Category Archives: Motherhood

Chicken Little

Is the sky falling? I mean for real. What is going on this week?

In case you’re Sleeping Beauty and have been asleep all week, allow moi to be your Prince Charming and awaken you to a supposed grim reality of doom. Or, more realistically,  you always miss the news on TV due to Noggin channel in the morning and bath time in the evening, and maybe you’d rather catch up on celebrity gossip online than read the major papers (not that I would know anything about that, of course), then you might not have noticed that the world is ending this week for those of us with children. But apparently, it is.

See, just when I think I can’t be surprised by anything, apparently, I learn that I can.

So, not only are millions of toys being recalled by Mattel, then it goes and comes out that some baby bibs might contain lead:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/business/15lead.html?em&ex=1187409600&en=6083b53c77055276&ei=5087%0A

And then…and then….just when I think no more harrowing news about the pending illness and threat to our little lambs can come out, it turns out that all those times I’ve given our darling daughter little strips to help her congestion – seems that could kill her too:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/health/16cough.html?em&ex=1187409600&en=785eece3709a3600&ei=5087%0A

So, if I were vulnerable and prone to mommy guilt, then maybe I’d be ending the week thinking I’m killing my kid through lead paint with the toys I’m giving her or when I’ve tried to help ease her congestion during the hideous cold season that is slowly coming upon us again. But really, I’m getting numb to it all. I mean – everywhere we turn, the sky is falling.

And along the way, I’m left wondering, how can they be sure? How am I supposed to believe that toys purchased BEFORE May 1st on the recall list are fine? Because I don’t know about you, but I’m staring down an entire series of Sesame characters that came inside darling daughter’s Easter eggs (which I purchased deliberately in lieu of chocolate…who would have thought that eating lead covered Elmo was going to be a worse antibiotics decision that just letting her eat chocolate? I’m either poisoning her with lead or I’m contributing to childhood obesity). And so, those characters are all on the recall list yet were purchased in April.

Am I REALLY supposed to believe that they miraculously are fine if purchased April 24th but NOT if purchased a week later?  Are the distribution channels from China to the US really THAT precise and organized? I’m inclined to think….no.

I mean, how dumb do they think I am?

Furthermore, on some level, what’s the point now? Cookie had a blue hat on when he was retrieved from said Easter egg hunt. Now, here we are, four months later and my beaver kid has chewed on him on a daily basis, so his hat is worn off. His hat was digested months ago.

She’s almost two and she’s survived cold season with a few strips to aide her congestion. And I can’t even read the article on lead in bibs. I swear there is no toddler with a full mouth of teeth that drools more than my kid, so how in the world can I keep up with lead in bibs when I go through 6-10 of them a day? I go through more bibs than diapers.

So what’s my point in all of this? My point is this – enough already. By my check, I’m a parent who loves my kid, just like everyone else, and I want for her to grow up happy and healthy and if I were to obsess over every single thing that comes out on such a regular basis, I think I’d become some kind of agoraphobe who forces her daughter to live in a bubble.

There’s a point to everything and I’m thinking I’m going to probably toss most of the toys on the list, they’ll make it to the trash can each time I see daughter gnawing on one, and along the way, I’ll look forward to baby happy hour and hope for the best.

Plaid Shoes….can you ever have enough?

I know that I was trashing people that wear fall clothes before it actually FEELS like fall outside – but that doesn’t mean I’m not obsessing over fall clothes. More specifically, SHOES.

My feeling is, if I’m going to be working fulltime, then I’ve got a reason to continue to splurge on ridiculous and impractical things, like heels.  Sure, the minute I get home I’m chasing after a toddler and might look as ridiculous as Katie Holmes wearing heels on the beach but still – what’s the point of working if I can’t make myself feel better with high fashion items, right? Right.

So, my current obsession is plaid shoes. Totally impractical but they really hit the spot for me. Sort of like bags. You better believe I do not own ONE black bag. Nope. No thank you.

Orange? Suede or leather, I ask.

Red? Which one?

Green? You got it!

But black, over my dead body. Black bags are just SO BORING to me.

And so it goes with shoes. I rarely have a decent pair of black heels and I know we all need a good pair of black heels but again, snore. I get so bored shopping for them.

But leopard print flats? hell yes! Pink heels? you got it!

And now….now…plaid shoes.

I have one pair of plaid mules that I purchased a few years ago, they were a splurge at the Off Fifth outlet but worth every penny. And during the July Nordstrom half-yearly sale, I purcashed a pair of plaid, open-toed wedge heels. Again, not really that practical of a move because plaid implies cold while open-toed implies WARM..but again…this is moi and sometimes impulse buys really wet my whistle.

Oh – and in case you were wondering, yes, I did order them online, along with two other things, both of which I returned. And don’t tell my husband but I’m pretty sure the plaid shoes that I kept will rub and give me a blister but I couldn’t part with them…and I couldn’t admitt that ONCE AGAIN I was returning everything I bought online. So here are the newest plaid addition to my footwear collection (mine are in brown):

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2940825/0~2376778~2372808~6004875?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6004875&P=2

I will wear them and secretly cringe at the pain but they are fantastic shoes.

And then..the other day…what did my wandering eye see but THESE:

 http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2956164/0~2376778~2372808~2372940~2376188?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=2376188&P=2

Be still my beating heart.

