Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Her Bad Mother: Hold The Mustard

Oh my God, oh my god. Please read this post and at least skim the comments.

Funniest.

*shit.*

Ever.

Her Bad Mother: Hold The Mustard: "http://tinyurl.com/5hhu97"

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Before you...


Before you were conceived
I wanted you

Before you were born
I loved you

Before you were here an hour
I would give my life for you

This is the miracle of life.


~ Maureen Hawkins

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Beyond Annoyed

I have enjoyed being pregnant. Really I have. I didn't get sick. I haven't been bitchy or overly hormonal (I think I've only cried maybe a handful of times so far). I have minimal swelling in my hands and feet. I've gained weight, but in all the places baby's need, like my "girls" and belly, while keeping a somewhat trim side-waist. I had to switch to flats early on, which I don't love as much as my heels, but at least they're somewhat in style.

I've even thought that most of the maternity clothes I've seen have been somewhat cute and comfortable...until now. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm in the home stretch with only 7 wks to go. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm really getting a large belly and it is, well, awkward, but I am seriously getting annoyed with my wardrobe.

My belly is big enough that it's pushing my pants down to the point where 1) I have to hike them back up b/c they're falling off my ass and 2) now I have a nice exposed strip of skin on the underside of my belly where my shirts no longer meet my pants. And with only 7 wks left...who the heck wants to buy more clothes? But I HAVE to have more than 2 tops and roughly 1.5 pair of pants for work and that's about all I have right now. Even all the tee-shirts that I might consider wearing to work (which I hate to do since I don't work in a tee kinda place) are too damn short! So I'd just be tugging on them to pull them down at the same time I'm yanking my damn pants back up. I swear I'm going to install snaps on everything and hook my tops to my bottoms.

So, in light of the fact that I nearly burst into one of those rare fits of tears today while standing in my closet, I guess I'm going to go shopping over lunch and try to find another top or two to wear. If spring ever frigging comes here in Chicago I have 2 knit skirts and 2 dresses I can wear, but seeing as how it was only 22 degrees this morning...I have to have something to literally cover me for the next couple of weeks while the heavy sweaters I was wearing are either too hot or too small and before I can handle bare legs.

Man a bad clothes day can ruin a person's outlook. Harrumph.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Division of Labor--what's equal? what's fair?

Mary Anne over at Chicago Mom's Blog posted about if her husband should do more housework and I think it's a question worth exploring. In her post she describes how this distribution of labor has evolved over time--relatively easy and equal at the beginning in a one-bedroom apartment to their current situation, where they have a little one and now she does 10-20 hrs more a week on household chores & errands.

I have already started to see a little bit of this creeping into our (DH & me) dynamic, so given our upcoming first baby I'm interested in figuring this out...fast. Where I really notice it is on days I work from home (about once a week) and the days when DH works from home. Somehow when I'm at home all day, not only am I working, but I also typically manage to get a load or three through the wash, empty/load the dishwasher, and do a little bit of general straightening. When DH works from home it looks as if the house has been hit by a tornado of epic proportions. Hmmm...what's going on here? For the most part, though, I have little to complain about--we both work full-time outside the home and so we both pitch in around the house and we have a cleaning service 2x/month. Plus, I will be returning to work 3mos after having Little Bit, so we won't have the SAHM issue to add to this one. So I may be worrying unnecessarily (wouldn't be the first time...).

But, getting back to Mary Anne's blog...while I agree that the division of labor should be fair, not necessarily equal, she says a couple of things that stuck with me and made me think:

"...[he] really truly does not want to take on half of those extra hours of housework. He's already feeling pretty strapped for time and frayed. And given his resistance, even though it might be more fair to have him take on half, I think if I pushed him on that seriously, it would make life truly miserable for both of us. ..."
Now I realize that I'm not in her relationship, but what bothers me here is that it's easier for her to do 20 hrs of housework than have to deal with any attitude she'd get by pushing for a different solution. It bothers me, because I know I've used this same reasoning before on smaller tasks. Why do we let our mate's stubbornness and happiness determine how many extra tasks we take on ourselves?
"And it's not that he isn't helpful. If I ask him...'can you fold these towels and put them away?' he'll do it. But there's a problem with that dynamic, because it means that on some level in both our heads, it registers as him doing me a favor, every time I ask him to help out with a task. Which both he and I end up quietly resenting just a little bit. Rather than it just being part of his share of the household labor."

