Sunday Confessional

I caved. I bought a parenting book.

Let's put it this way. Guess who lost all her fucks to give along with sleep last night?

If you guessed this blogger and company, you are correct.

Coincidence? Nope. Needless to say, nose deep in THAT sleep training book today. Didn't want to go Ferber with Zuul, but, suddenly, he seems like my Obi-wan.

Goodbye, instinctive, baby led parenting pride!

Unsolicited Advice and Opinionated Diatribe: Have Daughter, Become Outspoken Feminist Edition

Don't let the title of this chapter fool you.  I've always been loud about women's issues.  But having a daughter, and watching the world suddenly go to shit has made me louder.

As for politics, I thought I was in the know, but, for eight years before getting knocked up, I actually got a gig for a government relations company that was a real eye opener.  During my stint, I got to see British Columbia elect it's second female Premier.  I didn't think this was a big deal, until I started paying attention to her interviews, her twitter feed, her Facebook page, etc. as part of my job duties.  As a smug Canadian who's had decades of complacency with the right to vote easily, socialized medicine, same-sex marriage, abortion rights and strong female political leaders, I thought sexism would be low on my radar.  I thought wrong.

Now, Zuul's here and shit just got real.  From sexism to slut shaming, victim blaming to all sorts of stupid coming from all angles, I got my flame thrower on and nobody's safe.  Be warned.

Enter my new Tumblr crush, Madam Premier, who screen captions sexist commentary directed at female politicians, mostly Canadian and from all political leanings, and comments about it on her blog.  This chick (see what I did there?) is my new hero.



From Madam Premier's blog:

"A collection of vulgar nastiness and extremely explicit comments about the female Premier of BC, whom this forum commenter thinks the gender of is a “novelty”."


Don't get me started on the cougar/MILF thing.  I missed the interview from a couple of months ago, but I don't know who I was more upset by, the moron that asked her if she considered herself to be a MILF or a cougar, or that she responded with anything other than side eye and scowl or by answering a la Hillary Clinton,  "Would you ask a man that question?"  I feel like playing along she failed all women in power.

But, that's not the point of this blog. The point is, for our daughters' sakes, we need more people like blogger Madam Premier, who fearlessly calls sexism out. Hopefully, by Zuul's generation, we'll finally do right by each other. Shamefully, we're still fighting this battle in mine.

***

Update: End of blog rewritten because I hopelessly fail at technology. But it has nothing to do with being pretty, chubby or having a vagina.

Sunday Confessional

When I decided to cut my hair, there was only one way I wanted it. Pixie short like Zuul's. Didn't quite work out that way, but I'm coping.

I've already been thinking about which hair colour I want to try next, and I want to try and dye it the same golden brown as Zuul's. I love her shade and, quite honestly, I'm a little bummed of everyone saying she looks like everyone but me.

This is incredibly Joan Crawford of me, isn't it.

Unsolicited Advice and Opinionated Diatribe: Sleep, baby. Sleep.

Zuul's 8.75 months now, and sleep is a battlefield.

While I can't seem to get her to stay asleep at night for very long anymore, I have found that my iPad is the best tool, next to my pacifying tits, for getting her to fall asleep, even if for a very short time, using the following:

The Baby Music Box app from 7 Druids.

This is a free app with some additional, ad free features for purchase. I have not purchased them though. For some reason, the creepy stuffed giraffe, orca, monkey and teddy bear, floating through space with either a simple music box tune (similar to those used in far too many horror movies) or hippy nature sounds seems to be enough to lull my little one to sleep. I manage to counter my own heebie jeebies by imagining the pull cords are anal beads, which makes me giggle like a 12 year old boy.

In The Night Garden.

WTF is this? Mugglef*ck#ng magic! That's what. I've seen terrible reviews about how these kinds of baby-talking tv shows (reminiscent of Teletubies, I'm told), are terrible for babies. 'Something, something, bad for language development, tv is the devil, blah, blah, blah', don't give a rats ass. All those squeeks and farts over, I'm assuming, a narration by a relative of David Attenborough puts Zuul in a sleepy place and that's all that matters.

iPad Photos Slideshow with Music.

I may be creating either a megalomaniac, an Internet troll or a veterinarian doing this as my iPad photos are filled with pictures of Zuul, Subversive Dog and memes I save for future use, but I'm ok with that. Set that shit up on dissolve, throw on a little Esperanza Spalding and watch her drift away.

So, if you, like me, are going through the wonder weeks or sleep regression, and own some sort of tablet device, I highly recommend giving these a shot.

Sunday Confessional

Whatever drugs the creators of In The Night Garden were using? I want them.