ALT text

I added this cute little geek comic called xkcd.com to my GR a little while back. It has taught me the importance of alt text more than any logical reasons. If you don't mouse over and look at the alt text you often don't see the punchline (my favorite example). Just thought I'd share.

Safety

In getting caught up (again -- so neverending) on blogs, I've been reading the 3 that Melissa Summers writes: Suburban Bliss, Buzz Off, and Ordering Disorder.

In her recent post about garage sales she mentioned that her daughter finally got to set up a lemonade stand, something that wasn't allowed in their old neighborhood with the registered sex offender 2 doors down. This got a couple of people commenting, with one commenter saying that it's the ones that haven't been caught yet that are scary. Melissa replied with a link to a previous post she had written on that topic. Take a look at this paragraph at least:

"I realize how little control I have, I've realized a long time ago how I can't protect my children from bad things happening. I can follow my gut and I can teach them about being safe and owning their bodies and I can listen to them and protect them at all costs when I know they're being hurt and I can make them secure in the truth of the protection I will give them at all costs. I can't make bad things not happen, but I can make them strong and sure of themselves and make them certain of my willingness and ability to speak for them when they can not."

That's how I would sum up Motherhood: "I can make them secure in the truth of the protection I will give them at all costs."

Well said, Melissa. If you only know about her from the whole Today Show blah blah blah and "Momtini" stuff, you might not think she's worth reading. She is. Go check her out.

This is why it takes me so long to get caught up -- the dang comments on the blogs I read are so worthwhile. And it's why I bother to get caught up.

Martha's List of Reasons to Get Rid of Clutter

I found this list today thanks to "Momtini" commenter, Yolanda.

100 Reasons to Get Rid of It

I don't want to lose it in my bookmarks. This is what we are working on right now (which is why I haven't been posting).

Whining baby! Bye!





Edit: I think Title Trader is my favorite from the whole list. Which is yours?

Edit #2: It seems my direct link to Martha's site just came up with a blank page. Yolanda's Tiny URL still works, so I've fixed my link.

And we're baaaaaaaaaack!

(You should hear Jimmy Fallon's voice when reading that title, btw.)

Turns out that vacation with a toddler and an infant is a lot of work.

We went off on vacation and are finally home. I still am not unpacked -- why bother when the dryer is broken and there's nothing but dirty clothes in the bags? I also haven't downloaded new photos from the camera and cell phone. So.much.to.do.

But since I left without saying anything (kind of like not leaving "We are out of town" on the answering machine), I thought I would at least mention that we made it home alive.

Not all recalled items are made in China

Sometimes people in the U.S. buy products, jazz them up, and then resell them. And sometimes that's a bad idea. I can barely stand that we use a pacifier with The Cupcake. I don't need to worry that the ones I'm buying are going to make her choke. I certainly don't see them as a fashion statement. I sound so judgemental, but really, I just think things should stay as simple as possible. This child raising stuff is hard enough without pacifiers becoming a status symbol.

Flickr contacts

I think I finally figured out how to use Flickr to keep my kids' photos away from the prying eyes of pedophiles and yet share them with people who are my blogging friends. I just need to make you Flickr contacts and then mark you as friends. So if you have a Flickr account, would like to see the photos of my kiddos, and are not freaky, then drop a comment here or send me an email with your Flickr screen name. Alternately, if you are way more with it than me, go over to Flickr and make me your contact already and I'll reciprocate. Either way!

Some random person I've never heard from before is not going to be made my contact though. So don't bother. :-P

B

I found out when reading The Big Trade-off today that her mom is hosting Alphabet Soup and today's letter is B.

Here's my list:

• First my babies: The Biscuit and his Baby sister and My Bakery's Daddy as he is now calling himself. I can't love them without adding to my love for him, so he has to be included. ;-)


• Obviously blogs. Lots of them, not just mine. I've got to figure out a way to read and write everyday because it makes me feel so much better.


• Breastfeeding. It is the most Zen part of my day. I have a reason to just sit still and be in the moment and I love that.


