The Pimping Introduction
Hello! Is that you? Did you find me here? I'm so glad! If you're coming from babycenter, then please know how grateful I am for those fantastic years. Thank you.
(An unrelated aside: It's funny to be floating around out here in blogland, where I could, say, write the f word if I want to. I will save that particular thrill for a rainy day.)
So, I thought I would just mention some things about where else you might come find me, now the the gig is up over at babycenter. I will miss being there very much, as you probably know. I wrote "Bringing Up Ben and Birdy" for four years, and it is all archived here. All eighty katrillion entries of it. Holy moly.
My new column (please don't expect to be blown away by the newness, if you know what I'm saying, as there won't be any shortage of entries about impatience, Chex mix, and saggy boobs) is called Dalai Mama, and it's over at Wondertime. Please come visit me there. There may not be a comment section up yet, but there will be soon. Also, it's a little confusing, since there's the monthly column I write for the magazine, and then the weekly blog that you have to click on from the home page (wait for it to scroll past in that little scrolling box).
I've also been writing for the Oprah Magazine (more about the boobs coming soon!), and I always write a lot for FamilyFun, a magazine I love and that I'm shy to mention since it reveals the Polyanna-I-made-it-from-craft-foam-and-celery-salt side of my personality. But still.
There is the book, too. You know, that book, Waiting for Birdy, which decorum has kept me from begggggggging you to buy: but my god, please buy it. Pleeeease. Then I can bail Ben and Birdy out of prison when they're teenagers. Plus keep up my Chex mix habit.
And finally: do you need the best massage of your entire life and happen to live in Western Massachusetts? Or do you have a friend here who could use a gift certificate for a massage? Have I got the perfect, hunky, strong-but-gentle massage therapist for you! I'm not kidding you. This is a massage that will change your life, and then you can write to thank me for having been the crash-test massage dummy all these years so that you could get a great massage.
Okay, I've pimped my whole family out. Please be well. More soon.
Remember that day when you used a hand towel (not a wash cloth, mind you) for a nursing pad? I was doing the exact same thing! Kindred spirits are everywhere. How lucky are you?
ReplyDeleteI know you posted your version of the Chex Mix recipe some time ago, but I can't remember where. Can someone link me to it? Also, how 'bout giving us Michael's pesto formula? (Hmmmm a massage with pesto could be interesting, without the pine nuts, that is!)
ReplyDeleteglad to find you! I think I might even prefer you here over Baby Center.
ReplyDeleteYay! You know we're all stalking you. *lol* You have a whole flock of mommies chasing after you now. Hahaha. We have to get our fix somewhere.
ReplyDeletePS- I did buy the book and it was WONDERFUL....once my friends start getting knocked up, they are each getting a copy for their baby shower. They should know what they are in for. *lol*
I'm so excited to see you here! I've been reading your column probably since you began -- I was reading when Ben was little, then stopped, then picked it up again after my second was born, shortly after Birdie. What a riot!
ReplyDeleteI am very happy to see a mom doing what she so obviously LOVES to do and make a living at it. Not sure how MUCH of a living, but obviously enough of one that you are able to enjoy life -- and especially your children.
Grasp them with both hands and hug hug hug as often as you can. These years go by too quickly!
Oh, I'm so glad that you leaving BabyCenter doesn't mean the end of me reading about your life!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank-you so much for starting this blog!!! I never commented on the stuff you wrote for Babycenter but I laughed, I cried and always loved coming away with the feeling that there is a funny/crazy/hugable side to being a mom.
I love your stuff Catherine, I'm so glad you are keeping it up, and maybe I will just go and buy your book!
LeeLaa
Well, now I can cancel that BabyCenter subscription.
ReplyDeleteYou've only heard this eight gazillion times, but I swear we were separated at birth, given how we parent/love/marvel at our own insanity. Also did a stint in Northampton about 15 years ago, and am very sad that I'm no longer near that massage.
Not a blogger myself, but like to lurk, and am grateful for your link. So glad we can continue to hear your voice.
Hey just checking in from Babycenter and wanted to find your new home... Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteTarsha T
I'll add to the mound of kudos. Glad you'll be writing; I'll be reading.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you haven't vanished! It is a statement of my pitiful social life that when I told my husband I had bad news, Catherine's finished, he not only knew exactly what I meant , but also felt it necessary to really try to console me.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your column since pregant with my oldest daughter, now 3 years old, and consider you a wise and funny friend - thank you for all that you share.
Hooray!
ReplyDeleteI was truly bummed that I wasn't going to be having my weekly fix of Ben and Birdy and your writing! The other columns on BC are just not the same!!!
