Happy New Year!

Hard to believe 2011 is within a few hours of being over. A year ago today we had 1 child, slept through the night routinely, had disposable income, and I was as big as a house! 🙂 As I write this, I’m in my baby’s room, watching him finish his bottle as his eyelids get heavier and heavier. It feels like he’s been a part of our life for far longer than 9 months! We really are so lucky– it’s amazing, really. Although in a lot of ways I think of NYE as a trumped-up holiday, I have to at least appreciate the opportunity for reflection it gives us.
Happy New Year, everyone!

“Word Cloud: How Toy Ad Vocabulary Reinforces Gender Stereotypes”

The other day I was rather troubled when my daughter referred to one of her sippy cups as being a “boy glass”. It has characters from Toy Story on it, and the one she always notices is Buzz Lightyear. As a formerly knee-jerk feminist (I’ve grown weary in my old age, but the sentiment is still there), it really troubled me to hear that, so now I’ve become even more focused on gender roles in what she sees. I happened across this article last night, which feeds into my current train of thought. It isn’t really surprising, but it’s interesting to see this quantified & displayed in such a visually compelling way.

http://www.achilleseffect.com/2011/03/word-cloud-how-toy-ad-vocabulary-reinforces-gender-stereotypes/

This week

It’s so strange to think about what life will be like in just a few short days… we’re due to meet our son in just a few days (unless he decides to move that timeline up!). Last time, I was paranoid about all the typical new mom stuff– delivery, nursing, life changes, etc. This time, I keep thinking of everything in terms of what it means to Audrey (how can we make her feel special? How do we make things as consistent as possible for her?). I almost worry we’re shortchanging the baby by not worrying about him more! 🙂 She knows there’s a baby in the abstract, but I’m sure she doesn’t really get how big a change this all will be (how could she?!). In an effort to keep some attention on her, we’ve signed her up for parent/tot ice skating lessons at a local rink. She’s been really excited lately to try out Ransom’s rollerblades, so hopefully this is a good experience for both of them. Now I need to find special Mommy/Daughter activities…

Audrey tries out Ransom's rollerblades

Security

I’ve been thinking lately about security as it relates to this blog. The idea of having my family exposed to people I don’t know (although I’m sure you’re lovely people) is more than a little disturbing. For that reason, I’m going to start password protecting any post that has to do with the family. If you’d like the password to the posts, please let me know.

Thanks!

Angie

Recommitting to posting

Thanks to a good friend (Leah, that’s you), I have recommitted to updating this blog. Unfortunately, I have very little I want to talk about right now… work takes up much of my day, and I don’t want to think about that right now. 🙂  Fortunately, tonight was Top Chef night, meaning a night of good conversation, wine, and friendship. I tried making the Tuscan Portobello Melt for Ransom and me, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it was when Joe & Kathryn made it with us a couple of years ago! Maybe with practice I’ll get better. Anyway, that tasty food got me thinking thinking about some creative/needed projects I can do around the house, so I’ll keep this updated with those as they develop.