Oh, how I know what she's talking about. It feels like I'm asking a huge favor every time I "remind" DH to grab the trash on his way out to the garage or to take care of the litter box I'm forbidden to touch while pregnant. I end of feeling like I'm imposing on his time, even though these are things that we've pretty much agreed are his chores. What's a good solution for this? I feel like 2 adults shouldn't need a chore list like my mom put up when I was 10 to check off our to-dos. But if he doesn't or won't remember/notice that it's time again to do these things and I do...what are my other options besides reminding or asking him to do it? Why do I feel bad about reminding him, when I know he doesn't hesitate to mention that he's running out of black socks--thereby implying that I need to do a load of laundry. Do you think he worries about it feeling like he's asking me for a favor?

"In the end, we decided to make two changes...We'll see how it goes. I'm guessing he'll forget the sink on occasional nights, which is not a big deal. What's less clear is how much of a burden this will feel like to him -- how much of his work/personal time it seems like it's stealing away. Hopefully, not so much."
This ties into my last thoughts just above this quote...why are we so caught up in worrying about the burden sharing household work places on our husbands? Regardless of the work/SAHM situation, running the house affects the entire family and should therefore be shouldered by all those who are able to help--from kids who go to school and have homework to moms and dads who work all day. But I see a lot of us having the same worry Mary Anne does "Hopefully this won't make whoever unhappy to do a little bit more, so that Mom doesn't have to do it all." Why do we believe it's 1) our responsibility to do it all and 2) our fault if they feel a little bit inconvenienced by chipping in? How do we change this interaction to one that's healthier for everyone involved? I'm seriously looking for answers here, so please chime in!

"As a final note, I should say that I think Kevin does far more than many men I know -- he should get some credit for that. He does ten times more than either his father or mine did..."


For my last point, I want to say Yes, I do believe that most men today do more than their fathers did. And I believe my DH does more than some of his peers, as well. I think the point here is not what each mate does in comparison to others, historical or contemporary, but that each set of partners needs to find their own balance where they both feel like the division of labor is fair--not necessarily equal. Both people should feel like their contributions are noticed and appreciated and both should be concerned with the burdens of the other and open to constantly adjusting the balance. Where I worry is when the concern is all one-sided, which typically means the guilt is all one-sided as well.

In closing, again, please chime in. I'm really interested in knowing who has dealt with this already and what has/hasn't worked for you.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Wow...it's been a while

Whoa. I knew it had been a long time since I last wrote here...but, dang! I didn't realize that is was approximately 19 weeks ago!

So, update on the pregnancy...I'm 27 wks along and still everything is pretty much going exactly as it is supposed to, which is a HUGE relief. I switched doctors offices at my 20 wk appointment to a practice that is about 20 miles closer to home than the one I started with. The first one was perfect for work, but as I work from home more often--which is such a blessing--I just can't justify driving 25 miles one way for a 10 minute dr's appt. So, I switched and so far so good. I like the doctors and the hospital is about 5 minutes from my front door, so I'm pretty happy with the decision.

We're having a little boy, whom we've decided to name Marcus. I'm just starting my third trimester and I'm getting really anxious to meet my baby boy...and to feel like I'm in control of my body again...and to, well, just get on with this next phase of my life. We've started construction on the room formerly known as our office, now known as the nursery. DH and his brother repaired a wall yesterday to dampen noise from the bathroom and we picked out paint colors.

I can't wait to get all this big stuff done, because I'm very excited to start "fluffing the nest." I had my first baby shower last weekend at my mom and dad's house (details of this visit with my family deserve their own post, so I will do that later). A lot of my friends who go back as far as first grade where there (holy crap...that's 23 years I've known those girls!) and it was so nice to see people I hadn't connected with for years. My sister-in-law, Mamacita, is generously having another shower for me in a couple of weeks and it is terribly hard to wait until after that shower to go and buy things. Now that I have some of it, I want to...well...buy the rest of it! Plus, getting the nursery ready is something I can do, something I have control over during a time I have precious little I can actually consciously impact. It makes me feel less frantic and that's a good thing.

Other than that, I've come down with my first cold since finding out I was pregnant and it's rough. The cough is one that vibrates behind my breast-bone and is violent enough that it squeezes my poor little one--which makes him unhappy and results in kicking and thrashing. Plus this whole "can't take any medicine" thing is the worst. Cross your fingers with me that it has a very short duration.