My next birthday will see me turning forty.  And I will have a one year old and an eight year old.  If you had told me this fact three years ago, I would have laughed and encouraged to you keep on enjoying whatever you were smoking.

I kid, I kid.  But, there are definitely some good things about being an older mom:

- Perspective.  I haz it.

- I’ve already done all the “crazy” stuff I wanted to do in my twenties.  As my friend, who had her son at 38, said, “Sometimes twice.”

- A fairly well established network of friends and family totake advantage of ask for help.

- A bit more patience, although I’m guessing that might be a purely personal thing.

- A good sense of myself, one that I can honestly say I didn’t have until I hit about thirty, and it’s only gotten better since then.

- Lots of years of pop culture behind me, the better to quote to my son, who has no idea what I’m talking about. But I do, so it’s still fun.

- More financial stability and just a better general knowledge of money and how it works, or in some cases, doesn’t.

- I have the self-confidence to not care what the younger moms think of my gray hair.

- The boobs were already headed in a southerly direction, so not much trauma there.

And, there are some drawbacks as well…

Raincoaster asks:

Now that you’re a mom of a girl, do you like the same things for her as you liked before you had a real girl? Or has reality changed your tastes?

Reality, it bites.

No, really.

When I had only my son to buy for, to be honest, I never even looked at girl things.  I was too busy being the bitter person over in the corner of the store, wondering why the girls got racks and racks of clothing, while the boys were relegated to a quarter of a wall by the dressing rooms.

But when I did happen to do more than just glance at the girl stuff, I would always seem to zero in on something absolutely adorable, something that made me curse my ovaries and their relative lack of reproductive skill.

Now that I have a girl of my own?  The clothes suck.  Those racks and racks?  All filled with ugly crap.  I can never find the right colors.  And when I do find something that I think might work, they don’t have it in her size.  This very thing happened to me at Baby Gap just a couple of days ago, when I thought I had finally found a nice dress for a professional photo.   Thus, I have vowed to spend as little money on her clothes as possible, at least until they start making some decent things.  Which may or may not happen, and which might end up with her in therapy down the road. 

Scene twenty years from now:

Shrink:  Why do you think your mom never bought you nice clothes?

Munchkinette:  She said it was because she could never find anything decent, but I think it was just because she hates me!  (begins sobbing uncontrollably)

Sigh.

Maybe I should try harder.

Not one single person believed Mel B’s claim of having “relations” with her husband five times a day, thus keeping her in tip-top physical condition.  We’re on to you, Mel.  Now, if she had said they argued five times a day about whose turn it was to put the dishes away, nary an eyelash would have been batted.  Because we all know it’s the bickering that keeps a marriage alive, not the sex.

Today I was finally putting away some of my clothes from our recent move (January, that counts as recent, right?) and I happened upon a much beloved sweatshirt, circa Express, 1991.   I still wear it, but make no mistake that I am the same weight I was twenty years ago.  Some miracle has occurred that the sweatshirt keeps expanding right along with me.

Giggle is having a Summer Blowout Sale, with prices from 15-50% off!

And Macy’s is having a Home Sale Event!

Raincoaster’s got a naked Anthony Bourdain…

How to keep your teens from drinking…

People find blogs in the weirdest ways…

Chichimama doesn’t really mourn making that last school lunch…

Marketing to kids is scary stuff…

It takes a Canadian to say it so eloquently…

Candy is tired…

You know how you know your life is in trouble?

When you think Friday is Thursday, that’s when.  And then you forget to put up your Friday specialty post until sometime in the afternoon because you only realized it was Friday in the last thirty minutes.

Sad, really.

Who else might be a little sad?  Seal, who lost to Christian Bale with only twenty six percent of the vote.  Although I’m betting that if he asks nicely, Heidi will give him a hug.

So who is today’s challenger?  Well, I’m forced to go to Canada for my international man hunt.  And this next actor may not be conventionally handsome, but to me, a sense of humor goes a mighty long way.  He has forever won my heart as GOB.

VERSUS

So much to do in one compact, lightweight toy! 

Based on a character in the Eric Carle book Do You Want to be My Friend? I was dubious about the merits of the elephant at first. But I quickly became a convert.

This is far and away my daughter’s favorite toy, as it has many different sounds, textures, and features.   It’s got crinkles, it’s got hard teethers, it’s got textured teethers, it’s got soft teethers, a mirror, a mouse that squeaks, and a handy dandy clip that is seemingly just as much fun to chew on as everything else.

My son gave him the rather unimaginative name of Eric, as he saw the clip and figured that was his name. But, when all else fails and nothing seems to please my daughter, the magic of Eric prevails.

*This was bought as a gift from my sister.