Owner: Problem Girl URL:http://newbabynews.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:14:36 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Adventures in baby poop, Aspergers, surrogacy, bad neighbors and the never-ending struggle with a pile of dirty laundry. Site statistics:Click here
Bad news, good news 2007-03-15 16:33:00 The bad news? Joseph climbed into my bed last night at about 2:00 and threw up.The good news? He threw up all over Jesse's pillows and not mine.
Oh fine! 2007-03-18 16:52:00 Because every other person in the entire world is doing one! Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™
Jen is 2007-03-18 03:52:00 I'm stealing this idea from Ben. Let's see what google has to say about me.1. Jen is an exceptional person who is to be worshipped and adored at all times.2. Jen is a compassionate, loving, fun and caring person. 3. Jen Is The New Blog.4. Jen is yummy! 5. Jen is an inspiring, creative survivor.6. Jen Is A Player Hater.7. Jen is staying in a peaceful hotel with gorgeous gardens and a view of the volcano.8. Jen is climbing out a tunnel under a tree. 9. Jen is a choreographer in demand for her expertise in Lindy Hop10. Jen is to good for Bard!11. Jen is a high-level Java™ classworking toolkit that harnesses the power and performance of ASM in a convenient, easy to work with package.12. Jen Is Bringin' The Drugs.13. Jen is a Fine Example of What a Plumbette Should Be!14. Jen is a sarcastic remarking, bookloving, entertainment seaking, people loving, life challenging, question asking, fun loving, music inspiring kinda girl.15. Jen is looking for her contact.16. Jen is not pretentious
What's new? 2007-03-19 21:37:00 What's new? In Jesse news, men are so sensitive. Can you believe that Jesse actually got mad at me when I said his new haircut made him look like a Mighty Bean? What's up with that?In Joseph news, his IEP case manager continues to be incredible. She's a big part of why I'm thinking I'll keep him at his current school next year. I just found out today that the district is cutting 17 special ed staff jobs and her postion is one that might be cut. Frustrating! The good news is that she's been such a huge part of Joseph's growth this school year. We're really lucky that he's got such great people on his team. So keep you fingers crossed that she'll still be there next year.In Elle news, she has learned to say "applesauce" and it's cute as can be. We probably ask her to say it about 20 times a day. It's just so funny to hear this big word come out of a such a tiny little person.In me news, the surrogacy continues to move forward. I got my first monthly allowance payme
Hot or Not revisited 2007-03-20 17:25:00 You know what I haven't done in a long time? Mocked people for being so needy and insecure that they posted pictures of themselves on Hot or Not. Now some of these pics may be repeats but if they are then I forgot that I used them already so I'm going to use them again. Deal with it won't you?Hey, if anyone finds this guys pelvis laying around somewhere, can you send it back to him?The best thing about this girl is that she listed her interests as including "God, bible study, christianity and moral behavior". I kid you not.Is it just me or does it look like she's about to throw up? Bulimia is hot!It's too bad he wasn't able to take this picture before his landlord installed those new low-flow shower heads.Holy cow! How big are those brackets they used to hang up that tiny little shelf? And it's hung on the dirtiest wall I have ever seen in my life. Grime is not hot.Oh my god. What an asshole. I hate this guy so much. I've never even met him and I hate him. I feel dir
Hugs 2007-03-22 18:00:00 Because I can't give her a hug for real.....Hugs are good medicine. Do you know someone who could use a hug today?
So aggravated 2007-03-22 03:51:00 I'm so annoyed right now. There is still no final word on an egg donor. All I know is that they're trying to make the final decision. Well that's all fine and good but we've been at this stage forever! I've been waiting for a really long time now. I'm trying to be upbeat and positive about this but it's starting to get really frustrating. I started looking into surrogacy about 8 months ago and I feel like at this point I've just sort of hit a wall. We've been stuck at this "final decision" stage forever. Don't get me wrong, I understand that they want to be 100% certain that they've made the right choice. I get how important it is. I'm just frustrated. Maybe it's a totally invalid way to feel and I'm just being a big jerk about all this. I can't help it though, I'm just aggravated.
