The last professional photo shoot we had was when my daughter had just been born in August 2010. Today is November 12, 2012. I bought a shoot over a year ago on as a Groupon or Living Social Deal and just finally redeemed it today. Although I’m thrilled that we got some pictures taken, and…
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Baby’s first dress
Well, she’s been out about as long as she was in, and it’s gotten pretty warm here in the D.C. area. So I went ahead and put my almost-nine-month-old girl in a dress. For the first time. When my son had taken it out of the box sent by my mom a few weeks back,…
No, I don’t think I’ll become a Bradley instructor
I remember the first time I got a message from the Bradley Method® of Natural Childbirth after my son’s c-section in 2006. The subject heading — “The World Needs More Bradley® Instructors!” — didn’t exactly feel warm and fuzzy to my tender belly and the emotional guts beneath it. But it was the contents of…
Baby’s first photo shoot
Professional photos are not something I’ve pursued for my family. It took me over a year to redeem a free shoot I won from Holistic Moms Northern Virginia chapter‘s one-year anniversary party for pregnant belly shots. When I connected online just a week later with DC-area newcomer Lisa Hager of Red Thread Photography, I was…
Performance workshop for cesarean and VBAC mamas
A year ago, at the Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage weekend, I saw a staged reading of Karen Brody’s play Michelle Obama: Taskmaster. Now the author of Birth: The Play is holding what sounds like an amazing workshop for moms who have had cesarean sections and VBACs. If I didn’t have a newborn and live…
If you like my body…let me know!
Being pregnant in the summer is a different experience than having a baby due in March. My body is really out there. And I mean out there. But still, people have been pretty nice. One friend complimented me on how good I looked and then made the analogy: “like an olive on a stick.” I…
Feedback from Mothering magazine — how we all find our way
Dear Angie Ferrell of Norwood, Ohio and Jennifer M. of Danvers, Massachusetts, Thank you for writing letters (published in the July/August issue) about recent Mothering magazine news briefs on Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC). When I first read Jennifer’s letter, I thought she was responding to the piece I wrote in the May/June issue about…
The million-dollar question
During our week home sick together, my son did a lot of whining and a lot of snuggling. But he also came up with plenty of interesting things to say, including this question he asked of me while I was peeing: “When are you going to get a penis?” My response about that he would,…
Mama’s nose
Where did that glass door come from? I could have sworn it was open. Oh, that’s just another piece of glass there for show? Right. Thanks. My nose and its new scar really appreciate the optical illusion. “But why wasn’t there a doorknob?” my son asked when I explained why I had a cut on…
Art as birth activism
I’ve known artist Jessica Clements for a while, but it was a thrill this week to attend the symposium she organized and to see her MFA thesis exhibit of birth paintings on the campus of George Mason University, right in the middle of the Johnson Student Center. Talk about bringing art and activism to the…
A bra costs WHAT?
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on April 7, 2009 A bra costs WHAT? I feel like Sleeping Boobie. In 2006, I had a baby. Three years later, he weans and I find out that a nice bra costs as much as a good massage. I’m sure you can get a decent bra…
Size 2? Try 2T
I’ve always been small. Usually the smallest in my class until I was twelve, when for a brief period I even had an edge over a few classmates, even some boys. But then I just stopped growing. And I wasn’t the kind of athletic small that would make me good at gymnastics or anything. Truth…