My babies are growing up. They are growing up at which seems like an extremely rapid pace. In the past month, my daughter turned 7 and completed the first grade; my son turned 9 and completed the third grade. I am completely proud and thankful that I get to be their mom and am so amazed by the wonderful little people that they are becoming.
I have thought to myself countless times over the years "I can't believe how fast they are growing. I wish they would just stop." I can't seem to stop thinking of this. I think it every time I look at their pictures. I think it every time my son comes up to hug me and I can rest my chin on his head. I think it every time my daughter tells me how cute she thinks Blake Shelton is.
And then for some reason this morning I realized how lucky I am that I get to watch them grow up. Even if it is going by way too fast. Even if it seems like yesterday that I had to lay on the floor every night and rub Paige's "toe toes" to get her to go to sleep and now she is able to put herself to bed. Even if Hudson can now wear my t-shirts and socks instead of tiny baby clothes.
I see parents posting pictures of their kids with captions like "Where did the time go?" almost every day. The time passes too quickly for all of us parents. It goes by in a blink of an eye. But we are the lucky ones because sometimes parents don't get to watch their kids grow up. Some parents are only allowed to have a short time with their precious babies and I am complaining that my time with my babies is going by too quickly. I am sure any and all of those parents would trade anything in the world for the ability to utter those words.
I don't want my kids to stop growing. I do wish I could slow it down but I have been given a gift of watching them grow. I have been given the gift of watching them make mistakes and I have been given the gift of being able to say "They are driving me crazy today!" I know that not all parents have been given that gift and they deserve it.
Life isn't fair and it never will be. That is something I get to teach my kids. And I won't ever stop wishing I could slow down time just a little. But I will stop wishing that they would stop growing, because that isn't fair to them and it isn't fair to all of those parents out there that want nothing else than to watch their babies grow. I am just going to sit back and enjoy every single moment .
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
An Open Letter to Jenny McCarthy
Dear Jenny McCarthy,
You pissed me off today. And I mean REALLY pissed me off.
I am fairly new to your show. Prior to this season, I had only seen The View a handful of times. And no, I did not start watching it because of you, but now my schedule allows me to catch it once or twice a week and it is good background noise.
I kind of feel like I grew up with you. I watched Singled Out religiously as a teenager. My boyfriend had a poster of you on his bedroom wall. I read some of your book Belly Laughs as a new mother. I remember questioning my doctor regarding my sons vaccinations after you were so adamant that your son had autism because of said vaccinations. (Luckily, I am smart enough to get my advice from a medical professional and not a celebrity so my son did receive vaccinations.) I have always liked you. I thought you were beautiful and funny (things most girls aspire to be) and you seem like a great gal pal to have. But after today, I am adding ignorant to the words I would use to describe you.
Today you and the ladies of The View were discussing the recent finding that if a pregnant or nursing mother ate unhealthily during pregnancy and/or nursing, that child was 40% more likely to be obese than children whose mothers ate healthy foods. (At least I believe that was the statistic, I did not record the episode so I am unable to fact check that.) Whoopi astutely brought up the fact that not all neighborhoods have a Whole Foods Market and not all families can afford to shop there, even if their neighborhood was equipped with one. That sparked one of those famous (or infamous) "everyone talking over each other and no one can get a coherent sentence in and the audience is super confused moments" that I would imagine makes most people turn the channel. But today, I was able to hear what you said. And this is where I decided we can't be friends anymore. You said (and I am not quoting but it was along the lines of) "Well, maybe Mom should skip her Starbucks then."
This statement offended me beyond belief. I realize that you are a superstar and probably have very little concern regarding your grocery bills but I can promise you, most people do not have that luxury. I am very fortunate that I also do not have to worry about putting healthy food on the table to eat. Not to put us in the same category but I am very fortunate that I have a good job and am able to provide with my family without making the choice between paying the electric bill to keep the heat on or putting food in my children's' bellies.
There is a huge misconception in this country that people on food stamps or that get paid the minimum wage (or even people that get paid a good wage but still have trouble making ends meet due to other circumstances) are lazy and mismanage their money (i.e. going to Starbucks instead of buying healthy food.) I am a frequenter of Starbucks and I rarely see people in there that look as though they are spending their last few dollars on a latte. Instead you (and many others) fail to realize you can get 3 boxes of macaroni and cheese for the price of one bag of organic greens. Those 3 boxes of mac and cheese could feed a family 3 meals (albeit, not HEALTHY meals) instead of 1 meal. And anyone who has ever been on a diet knows that mac and cheese is far more filling than lettuce.
