Category: kids

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Stuff I Like: Real Madrid

Author’s note: I was undecided about whether or not to post this one, as it is definitely for a very specific crowd and probably not of interest to the average reader. But then I remembered – I don’t really HAVE readers, and besides, this is my fucking blog. So suck it, imaginary haters.

I have had quite a journey with Real Madrid. I started watching soccer during the 2006 World Cup, when I was pregnant and essentially bedridden with my first kiddo. My brother and sister came to visit me in LA for the summer, and we devoured every game, singing the stupid commercial jingles that aired on repeat all day. (I love Tito’s tacos – you love Tito’s too!)

After being sucked in by the World Cup, I vowed to watch more soccer (forgive me – I’m American) in the coming season, so I signed up for the DirecTV sports package and set my DVR to record every Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A game available. I was pretty good about watching the big games every week in the beginning, but this got kicked into high gear after my daughter was born in October. She was an insanely fussy baby, the kind other people call “colicky” and I call “assholes.” She barely slept at night, and she only napped in the arms of myself or her dad. I was a grad student with only one class left at the time, and he was a high school teacher, so I was home with her 90% of the time. Thus, multiple hours a day would pass with me unable to move while she slept in my arms. Continue reading “Stuff I Like: Real Madrid”

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Wu Tang Is For The Children

Nobody in my family can sleep. Between OCD, depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc., falling – and staying – asleep requires a gargantuan effort. We differ in how we approach this problem – meds? supplements? willful denial? – but we all struggle with it in one way or another.

My oldest daughter has dealt with sleep issues off and on since she was about 8 years old. There would be nights where she would go to sleep around 9:00 only to wake up at midnight and not be able to go back to sleep at all. Cold medicine, though, can knock her on her ass. So when she has the sniffles or a cough, a little Dimetapp goes a long way. My only concern was that I never wanted her to get to the point of needing it to fall asleep, so one time, after a week-long bout with mocos, I told her it was going to be her last night with the medicine. When she asked why it mattered, I explained my desire for her not to become dependent on it. Her response? “Why? Would I have to go to rehab?” This immediately activated my Amy Winehouse synapses, so of course I began to sing, “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said – “ Continue reading “Wu Tang Is For The Children”