407th Friday Blog Roundup
It’s the end of summer; I can’t really deny that at this point. We even have leaves crunching underfoot outside.
I am in the throes of “just one more.” The ChickieNob always adds a few to whatever number I tell her is sufficient. “We can stay for five minutes,” I’ll tell her, and she’ll counter, “how about ten?” If I give her two cookies, she’ll ask for three. She gets this quality from me. If Josh is rubbing my back, I wait for him to stop and then I ask for him to get out just one more knot in my shoulder so I can extend the backrub by a few minutes. If we are leaving an amusement park and I’ve negotiated one more ride, I also know that I will be asking for one more beyond that before we leave the gates.
I am a horder of experiences. I always want more of anything pleasant. And summer is pleasant; not having the twins at school is pleasant, having a loose bedtime is pleasant, dropping everything to go lie on the beach is pleasant.
Last weekend, we went to a baseball game. I realized as we drove there that we were nearing the end of the season. That we maybe had room for one more game, so I started campaigning for one more game, and Josh granted me one more game. When we got to the park, it started raining and we crouched down in the food row, shelling peanuts onto a napkin and reading Harry Potter 3 aloud. The rain kept coming down and the game was held off for hours. Part of me wanted to go home, especially once this man dropped his damn container of barbecue sauce on my jeans and then insisted that it didn’t touch me (like hell it didn’t, old man, like hell it didn’t). And then the other part of me was a mixture of cheapness (we paid a lot of money for those seats!) and moreness (just one more game!). If they hadn’t played, that more I had just negotiated would be moved into ready position, and then I wouldn’t have gotten an actual one last game.
We stayed. The Nats won. We left the park with me trying to figure out how I could extend summer just a little bit more. Like one more week, please?
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Can we speak for a moment about Chocolate Cherrios? I bought them. I became that woman who buys Chocolate Cheerios and then stares at the other pictures on the back of the box while she eats them, dreaming of Cheerio concoctions. What would a bowl of half Dulce de Leche Cheerios and half Chocolate Cheerios taste like? THERE ARE PEANUT BUTTER CHEERIOS. People, there is a whole world of flavoured Cheerios that I never knew about until a fateful trip to the cereal aisle this summer.
Back in my day, there were two kinds of Cheerios: plain and honey nut. Plain was your everyday Cheerio; honey nut was when you were feeling fancy. But now there are something like 12 Cheerio flavours. Do children today know how good they have it?
The twins actually won’t eat them. The Wolvog doesn’t eat any dried cereal, and the ChickieNob isn’t willing to forfeit dessert to have them. (I’m not willing to let them be her breakfast.) Good. More Chocolate Cheerios for me. I’ve been eating them as a snack before bed. Oh my G-d, they are so good. They are so insanely good.
I think they must put drugs in them because why else would a woman in her late thirties be writing about Cheerios in this manner?
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week as well as the week before. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “I Just Feel It” (For the Love of Baby Liam)
- “Another Sports Analogy” (Something Out of Nothing)
- “Deleting Your Blog is Like Going Back on a Promise” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, St. Elsewhere
- “Friday Night Leftovers” (Life As I Know It)
- “Irrelevant” (Mrs. Spit… Still Spouting Off)
- “Thank Yous” (Stumbling Gracefully)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Happiness at the Core has a beautiful post about being asked about her necklace which contains her daughter’s footprints. She explains: “I began to wonder why I was so relieved when someone didn’t ask about my necklace. I love talking about Maya so wouldn’t I welcome questions about my necklace?” It is a post about holding her daughter, who died shortly after birth, close to her heart, and finding out that the right words came to her when she needed them.
Return to Go has a post about a trip to find a cabin that appeared in a book. The book mentioned a cabin in the woods where people became pregnant, and she held this knowledge in the back of her head until this moment when they happened to be on a trip in the very same area where this cabin appears AND she was ovulating. You’ll need to click over to discover if they ever found the cabin.
Writing for Life has a post that made me smile about meeting up with two bloggers and riding home feeling embraced. She writes: “Again it’s about recognition, belonging, understanding and support. Also, we didn’t have to talk about all things infertility and loss all day long, we already knew each others’ stories. Of course it came up but we also got to know different sides of each other with a promise to meet again someday, hopefully soon.” I love it when people pop through the screen, and you meet them in the face-to-face world. Embraced is the perfect word to describe those connections.
Lastly, Something Out of Nothing has a post set on the nearby college campus. As the campus springs back to life with the new semester, she writes, “It made me think, One day, Hubby and I will be dropping our child(ren) off at college, helping them get settled into their dorm room. They’ll be making new friends, coming home for the holidays, venturing into their adult lives. And it felt so very far away. But then, so does holding a newborn in my arms.” It’s a post that while tempered by reality is filled with hope, filled with possibilities.
The roundup to the Roundup: My awful habit of “one more, please?” Chocolate Cheerios are insanely good. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between August 17th and August 24th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
22 comments
Stupid Stork (http://stupidstork.blogspot.com/2012/08/plumbing.html) had me cracking up in yesterday’s post, when she pondered what the female version of the Sperm Collection room would look like, and then she switched gears and ended with an empowering letter to all infertiles stuck in a funk. She writes:
“When you’re angry/frustrated/just done with your uterus, and you’re thinking that you are disappointing everyone – yourself, your husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/plumber, your pain in the ass mother-in-law – and are thinking you may not end up with a child at all, know this: should you never procreate, all those people (including myself) will have considered themselves lucky to have known a kick-ass, fascinating and vibrant warrior woman that makes up for those boring assholes down the street with 10 children.”
