Silicon Valley Moms Blog

My Eddie Bauer Booster Seats Were Stolen!

I was so excited to finally be able to transfer my twins to booster seats. No more lifting them into their seats--they're heavy now! After doing research I settled on two Eddie Bauer Deluxe carseats. I like the straight seatbacks. Many of the other ones had curved seatbacks. I'm thinking that can't be good for my kids' backs.

I bought them on a Sunday, and by Wednesday they were gone! I dropped my kids off at preschool then went to Valley Fair Mall (I know it's new sexy name is Westfield Valley Fair, but I still prefer to call it Valley Fair) to have my Apple Powerbook looked at. I went back to my car and noticed that the front passenger seat was full of my kids' stuff and garbage. I knew I didn't leave it that way. I turned to look into the back seat to see if there were any other messes and to my horror both carseats were gone! I could not believe it! (No, I didn't lock my car....)

Sandblasting and Extractions

For the last several months I’ve had the opportunity to go to an esthetician to get my eyebrows shaped.  As crazy as it sounds, I love this time.  I live for this half hour when I lay down on a heated table, close my eyes and have someone else fret over me. 

I call it my mini-massage.

My esthetician is a perfectionist.  She frets over a single hair.  A common conversation she has with herself over my head goes something like this, “Hmm.  Well I’m almost happy with your eyebrows… but I want to take one more hair off of this eyebrow.  But if I do that I’m afraid it will make the other eyebrow unbalanced.”

I sit there and smile.  Truth be told, I’d be perfectly happy walking out of her office each month with not a single hair left above my eyes.  Just being able to lie on her table while she manipulates my eyebrows is treat enough. 

A few months ago Sandra began telling me about a procedure called microdermabrasion.  I know all about microderm and have been itching to try it out, someday. However, when finances are tough, as they always are, it’s difficult to justify my $20 eyebrow shaping once a month, let alone this much more expensive and oh so unnecessary procedure.

The second child gets the shaft

As mother's day approaches, I will be celebrating being a mother of two.  My first mother's day, BooBoo was two weeks old.  This mother's day, she will be three and Giggles will be 8 months old.  I was looking at all the things I have collected in boxes for each girl from their birth which will some day (probably never) go into a scrapbook.  BooBoo's is the size of a medium sized moving box.  Giggle's is about the size of a shoebox.  I have been thinking about it for awhile, and you know the second child really gets the shaft.  I can say this as a second child myself.  It isn't just the hand me downs of clothes and toys.  It's everything. 

When Enough Is Enough

....cross posted from our sister site, Chicago Moms Blog.

I was watching Oprah yesterday when Barbara Walters, of all people (I can't stand her), says something that just struck me to my core. She was talking about her special needs sister and how hard it is for parents of children with autism and that, although they love their children and would do anything for them, sometimes they think "it's just too much."

It's just too much.

I tear up as I even type that right now because really, what is so difficult about saying, "it's just too much" ? Why do I feel like I can't say it out loud when that's really how I feel? And so I did. I said it out loud. And it felt good. I am not the parent of a child with autism. I have been through my share of rough times. But it's just life in general right now that is overwhelming me. Whether it be as a Mother, wife, friend, or plain ol' human being. And I feel like I should pull up my big girl panties and just get over it. Toughen up. Get through the day. But I'm wiped out. I'm exhausted. I'm barely making it through the day and I have to say that this is no way to live, just barely getting by. I've had enough.

Click Here to continue reading this post on Chicago Moms Blog....

May is "Older Americans Month"

My family recently traveled to Florida to celebrate our grandfather's 90th birthday.  Our beloved patriarch is one of the smartest, kindest and funniest men I know.  In fact, I asked him to share his secret for vitality at 90. His answer, without skipping a beat, was: "Lots of sexy women."  (I love this guy!)

I have been thinking of a way to honor him (or at least blog about him... he has email after all)!  In a great coincidence, I learned at church that May is "Older Americans Month" and received the challenge to "think of ways to celebrate our super senior citizens."   Now, I had never heard of this occasion (holiday?), so I decided to look it up.  Here's what I found:

"During Older Americans Month, we recognize the many ways older citizens have enriched our Nation through their character, wisdom, and love.

