With a newborn and a toddler at home, I don’t really have time to think about things like…my face. That’s OK; these beauty fixes are so fast and easy they even leave me with time for more important things, like drinking all of the coffee in the world.
(Click here to check out more of my Allure Insiders segments.)
OK, so perhaps this is common knowledge, but it was not common to me. Or at least had never occurred to me. Not, that is, until yesterday afternoon, when I got in my car, turned on the heater to “high,” and very quickly and dramatically learned that soda cans left in freezing-cold vehicles overnight and then rapidly reheated?
Will explode.
Or possibly create a series of explosions, if what you left in your car was not, say, a single soda can, but rather an entire carton of them.
And when this series of explosions occurs, it will sound like someone is trying to assassinate you from your backseat, and you will lose your goddamned mind. And scream like…well, like someone is trying to assassinate you from your backseat.
And then your car will smell like soda. A lot. It will even smell like soda after you have taken it to the car wash and watched the ordinarily very nice attendant guy laugh at you while you explained what happened and begged him to desoda-fy your car because for real: that stuff is EVERYWHERE.
And you will be pissed, because REALLY? But also kind of happy that it was not, as you first feared, an actual machine gun hanging out in your trunk. And I suppose there are worse things to smell like than exploded Pepsi.
People are really passionate about their bottle choices, you guys. I’ve had super-intense conversations about the pros and cons of various bottles with everyone from my broker to the waitress at our favorite breakfast place to the cashier at the CVS we stopped at in Maine.
And I get this. Because transitioning to a bottle can be intensely stressful if it doesn’t go smoothly (if the baby doesn’t want to take the bottle, or then takes the bottle and later rejects the breast, or if he ingests too much air when bottle-feeding and ends up all gassy and miserable), and all parents want is a happy, fed, not-miserable baby.
When I had Indy, I knew virtually nothing about child-rearing, and basically improvised my way through…everything. This mostly worked out fine, but the transition from breast to formula was rough. He had terrible colic, and was constantly crying with stomach pain that I didn’t know how to relieve. I tried various gripe waters, tried moving his legs in a little running-man position recommended by my friends, tried bouncing and bouncing and bouncing until my arms felt like they were going to fall off…but one thing I didn’t try was switching to a different brand of bottle.
I don’t know why; I suppose it just never occurred to me.
When we were preparing to welcome Goldie, I was all ready to just stick with the bottles that we’d used with Indy (contrary to all logic; again, I don’t know why trying another bottle didn’t occur to me), but then spoke at an event where I was given a sample of the LATCH bottle and a rundown of what makes this particular product so unique. I carried that sample with me out to California for the summer, and it ended up being the first bottle Goldie used (filled with breast milk, when she was just days old). We stuck with the brand when we transitioned to formula, and so far we’ve experienced no problems whatsoever with fussiness or gas. (The pacifiers, which have a natural-shaped nipple and are more lightweight than traditional silicone pacifiers, are also a great product that we’ve used practically since Day One.)
Short story: the LATCH is basically the Rolls Royce of baby bottles (but priced competitively with other major brands): it has an accordion-style shape that moves with the baby when she moves her head (thereby decreasing the ingestion of air), and contains an anti-colic valve that prevents air bubbles from traveling through the milk. It’s an especially fantastic choice for very young babies simply because the shape mimics the natural shape of the breast, making it easier for babies to latch easily (and transition between the bottle and the breast, if you’re doing a mix of breast- and bottle-feeding).
Happy, fed baby = happy mama = happy everybody = massive parenting win.
This post was written in collaboration with Munchkin.
Munchkin rids the world of the mundane by developing clever, innovative solutions that make family life safer, easier, and more fun. You can find Munchkin products at Munchkin.com, Target, Babie
So yesterday I went to Carter’s with a pregnant friend who legitimately needs things, and totally wasn’t intending to purchase anything myself, and then saw the berry butt onesie. -> done. (Also this because cats and this tres French thing and this because god knows Goldie needs something to keep those flowing locks out of her face and this because boys count too.)
This woman makes five million dollars a year unwrapping things on YouTube. I’m not even kidding. And I’m not even sure that this is insane, because I watched her videos and was in a trance within seconds (via Fusion).
Now that’s an apology. (Benedict Cumberbatch: “I’m an idiot” for Referring To “Colored” Actors, via Jezebel.)
Have a whole lot of money? Allow me to suggest this classic yet weird and quite lovely gold pretzel/heart necklace as a Valentine’s Day gift. Broke-ish? Allow me to suggest these as an alternative.
The fact that people are still wondering whether these Bill Cosby stories are true is ludicrous. The latest horrific account is here (via HuffPo).
I was watching Fashion Police last night in bed and took from it two things: 1) as much as I appreciate the impossibility of living up to Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin just isn’t as awesome, and 2) I suddenly love Jennifer Aniston after years of indifference, because she showed up on a red carpet with her not-twenty-year-old (and most definitely natural) boobs pretty much out and looked amazing and confident and it’s an awesome thing to see, so much so that I had to put the photo in this post so you could see it, too. Also now I want a body chain, which is embarrassing but what can you do?
Isabel Marant shearling wedge lace-up fold-over…whatevers. I adore them.
Somebody named their child Abcde. (Yoonique Baby Names To Avoid In 2015, via STFUParents.)
All those amazing ways we styled our UGGs in the 2000s (oh, you better believe I did the flippy skirt thing). (via TheGloss.)
I drove to Philly to meet my editor and this is what I wore and I liked it. That’s all. (Boots + hat + camera strap + sunnies.)
A new study says that a glass of red wine is equivalent to an hour at the gym. That’s good. (via My Daily.)
Sometimes all you want is to hear someone’s voice. (The Voicemail Afterlife, via Modern Loss.)
HELL YES, Stanford. (Stanford Responds The Right Way To On-Campus Rape, via Mommyish.)
Perfect pale neutral polish for all of the events, all of the seasons, all of the things.
What happens when the Internet turns on you? This American Life (best podcast ever FYI) talks trolling. (If You Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS, via This American Life.)
Oh my GOD this lineup makes me so excited for the all-female Ghostbusters (via Jezebel).
Anyone on the hunt for a really, really ugly nine thousand dollar purse? …Anyone?
Before
After
But really: there are few things in life that can’t be improved by the addition of a little neon.
(Painted that penguin, too. How cute is he?)
Looking for good neon paint? It’s weirdly hard to find; trust me, I’ve looked. Try Martha Stewart Satin in Lightning Bug, Orange Soda, and Lime Zinger; they’re the paints I’ve been unleashing on everything we own lately. (Especially fond of my Pollock-ed mirror project.)
Ramshackle Glam A lifestyle blog by Jordan Reid.
