Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom
From Publishers Weekly
When Los Angeles comedian and television writer and producer Wilder-Taylor got pregnant, she feared undergoing this process: “a perfectly sane woman who swigs Jack Daniel’s, never goes to sleep before eight a.m., and has had at least one STD gives birth and suddenly becomes a different person… [who] subscribes to three dozen parenting magazines, thinks a wild night is tossing back two O’Doul’s, and never hits the hay after eight p.m.” Of course, now that the author has a daughter, she’s smitten; the child “grew on me every day, and by six months I was definitely her bitch.” Hoping to be the voice of reason amid a cacophony of parenting advice (in the form of books, mothers-in-law and others), Wilder-Taylor dishes on sharing the parenting responsibilities with your husband (”I felt like saying, ‘Didn’t you get the memo? WE’RE PARENTS NOW! LOOK ALIVE!’ “), breast feeding (”it hurts like a rhesus monkey biting your nipples”), meeting other new mother…
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I truly enjoyed and relate to this book. Being a mother, although wonderful, is much more challenging than I ever imagined. Those who have left negative reviews need to respect that the author is sharing her experiences as a mother, from her perspective. Nowhere does she suggest that HER way of doing things is the “best” way, or the only way. In fact, I don’t hear her advocating ANYTHING in this book other than being respectful and supportive of one another as mothers. She is making the all too important and often overlooked point that there are MANY different “good” ways of parenting, and we as mothers should respect one another’s choices, discard competitive subtexts, and be supportive of one another. Refering to one another as “sissies” as a previous reviewer did and believing (or perceiving) that because you have had success with a particular parenting style or choice that you can make presumptions and judgments about another mother who is struggling or made a less “popular” choice in that area is both ignorant and overly simplistic, and is most likely indicative of one’s own insecurities as a parent. I applaud Stefanie for her honesty and candor. I will be sharing this book with many friends.
If you are a super-mom skip this book. If you are like the rest of us and struggling day-to-day this is a must read. I laughed out loud many times. For those of us that had an “active social life” pre-baby and hope to have one in the next 20 years-you will totally relate to this book. I too,will also include this as my new baby shower gift must haves!!
I purchased this book as a baby shower gift for a new mom who was having her second child in 14 months. It was the hit of the party and everyone there, especially Grandma and older “been there, done that” moms, had a huge laugh over the suggestions contained within.