Jenna Glatzer, Ghostwriter

People hate it when you defend celebrities. I am of the very unpopular opinion that celebrities are human beings, and that those human beings should be treated with at least the same respect we'd give a bank teller or grocery check-out person or postal worker. I've been so dismayed about the way people in the media and people "on the street" have treated Sanjaya from American Idol. Here's the thing: He's a 17-year-old kid with a nice voice. He was outclassed on American Idol, sure. But it's not his fault that he was chosen for the show, and not his fault that people voted to keep him in week after week. What blew my mind was the hatred. It's one thing to say you don't think he's as talented as the other contestants... it's another to have headline after headline when he was eliminated that say "Finally!" and "It's About Time!" and to continue rubbing salt in the wound by talking about the idiocy of those who voted f...

I'd just like to note here that as of week 5 of Sarina's life, she had already outgrown her newborn stuff and is now wearing the size 3-6-month clothes. She's 11 pounds now, and 25 inches long, and at the rate she's eating, I think she's trying very hard to become a giant (or at least more roly poly). No wonder I'm having a hard time keeping up with her-- I finally tracked it, and she drinks 36 ounces of milk per day. "Normal" consumption for a baby is 19 to 30 ounces. I'm starting to get back to work now, albeit slowly. I got the page proofs of a book on bullying that I co-wrote, so while she sleeps, I go through with my trusty red pen and mark the corrections. There are some pretty awful typos in the table of contents (which my coauthor and I didn't write), and this version went out to reviewers. I'm a bit embarrassed. Of course, it says "Uncorrected Galley Proofs" on the cover, but as a reviewer, I've seen that before and s...

This is a post about breastfeeding, so if that sort of thing ooks you out, this is fair warning that it's best to skip it. I was lucky enough to have read a lot about breastfeeding troubles toward the end of my pregnancy, so I was mentally prepared for it to be more difficult than one might expect. I mean, I have breasts, the baby has a mouth... what's so hard? But I had read so many stories from mothers who felt terrible anguish when things didn't go well, and I promised myself I wouldn't do that. I thought, "I'm going to try my best, and if it doesn't work out, it's okay to use formula." I found it funny that there were whole societies dedicated to breastfeeding. I found out that two old friends of mine were very active in La Leche League, and I wondered, "What in the world is there to talk about that these women would actually go to meetings-- regularly-- to bond with other breastfeeding women?" A couple of lessons, okay, but an actual...

Introducing... Thank you for all the good wishes. Her birth was wonderful. Her first 3 weeks in this world have been fantastic. She's the fabulousest baby in all the land. And I suddenly feel like I understand what life is about. I am so in love. Please pardon me. I have to go kiss her head again.

A while back, a woman on a pregnancy board told us about a pregnant acquaintance of hers who was told not to come back to a YMCA because she was wearing a two-piece bathing suit in the pool. Apparently, the swim instructor didn't approve of her "bare belly" and said it was inappropriate for children to see it. HUH? I was shocked and told my mom about it on the phone... in a "Can you believe this?" sort of way, and Mom promptly agreed with the swim instructor. She told me she thought it was too "risque" and inappropriate for children to see a pregnant woman's belly. HUH TIMES TWO? For real. This caused quite an interesting conversation, wherein she claimed to see no difference between baring a belly and baring one's breasts, and that children were bound to ask questions about how babies are made if pregnant women "flaunt" their bellies. And then parents will have to explain the birds and the bees much too early, and morality will decli...

What is it about toothpaste that makes it so excellent at staining? I love my electronic toothbrush, but it seems I can't handle it. I manage to get toothpaste on myself about every other day. And toothpaste has this supernatural quality-- you can rinse it off, really rubbing the fabric so it looks like it's all gone, and when it dries, poof! The toothpaste is still there. Taunting you. Like those birthday candles you can never blow out. So I use more water and more soap, and pretty soon, my shirt is soaked through and through and I can't wear it anymore, so I hang it over the shower door to dry and wear something else. Which is what I'm doing now. Tricksy toothpaste.

