Reading
Twilight word vomit
Sunday, 18 January, 2009
When it comes to Twilight, often I feel like Cady Heron in Mean Girls—the part where she mentions word vomit and always wanting to talk about Regina George, or waiting for someone else to mention Regina so she could talk about her. These days, I often want to talk about Twilight, or I want someone else to mention the topic so I can talk about it. This evening, George told me she was looking forward to my post on it, so I thought I would get it out of my system by writing down all my thoughts, no matter how jumbled they come out. (I'll try to break it up with some awkward headings so the post won't seem so long to read!)
Summary
For the benefit of the handful of people on this planet who have no idea what I'm talking about, Twilight is the first in a series of novels by American author Stephenie Meyer which revolve around the relationship between Bella Swan, a very ordinary American schoolgirl whose parents are divorced and who lives with her father, and Edward Cullen, a 90-year-old vampire who looks as though he's 17. The books have sold millions of copies, and the first one was recently made into a movie starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (who also played Cedric Diggory in [the very woeful] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).
Back story
I remember noticing the books in bookshops because they have very attractive covers—black with brilliant colour on a pair of hands holding out an apple, or a white chess piece on a chequered floor. Then people started asking me about them. (It's weird: if you read a lot, people think you've read everything. But perhaps I do have a reputation for having read a lot of YA and children's fiction ...) I saw the movie poster during one trip to the cinema—I think it was when the Hive Mind, Ben and I went to see Hellboy 2: The Golden Army—and then started checking it out online. I didn't realise what a cult phenomenon it was until the movie was released and then it seemed like all the Twilight fans were coming out of the woodwork. (This New York Times article about Robert Pattinson's appearances in shopping malls in America is well worth a read: go on, I promise it's amusing!)
Like Bec, I figured it was probably my sort of thing, and I was mildly interested to find out what the big deal was, so I picked up a copy for under $15 at Kinokuniya (yay loyalty card!) It didn't have the nice cover; it's the movie tie-in, and Robert Pattinson looks appalling, and there's a poster in the back if anyone wants it, but moving on ...
Writing, characterisation and appeal
Firstly (as Bec points out), the writing is appalling. I suppose it could be worse, but it could be a lot lot better too. There's way too much telling and not enough showing, there are too many adverbs and adjectives, character development is almost non-existent, and Bella and Edward are extremely annoying. Bella especially: she's weak and pathetic and whiny and self-centred. During her first day at her new school, the kids go out of their way to be nice to her, but she barely notices. There is a scene where Jessica, who is one of the first girls to befriend her, is talking to her, but she doesn't even pretend to listen. One wonders (well, some of my school friends and I wonder) what on earth Edwards—and, indeed, Mike, Eric, Tyler and Jacob—see in her. Apparently she's rather good-looking (but doesn't see that about herself), but, really, personality counts more than appearances, don't they?
My theory regarding the characterisation is that Meyer has made them two-dimensional enough for you to project onto their canvases whatever you want. All of a sudden, you become Bella: shy, bookish, awkward (clumsy!), smart, desirable, etc. etc., and Edward becomes the guy you had a crush on when you were seventeen: he's good-looking (the most good-looking guy in the school, and therefore the most desirable), polite, charming, talented, dangerous, tortured, rich ... okay, you get the picture. Millions of girls are in love with Edward and dream of him, but it's not really Edward; it's the idea of Edward. I realised (after speed-reading Twilight in two days, and then going back later and re-reading certain bits) that what Meyer has managed to do is capture what being in love when you're 17 feels like. The book made me rather discontent much in the same way that The Devil Wears Prada made me feel discontent with my wardrobe: all of a sudden, I too wanted to live in small town America where life was slow, where kids drove to school and hung out in close-knit groups, where the most gorgeous guy I'd ever laid eyes on wanted me and would do anything to protect me and keep me safe from harm. The process of reading made me feel as obsessed as Bella was with Edward (only I was thinking back to the early days of my relationship with Ben, when all I could think about was him and when I would see him next). Meyer has bottled that experience of adolescent longing and obsession; no wonder the series is selling in its millions!
