and our mama of the week for 5.14-5/20 is... - Page 3

[renaissanceed]

Do you have a strange 'special power'? (eg. the ability to always identify the person doing the voice over, the ability to make all computer screens go blank etc.)

[Momma Aimee]

what about parenting was / is BETTER than you expected and what is "worse" ?

Aimee

[LittleBrownDog]

Originally Posted by Ivanhoe

Which were some of those great books you read through College?

My favorites, and I think the professor had a lot to do with it, were Toni Morrison and F Scott Fitzgerald. This professor came up with a class to read books by those two authors and see what we could find similar/different/interesting. It was so cool to just go into the reading knowing the professor had zero expectations of what we'd get out of it and how we would read the books. We read Beloved, Jazz, Sula, Tar Baby and The Bluest Eye from Morrison, and I can't remember what we read by F Scott Fitzgerald, but they are still two of my favorite authors. I took a women's literature course where I discovered Jane Eyre, still my favorite book, and Wide Sargasso Sea, which is sort of a prequel/companion to Jane Eyre from Bertha Mason's perspective. I also took a caribbean literature course, and I cannot for the life of me remember the names of the books, but I remember liking them!

Originally Posted by renaissanceed

Do you have a strange 'special power'? (eg. the ability to always identify the person doing the voice over, the ability to make all computer screens go blank etc.)

Well, streetlights used to turn on and off when I walked under them... I haven't noticed it lately, but I don't do much walking after dark these days!

Originally Posted by Aimee21972

what about parenting was / is BETTER than you expected and what is "worse" ?

Watching Allison's personality emerge and seeing her figure things out and come to her own conclusions always amazes me. I wasn't prepared for that and it is SO cool.

I am not able to keep my cool as much as I'd like to and my own reaction to her whining or defiance sometimes leaves something to be desired. I wish I could handle my own reactions better so she would learn to be more calm.

[monocyte]

It's been great reading about you!!


Can you tell us about your upbringing? Is it similar to your parenting style now, or are you doing things a bit differently than how you were raised?

[HoneyNBenNKids]

I love chocolate, but not chocolate ice cream.

Oh my gosh!!! Me too! I've never heard of anyone else with this issue. So cool!

Also...I LOVED the birth story. Remember hindsite is 20/20. Sure we can always do something better or different, but when you're in the moment you've done the best you could do at that time. Never judge your past based on your present or future...someone is bound to get hurt & it's normally you.

Honey

[moma justice]

little brown dog, i like heraing all about you!

[Heather Marie]

It is really fun to ready about you!

What is one thing you would really like your children to know about you and/or your significant other?

What are three baby items you feel like you couldn't do without?

What is one baby item you bought/were given that when you look at it you think, "what was I/they thinking?"

[Ivanhoe]

I know I have to read Scott Fitzgerald, but hasn't started yet. I graduated in Literature too and the course I enjoyed most was NorthAmerican Literature, in there I learnt to love Southern literature: William Faulkner, Carlson McCullers, Capote and Toni Morrison became my favourites.

Beloved was so very sad and I read it when my oldest son was still a little babe and I was soooo emotional, I remembered starting to cry so hard while I was reading inside a taxi. THe driver turned back and asked me if I was ok


I also enjoyed very muchreading your birth story!

[sandiegokristi]

It was great to get to know you better and I love your birth story! Thanks for sharing.

[meisterfrau]

I didn't have any questions to ask, but loved reading your answers! You made me want a Wawa hoagie. And doesn't Wawa have just a smell all its own? Like hoagies and coffee and all kinds of good things.

[De-lovely]

Toni Morrison is IT for me....all of them...UNBELIEVABLE.....you should read Edward P. Jones the Known World.....

[Ivanhoe]

Edward P. Jones, added to mi list!

[Momma Aimee]

what names do you really like for kids but would never use? and why?

[crystalalene]

This was a great idea. It is lots of fun reading about you, and I enjoyed your birth story and other answers. My DH is the one who's ready to do a homebirth so it is interesting for me to read this, being the other way around. I am the one who is more worried what others will think, or more about having to 'defend' myself when, as you say, I just can't think of a reason not to (my mother already told me it was backwards to homebirth and not go to a hospital). DH says don't worry about it but I'm sure she isn't the only one who will react that way.
Anyway. My question for you:
How did you find LLL, NINO, and AP? I mean, did you know people who were already involved, did you know before Allison was born that you wanted to bf, bw, ap, etc. or did you discover it all after she was born, did it evolve or were you already into it?

[LittleBrownDog]

Originally Posted by monocyte

Can you tell us about your upbringing? Is it similar to your parenting style now, or are you doing things a bit differently than how you were raised?