• Binkies. Technically it's a Avent pacifier, but we still call it a binky. I didn't think I would be a binky-loving momma, but since The Cupcake will eat past when she is full and then spit it all back up I had to find something to satisfy her that wouldn't over-fill her tummy. I swear we are taking it away when she's 4 months old like Baby 411 says we should. She already refuses it sometimes in favor of her hand, thank goodness. Still, it would have been hard to get through these 3 months without it.


• Big Timber, Montana. It's the tiny town my grandparents were from and where they are buried. I can't imagine going up there without stopping in Big Timber for a bit. There's a lovely florist on McLeod Street called The Toggery where we go to get flowers to take to the cemetery. I also stop in to Little Timber Quilts just a few doors down. I'm a sucker for red, white and blue fabrics and last time they had ones that I hadn't seen here in Northern California.

That's enough, don't you think?

Poop is a tool

I haven't had anything much to say for 10 days, but now I do.

I started reading Sweet Salty awhile back and her post today about a conversation with a high school friend that hasn't had kids was (as they always are) excellent.

I often feel awkward with people who don't have kids now. Just as awkward as I used to feel with people that did have them. I *do* find poop talk fascinating and don't mind it during a meal or whenever. I have disassociated from its disgustingness and now see it as a serious diagnostic tool and must learn from others what they have noticed in order to improve my diagnostic skills. It's serious business, this poop stuff.

And, yes, one of the blogs I read every-stinking-day is The Shape of a Mother, because there is no other site that has single-handedly made me feel better about the way I look. Can anyone who hasn't had a child (and I include adoptive mothers here) or been pregnant really understand what a boon this site is? Probably not. It's one of those things that you can't get until you've been there. Might it be an absolutely hellish site for women who want babies but are having trouble conceiving? Yes. Because it is so brutally honest and open and there are so many of us with scars and stretch marks and bad body image, yet who are trying to come to terms with how these things that make us feel ugly happened during the most beautiful and amazing events we've lived through. But it's not hellish to those who are not ready yet or have decided to be child-free; it's probably just silly and they think we should get to the gym already.

Kate's post today talked about how those people aren't living life. They think they are but they have chickened out on the biggest challenge there is. She says it so much better than I could. Here's a taste:

You think you’re living, really living, revelling in a life that’s all about you. Sure, you’re living my momentary fantasy: perky tits and sleeping in and jogging and international travel and sharp-edged coffee tables.

But you’re still a bunch of pussies.

Go read the whole post. This is the third link to it I've given you. And then think about whether climbing Mt. Everest is really such a feat after all. I'm thinking that compared to your 3rd almost-a-week stay in your son's hospital room before his 2nd birthday, Everest pales in comparison. Not that my husband and I should be praised in the media for what we've lived through, but my curiosity about what mountain climbing and bungee jumping and lots of other things would be like has dimmed to a mild, occasional wondering now.

And maybe all those people living adventurous lives full of travel and wine don't have it so great.

I Wish I Had Known...

The Shape of a Mother celebrated its one year anniversary with this post.

Numbers 137 through 141 are mine, edited as she says at the beginning, but pretty much just like I sent them in. Like everyone else, many of the others could have been mine. I just didn't want to forget how I feel now and thought this would help me remember.

Want to win a sling?

Stephanie over at Adventures in Babywearing is hosting a sling give-away! Go over and enter for yourself.

In case you don't win, you can just go to KimzKreations and buy a sling.

I'm off to shop!

The crap doesn't end when you stop diapering.

I just read Suburban Bliss and then watched this movie. I had no idea. I do not remember asking anyone to come wipe my butt. Am I just blocking out a horrid memory?

Recalls

I've been doing some research on car seats yesterday and today and came across the Consumer Product Safety Commission site. I was happy to find no results when I searched for "Britex" and "Sunshine" within a search for "car seats" -- yay, 2 companies with no car seat recalls. Can't say the same for EvenFlo.

Then I started looking at all the different recalls for children and was disgusted. Apparently kids up to the age of 14 are at risk of death from clothing with drawstrings (the guidelines page is a pdf). I never would have thought that possible, but it has happened. And then there are things like these bicycle helmets sold at Target. The photos plainly show a label with the CPSC letters yet the recall is because the helmets didn't meet their safety standards. So, don't trust labels.