"Our country remains strong because of the foundation our elders have helped lay.  This year's Older Americans Month theme, "Working Together for Strong, Healthy, and Supportive Communities," highlights the importance of building partnerships to ensure that older Americans are able to live with dignity and independence."

I began to write a blog post to honor our 90-year-old Grandpa, but realized "Older Americans Month" gave me the opportunity to celebrate the wisdom and experience of seniors everywhere.

Graduate Student Again?

In my mid-forties, mid-life, mid-way, not full or empty, not young or old, just mid, middle, half there, I find myself a student again. I drive to a big university and nose my whale of a mini-van into parking spots wide enough for a generous sized motorcycle. I wait in line to pay tuition fees, mug myself for an ID card and stake out the black market for used books. I squeeze my mother friendly hips into tiny desks with fold-down tops that force anyone with a BMI over 20 to become play dough flattened by a hammer. I contemplate posters hung on campus that invite young coed females to donate their eggs to needy couples. This last one catches my breath.

How did a minor mid-life crisis following the birth of my second child land me back in graduate school? I ask that question after everyone in our house is in bed and I’m still studying. I ask that question when I watch moms sip lattes and push swings or saunter into Google headquarters.  Did everyone make the right choice but me?  And is this choice the right one, finally?  I put a lot of thought into going back to school for my teaching credential, but what I didn’t anticipate was how much I would feel, gut level, about being on a college campus again.

Who among us doesn’t have rousing memories of college? So maybe I was a late bloomer, but some major things happened for me in college, not the least of which involved resources from Planned Parenthood, a first true love relationship and minor rants against Ronald Reagan. Then there were the friends, cram sessions, midnight runs, dorms, freak professors and every other lofty memory that comes with being twenty years old and full of yourself. College, to my self-absorbed mind, was made for people just like me, young people on the brink. The brink of what I had no idea. But college was a place to get your start, find your niche, become your own person. Brink into something.

Just Shoot Me

My daughter had her spring ballet recital this weekend.  Since no such event is complete without the paparazzi -- and mamarazzi -- covering it, my husband and I made sure we arrived with all our paraphernalia in tow.  Camcorder, camera, extra batteries and telephoto lens, you name it. I know it's awkward to be lugging around all that clunky gear, and sometimes people look at us like we're tacky Asian tourists.  But we get to enjoy our daughter's 2-minute performance forever, and our relatives (who all live abroad) get to watch her.  That makes it all worthwhile, right?

That day, at least, my husband didn't think so.  After struggling with camera settings and changing lenses throughout those 2 minutes, I heard him mutter under his breath, For once, I wish we could just watch the show.

Huh?

Watch Now: MomBloggers On The Today Show

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Pat Tillman - a real hero

I was sweating and sore and ready to collapse on Saturday morning, when this sweatband-clad old guy jogged up to me and asked, "Having fun yet?" It was all I could do to grunt: "No!"

So why the heck was I there? Out on Almaden Expressway with about 3000 other runners and walkers slogging round a 4.2 mile route when I should have been tucked up in bed enjoying a well deserved lie in. Fact is: family peer pressure and a good cause are powerful motivators...

The Momforce

It's easy to forget that all of us who are lucky enough to take advantage of flex-time, part-time, job-share, and work-from-home might have not had that choice not very long ago.  I was at a little get-together last weekend with a bunch of my old friends from my TV news days and we were trying to remember who the working moms in the newsroom were in the early to mid-80's.  We could only come up with two, and one of them was actually a freelance reporter.  Fast forward to today, when one of those same friends manages an international television news network's operation right from home.  Have Blackberry - will stay put? Sure, sometimes her days can last extra long when she has to talk to people in Beijing, Paris, Dubai and New York, but she can also go pick up her daughter at school every day.

TV News is full of "on-scene" jobs from producing news shows, to dispatching reporters, to anchoring and reporting.  But the number of working families that are part of it now has really multiplied.  A lot of it is due to technology, but it's also a change in attitude.  When I think back to 1988, I had a job-share with another producer, I do remember feeling pretty revolutionary, and so was my male news director who came up with the idea. He changed stations in a couple of years, the new guy who came in in 1991 nixed the plan which eventually led to me quitting, going freelance and then about 5 years later eventually transitioning into Public Relations to get a little more control of my time (I also had 4 kids by this point).