Okay, so I haven't read your book - but I have a long flight this weekend and I need some good reading...I'm buying the book tomorrow :-)
Happy Blogging!
AK Janet
(P.S. I secretly subscribe to Family Fun...shhhhh don't blow our cover! )
Hi Catherine - just #252 chiming in; glad you are continuing!!! and I love your book.
ReplyDeleteOh I am so happy, Catherine! I cried when I read that your column was ending on BabyCenter. Your writing helped me thru some bad postpartum depression and anxiety after my son was born - Thank you thank you thank you! I mean it, I felt almost normal while reading your column.
ReplyDeleteI am completely delighted to know that I'll still be able to follow the adventures of your family.
ReplyDeleteI almost cried when I realised you were leaving ParentCenter. I live in South Africa - so very far removed from your world, but there is a universal sharing between parents (my boys are 2 and 5 months respectively). I am so glad that I will still be able to 'stay in touch' over the internet.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, I am also one of those many readers who read your journal faithfulyl every week but found it hard often to post comments. I don´t know if you have any other readers in Spain but I am certainly over here relishing each weeks entry way across the Atlantic!
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of entries printed out and posted on my bulletin board at home or work....I esp. hold dear one about your kids sleeping with you (My daughter did til she was 3) and how you want your body to always be safe haven for your kids where they can "come home"...Pretty huh? Well, YOU wrote that!
Anyways, I am gald there is still somewhere we can find you - you have a beautiful and truthtful way of expressing yourself..what a gift.
Not to mention two great kids!
Catherine, I am SOOO happy you are still out there in cyberspace, where I can find you whenever I need you and still laugh and cry with you. You are my favorite parenting writer, I read all your entries in BabyCenter.com and subscribe to Family Fun (not because of you, but finding you there was a pleasant surprise), and yes, I bought your book! I truly must say, you have given me a perspective on parenting and kept me grounded at many a time when I might have otherwise lost my sanity altogether.
ReplyDeleteMy children (Ines, age 9 and Oscar, age 4) are so like and at the same time so unlike your two, and your reactions to parenting are at times identical to mine and at other times at a polar opposite, and yet I hang on your every word. Keep up the GREAT work!
Hi
ReplyDeletei have literally been reading your column from the very beginning. I've been reading almost all the columns at babycenter since i had my first child (now 6) and was newly pregnant with my second (now 3) when you started your column. How thrilled i am to be able to read more!
I have enjoyed your columns more than you know! This is the first time ihave commmented but how i wanted to comment before. Our children are the same age, we both live in MA and how spooky that your closing poem is one of my favs as well as my post in my high school yearbook. That book, as well as movie, was one of my favorites at about the same age.
Thank you!
Hey Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI have a blog over at http://khebert.blogspot.com
I'm usually NOT a spammer. *lol* But I have alot going on with my youngest child at the moment (testing, MRIs, developmental delays, "insert scary words here" blah, blah)..and if you could give me a little Zen mommy insight, I'd love it. *lol* But only if you get really, really, desperately bored. :P Okay, this is the first and only time I will be a spammer. Promise. *lol*
Hi Catherine
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you for writing at BabyCenter. I have been reading your article week after week since by Boy was born in June 2003. After that I wish that my daughter who was born in January 2005 would become little Birdy.
Thank you for sharing your joy and life with 2 great kids.
I will continue to read your post anywhere that I can find.
Veronica
Singapore
I hestitated to chime in here. Afterall, comment #261 didn't seem like it had much distinction. But then I thought if I was you Catherine, I would want to know how much my work impacted and touched people so I echo the thoughts of the previous 260 happy mothers who crave your genious and wisdom!
ReplyDeleteAnother faithful follower
Well hey, if you don't mind a guy's take, you are the most frustratingly talented natural writer I've ever read on parenting. My wife got me hooked and I read as much for your gift of turning a phrase as for the lingering storylines.
ReplyDeleteI don't do much with blogrolls, but you're instantly on that list at alittlechaos.com and I'll just settle back in over there and wonder how to get me some of that talent.
Keep up the great stuff!
Cool, I'm so happy I don't have to say goodbye! I started reading your BabyCenter column three years ago when my daughter Claudia was born (she's just a month or so younger than Birdy), so I feel like we're old friends. Thanks for everything you've shared!