There were a ton of jewelry products that were being recalled because of too high of a lead content. Toys R Us had to recall a crib because the paint had a high lead content. I even saw some boys' jackets that had a high lead content.

You can do an advanced search of their site (including searching within a search like I did) here.

You can also sign up to receive announcements from them on this page. Their explanation of what subscription categories mean actually had some humor on it... and this is a government site. Surprise!

5 Things Meme

I was tagged by my friend, Ellie, from Panjo Kids. Here goes!

1. Good mom, bad housewife.
   

   This is an assessment that my husband and I agree on. I love the mom part of being a SAHM, but I hate cleaning, so I really let it slide. The slightest sign of a kid needing my attention and there is no time for the cleaning. Except the kitchen, because I like to cook. The problem is that I don't think I'm much good, and I'm slow. That's where the housewife that has dinner hot and on the table part comes in -- and falls apart. Our plan is to work on the "throw out the clutter" theory because then cleaning will not be so hard. Too bad the grandmas don't understand why we are resistant to their desire to fill our house with stuff (you NEED another chair in this room so I bought one, he NEEDS a table so I bought one, I know this toy is big but it's a car so he'll LOVE it). We aren't even choosing the crap that our home is being filled with! A good housewife wouldn't let things get to this state because she would have decorated and set up a playroom that her mom & mother-in-law could comprehend (and would be smaller than the living room so that they could see that it's full). Basically, a good housewife would have the house so under control that the grandmas would be able to see the boundary lines. Sigh.
   

   
   
   
2. I'm a Dvorak typist.
   

   Way back in, oh 1991, I got my first computer and soon after borrowed a modem from my aunt and started chatting on local BBS. I spent my work days typing on a computer, adding up numbers on a calculator and dialing a phone. Then I'd go home and chat for hours. I had major pains shooting up from my wrist all the way to my shoulders. I bought a wrist wrest but that didn't help much. One of the guys I chatted with suggested I try the just-released free Dvorak layout driver from Microsoft. It would remap my Qwerty keyboard to the Dvorak layout for free, so I wouldn't have to go buy a new keyboard and I could try it and see if it helped. By the time I had the layout memorized I was pain free, and I've been singing its praises ever since. Don't think that you can't memorize a new layout; you can. And it's easier because you can't cheat as only the "a" and "m" keys are the same. Try it and I bet you'll like it. You can read more about it in the Wikipedia article.
   

   
   
   
3. Daddy, not Dad.
   

   I'm 41 and I still call my dad "Daddy." I can write "Dad" and it sounds fine, but it sounds stupid when I say it.
   

   
   
   
4. Front loading washers need a soak cycle.
   

   While I'm thrilled that we have a front loader like I always wanted, I'm bummed that it has no way of soaking things overnight. How will cloth diapers ever work (assuming I can convince my husband that it's a good idea) when they sometimes need soaking? I wouldn't want an open pail & I wouldn't want to have to dump the water myself. I have looked at gDiapers and I think they sound great. At least they put the waste where our society already expects it to be instead of the landfills.
   

   
   
   
5. I'll freak out when my dentist retires.
   

   The only other dentist I've ever seen was his dad. Apparently his son decided to do something else with his life. Pah.
   

   
   

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 others, but I just looked at my Google Reader list and they've all done it already. Oh, well. That's what happens when you come in at the end of a pyramid scheme. ;-)

Why aren't I Dutch?

Dutch women don't get depressed? No fair. I can be bossy and would love to work part time.

The best part was the ending:

"Luckily," she said, "most men have enough Tarzan in them to like a bit of a jungle."

Will we ever be the same?

Yesterday Kate at Sweet|Salty wrote:

We’re so drained. Our skin still smokes and hisses, fresh from the brand of tragedy, to the point where I wonder if we’ll ever be ourselves again.

