He's asleep...

we all survived.

He's peacefully asleep. I think he may have been tired and hungry. Hmmmm.  Come to think of it, i'm just like Jack was when I get tired and hungry.

ni night time.

What to do when your baby bugs the $%&! out of you...

I don't have an answer for this.

I'm open to creative ideas that keep us all safe and smiling (even if it's a smile masking rage.)

Jack must be going through a phase, or i am so inept as a mother that i have no fucking clue what he wants right now.  He seems to be fine with everyone but me. Just screams and cries and his latest thing is falling to the ground and whining/crying (which i just love.)  And as I type this, my fucking cat has used my thigh as a fucking scratch pad.

The ONE day I've been able to shower in approximately 4 (swimming in the club pool to attempt to exercise doesn't count), and Jack has gotten his yogurt and cherries all over my clean clothes.  Why do i even bother showering, dressing, putting on make-up, wiping my ASS?

I need a momma break. My husband and i need a MAN and WOMAN break.  It's too bad drugs never did it for me because i'd be smokin' the shit out of everything right now if they did.

Back to the trenches..... He's calling.

The Smokin' Hot Babysitter

Holy Cow.... so I mentioned in my last post that all my potential babysitters just happened to be hot.  Well, I finally chose one - who happened to be the only one with a pulse, who could return a phone call, arrive on time and complete a sentence.  But anyway, she arrived for the interview presenting exactly as one new Mother could only hope... competent, appearing to genuinely care for little ones, and slightly "average" looking.

I was wrong. Or she just had a bad hair day.  Well I was right about being competent and her care for babies, but man alive, once this girl had the job she showed up looking "smokin' hot" according to my father-in-law (who i've NEVER heard talk like that!)  That was yesterday.  I didn't think she was "smokin'" yesterday, but she looked good.

However, the real surprise was today!  I was coming back from the city where i was picking up my race bib for the upcoming SF Marathon (and no, i'm not doing the marathon... just the 5k.  I'm a new Mom!!  Don't think for a second that I'm one of those crazy gung-ho, hard core types that never missed a day of working out during pregnancy and was a fanatic trying to get back in shape post baby... that is NOT me.)  Anyway, as I pulled up the driveway, I was greeted by our new babysitter, Amanda, in 1) white shorts that could not have been longer than 1 inch (no joke); 2) a gorgeous cute tank top that I (in all my lacking fashion sense) could never pick out for myself -- it even had those cute little flower holes in it -- you know, the feminine kind of shirt that turns guys on!; 3) she had my son in the baby-backpack; and 4) was walking my dog.... but the classic moment of it all was driving up to see my poor husband in the garage putting things away and looking oh-so guilty.  Guilty of nothing of course, but he just knew it did not look good!  I mean, we're new parents, and Momma's finally decided to branch out to let a complete stranger into babysit our first born (not to mention the fact that I wear the same thing every day, shower maybe 2-3 times a week, am still wearing my nursing bras (and no, i'm not nursing anymore), etc... it's not pretty), and I come home to find my husband in the garage, with this hot - and I mean S-M-O-K-I-N' H-O-T new babysitter carrying my son and walking my dog.

Good thing I have a strong sense of self.

A New Look...

It's 9:47am, I haven't written in over a month, and Jack is asleep for who knows how much longer... probably seconds! But I've been craving to write -- it's been way too long.

I've labeled this blog "a new look" because i just changed the template... looks more in-line with that of a mother.

So I've held off on writing for a while, for several reasons... One - is that in my initial writings, I had come across so many other "mother-bloggers." And it just bothered me. Partly because it seems that they're no differentiation, but partly because there IS.  (That doesn't even make sense.)  I just didn't want to get grouped into this category of "mommy bloggers," but now as I think about it even more, I wonder, WHY NOT?  Who the hell cares? If someone reads this and it resonates, who cares that I just happen to be a Mommy Blogger?

