Boobs and Poop

I took a little time out to reevaluate what I'm trying to do  with this blog. Prior to that short self-prescribed blog hiatus, I'd been spending a lot more time creating a marketing strategy for the blog than I'd been spending writing. I started this blog to write, and only to write. I have very limited free time in my life right now, and very little opportunity to write. So I created this blog to serve as my journal and a sort of showcase of my writing ability. (I'm a new mom and at home a lot, without this uber busy schedule I used to maintain... I am not ashamed of my need for some external praise; this blog was intended to fulfill that need and has served that purpose well.) I have been exploring some contract work in ghostwriting, copywriting, editing and proofreading - so in addition to getting personal props from my Facebook friends, I have used this blog in an effort to get writing gigs. But that's where the "professionalism" was supposed to sto...

I was raised in a time so far removed from the 1800s' pillars of the cult of "true womanhood" that growing up I truly believed it was shameful for a woman or mother to not work. If she were at home, either as a homemaker or mother (or more than likely both), she should still be able to "pull her weight" and be employed too. I don't know exactly why I have been so hard on other women throughout my life, but another of the many things motherhood has taught me is that I was part of the problem. Meaning, I was part of this whole culture that devalues anything feminine and encourages women to "act like men" in order to be successful. There was a very recent time when I bought into that old-timey concept that woman equals inferior unless she can be a man... and a woman too, of course. Because she's not really a man, after all. She's less than a man - her only chance at success is to act enough like a man that in some moments other men forget...

I was pregnant when we got married in April 2015; so for the past year I've been looking forward to our 1-Year Anniversary. We've been planning to drop the baby off at my parents' place in Henderson, NV and spend some time on the Las Vegas strip. But a new idea started to take shape in early March... My husband and I are fortunate and his parents love babysitting. We got to take a small "just us" trip and spend a night alone for my 32nd birthday. We decided to be as alone as possible without going totally remote to a walk-in campsite. We found a KOA that rents small cabins in Santa Paula, CA (about 30 minutes away from my in-laws' place). And thanks to a processing error on their end, we bypassed the 2-night minimum and booked a studio cabin for one night. So we "glamped"... and we loved it! I never expected to fall in love with KOA, nor did I ever expect to "glamp" - but the unique date night experience was great for hubby and me. It w...

Thank you, Cleveland Clinic Children's Health Team ! I thought about recreating this, but it's just so well done I decided to share it as is instead. I can't compete, and frankly, I don't want to. Behold:

I got my own boarding pass! #spiritairlines #spirit #babyonaplane #flyingbaby #averybravery #averykatherine #thanksgiving #thanksgiving2015 A photo posted by Avery "Bumble" Brazell (@avery_bravery) on Nov 30, 2015 at 4:44pm PST Our little babe has been on 5 flights and has endured several long-distance drives in her short, 7-month life. She's also the champion of long, long car rides that should have been short car rides but weren't due to the heinous traffic conditions on the roads of greater Los Angeles . I would say we have managed to get her from Point A to Point B rather successfully every time we've taken her anywhere. Based on the number of times we failed to get ourselves from Point A to B as a childless couple, this was an exciting and somewhat shocking development for my husband and me. Before I dive into a bunch of unsolicited advice, I should remind you that I typically act like an insane person when I'm under any stress at all. Tra...