No, you won't. No parent is. I was just thinking about this the other day. My husband has a friend who is 1 of 4 sons (he's somewhere in the middle). This guy claims that no one should have more than one kid because you have less love for each child that way. My husband and I maintain it's not a zero-sum game; parents don't have a finite amount of love. Love expands and grows with each new family member, whether from birth, adoption, marriage or some other way I can't think of right now -- but why?

The answer hit me last week. Each new person in the family brings out something different in you. I feel like a different parent now that The Cupcake is here and it is a very good thing. I have to figure out her moods and body language. I have to understand how to soothe her and, sadly, the tricks that worked with The Biscuit do not always work on her. In fact the things that soothed him the best and the fastest make her scream. And while that can be frustrating and frightening, she is changing me into a better parent that has even more tools to work with and better ways of coping.

We felt like we became experts on our son and his heart problems and how to navigate the hospital bureaucracy. Now we are newbies again. We are brand new to the world of a "typical" girl who doesn't have to go to the cardiologist and get echo cardiograms. In fact, the first week home I was taking her temperature all the time. She feels so warm to me despite a totally normal thermometer reading because he was slightly cooler than normal. And yes, it did take me a week to figure that out. It was my first clue that despite it being the second time around, I'm a newbie and have to learn all over again. But I know that I don't know, so that puts me at the second level, right? At least compared to last time when I was so lost that I didn't know what I didn't know.

Maybe it only makes sense from where I sit.

Mr. Rogers

This is great article about Mr. Rogers. I love reading about him and this article had some new info. There is a link at the end to a profile in Esquire Magazine that is quite long, but well written. If you want to read more than the 10 points on Mentalfloss then it's a worthy read.

Spreading the word

I followed the link on Owlhaven's post today and I want to spread the word to more people.

Most of the time I fall on the side of going ahead with vaccines, but this doesn't sound good at all. I feel like I need to check into exactly who Judicial Watch is, and if they have their own agenda, but my first reaction is that this vaccine needs to be pulled. Now.

Yet Another Contest

Despite the fact that my husband thinks this contest stuff is a bit sad (phhbbbt), I found another contest I want to enter.

If you want to enter too, just go to Fina 'Drea (this is my first time there). She's giving away a purple frog WubbaNub from Baby Dagny.

I poked around Baby Dagny a bit and found some great stuff. There is a hooded towel and wash cloth made from bamboo. Sounds weird, but I bought a pair of socks at Target that were made of bamboo and they are the softest that I own. Completely luxurious, yet a quick-growing, renewable resource. Yipee! But the coolest thing that I found at Baby Dagny was this device to basically strap your kid to anything. And it's on sale! We struggle with how to keep The Biscuit safely seated when we go to relatives' homes at the holidays and I think this may be just the thing. It also looks great for in the shopping cart since it has some cushion. I've just been putting the sling under him for awhile now, but The Cupcake is going to be in the sling so I'll need a better solution. He's too big to use it on the floor though, and I'll never give up my Patemm Pad and Pitaka (we have the large Patrick with pockets and an extra Emma Pitaka -- because it keeps wipes moist FOREVER), so maybe The Buddy is overkill?

Another Contest

What the heck, I've decided to enter Pink & Blues Blog's Dooney & Bourke Bag & Victoria’s Secret Perfume contest too.

Thanks to Adventures in Babywearing for sharing that this contest is out there.

Sew Much Comfort

Because we've had extensive hospital stays where we don't have full internet access, we have set up a Care Page for The Biscuit. Care Pages are a wonderful way to share what is happening with family and friends, while still keeping medical info confidential -- or not as some people opt to make their Care Page public.

In this month's Care Page newsletter I came across a link to Sew Much Comfort. They use volunteer seamstresses to make adaptive clothing for injured veterans. Having just stayed in the hospital and wishing that there was a gown for new mothers that allowed for breastfeeding, kangaroo care (skin to skin) and was easy to close up when someone needed to come in the room, this charity really hit home. I have cousins that are in the Marine Corps (well, maybe just one as the other may be out by now), but I still feel lost as to how I can contribute. This seems like it will be a good fit for me so I sent off for my information sewing packet.

Just thought I'd share in case anyone else wanted to sew for someone who'll really appreciate it.