YEAH!

Today I sent out the first invitation to join PARENTise.com! This is a milestone moment - the site that I have been dreaming about has finally come to be reality! I need to pinch myself.

But before I do - can I ask you to do me a favor and take a look at the site - at www.parentise.com and register to become a member. In a few weeks we'll be sending out our Beta testing invitation to everyone registerd and you'll be among the first to enter your product and service reviews on PARENTise!!!

YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool Site

There is this really cool site out there that I want to share with you guys - check out www.kirtsy.com . It is the old SKIRT site, under a new name, but they've done a great job rebranding and I couldn't help but pass it on! Take a look when you get a chance!

Mommy and Daddy

Babygirl started saying Mommy and Daddy this week. I mean, she's been saying Momma and Dadda, for a long time now (you know for the past 10 months or so)...but she just started saying Mommy and Daddy. There's something different about Mommy and Daddy - it's just a touch more real - a touch more something - you know...

It's like she's growing up, and it's all happening one word at a time and Mommy and Daddy are just another marker of how fast it's all happening...

This Makes Sense

Alright - I've expressed my fears about how you can open you heart to another human being after having had the first experience of motherhood. One of my favorite blog writers even commented on the post, which was really nice...

Anyway - the point is that I found another descriptor (from Rebecca Woolf of This Girl's Gone Child and the author of Rockabye) that is helping me get to understand how it is...yes, Babygirl was my first entre into motherhood, and I'll always have a special place in my heart for her, but I think I get it - I'll also make room for this new baby and he or she will also hold a special (but different) place in my heart...

Here's the quote from the post:

"Clearly I am most excited about this pregnancy because of Archer. Because he was once kicking the same walls she is. And now, three and a half years later I have this perfect little person by my side, bouncing in my lap, rocking my world, loving me back, which can only mean that very soon, she will be too. And preparing to fall in love all over again?"

and you can read the whole thing here...

Looking Back on Roseola

So, now that we're out of the woods with the Roseola virus, I feel comfortable saying...I am so glad that kids typically only get it once...it was AWFUL!

Here is a picture of what Roseola does to poor little babies...and this doesn't even take into account the high high high fever...

Congratulations!

Just wanted to say Congratulations to my brother Mark and his now fiancee Stephanie! They got engaged on Thursday and called us to tell us the news. We're so excited - we love Stephanie or SSSSSSSSS as baby girl calls her!

Crib Bedding

We finally got our the new baby bedding for his/her crib. Take a look:


What do you think - I'm psyched - it's cute - neutral and matches the colors in the room.

I was a little nervous that it looked a little bit "boy", but my husband actually thought it looked a little "girl" - so I figure that's a good thing!

We got it at Kids and Kribs in Wayne, it was on a crib as a sample, they had to take it off for me...which was nice - and I got a little discount for taking the floor model version! BONUS!

The brand is Skip Hop, and the staff at the store said that Banana Fish is making the bedding for Skip Hop, which makes sense since I love Banana Fish - Dear Daughter's bedding is Banana Fish.

What Would You Do?

So on my way home from work today, I was running, yes I am 37 weeks prego tomorrow, and I was running, through the train station attempting to make the early train so that I could get home and spend some time w/ baby girl before she went to sleep.

Well, as I was making my way through the station I saw a man lying on the floor w/ crutches next to him. I saw a whole bunch of people look and walk by, so my first thought was that he was ok. Something made me stop though. I knelt down by him and said, "sir are you ok?" he didn't respond. I noticed that he had what looked like gauze pads that you would get after having an IV or a blood draw and he had a hospital ID badge on his wrist.

He was breathing, but rapidly and he didn't respond to me. I ran over to the station police, but there was noone inside, so I called 911. After calling 911 2 other women came by, but no men. Not a single man stopped to see if he needed help, or if we needed help. Luckily, one of the women was a nurse, and she took his pulse and checked his breathing and confirmed that he was breathing and had a pulse, but said there was nothing that could be done until the medics got there. I was glad - she stayed until the medics arrived.

Long story short, the medics finally arrived w/o a stretcher. But even worse was that they were walking as if there was not an emergency to be rushing to. I was so angry when I saw them sauntering over to us, all I could think was THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT PEOPLE...HE'S LAYING ON THE FLOOR GOD DARN IT (although my internal choice of language was much more severe).

Finally, the guys w/the stretcher came - again they were walking! I just don't understand. When someone calls 911 and reports an unconcious person lying on the floor wouldn't that constitute and emergency for you.

