Wordless Wednesday: The Dangers of Babywearing

Cold popsicle down your back…

Limeade

First we washed six limes, then we put them in the microwave for one minute (I read somewhere once that limes straight from the fridge won’t yield as much juice as room temperature ones).

Next the kids gently rolled them (apparently this helps soften them up so they’re easier to juice).

Then, with several helping hands, we squeezed each one.

Meanwhile, we boiled 3 cups of water and added 1 cup of sugar (I found this a tad bit sweet so next time I’ll use a little less sugar).

We added the lime juice to the sugar water, then we filled the jug up with water and ice and voila – a super yummy, super easy, super cheap (6 limes for 97¢), fun to make summer drink.

You can also use replace some of the limes with lemons to make lemon-limeade. Yum.

From C-Sections to Twitter to Facebook to Hate Mail

It was bound to happen: I received my very first piece of hate mail. Yes siree, delivered via Facebook from a ‘friend’. A rambling message with horrible grammar to boot (which just made it that much more unpleasant to read), spewing insults and untruths – all directed at my blog and me. I can’t say that I wasn’t offended. I tried not to be, but I was.

It all started when I Re-Tweeted three of @babyREADY’s blog posts. Sam from babyREADY did a three part series commenting on a three part series in The Ottawa Citizen about c-sections: Why there are so many, how c-sections interfere with mother-baby bonding, and changing the c-section trend. babyREADY commented on the three articles here, here and here. Anyone who knows me or reads my blog regularly knows that this a topic close to my heart.

Anyway, what started as comments on my Facebook status, which were bad enough, continued with a personal message to my Facebook inbox. To sum it up she wrote that women who’ve had c-sections should “just get on with their lives and let it go” and that I have “no right to complain” about how my kids were born because they “are all around [me]“; the implication being that if my children are alive that I just better shut-up and be happy about it. She went on to write that I have a “real victim mentality,” that I somehow attack women who’ve had unnecessary c-sections, and that my blog “screams” that the world is out to get women who don’t “NIP [nurse in public], co-sleep, so on and so forth.”

She wrapped it up oh so nicely by writing that people like babyREADY and me, who write about these issues are “hysteria-mongers who succeed in making people feel guilty about their own choices/experiences.” Then she called me “self-righteous and indignant.”

But on the bright side, she believes that I “mean well.” Oh gee. Thanks.

Whatever.

I was telling a couple of friends about it and one said, “I guess that comes with being a celebrity blogger. People think they know you.” Well, I don’t know if I’ve quite reached celebrity blogger status yet…but at least I know people are reading.

Photo by sardonicasshole via flickr.

Communal Living

I have an old friend that I’ve known since I was six. B lived next door to me and I’ve known her so long that I don’t remember my life before her. When we were kids, B, my sister and I spent all of our free time together. We’d have sleepovers and freeze each others’ bras. We’d stay up all night listening the radio, playing Canasta and Sergeant Major (or 9-5-2 which is apparently called 8-5-3 in Britain…who knew?) We’d do each others’ make-up and talk about our latest boy crushes and just generally do other silly things that young girlfriends do.

One thing we’d talk about all the time is getting married – all three of us on the same day; a triple wedding, of course. Then we’d all get pregnant at the same time; we’d talk about names and how many kids we were going to have.

There was a house not far from where we lived. We used to walk by it all the time. It was a beautiful old Victorian and it was huge. We loved that house and we swore that we’d all live in it one day – yup, all of us, with all of our husbands and all of our kids.

That big, old, beautiful house was torn down along with a couple of others beside it. In the same space they squeezed in a ridiculous number of ugly townhouses; we all thought it was sad.

We all grew up and we all have partners and kids. Needless to say, we all live in separate houses.

I was talking to B and another friend a little while ago and we were reminiscing about our idea of living together in that big old house. And then we got to thinking…wouldn’t it be great if we all lived together? We could sell our houses, pool our resources and buy a house big enough for all of our families. Nobody would ever pay for childcare again. We’d share chores; each of us contributing in different way; all living together as one big happy family.

It would be wonderful for the kids. They would benefit immensely from other attachment parents and other kids all under one roof. We think it’s a brilliant idea.

But then reality sets in.

The logistics of it all are complicated. To buy a house in Toronto big enough for several families would be tricky; I mean, houses like that just aren’t built around here. And I can’t say that the Dads are on board with this idea; any mention of it gets a round of ‘second wife’ jokes out of my husband. (Umm no, that’s not quite what we had in mind.) And then we’d have to agree on where to live. And I think it would certainly be challenging organizing that many people in one home. And then there is each family’s need for a bit of personal space. And, and…I can think of several other reasons why it wouldn’t work.

