Am I Going To Be A Rebel Mom?

Last summer, we had our friend's three small girls over for dinner. After dinner, as they helped with the kitchen cleanup, they opened our pantry door to a whole new world to them! They stood in front of my open pantry, mouths gaping wide. "Look! Fruit Roll-Ups!" "Oh, my God! Chocolate-chip cookies!" "You have regular potato chips? We only get the soy kind!"

I thought I'd feel comfortable as a mother. Instead, I'm increasingly aware of a prickly new sensation: that I'm some kind of renegade. Who knew that buying potato chips would become a radical act? Or that letting my child walk home from school alone would require administration approval? How did I, a middle-of-the-road mom-to-be, become a social deviant?

Fear is the new fuel of the American mom. If it's not fear of her child becoming obese, it's the fear of falling behind, missing out on a sports scholarship or winding up with a thin college-rejection envelope.

Apparently I'm not nervous enough. For example, the sun: long-sleeved, UV-protective swimsuits were all the rage at my neighborhood pool, while I could barely remember ever wearing sunscreen as a child, but I do remember my mother popping blisters on my shoulders! The water wasn't safe either: at the beach I saw kids dressed in flotation belts and water wings—for shelling along the shore. And goodbye, cotton candy and hot dogs! At a minor-league game I saw moms and dads nix the stuff as if they'd never eaten the occasional ballpark treat. As if their children would balloon into juvenile-diabetes statistics if a single swig of sugary soda passed their lips.

Half my friend's kids—who already make A's and B's—had summer tutors in order to "keep it fresh." I thought vacation was for relaxing and recharging. What would our pioneer foremoms think? (You want something to worry about, let me show you frostbite, typhoid and bears!) Heck, what must our own mothers think? (Snap out of it! Go worry about something truly scary, like how you're going to pay for retirement!)

I am hoping, once my kids get in school, things will calm down. But then I am reminded, by the ring at the front door, of a fresh seasonal crop of anxiety sprouted, this time over corruptive candy fund-raisers. I know one mom who wants to change her son's schedule because he doesn't know anyone in his classes; she's worried he'll be "socially traumatized" all year. Another is afraid of a learning disability she just read about, though her child seems bright and charming to me.

And then there's playground panic. I had to laugh when an Australian study recently found that playground injuries continue to rise despite safety improvements. One of the suspected reasons: the safe new play structures are so boring that kids are taking more risks in order to have fun.
It's not that I think parents shouldn't worry about anything. I'm personally petrified of SUV drivers on cell phones. I fret as much as the next mom about how to pay for college. I pray my child won't wander onto MySpace and post something dumb.

But you can't go around afraid of everything. It's too exhausting! No matter how careful you are, bad stuff happens (diaper rash, stitches, all your friends assigned to another class). And it's seldom the end of the world.

Watching our friend's daughters ogle our pantry, I realized there's one big, legitimate fear that I haven't heard anybody mention: what's the effect of our collective paranoia on the kids? Yes, these very kids we want to be so self-sufficient, responsible, confident, happy and creative (not to mention not food-obsessed). They're growing up thinking these weirdly weenie views are healthy and normal.

I may be a rebel mom, but at least I'm not afraid of a chocolate-chip cookie!

Now, excuse me while I go "child-proof" my home. Today I am installing those plastic plug-thingys in to all the outlets. Hopefully, this will prevent my child from sticking a butter knife in the outlet! As a child, I was "shocked" to find out that that is not a good idea! (and look how I turned out?!)

I Think I Feel The Baby Moving...

Last night, I really thought I could feel something moving around a little.

Dan started talking to the Baby. I look forward to the day when the Baby kicks Dan in the cheek!

When Do I Get To Enjoy This?

Feeling blue today.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. More blood work, more tests. I swear, they make you worry about everything under the sun! I just want to relax and enjoy being pregnant! All the tests so far have come back "good", so why do they insist on even more tests?!

Long Road Ahead...

Fetal Development

Week 16!

At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, our baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Our baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet (kinda looks like her daddy!). Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails.

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This Gets More and More Complicated...

...as the days go by, we see our lives slowly transforming in to this new and foreign world. What used to be a guest bedroom is changing in to a nursery. The biggest change happened today when Dan and I spent the afternoon building the crib. Those things sure are complicated!

So this is our lives now. While sprawled out on the floor with a thousand bolts and screws (should we be concerned that there were so many left over?) Dan (aka dababydaddy) made the observation that this is only the beginning of many sleepless Christmas Eves, assembling bicycles and all those complicated toys that have "some assembly required"

Week 15!

Baby is around 4 inches long, crown to rump, she now weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. She's busy inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, which will help develop the air sacs in her lungs. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all her joints and limbs. That means her hands are more functional, too. Sweat glands are appearing, and although her eyelids are fused shut, she can sense light. If I shine a flashlight at my tummy, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but her taste buds are beginning to form.

Started Painting the Border in the Nursery

Now that the nursery is almost ready for furniture, I started painting the border around the room. Mojo, who is equally excited (at least interested in all the commotion) about the baby, watching me intently as I paint the leaves... the rest of the painting will have to wait until we know the sex of the baby... pink or blue???

First Trimester is OVER!

Doing good! Feeling great! I only gained four pounds my first trimester. Doctor said the "morning sickness" should be subsiding, and it pretty much has. Now, if I just had more energy...

Baby is Enrolled in Day School!

Okay, I know how ridiculous this sounds! I enrolled baby in the Ashburn Village Country Day School yesterday. He/she starts January 2, 2008! Poor thing, only the size of a lemon and we are already planning it's future! As it turns out, even registering this early was cutting it very close! Most centers have a wait list that is a year to a year and a half long!

Thanks to the Daddy-School Dan started last week! They gave him the tip to start looking for a Day Care very early. Boy, they weren't kidding!

Week 14!

Head to bottom, our baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. I still can't feel our baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb!

Started Nursery Painting

Here is the design...














We started painting the nursery. I designed a border that I am going to paint all the way around the room.We are still planning everything in pink and blue, since we don't know the baby's sex yet.

Dan is convinced it's a Boy...

...and he's already driving!!

Week 13!

My belly will soon be big enough to announce to the world that I'm expecting, but our baby is still tiny. In fact, she's only about 3 inches long, crown to rump roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp and weighs just about an ounce. Despite being so small, there's a fully formed baby inside my womb now who's much more proportional than she was a few weeks ago. In previous weeks, our baby's head dwarfed the rest of her — but now her head is only about a third the size of her body. Her tiny, unique fingerprints are already in place. Her kidneys and urinary tract are functional. As I start my second trimester, most of my baby's critical development will be completed!

I have resigned to the fact that I must put away my "regular" clothes and start wearing (at least) maternity pants to fit my bulging belly!

Nursery Design Picked Out

If it's a boy...


If it's a girl...