So I was back in the hospital a few days ago. This time, it was because one leg swelled up terribly and doctors thought I had a blood clot. So they injected blood thinner into my abdomen (wait, I'll repeat that-- yes, they stuck a needle into my abdomen !! ) and then admitted me because they don't do sonograms at night, and needed someone to do a sonogram on my leg to check for the clot. Well, I was on bedrest (only while I was in the hospital... phew!), so they wheeled me into a room with a woman all loaded up with tubes and IVs. Within about a minute, she told me she had just had surgery for kidney stones the night before. Within about five minutes, I knew all about her 5 days of vomiting, her current bowel movements, her phlegm, her daughter's cancer, the fact that she hates eggs, and which doctors are having affairs with their secretaries. She pulled back the curtain between us, of course. And proceeded to talk ALL NIGHT. Literally. I didn't sleep at all... not tha...

I ended up in the labor & delivery unit a week ago with pre-term labor contractions, but nothing came of it, thank goodness. They pumped me full of IV fluids and told me I was probably dehydrated and that I should keep my feet up and drink a ton of water. So I am. But I'm also having panic attacks. It's been about 10 months now since I've been off my panic medication, and I did so beautifully for the first 8 months. I really began thinking I might just never need those meds again, and maybe my brain has finally corrected itself. But then I had a run of a few days in a row where I had attacks, starting at a funeral. The ones since then haven't been as bad, but they're there, shadowing me. That really messes with my confidence about childbirth. These past two weeks have been filled with thoughts like, "Why did I ever think I could do this?" and bargains with God for ways to get through labor without actually... you know... going into labor. (By the way, ...

For New Year's Eve this year, my family went to a local theatre for a magic act and post-midnight cabaret set. It's this little theatre in this nothing town in the corner of a shopping center. The house was less than half full (mostly with senior citizens). The magic act was pretty good. But the cabaret was outstanding. Three of the female singers were hold-your-breath level. (You know, where they do something so vocally stunning that you forget to breathe for a few seconds. Does that just happen to me?) My husband is a wedding band musician and I've been around the wedding band industry for much of my life, so I can't tell you how many times I've heard the song "At Last." I still love it, but I had no idea I could still be mesmerized by it until I heard this spiky frosted-haired woman do the most nuanced vocal gymnastics in this little theatre. And every one of them with the genuine smiles of people who you darn well know love what they're doing. You ...

I can't help it. I can't separate the person from the talent. Which is why I wish several authors (and actors, and musicians) would just keep their rantings and ravings to themselves-- or at least pick up a pseudonym for these activities. I'm not talking about the Mel Gibson alcoholic stupidity or the Michael Richards stand-up disaster, either. Those were both pretty awful, but they were spur-of-the moment tirades, unlike the actually planned out and purposefully written blogs and posts and reviews and whatnot from people who alienate half their fans with seeming disregard. It was an author's blog that tripped me up this time. There I was, dropping by just to show some love to an author whose work I really like, when I ran headlong into pages and pages of political rants that not only run counter to my own beliefs, but do so in a terribly disrespectful manner. I don't know what authors are thinking when they launch into insult mode, saying things like, "How cou...

A friend from Absolute Write shared this story with us. He and his wife have horses, and two of them were attacked. One was slashed until her flesh hung off her body and the other suffered a puncture wound that nearly severed a major artery. Here's the full story. Since then, the Ortons have learned of other attacks in the Dallas area. Their neighbor's horse died after an attack, and a horse in Bryan, Texas had its throat slashed. When they spoke to an editor at a horse publication, they found out similar attacks have been reported across the state. Here's the outrageous part of the linked article: Deputies say they think there were attacks, but there's not much they can do. State animal cruelty laws exempt horses, and cows, pigs and goats. An attack like this one might earn the attacker a ticket for damaging property. I probably don't even need to comment on the craziness of that. But there must be something we can do to pressure lawmakers in Texas to change this l...

