Thursday, December 17, 2009

Sometimes jellybeans for breakfast isn't a good thing


When I was little, one of my favorite books was "Jellybeans for Breakfast." I don't remember all the details, but I think the gist of it was what would happen if parents vanished and children could do whatever they wanted to? Well, they could go to the moon for the morning, live in treehouses and drink out of acorn cups and of course eat jellybeans for breakfast!

Today, though, I got confirmation that children don't really know what's good for them and that eating jellybeans for breakfast is disgusting. I had to eat 18 jellybeans in 5 minutes flat at 7:20 this morning, in order to get tested for gestational diabetes. It was either eat the jellybeans or drink some horrid glucose potion that I had been warned was pretty terrible. And I'm sure it is ... it's just that stuffing your mouth full of jellybeans 30 minutes after you wake up probably isn't much better.

I hope to be able to read Baby D. my favorite book someday (although I doubt I'll be buying it - it's now out of print and more than $100 on ebay), and you know, I might even let my child gorge him/herself on jellybeans for breakfast one morning - just to learn that sometimes grownups really do know what's best.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Football fields of crib sheets

When it comes to registering for Baby D, I feel totally paralyzed. I went to Buy Buy Baby a few weeks ago, and when I saw a football field length of crib sheets, I started to wish I was giving birth 20 years ago, before the advent of the Internet and snazzy little laser guns that make it possible for any ignorant mom-to-be to build a registry list of 100+ products in eight minutes flat.

Now of course I want to be sure Baby D. has all that he/she needs, and I'm sure that involves crib sheets (although I've heard some newborns do just fine in a dresser drawer on top of some towels), but I'm really starting to wonder if it has to involve a registering as if I were getting married all over again.

And yes, I've heard the advice that you should just bring someone with you who knows what they're doing, who can tell you what you really need, what you really don't need, etc. But isn't every baby different? Every mother I've talked to seems to have a completely different opinion on what kind of stroller worked best for her baby/family, so how do I even know if the mother of my choice is going to line up with my lifestyle and my baby's personality?

I haven't yet come to a decision on what I'm going to do, but I have a feeling I'm going to wind up registering for a few critical items and figure out the rest as a I go along ... after all, isn't it most important for the mom-to-be to remain as relaxed and stressfree as possible? If so, then I'll take a prenatal massage over a laser gun any day!