Update: Motrin Ad

Hooray! We did it mums! This is what the front of the Motrin website looks like now:


They have removed an unfortunate ad that offends both babywearers (implying that this is a painful fad) and non-babywearers (implying that only "real moms" wear their child), alike.

Congrats to all the outspoken mamas out there!

Motrin Ad

I just found out that the link to the motrin ad website does not work. I can only hope this means they are taking it down. But here it is from youtube for all y'all who are curious as to why I'm upset about this commercial:



And the transcript (Thanks Barb!)

"In case they pull the ad from their front page by the time you’re reading this (I sure hope they trash the entire campaign, and fast), I’m quoting the little video on their website front page, which they call a “Mom-versation“. The phrases in bold are my emphasis, though they have even better emphasis in the graphics in their ad.

Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion.

I mean, in theory it’s a great idea.

There’s the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch.

And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free.

Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience.

They say that babies carried close to the bod tend to cry less than others.

But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t?

I sure do!

These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back?!

I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid.

Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom.

And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why."

All I can say is, if you have that much pain, then you're not doing it right. Totally.

Sadness and Anger

Sadness:
I can't find my camera charger!! Therefore I cannot use my camera or post any pics- :(
There is no sun here- it's been dark for days... but the snow is very pretty :)
My hormones are all out of wack.

Anger:
Motrin has a new ad campaign bashing baby wearing mums. See it here: http://motrin.com/
This is the response I sent to their marketing director:

"To Whom it May Concern,

Your current "Momologue" campaign is, in many ways, extremely offensive! The idea that babywearing causes great strain and pain to the wearer is blatant misinformation. Babywearing, when done correctly, is far more comfortable than any other means of holding your baby. Take it from a mother of a five month old boy, who wears her son up to six hours at a time and feels FAR less discomfort or pain at the end of the day than when trying to manage caring for him and housework without a sling.

Please, also consider, that suggesting that merely wearing you baby makes you "look like an official mom", sounds more like it is a fashion trend than the centuries old bonding and productivity ideal that it actually is. If you would like to attract frazzled, harried, and exhausted mothers to use your product, perhaps a more heartfelt campaign about the actual trials of motherhood would be more effective. Please, consider your audience! We babywearing mothers are FAR more grateful for our slings and pouches that we are for those little bottles of pills!

I ask that you please remove this offensive and misleading ad campaign from your website and all other marketing outlets.

Sincerely,
Amber Beyke

Crafty mama

I don't know if it's the beautiful fall weather or the fact that Rowan is enjoying floor time at longer stretches, but I have been feeling really creative lately. Here are a few of the projects I've been working on:

Nature Table


The boys and I have started a Nature Table in their room. It's a little space on top of their bookshelves dedicated to the changing seasons. Fall is my absolute favourite time of year so I was really excited to start making this. Right now it contains little bits of nature (pinecones, leaves, a gourd and seedpod) and a pretty little poem-book I made this time last year. I've also set out a few fall themed books that we can share and created a sign for Fall! Can you tell I used to teach kindergarten?


Living Room Curtains


The apartment came with the standard white vertical blinds, but C and I thought they looked tacky and too dangerous for a soon to be mobile baby, so we took them down. In their place now are luxe chocolate and caramel curtains. They have a really cool texture to them, too.

New bibs

I've been lurking on etsy.com and found a bunch of supercute designs that inspired me to make my own yummy mommy crafts. These, I am proud to announce, are Amber-originals.

Simple bird applique with embroidered details. Denim with orange corderoy on the reverse.

Green and orange corderoy pumpkin. I tried to make the snap in the back look like one of those halloween candies. Reverse appliqued.

My favourite bib! Appliqued, quilted, and embroidered. Still a work in progress- when finished it will say "Daddy drinks martinis".

So that's what I've done this week. My next few projects include making Waldorf inspired felt balls, dying playsilks with kool-aid, and making buttsweaters for Rowie. If you know what all these things are then you must also be a crafty, crunchy mama!

Do cats have thumbs?

I woke up this morning to discover a stray cat has taken refuge on our porch. As I went out to give it some milk I noticed something very strange about its paws. It had thumbs.

Seriously.

So, thinking that I have discovered a new higher form of cat, I go inside to grab my camera- and I kid you not, the cat tries to open the door with its mutant hand. Freaky, huh? You may call me paranoid, but I locked the door, just in case.


It was amusing to watch Rowie and the cat communicate. Good thing Rowan is too short to reach the latch. :)

My Little Pumpkin

"This one's mine."

Today Ro and I went to the Wasem Orchards to pick apples and find his first pumpkin. Wasem's is a small, traditional orchard that let's you pick your own fruit. They also make the best donuts in the world. My breakfast today was a warm, homemade apple cake donut covered in cinnamon and sugar with a hot apple cider- yummy!!

