Posted in February 2008 …

Feb 17 2008
1 Comment
Deep Thoughts, Parenthood

Please don’t grow up

I went to lunch with a friend today and it was good to get out of the house to converse with her. Both being mothers, the majority of our conversation was about our children and parenthood. We touched on the subject of what age we like or think we will like the most during our children’s lives.

I can’t say I know exactly what age I will treasure most or feel is the best age group, but I can say that the first 2-3 months were torture for me after lil’ Monkey was born. The adjustment to our lifestyle changing, not knowing what I was doing as a mother, learning how to breastfeed, getting him on a schedule, etc. were just trying on DH and I. Plus, I think all of the struggle didn’t seem *gasp* worth it since he wasn’t really doing anything at that point.

When started showing us his first social smile and recognizing us, my attitude and outlook on life with child changed a little. Each day became a quest to make him smile. Then when he started giggling, the quest changed to find stuff to make him laugh (which BTW, his father is so much better at than I am and I’m SO jealous).

With each new milestone now comes new challenges in babyproofing and lil’ Monkey is just growing so quickly that you can now see the little boy about to emerge and less of the baby. As I checked in on him tonight, shortly after he went to sleep, he was lying there in his crib with one of his favorite bedfellows, the hammer. He was sleeping on his side with his arms stretched out in front of him, grasping it with both hands. He’s so cute in that position; one we’ve seen a lot lately. I wish I could somehow put a silencer on our camera and take that shot without waking him.

It’s at these moments I wish I could freeze time just for a bit and enjoy this tiny baby boy for a little while longer. I love you lil’ Monkey and no matter how big you get, you’ll still be my lil’ Monkey. (But I promise I’ll stop calling you that by high school … maybe.)

Feb 16 2008
5 Comments
Deep Thoughts, For better or for worse

Incendiary Viral Crap

I have a BIG pet peeve that someone in my family has been irritating even more recently. This pet peeve involves these incendiary, viral emails. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones meant to piss you off so much about some hot button political or religious issue that you just HAVE to send it to everyone you know. From here on out, I’m calling them IVCs — short for INCENDIARY VIRAL CRAP.

This relative has sent me a few of these in the past few weeks. The latest caused me to write this post.

The IVC in question has a subject of “The New Dollar — Don’t Accept These”. I knew just looking at the subject I WAS going to be pissed but not because of the warning or advice inside the IVC. I opened it and yes, it made FALSE claims about how the new U.S. dollar coin does NOT feature “In God We Trust”.

Now, as I usually do with IVCs, I headed straight to SNOPES.COM (which I’ve advised this person to do on NUMEROUS occasions) to find out the truth. AND AS USUAL, the email was complete BS. “In God We Trust” IS STILL FEATURED on the coin. It’s just on the side of the coin now so it’s not as predominant.

You know, the Internet can help us enlighten ourselves and be this great expanse of knowledge for our benefit. OR it can be a vehicle for hatemongering, ill-informed word vomit that drags us into the pit of idiocracy.

I mean really people, don’t we have much more to worry about than what is printed on our money? And I know the arguments, “This country was founded on God.”, “Our forefathers meant for it to be that way”, “The majority of our country is Christian, so shouldn’t it represent the majority because majority rules?” HOW ABOUT THIS? I think our money should say, “Cash rules everything around me” because it’s appropriate for every American, including myself. We can’t live without it, we can’t survive without it. Don’t even try to fool yourself for one moment by thinking otherwise. Even if you live simply, there’s always someone to pay for the shelter you reside in, the clothes on your back or even the materials used to make them or the car you drive to work, etc.

So if you’re looking for truth, how about telling it like it is? Say it with me, CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME. I guess it’s just easier for people to just forward the email instead of questioning its ligitimacy and finding the truth.

Whew. Did I just contribute to the flame? Probably and for that I apologize.

NOTE: Isn’t lovely that Ann Coulter comes up as a link in the Free Dictionary’s definition page of hatemonger?

ANOTHER NOTE: The argument about “our forefathers wanted it that way” is incorrect. In 1956, Congress changed the motto to “In God We Trust”. The original motto, “E Pluribus Unum” is Latin for “Out of many, one”.

Feb 15 2008
4 Comments
For better or for worse, Media

LOST: Sawyer nickname? Real life nicknames?

I think, if I remember correctly, a couple of the few readers I have are LOST fans. So I thought some of you might enjoy this little game: Sawyer’s Nickname Generator.

My nickname was Grimace the first time and Avalanche the second after changing a few entries. Both seem kinda lame if you ask me. Especially since Grimace is the big purple guy from the McDonald’s commercials.