How law firms treat mothers

If I may brag, I accomplished something pretty cool about 5 years ago:  I created an online community for mothers who are lawyers. Membership is invitation-only, and I approve applicants to make sure they fit the requirements:  they must be a licensed attorney, working in some capacity (legal or otherwise), or else in law school, with children or pregnant.  Fathers are welcome too.  We now have approximately 450 working parents on the list.

People wonder why working lawyer parents need a community of their own.  The following email, distributed on my list, shows the kind of challenges that working mother lawyers still face.  It really speaks for itself.

- Rebecca

Hot New Mom on the Block

I share the following with you at the risk of making myself sound super shallow. And if the end of this story wasn’t so good, I definitely would not let you see these inner workings of my mind. It’s embarrassing. Okay, moving on...

I very recently moved to Silicon Valley. New town, new friends, new colleagues...time for a new image, right? Right! I seriously thought when I moved here (cue embarrassing music), “This is my chance...my chance to be known as the ‘cute new mom.’ No more ponytails, no more navy blue t-shirts and denim capris. I’m going to be the hot new mom on the block. When people think ‘Jane Maynard’ they will think, ‘Cute. Trendy. Put together.’”

Before you decide I’m completely shallow...

Silicon Valley Moms Meet California First Lady Maria Shriver - The Video

Last week the Silicon Valley Moms Bloggers and friends had the special opportunity to meet with California First Lady Maria Shriver to discuss her book "Just Who Will You Be?". Bonnie brought her video along to capture the discussion: Here are the videos split into 4 sessions:

Video 1-

What makes Silicon Valley so special?

I was a local coffee shop today - in the heart of Palo Alto - where entrepreneurs mix with students who intermingle with attorneys and stay at home moms.  It serves up yummy cappuccinos and sells delish chocolate.  It is relaxing, yet at the same time fills me with stress that I have NO understanding about the technology the kid at the next table is trying to explain to the guy in the suit.  (Though, I don't think  the suit guy got it either - ha!)   I say all this because - yes, it is easy to get caught up in it all or hate it all.  But somehow things always happen to bring it all into perspective.

I was in line for the bathroom and some younger guy comes up and is surprised by having to wait in line.  Me:  Honey, if you were a woman you would be used to it!

Him: (Laughing) "Touche... Hi, I 'm Craig.  I'm not from around here obviously, but wow what a great day.  I love California and everything about it!" 
Me:  Well welcome to CA, you here for school or something?
Him: No, here for a "meeting"  showing a product to some investors.
Me: Cool - did it go well?

Running from the Plastic Bag Monster

As Michelle pointed out the other day, we all make the efforts we can when it comes to saving the world and living green. Throw out less, recycle and reuse more and most important, teach our kids not to be wasteful (although they get a lot of that at school, and you'll often find them coming home and scolding you!).

My big hang-up these days is grocery store shopping bags, paper and/or plastic.  I have so many 2nd and sometimes 3rd, 4th, 5th uses for them, I'd be really stuck without them. Then I saw the picture in Fortune of "the plastic bag monster" a person "wearing" the 500 plastic bags each person uses annually. (the story is called "Bag Revolution" and it's not online yet, but should be in a week or so.)

The paper bags are my kitchen garbage bags.  Live under my sink, goes to the big outside garbage can when full or wet.  What would replace that?  A metal can lined with a much less environmentally-friendly plastic bag?

The plastic bags get used repeatedly as lunch bags for my 2 kids that like to bring their lunch to school.

I Love A Good Spanx-ing

...cross posted from our sister site, New York City Moms Blog.

My parents always told me: you can be anything you want to be.   Sure, I thought, except a football player (wrong gender), a mathematician (wrong skill set), or a fashion model (just plain wrong). I'm not saying that I'm unattractive, but neither am I runway material...unless the runway is in the supermarket and I'm headed down the cheese aisle.