While we were there we scavenged some late raspberries and ate (well I ate) a very delicious golden delicious apple, fresh off the tree. Then Rowan picked out his first pumpkin. He sneezed on one the exact same size as his head- I took that as a sign it was the one he wanted!

It's getting cool up here; we had our first frost last night, so it's definately fall!

Enjoy the pics!
Love, A

Love from your Michigander

Here are some pics of Rowie for you to goober over...

Rowie sporting new Babylegs- he's hotstuff!

Rowie eating yet another one of his friends...

... and donuts.

Not even four months old and already able to scoot his way into impending doom-
smothered by a giant boppy pillow!

I'm taking him to get his second round of shots next Thursday. Wish me luck and hope that he doesn't end up autistic!
I miss all you Southern Illinoisans.

Baby Electronica

Check this out! Rowan can't get enough of this chickie! It is one of the only things that will still distract him from his painful gums (yes, he is teething- and has been awake since five this morning...yawn).

Huzzah!

Rowie is a wench-magnet!

Yesterday Rowan and I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Turns out it is only an hour away (less if you speed) and the largest faire I have ever seen. The weekend's theme was Irish/Celtic- absolutely perfect since Ro and I both have red hair now.

Since I am a total dork I insisted that we both attend the faire in costume. I dyed one of my dresses a pretty teal colour- to feel like I had something new to wear- and I made Rowan a tiny pirate top and green tunic. All modesty aside, we had some of the best costumes there. Knowing that I can make this kind of garb made me feel artsy, and it prevented me from spending money on new stuff at the faire shops (although a large feathered hat was tempting).

We met many interesting people and had our photo taken by just about everyone. A woman even asked if I had dyed my baby's hair to make him look more Irish! They are filming a movie at the faire and we were asked to be extras during the production, but it was too hard to commit to being that far away from home for the next three weekends. Too bad, because Rowie did look cute. All the wenches loved him and a group of pirates had a mock fight to decide which one of them was his father. It was a great day for both of us!

Huge faire; huge crowds!

Medieval device used to toss children into the sky. Very barbaric.

The Washing Well Wenches. "Good, clean fun. Wet, dirty wenches!"

Riding into the joust.

We had tea with the Queen and her party. She likes puns.

Steve in 30 years.

The pirates who argued over Rowan's paternity. Arr!

A male belly dancer. He was amazingly graceful.

Rowie lounging in some hay at the end of the faire.

Yummy!

Hello down there!

I just made the best granola bars, and have to share the recipe with you!

2 1/2 cups rolled oats (not the quick kind)
2 cups crisp rice (not rice crispies- you want the generic kind without added sugar)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2/3 cup softened butter or margarine
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups of goodies- dried cranberries, blueberries, almonds, walnuts, white chocolate, m&ms, etc (I used chopped almonds and carob chips)

1. Preheat oven to 325 and lightly grease 13x9 baking pan
2. Mix first group of ingredients (it's fun to use your hands) then fold in the goodies.
3. Firmly press mixture into pan. Bake for 18 minutes. Take pan out if oven and press mixture down again. Bake an additional 2-4 minutes.
4. Let bars cool for 10 minutes before cutting them- for chewy bars keep pressing them down as they cool.
5. Cut bars and let them sit to cool completely before removing them from the pan.

These are seriously the best granola bars I have ever had- they really beat the store bought kind and are a lot healthier. You can modify the recipe as you like (replace some butter with applesauce or banana) to make it low-fat or add lots of chocolate for a sweeter treat.

Enjoy!


P.S.- And because I know you only read this to see pictures of Rowan:

A Day in the Park

Sleeping in the sun

Since we've moved I have slowly accrued Ypsi-equivalents of all my favourite Carbondale places. Today Rowan and I discovered a park- Riverside Park (yep, we have one up here too!) and spent the day longing in the sun. This was the first day in several that didn't resemble typhoon season. We've had crazy weather because of Ike. Several homes were detroyed by tornados near Detroit and there was flooding all over Ann Arbor. On the plus side, my front lawn is no longer brown and crunchy!

Here are some pics of our new favourite park:

Look what I made!

I feel pretty!

I've been busy making Rowan new clothes. I take upcycled onesies, hand dye them, and add my own embellishments. I like the look of the fancy boutique baby clothes up here, but refuse to pay $30 for something Rowie will only wear for a month (and probably poop on the first time he has it on!) so I'm making my own stuff. If you like these, I do custom orders!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Would you be mine, could you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?

It has become a part of our morning routine to watch a little T.V. while I feed Rowie breakfast. We don't have many channels so I usually don't have much more than the Tyra show or Home Shopping Network to entertain myself during my cup of coffee. Today however, a vintage episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was on PBS.

