DJ nails it

Me: DJ, I'm glad you're watching Team Umizoomi! I like it because it's fun and it's about math, and I really love math.

DJ: And fun, mom?

Me: Yeah buddy, I like fun, too.

Sibling love

Overheard Nellie saying to a new friend at the pool: "I have four siblings. Three can be fairly annoying. One I'm not sure about yet. That's Mary Cate. The one in my mom's stomach."

I had this conversation with Annie yesterday:

     Annie: Mom, when the baby is born will you still say I'm the middle child?

     Me: Sure, because you are still a middle child...you, DJ, and Eddie are all in the middle, though.

     Annie: I mean, will you still say, "I know what that's like because I was also the second
     daughter...?"

     Me: Of course! You and I are in the exact same place in our families. Second child, middle sister,
     we both have a younger brother and sister. We just didn't have an Eddie in my family.

     Annie: Then no offense but I think our family is cuter than your family, because Eddie is SO cute.

Sorry siblings, but I think she's right. Eddie seriously ups the cuteness factor around here.

Jamie takes a stand

So, I'm not exactly a committed feminist. And I don't often take a stand--I like to think it's just my middle-child-peacekeeper nature. But can we just talk about prodromal contractions for a minute? (I didn't know that phrase before now. I had to look it up.) You know, those slightly uncomfortable contractions that start at some point during pregnancy but aren't real labor?

Women have been experiencing them, assumably, since the beginning of time. They've been describing them to each other and their midwives or doctors for thousands of years. Older or experienced mothers have coached and mentored new mothers on the symptoms and meanings.

Then in 1872, Dr. John Braxton Hicks what, like, discovered them and now they're named after him? C'mon now, that's just annoying, right? Around these parts, we've taken to calling them "girl power contractions," dang it! I'm hoping it catches on.