London Calling

I've been thinking a lot about London recently.  First, because the riots there are currently all over the news. Second, good friends of ours in London just had their first child, a lovely little girl (congrats R&A!).  Third, I simply love London.  My first trip there was four years ago September, then we were fortunate enough to return just two years later.  I think my internal travel clock must think its time to go back. (International travel with an infant? No, thank you.)

First, the riots.  Although I am loathe to say that I am an Anglophile, the term fits.  I love the culture, the landscape, the accents, even the food.  It has been heartbreaking for me to watch such a wonderful old city be destroyed by its residents.  What causes a people to turn on their own Country? I know the political climate here in the U.S. has been strained (at best) recently, but I sincerely hope that we don't get to the same level of unrest and violence London is currently experiencing. 

London is an amazing city.  Just like so many large capital cities, it has its share of museums, art galleries, fabulous restaurants, and celebrities (anyone else watch Crazy About Pippa?). It also has something else - it has that certain je ne sais quoi that makes you want to keep going back.  It's foreign and comfortable at the same time. Romantic, historical, and did I mention the shopping? I'm a bit of a homebody and I love living near my family, but there are days that I would like to pack up and move to a flat in the heart of London or a little cottage in the country.  Until then, I guess it's off to watch Hugh Grant movies and dream.  Mind the gap, please. 

Parenting By Instinct (Alt. Title: Everyone is a Critic)

From the moment you discover you are expecting, your new life begins and you are subject to your first decisions as a parent. There are the early ones: what you eat, drink, and do can greatly affect the little creature you are incubating. Pregnant women are told to avoid a whole plethora of things - sushi, wine, certain cheeses - and encouraged to add prenatal vitamins, extra water and lots of fruit and veggies. Oh how I missed my soft cheeses. Any who...Pregnant women should also expect everything they do and everything that they put in their mouths to be subject to criticism. I ate (mostly) healthy foods when I was expecting Baby Lovely, however I did give in to the occasional fast food craving (and midnight bowl of cereal, or twelve. Ahem.) I remember being at work 38 weeks pregnant, having had a very stressful day, and going through the Wendy's drive-thru for lunch. While I was relishing my frosty and French fries at my desk one of the employees came into my office and commented how that wasn't good for the baby (this man was a good 75 lbs overweight, mind you.) And so it began...once the baby arrived it became much, much worse.

There are so many decisions that you will have to make as a parent, and it seems that literally everyone has an opinion on all of them. Scheduled c-section? Selfish. Natural childbirth? Unnecessary pain. Co-sleeping? Unsafe. Letting your child "cry it out" (or CIO for those in the know)? Cruel. Don't get me started on breastfeeding vs bottles. You don't have to solicit these opinions either. I have had several women ask me where Baby Lovely sleeps and if I breastfeed. This seems like a perfectly reasonable conversation to have with the woman behind me in line at Target, right? Yeah.

As Baby Lovely is our first, we have pretty much been figuring things out as we go. So far this is working for us - we have a healthy, happy baby and occasionally I get more than five hours of sleep. The only thing that all of my parenting decisions have had in common is that I have done what I thought felt right, even if it didn't follow "the book". I'm going to start a series on Mondays on some of these choices and how I arrived at them, whether or not they were on purpose. Let me put up this disclaimer now : these are only things that have worked for us, with Baby Lovely. Every baby is different, just like every parent.  Since no mommy post would be complete without a grinning infant, see below for my adorable, possibly teething spawn. 

No Giraffes were harmed in the taking of this picture

PS - I do have pictures where Baby Lovely is not in her exersaucer, it is just much easier to take pictures while she is contained.  That thing is great.

Lazy Sundays

I had a much longer post that Blogger decided to eat about halfway through...and this has turned out to be one of those lazy weekends where I lack the motivation to do much of anything. Baby Lovely's not so great sleep pattern was worse this weekend (I think she may be teething) and the dog days of summer have left me wanting to curl up on the couch for a nap. I promise to be back tomorrow with something slightly more interesting (or at least with gratuitous baby pictures).

Stranger Danger

Yesterday, while Baby Lovely and I were doing our weekly grocery shopping, the unthinkable happened. Some strange woman came up and tried to touch Baby Lovely's head! A little background : although many pregnant women are subjected to strangers trying to touch them, I managed to make it the entire nine months without any strangers trying to rub my belly.  I told the Captain I just sent out the "Don't touch me vibe" and everyone stayed away.  I don't mean friends and family - I had no problem with them wanting to feel her kick, however I am not a "touchy feely" person and I had no interest in being accosted by strangers. 

Imagine my surprise yesterday when we were in the grocery store and a middle aged woman made a beeline over to me and tried to rub the top of Baby Lovely's head! I carry her in an Ergo front carrier when we run errands so this woman was definitely invading personal space. I tried to sidestep her and stuck a protective Mommy elbow up.  Who does that? Seriously, is it OK to touch other people's babies? If you are over the age of 80 you get a pass (barely), but otherwise it is not OK in my book.  Thoughts?



Baby Lovely grocery shopping (without any strangers trying to touch her adorable bald head).