Girl-dom
This brings me to a very perceptive (and extremely well-written) article that Caitlin Flanagan wrote in The Atlantic (kudos to Tony for pointing this out to me). (Every Twilight fan should read it. But it does have a few little spoilers.) Flanagan places Twilight within not just the context of YA fiction, but the whole area of girls and reading. She points out that teenage girls are the perfect readers:
The salient fact of an adolescent girl's existence is her need for a secret emotional life—one that she slips into during her sulks and silences, during her endless hours alone in her room, or even just when she's gazing out the classroom window while all of Modern European History, or the niceties of the passé composé, sluice past her. This means that she is a creature designed for reading in a way no boy or man, or even grown woman, could ever be so exactly designed, because she is a creature whose most elemental psychological needs—to be undisturbed while she works out the big questions of her life, to be hidden from view while still in plain sight, to enter profoundly into the emotional lives of others—are met precisely by the act of reading.
She talks about the relationship she had with books when she was that age—how days and weeks would pass by, and she'd be curled up with a good book. I remember those; I experienced them too, and even miss them:
It's also the first book that seemed at long last to rekindle something of the girl-reader in me. In fact, there were times when the novel—no work of literature, to be sure, no school for style; hugged mainly to the slender chests of very young teenage girls, whose regard for it is on a par with the regard with which just yesterday they held Hannah Montana—stirred something in me so long forgotten that I felt embarrassed by it. Reading the book, I sometimes experienced what I imagine long-married men must feel when they get an unexpected glimpse at pornography: slingshot back to a world of sensation that, through sheer force of will and dutiful acceptance of life's fortunes, I thought I had subdued.
This, I think, is also why teenage girls—and their mothers (actually, wait a minute: it's not just teenage girls and mums; it's women of all ages) are so obsessed. For teens, Twilight mirrors something true they are already experiencing; for women, it reminds them of something they have lost.
So for days after reading Twilight, I wandered around feeling rather discontent with my lot. (I was also in the middle of moving house which made life even more unsettling.) I said, “Twilight reminds you of what it's like to be 17 and in love,” but then I realised that it was never like that when I was 17. Twilight gave me an ideal—a fantasy—that I thought I had grown out of. Worse, it made me think of “Maureen Easterbrook” in Judith Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee's The Good Marriage: Maureen's daughter hit adolescence and started going out with this absolutely gorgeous boy two years older than her (the daughter) who was a terribly bad influence. But Maureen became obsessed with him and said:
“... I lost it for a whole year ... I became an adolescent again. I had this gigantic rescue fantasy for this boy. His mother was alcoholic and had been abusive, and he in turn was abusive to my daughter. Nevertheless, I treated him like my son. I became preoccupied with him, as if he were my son, and my other daughters and my husband resented it mightily ...
“It was very erotic. He was a stud. It was an affair, but it was all in my head ... I was absolutely wild in what I did with this boy and for this boy. It was a vicarious relationship in which I was living out something via my daughter, and I couldn't stop myself ...
“I was a late bloomer. There must have been something missing from my adolescence. The truth is ... it was his beautiful body. It was sexual. It was lusting for adolescence and being the lusty adolescent I wasn't able to be. I had been kept under strict supervision by my mom.”
(Judith S. Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee, The Good Marriage, Warner, New York, 1995, p. 251)
The restlessness and discontent I was experiencing felt similar, and I wondered whether this was something that many of the women who love Twilight so much also felt. It's like that episode of Buffy Season 1 where the mother (who is a witch) trades places with her daughter so she can try out for the school cheerleading team. (this actually happened in real life and the mother, when she was caught, explained that “she had no childhood and was trying to regain a part of her life she missed”. It bothered me because divorce takes away your part of your childhood, and then by the time you realise what you missed, you're too old to go back. I don't want to end up like Maureen Easterbrook; I know I need to grow up. Unfortunately growing up never stops ...