Good health is killing me 2007-03-21 15:18:00 By now you already know that I've managed to nearly kill myself (several times) with my neti pot. Everyone laughs at me about that and says "Why don't you just take drugs?" But I stuck with it, certain that the neti pot was the way to good health. And I still think it might be. And as soon as I am able to use it without nearly drowning I will tell you all about it. Oh what a glorious day it will be when I can gloat about how I got water to gush through my sinuses.But yesterday I discovered a fun, new way to nearly die while trying to get healthy. (And no, I didn't go jogging because people who do that just aren't right in the head.*) I took an all natural fiber capsule that I got a free sample of at the natural foods co-op.** I figured that I could use a little extra fiber in my diet. I mean, I'm pushing 30 and I think I remember reading that as you get older it gets harder to "go". Or maybe I just made that I because I really wanted to use that free sample. ***So I take
Pay Per Post 2007-03-21 15:03:00 If you've been reading my blog for a little while you've probably seen me do a few of those Pay Per Post
posts where I talk about random things like dating sites or sites that sell big ass medalions. So you're no dummy, you probably already figured out that I do those for a reason. And you probably already figured out the reason. That's right, I do it all for the nookie.Oh, wait. That's not right. I meant to say that I do them for the wildly easy money that I can earn. It's called blog marketing and there's some pretty easy money to be made in it. For 5-10 minutes of "work" I can earn between $5 and $10 a post. That may not sound like that much to you corprate types (note to self- find out if any corporate types read this blog) but to a SAHM who's looking for a little extra ebay money, it's pretty great.Here's the best thing about Pay Per Post: Anyone can do it. You don't have to have 8 billion readers, you don't have to be especially witty (case in point, me) you
Good news 2007-03-23 22:17:00 The egg donor, she is picked! Like for real picked, not kinda sorta maybe tentativly picked. Picked picked. She still have to have her medical screening (and I'm not sure how long that will take to set up) and the results take about 2 weeks but after her results come in I will get started on meds to synch my cycle up with hers. I should know a little better exactly what kind of timeline we're looking at pretty soon.This is for real now!
My first tag! 2007-03-23 15:23:00 I've never been tagged before! I mean, before today. But now I've been tagged by Shannon with this:"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to."1. My Girl - Nirvana Unplugged - I just think this is a really cool song. The Leadbelly version is really good too but this is the one I like a little better.2. Jackson - Johnny Cash & June Carter - I love this song. Joseph likes it too so we sing it together in the car.3. Down to the River to Pray - Oh Bother Where Art Thou Soundtrack - I ignore the religious aspects of this song because it's just so pretty. It's a specail treat when I can get Joseph to sing this one with me because he really has the sweetest little voice ever.4. Crush - Mandy Moore - Shut up, I just like it ok?5. I Will Survive - Gloria Gayner - Another one that we listen to a lot because Joseph likes it.6. Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash -
Blackscene.com 2007-03-23 15:04:00 I know why you come to this blog. It's for reviews of dating sites. And I know that right now you're saying "Jen, you're the whitest person that has ever lived on the face of the earth. Where do I, a single black person, go to find love on the net?" Luckily for you and your oddly specific question I have just the place for you! Blackscene.com is a dating site with (according to them) hundreds of new members a day.I put aside my fears that my overpowering whiteness would somehow be detected through my computer screen and browsed around the site a bit. It seems pretty easy to use and has all the typical dating site features like a member search and a list of users that are currently online. The only thing I noticed that seemed kind of strange about the site was that as I was checking it out three of the people featured on the homepage were not black. That seemed strange for a site devoted to "Black Dating".But anyway, check it out and tell them that I sent you. I'm sure they
Pretty in pink 2007-03-22 21:50:00 I was folding laundry and Elle took a shirt out of the basket and then put it on all by herself. I don't even care that the house looks like a tornado ran through it, I just had to share this. Ignore my big pile o' ebay crap on the table and focus on the cotton candy colored blob of adorable instead.Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos Read more:Pretty
What's the internet? 2007-03-26 15:49:00 I read way too many blogs. I just added a bunch recently too. I'm out of control! I need to figure out what in the hell an RSS feed is so that I don't have to go clicking all over the place to see if anyone has updated or not. How do those things work? Anyone?Oh crap, I just realized there are two more people I forgot to add to my list. In the meantime, I would not have understood this joke last year and I have some awesome/horrible people to thank/strangle for that.And this is hilarious!
