Giving Birth to Boys

An excerpt from a recent Dooce post about her daughter's play date and the inevitable pile of toys that resulted.

At one point I was like, wait a minute, how did you guys manage to get this box of games down from the top of your closet, Leta? She didn't say a word and instead slowly tilted her head to the side while slyly turning up the corners of her mouth. And I knew instantly that I should just carry on with my life without being burdened by the answer to that question. I imagine that the exact same exchange happens almost every hour with women who have given birth to boys.

This is EXACTLY what I have in store for me. EXACTLY.

Book Signings

Today was a loooooong day where I attended the Invent Your Future Conference for Women, and because I am now fighting a pounding headache, I don't have much energy to write a long post.

But, I will tell you that I attended two book signings at the conference during the day. One was with Cokie Roberts, an amazing woman who I enjoy listening to, but who I know my parents LOVE EVEN MORE (Hi Mom and Dad!) and the other was with Bertice Berry who I had never heard of before the conference, but her stories were so wonderfully touching to me that she ended up being the highlight of the conference for me. In fact, her break-out session was exactly what I was looking for out of that conference, even though I didn't know it when I walked in and registered that morning.

The funny thing is, I also had a planned book signing to attend to this evening, in downtown Mountain View, to support my fave blogger Dooce (LOVE that woman!), whose book just came out recently as well.

That's right. Three book signings in one day.

I don't know what it is, but I've become more and more interested in attending book signings like these. I think I'm becoming a book signing slut! And boy, do these events just take it out of you. I'm now exhausted, nursing a headache and feeling a little grimy from playing musical conference chairs all day.

*sigh*

And, for those that are interested, the signed books now lying on my bedside table are:

• We Are Our Mothers' Daughters: Revised and Expanded Edition by Cokie Roberts
• The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory and Redemption by Bertice Berry
• It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong (Dooce)

Do I get around or what?

Oh, how we love our dogs

I am now a frequent reader of a blog called Dooce, pretty much ever since I discovered her randomly a couple of months ago? Anyway, Heather is labeled a "Mommy Blogger" but honestly she really doesn't talk as much about her daughter as she does about life in general. Among other things, she has two dogs that she writes about - HILARIOUS stories of - the kind that, as a dog owner myself, I can totally relate to.

Today's story - is the best so far. I was literally gasping for air and wiping the tears from my face.

And because of that, I need to link to it so you can read it too.

It may be long, but trust me. TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Enjoy.

Mommy Blogging

Has anyone heard this term: "Mommy Blogging"? I was just reading about it online earlier today. Apparently, my girlfriends and I are not all that unusual after all! It appears there is a new community of women who, instead of meeting at the local playground to share their pregnancy, kid, husband and life stories in general, blog about them online. It's really taken up quite an interest, particularly with the stay-at-home-mom community. What's more, many of the women who were at one point working full time and blogging, ended up QUITTING and turning this Mommy Blogging stuff into a full time career!!

WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!?! :)

I actually came across all this via another blog site - dooce.com - which is really a woman's collection of life observations and rants, who happens to ALSO be a mom, so she's bundled into the Mommy Blogger camp. Her writing is cynical, raw and hilarious - and if anyone is looking for some entertainment throughout the day, I'd suggest checking her site from time to time.

At any rate, she was recently interviewed on the Today show, to speak on the Mommy Blogging phenomenon. Her post about the trip includes a little snippet of the episode, where you can see other moms talk about their new careers as well. In case dooce.com doesn't do it for you, here are some others you can try:

1) Motherhood Uncensored. And, if you want to laugh so hard you cry, read her post about Secret Agent Moms. I'm still wiping the tears from my face. Yep, I'm now a fan.

2) Woulda Coulda Shoulda. A mom who feels "the intersection between 'cool mom' and 'terminal goody-two-shoes' is a precarious one.” A woman after my own heart.

3) Mom-101. Sarcastic, witty, and yet verbose. Cool.

4) Silicon Valley Moms Blog. If the above aren't enough -- this is a site that has MANY postings from all sorts of moms in the valley (or, if you want to read on Moms from other cities in the country - but who would, really? - they have links to their sister sites on the main page.)

So, what did I do for most of the day? Yeah, I had a few fires here and there at work to put out, but the rest of my day I wasted away reading these other blogs (it can get a little addicting I have to admit). And one by one, I have added them to my Reader Subscription list because, well, you just can't have too many funny, witty, Mommy Blogs to read about, now can you?