A bit of romance
But back to Twilight. People complain that the first half is really slow (and the explanation for that is found in the dream that Meyer had, which resulted in her constructing the first half of the book to match the second half). George complained that it was a romance but it wasn't a terribly good romance. She did have a point: if I think of all the YA books I love that contain a romance plot, there are others that stand out as far better: Fifteen by Beverly Cleary (where the heroine is rather similar to Bella but much more likable), The Changeover by Margaret Mahy (which captures more of the awkwardness of adolescent romance and what it means to grow up through the plot devices of witchcraft and single parenthood), Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (perhaps that's more “children's” fiction than YA but it's beautifully done), Beauty by Robin McKinley ...
Still, when I went back and re-read the first half of Twilight, I had to admire the way Meyer lets the plot develop. There was something comforting about Bella's day-to-day routine—the movement from class to the cafeteria to gym and to class again, getting ready in the morning, coming home at night, having fun on weekends with friends, and so on. Meyer takes it step by step, letting things progress a little more and then a little more between Bella and Edward. As Flanagan (I think) points out, it's a far cry from the worldly spheres of movies like Mean Girls and Degrassi Junior High where the teens know far too much about sex and drugs than seems decent.
Vampires
Speaking of Robin McKinley (or rather I'll get back to her in a moment), of course the whole romance between a human and a vampire thing is not new; we've seen it in Buffy and I'm sure it exists in other literature and media. Robin McKinley's Sunshine, however, does it much better than Twilight, partly because Sunshine and Constantine are more appealing characters, but also because she's so good at presenting Constantine as being alien. The Cullens are a break with tradition simply because they are so super-human and there's none of the blood and sex which usually mark vampire fiction. (Okay, perhaps here I'm exhibiting my ignorance; I've only ever read Bram Stoker, Anne Rice and Sunshine. And watched seven seasons of Buffy and one issue of the season 8 comic ... Oh, and Nosferatu for first-year English ...) Anne Rice's books were (if I remember third-year English!) often about sex and forbidden sex: the exchanging of fluids involved in turning someone from human to vampire was a metaphor for sex, and it often took place between men (homosexuality, with its connecting ideas of HIV and AIDS—blood, etc.) and even family members (Lestat, you remember, turns his mother). Twilight isn't like that. Flanagan writes, “This is a vampire novel, so it is a novel about sex, but no writer, from Bram Stoker on, has captured so precisely what sex and longing really mean to a young girl”, but I think the sex part of the vampirism in Twilight is largely played down. Instead, being turned is expressed in almost salvation-like terms: most of the vampires became vampires when they were almost at the point of death, and their choice to become vampires (for most of the Cullens were given a choice) gave them life—eternal life—and accompanying special powers. I find this interesting because most of the early traditions involving vampires tended to regard them as being like vermin, and you took certain steps to eradicate them the way you would mice or rats (e.g. scattering rice or seed around the grave because the vampire would be forced to stop and pick it up [“One! Ah ha ha!” as one audience member called out during Continuum 3's panel on vampires]). Nosferatu retained some of those elements in that the vampire looks decidely rat-ish in some of his scenes. It wasn't until Bram Stoker came along that the vampire suddenly became this sexy desirable being—an aristocrat whose seductive powers made him an object of desire among women. It's this aspect of vampirism that Meyer is interested in—but not the garlic, crosses, stakes and blood that go with it; vampirism, for Meyer, is not a disease (like Joss Whedon's vampires), and it's not about sex or lust (like Anne Rice's vampires); it's about being born again. Almost.
Mormonism
Here is a topic that no reviewer I have read has dealt with very well(see Salon, The New York Times, SydneyAnglicans and Salt): the expression of Meyer's Mormon beliefs in the novel. Flanagan writes, “That the author is a practicing Mormon is a fact every reviewer has mentioned, although none knows what to do with it, and certainly none can relate it to the novel”. Here's a few of my ideas (and please bear in mind that I have a rather amateur grasp of Mormon theology).
It almost seems to me that in Twilight, the vampires—or, more specifically, the Cullens—are like the gods on earth. They're beautiful, strong, fast, rich and virtually indestructible (and their skin glitters in the sun!). They have everything a human could ever want, and, for the most part, they are pretty content with their lot. Edward does describe being a vampire as being a “monster” at one point (I'm too lazy to look up the reference, sorry), but he's referring to the feeding-of-humans thing, which the Cullens don't do. In Mormon theology, the end goal is that you become a god. But you can only do that if you join the Church of Latter-Day Saints and submit to its rules. No wonder Bella is so keen for Edward to turn her.
