Monthly Archives: October 2010

Well, maybe not broke, but damn if we didn’t all feel like we broke the baby.

In the past 12 years I’ve:

• Dropped my daughter
• Twice
• Tatooed my daughter’s neck (really, post pending)
• Not recognized that my son needed to be at the hospital
• Passed out cold when my son needed me
• Handed them razors to play with (I was very, very, very tired)

And that, my friends, is just the beginning. If you’re parenting long enough you’ll make plenty of mistakes. This week on Momversation we want to ask you a question

What is your biggest parenting mishap? Share it in the comments below so that misery can continue loving company we won’t feel so alone.

Blogging is for narcissists. From the outside we (bloggers) are called all sorts of things, but narcissism seems to be the one we defend ourselves against.

What can I say? I’m a blogger who couldn’t think of a good name. Happy Mommy, Silly Mommy, Irreverent Mommy, Bloggy Mommy and ScreenNamesAreStupid Mommy were all gone, so in the hopes of one day making this work for me on a more professional level I used the domain I’ve owned forever, JessicaGottlieb.com. I’m easily found on Twitter at @JessicaGottlieb, and you can connect with me on Facebook, again it’s just my name.

This next project is my least narcissistic project thus far. If you’re a regular blog reader you know that this is a personal group of pages, but if you follow me on twitter, facebook or Posterous you also know that I love to share other people’s news, writings, and videos. Now you can get all of that information on your iPhone, iPad or iTouch.

Yes, really. I have an app for that.

A few weeks ago my phone rang and Chad Middleton (Twitter: Outerwoven)asked if he could make me an app for the iTunes store. I hung up on him. I’ve had enough prank calls to last me a lifetime.

He called back. He was serious.

I’m an app. Well, technically I’m not an app, Mom Blogging is an app, and if you enjoy my blog (I sure hope you do) this gives you an easy way to access my blog on your favorite mobile device, but really it will give you great news stories too. Last week you would have found out that a smuggled crocodile killed 19 people in an airplane crash, today you would have seen that Bible.com is being sued for not making any money, and you’d have a preview of the Chevy Volt. Yes, my husband is aware of my ridiculous crush on Detroit, he is willing to share me.

It’s a free app, and I hope you enjoy it. The reality is that I’m sharing content all day long, and if you find yourself living a life like mine (hurry up and wait) I’m sure that there will be something fun for you in the Mom Blogging app.

I had a ton of anxiety about starting Humira injections. I wasn’t worried about the medical aspect of taking a TNF Inhibitor (Tumor Necrosis Factor… my mom keeps asking what I’m taking). What gave me anxiety was the fact that I was going to have to inject myself. Here’s a video I made with the Humira pen.

Well, I ended up using Simponi instead of Humira. It’s a once a month injection rather than bi-weekly. They’re quite similar in many ways, and Simponi appealed to my doctor for various reasons. It appealed to me because I was thinking that I’d just pay a nurse to do the injections for me. I figured it would cost a little bit of money, but that’s why we make it, right?

I’ve been really uncomfortable, like canceling vacations uncomfortable. I’m taking a boat load of medicine just to be able to move well, and now I’m gobbling Prilosec twice a day because we’re worried I’m going to get an ulcer from the number of pills.

So I got the Simponi. And I looked at the setup and thought, I can do this.

I told the kids I needed some time alone. I went upstairs, read the instructions, opened the pen up and sat down to inject.

I wiped my thigh a few times with rubbing alchol and waited for it to dry. I squeezed a bit of skin into a hump and placed the pen at a 90 degree angle to my skin.

I pressed the button until I heard a click, and then I held the pen tightly against my thigh until I heard a second click.

And then I had to double check the medication window because I didn’t feel anything. Not a thing.

It will be several months before I know if this is the right medication for me, but unlike the methotrexate I don’t have constant diarreah, and unlike prednisone it holds some promise for a more permanent remission.

Whomever came up with that delivery system is my hero. I’m not at all worried about the next injection. It’s quite likely that I’ll take a video when I do it, because I’d hate for anyone to feel as terribly afraid as I’d felt just a few weeks ago.

When Tiffany asked me to speak about Privacy at Bloggy Boot Camp I realized that my biggest challenge would be to keep my talk under an hour. We could talk about privacy in the blogosphere for days and still not scratch the surface.

Here’s a recap of my presentation, and if you were in the room, thank you so much for being there. Bloggy Boot Camp is an extraordinary group and I consider it a privilege to be in a room with you.

According to USA Today Zynga is facing a class action lawsuit because of breaches of privacy. From the article:

In a statement released by the lawsuit’s co-lead attorneys, the filing claims Zynga violated federal law and its contract with Facebook by sharing the user data of players on games such as FarmVille.

“This appears to be another example of an online company failing the American public with empty promises to respect individual privacy rights,” said Michael Aschenbrener of Edelson McGuire — a co-lead attorney for the lawsuit — in a statement.

Here’s a video clip of Mark Pincus. On stage he says, “I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenue right away.” And then he goes on to further bury himself.

What do you think will happen? Will you disconnect from Zynga games? Do you trust Facebook?

Yesterday when Alexander and I were driving back from getting his contact lenses (lens really, he only wears one), he noticed a Porsche Cayenne.

“Mom why would Porsche make an SUV? It’s like it brings down the value of the whole brand.”

I just nodded and waited for him to continue.

“It’s like Porsche isn’t special anymore, you don’t see Ferrari making pick up trucks.”

“Well honey,” I said, “when I was about your age Ferrari did make some SUVs too. They were really boxy and looked a little like some of the Mercedes trucks.”

“That’s just dumb, they’ve got to stick to making what they’re good at. They should be special. When they start making all these cars they aren’t special anymore and no one wants to pay for the good stuff. I would only pay like $100 for a Porsche now because they aren’t special.” He thought a little while, and then added, “When did Mercedes start making station wagons and stop being special?”

One day I’ll tell him about Chrysler.

Don’t forget to get the Mom Blogging app, it works on iTouch, iPhone, and iPad.