I'm incapable of finding you attractive. And on the flip side, there are many brilliant men who may not be that good looking, but who I find incredibly sexy (Jon Stewart comes to mind).
At least it's the right color...
Oh, don't worry, I'm with you. Fortunately, for every 10 Julia's, there were a couple of us to roll our eyes.
Ugh, I went to college with Julia Allison. Couldn't stand her then, wouldn't want to raise my blood pressure over her now (nor would I want to reward her with pageviews).
She used to wear basically tennis skirts with high heels to class, and sit there twirling her hair and making ridiculous, idiotic comments.
She wrote a sex column for the student newspaper, and fancied herself our school's Carrie Bradshaw. Which is about as obnoxious as you would imagine it to be. Gag.
And in the gym, she would position herself riiiiiight in front of where the most guys were working out, and stretch. Provacatively. Hence my guy friends' nickname for her, Provocative Stretcher.