The other area where I see hints of Mormonism is the emphasis on being paired up: all the Cullens are partnered except for Edward, and most of the “family” rejoices when Bella comes along because he's been alone for so long and now at last ... okay, not quite “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”, but you do get that sense from reading it. Mormons believe that God is married, and there is enormous pressure on Mormons to find a life partner. I remember a Mormon once telling me (when I asked him if singles felt like second-class citizens in the LDS church) that Mormons could undergo a ceremony whereby they “marry” their life partner if their partner just happened to have been born in another time (or in the future). For him, that solved the marriage problem. (For me, that was really bizarre, and confirmed to me how much better the Christian God's plan for human relationships is with both marriage and singleness being good in his eyes.) Edward waits 90 years for Bella; it must be the quintessential romantic ending for a single Mormon.
My final comment on Meyer's beliefs is the curious lack of the sense of the divine in Twilight. Perhaps this isn't particularly noticeable since most books have no sense of there being a divine being—not even books by fellow Mormon Orson Scott Card (and not even in his Homecoming series which is basically a sci-fi retelling of The Book of Mormon). The only author I could think of who does include some sense of there being a divine being beyond humanity is, somewhat curiously, Guy Gavriel Kay: in The Fionavar Tapestry, there was the weaver, and in a lot of his later works, even though the expression of religion tends towards either Roman Catholicism or paganism, you do get the sense that their beliefs are not unfounded; Jad is real, though he may not be the kind of being that his adherents think he is.
The movie and the way forward from here
My jumbled thoughts have almost completely tumbled out, but here are a few more comments. Firstly, the movie: it surprised me that I liked Bella more and Edward less in the movie. Kristen Stewart does an excellent job of portraying a gangly but still rather savvy teenage girl. (Maybe it helped that the movie didn't have Bella's voiceover telling us how gorgeous Edward is, and how his gorgeousness dazzles her, every two seconds.) The adaptation has been done rather well (it condenses certain plot points, introduces the ensemble cast without losing you [though the parade of vampires in the cafeteria felt awfully like the introduction of the bridal party at weddings] and it weaves certain plot elements through which become more relevant later). However, the movie still feels clunky in parts and suffers from some of the same problems as the Harry Potter films do (i.e. they're more like film versions of books than films in their own right). I'm probably too close to it though; I saw the movie a day or two after I read the book so I was probably too close to the material to see straight. Oh (and Yvonne, who knows more about these things than I do, agrees): the make-up on the vampires is terrible. Could you be any more obvious about the fact that Robert Pattinson is wearing lipstick???
All these comments came from just my reading of Twilight. Yvonne graciously lend me the rest of the books in the quartet, but I've decided to hold off until I've finished Bec's novel. I do wonder sometimes if I'll become as obsessed as the rest of those Twilight hordes out there; I hope not. But at the same time, I want to enjoy the series for what it is and keep things in perspective instead of trying to re-live my adolescence. I don't want Ben to turn into Edward Cullen; I like him as Ben. (An aside: a school friend pointed out that now there is a whole generation of boys growing up who will learn to despise Edward the way that men throughout the ages have learned to despite Mr Darcy for giving girls around the world a whole set of expectations when it comes to love and romance.)
Let me leave you with a YouTube video of Twilight with puppets (hee hee!) brought to you courtesy of someone's Twitter feed ...