ReplyDeleteWhat a relief that I can still keep up with your adventures. I read Waiting for Birdy this spring while waiting for my newest little one and entertaining an increasingly verbal almost two-year-old. He seems to share a similar tenderness that I notice in Ben - I can only hope he turns out as sweet and curious and thoughtful. I laughed out loud with the book and cried a bit too, and have enjoyed getting my benandbirdy fix on the web each week. Keep writing - we love you!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness it's not over! I felt like I had lost my cyber best friend when I read you were leaving babycenter. Even though we've only met once (for a nanosecond) at your Philly book signing, I've been a loyal reader for years and look for my B&B fix every week to help me realize I am not alone in this crazy, wild, amazing, frustrating, etc., etc. experience called motherhood.
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping it going Catherine! We need your voice.
I want some more please....
ReplyDeleteIve read pimping every day now and would like to see new fresh tidbits to sink my teeth into....
I cannot begin to tell you the relief I felt when I read your last babycenter entry and you pointed me here! You're writing is like therapy to me...it helps me be a better parent! I cannot tell you how many times I woke my husband up to read an excerpt from "Waiting for Birdy" or how many times he woke to me shaking the bed with fits of laughter while reading it. Your words are a gift to us all--every time I read an entry it's like a virtual playdate, except my kids would be the ones hanging from the chandlier or scaling the shelves in the pantry...
ReplyDeleteI am one of the hoards barrelling over from Babycenter.
ReplyDeleteIdeally I'd be welcoming you to your new digs with a six-pack and the ingredients for Chex mix (I'd let you do the honors), but instead, I offer a little Auden I think of when I fail to be properly in the moment while parenting (or doing other things, but it's the parenting I want most to get right, and how unreasonably constricting a way of thinking is that?). Anyway, absolution via sestina:
Much as he would like to
Concentrate completely
On the precious Object,
Love has not the power;
Goethe put it neatly:
No one cares to watch the
Loveliest sunset after
Quarter of an hour.
And that is probably true, but I am trying to at least get to twenty minutes.
How wonderful! I was crying like a two-year-old leaving the store empty handed when I read you were done at Babycenter. But Oh Happy Day to find you here! And now I can finally be done with Babycenter!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad there's still an avenue to keep up with you - I can't imagine not know what ever happened to Ben and Birdy and the rest of the clan :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to have found you again. Love your Dalai Mama columns at Wondertime!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Blogspot! I had a few weeks of sadness when I found out that your articles were ending on BabyCenter but was so relieved to find you here. Thanks for the link so that we could find you here.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for letting us all know that we are not alone in this craziness we call motherhood.
Oh, Catherine, you big tease! Its been a week.... we're all going through withdrawal, so quit teasing up and POST already... lol
ReplyDeletePlease please please post more.... your groupies are dying here!
Amber
(ps: Just read "The Bitch in the House" and I loved loved loved what you wrote.... of course when my husband saw the title of the book, he laughed and said, "Honey....?"
Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI just read your latest on Wondertime and once again I'm wiping tears away while laughing out loud. My eldest daughter is a lot like Ben - she would have been the one in our family to bring the new shell for the crab. What an awe-inspiring thing to see - the hermit crab swap meet. Anyway, I'm so glad that you are still allowing us glimpses into your life and that I can continue to watch Ben and Birdy grow up. Thank you so much for the much needed weekly dose of parental (in)sanity.
oh, I am so glad to find you! I hadn't read you for a few weeks and was so upset to see you leaving!! I'm a swamped grad student so was always holding myself back from getting in a posting world but I've been reading and loving your writing for years now, since pre-birdy, and your Ben has been I can't say HOW important to my raising my son Ian...I don't know what I would have done if there wasn't someone so matter of fact about things that made me worried, like oh, god, my boy wants to wear pink. What will I do, what will other kids do, etc. It has helped SO MUCH to have another gentle soul boy sort of in my 'acquaintance' for raising Ian and anticipating his issues. My boys have better parenting because of you-- how much more could you ask from in your writing? a dissertation on the other hand...bleh. it's a wonderful, heartening, funny thing you're doing. thank you from the bottom of my heart, down south of you in CT.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteWith so many comments made to impart to you how much you have touched people it is hard to write anything that feels of significance. As so many before me, I would once again like to thank you for the wonderful glimpse into the life of your family. You provide a much needed anchor in today’s chaotic and turbulent parenting sea!
Not to mention a fabulously funny and touching connection to help all Moms feel sane!!
Thanks for continuing writing and letting us all know where you are.
HW
Just a quick note to say how estatic I was to find your blog! I echo all the wonderful sentiments about missing you and needing my fix. I have been reading Wondertime (and will now click everthing twice just for good measure) but was happy to find another CN fix. Our kids are virtually the same ages and my youngest looks a lot like Birdy so missing Ben and Birdy would have been too much to bear.