Jack's awaken!...  gotta go.

Oh - and I'm interviewing our first potential babysitter today.  What an effing process that is!  Using Sittercity.com where they post photos of the potential sitters... and why are all the babysitters so hot these days? I'm pretty sure I didn't look like that when i was kid!  If fact, I'm pretty sure I never looked that hot!

Feels Great to Donate... www.donorschoose.org

I just stumbled upon an AMAZING donation website... www.donorschoose.org.    Holy cow! This site is totally amazing and makes me feel so full of gratitude and hope when I see that people have created something like this.

I strongly urge you to check it out... Teachers all over the US post projects that they're working on with their students, request donations and itemize out the project, benefits and their needs.  I just made a small donation for iPods and Nanos (being that i'm a MAJOR Apple fan.)  Apparently the class even sends hand written thank you notes! Feels great to donate.

Jackie Warner & I Gotta Feeling

thanks to Jackie Warner's new book This is Why You're Fat, I have worked out on the treadmill the last 2 days in a row. That's more than I've worked out in the last 12 months... and I feel pretty good.  Reason for this post though is because the Black Eyed Peas song called I Gotta Feeling.... i kicked ASS in my workout.

So - note to ALL Mothers out there... if you're feeling kinda frumpy, a little unmotivated, exhausted, depleted, fat, worn out, lonely - all of it... let yourself listen to this song. It's bound to lift your spirits even if just a little bit.  A gift you deserve.

Happy Mother's Day!

Food, The Parent Experiment and Single Friends...

#1:  Food -- So I've had this passion about studying nutrition, food, the ways in which the USDA, our government, lobbyists, and pharmaceutical companies are profitting from the growing rate of obesity in our country.... And for years I've thought wouldn't it be great to write a book about all this... and I've even taken a stab a few times. So I started a new blog about all this... then i changed the name -- 4 times! -- and it just occurred to me while showering today to ditch the food-specific blog and just wrap it into this one.  Why the hell not!? A large part of what inspires me to better understand nutrition and food now is really because of Jack anyway, so I'm going to include that stuff here.. just an fyi in case anyone is interested.

#2:  The Parent Experiment -- For the record, this is THE BEST MOMMY PODCAST out there!  I don't know if it's the familiarity of the hosts being from my home town of LA or just the sheer rawness and authentic nature of their content, but I fricking LOVE THIS SHOW.  I actually crave it!  I usually listen to it while I'm cooking for Jack or feeding him, and I seriously laugh out loud.  The two hosts, Teresa Strasser and Lynette Carolla are a breath of fresh air to any new mother.  They just say it like it is -- none of this flowery butterfly crap about what it's like to be a new Mom - but the REAL STUFF! More people need to talk openly about the real challenges of being a Mother.

#3:  And lastly, single friends... I don't mean "single" like sans boyfriend or husband, I'm referring to my one last single friend who is sans baby/babies.... Had a long talk with her last night, and man alive have we grown apart.  I've known her since college days, and while we've dabbled at being "best friends," we've definitely had our strains.  Anyway, after I filled her in on my day yesterday of dealing with Jack squirm like a komodo dragon every time I change his poopy diaper to dealing with the uncertainty every single night of whether or not we'll get any sleep, to needing to cook, clean, bla bla bla -- just being a Mom stuff...  this dear friend of mine has the gall to tell me that once she has a baby she's not going to "lose the balance in her life" and that she "will refuse to let the baby become her whole life."  While I personally think these are 'great ideals' to have in mind, reality changes pretty quickly as you become Mom.  Anyway, I took this as the nice slap in the face from my single friend and just knew I would feel better blogging it.  

Bottom line: If you have never had a baby, do NOT tell another Mother the way you're going to be, how your life will be any better managed or "balanced".  Best to keep your yapper shut.  Keep your flowery butterfly thoughts and ideals of new motherhood to yourself.  Get back to me AFTER you've had the kid.