Current:
seen: Moon 15/10/2009
read: The Incredibles 11/10/2009
seen: She's the Man 05/10/2009
read: I Kill Giants (Joe Kelly and J. M. Ken Niimura) 04/10/2009
read: Astro City The Dark Ages Book 1: Brothers and Other Strangers (Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross) 04/10/2009
seen: Children of Men 02/10/2009
seen: Metric (The Metro) 30/09/2009
seen: 500 Days of Summer 25/09/2009
seen: The September Issue 18/09/2009
seen: Gilmore Girls: Season 1 17/09/2009
read: Flight (Volume 1) (edited by Kazu Kibuishi) 16/09/2009
seen: Ponyo 11/09/2009
read: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert) 05/09/2009
heard: Aimee Mann (Enmore Theatre) 04/09/2009
heard: Ben Folds Solo (Opera House) 31/08/2009
read: Phonogram: Rue Britannia (Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) 26/08/2009
seen: Northanger Abbey 20/08/2009
read: The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot) 18/08/2009
seen: The Phantom of the Opera 17/08/2009
seen: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 10/08/2009
seen: District 9 10/08/2009
read: Shortcomings (Adrian Tomine) 02/08/2009
read: AIR Volume 1: Letters from Lost Countries (Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker) 28/07/2009
seen: Persepolis 25/07/2009
seen: Ghost Town 25/07/2009
heard: Gutter Twins (Seymour Centre) 23/07/2009
seen: Coco Avant Chanel 20/07/2009
seen: Gutenberg! The Musical (Seymour Centre) 16/07/2009
seen: So You Think You Can Dance? Australia Live Tour (Sydney Entertainment Centre) 11/07/2009
seen: Every Little Step 07/07/2009
seen: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen 03/07/2009
seen: Synecdoche, New York 30/06/2009
seen: Charlie's Angels 27/06/2009
seen: Penelope 26/06/2009
seen: Coraline 10/06/2009
seen: The Sky Crawlers 08/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Ultimatum 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Supremacy 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Identity 06/06/2009
seen: Stick it 05/06/2009
Comment:
I don’t think it’s exclusively the change of temperature: young babies like to be cuddled up (or wrapped in a blanket or similar) as they adjust to being on the outside after so long being wrapped up on the inside.
Oh yeah, it makes perfect sense that babies would cry if you put them in a cold bed! I totally never thought of that!
I love your posts, they are so fascinating! :D
Oh Jess! There are so many good things about Sydney 
Looks like really nice adventures! I don’t really think of Sydney as a place to explore.. hmm.. you have opened my mind up to The Staycation.
I get depressed at the adrenaline crash also because then I have time to think about how shitty everything is lol.
Hmm...food for thought indeed. V. interesting, thank you for posting
lol! Karen, you’re so frank and I love it. “the non-constipating kind” of iron pills. hahaha.
i know how hard it is to not tell people the sex of your baby. I am tempted to tell strangers or acquaintances what you’re having because, as Ben reasoned with the waiter, I’ll either never see them again or it’s not like their going to tell anyone of consequence.
Thanks Kathleen! Glad you’re finding them interesting!
These posts are fascinating, Karen, and I’m happy/sad for you.
Hey Little! One of the things that astounds me is that people all over the world give birth everyday in different circumstances, and they seem to get through it. Maybe all the bells and whistles of the western world are simply that—bells and whistles, and things we do to make ourselves feel better about such a painful and momentous occurrence. I’m sure Mongolia has its own ways of looking after their expectant mums!
Great post, Karen.
As I said to you last Friday: the Toturo thing is gorgeous!
Thanks for posting about the changing relationships between friends. I’ve been struggling to come to terms with my best friend’s relationship with her boyfriend and the loss I feel. It’s been 18mths now, but I guess it’s taking longer for me to deal with because he’s not something we talk about and I don’t often see them together. However, it’s still known. It’s good to know I’m not alone or going crazy or whatever.
Also, thanks for the updates on Peanut. Can’t wait to meet him/her!
I think that your child will one day be thankful that they can read about what their mother was thinking. They won’t have to wonder if you’ve forgotten anything or just telling the good things! I think the positives are more believable when accompanied by the negatives, that’s just more realistic.
The PGP sounds really hard! Also not something that people talk about, so is it hard to get understanding from people when you need to go a little slower? Though perhaps they just expect that of pregnant women… gah, there are so many steps at MM! :(
I worry about the money stuff too… though I guess in Mongolia maybe they won’t do all those medical things so I won’t have to pay for them! 
Keep blogging! You know I’m fascinated. ;p
Thanks Miriam! That’s good to know!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the long update. It sounds like you are experiencing very common emotions (high and low) of first-time expectant mothers.