ReplyDeleteTake care, keep writing and we promise to keep reading. Are you shocked at how many of us have "found" you? I hope not- I hope you were secretly expecting us to stop at nothing to find you. I will look forward to your blogs and some of your devoted such as Raehan and Psychokitty - the whole community is a pleasure to spend a few cybermoments with - a real bright spot in every Moms day.
(Not quite ready to start my own blog but will be following yours and several others from now on)
Jenifer G.
I can't imagine my week starting without an update from you and your family. My son and I have grown with you and you've (in my mind) become my touch point. I can't say thank you enough for sharing a glimpse of your beautiful life and family!
ReplyDeleteYay! I've found you again! LOL! Not like you were actually lost, but still. I just read the last BBC entry and OMG I bawled my eyes out. Okay, so I almost cried while watching an episode of "8 Simple Rules" today too, so maybe I'm just pre-menstrual. ;) Honestly though, I was truly sad to see you leave. But I'm very happy now! :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to have found you! I just wanted to say thank you for your candidness for the last four years. I am a first-time mom working full-time. Your BabyCenter articles kept me laughing and sane. When I read your last article, I felt sad, like a really good girl-friend had moved away. I loved that you were honest and open, and that you had grumpy mom days and good mom days, just like me. And no, I never thought about whether you and Michael were married...until you brought it up! :-) You are parents, you are together, and you seem really made for each other. Blessings on you and your family. When your book hits the Philippines, I hope the first copy sold would be to me.
ReplyDeleteDear Cathrine: My little Ben turned 3 with a huge and over the top (and way too expensive--in the words of the Daddy watching me stuff the pinata and make treat bags and bury treasure in the back yard sand pit late in the night)party and then we were on vacation at a tiny cabin in Vermont. It's been busy since my return home, trying to manage the worrying, angst filled 5 1/2 year old as we prepare us both for the coming seperation of Kindergarten and plan a 50th birthday party for my husband and as the webmaster of the local chapter of the Mothers' Center I am busy getting ready for our fall Open House...and trying to squeeze just a bit more summer fun out of these last rainy days of August. Finally last night I claimed a bit of quiet at my computer to catch up with you and as I am three weeks behind I finaly come to the entry at BabyCenter that leads me here.
ReplyDeleteSorry to see you leave BabyCenter but as you can see from the ages of my sons that I have been following along from the begining. Crying and laughing along with you and reading parts of your book or colume to my fairly uninvolved husband. i have seen your work published in other places. I have posted before, too...but I must tell you now that your joy in Birdy is one of the things that prompted me to get help for the postpartum depression that had shadowed my life since my pregnancy with my first son. You see my Ben was a perfect little bundle of joy and sunshine 24 hours a day, sleeping and eatting well, and well, just the perfect lovely baby with smiles all day and all night and it hardly seemed fair that my 41 year old hormones were making me so miserable that I could not enjoy him.
But all is well these days and I just want you to know, how very much I appreciate your sharing the details of your life with us.
Your openness, your genuineness rings true even through the writen word for so many Moms out there.
Well done.
I'll follow you over to Wondertown.
Not like the Donny Osmond groupy that my husband accuses me of being( from the age of 7 and did you know he's coming to Broadway to be Gaston in Beauty and the Beast?) but more like a comfy old friend who KNOWS the path I have chosen and understands the stories I tell...and why my boys misbehave because I laugh at them when I should probably scold.
My best to you.
Greetings from Toronto, Ontario CANADA!!
ReplyDeleteDearest Catherine, my alter ego, my voice of reason, my grounder: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU - for pouring out your boundless heaps of honesty, your sincerity of motherhood, your jeers & cheers of parenting - It has meant the world to me :)
I have read your babycenter weekly's from the begining and it has been one of my most favourite Quiet & reflective moments (when I get them, tee hee hee - I have a 4 year old son and a 4& 1/2 month old daughter) and pastimes over the last 4 years! You have a gift here that has given to the world of mothers over and over (as you can tell from these thousands of posts) Congratulations for all of your accomplishments thus far in writing and as a mother of the world.
I can't bear a week without hearing your "voice" - It centers me into reality AHahhaha Keep up the fantastic work. I look forward to reading more of your straight-up, real-life, heart-warming, and belly wrenching stories. Your children and husband sound adorable and extremely supportive - you have done a fine job in raising them - you should be very proud :)
*ALL THE BEST CATHERINE!*
Alison LaCombe, mommy of 2
YAY! I was really sad that Bringing Up Ben is over (I set up a proxy to visit BabyCenter in China -- that's how much I wanted to read it). Thank goodness for Google, now I can read Dalai Mama and your blog to get my voyeuristic fix! I really love reading about your kids and your adventures and my Mondays go way better when I read what Ben and Birdy have gotten up to the week before. I hope I become a mom like you.
