Table for one

TI have never been a good cook. In fact it's a running joke how I married my husband because he was such a good one. Maybe that is why I am so impressed with my ability to make food for my child. I am of course talking about breast milk. 

I am less impressed with my ability to make a human than fill tiny bottles with ounces of the liquid gold. I am so impressed I carry the bottle around the house for a victory lap and email pics to friends. 

My husband has a different take on the pumping. He thinks the contraption looks like something a sociologist from the National Archives would carry into the Deep South to record negro spirituals. 

My son is a good eater and I am pretty laid back about breastfeeding, but I never thought I would be this comfortable with my body as I feed him. Of course this is only in my house.

I am over those early feelings of being a dim sum cart.  I seemed to be always on edge, circling him every couple of hours wondering if he was hungry. I do still have the fear that he is too skinny. The founder of Eat Sleep Love have me a great formula that made me feel a bit more in control. She says your baby should be consuming double his weight in ounces every 24 hours. I never said I was good at math and with my diminished brain cells I had to write it out once I got home. For me that means my 9.5 lb baby should be consuming about 20 oz every 24 hours. PHEW! I can at east feed him, lets hope he gets his father's head for math

Yoda Mom

A bit of advice given before I have birth was "find your Yoda Mom". This is a women who has her second child at the same time as you so you can befriend her for all her wisdom. A brilliant plan! All my friends have toddlers or older at this stage and they have been a wealth of knowledge and equipment, but a Yoda Mom eluded me.
Yet my Yoda Mom has been with me for 15 years. My dear friend Ashley and I have led parallel lives as pageant girls, young professionals and married women. She delivers her second child any day now and I am going to pump her for information and inspiration!

Everard's

Kudos to friends Louis Everard and Jennifer Nygard on a great story on their stylish shop
http://www.hulu.com/watch/512552#i1,p0,d1

Revolving Door Ward

If you clock the time I spent in the hospital from the moment I gave birth it rounds up to 31 hours. I was offered another day but decided to go home. Why rush it? I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just felt there was more support at home than in the hospital.
A recent Daily Beast article makes me think I should have spent another day but then again the reason I went home was based on support.
It would be easy to blame it on insurance companies, but I think the issue comes from shrinking hospital staff and trying to fill many women's need of being in control of their delivery experience.
I for one was a little surprised to hear the baby would be with me from the moment I delivered. Couldn't someone else watch the baby that first night to let me get a full night of sleep?
Nope! There little Peter slept in his crisper while I tried to sleep off the drugs and the pain I was starting to feel.
I changed every diaper myself and I fed him without instruction from the first moment. I got some bang up meals delivered to my bed, but otherwise it was me, the baby and below basic TV.
So I headed home to the care of my mother and husband.
But I pushed it too much there too. Some how I figured I had to be a trooper and do SOMETHING other than lay in bed if the hospital was sending me home. Hindsight I should have taken a shower and curled into bed. Instead we took family pictures and sat around talking. The next day we were out to the pediatrician for a check up where I once the feeling of manning up was reinforced. If the doctors want the baby in the office they expect you should be bringing him.
So when a client called with a gig 4 days after delivery I said yes. It wasn't heavy lifting, why turn it down? Well if I had known I would faint 6 hours later I maybe would have reconsidered.
I have a feeling that will be the mantra of motherhood for me "If I had known, I would have reconsidered".

The Original Facebook Post

The royal birth announcement displayed on its gilt frame made me think of one thing, Facebook. The idea that this low tech, but classy display of news has been happening for centuries makes me thinking  what other magisterial traditions we should add some American ingenuity to monetize.

 

The Arch Campbell Show

I hope the last appearance before I give birth...
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Long Term Care

I do love the guys from EBW... they make this all understandable

RedTri.com- Get on Board

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RedTri.com Trolley Story

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Red Tricycle DC

I am so excited to be part of the team of writers for RedTri.com in DC. You can read my stories at http://redtri.com/dc but I will also post them here. Feel free to send me story leads!

Mentioning the Unmentionables

I did many things right when I first found out I was pregnant. The early sign I was in the family way was "the girls". I immediatly grew out of my brassieres and I didn't look forward to buying new ones every couple of weeks as they started to grow. 

in one of my early trimester fogis I found myself at Bed Bath and Beyond and there staring me in the face was the Genie Bra. I'd seen it on late night television showing off how the productcould lift your best friends in the right direction this seems like the perfect thing for my growing chest. With coupon in hand I figured why not. This was the best investment of the entire pregnancy!

I have relied on these space age fibers for the last 40 weeks and now I'm looking forward to buying new underwear. the next phase of my body will be interesting. I have no idea what I'm going to be left with so one of the first things I plan on doing is treating myself, for the very first time, to fancy drawers.