In answer to your question about breastfeeding in 5mins - that’s pretty common. In the first few weeks as both you and baby are learning how to feed (it takes a while to get the hang of it)feeding takes a little while (about an hour for me and Alex). This was actually a blessing for me as it meant I could sit and rest for that period of time, 5 or 6 times a day! Lovely, especially as it was such a tiring time of my life, with all the adjusting that comes with the birth of a child.
The milk flow can be quite fast to begin with(often too fast for baby!) and it means they take in too much and then need to be burped, which all takes time. After awhile though your breasts will adjust and regulate themselves as they work out how much milk is needed. THey are amazing the way they work. They actually feel quite soft and empty after a few weeks and lots of new mums worry that they don’t hvae enough milk, but it is very normal, and just means your body has regulated the amount of milk it makes.
Check out the Australian Breastfeeding Association webpage - it is full of excellent information. I would recommend joining the association - you receive a magazine every 2 months, which is filled with wonderful articles. I found it very helpful (and still do after 3 years of feeding). A great bit of reading to have in your hands while sitting down to feed. You also receive an excellent book “Breastfeeding....naturally” which answers just about any question you may have about breastfeeding. I read it many many times!
Mim
Congratulations again - and it is very interesting to hear what happens!
@Sarah: Thanks for the tip RE Australian Breastfeeding Association! I never would have thought to look there. Ditto KMart: I was wondering if they did since Target don’t.
@Rae: Thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out.
@Little Rachel: Oh, I’ll definitely be up for visitors! I may not be very good company (brain-dead, etc.) but I’ll certainly appreciate visits!
@Rachel C: CONGRATS!!! So excited for you Yours sounds like a good philosophy. One day I shall have to blog about Outliers!
@CafeDave: Thanks for the tip!
@Elissa: Thanks for your kind words! It makes me happy that you and Dave were excited we were getting married! Thanks also for the prayers!
@Elsie: There are lots of other lovely things I could have said about you, but let’s not overload my readers, shall we? ;P
Aww...thanks for the lovely things you said about me! I enjoyed reading this post (as I do with all yours). xo
Congratulations to you both. I know you will be such wonderful parents. You sound WAY too sensible! 
(Sorry to read that there were some unusual comments made about your marriage! We thought it was exciting. We still have a lovely photo of you & Ben in our lovely box of special memories. (I was only 22 when married & I was 30 when we had Bonnie...)
Everyone is different! I nodded through your post. SO many people feel the curious need to share their “horror stories” which is just dreadful. I remember complaining to David who said - go find people who are positive & listen to them. Great advice, which I did. Those people still have a big place in my heart because their advice was honest & gentle.
Bless you & Ben & the little Peanut. We pray all goes smoothly over the coming weeks/months ahead. We sometimes forget what a precious little miracle life really is…
Another book from the dad’s perspective I found helpful was From here to paternity - it’s an Australian book, and was followed up with a blog.
Hi!
I’m so excited for you reading your blog about being pregnant I am 13 weeks pregnant with #2.
You’re so right about all the pessimism “advice” that you get. I got so mad about it but never found a good response. I’ve had such joy right from day one with E that I just don’t want to buy into the negativity (I’m sure kids pick up on it too!).
My philosophy was/is to be a relaxed mum and from that figure out what was best for my baby/child. Get advice when you’re not sure on things or want to know how other people approached things, read books (loved Outliers!) that aren’t all about parenting… but just enjoy.
In a sample size of one to date, I’ve had such a happy, chilled out son right from day one. People say all the craziest advice… glad you don’t do guilt
With love,
R
Thanks so much for writing more! I love hearing how you’re going and all your thoughts.
After watching my sister I agree with you that it seems the first six months are perhaps the hardest. She got quite lonely at home all day; weekends were all right because then her husband was around but it’s just as you say… one feed ends then the next begins! If you are accepting visitors during this period then I hope to use some RDOs to come have grown-up conversations!
The book review of The Second Nine Months makes me want to read it now!
Names: We have one girl name that we both like and no boy names that we agree on. But they are also top-secret… so if anyone else uses them we can’t accuse them of theft! 
Yay Peanut, keep on growing, can’t wait to meet you!