My hubby used to call me Doo Doo Brown because I like the song and was trying to explain it’s significance to the Baltimore dance scene when we first met. I’m pretty sure he thought I was silly and after listening to the song had a new appreciation for all of the facets of my personality. I think I still like Doo Doo more than Sawyer’s nicknames even though it’s spawned new names like Poopyface. Romantic, isn’t it?

BTW, NO ONE but my hubby is allowed to call me Doo Doo or Poopyface!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Feb 14 2008
1 Comment
For better or for worse, Politics

Politics Wed: New Schedule

I’m all about schedules now although Monkey and I both can’t seem to stick one and quite frankly a weekly post about the Presidential Race just isn’t in the cards. I should have known better to tackle something like this and I apologize to any readers and especially my Journalism professors for the lack of quality in these posts (I’d be totally embarrassed if a prof read one!). Plus, since the primaries are almost over and since my primary is over, the “Chesapeake” Primary or whatever they’re calling it, I’m going to be a little selfish and start only posting Politics Wednesdays stuff once a month. Most likely the beginning of the month or maybe if my schedule still doesn’t permit, only “that time of the month” since it’s been a quarterly experience since I gave birth (TMI, sorry!).

Just as final word to our original assignment, the candidate who I was supposed to vote for according to my candidate quiz results in the beginning, Bill Richardson, is obviously not a contender any longer. Just before the Chesapeake Primary, I re-quizzed myself and came up perfectly split between the two remaining Democratic contenders (yes, I’m an Independent but that’s what the results were). So then I researched both of their sites on the issues I care about most: Education, Families (specifically Working Mothers and the Middle Class), and the Environment. And while they had some differences, there wasn’t anything too striking (at least IMO) that separated the two of them. Therefore, RIGHT up until I actually got to the voting booth I had no idea of who I would vote for, Obama or Clinton? Obama or Clinton? Obama or Clinton? I asked lil’ Monkey who he would vote for and he just stared at me blankly. “What do you want from me? I’m 8 months old, woman!” AND he felt asleep on me just as we pulled into the parking of the school where we’re supposed to vote! Some help!

In the end, I went with my gut and my gut said a woman understands women and that’s that. Honestly, while I’m not absolutely gushing over any candidate and while I still think the guys at South Park have it right about candidates for just about any election, I’m not completely appalled by any of the candidates on either side. So YAY America, for not leaving us with any complete assholes this time!

Feb 11 2008
4 Comments
For better or for worse, Parenthood

Le plan fou (the crazy schedule)

Recently, I’ve felt a little more crazy than usual. I thought that getting someone to come to the house to take care of lil’ Monkey would do the trick. So I went through the effort of doing all of this research on hiring child care — the taxes, the payroll, the background checks, etc. (in my “spare time” mind you). Then once DH and I agreed that this was a good idea and that I should pull the trigger, I signed up for a “sitter search” service and posted a job.

Within one week, we received 5 applicants, 2 of which I thought were really promising (one was previously an Au Pair, therefore, obviously had references). As I was talking to DH about it, he said that he didn’t realize that I was planning on leaving lil’ Monkey with this person to go to meetings. I said, “Yes, but only after a month or how ever long it takes for us to feel comfortable doing that.” He then said we should scrap the whole idea because using one of these services would be the best way to snatch a kid, especially if the person in question wasn’t a U.S. citizen whereby we could do a thorough background check and have a SS# should they take off with Monkey. Good point. But something I wish he would have expressed BEFORE I posted the job.

So now I’m in child care purgatory, not sure of how to proceed. In desperation for some immediate plan, I came up with a new schedule for Monkey and I. If we BOTH can stick to it, this might just work out. The hard part is getting him to stick to it (although I’ve been just as much a culprit in not implementing and sticking to a solid schedule). Pictured is my Excel spreadsheet of our new schedule.

Pretty crazy, huh? ON PAPER (gotta love that saying), I can get 36 hours of work done. HA. IN THEORY (again, gotta love it), this should motivate me. But in actuality, I’ll probably only get 20 hours of work done, just like I have for the past 2 months (even though I’ve promised my employer 24 hours, I just can’t seem to squeeze in that extra 4). We’ll see. If I can get Monkey to nap 2-4 hours a day, this might just work. But I’ll never promise anyone that 36 hours.

Therefore, a future post will be about schedules — making one, getting your child to adhere to it, sticking to it yourself and the different theories about them.

Wish me luck, so far today, we’re not too far off! Of course, instead of working I’m blogging. Go figure, mommy would be the first to blow it. :)

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