Nice ads, whore 2007-03-26 14:58:00 So whatdo you think about these Pay Per Post ads? And no, this is not a sponsored post, it's just me talking about them. See, I guess in the blogging world PPP are kind of looked down on. People come here for stories about baby poop and when you get here and find me babbling on about light fixtures or dating sites then you're probably confused and angry and scared. You want baby poop dammit!So why do I do these ads if they're such an eyesore? It's simple really. We're a four person family surviving on a single income. We've made it work for the most part but we do have to skimp on a lot of the exras. So when I'm able to bring in $5 here and $6 there through things like this then I have to kind of jump on that. It helps us out a little bit in the places where our budget is stretched thin.I find these PPP things to require very little effort for the payoff. I'm able to make a lot more money on ebay (that's my real money maker there) but this is quicker and easier. I'
More dating sites! 2007-03-25 21:31:00 I know you. I know what you're asking for. More dating sites reviewed! So here's another one for you. ChristianLifestyle.com is a Christian Dating site that promises to help you meet the Christian man or woman of your dreams. The site has all the standard search features and it lets you know who's online as you search. The problem that I see with the site is that there just aren't a lot of people on it. If, for example, a woman in my town wanted to search for a man between the ages of 18 and 99 she might be a little sad to find that there's only one in a 200 mile radius. And he enjoys quilting. Not that there's anything wrong with that!Anyway, I'm sure this is a fine site and if you're a single person who likes God and doesn't mind dating a quilter, check it out. Tell them I sent you. I'm sure they'll remember me from the stench of sin I carried with me as I browsed through their profiles.The words and opinions in this blog post are purely my own. This post was sponso
A timeline 2007-03-29 21:58:00 Ok, minor surrogacy timeline update! The egg donor is going to have her medical testing done on April 6th. The results of that usually take about 2 weeks. After all that is done I will finally be put on medication to get my cycle synched up with the donor. Knowing how this has all gone though I'm sure that a dozen different delays will pop up before anything happens.If all goes well with this surrogacy and I chose to do it again, chances are it will not go the way this one has. It's pretty rare for IPs to chose a surrogate without having chose a donor and it's virtually unheard of for IPs to take this long to chose a donor. Most of the time surrogates are rushed along from one step to the next because they are the final piece of the puzzle. It's been a little stessful for me to have been the first piece in place. I feel like I've been in a holding pattern just waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen. I don't have any control over how this goes so I pretty
Not much to say 2007-03-29 18:34:00 I don't really huve much to say lately. Things have just been kinda chugging along and not being very interesting.Still no news on a timeline for the egg donor. I guess I could call my caseworker and ask about it but she probably already thinks I'm a nag. I'll wait till tomorrow to call her.I had mentioned a little while back that I was going to try to get Joseph seen by a moblie assesment unit so that we could get a diagnosis for him. Looks like that's a no go for now. He's having a ton of stuff done through school right now so that we can write our his IEP for next year and there has to be at least 6 months between a lot of the tests he would have done in order for them to be considered valid. I don't know exactly why it works that way but I do know that they won't have him go through all the assements now since he just did all the stuff through school. Whatever. We've gone this long without a "label" for Joseph, 6 more months won't matter.I've been "tagged" again f
30 Deeds for 30 Days 2007-03-31 22:54:00 Share!: Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+C to copyI will be turning 30 on April 20th and I decided that this year I would like to do something special to celebrate. I've come up with something that I think will be a lot of fun. It's called 30 Deeds for 30 Days.The idea behind 30/30 is that for every day in April you do one small thing (or big thing) to make a difference in your world. A couple of ideas for things that you could do are:Donate some time to a local charity.Help an elderly neighbor with some yardwork.If you go out to eat and your waitress is good, make a point to mention to the manager how good her service was (and leave a good tip).Pick up a couple of extra things at the grocery store and drop them off at a food shelf.Give a genuine compliment to someone you don't really get along with.Drop a couple of coins in a meter that's about to expire.The point of this is no good deed is too small. 30 small deeds can add up to a lot of positive change in your world. The more peop
