Public Service Announcements

Well, hello there!  I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving :)  We had a great visit with my extended family (and survived the first multi-pack-n-play trip, although my resulting sleep deprivation probably made any blog-reading relatives wonder if I could possibly be the same person who writes anything related to seeking success).

Anyway, since having a blog is sort of like having free access to a microphone, today I'm going to make a bunch of public service announcements, or at least ramble about a bunch of things that I think you should know.

(1)

Did you know that there are physical therapists who specialize in women's health?  (Aka, making your body work again after pregnancies?)  I've complained enough before for you to realize that pregnancy was not exactly friendly on my body, and I have abdominal muscles that are no longer attached where they're supposed to be or working how they're supposed to be (or, I've learned..at all).  After Anna's birth, my doctor told me that I'd need to have it surgically fixed "after my childbearing years," but didn't really mention that it would significantly alter my body mechanics or lead to a very painful second pregnancy.  This time around, no one mentioned physical therapy as a possibility, either, until I did some serious Googling in response to my rising panic of the thought of future pregnancies.  And now I've been going to physical therapy once a week, and I find it amazing that this resource is available but so secret!  So, ladies, talk to your doctor (anybody else feel like this is a pharmaceutical commercial yet?)  

(2)

Making comments about how to parent is the sort of thing that can get you virtually lynched on the Internet, but I'll go out on a limb and say: please consider the facts about infant sleep!  (My mom is a safe sleep instructor for a pregnancy center, so I've heard lots and lots about this....and I saw this press release today on Facebook, which encouraged me to share it).  It's easy to say that babies have survived for centuries with blankets...which is mostly true...except for the terrible, tragic (and, sadly - very real) cases where they haven't.

(3)

While I'm opening all sorts of cans of worms, I might as well tell you that I recently learned about NaPro Technology, and I'm just amazed by all of the things that they can do for women's health - naturally.  The fact that the success rate for couples with infertility is significantly higher than IVF should command your attention, regardless of your opinion of the Catholic Church's moral stance on reproductive-related issues.  It's worth knowing that this technology (I think that's a funny word, since it's really just scientific understanding, not really a technology, per say) exists - whether for yourself or for someone else you know (and it can offer far more than just help with infertility).  So add that to your "check it out" list.

On to lighter topics:

(4)

With Christmas shopping in full-swing, please tell me that you use ebates to get a percentage of your purchase price back in cash.  If you aren't already signed up, please stop reading this and go take care of that (and then come back!  ;) )

If you sign-up via my link, I'll get a little bonus, too.  Win-win!  But -  I swear this is not a pyramid scheme.  It's a legitimate way to get a check in the mail for online shopping you were already going to do!

(5)

And finally, if you are a major retailer, I'd like to let you know that today is the first day of December.  I know you were all excited about Christmas six weeks ago, but some of us were still looking to buy some fall-themed muffin papers, oh you know, a few days before Thanksgiving.

Seriously, though, we can complain all we like about holiday stuff being put out earlier and earlier every year, but it warrants more than just the I'm-wearing-shorts-and-there's-a-snowglobe-already eye roll when stores replace the current season's items with the next.  For example, last year on New Year's Eve, I went to the store for some noise makers...and found a Valentine's Day display instead.  I'm certain that more people will impulse-buy party hats than heart-shaped chocolates on December 31.  Likewise, I was looking for fall muffin papers a week or two before Thanksgiving, and couldn't find any, although there were 4 or 5 red and green options.  Seriously?!

This rant is fueled by my business degree - I honestly can't understand how it makes sense financially for the stores to be so far ahead.  I mean, I ended up buying the 99 cent plain Jane muffin papers, but would have probably paid a mark-up of 3 or 4 times that for the pretty fall ones (and when I mentioned this complaint to my mom, she said she did the exact same thing).  I'd love to see an analysis of their seasonal sales and see if it's actually profitable to have Christmas stuff out so early.  I've never met someone happy to see Santa on the shelves in August - but I guess someone must be buying it, huh?  

That's all I've got tonight, folks.  4 "hey you should know this" public service announcements, and one complaint disguised as a helpful hint for retailers.  I'll be back either tomorrow or Wednesday with a guest post from a friend, so c'mon back if I haven't angered you too much with my baby-sleeping and family-planning links ;)