As I listened to his soothing voice and kind, slow way of talking I realized that they really don't make children's programs the way they used to. Growing up we would always watch Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Mr. Rogers, and other, quality kid shows. We learned important lessons like recycling, sharing, the way animals talk to one another, how to be a good friend. Today the tube is filled with bratty children whining at their parents, crude cartoons, and flashy noisy displays created to anesthetize a child's mind. There are no morals, no education- only shows that T.V. execs deem to be marketable. If you can't turn it into a video game or a t-shirt, it's not "good enough" to be on T.V. Today's T.V. teaches children how they are supposed to dress and talk, which toys they should play with, and what the best sugar cereals are to eat. Thousands of young girls want to grow up to look like Hannah Montanah, and every clothing store from Wa-Mart to Macy's is helping them to acheive that dream I don't think any of us ever said "Wow, Gabriella has the coolest hair! I gotta ask mom for some hair extensions to match hers" (a product that is really available to mimic Miley Cyrus). I miss the PBS of the eighties. It's just not the same.

Watching Mr. Roger's also brought up other non-rant related thoughts. Charles always makes fun of me for calling my Dyson a "sweeper". He's not the first one to point out to me that my family are the only ones who don't use the proper term, vacuum. Well guess who else favors the Beyke word? That's right- Mr. Rogers. After changing into his sneakers and cardigan he saw his carpet was dusty. Out of his studio closet he pulled out his "sweeper" and "swept" the floor. So I gotta ask mom, is that where we got it? Or did we use a sweeper long before Mr. Rogers did?

Another thing I noticed was Mr. Rogers strange way of asking if a guest was at the door. After hearing a knock he stated "I wonder if it's they". Not them; they. At first I thought it was a mistake, that his tongue had twisted the word around. Then he said it a second time "I hear a knock on the door. Let's see if it's they." So is this just another peculiarty like sweeper? Or is this really the proper way of saying someone is at the door? I'm really curious about this one, so if anyone knows the answer please tell me.

Who knew Mr. Rogers could be so thought provoking?

Rhymes with "itsy shanty"

"Ive never cared for Ann Arbor very much. I went to school there really and that's all. I lived, I'm from Ypsilanti, which is more like a town, it's oakies, bunch of oakies." - Iggy Pop, December 1980

Perceptions of Ypsilanti

From ArborWiki

Subtitle: The Ypsi-Arbor Culture War

Ypsilanti often suffers from (or basks in) the disapproving gaze of other Washtenaw County residents. As the income disparity has grown between Ypsi and Ann Arbor (along with its now-satellite communities of Saline, Chelsea, and Dexter), Ypsilanti's working class heritage, racial diversity, and general "grittiness" have set it apart.

Many residents of Ann Arbor and the western Washtenaw communities hold negative perceptions of Ypsi as a haven for drugs and crime and of EMU as the poor cousin to the University of Michigan.

Many Ypsilanti residents take pride in the distinction, though, resisting what they see as creeping yuppification radiating out of Ann Arbor. These residents take pride in what's variously seen as Ypsi's historic heritage, Ypsi's working class cred, or Ypsi's punk appeal. This pride is reflected in a variety of ways, ranging from the annual Ypsilanti Heritage Festival to the "ypsipanties" produced by Crimewave USA while the Ypsi Crime Maps website aims to combat the perception of crime by providing a map comparable to the Ann Arbor Observer's monthly crime map.

"Ypsitucky"

The nickname "Ypsitucky" is a prime example of this mixture of perceptions. Many Ann Arborites and other County residents have heard the name and understand it to be a slur on Ypsilanti. The name has historical roots, however, in the hundreds of workers that Ford relocated from Kentucky to work at the Willow Run bomber plant during World War II. The relocation was large enough that the community of transplants was able to retain some coherent sense of their heritage, and the hybrid nickname has stuck.

Pretty interesting, huh? No wonder Charles and I feel at home here. Our Kentucky roots are callin' to us!

Confession

So, many of you know my tirade against the McDonald's Corporation. I disagree with their marketing practices to young children, their resistance to remove trans fat from their menus and subsequent greenwashing campaigns, and their unfair labor practices in this country and abroad.

However, I have a dirty little secret I have to share...

I am addicted to their iced coffees!

Oh! The temptation!

For the past month I have been sneaking in several (!) coffees a week. I feel guilty every time I sneak out, knowing that no one cares what I do up here, yet frightened all the same that someone might see me in the drive through. Yes, I know that they are not good for me. They probably contain ungodly amounts of High-fructose corn syrup and are most definitely not Fair Trade certified, but I can't keep lying to myself and others. I love these drinks. I can't stop myself.

So I felt it would best to tell you this myself, rather than arriving home for a visit and someone glancing at the floorboard of my car to find the five or so empty, non-recyclable plastic cups with the label of shame upon it: McDonalds Cafe.

Shame.

Introducing...

Bean!

Hey y'all!

This is Bean, Rowie's new best friend.

I bought these happy little organic veggie toys in the hope that it will help Rowie become a healthy eater when he is older. Although now that I think about it, this could backfire- "No mommy! I don't want to eat Broccoli- he is my friend!!"

Or maybe he will just learn to eat his friends...