All that changed, however, when my friends from Role Mommy organized a mother-daughter fashion show at Macy's and invited my daughter and me to be in it.  My daughter, whose first word was “shoe,”  was beside herself with excitement. Me? I wasn’t quite as ready to tackle the runway.

I knew my daughter would look pretty. She’s smiley, she’s (naturally) blond, she’s got the little turned up nose I had until puberty robbed it from me. She’s eight. What could be bad? But what about me? Would I look pretty? Well, I wasn’t gonna look like a fashion model, that’s for sure. I mean, how many Jewish, 5’ 7”, frizzy-haired, size ten fashion models do you know? Something had to be done.

Click Here to continue reading this post on NYC Moms Blog......

What's the deal with going to the movies?

"Two for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, please."
"That'll be $20.50." Gulp. After I close my mouth and my heart starts beating again, I reluctantly hand over my credit card and do a quick mental tally: $20 for the movie, $50 for the sitter, $40 for dinner, and we have ourselves a $110 date night. Ouch.

Don't get me wrong. Spending time with my husband is definitely worth the hundred and ten smackeroos. I just hope the movie is worth it too. I hate spending $20 to sit next to someone who is talking, has a bad cold, or, even worse, has nauseating body odor. Come on, admit it, you've sat next to that person before. Makes watching a rental on your ratty old couch in the middle of your toy cluttered living room positively pleasant. (Not that my living room is cluttered or my couch old... ahem...)

The cashier  hands me my tickets and I head to the restaurant to wait for my husband and friends who are all circling the overcrowded lot hunting for an elusive parking spot.   

Wrong Time for the Right Time

....cross posted from our sister site, Chicago Moms Blog.

The thing I miss most since becoming a parent?

Nookie.

You know, sex.

When we first brought that baby home, melting our hearts with his huge blue eyes, it was the farthest thing on my mind.

It's 7 years later. Enough already.

He works an early day so he can spend the rest of it with us. Which means the alarm goes off at 5:45AM  and I convulse with shock. Every morning. 'Cuz I'm slow that way.

I write freelance. Which means I stay up after the kid (and man) have gone to sleep, tip-tapping furiously away. Yo Yo Ma's sprightly tones drifting through the speakers.

But the funny part? I used to be THE Morning Lark. And him? The Night's Original Owl.

A week or so goes by and we'll look at each other like starved ocelots desperate for some of Fuddrucker's finest.

Click Here to continue reading this post on Chicago Moms Blog.....

Why showering every day is worth the money.

....cross posted from our sister site, DC Metro Moms Blog.

Have you seen this article from Parade Magazine asking for people to vote for their support for PBS programming?  I for one do not want public television or radio to go under and I am very willing to pay $1.31 cents per year to make sure PBS stays afloat.  Not only am I willing to fork over that money because I enjoy PBS and have done work for them, I am willing to pay up because I do not support the argument that PBS programming can be replaced by Cable Television programming.  Pardon me while I rant for a moment...

It is out-fucking-rageous that anyone would be so out of touch to not know that there are families who cannot afford Cable Television! Yes, there are actually people who cannot afford to have cable television.  And you know what else? There are people who do not want cable television. Yes, they walk among us!  I have even been in their homes on more than one occasion, and you know what? Not all of them are dope head crack dealers who neglect their kids.  These are families who either don't have the cash or believe that having hundreds of channels doesn't meet their need.   

Click Here to continue reading this post on DC Metro Moms Blog.....

Lessons Learned from Eight Belles

It's been 30 years since I saw "The Run for the Roses" for the first time in person. Affirmed was the winner and went on to win The Triple Crown, an honor no other horse has earned since then. A college friend (and fellow SV Mom blogger -- you know who your are...) hopped a ride with two random guys what had advertised for riders in the student center via one of those posters where you tear off the phone number at the bottom of the page. We'd met some boys from Louisville in Daytona Beach during spring break and went off on a road trip adventure to see them again. As it turns out I'd see one of them again a lot as I eventually married him.

Anyway, I digress. Marrying the boy from Louisville meant moving there and more than a decade of Derby Days. It's a great time. The playing of "My Old Kentucky Home" still makes me verklempt. I have many fond memories and saw dozens of thoroughbreds run for the roses, including two fillies -- Genuine Risk and Winning Colors.