motherhood

Today I worked a 9 hour shift at our local health food store. Tomorrow is Rosalynn's first birthday party at my sister's house and she would like us to be there by noon, for a party that's at 2 . Which means I will be getting up at 10, if the baby doesn't get up before then. I still have at least a cake to make, maybe two. Things to clean, diapers to wash and a baby to take care of. My boyfriend is busy sleeping.

Even with Nik not working (he lost his job), working part time and having a baby is a juggling act and a hard one. Partly because I am still expected to act like a stay at home mom, while at home, while I am also expected to act like an employee at work. In both cases I am thinking about other things, while in both environments. Both are causing me to space out completely. I almost charged someone $1,116.00, instead of $116.00 in groceries this morning. Oops. When I left I forgot to check my schedule for this up coming week, I hope I don't forget to call in and ask.

Ugh. Let me explain that laptops are not good for blogging. The whole not having a real mouse thing creates alot of mistakes. As a result I have written this blog 4 times now.

So to make things short:

Here is another blog about the event I went to Tuesday, including pictures. Can anyone guess which one is me and the baby? beentheredonethat.typepad.com

Then I passed out copies of the Motherhood Manifesto, which you can buy from MomsRising.com

BTW if you don't hear alot from me in the next few days or weeks its because I am very busy.

I recently received an email from MomsRising with this surprising fact:

Mothers are 79 percent less likely to be hired than non-mothers with the same resumes!

Work place discrimination doesn't stop with the application process. Single women without children make 90 cents to the dollar of what a man would make; while married mothers make only 73 cents to the dollar and single mothers only 60 cents to the dollar. Nor does workplace discrimination end with getting less pay. Pregnant women have no right to paid maternity leave, only 6 weeks unpaid maternity leave. In some states women have no legal right to breastfeed their child or pump breastmilk during work hours, even though NOT pumping could cause infections of the breast or cause a woman to "dry up" and be unable to breastfeed her child when she is not at work.

Big News: Nicole Richie's Baby is in Danger!

Well according to Star Magazine anyways. Her days of "hard living" could cause her 12 week old fetus to be miscarried or suffer from birth defects.

What about HER life? What about her dying from her anorexia that the media claims she has (I'm not saying that she does or does not have an eating disorder, just that the media is making that claim not Nicole Richie or her family), what about her dying when she was driving on the wrong side of an LA freeway, what about her life when the media claimed she was doing "heroin and pills"? Why when she makes the "right" decision according to the conservatives in our society and continues her pregnancy despite her battles with addiction, is she being set up to become the next "bad mommy" in our media? Why does our media care more about Nicole Richie's fetus, then Nicole Richie?

My daughter is turning 6 months in less then a week. I've never heard more conflicted advice then when it comes to parenting. Whats right and wrong seem all up in the air with no facts, studies or hard evidence to back anyone up. This leaves parents, but mostly mothers conflicted, against each other and themselves. Everyone is in such a battle to be right, that no one is taking the time to see what is right for one family isn't right for another. I'm not talking about the "mommie wars" here, but every single action a parent takes in regards to parenting.

The biggest myth about Motherhood is that a mom always has to be right, do the right thing, be the best care giver for her child and NEVER EVER make a mistake or what someone else might perceive as one. Fathers on the other hand are allowed to make mistakes. A dad not knowing how to change a diaper is considered "cute", a dad who actually knows how to throw together a bottle of formula is considered a hero.

Today I read an article about women who have given up their uteruses to Jesus. These “Quiverfull” parents aim to bear six or more children, rejecting all forms of birth control as a defiance of Christ’s divine power over women’s reproduction capabilities. “Our bodies are meant to be a living sacrifice” states one family, and their children are future soldiers in God’s army.