Are they not beautiful and gorgeous?

But see….what I’m left wondering is (as I add them to my online shopping cart and leave the screen up all day), how many plaid shoes does one really need?

Or rather, can you really ever get enough?

Beltway Mom’s

Last month, I was remiss in writing about the front page Washington Post piece on female Members of Congress with young children. But fret not, kittens, I finally got around to it….and on a super cool site.  I have my first non-KT blog entry posted on SV Mom’s today…on the Post piece. Check it out!

http://svmomblog.typepad.com/silicon_valley_moms_blog/

The old pregnancy horomones

There are so many glowing preggo’s around me – I swear, new babies are due to arrive in my circle of friends every month from September through February. Everywhere I go, there’s a beloved preggo.

And while we’ve chatted about preggo’s many times here on KT, I think it’s time to share some of the fun stuff that has nothing to do with alarming bodily fluids or growing nipple sizes.

What I LOVE to hear about is the whacky pregnancy horomones and the things you do as a preggo. The random inexplicible tears on the husband, lashing out at strangers who ask you how much weight you’ve gained, the crazy eating. All of this stuff. I LOVE IT. It’s so fun to hear about because it’s like each one of us is partly taken over by some other force and we do things as a preggo that we just might not have otherwise done.

Either that or we let our true selves out a little bit more because who, in their right mind, is going to challenge a preggo?

Well, I can think of one. So here are some of my favorite pregnancy stories and I’d love to hear more. These things seriously make my day.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I will admit that I took on an old man with a cane when I was nearing the end of my pregnancy. And you better believe, I won.

What were the circumstances, you ask? Well, darling husband and I decided to join Costco. So it turns out you have to wait in line to get your picture taken and join. The line was about 20 minutes long and if you’ve ever been to the end of your third trimester, you know that lines and preggo’s go together about as well as Hilary and Monica Lewinsky.

So, we were the next in line and what happened? Some old man with a cane walked up in front of me – like he shouldn’t have to wait in line because he was old and needed a cane.

Well, he picked the wrong person to cut in front of and I just might have said something like “you might be old, but I’m pregnant, so get to the back of the line.”

Yes, it’s possible I did that, much to the extreme mortification of my husband. But the best part was the woman behind the counter was equally enraged and was like “Oh, I know you didn’t just cut in front of the pregnant lady.”

And back to the line he went. I still don’t feel bad, actually, though I might when I’m 90 and need a cane.

Another fav preggo story is not mine but I was there. Many summers ago, I lived with two friends for a few months and my girlfriend was pregnant. She has a great sense of humor and we could laugh at her silly pregnant habits pretty openly. One day she and I were driving back from the grocery store, she was driving, and we were heading to her house, meanwhile she drove right past her house because she was so preoccupied with digging all the candy out of the bottom of her bag that she could get her grubby hands on.

We laughed and laughed and laughed as I tried to gently point out that we just passed her street.

Then there’s the old preggo at a wedding story. Indeed – this was a sight to behold. So there we were, my group of BFFs in DC, at a friend’s beautiful wedding ceremony in Richmond a few years ago. One dear friend was three months along, the first in the group to get pregnant. She was gorgeous, all dressed up, decked out in Jimmy Choo’s and had a beautiful Kate Spade bag to go with her whole outfit. As the evening wore on, I glanced over at her only to note her Kate Spade bag open and what were the contents of such a classy bag?

Why, none other than some trusty TUMS and a bag of M&Ms…..surely there had to be some Chanel lip gloss and a little mirror in there as well? But that didn’t matter, the rest of us were falling out of our chairs laughing (while still making eyes at the bride’s unbelieveably hot cousin that she failed to mention, preggo included). Meow.

And if you live within 10 miles of  a Buy Buy Baby, I bet you don’t know a preggo that hasn’t broken down in tears, at least once, in Buy Buy Baby, including yourself.

As for inappropriate comments – I think the biggest preggo complaint is the ongoing public commentary on how much weight you’ve gained. I don’t know a preggo, including myself, who really didn’t get fired up about that on a fairly regular basis. I don’t really know why people feel compelled to comment on your growing size but they do. Including strangers. And obviously it gets worse in the final weeks of your pregnancy where you visibly get larger by day’s end..and if you’re anything like me, gain 5 pounds in one week.

My husband equipped me with the best one liner to use, which I never did, but it made me laugh and alleviated some anger, along the way. His advice was, in response to the old “Wow, you’re so much bigger than the last time I saw you!” was to say
“Yes, I was thinking the same thing about you.”

For real. Just imagining the look on the person’s face if I retorted like that made me feel better.

I also really wish I’d made up a shirt that read “Just because I’m pregnant, doesn’t mean I’m nice” and “Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I give a shit about your kid.” (that was directed to strangers, obviously, not friends’ children. Like a person on a plane. I don’t give a rip about your kid.)

Right?

Right.

So kittens, I’d love to hear some of the crazy things you did as a preggo or any witty retorts you might have had about your ever-increasing body size.  The sad reality is that if you’re pregnant, somehow you become fodder for public commentary, like it or not. Maybe we should ban together to help abolish it like I believe we should ban together to abolish all nonsense talk about mommy guilt?