February 22nd, 2009
Written by: Julie Cole
I just received an e-newsletter from a pregnancy website that I didn’t sign up for. My subscription could be the result of one of my hilarious Mabel’s Labels co-workers thinking I should be following this pregnancy of mine a little more closely.
My first e-newsletter arrived congratulating me for being 30 weeks pregnant. I did the math which confirmed that the website knows more about my pregnancy than I do. It went on to tell me how I should be feeling – which is bad. Each day should now be greeted lethargically. Varicose veins should be plaguing me, along with the inability to sleep and the constant urge to urinate. This coming week I’m told to look forward to stretch marks, and the word “gassy” came up on several occasions.
And here I’ve been going along feeling great and largely forgetting that I’m actually brewing a baby. Time to start pulling rank, I say. I’m going to commit to some waddling and maybe groan when I go from the sitting to standing position. Hey, I’m 30 weeks pregnant so fully entitled – my new e-newsletter told me so. Take that Mabel gals and see how much fun I am to work with now. That little e-newsletter thing really backfired!
My e-newsletter also informed me that my baby is now the size of a squash, which erupted controversy among the other 30-week e-newsletter subscribers. There were no less than 47 comments from the moms-to-be expressing passionately either for or against the baby/squash comparison. With so many opinions on the topic, I was left thinking that this was a case of hormones gone wild. I tried to have an opinion, but nothing happened. Does this mean I don’t care as much as they do about my squash….er…..I mean, my baby?
The next part is what really freaked me out. It provided me with a link to my personalized pregnancy to-do list. It looked like this:
Number of items on to-do list: 78
Number of items completed on to-do list: zero
Yes, apparently I have 78 things left to do before I have this baby. I can’t even bring myself to open the link to my list. As someone who is now 10 weeks late for her first obstetrician appointment, I can’t start stressing about pulling out my little sleepers from bins in the basement and whitening my whites.
Mamas have about nine months to prep for baby. While there may be about 75 things left on my official ‘to-do’ list on the day this baby arrives, I have a feeling we’ll somehow muddle through it.
**The pic is of me 38 weeks pregnant with some other baby…..probably thinking it would be my last pregnancy so got the photo done!
Comments:
February 15th, 2009
Written by: Julie Cole
There are only a few things that I like about Valentine’s Day, and when I say ‘few’ I actually mean one. I fondly remember my mom sneaking a little chocolate and note into our lunch boxes on Valentine’s Day. It was memorable because we were not the kind of kids who had treats showered upon us. I have enjoyed carrying on that tradition with my school aged children. That about sums up the joy I get out of Valentine’s Day.
The main problem is that I have a strong aversion to anything cheezy and Valentine’s Day is just dripping with it. The first dance at weddings makes me cringe and seeing a smooching couple can create symptoms that rival morning sickness. Occasionally daddy-o has given me a piece of jewelry thinking it’s the right thing to do. Instead of getting emotional and speechless, I am left questioning why he didn’t get me something more sensible – like real estate, for example. Now real estate is something I could get giddy over. Why jewelry when I don’t even wear my wedding rings? I should mention that not wearing my wedding rings caused my father to comment this week about how inappropriate it is considering my “condition”. Yes, I really had to field that comment.
Maybe I had some romantic notions in the past but considering what the last decade has served up, you can see why there has been a shift towards the practical.
Valentine’s Day creates a fair bit of work for me. You can imagine what a huge undertaking it is to oversee the completion of Valentine’s cards for all the school friends, neighbourhood kids and cousins. What puts me over the edge is when they return home from school with gobs of Valentine’s Day stuff. Gone are the days of the simple card – mine arrive home with bags of lollies, pencils, stickers and even gift bags! Who had to go and raise the bar on this? Whoever you are – I’m officially boycotting.
If you listen closely, you can hear nursing mothers of newborns collectively moan on February 14th. You see, these new mamas do not need some contrived holiday that makes husbands feel entitled to some bedroom action. It’s one thing to have a little human hanging off your breast all day, and another entirely to have a big human thinking it’s his turn because the calendar told him so.
