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The best writing advice Jenny Feldon ever got was “live life first, write about it second.” With that in mind, she’s been a cocktail waitress, a yoga teacher, a camp counselor, a surgical coordinator and a telemarketer. She’s travelled through 33 states and 12 countries. Life experience definitely helped the creative process, but it was a relief when she decided to focus on what she loved best: writing about it all.
After getting her MFA in fiction from the New School University in 2006, Jenny planned to work and write and live with her new husband in their beloved Manhattan high-rise. Then her husband accepted a two-year expatriate assignment in India. So she traded coffee, subways, and dairy products for chai, water buffaloes and year-round pomegranates. She laughed a lot, cried a lot, blogged a lot, and learned never to take electricity or sidewalks for granted.
Back in the US, Jenny and her husband settled in Los Angeles where they were blessed with a daughter, Eva. Now, Jenny is a coffee-addicted, yoga-obsessed freelance writer -- and a full-time mom to a stubborn, adorable two-year-old and a small white dog named Tucker. She writes for Momlogic and chronicles her everyday adventures on her personal blog, Karma, Continued. Jenny and her family are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Baby #2 sometime in December.
Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 11:10
by Jenny Feldon
There’s a new baby coming. The new baby will have to sleep somewhere. This should not be a difficult task to accomplish. Yet I’m—literally, no pun intended—losing sleep over it. Sleep is a delicate, precious commodity in any family with children. Everything needs to be perfect to maximize the likelihood that the household will be quiet, at least for a few hours each night.
Right now things work fine. E sleeps in her crib. J, Tucker and I sleep in a bed. Everyone seems to like this arrangement. It’s been like that since the day E came home from the hospital. But now E is reaching the age where a toddler bed might be appropriate, and somewhere inside me #2 is pointing to the invisible watch on his wrist and tapping his tiny little foot. He has his eye on her crib. So do I buy another crib, or evict E and force an early transition to a “big girl” bed? And then do I go toddler bed (which seems like an unnecessary step), or straight to a real bed with rails?
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - 00:46
by Jenny Feldon
I’d sell my soul for Advil. Really. I swear. I’d give anything for just one round, cherry coated tablet of ibuprofen. Generic drugstore brand would be fine. I’d even settle for half a pill. Help a sick, pregnant mama out. Please?
People ask me about cravings all the time. I feel like I’m letting them down when I admit I don’t really have any. Sure, there are things I’m tempted to eat that would normally be forbidden, like vanilla milkshakes and deep fried onion rings. But “wanting” and “needing” are two different things, and other than unusually high consumption of lemonade, my diet is pretty standard.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010 - 00:59
by Jenny Feldon
I’ve had E’s invitation to her good buddy’s birthday party taped to the refrigerator for weeks. We RSVP’d, picked out a gift, wrapped it, decorated a card with glitter and crayons. The party had a Sesame Street theme—E’s favorite—and a rumor was going around there might even be a bouncy house.
At 2:30pm on the day of the party, I was putting on makeup and about to get E up from her nap when I got a text from a friend. Missed you at T’s party. Is everything OK? Confused, I put away my mascara, re-read the text and checked the clock. We hadn’t missed the party…or had we?
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 00:54
by Jenny Feldon
Four months left to go, and I’m suddenly consumed by housekeeping urges. I’m not sure if this behavior counts as nesting, since it’s not all baby-related, but I’ve definitely been bitten by the clutter-clearing bug. I know it’s too early to start dealing with #2’s nursery. I’m more than a little bit superstitious, and it seems like it would be inviting bad karma to start decorating a baby’s room when I’m not even out of my second trimester. But I’m itching to do something, and sneaking online to look at baby boy crib bedding just isn’t cutting it.
So I’m turning my attention to other things. I hate clutter anyway, but something hormonal is running amok in my head and is insisting that everything unnecessary must go. It didn’t help that I treated myself to an afternoon showing of ‘Eat Pray Love,’ and have subsequently become obsessed with the idea of fitting all my earthly belongings into a single duffel bag.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010 - 00:52
by Jenny Feldon
Pregnant and Alone—Do We Need Men to Have Babies?
This week in the media, much attention has been focused on Jennifer Aniston’s comments regarding single parenthood. During a Los Angeles press conference promoting her new movie, ‘The Switch,’ Aniston stated she didn’t believe women needed to settle for a less-than-ideal man in order to fulfill their dreams of having children. Since her statements, a firestorm of controversy has ensued, including Fox News host Bill O’Reilly calling her “destructive to society” on his program this week.
