Fabulous Miss S.

Halloween Event in DC: Boo at the Zoo

One of the most talked about events in Washington this time of year is Boo at the Zoo, a trick-or-treating costume-viewing, animal watching extravaganza. 

The National Zoo puts on Boo at the Zoo for a few days each October in celebration of Halloween.  This year, after much encouragement from others we are planning to attend.  I have heard people rave about this event so now it's time to check it out!  I wasn't planning to take Noah this year because he is so young but several people twisted my arm, so ... join me!

We are bid fans of the National Zoo, there are many improvements going on and it such a kid-friendly place.  Noah loves the animals, especially the Kids Farm area and the gorillas.  

There will be a variety of animal experiences, involving termites and tigers ... I can't tell you anymore because I've never been, but I'll write more about it next week because we're going!

The event runs October 23, 24, and 25 from 5:30-8:30.  Tickets need to be purchased ahead of time, click here for ticket information, and, consider taking Metro because parking is limited.  There will be a shuttle running from the Woodley Park Metro station so you can avoid the uphill walk.  

Tickets for Saturday night are already sold out -- so hurry and get tickets now for Friday or Sunday. 

If you see me there, be sure to stop me and say hi.  I'll be going as a pregnant lady and Noah may or may not be in costume.  That'll be a game time decision, on his part. 

p.s. bring a trick-or-treat bag for all the goodies

VBAC?

I'll be writing more about the issues of VBAC vs. Repeat Elective Cesarean in the upcoming days and weeks, however, I did a short piece over at DC Metro Moms this past weekend on the subject. 

My second child is due in about three and a half months and I want to have a VBAC, a vaginal birth after cesarean.  My son was born two years ago via a necessary c-section because after meconium-laden-broken-water and hours of pitocin I never dilated beyond 2 centimeters and he never got into position, so to speak. It was a routine and normal c-section with an uncomplicated, albeit painful, recovery.

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Book Discussion: This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

I believe that you can find solace, clarity and a deeper understanding of yourself through reading and it isn't often that an author manages to capture my own family in such a magnificently compelling way.  This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper made me realize that even when a family relates on a level of wicked, biting humor and nasty comments and constant jokes, they still love each other and can come together when it really matters. This is of course, good news.

Tropper has a way of manipulating words that leaves the reader shocked at the clarity and insightfulness of his writing.  Likewise with his characters and personality quirks.  If my husband read about Barry and his BlackBerry he just might see how others find him when he stares intently at the little technological contraption. 

Relatable, real and raw! Some of the issues between family members really strike too close to home for me to detail why they are so poignant to me personally, but I will say that hearing siblings fondly recall childhood memories where they find comfort and love and friendship in each other is heartwarming to me as a parent.  It is the reason at the base of the pyramid for why I choose to have my children close in age and why I want to give them siblings more than anything else.  It is a bond they will have forever.  They will have relationships of which I am not a part.  And that is okay.  Also, as a mother, I'm very fascinated by how children reflect on their parents when they become adults.  I wonder what parts of me my children will recall.  This story was so real that these "characters" gave me great insight and a lot to ponder.

This is a brilliantly honest novel. 

He takes care of his Mommy

Clarity

If you are reading this now then I've taken password protection off of this website for now. Last week I added that feature to essentially take down this website so that I could have some time to think about what I wanted to say, if anything, and what I wanted to do with this website that had inadvertently and mistakenly suddenly become the root of anger, resentment and hurt. 

I have considered taking down this website indefinitely, calling out the misread statement and screaming back about just how hurt I am over what was done to me, never mentioning it again and some combination of the above. 

I have realized that simply writing my feelings here on the Internet and making it public is making myself vulnerable to criticism which I am okay with but also, the occasional misunderstanding and misinterpretation.  It saddens me when people misread my words or read into my words for more than I intended them to mean.  I think this is human nature however, to analyze what we read, it is what we are taught for years in school, to think, question and look for hidden meaning in the words of others. I'm not Emily Dickinson and this is no John Donne poem with hidden darker meanings. 

I recently wrote that after a several days of being sick, I was miserable, as in miserably sick, miserably alone, miserably without any help or assistance from my husband who was too busy at work to help me, miserable taking care of my toddler while being pregnant and being sick and feeling horrible.  Um, what else would I have meant?

If your heard my croaking voice that week, you would not think that I was anything BUT deep in mucous misery.  The fact that some people read into this statement and took it personally makes me feel horrifically misunderstood.  I am deeply hurt that this was discussed without my knowledge or input.  I fear that I was judged, misjudged and misunderstood.  

This was so devastating to me that I spent over a week contemplating taking this blog offline permanently.  I am still debating how I want to continue and in what format.  What information do I want to put here, how honest should I be?  If I can't write openly here on my own blog, should I even bother with unnecessary, unemotional, space-filling drivel?  

There is a little more.  Blogging, as of late, has felt like more of a stress-er, rather than a stress-relief.  This pregnancy has been .... so many millions of time harder than when I carried Noah and I was wholly unprepared for the physical and emotional toll it would take.  Life has been difficult too.  With Marc working so many hours for so many months I was completely alone for months.   In the beginning I was happy that he was busy with work and I could crawl to bed at 830PM and nurse my migraine-riddled morning sickness and bone-aching fatigue. But then, after ONLY four and a half months, the nausea subsided just a tiny bit, and I realized that WHOA! I WAS GOING TO HAVE A BABY AND THIS IS EXCITING.  But, Marc was still busy and I was lonely.  And still a little tired all the time.  I made my priority taking care of Noah, making sure he was fed, clean and happy and ditto for myself, minus the happy and that was just about all I could manage in one day. 

Alas, Marc is not an asshole.  His busy season ended last week with the passing of September.  He took off Thursday and Friday and it was nice having his help and having him around.  I even left the house twice, by myself, but only for errands. Still, it was nice. He finds this statement to be sufficient. 

Here I am now, 22 weeks pregnant with my daughter, feeling .... okay.  Not as glowing as radiant as I was Noah, but also, not so stressed and amazing thankful that I can still take an afternoon nap.

So, here I am.  In some form.