Have any of you caught this new reality show featuring a cast of teen “couples” who hope to start a family sooner rather than later? They are given babies to borrow for 3 days, then toddlers, then pre-teens, teens and finally the elderly. You know I totally had to tune in.

My first impression of the show was that the parents who allowed their tiny babies to be on that show are just nuts. I don’t know if they are being paid something but at a minimum I hope they are reimbursed the therapy costs! haha. I just felt SO bad for those babies. They were at that separation and stranger anxiety stage, they were thrust into unfamiliar homes and cribs with unfamiliar caregivers for several DAYS! While their safety was covered by on-site nannies whose job it was to intervene in the case of an emergency (!!) and hidden cameras that the parents, staying in nearby homes, could watch from with the option to intervene at any time, none of that really addressed the psychological implications of running social experiments on totally clueless infants. Probably the children will be fine now that they are reunited with their parents. It was a one-time thing and only a few days. But still, I sure wouldn’t be volunteering my own baby, ever!!!

I also sort of felt like most of the parents were a little clueless. They were blaming teething, hunger, bad “parenting” on their children’s crying and unhappiness and maybe those things were factors but HELLO - achom’s razor, people! Let’s not overlook the obvious: these babies were probably totally disoriented and at least a little freaked out! This wasn’t like dropping the babes off with grandma for a weekend!

Two of the teens did awesome and I actually think that for one of the couples the goal of the show was sort of lost because the girl was in love with her baby and did a terrific job! She talked about how “bonded” she felt to the baby (after ONE day!!! ha) and how great mothering made her feel! So much for talking the kids out of parenthood through experience! The rest of the kids were total messes. Is that really how almost-adults are these days? Or were these the worst of the worst, hand picked by the casting crew for their ridiculous inability to take care of even themselves much less another human life? I don’t know if I was that much of a mess when I was 17 but I almost felt like calling my ex and asking him and apologizing if I was! haha.

But speaking of the social experiemental angle of it all, it is just unrealistic from beginning to end. First of all, who among us was gifted a huge brand new house, fully furnished, and a car to start our families off with? And food. And a job we didn’t even have to interview for? And how can it be an even remotely realistic experiment when teens don’t also have the benefit of growing and bonding with a child through pregnancy, the pain of childbirth, those early days of learning each other’s needs? Basically what they were doing was babysitting for a few days. There was no parenthood involved.

I can semi-relate to these kids because I definitely wanted children at their age and, indeed, my first child was born when I was just 19. But had I been put through this social experiment I’m fairly sure my response would have been “I still want a baby but I sure don’t want to be a nanny - EVER!”. haha.  In fact, to be honest, I WAS a nanny at that age and DID get to spend my days in a huge lovely house with a wonderful Lexus to tote the kids around in to Gymboree without having to pay the bills and I didn’t love it and learned a lot about how NOT to raise or treat my own kids when I had them and the longer I was around other people’s crazy kids, the more I wanted my own so I could do it right and really enjoy them. So, from my own first hand experience, I can see the experiment backfiring for some. It did for me. I was always wise enough to recognize the innately contrived parts of my experience (the house, the car, the endless food supply) and the challenges and differences (and positives and benefits) that doing it myself would bring. And boy did I have challenges! But boy did I have all those positives and benefits and even more! I can’t say I’d have done it another way if I had it to do over again! Good thing I’m not working on that show, I guess

That said, I look forward to the next few episodes for no other reason than the comedic value!!! It doesn’t seem so cruel when the kids thrust into the new environment are older, wiser, more cunning and more likely to play into it!!! ha. At the end, I think the show will manage to break up a few crappy teen relationships, maybe it will prevent a few pregnancies. But ultimately I think it will teach these kids to NEVER become nannies or work in daycare! ha.

The Awesome Twosome (which is what I like to call Tony and I officially as of just this second - does it make you want to puke a little in your mouth?) is no more. I am all alone, it is all on me, the weight of the world, my kids’ needs, my needs, EVERYTHING.

All drama aside, Tony left for Redmond a few minutes ago and won’t be home until….gulp…tomorrow. Night.

Am I a baby or what?! I am so fun because about 24 hours before Tony has to leave town, any given time, I get all whiney and weepy and OH THE DRAMA. There are the 10000 “What if….” questions that range from “What if the power goes out?” to “What if you die on the plane?” and then the “How will I….” questions and then the flat out “You just can’t go. Tell them you are sorry, you have to stay home.” And then the “Will you fly home if there is an emergency? What exactly constitutes an emergency?” questions. Oh yes, I make him work for his 36 hours of freedom! He just laughs and threatens to create a spreadsheet for easy reference since I ask the same questions every time.

Its just that….we are a team! We work well together, we have nailed down our ebb and flow, we function in unity and he makes all the meals! HOW will I make the meals? I can’t cook! My babies will starve and it will be all his fault. See…there I go again!

Anyway…blahblahblah…woe is me. Tony is gone and he gets to be on camera, and he gets “make-up” and I get…what do I get?!? I hope at least I get some smoked salmon out of the deal like last time! Tony did one of these sort of on-camera roundtable events in March and it was very exciting because someone said the product “sucked dead donkeys”.  I’m hoping for the same level of excitement this time ’round. Of course I will be too busy playing Spider Solitaire and blogging to actually watch but I’ll catch it on youtube later!

I know waaay back last year I promised a switch to password protected posts. And I diligently gave out the password, the likes of which I no longer remember, and then never once offered up the secret posts.

Well I guess its an annual tradition because here we are again. Yesterday my husband attended a court hearing in which MY blog was brought up by the other party in a ridiculous and failed attempt to wrongly accuse my husband of things in order to extract more money out of our family. Because of the long dark stalker-like history there, we knew that was coming and expected it. And in general, I have always written for the audience and unfortunately I’ve always known that that audience includes some people with really unhealthy attachments to my world and an almost consuming need to be a part of it at any cost and to use it against my family whenever possible. Talk about making a girl feel important!!! So it was expected and rejected.  And also a reminder that my due diligence was not out of paranoia but out of a sad reality. The reality is that no matter what I write, it could ALWAYS be manipulated, contorted, misconstrued, misunderstood, miscommunicated or altered to fit an agenda. I’ve always known and accepted that reality. Bring it on.

I generally have no problem being public about my life because I have nothing to hide despite the past and present attempts to distort my boring life as something far more exciting than it is. I have found that far FAR more good comes of being open than not. I have been lucky that I don’t really have a following of public crazies but in a way, at least the public crazies keep the private ones in check! But there have always been things I wish I could share and talk about that I can’t because I know that my blog is audited by stalkers, unknowns and also by my children.

Mostly I have no desire to password protect my blog. I think its tiresome and hard to remember everyone’s passwords. But I’m going to do it anyway, at least occasionally. Because boy have I got some stories for you!!!!!!!!

So if you have a blog or email relationship with me, drop me a line here and I’ll share the new and improved password.  Let’s give this a whirl. For the rest of you, don’t worry, I won’t stop publicly blogging. The crazies will remain crazies, the stalkers will continue to find a way into my family by any means necessary. But hey, maybe somewhere along the way they will learn a thing or two about adoption, homeschooling, parenting or making dolly diapers! ha.