mommy underground (mu),
the bimonthly newsletter with the balls (err, should we say tits?) to give you motherhood in the real.
No fluff. No superficial expectations. Just raw truths to demystify what motherhood entails. Expect humor,
snark, and a little groveling.
Featured articles for each issue are posted online. Subscribers can receive the full newsletter via email by subscribing
here (Yahoo! Groups) or send a blank e-mail to
mommy_underground-subscribe@yahoogroups.com*Hey, don't worry, subscriptions are free. You just have to sign-up for a Yahoo account.
mu :: vol 1 :: issue 1 :: The Why behind mu
Pulling back the Sheepskin: This little idea -- an e-mail newsletter about mothering, being real, and swapping war stories -- isn't new. Nor is it something that is such a brand new concept that others aren't speaking out against the images of super-moms. I can't compete with say, Oprah and Brook Shields teaming up about post-partum depression, nor can I answer your childcare issues. But I can provide a place to read experiences and relate. A wake-up call on my reality of not-so-perfect mothering. Or should I say and expose of the real side of having children (whether you have 1 or 6... or say more. Though I might say you then truly are insane).
mommy underground is an attempt, by me, one lonely little mom and writer, to express MY feelings on motherhood. To share my experiences as a new mom trying to find her way in a community and society where I felt ashamed to say: WHAT THE F*CK IS GOING ON? I just had a baby and you people expect me to be smiling? (And yes I was. Sometimes. Well, maybe once a day.).
I had my son in my room with me from the moment I was born. I chose to breastfeed instead of formula. I picked up my child whenever he cried. I rocked him to sleep at night. I nursed my son until he was well past the two year age limit I let him sleep in my bed (still does), I cried at 5 am when I couldn't get him back to sleep, I went at least a week without showering, and I don't always make my son brush his teeth before bed. Was I judged? Hell yeah! And what did that do for me? It made me miserable. It made me hesitate at every moment to make sure I was doing it 'just right.'
I'd watch moms in malls or restaurants and wonder what the hell I was doing wrong? Why couldn't I keep it in control? Why couldn't I keep a spitting up, high-demand nurser attached to my breast in a someone hidden location but still in public because I needed to do the right thing for the women's rights movement while still being a perfectly happy wife and mom with perfect attendance at all family functions.
All in the 'name' of what? My sanity? We, women in general -- and definitely society and the media -- are SO focused on the idea of the happy, smiling, mom image (and add in any other cliché idea of motherhood and family) that we are forgetting a simple idea (a fundamental one)… June Cleaver was fictional. And so is that idea of motherhood.
mu is (or what I am hoping it will be) is a place to share the REAL of mommying. The spit up in my hair and I am still not washing it till tomorrow real of motherhood. The -- as long as it doesn't have human feces on it -- sure, where the shirt that has been on the floor since Tuesday, I have a life. And it ain't perfect. My goal? To save our sanity as mothers, share our struggles, and sometimes not-so-happy feelings--and help the new generation of moms be better prepared for parenthood.
And please, e-mail me [bethany (a) hiitola (dot) com] if you have your own stories to share. Like what I have to say or hate it -- let me know. And by all means -- if this little newsletter of mine isn't delivering what you wanted it to, let me know. I have high hopes that it will.
Thank you for reading!
-bethany
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What's in Line?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ponderings for the next issue:
-- The Toys that keep us Moms Happy (that would be television and other brain-destroying activities we really use to keep our kids occupied) [online]
--The REAL truth about sex after parenthood [subscription only]
--Blogging Mommies [running series, subscription only]
--Greener Grasses in the Workplace (or not) [running series, subscription only]
SUBSCRIBE for the full mu. Send a blank e-mail to:
mommy_underground-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