Boobs, glorious boobs 2007-03-30 20:25:00 I think that there are very few things in this world more lovely and wonderful to look at than a baby who's happily nursing. I just think it's a really nice thing to see. Of course not everyone feels that way.Before I had Elle I really didn't know there was such a big mommy war going on between women who nurse and women who don't. I just figured everyone fed their babies the best they could and didn't really care all that much what everyone else did. And then I became a breastfeeder and a mommyblogger and I saw, holy crap, this is serious stuff here. And then I picked a side.I won't be dainty about this. After struggling with nursing for the first few months (and many, many, many times of nearly giving up) and then slowly growing to love it I know what I feel is right. I don't think there is any really valid reason for not nursing if you are able to. Except in cases where a) the mother physicaly unable to b) the baby is unable to c) there is no mother in the picture I just think
30 Deeds for 30 Days - Day 1 2007-04-01 18:42:00 I decided to go global for todays deed. I wanted to give this website I found a try. For my first deed I went to Kiva.org and donated some money. If you've never heard of Kiva it's acutally pretty cool. From the site: "Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back."The site is really easy to use and search so if you're so inclined, give it a look. Check out the profile of the person that I donated to here. I won't lie, I picked her because I can see little baby feet sticking out from behind her. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.Leave me a comment! I can't wait to hear what you're doing!
30 Deeds for 30 Days - Day 3 2007-04-03 18:58:00 Ok, Day 3. All I know for sure is that I am in a monstrously bad mood today. It might have something to do with the fact that the weather just said we could get up to 6 inches of snow today. Sometimes I hate Minnesota so much!Joseph's school is taking part in in the American Heart Association's Jump rope for Heart. In Joseph's words "We have to raise money to give to 'hostiples' so they can buy new medicines." Isn't that a good cause? And yes, he still says "hostiples" and frankly I hope he never stops because I think it's so cute. Anyway, I set up Joseph's on-line donation page (you can find it here) and for today's good deed I'll be donating money to that cause.On a hilarious/sad note, Joseph told me that his school doesn't have any jump ropes so rather than do that, all the kids are just going to go in the gym and jump together.I know there are a few people out there doing good deeds because I've seen my banner on a few sites. Leave me a comment about what you're doing
What's killing Jen today? 2007-04-02 23:02:00 I have wrestled with a high chair. I have done battle with my neti pot. I have fought with fiber. I have come out on top every time. So what nearly killed me today? Gather round children and I'll tell you a story 'bout a gal named Jen, poor Minnesotan, trying not to get dead.I was talking on the phone today and I noticed something itchy on the front of my right shoulder. I figured it was a crumb or something on my bra strap so I kind of pushed the strap aside and kept talking. I slowly started to notice that the itch wasn't going away. I kept talking on the phone but the itch was getting worse and worse. When I got off the phone I pulled my shirt aside and looked at my shoulder. The whole front and top my my shoulder was red. What the heck? I look my bra over and can't see anything on it that should be giving me problems so I put a little lotion on the red area, fix my stap and make another phone call.This phone call was to the therapist at my surrogacy agency. I have
30 Deeds for 30 Days - Day 2 2007-04-02 15:52:00 I haven't done my deed yet today but I'm going to post about it now because I will be doing it this afternoon. I am going to drop off a bunch of stuff at Anna Marie's. I have some clothes and shoes and bath stuff from my MIL that I'm going to take over. I also have some baby clothes and toys that we no longer need here that I'm going to take over. I was going to save some of that stuff for a garage sale but I think I would rather see it go to someone who really needs it. I'm also going to get together some bathroom stuff to take over too since they're always in need of basics like shampoo and soap.Anna Marie's is one of my pet causes and I take stuff over there several times a year. I wonder if I should look into doing some hands on volunteer work there? Can't wait to hear what your deed was for the day!
