RookieMoms Blog

On vacation (with free wifi right now — yay!) and Alec is settling into reading HP7. And we have high hopes of getting some free babysitting and seeing HP5 at the theater. So that had us wondering what happened in the other books.

I found this recap. There are only spoilers if you read past the books/movies that you know, so know where to stop: Catch Up recap for Harry Potter.

How freaking cute is this pogy travel crib that I don’t have and didn’t know about it until too late for my trip? So cute!

Instead, my in-laws are securing three pack n plays for their apartment because Milo is too big to sleep in his carseat and Holden is just a smidge to young to sleep on a mat on the floor. Thanks guys!

[spotted just days too late on parentdish and available on travelingwithkids.com]

Dear People Who Make Decisions About Customer Experiences at Mimi Maternity,

It does not go unnoticed by me that at Mimi Maternity stores (and I have been to many throughout California over the course of two pregnancies) the sales people are not mothers, but rather young women who have never been pregnant. As such, they are not very knowledgeable about being pregnant, but only about the appearance of the clothes. Not saying I wouldn’t go to an obstetrician who is not herself a mother, but I am guaranteed she has training for the job. Including sensitivity training.

My main complaint is this: Whenever I make a purchase, it seems that your store policy is to ask my due date to enter in the register. How about “None of your business” as my due date? Do you have a button for that? Then your lovely salespeople ask for more of my personal information. (Clearly this kicks off a direct marketing program through which I will receive offers in the mail from a bunch of advertisers who benefit from knowing the exact stage of my pregnancy and eventually the age of my baby.) This makes me feel grumpy. Ok, I already feel grumpy. This makes me feel like you only want me for my future value to you and don’t appreciate that I’m already giving you some money today. Why don’t you appreciate the money I am spending with you today?!

Next, and uh, don’t worry about whether or not I’m in a hurry, have to go to the bathroom (I do) or just want to go find a place to sit down and elevate my feet, I am given a sample issue of a baby magazine… I can’t remember which title… and told that I’ll be receiving three trial issues. Excuse me? I thought I was the customer. I thought that I decide when to subscribe to magazines. All by myself. Having worked on a magazine business in the past, I know that this is a negative option offer and that you will be later billed for the subscription or have to cancel it. More work for the consumer.

Then, you push toward me several brochures for related businesses — cord blood banking and college savings plans — and imply that I must take them.

Each time I go in to your store, I leave outraged because I am simply trying to buy a pair of very large underwear and I am bombarded with sales pitches. Worse, I feel badly for women who go in there who don’t realize that they can say “no” to all these offers. It seems ironic that such a poor experience is given to a target audience who is likely to be already flustered, overwhelmed, or physically uncomfortable.

How to win me over?

Make it clear that you love me, appreciate my business, and understand my pregnancy-related woes. Offer me a cool drink of water. Provide a chair in front of a foot massage machine. Sell bras in sizes larger than E. (Nursing boobs are OFTEN larger than E). Put out samples of nutrition bars that you sell. Make me feel like coming to your store is a treat. A treat just for me because I am pregnant and special.

Display the magazines with a burst-shaped sticker that says, “If you’d like a free trial subscription, ask a sales person.” Put your helpful brochures in a stand where we can take them ourselves IF WE WANT THEM. And hire some better salespeople. If you build it, we will come. Waddling all the way.

Sincerely,
Hopefully never again a Mimi customer,
Whitney

Eek. My firstborn rookie baby boy is heading off to preschool. This is the shopping list as given to me by his new teacher:

photos for his cubby
journal
slippers
small sleeping bag
lunch box
diapers
2 boxes of wipes

Anyone have any tips? Mostly, I’m looking for guidance on a mini sleeping bag and slippers because I’ve heard that the laptoplunch bento box is the way to go for toddlers in Berkeley. Anyone tried that?

Thanks y’all!

We love our parents. Of course we do.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way. Can we talk? I live out in Berkeley and my family is Out East. Whitney lives in Berkeley and her parents and in-laws are all within the state of California. I am frequently envious of her “free babysitting” and frequent visits with the old grandparents.

When Alec and I see our parents, it is usually a few times a year and it involves week-long bursts of too-intense togetherness. We’re lucky if we can get out with all relationships in tact (including the marital one if you know what I mean). When I read this piece — The four types of challenging grandparents-- on the Poop today, I laughed and wept out loud. You see, we’re heading out TONIGHT on a red-eye to get some heavy doses of family and I fully expect to see all of these grandparently archetypes on proud display.

Which ones live in your family and how do you cope?!
More on the great Summer Escape of 2007 as time permits.

For Mother’s Day, I wanted to do all the “fun” mothering stuff… like all the playing and none of the food prep or diapers. Well, it turns out that you can’t schedule tantrums around your whims on Mother’s Day anymore than any other day. So that sort of came and went.

But this past Sunday was a “Training Day” (to borrow a term from the Babyproofing Your Marriage book which I’m still reading — more on that when I finish it). Alec took over and I only returned for a few odd nursing sessions.

And it pretty much rocked.

Morning Spin Class.
I usually hate spin classes. Really I do. Biking on a beautiful day with no hills is more my style. But Alec believes (and I don’t disagree) that exercise will make me happy and healthy. It’s also a sure-fire way to get him to do morning duty solo. So I went. And I was proud of myself to complete the class with very little cheating.

Afternoon Wii Party at CityMama’s.
After a Music Together class and some nursin’, I headed down south to Palo Alto for a very fun partii. One hour of driving with the wind in my hair and my own music on the radio might have been enough of a release, but no — I got to play video games and drink cocktails in the middle of the day with the likes of Stefania, Mary, Glennia, and many other cool-looking women I was too shy to talk with (even after a cosmo and baring my soul during karaoke).

At least I snapped a group picture. And Stefania took a couple of me, which is the real proof I left my house. more on flickr if you want to take a look

Dinner with old work pals
As if I wasn’t already pushing my luck, I dropped back home for a feeding and went out to meet some former work buddies (maybe they’d prefer not to be called old). Alec handled all the good-nighting required for two crib-bound boys while I sipped my Guinness.

Thank you wonderful husband! You’ve really earned your next Thursday night out. Remind me I said that because I might forget after our sure-to-be-trying family vacation!

Sale alert! I don’t think you can beat $12.95 for shoes that aren’t from Target. Go to the Vincent site directly to buy these.

Jamie Lee Curtis gives an indictment to our mom’s moms in this very interesting piece in the Huffington Post: Mom, it’s not right spawned by Paris and her stint in jail.

Not being a celebrity or having celebrity parents, I still find the article a thoughtful commentary on moms’ responsibility and where the responsibility of the child begins. Go Jamie Lee!

I watched the movie Knocked Up with a certain amount of discomfort. Oh sure, I laughed like crazy at parts, but I couldn’t help but look over at my best pal, Whitney (8 months pregnant at the time) and my little 3-month old in his bucket seat and take things a little too personally.

I got pregnant a little too easily myself the first time. That’s not really funny. And some folks really struggle with getting pregnant. That’s not funny either. And all of a sudden, I was relating to the tired, older sister in her suburban rut and it made me sad too.

Now, I read about this girl, Christine, who is blogging about her real life knocked-uppedness for Glamour. Her writing is funny and fresh and cute. I laugh and I worry for her.

Is it just my hormones people?! Can’t I take a joke? Have a read and tell me what my problem is.

…but it’s really “new mown hay”

Having felt a little delirious from the early stages of living with a small person, I totally related to the funny lyric in a Dan Zanes song I occasionally heard on kids radio.

Oh well.