The problem in this country (one of the many) is that healthy food DOES cost exponentially more than food filled with chemicals, dyes (that are largely illegal in other countries) and GMO's. And until we can fix that issue, we cannot fix the issue of obesity. They go hand in hand. I went to the grocery store tonight and spent almost $7 on two half gallons of organic milk. $7! That could have bought 7 cans of ravioli or white bread and peanut butter (with change) if that is all the money I had to feed my family for a couple of days.
I realize, Jenny, that you were likely not meaning to offend me or others and you were probably not meaning to make a mass generalization but that is what you did. And maybe you think that the obesity problem, the hunger problem, the healthy food problem and the poverty problem in this country are unrelated but they are not. They are absolutely, 100% related to each other.
The bottom line is this, not all people that have trouble putting healthy food on the table are spending their money on Starbucks or other frivolous things. Some of them are spending their money on medical expenses, daycare, an elderly parents' care, or electric bills. Don't assume because a mother chooses to feed her kids a box of chemically laced foodless pap for dinner instead of grilled fish and veggies that she bought herself a $4 coffee that day. Remember, it might not be a CHOICE. Maybe that is all she has.
Sincerely,
Lynsey
You pissed me off today. And I mean REALLY pissed me off.
I am fairly new to your show. Prior to this season, I had only seen The View a handful of times. And no, I did not start watching it because of you, but now my schedule allows me to catch it once or twice a week and it is good background noise.
I kind of feel like I grew up with you. I watched Singled Out religiously as a teenager. My boyfriend had a poster of you on his bedroom wall. I read some of your book Belly Laughs as a new mother. I remember questioning my doctor regarding my sons vaccinations after you were so adamant that your son had autism because of said vaccinations. (Luckily, I am smart enough to get my advice from a medical professional and not a celebrity so my son did receive vaccinations.) I have always liked you. I thought you were beautiful and funny (things most girls aspire to be) and you seem like a great gal pal to have. But after today, I am adding ignorant to the words I would use to describe you.
Today you and the ladies of The View were discussing the recent finding that if a pregnant or nursing mother ate unhealthily during pregnancy and/or nursing, that child was 40% more likely to be obese than children whose mothers ate healthy foods. (At least I believe that was the statistic, I did not record the episode so I am unable to fact check that.) Whoopi astutely brought up the fact that not all neighborhoods have a Whole Foods Market and not all families can afford to shop there, even if their neighborhood was equipped with one. That sparked one of those famous (or infamous) "everyone talking over each other and no one can get a coherent sentence in and the audience is super confused moments" that I would imagine makes most people turn the channel. But today, I was able to hear what you said. And this is where I decided we can't be friends anymore. You said (and I am not quoting but it was along the lines of) "Well, maybe Mom should skip her Starbucks then."
This statement offended me beyond belief. I realize that you are a superstar and probably have very little concern regarding your grocery bills but I can promise you, most people do not have that luxury. I am very fortunate that I also do not have to worry about putting healthy food on the table to eat. Not to put us in the same category but I am very fortunate that I have a good job and am able to provide with my family without making the choice between paying the electric bill to keep the heat on or putting food in my children's' bellies.
There is a huge misconception in this country that people on food stamps or that get paid the minimum wage (or even people that get paid a good wage but still have trouble making ends meet due to other circumstances) are lazy and mismanage their money (i.e. going to Starbucks instead of buying healthy food.) I am a frequenter of Starbucks and I rarely see people in there that look as though they are spending their last few dollars on a latte. Instead you (and many others) fail to realize you can get 3 boxes of macaroni and cheese for the price of one bag of organic greens. Those 3 boxes of mac and cheese could feed a family 3 meals (albeit, not HEALTHY meals) instead of 1 meal. And anyone who has ever been on a diet knows that mac and cheese is far more filling than lettuce.
The problem in this country (one of the many) is that healthy food DOES cost exponentially more than food filled with chemicals, dyes (that are largely illegal in other countries) and GMO's. And until we can fix that issue, we cannot fix the issue of obesity. They go hand in hand. I went to the grocery store tonight and spent almost $7 on two half gallons of organic milk. $7! That could have bought 7 cans of ravioli or white bread and peanut butter (with change) if that is all the money I had to feed my family for a couple of days.
I realize, Jenny, that you were likely not meaning to offend me or others and you were probably not meaning to make a mass generalization but that is what you did. And maybe you think that the obesity problem, the hunger problem, the healthy food problem and the poverty problem in this country are unrelated but they are not. They are absolutely, 100% related to each other.
The bottom line is this, not all people that have trouble putting healthy food on the table are spending their money on Starbucks or other frivolous things. Some of them are spending their money on medical expenses, daycare, an elderly parents' care, or electric bills. Don't assume because a mother chooses to feed her kids a box of chemically laced foodless pap for dinner instead of grilled fish and veggies that she bought herself a $4 coffee that day. Remember, it might not be a CHOICE. Maybe that is all she has.
Sincerely,
Lynsey
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