Weekend Open Thread

Last week I threatened to phase out the Weekend Open Thread, but amid protestations, it’s here and staying.

So, what’s new? How was your week? Mine was exhausting. Jackson refused to nap, which you carefree, childless people may not realize is such a big deal (I didn’t until I had a kid), but those of you who have traveled this course know it’s a really rough one. Not only does it make for a super cranky baby, but I count on those precious two to four hours a day that he’s conked out to get my work done, so when he doesn’t sleep, it’s brutal. So I had a mini meltdown this week. I even considered shutting this site down. I know! But Drew talked some sense into me and said that no one would think less of me if I cut back on posting some days when I just don’t have time to work (you wouldn’t, would you?), and I’m also thinking it’s getting close to that time when I need to find some childcare help. Two mornings a week would make a huge difference in our lives — and in my mental well-being. I’ve been avoiding this issue because it’s an expense that’s hard to justify when I’m not making big bucks, but I guess there’s no shame in admitting`1 I feel overwhelmed and I need help. Now, to find that help…

Oh! and Jackson rolled over (a full 360 roll) for the first (and second and hundredth — he would not stop!) time this week. It was sooo cute. He just kept trying and trying and when he finally did it, the look on his face! Oh wow. Sheer pride.

Do I sound like a mommy blogger? Someone (in my real life) referred to me as that the other day and it totally threw me. I was like, “Well, I’m not really a mommy blogger…” I’m not, right?

I might be having a bit of an existential crisis this week.

Anyhoo. How you doin’? Who’s watching the Superbowl this Sunday? We’re going to a Superbowl party (leaving J with a babysitter for a couple of hours), but I’m just going for the food and company (not even staying for the whole game). I know the Giants are playing, but I’m not even sure whom they’re playing against. Wait, the Patriots, right? Someone pass the short ribs…

[photo via this isn't happiness]

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by Wendy on February 3, 2012 · in Weekend Open Thread

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Happy Friday! It was a good week, wasn’t it? Or, at least it was around these parts. Thank you again for your kind words on the first birthday of DearWendy.com and thank you for embracing the new message board as much as you have (and at the time of writing this — early Friday morning — we’re up to over 1000 forum comments, so I’d say you’ve embraced it pretty well). The board was in the pipeline for a while and it feels great to see it off to a strong start. And since we now have an active place for you to take “off-topic” conversations, I’m going to phase out the Weekend Open Threads. In their place, I’m going to start doing Friday Links, a collection of relationship-themed links from around the web. For this, I’ll need your help. My web-surfing time is very limited these days and I don’t get around as much as I did before baby. So if you’d be so kind as to pass along links to interesting articles, photos, videos, and websites that you come across, I’d appreciate it!

By the way, after I launched the message board on Monday, I added a new topic called “DW Meetups.” If you haven’t checked it out yet and are interested in possibly meeting other DWers in your area, go here and see if your city is listed (and if it’s not, list it yourself!).

P.S. This is one of my favorite Jackson outfits to date, and since he’s about to outgrow it, I had to post it here for posterity. Thanks for indulging my mama pride.

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by Wendy on January 27, 2012 · in Weekend Open Thread

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Larry Smith, the founder of Smith Magazine, has edited a poignant new collection of essays called “The Moment” about the blip in time that a person’s life veers in a new direction. My own personal “moment that changed everything” came nearly six years ago when my friend Meg picked up her phone in Chicago and called her friend Drew in Manhattan and asked if he’d like to show me around when I visited New York a couple of weeks later. He took me out for sushi, we ended up spending most of the weekend together, and dated long distance — flying back and forth between our two cities once or twice a month — for a year and a half before I packed up my stuff, moved to New York, started a career as an online writer, got married, moved to Brooklyn, used my success in web writing to launch my own site, and then had a baby. Who knows where I’d be if Meg hadn’t made that fateful call one April afternoon in 2006. I bet I would have met someone else eventually, but not Drew. And I wouldn’t have Jackson. And I probably wouldn’t live in New York, a city I have grown to love and call home. And it’s likely I wouldn’t be doing the kind of work that I’m doing now. When Drew and I met, I was on track to be an English teacher — something I don’t think I would have been very good at or that would have brought me the same satisfaction and freedom that this gig does.

So, what about you? What’s your “Moment”? And where do you think you’d be if that change hadn’t happened?

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by Wendy on January 20, 2012 · in Weekend Open Thread

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Does anyone else feel like this week was llooonnnggg? I started it off sick, so that didn’t help. And then Drew got sick and took Tuesday off from work which was, maybe, the second or third time he’s ever done that since I met him. And let me tell you, taking care of a baby and a sick husband while you’re still kinda sick yourself? Oy vey! Luckily, little Jack seemed to avoid catching whatever it was we two grownups had. I thought he was getting sick there for a bit, but it turns out he was just extra spit-uppy that day and that’s it. Thank God.

Hey, have I mentioned a hundred times yet that this month marks the one-year anniversary since the launch of this site? Yep. January 24th is its official birthday, which may even be the anniversary of Jackson’s conception, not that anyone really needs or wants to think about that, but whatever; I think it’s kind of a cool coincidence. Both of my babies created the same day/week. I’ve been working on a couple of things behind the scenes to mark the occasion and I’m pretty sure you’ll be excited about them. At least I hope so. And I hope they’re ready soon.

Anyway, I don’t really have a topic for this weekend’s open thread. Maybe, since it’s Friday the 13th, you’d like to discuss superstitions? Do you have any? I don’t like stepping on sidewalk lines. Remember that childhood chant: “Step on a crack, break your mama’s back; step on a line, break your daddy’s spine”? Well, I guess it stayed with me because I still avoid cracks and lines to this day lest something bad happen to someone I love. What are your weird superstitions?

[photo via this isn't happiness]

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by Wendy on January 13, 2012 · in Weekend Open Thread

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