Childhood Babysitter Gives Kidney to Adult Woman

It wasn’t a relative who gave Etienne Cromer her kidney - but close enough. Cromer’s childhood babysitter showed up at Johns Hopkins Hospital this week to go under the knife for the donation surgery.

Sounds like Kendra Dill was more the “shh, I won’t tell Mom you had two cookies after school” kind of sitter instead of the “go watch TV and leave me alone to make out with  my boyfriend” kind. Continue reading »

How to Be a Better SAHM: Be Betty Draper

Finally, a revelation has formed from all these dedicated Sunday night watchings of Mad Men. I wouldn’t mind being a stay-at-home mom if I could do it the Betty Draper way.

Take Sunday night’s episode (very, very minor spoiler here): her housekeeper doesn’t just clean the house and make dinner, she offers Betty a chance to go back to bed after a rough night with the baby, AND manages the “I don’t want this, I want that” arguments from the kids at dinner time. Continue reading »

Tsunami Reality: Mom Sees Daughter Float Away

Natural disasters like earthquakes and floods certainly make us sad, but I don’t think the terrifying reality of something like this hits home until you read a chilling story like this one… Continue reading »

Go On Stage, Talk About Motherhood

Hey, Mom! Yes, you mom! You! Got something to say about motherhood? Then say it here!

Producers of “Expressing Motherhood” have opened submissions for a third show in the Los Angeles-area for the January 2010 show.

There’s still time to attend the show’s first-ever New York City performances, Sept. 24 to 26 at TADA! Theatre. There, a dozen or so moms will perform their original pieces based on their own experiences as moms. (We hear there’s a song about a minivan.) Go here for ticket information.

I attended an August L.A. performance and wrote about it here. There, I overheard someone involved with the show talking to some audience members about who they would consider casting. The producers are trying hard to diversify. Continue reading »

Fatherhood in Six Words

Blogging for Charm City Moms, dad Joe Burris wants fathers to weigh in on parenting.

But he wants dads to keep it short. Like, six words short. Just boil the experience down to its essence.

Here’s what he came up with:

On most days, the six words that come to mind are the old Peace Corps motto: “The toughest job you’ll ever love.”

Often, at the end of a day, all I can think of is: “Time to go to bed, Sweetie.”

Also, Continue reading »

Russian Mothers Auction Off Daughters’ Virginity

And you thought your mom was bad. A set of mothers have reportedly been detained by Moscow police for attempting to sell off their daughters’ virginity on the Internet.

The girls were only thirteen and sixteen, and the auction was doing brisk business before it was shut down.  Continue reading »

Have a Uterus, Still Don’t Want to Hold Your Sniffling, Squalling Baby

Lemondrop’s editor doesn’t want to hold your baby. And I can’t blame her.

The folks over at AOL’s women’s site (disclaimer: I sometimes write for them as well) put up a rant this week that sums up pretty nicely what we’re all thinking: “People always assume that if they have a baby and you have a uterus, that you want to hold your baby. I don’t want to hold your baby.” Continue reading »

The Top 10 Weirdest Things Said to Pregnant Women

5. This old lady at Target looked at me and shook her head. She said, “You young girls need to see there are other things to do in the winter, and you won’t end up in your situation.” I told her I was in my mid 20s and had been married for 3 years and that my “situation” was actually a blessing!

It’s nice when geriatric strangers walk up to you and call you a harlot.

Recently iVillage asked readers to respond to the question, “What’s the weirdest, rudest or most oblivious thing anyone has said to you while you were pregnant?” The top answers ranged from baffling, to TMI to creepy. Continue reading »

Mommy and Me and Me and Me: The Group Prenatal Visit

If you thought you outgrew the girls travel in a pack mentality that forced you to take a girlfriend with you every time you peed in college, this new form of healthcare isn’t for you:

Groups of pregnant women are getting together for visits to the OB/GYN en masse. And according to some studies, it’s helping. Continue reading »

Issues! 10 Friends Every Mom Needs

The August issue of Parenting: The Early Years rounds up the six friends every mom needs in her life. Sure, writer Patricia Curtis makes some good points. It’s nice to have friends you can relate to or who push you. But not ones that push your buttons, which I’m afraid the glam-mom recommendation does.

Also, she left a few people off the list whom I would be very unhappy to live without. So I added three more friends at the end. Share yours in comments.

The list: Continue reading »