This year I beat the system. A mama friend recently opened an indoor playground (
http://www.antzinyourpantz.ca/) and created a “Daddy and Princess” Valentine’s event. Daddy-o and his three princesses were registered immediately and I celebrated this Valentine’s Day by removing four people from my house for an entire afternoon!
Another Valentine’s Day survived and all there’s left to show for it is the scattering of cards and wrappers around the family room floor, a few sugar highs and my cinnamon heart hang-over.
Comments:
February 12th, 2009
Written by: Caitlin Madden
Here are the ten finalists that have a chance to win Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ’09 Contest Grand Prize!
The Grand Prize winner will receive The grand prize winner will receive a trip to BlogHer’s Annual Conference in Chicago, July 24-25, and will be featured as the event’s chief correspondent on Mabel’s Labels’ blog. The grand prize includes flight, two day conference pass and two nights paid at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers.
Please take some time to check out the entries then head over to www.mabel.ca/poll
to cast your vote!
Best of luck to all the finalists!
Darcie @ Such the Spot
“Finding Me”
Kim @ Prairie Mama
“Get me to Chicago with Mabel’s Labels”
Robyn @ Who’s The Boss?
“Community”
Deb @ Mom of 3 Girls
“Why I blog…”
Katrina @ Fickle Feline
“The Rewards & Benefits of Blogging”
Dani @ Postcards from the Mothership
“In which she counts her bloggy blessings”
Kim @ What’s That Smell?
“Who am I and why are you talking to me?”
Piera @ Jolly Mom
“Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ’09 Contest Entry”
Tanya @ Mommy Goggles
“Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ’09 Contest”
Melanie @ Mel, A Dramatic Mommy
“Mabel’s Labels BlogHer 2009 Contest”
Comments:
February 11th, 2009
Written by: Caitlin Madden
February 8th, 2009
Written by: Julie Cole
The picture you see is of my 92-year-old grandma with two of her countless great-grandchildren. She looks a pleasant woman, and indeed she is – but truth be known, she is a woman of great power and everyone should be a little bit afraid of her. For me, I’m most afraid when I am about to share pregnancy news with her.
It seems an odd fear considering grandma gave birth nine times and her mother went through the ordeal a shocking twenty-one times (yes, twenty-one). So why in such a prolific family would I have this fear? Quite simply it is because grandma is a strange combination of a traditional Irish Catholic granny mixed with an intellectual feminist. Picture Gloria Steinem playing the part of Ma on Little House on the Prairie.
While she outwardly greets my pregnancy news with joy, her eyes cry out “WHY would you have another baby in a time when women have CHOICE?”
Fair question considering how things were for that generation of women. My grandpa worked several jobs as grandma ran a household, rendering her virtually housebound. Women at that time were so bogged down with the daily task of running a household there was barely time to even enjoy their children. Those were the days when a woman’s status was defined by how early in the morning she had the cloth diapers hanging on the line to dry.
As much as we all love our children, motherhood can be an isolating and mind-numbing task at times. It is no wonder grandma sometimes shakes her head and questions why a woman of my age and in these times would have six children.
As I read through the entries to our BlogHer contest, one difference in our generation of mamas becomes abundantly clear: we have access to the Internet, and the Internet provides us with community. Even on those days when we can’t escape the four walls of our homes and those walls are seemingly closing in on us, we can hop on our computers and find a community of support. For those few moments, we have a break from the loud monotony of raising our children.
Mamas now blog and read blogs. We connect on Facebook. If at 3:00am I am wondering why my toddler has green poops, I will post it on a mama message board. By 4:00am I will likely have several responses, including some that simply reach out to say they hear my concerns. During the loneliest hours of motherhood, your virtual saviour is a click away. Our grandmothers did not have those faceless saviours.
Sure, husbands like to mock our Facebook, e-mail, message board and blog addictions, but during these uncivilized years of raising kids we have to do whatever we can to remain sane. So log on and find the community who is waiting to greet you, embrace you and most of all be there to support you no matter what time of day or night.
Comments:
RSS
RSS