Self-Made Mom

When I was pregnant, I always got annoyed that there were never any specially designated “stork parking” spots at my usual haunts- grocery store, Target, etc.  Being pregnant, while not a handicap, does have its physical limitations.  Especially when you’re trying to shlep a heavy cart through a full (and icy) parking lot in wintry Chicago. Like designated handicapped parking, preggos should get their own spots too!

But I digress.  The real reason I bring up the pregnancy issue is that Self-Made Mom was faced with a similar dilemma yesterday when in the airport after landing from vacation.  With my son in his stroller, I went to use the ladies’ room while my husband waited for the luggage.  We all know how difficult such a simple task can be.

As planned, I walked into the bathroom and looked for the handicapped stall. How else was I supposed to go with the stroller? It was then that my worst bathroom nightmare happened.  When I left the stall, to my horror, a wheelchair was parked in the aisle in front of me.  Visions of an angry mob gathered at the sinks filled my head. 

But what’s a mom to do?  Leave her defenseless child to go the way of lost baggage?  Uh uh. That’s why I’m lobbying for wheelchair AND stroller designated stalls.  It would do a lot to help a guilty mom who really has to pee.

Tags: pregnancy, traveling with children 

For those who care, I achieved 99% of my vacation goals. Excessive amounts of dirty diapers got in the way of 100% success rate.  Thank you husband and father-in-law for ensuring that I meet my goals.  Dirty diapers… I’ll get you one day.

From my step mother-in-law while on vacation:

“A daughter’s a daughter for the rest of your life. A son’s a son ’til he gets a wife.”

Gee, thanks for that.

You get out of the checkout line at Loehmann’s and leave behind a fabulous Cynthia Steffe jumper for $70 (retail $250) because it’s 5:30 and the line’s too long and you have to go home and feed your kid.  I can’t wait to go back to work and shop on my lunch breaks.

I know it’s Christmas, but since I don’t celebrate it, I thought I’d jot down my success rate for achieving my vacation goals.  For those of you who celebrate, you can catch up when you finish drinking your egg nog.  Enjoy (and I still have 2 days left to attain 100% completion rate; if I even want to at this point.)

- Donned bathing suit twice.  It helped that 1) it was only in front of my family, and 2) it was a very cute tankini from Target that covered my post-baby tummy.
- Worked out twice.  ‘Nuff said.
- Finished my book!  For those who care, I’m reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind.  By far the weirdest, but one of the best-written books I’ve read in a long time.
- Changed more dirty diapers than I care to discuss.  Apparently my son is not in need of any baby Metamucil.
- Have decided to ditch the goal of drying my hair. Pointless in this weather.

Hope you all enjoy the holidays.

(Originally published on 12/13 on my old blog.) I’m not a website critic, but I thought readers of my blog would be interested to know about websites for parents that I find.  So in that vein, I’ll review from my perspective a new off-beat parenting webzine, Babble, that launched today.  It’s from the creators of the webzine, Nerve, which I’ll admit I’d never heard of nor visited before today. 

Anyway, Babble is geared towards the “new urban parent.” I’m assuming, from looking at the site and reading the press release that this means anyone who lives in a rather urban environment (check), recently had kids, or has youngsters (check) and doesn’t want to be bothered with advice like, “how do I put my baby on a sleep schedule” advice and tips (check).  I like the site’s irreverant attitude towards the nuances of parenting.

Overall, there seems to be a lot (I mean A LOT) of interesting content to read.  Having not breastfed, I enjoyed Marjorie Ingall’s article, “The Breastfeeding Conspiracy.” I like that you can comment on such articles.  Babble also contains many blogs, which at first glance seem to use the f-word at liberty.  Hey, we are on the internet, right?

Babble also contains a fashion section and products section where I found the cutest hand-knit cowboy boots for my son (thank you honey) and an entertainment section where you can find great children’s books.  You can even upload your own baby video (I’ll pass, I don’t like to pimp out my son on the internet even though he’s damn cute), and chat on the various message boards.

I think the site’s only real downfall is that there is almost TOO much to read.  I’m not sure how often they are going to update the content, but as a working mom, I think it would take me a week just to get through what is on the site today.  And that’s if I did nothing else than read or comment on Babble.

But maybe that’s the point- is there ever an end to a baby’s babbling?

Technorati Tags: Babble.com, parenting websites

It’s day 2 of my vacation. Here’s where I’m at with regards to meeting my “vacation goals:”

- Have not dried hair yet.  I forgot how humid Florida is.
- Going to attempt to go to yoga this morning if my son decides to take a morning nap.
- Bought new bathing suit.  Have not worn outside of bedroom yet.
- Have changed two diapers so far.  One nasty one.

Here’s to me doing a downward dog …

It’s that time of year.  You know, when everyone at work goes to sit-down lunches and when you can actually get to work in the amount of time MapQuest tells you it will take. It’s vacation time!

But for us moms (ok, me), “vacation” in its truest form doesn’t really exist.  Even if I take time off of work and go somewhere warm.  I have a tough time relaxing anywhere, anyhow.  Even on my “days off” from work, I find myself more exhausted than when I am in the office for 10 hours  because I am running around doing stuff.

That’s why this year I’m taking my son to visit his grandparents for “vacation.” We’re packing up the kid and heading to Florida and letting grandpa and step-grandma pitch in on the childcare.

I believe this arrangement will maximize my chances for relaxation and make me feel like I’m on vacation.  But being my type A self, I can’t totally break away from reality.  So I’ve decided to set some goals for myself during my trip:

- Read the book I’ve been trying to finish for the past 6 months
- Workout at least 3 times (that would be more than I have in the last 6 months)
- Dry my hair nicely every time I wash it (key word here is nicely, not dry)
- Wear a bathing suit if it’s warm enough (this is after day 3 of working out, of course)
- Not change my son’s diaper for one whole day
- Finish building my new blog site (details forthcoming after the new year)

I think these can be accomplished with the right amount of dilligence and strategy.  All play and no work can make mom a dull woman!

Happy Holidays.

I’m bringing my son to the office tomorrow to meet my coworkers - so why am I so excited? I feel like a little schoolgirl who’s bringing in her favorite doll for show and tell.

I think it’s because when you work and then get pregnant and then basically disappear for a few months on maternity leave, you want everyone to know what you got for being out so long.  You want to validate the reason you only came back part-time to work, or why you leave work at 5 on the dot.

By bringing your kid into work, you can show your coworkers how cute he is, and how you care about that little dude more than anything else in the world.

Kind of like the little doll you used to carry around with you everywhere when you were little.

The New York Times ran another article on Sunday regarding the dearth of women bosses in Fortune 500 companies.  The article covered familiar ground- lack of visible women corporate leaders, lack of women on company boards, women trying to balance work and family, etc.

So what’s my beef? I’m glad the NYT is keeping the discussion going of the inequities in the workplace between women and men.  But what I’m not seeing a lot of are stories about working moms like ME. Where are the stories of those in the middle of the management heap?  The regular “moms” trying to get ahead?

Come on reporters- play to the masses! Give us something to relate to!

Tags: Mom Rants, Working Mom, Career Advancement, Mom Friendly Companies