ReplyDeleteCatherine,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for being a constant in my life these past few years. You are a great writer and amazing mother. The world would be a better place if we all reflected on our parenting in the astute way you do. I'm so glad you're still out there, doing your thing...
Hi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteFunny, I read the comments of your fans here and I think, wow - though I can't imagine the that they are bigger fans than I am, I see that they also worry about feeling like stalkers because they love your writing so much. So very happy to now know where else to find your writing. Really seems I can't say anything that others have not already written.
Thanks for staying out in public for us to enjoy your work.
I've been reading bringing up ben and birdy for about 3 and half years, I've thrilled to see that you're still writing and can't wait to go over and read your new column.
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people who have been with you since Ben was a sunny two year old running around on the beach. I never posted on Babycenter because it was too hard but it seems to be working here so I feel I must say hello. And thank you for writing your journal all these years, it has been great and has kept me a bit saner than I otherwise would be, I think. I have three kids, the oldest is three and a half, I was pregnant with him when you started the journal. So my oldest is your youngest's age. Then I have a two and a half year old boy, (who is a huge kid so the two are the same size and they look so alike that everybody keeps asking if they're twins) and I have a daughter who is turning one this saturday. And I'm a single mom, the kids' dad and I split up just over a year ago. And I just wanted to say that reading your journal every week has been such a highlight of the week and has helped a lot because you seem to be writing about the same kind of stuff that I always go through and I can so identify. So thanks a ton, and I am so glad that you will continue writing.
ReplyDeleteChana
Thank god I found you again! I can't imagine only having "Tending Violet" to read every Monday with that witch of a mother. And I encourage you to drop an f-bomb as much as you like. Your writing is wonderful, I'm in stitches with every entry. My favorite all-time entry is when you were potty training Ben and you stopped at the side of the road to let him pee - and he showered Michael. My son is Ben's age, and another (much too) sensitive soul. I can relate so well.
ReplyDeleteI'm another fan who read your column on babycenter each week, read Waiting for Birdy, and subscribed to Wondertime after seeing your writing in the premier issue. Thank you for capturing mothering in a way that is genuine. I'm glad to have found the blog--a little bonus thrown in!
ReplyDeleteAnd, excuse me, but has NO ONE taken you up on the massage offer? Not one person has mentioned your hunky husband? Well, he might need his own fan club...
Best to you on all of your new writing adventures! Thank you for sharing your gifts with us.
I just discovered Family Fun magazine this week and now that I know you are a contributor, I love it even more now!
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteYou don't blog nearly enough! :)
And we need more pictures!! You are a great writer.
For the past 3 years, I have always looked forward to reading your newest column on Babycenter - it is one of my few "luxary," take time for self actions, as a working mom of a 3 year old and 3 month old. You have a wonderful way of putting into words the feelings I feel but don't always know how to express as a parent. I bought Waiting For Birdy when I was pregnant with my second. I find myself going back to the book and re-reading different passages as my 2 kids grow. I've also given the book as gifts to expecting parents. I'm so happy to learn that while you've graduated from Babycenter you are a) still writing and b) still willing to share your writing with others. Just how much I enjoy your writing is reflected by the fact that I NEVER have posted on a Blog before, until now, when I feel I need to say, keep going, I'm counting on you to help through the rest of parenthood - there are the teenage years you know.
ReplyDeleteI *do* need a massage and I do live in Western Mass! But your husband is too handsome and I'm too shy. I love your writing. My family has 4 or 5 copies of your book floating around. It is simply wonderful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteDear Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI only found you thanks to Google--my Babycenter newsletter is not that appealing without Ben and Birdy's lovely presence, so I don't even remember to open it. I simply wanted to tell you that I have read, saved and/or printed almost every one of your journals since my first pregnancy, almost four years ago. It might be interesting to know that your wit, your charisma and your carefully weighted honesty has relieved mommy stress week after week to such and extent that I feel all the way from Athens, Greece, as if I personally know you better than my Greek acquaintances. Thank you very much for this kinship and for the wonderful writing. I am sure there will be a time that I will say I knew of your style way back when...
Hmmm, no more Wondertime? No blogging since November?
ReplyDeleteHow neat to find you. I found you when I was pregnant with my first...who will be 18 this August...and for whatever reason, I just thought to myself, "I wonder whatever happened with Ben and Birdy?" It just came to me out of the blue.
ReplyDelete