I am not a single parent. There are two of us, and my husband is a devoted, wonderful dad to E. But due to J’s job circumstances, I’m currently on my own about 85 percent of the time. It’s not a situation either of us enjoys, but we’re doing what we have to until things change, or we can find a better solution. So single parenthood, and single pregnancy, is something I’m somewhat familiar with. True, I’m definitely not in this alone, but there are days when it sure feels like it.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 00:07
by Jenny Feldon
We just got back from a week-long trip to the east coast to visit family. Since it was the first time many of our friends and relatives heard the news that we’re expecting a baby boy, it wasn’t long before conversations turned toward the inevitable: baby names.
While pregnant with E, I discussed names with anyone who would listen. My girlfriends, my dental hygienist, the woman behind me in line at the grocery store. I spent hours on baby name websites and owned an entire library of books listing every name known to mankind. It was serious business. I wanted to give my future child the greatest gift of all—the perfect name. I researched meanings, played around with spelling, investigated popularity trends. And I ran them all by a captive audience of hundreds, all of whom were eager to put their two cents in about what I should call my firstborn.
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Thursday, August 5, 2010 - 00:01
by Jenny Feldon
Pregnancy may be a nine month sprint toward motherhood, but it’s a slow crawl toward a whole different body than the one you started with. I’m not talking about the growing baby bump—that part is expected, and actually kind of fun. It’s the weird, little stuff that changes so gradually you barely notice it, until one day you wake up and there it is: a funny looking vein, a freckle you never had before, a hair that may or may not be gray, depending on the light. And wait…is that a stretch mark? Say it isn’t so.
Not much is under my control these days. Type-A personality that I am, this is not OK with me. I like avoiding potential problems, or at the very least, finding reasonable solutions. I’m a big fan of magic potions, new exercise regimens, vitamins and superfoods and essential oils. Spend enough time online and there’s a potential cure for everything. Some work, some don’t, but at least I feel like I’m taking charge of the situation.
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - 00:01
by Jenny Feldon
I don’t normally play the pregnant card. Pregnancy isn’t a disability, and I’ve never been the kind of person to want special treatment for any reason, let alone a condition I chose myself. But because my past experiences on airplanes with E have been so harrowing, I’m putting my usual, “don’t-worry-I’ve-got-this” attitude aside for a few days. Who deserves a little extra kindness from strangers than pregnant, toddler-wrestling, solo-flying me?
I’m eagerly anticipating doors being held open, luggage being carried, and sympathetic/admiring/benevolent glances being cast my way. So with this in mind, I’m putting on my only form-fitting item of maternity clothing (a skimpy ribbed tank top,) my cute new boyfriend jeans, and a double layer of mascara. For extra charm, I put ribbons in E’s hair. Airport, here we come.
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Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 00:48
by Jenny Feldon
Now that I’m finally feeling pregnant, all the crazy hormone-induced superpowers are kicking in. Ability to fall asleep instantly, anywhere, if given the opportunity? Check. Creating, then shedding enough hair to knit myself a sweater, or perhaps another pet? Check. Lightning-quick germ-spotting skills and stamina far beyond normal when it comes to heavy-duty housekeeping tasks? Check.
But nothing is more freakishly enhanced than my sense of smell. If I were a superhero, I’d be Sniffer Girl, in thigh high boots, shiny red tights, a gold maternity tunic and a flowing cape emblazoned with a giant, wrinkled-up nose. I. Smell. Everything. All the time. Everywhere. It’s gotten so bad, I find myself wishing for a summer cold just to clog things up for a while.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - 10:03
by Jenny Feldon
When it comes to most things, I like to be ahead of the times. I seek out the newest research and the latest technology. I love being ahead of the curve when it comes to fashion, books, music and toddler must-haves. But every once in a while I surprise myself and wish—sincerely and fervently—that things could revert to the “old school” way, just for a little while.
Today was my 20 week ultrasound, which involved a specialist’s office, a 3D ultrasound machine, and a fancy-sounding series of screenings (guilty admission: I was too overwhelmed by the information packet they handed me at the reception desk to take in what exactly I was having done.) I didn’t have one of these with E—that pregnancy spanned two countries, five cities and five different doctors, so I guess it kind of got lost in the shuffle. This experience was all new to me. 45 minutes in the waiting room, another ten lying half-naked on an exam table, and suddenly I was seeing #2 in eerie sepia tones on a 42 inch LCD screen.
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