We had more trick or treaters this year than we've ever had at our house, which I loved! I'm sure it was because of the warm weather. All the kids came over between 3:15 and 7:30. I panicked and ran out to get more candy at 7:30 because we had only five bars of 100 Grand left... and then not a single kid showed up after I put the whole bag of Crunch bars in the bowl. So, in other news... We all knew it, too! I don't know why, but starting at the 12-week scan, I had such a strong hunch that this was a girl growing inside me, and Anthony and my parents and brother and sister all agreed. I think I would have demanded a second opinion if the technician had said otherwise. Now the challenges are: coming up with a name, and picking out nursery stuff! The names I like are getting vetoed, it appears. My first choices were Sienna Marene and Sariyah. Anthony was already iffy on Sienna because it's a color, but when he found out Toyota came out with a Sienna model, well... that wa...

We jumped over a large hurdle today. I had a nuchal fold test done a week ago, which is a test for Down syndrome and other Trisomies. There is DS on both sides of my family, and my mom and sister have translocations-- pieces of extra chromosomes. That's the amazing thing: my brother has an extra chromosome, my sister and mother have an extra piece of a chromosome... he has DS, my mom was an English teacher, and my sister's in law school. What a tiny difference makes such a big difference. Anyway, we don't know yet if I have that same translocation, but I probably do. I've always been aware, and so has Anthony, that we'd have a bigger risk than most people of having a baby with DS. So there was a lot riding on this test for us. It's not definitive, but it expresses your odds compared to other women who've given birth with the same measurements and blood test results, and based on that, our odds are: 1:850. Which is really good. Better than average for my age,...

We're having a contest to design a new logo for Absolute Write. And I forgot to mention it in the newsletter today, because I'm an idiot. So here it is! Deadline is July 25th, and there are some great prizes.

I swore up and down I'd never sign up for MySpace. And I would have stuck to that promise, if not for Siobhan McCrudden . What happened was that I was searching around on iTunes again for that mysterious male vocal piano song that I will probably never find. Decided to just look up the word "acoustic" to see what popped up. Up came a podcast called Acoustic Long Island , which is recorded at a little coffee shop. I listened to a couple of shows, but stopped after I heard Siobhan. Had to track down this singer. Found her on MySpace. Wanted to contact her to ask if she has an album, and had no other choice but to sign up for MySpace. Grrr. So I did. And then I decided if I was signed up for it, I might as well take a look around. So I followed Siobhan's "friends" link and found Madeleine White . And then Antje Duvekot . Well, wow. Where have these gorgeous voices been hiding? (Note: if you click any of the women's links, you can listen to a few of their fu...

I can't smoke, am too worn out to scream, and I'm fresh out of heroin (a joke, just a joke). So I've decided to go for some music therapy on iTunes. I'm looking for a particular song, though, and can't figure it out. I heard it on the radio for the first time the other day, on a pop/soft rock station. I thought I'd remember the title, but of course I didn't. It has a gorgeous piano intro, beautiful male vocal, ballad. He goes into falsetto for just a note here and there. It's mostly just a guy and a piano. I know that's not much to go on, but do you know any new-ish songs on the radio that fit that description? I've been searching all over the web and can't figure it out. Barring that, similar suggestions would be appreciated. I'm in the mood for a male vocalist and a piano. Tell me about the beautiful songs you love...

Absolute Write has been down since about midnight. The hosting company tried to reboot our server, but that didn't work, and they said, "We have an issue that is being looked into. I apologize for the delay." So, yeah, I know it's down. I really don't know how quickly it'll be back up, but I hope soon!

We had a staring contest in my backyard. He totally won.

It's been about a month since this happened and I'm cool, so I'll tell you about it. During the Great AW Blackout, I was on the phone with supermod Lori (Birol) talking about life and stress and timing. I told her that it was just about time for me to take a pregnancy test, but that I didn't even know what to wish for this month because I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and that this would be "a miscarriage waiting to happen." It was while I was still trying to get back our databases and freaking out over how I was going to pay salaries and the new server costs and all that. And then I took the test... and it was positive. But with a qualifier: I was supposed to read it within ten minutes, and instead, I was in the shower and didn't get to it quite on time. I read it at about the 15-minute mark. Anthony was there with me, and I excitedly flung it at him, saying, "Do you see the line?" It was very, very light-- but he saw it, t...