The more I think about it, my parents were pretty AP, in the grand scheme of things. My mom had bad luck with BFing (had mastitis, went to a doc, was told the only cure was to stop BFing), but from tidbits I've picked up I think they co-slept a little, tried CIO with my older brother once and decided never again. Seeing her now with my nephews, my mom is very good at gentle discipline, logical consequences, etc. She has some anger/depression issues, so there were definitely some rocky times in my childhood, and I hope to avoid that with my children as much as I can.

Originally Posted by HoneyNBenNKids

Also...I LOVED the birth story. Remember hindsite is 20/20. Sure we can always do something better or different, but when you're in the moment you've done the best you could do at that time. Never judge your past based on your present or future...someone is bound to get hurt & it's normally you.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Heather Marie

What is one thing you would really like your children to know about you and/or your significant other?

Hmmmm... I hope my kids know that I can be a creative and fun person, even if most of the time these days I don't feel like I am! I guess I'd say the same about DH. He has morphed into the guy-who-worries-about-money and while he is an awesome dad, he's not always careful about what he says in front of DD and as she's getting older she's starting to kind of "get it" when he's stressing. So I guess I hope she knows he is not (or was not) always like that

Originally Posted by Heather Marie

What are three baby items you feel like you couldn't do without?

My carriers! Could not live without them! I think that will be especially true the second time around. Since I have more than 3, I think that might be my whole list! But no, I would probably also say my lactation consultant She's not an "item," but we would not have succeeded in BFing without her. Lastly, those little elastic bottom gowns for middle of the night diaper changes. Man I love those things!

Originally Posted by Heather Marie

What is one baby item you bought/were given that when you look at it you think, "what was I/they thinking?"

You know, I really can't think of anything!!! I am sure when I dig out the boxes of newborn stuff there will be something ridiculous I've forgotten about...

Originally Posted by Ivanhoe

Edward P. Jones, added to mi list!

Me too!

Originally Posted by Aimee21972

what names do you really like for kids but would never use? and why?

I always wanted to use Annika. I LOVE that name. DH hates it. And we recently found out my high school boyfriend used it for his DD (he admitted to stealing it from me ) so I guess it's officially out of the running now! My grandfather's names are Herbert and Hubert. I'd love to use one of their names, but...well, Hubert? Herbert? No. Can't do it.

Originally Posted by crystalalene

How did you find LLL, NINO, and AP? I mean, did you know people who were already involved, did you know before Allison was born that you wanted to bf, bw, ap, etc. or did you discover it all after she was born, did it evolve or were you already into it?

We moved to Madison in the middle of my pregnancy, so I first attended LLL as a way to meet people. I heard about NINO on thebabywearer.com and decided we needed a group here in town so a friend and I started a chapter last summer! I heard about AP (and thus LLL, babywearing, etc) by randomly picking up Dr. Sears' Baby Book at Target when I was pregnant. It all made sense to me, so I started digging around online for AP info, subscribed to Mothering, and just went on from there!

[De-lovely]

Originally Posted by Ivanhoe

Edward P. Jones, added to mi list!

You will NOT regret it! He wrote the book for like 15 years or something.....its WONDERFUL.

[chrysalis]

lbd, i grew up in manhattan and in orange county, ny (now infamous thanks to the chopper guys...) and i now live in minnesota. we have some similarities.....let me try and think of a question for you...

do you notice that you still have an east coast way/attitude and that sometimes people in the midwest don't quite understand we were raised in a different culture? maybe i need to clarify this but i think you'll understand.

[GinaRae]

Lisbeth, I notice this too. I grew up in NY and now live in Northern California. Completely different mind-set sometimes.

My husband (a native California boy who lived with me in NY and worked in Manhattan for a few years) says that New Yorkers live to work and Californian's work to live.

Seems like playing is definitely a priority here. Whereas fulfillment came in what you could get done and what you could achieve in NY, not what fun you could have with your family.

And in the NY suberbs we had HUGE lawns that NO one uses! In California, people have tiny lawns and are outside all the time. Of course, the weather is less humid and nicer year round

[LittleBrownDog]

Originally Posted by chrysalis

do you notice that you still have an east coast way/attitude and that sometimes people in the midwest don't quite understand we were raised in a different culture? maybe i need to clarify this but i think you'll understand.

I definitely know what you mean, but I think for me that feeling comes more from my time in DC. I grew up in rural Southern NJ, so it actually reminds me a lot of the Midwest. But yes, I get accused of talking too fast/much all the time and there are just a lot of little subtle differences.


This has been so much fun!!! I look forward to getting to know the next Mama of the Week!!!