I'm laughing with him, not at him 2007-04-04 19:25:00 Yesterday I had a meeting at school to go over the results of Joseph's assesments. It was really interesting to hear what everyone had to say about him. The things I found the most interesting were some of the things the school's autism expert had to say. (I respect her opinon a lot, she was the one who first assesed Joseph back when he was really little.) She talked about how during the observation she saw him walk around with his hands in front of him, with his fingertips touching. She also said she saw him cross and uncross his fingers a lot. Those are some little things that I a) don't know to look for and b) see him do so often that I don't even notice them anymore. She (and a couple of other people who observed him) also noticed a kind og sing-song pattern and tone to the way he talked. Again, I hear it all the time so I just sort of forget he does it.A few things I was glad to hear them talk about were the way he has difficulty in establishing eye contact and how he se
30 Deeds for 30 Days - Day 4 2007-04-04 18:44:00 I had something special planned for today but I can't do it because Joseph and I are both sick and running fevers so we can't leave the house. Instead I made a donation to Habitat for Humanity. I have more hands-on type of deeds planned but I'll have to save those for a day when I don't feel like my head has been run over by a bus.
Good school news 2007-04-05 23:34:00 My big hope for school nest year is that we will be able to get a shared para for Joseph. That means there would be someone in the classroom with him at all times to help him in the areas he's having troube with (writing and social skills). Since it would be a shared para situation they would also be there to help out another student, probably a student with needs similar to Joseph's. I think this would be the ideal situation for Joseph.Today when I went to pick him up I ran into his IEP case manager I told her that I was really hopeful that we would be able to get a shared para. She told me that earlier this afternoon she spoke to the autism specialist who assesed Joseph and that she (the specialist) was going to reccomend a shared para for next year. She also told me that this carries a lot of weight and will probably help us bypass some of the difficulties that people often face when trying to access the services of para.So it's not a sure thing yet but it's looking good.
30 Deeds for 30 Days - Day 5 2007-04-05 22:25:00 When I was pregnant with Elle I signed up with every formula company out there for free samples and coupons. Then I sold them all on ebay. I still get stuff once in a while and last week I sold some coupons for $10 off formula. The person who won the auction wrote me and asked if it would be ok if there was a little delay in paying because she was finding herself a little short on money. I told her it was no biggie and to just pay me when she could. So today she paid me for the auction and wrote a nice note thanking me for being so nice.I'm going to get her stuff ready to mail tonight and I'm going to include another $10 that I got in the mail yesterday. I know what it's like to be in a tight spot and I thought maybe that might help out a little bit. And, since I'm in such a good mood I won't even mention to her that she could be feeding her baby for free! (I know, I know. There might be a good reason she's not nursing. Don't bother to point it out to me.)What did you do
Blogrolls are love 2007-04-05 22:03:00 Thank you to the people who told me to get myself a reader. I love it. I want to add every blog I see to my reader just so that I'll always have a ton of stuff to read when I click on it. I love it so much that I have decided to get rid of my old, outdated blogroll and just add a list of recently read items from my blog reader. I like the way it looks and it gives people some new blogs to browse if they're so inclined.I've had a lot of fun browsing other people's blog rolls in the past. I've discovered some real gems out there. I wish I had discovered hera long time ago. I love her thoughts on Gapmoms and I love this post for lots of reasons but mostly because it talks about the same thing I did here. I love it when people agree with me. (Ok, so she wrote hers first but I swear I wrote mine before reading hers.)Anway, I'm loving the heck out of my blog reader. It really doesn't take much to make me happy.
30 Deeds for 30 Days - Day 7 2007-04-08 06:11:00 My good deed for the day was to get along with some people that I had to be with today that I frankly really can't stand. That might not seem like a big deal but trust me, for me to even be in the same room as a couple of these people was a struggle. I just stayed determined to put out good energy and it all turned out to be not as bad as I worried it was going to be.
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