This whole situation made me cry. First because of all the people who just walked by and ignored him. Second because the people who are paid to care, didn't seem to give a darn, and third, because this poor man, with one leg amputated at the knee, and most likely homeless, was lying on the floor, and all I could think is...he's someone's son, someone's Dad, someone's friend...and he's here lying on the floor...it really could be any of us...

What would you have done?

Sharing Responsibility

Great article in this weeks NY Times Magazine - all about how parents share their parenting responsibilities - or not. But no, really about how a few couples have broken out their parenting and household duties so that no one feels as if they are doing dramatically more or less.


One of the profiled couples has it broken out so much that they have it that one person does the dark wash and one person does the whites...just so that they have an even division of labor.

The article was really good - I like having an insight into other peoples lives, but I must say that even with my task oriented mind set - I couldn't figure out how to break things out like some fo these people.


My husband and I have a fairly traditional inside outside relationship - as in he handles everything outside. But that's not because I can't or don't want to - but he really likes being outside and working on the lawn and the house and stuff...and I well...I don't. Not that I like scrubbing toilets, but that's the good thing - he'll scrub the toilet too...so I guess I've got it pretty good.


What about you?

105

Alright - the number 105 doesn't really mean anything unless you put it into context. I mean - if you told me you were going to give me $105, I'd be happy. If you said that the pair of shoes I wanted to buy was $105 I'd say - hmm...those are a bit expensive. If you said you had 105 kids, well I'd know you were lying...well...I guess you could have adopted a lot...

Anyway - my point is that I've never really thought of the number 105 before last night. But last night - I thought about it a lot! Last night baby girls fever hit 105 degrees. Luckily, I have a friend who just happens to be a pediatric nurse, and we just happened to be on the phone minutes before I took her temperature. While we were talking her temp was only 104.2, but when we hung up and I took it again - it was 105.1. I called her back and she said - calmly I might add - ok - you need to pack her up and take her to the ER.

So, we did.

Only on the way there dear husband decided to call our MD, who was still having office hours and told us to bring her right in. Which, we did. Well, 2 hours of sitting in the MD's office later, which I must admit, while not fun, was much better than sitting in the ER - her fever came down about 1.5 degrees, and we left with instructions to do a clean catch of urine in the morning.

If you've ever tried to get a urine sample from a 19 month old...well...I won't go into the details, but it wasn't fun. But we got it. Her fever today has stayed lower - a high of 103.2, but that's still high.

Apparently she has been exposed to the Roseola virus - which causes high fevers for up to 5 days. Kids get sick, but the 105 number is the magic number - anything at 105 and above is serious business. I never want to see 105 on a thermometer again.

Now about that $105 you owe me!

Would you take your Mother to see it...

This was the question I posed to my girlfriend after we watched the new Sex in the City Movie together this weekend. Would you take your Mother to see it? Could you watch this with your Mother?

It was an innocent question - I know the answer for myself - NO WAY ON EARTH, but I am always intrigued by the relationships that others have with their mothers, and I know my girlfriend and her mother are close by most measures of the word. But, she said no, she most certainly wouldn't be bringing her mother to see the movie

**Spoiler Alert** Don't read any further if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to know more about it.

Surprisingly enough to me, there were a number of "older" (read 60ish, maybe 70ish) women in the theater that I saw the movie in. I wish I had known that before the movie started - I would have been interested in seeing their faces when the sex symbol of the movie's penis was shown. Or when Miranda and her husband were shown in the midst of hot sweat SEX and his behind was shown pumping up and down...or when...oh, you get the point.

But I guess that isn't the only reason I wouldn't bring my mother to the movie - although it is probably the largest one - by FAR!

I wouldn't bring my Mom to the movie because I don't think she would understand it. I don't think that she shares a relationship as close as the ladies in the move have. One scene that stands out in my mind is when Carrie gets out of the limo to beat the daylights out of Big with her bouquet and Charlotte is holding her and screams "NO"!!! Her eyes made the moment, big and filled with tears and anger that only someone who has loved a friend as closely as she loved Carrie could bring to bear.

My Mother just doesn't have those relationships with people. I am lucky enough to have one or two - ok, maybe 3 of them myself. People for whom I would do anything and if anyone hurt them I would protect them with my life. But it reminded me that not everyone has that. Not everyone could support their friend through a crisis like these ladies did. Not everyone wants to be in a relationship that makes them feel as much as a friendship like this does.

I wonder if someday the generational equivalent of SITC will come out with a movie and my daughter will be asked the same question. I wonder what she'll say. I'm taking bets she'll say no, but I hope that's only because she doesn't want to watch a sex scene with her mother, not because she think her mother will understand the depth of a relationship with a best friend.

Do you have friends you would protect like Charlotte protects Carrie? Have you ever had to?