I don’t know if this story has made it to the US yet, but it is in the UK press this morning.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19361432
I am quite disturbed by the implications of the wording of the study it relates to. I blogged about it this morning, and I am not trying to blow my own bloggy trumpet in the Friday round up, it is not that well written, I dashed it off because I was rather cross, but I just thought others might be interested in what is being said here.
Ugh… I’ll let you keep the chocolate cheerios! 🙂 I can’t do sweetened cereals like that. The sweetest I can handle is raisin bran. (good lord, when did I become my grandmother?!?!?)
I’m ready for summer to be done and over… this year it’s been far to hot for my comfort, and I’m ready for a nice long crisp autumn.
I loved Justine’s post at A Half Baked Life, Coming to Terms and Honey Lavender Ice Cream. It’s a really beautifully written post about feeling left behind as life marches forward and mourning the alternate lives that we gave up for the one we are living.
http://ahalfbakedlife.blogspot.com/2012/08/coming-to-terms-and-honey-lavender-ice.html
Okay, I totally get that “one more” attitude about experiences! That is how I am too–and the last couple summers, being unemployed–it has been bittersweet to have this time with my kids with all the experiences…feeling like not only summer is going, but soon (at this point, hopefully SOON) I will have a job and have to go back to the working world and have less time for experiences.
Yesterday we went to the beach — and it struck me that it may be the last time (and, of course) I swore to myself, that somehow we would make it to a beach “one more time” this year…
🙂
(It is weird, cuz I used to LOVE fall–but the last few years–I don’t know…it has been harder to get into that fall feeling…)
Great blogs this week!
I can also totally relate to the “one more” attitude. In 6 weeks we are going to be starting IVF for the first time and I was dreading having to give up my yerba mate. I’ve been drinking it every single day for 8+ years… I even packed my one and only carry-on baggage full of yerba mate when I went to work in Mozambique for 6 months. I decided that this Monday would be my first caffeine free day and as of now I’ve stuck to it, but inside I am wishing “just one more mate… just one more!!”
Jen I am going to hit on you well past the point of you being uncomfortable and kiss you squarely on the mouth. YOU JUST WAIT.
Kristin at Return to go had a post that I loved this week – I can’t really do it justice, but it’s basically about having all your balls in the air and trying to figure out what home is for you.
http://returntogobaby.com/2012/08/22/home/
CLEARLY it has been a while since I have been down the cereal aisle! How did I not know these flavored cheerios existed?!? I fell a grocery trip in my very near future.
How did I not know these flavored cheerios existed?!? I feel a grocery shopping trip in my future!
Thanks, Mel!
Hapa Hopes had a great post about how infertility affects friendships: http://hapahopes.blogspot.com/2012/08/on-friendship-and-infertility.html
I loved Stupid Stork’s post, too, referenced above. Some really fabulous posts this week! And somehow I am behind on reading … how did this happen?
Anyway, on Chocolate Cheerios: a little sweet for me. (Wait a minute … did you just write that you’re munching on Chocolate Cheerios?) My parents never bought us sugar cereal. I, on the other hand, occasionally buy sugar cereal because I secretly want to try it, and my kids won’t eat it. (What’s up with THAT?!) I’m sure that the Dulce de Leche Cheerios are disgusting, and equally sure that I will buy them at some point to certify this for myself.
Peanut butter cheerios with a handful of chocolate chips… Mmmm… Now you’re making me want to go have a bowl!!!
Thanks for the mention, it was a lovely experience meeting other bloggers 🙂
I found some great writing this week.
On the roller coaster of emotions we go through with a follow up about the choices we make with fertility treatments:
http://nokiddinginnz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/stop-i-want-to-get-off.html
http://nokiddinginnz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/do-we-really-choose.html#comment-form
A great answer on blog agony for someone who’s now pregnant:
http://womb4improvement.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/blog-agony.html
An interesting post about memories and the triggers they can be:
http://fertilityunexplained.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/memories.html
And another one, on what you really want to respond with when people offer what they think is wise words after babyloss:
http://www.glowinthewoods.com/home/2012/8/18/what-they-say.html
Well, I’ll blow EmHart’s bloggy trumpet! I greatly appreciated this response to the so-called “super-fertility” theory for miscarriage:
http://followeveryrainbow-emhart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/too-fertile.html
I used to love eating cocoa krispies, which are really just chocolate rice crispies. they turn the milk into chocolate milk. that is all.
This post by Jacinta on coming to terms with an infertility diagnosis, wondering how far to go with treatments, and recognizing the falseness of reassurances that she will have a biological child is very moving:
http://theyellowblanket.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/tldr-part-one/
Chocolate Cheerios are OK. I prefer the Multigrain – they’re sweetened slightly and they’re delicious. I’ve been out of town this week, so I haven’t been able to catch up on my reading.
Thank you so much for mentioning my post! I really appreciate you reading! I will pay close attention this week so I can participate next Friday!
Ok! I am finally getting around to putting this one on the list. Serenity’s post about tradeoffs:
serenitynowinfertile.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/tradeoffs
Obviously good musings for any decision point, not just the ones she is facing.
Bea
A good one was :
http://dragondreamerslair.com/sometimes-people-do-change/
I love the peanutbutter cheerios! I did not know they had chocolate ones now! I am going to have to get them!