 I've never been one to splurged. When I found something that worked I got a lot of them in every color available. 

Next up the nursing bra. They just look darn painful. If I can intuitively find the right thing like I did at the beginning it will be the perfect solution to the age old problem of "the girls".

Push Gift

I can't remember the first time I heard about the idea of a gift for giving birth, but I do remember thinking "A reason for getting jewelry! I am fine with that." The concept is simple. When a woman gives birth, she expects a large item of jewelry to commemorate the birth.

My mom has two lovely items from giving birth to my sister and I, but I remember the engraved silhouettes she gave my grandmother for each of her grand kids.

I want a push gift, in fact I have known exactly what I wanted as soon as I found out the due date. Sharing this information and price tag were the hard part. How do you break it to your husband you want something of monetary value to commemorate the moment that is invaluable?

Thanks to Mervis Diamonds it makes I easier to discuss.

Mervis Diamonds is offering free diamond earrings to the couple who has a baby closest to the day and time of William and Kate's Royal Baby. If your baby is due any moment visit www.mervisdiamond.com/push-presents to enter.  

Here's hoping the most recognizable voice in DC calls with some good news soon!

Trippy Love

Thanks to the wonderful Claudine Kurp of Kid Trips for showing interest in my journey. 

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feeling fat just talking about fridges

Summer Cooking

Destination Cuisine on MHz

Who doesn't like eating for a living?!

The Pet Show Product review

Love being a contributor on The Pet Show

Wanderlust

I'm lounging in bed trying to stay awake by watching a PBS show on The Orient Express. The glamour and history is just as intoxicating as the vistas from the 80 hour trip. Then I am struck by the reality,mI can't just get on the train.
I have been a world traveler my entire life crossing the globe several times before my firs birthday. Travel has always been important to me. It is how I learn and my parents realized t early enough that they would plan family vacations based on school curriculum to help me retain I formation.
While my college peers went to the beach over spring break I would find a buddy to go on a European adventure. After graduation I promised myself I would take a big trip every year and realized if I went ahead of the Olympics I could let the IOC do the decision making for me, and relive my vacation while watching the sporting events.
Now I lay in bed with a bag packed for a trip to the hospital. Not the same at all. Bt I am already considering how to travel with an infant. I hope to sneak away for a weekend at a B&B in the first month. My first plane trip is planned for October when I have a gig in Atlanta. I will ship diapers and task my mom with watching Bjorn while I am on camera.
I maybe fooling myself at how easy this could be, but I also don't want to let fear keep me at home

Let's Talk Vacation

Showers and Their Themes

I have been blessed with great friends. They are supportive, funny, talented and true. They have been so excited about my pregnancy. I think its because they knew I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut about every moment. They have also risen to new heights of thematic parties. 

It all started with Miss DC 2009 who threw the first shower. Dozens of former contestants, volunteers and gay men got together. They supplied baby pictures so the room could be decorated in a kiddie pageant theme.

Next came a weekend away with some of my bridesmaid. We stopped for ice cream at every road side stall on the way to the beach.  We sat around and relaxed and shared stories and took naps. I was banished to my room one night to set up a party. We had decided there would be no gifts, but they just couldn't help themselves. To be honest, I am glad. They gave me their children's favorite books and 

we played ridiculous games and shared enormous 

cupcakes. Then the real gifts came out. Mini buttons with all my favorite things on 

them and hand written advice cards that made me cry. 

Then it was back to my childhood home for an epic celebration. Your family can't live in a town for 40 years and not have fewer than 60 people at a baby shower! My mom's good friends drowned me in love and baby items. But the best part were the buffet and goody 
bags all handmade by women I've known my entire life. Anyone can make chips and dip but macarons from scratch? SERIOUSLY? It 
was almost as impressive as me making a human!

An office shower kicked off the summer. We gathered for fried chicken and humor and an awkward game where my coworkers used 

string to guess my size. Somehow, appropriately, "The Voice" of the Newseum guessed it EXACTLY right. 

Now at 36 weeks the final thank you cards have been written for the neighborhood party. What was to be a simple BBQ turned into a 

heart warming evening. It started with a hand painted shelf in my favorite color and then every neighbor selected a children's book for the shelf. Classics, favorites and unknowns were added one by one till the shelf was full!

The nursery is still a disaster. The 10 year old IKEA computer desk is still in place and the crib is weeks away from delivery. My mom arrives in 2 weeks and then the room will 

suddenly look like a decorated room thanks to her fine touch. I just hope Bjorn doesn't 

arrive first.