*sigh*

But can I tell you something? If everyone agreed to it I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d jump right in without a moment’s hesitation. And I think it would be amazing.

Blogs, Ads and Free Stuff

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from someone who offered to send me a free sample of her product so that I could blog about it. I was flattered. It was my first email of this nature. I thought it was pretty exciting actually! It’s even a product that I would normally buy, so I figured…why not?

Well the truth is, I really agonized about whether or not to accept the offer. After giving it quite a bit of thought I respectfully declined.

I’ve been blogging for a little over 5 months now and I’ve been debating about this kind of thing since the beginning. First I was debating (and still am) about advertising. So many people who read my blog have told me that I should have ads on my blog. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, is it really that big a deal? What is the harm in having a couple of ads? Why not make a little extra money if I can? Lord knows we could use it.

(As a side note, if I want to have ads then I need to switch to wordpress.org. That presents an even bigger challenge because I don’t know if I am able to set up and maintain a wordpress.org blog without help, and I don’t have the extra money to pay someone to do it. This has been the real thing preventing me from switching to .org – which I’d really like to do regardless of whether or not I decide to have ads on my blog – so really the question of ads is a bit moot until I sort out if I can actually pull it off myself. Which I don’t think I can right now. *sigh*)

I kind of feel the same way about free stuff.  None of the books or products I’ve ever mentioned here have been given to me for free; and I have never written about a product or book because someone asked me to do it. But really, would it be that big of a deal? Will people think less of me and my blog if I accept free stuff then blog about it?

I’ve been asking myself this: when I think about the blogs that I love to read, and the bloggers that I really respect, what do they do? Can I even remember off the top of my head if they advertise? Actually, no, for the most part I can’t.  Do ads bother me? No, not unless a blog is so littered with ads that it is distracting – which I think is cheesy.

Can I remember off the top of my head which blogs do product reviews? Yes I can. What do I think about it? I don’t know.

I’m not sure why; I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I just don’t feel right about reviewing products when I get something in exchange. I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong and I think it’s fine for other people to do it; it’s just not right for me right now.

As for ads, I don’t really have strong feelings either way so maybe one day they’ll make their way on to Family Nature, but not anytime soon.

Right now I’m working on a new logo for Family Nature – well, not me personally because I don’t have the skills or the program to create such a thing – but I’m in touch with someone who does. I’m actually really excited about the idea of a new logo and the fact that it will be done via a barter/trade arrangement with another mum! I’ll share more when the details have been sorted…keep an eye out for it!

Two Spaces or One? Grammar and Going with the Flow.

A few years ago when I was working on a newsletter for my kids’ school, I became aware that some people were only putting one space after a period at the end of a sentence. What is wrong with these people? Don’t they know that you’re supposed to use two spaces‽ For goodness sakes, nobody cares about grammar anymore!

Ahem.

Okay it’s true. One space is the new norm…or the not-so-new norm, apparently. This I learned after visiting one of my favourite, newly discovered blogs: Grammar Girl. This and other fascinating grammar facts were also confirmed after I picked up a copy of her book Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Don’t believe me? Check out her recent post about it here.

So, welcome to my first ever blog post with only one space at the end of a sentence. Never mind that I’ve had to go back and delete a space at the end of almost every single one. It’s a tough habit to break. I still remember grade 9 typing. Using my right thumb only, I obediently double spaced at the end of a sentence. Again in my early twenties, when I took a Computer Keyboarding class to improve my typing skills – two spaces.

I admit it, when I first heard a couple of years ago that one space is the new way I thought, whatever. If people want to use only one space that’s up to them, but I’m going to keep on using two spaces. I think it looks better. Hmph.

But I don’t want to be one of those people, getting old and staying stuck in my ways. I want to stay on top of things. I want to be the kind of parent who knows what’s going on, and who can help my kids out with these types of things. It’s not just about grammar, it’s about everything. It’s about being flexible; being willing to change; accepting that things will not always be the same; going with the flow. It’s best to be able to adapt, don’t you think?

I’ll leave you with another lesson I’ve learned from Grammar Girl. Have you heard of the interrobang? What‽ You haven’t heard‽ Well, you know when you are asking a question and you’re surprised or excited at the same time? Most people would normally use both a question mark and an exclamation point (What?!). But according to grammarians it isn’t proper to use them together so…ta da, the interrobang is the solution. Neat, eh‽

Just trying to keep up with the times….