Hello! Thanks for sharing
I loved reading your pregnancy update! I am glad to hear that things are all going pretty well, and I hope the rest of your 2nd trimester is as good.
I just wanted to add, that some other blokes decided that there was not much for the fathers-t0-be, and made a couple of DVD’s just for expectant dads. They are called ‘Being Dad’and i think they are available at big W. I have both though, if you would like me to send them!
Just wanted to wish you all the best!
Love
Rae
re: gluten: no idea!! I didn’t have to go on that diet - it was probably related to the test I didn’t do.
At the risk of adding to your list of advice:
Re: maternity bras - because I’m big I had to look hard for something nice in my size and discovered the Australian Breastfeeding Association. They have a massive range online and most are (dare I say it) sexy.
Re: maternity clothes - Kmart have a nice range of basic stuff.. I only found out towards the end of pregnancy and I would have liked to know earlier!
Re: Parenting classes - if you’re at RPA you can just ring the midwives section (they’ll put you through) and ask directly.
Congratulations again
Don’t laminate your ultrasound picture That is my advice.
Congratulations! This is so fantastic!
Thanks so much for sharing all of this… people swap engagement stories but rarely pregnancy stories! And it’s kind of similar don’t you think, all this excitement leading up to a big day!
So happy for you guys! Actually never been more excited for anyone except my sister! I think it’s because I think that you will both be amazing parents and love the idea that someone could grow up in your family.
Looking forward to many more posts on the topic.
Lovely news, Karen.
Thanks everyone! I will be sure to ask for help when I need it!
Great pic!! Peanut is cute! :D
Praying for you all!
xx
:D
I had a similar sort of morning sickness.. except I threw up! I’m suitably impressed that you coped OS.. that must have been tough.
It sounds like you’re doing marvelously otherwise!
Book recommendation on something a bit less technical and a bit more human: ‘Birth’ http://www.birthnet.com.au/
Praise be to God indeed! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Congratulations, Beilharzen! Welcome to the slightly-bewildering world of pregnancy (and birth...and children...). God has blessed you greatly with this new life. We’ll be praying for Peanut’s growth and development, and for you guys as you prepare.
I’m sure you’re surrounded by baby veterans, but always happy to help with books/advice/recommendations/listening.
B&L;
Excellent job Karen! You SHOULD be pleased with yourself!
Have you discovered http://www.ravelry.com ? It is an excellent site with thousands of free patterns in its database, lots of support, tips, forums etc and of course - friends like me? Look me up when you get there - fionag77
PS Are you just wearing a bulky dress or are you sporting a bump under that dress?
oooh.... It’s done and it looks great on you! xxx
Well done on all that hard work! It looks great and will be very snuggly come winter!
Thanks for letting me know, Timo!
Hi there,
Thanks for pointing out the shortcoming on our website. I’ll pass it on to my colleagues and hopefully it will be rectified soon.
The documentary at Fashioning Now was by Holly Kaye-Smith; I’d be more than happy to put you in touch with her if you’d like.
Again, thanks for the comment, much appreciate it!
Kind regards,
Timo Rissanen
Thanks Mark! Much appreciated!
Blinks:
Via WhipUp. Easy: takes 5 min.
Jamie S Rich's advice on how to break into comics.
Via Mike Hyam. Parenting advice: how to raise your children in the Lord as a father.
Cheaper than a nursing home and they allow the elderly to stay in their own homes. Plus their children have peace of mind, knowing whether or not their parent has gotten out of bed, eaten, etc. But there are privacy concerns with such surveillance, and resistance from some of the elderly. Some love it though.
Via Luke Stevens. Father put photos of his baby son online 10 years ago and now finds out that the photo has spawned a Japanese meme.
Andy Schmidt's advice to artists and writers on how to break into comics.
Changing nightmares into dreams through therapy--particularly for PTSD patients.
Students sharing dorm rooms are increasingly bad at communicating with one another face-to-face and dealing with conflict. University administrators have spent more time trying to get them to negotiate and work things out. The parents are now more involved as well. Administrators changing procedures to get the students to own the process.
Via George. On empathy, men and women, the importance of empathy, empathy vs sympathy, and the effect the internet has on our relationships.
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