A Girl Named PJ

bacon, vodka and cigarettes

April 20, 2011

Do you watch United States of Tara on Showtime? I’m sure all pregnant women can relate to the frustration Tara’s sister Charmaine expressed in the season 3 premiere:

I have got to get this baby out of me! I want to bury my face in a bowl of bacon, chug a bottle of vodka, light up a smoke and then dive head first into a blistering hot jacuzzi.

While I’m not craving vodka or cigarettes, I love the idea of burying my face in a bowl of bacon. I also miss rare steak, pepperoni pizza, sushi, runny eggs, Hollandaise sauce, hot dogs from Costco, a glass of Reisling, deep tissue massages, hot tubs, skincare with wrinkle-fighting ingredients, seeing my feet…

What did you miss while you were pregnant?

27 weeks: a review

April 18, 2011

As my due date grows nearer, I find I’m adding more items to my “Baby To Do” list rather than crossing them off. Unfortunately, as my time apart from JB increases, so does my anxiety. And it’s hard to be productive while you’re feeling anxious.

So what’s been stressing me out this week?

I was just reminded by friends that if I’m considering sending my baby to day care, I need to get him on a waiting list… STAT. There are only two places I would consider sending my boy. One of them requires a $100 deposit and the other asks for a deposit equivalent of one month of payment, approximately $1,000+.

I’m also open to the idea of in-home care, but researching and interviewing potential nannies seems more overwhelming than choosing a day care facility. If I go that route, I can only hope I’ll be as lucky as my friend, whose nanny basically fell into her lap.

Besides freaking out about child care, I also cried over strollers. No, not over which brand of stroller to choose. I cried over choosing a stroller color. I was over thinking what should have been an easy decision… If we pick slate blue but our second child is a girl, can we push her around in such a masculine-looking stroller? Will the silver stroller reflect the light when we take pictures of our kids in it? Plain ol’ black too boring?

Le sigh.

I blame it all on the hormones. (And my chronic indecision, of course.)

{self-portraits taken at 27 weeks, 5 days}

is it ok for little boys to wear nail polish?

April 14, 2011

Several news outlets yesterdays made a controversy out of molehill when they questioned whether the above J.Crew ad featuring a 5-year-old boy sporting neon pink polish on his toenails was “gender bending.

Psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow, a Fox News contributor said, “This is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity.” He also slammed J.Crew executive Jenna Lyons, who is shown in the photograph with her own son, Beckett. “It may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid—and maybe a little for others who’ll be affected by your ‘innocent’ pleasure.”

Erin Brown from the Culture and Media Institute called it “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children” and accused J.Crew of “exploiting Beckett behind the façade of liberal, transgendered identity politics.”

Whaaaat?

When the ad arrived in my inbox last week, I had the same reaction as Jon Stewart: Isn’t it sweet that a mother and her son are shown sharing a loving, playful moment? My mind wandered even further, and I wondered what type of relationship I will have with my little boy. The photo of Jenna and Beckett made me hope that my son and I will also laugh, play and be silly together.

I can only wonder if critics of this “gender bending” ad would be as up in arms if Beckett’s toe nails were painted a more masculine blue.

What are your thoughts on this mini-controversy?

the miracle stretch mark prevention routine

April 13, 2011

Shortly after I began my second trimester I became obsessed with finding a miracle stretch mark prevention lotion or balm. Several weeks into my search, a friend who had a baby in November 2010 told me I could stop looking.

Like a favorite family recipe handed down from generation to generation, she was going to pass on to me a skincare regimen that a friend who had a baby in February 2010 had shared with her. How could I say no? Neither of them got any stretch marks during their pregnancies. (Or so they say…)

I inherited four unfinished bottles of creams and oils that they had both used. Yes, four. Clearly, this would be an intensive stretch mark prevention skincare routine. But, if it works as well as they claim it does, I’ll wake up five minutes early to make sure I fit it into my day.

Step 1: Apply Mustela Specific Support Bust to boobs.

Step 2: Apply Mustela Stretch Marks Intensive Action to belly.

Step 3: Massage Dr. Hauschka Blackthorn Body Oil into belly and boobs.

Step 4: Apply Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion to belly and boobs.

I suppose Step 5 would to wait several minutes for all the cream, oil and lotion to be absorbed into the skin before getting dressed! But will it work? I’ll let you know in about 13 weeks.

Were you able to prevent pregnancy stretch marks with lotions and oils?

PS – A second elderly neighbor told me today that I look big for having a July due date and asked if we were sure we weren’t having twins. “Haha,” I replied. “If we are, it’ll be a big shock to us and our doctor.”

26 weeks: a review

April 11, 2011

I have a love-hate relationship with this Old Navy wrap-front hoodie. At the recommendation of a friend, it was one of the first maternity items that I purchased. I believe I bought it back in January before I even needed maternity clothing. I figured it’d be handy to have a black sweatshirt I could grow into, but I didn’t wear it for months because all of the extra fabric made me look like I had a giant belly. And this was before I was even showing!

Now that I have a legitimate belly, I’m still hesitant to wear this hoodie out in public despite the fact that it’s comfortable and it “fits.” Why? Because I think it makes me look like I’m due to give birth any minute. In the above photo, I’m wearing the sweatshirt over a black Gap maternity t-shirt. Below, I’m just wearing the t-shirt. The proof is in the pictures, people.

Last weekend, at the start of 26 weeks, I passed a neighbor I hadn’t seen all winter while we were both walking our dogs. She congratulated me on the pregnancy. “I saw you from my window the other day as you were walking down the street, and your belly was leading the way,” the sixty-something-year-old woman said. I politely chuckled and told her that I’m due in July. She replied that I looked large for having a July baby and inquired if I was having multiples.

Um, no.

But thanks?

It boggles my mind the things that people think is appropriate to do/say to a pregnant woman. It is not OK for you to remind me how large I look, just as it wouldn’t be OK for anyone but a super close friend to ask me if I was trying to get pregnant or to reach out and touch my belly.

Have you been in any of the aforementioned awkward situations? How did you handle it?

{self-portraits taken at 26 weeks, 5 days}