Perlu edit everyone used to be a baby

Personal choice is something that is hilarious, clever, and ends happily ever after. Tom, on the other hand, likes movies that premiered at film festivals, have awards on the cover, and that are either tragic or disturbing. We soon adopted the non-negotiable system of taking turns to choose.

Anyway, the other night Tom came home with a movie called Harry Brown. Its about an old pensioner who lives on a council estate in London that is over run with drugs and gangs. When his friend is murdered, he takes matters into his own hands and being an ex-Marine, he hunts down all the druggie gangsters and kills them all. Think Taken meets Trainspotting.  It was beautifully filmed, ridiculously disturbing and absolutely brilliant (it pretty much predicted the 2011 London Riots although it was filmed in 2009). Despite being really good, it was pretty graphic and dark and left you feeling like there are a lot of evil people in this world.

There was one really bad dude – a herion-shooting, human-trafficking, drug-selling creep who literally made my skin crawl.
He was disgusting.

But somewhere along the way, the thought occurred to me.

innocent hands

He used to be a baby.
He was once a tiny little bubs just like Will, who smiled and gurgled. He was born a clean slate, an innocent little person who was made to be snuggled and loved and cooed over.

And that got me thinking about all the messed up, evil people out there. The murderers and rapists and drug dealers.
They used to be babies, too.

Its kind of made me look at people differently. I know this world is messed up. After watching that movie, I wonder how my gorgeous little baby is going to survive such a horrible place. I don’t understand such evil, and why people do the things they do.

But this thought – that everyone used to be a baby – is making me look at people with more forgiveness, compassion, respect and dignity. They may have made terrible choices in their life, but they were once squriming, innocent, squishy little babies. Maybe, if they had been loved and nurtured and affirmed, those choices would have been different.

So next time you start hating on someone – even someone in a movie – just remember…

Everyone used to be a baby.

how to find me time”

One of my favourite people in the whole world is Tina Fey.by jessicabasson in have a laugh 

You may know her as Liz Lemon, from the show 30 Rock (which is the best show ever. EVER.) When I went into hospital to have Will, my amazing husband Tom bought me Tina’s autobiography Bossypants. Its hilarious, easy to read, and will literally make you laugh out loud – which sucks when you’ve just had a C-section.

So this week’s post is essentially a guest post from my good friend Tina, an excerpt from her fantastic book on how to carve out “Me Time.”

Me Time

Any expert will tell you, the best thing a mom can do to be a better mom is carve out a little time for herself. Here are some great “me time” activities you can do.

1. Go to the bathroom a lot.

2. Offer to empty the dishwasher.

3. Take ninety-minute showers. (If you only shower every three or four days, it will be easier to get away with this.)

4. Say you’re going to look for the diaper creme, then go into your child’s room and just stand there until your spouse comes in and curtly says, “What are you doing?’

5. Stand over the sink and eat the rest of your child’s dinner while he or she pulls at your pant leg asking for it back.

6. Try to establish that you’re the only one in your family allowed to go to the post office.

7. “Sleep when your baby sleeps.” Everyone knows this classic tip, but I say why stop there? Scream when your baby screams. Take Benadryl when your baby takes Benadryl. And walk around pantless when your baby walks around pantless.

8. Read! When your baby is finally down for the night, pick up a juicy book like Eat, Pray, Love or Pride and Prejudice or my personal favourite: Understanding Sleep Disorders: Narcolepsy and Apnea: A Clinical Study. Taking some time to read each night really taught me how to feign narcolepsy when my husband asked me what my “plan” was for taking down the Christmas tree.

Just implementing four or five of these little techniques will prove restorative and give you the energy you need to not drink until nighttime.

QUESTION: What do you indulge in as a survival technique?
Mine is nougat. With macadamia nuts. Whats yours? 

why surviving motherhood is the opposite of a scene in Lord of the Rings

I have this friend who is very wise. She has this amazing way of listening to you, making all kinds of insightful comments that  make you feel like you just explained yourself very well, and then she suggests things in such a way that you don’t feel like she’s giving you advice, but rather that you are discovering a solution together. She’s rather brilliant.by jessicabasson in food for thought 

Anyway, a bunch of us moms meet every week to chat, drink tea, laugh, cry and pray. A few weeks ago, this friend of mine gave me one of the most useful pieces of advice I think a mother could hear.

If things are going well, it will pass.
If things are going badly, it will pass.

Its like in Lord of the Rings when they’re in the depths of Mount Moria, and Gandalf stands before the fiery demon Bal-rog, and the Grey Wizard faces the Bal-rog head on and slams his staff down, and says…

“YOU SHALL NOT PASS.”

But the opposite of that.

Whatever is going on, its not going to stay that way.

Happiness is a sleeping baby

If your baby is sleeping through, never cries, and hasn’t leaked poop through its clothes for ages – its not going to stay that way.

If your baby is awake for 6 hours in a row, cries til his little face goes purple, and has pooped into your hand at 2am – its not going to stay that way.

This advice has really connected with me. It helps me keep perspective when I’m overwhelmed, sleep-deprived and frustrated. It also makes me appreciate what is going on and not get to0 comfortable with my circumstances.

QUESTION: What is the most helpful advice you’ve had recently?Share your advice with the rest of us. You know we need it. 

i dipped my baby’s face in poo water

The story goes that in our little family of three, my husband Tom is the one who baths baby William. Its their special bonding time.by jessicabasson in have a laugh Tags: baby, bath time, family, laugh, poo, rookie

I bustle around getting pajamas ready, tidying up the room, and making the ever wonderful “jungle juice” for the night feeds. Tom brilliantly cleans the munchkin, finishing off with a massage next to the heater. Its a picture of domestic bliss and marital partnership.

But the day came when Tom was not here. He was not here to test the temperature of the water, hold the slippery baby, clean the head without getting water in the eyes. He was away. And so, I had to bath Will.

Everything was going fine (read: we had hardly started the process), I lathered up his squishy little limbs and lowered him into the plastic tub. That’s when it happened.

He pooed.

In the bath.

In the water in the bath that he was in.

He was in poo water.

Enter rookie mom panic. Do I take him out? Do I start all over again? Do I just rinse off the soap as quickly as possible?

(Did I mention there was now poo in the bath?)

I went for the latter. I decided that I should just get the soap off him and get him out as quick as possible. So, holding him cradled in my one arm, I rinsed off as much soap as I could  Then I remembered that Tom always turned Will onto his tummy (“It’s his favourite part of the bath”) and rinsed his back off. I had to do his favourite part. Right?

I gently flipped the little dude over onto his tummy, and ran my hand down his back. So nice. So lovely.

But oh, ok, wait….not so nice…

WHEN YOU DIP YOUR BABY’S FACE INTO POO WATER.

That’s right. My piddly I-haven’t-exercised-for-more-than-9-months bicep just couldn’t handle, and dip, into the poo water did young William submerge. Face forward.

He was chilled. I was not. It was kind of hilarious and really, all I could do was laugh and apologise and laugh some more. Poor little guy was totally unfussed but then, he was only a week old and didn’t really get the whole face in poo thing.

Not my finest moment as a rookie mom. But Will is still alive, no diseases or pink eye. And life rolls on.

QUESTION: What is your “not my finest moment”?
C’mon. Spill the beans. Join the club. You know you want to.

Read More: http://kambingputihblog.blogspot.com/