Picture shamelessly swiped from Ninja Poodles posted to J&J Camp Baby Flickr Group.
Recently, I attended J&J's Camp Baby - an all expenses paid three-day mom blogger event, thankyouverymuch - and had the pleasure of commiserating, up close and personal on all things child-related, with the keepers of mom blogs, like Socal Mom, Midwestern Mommy, Blonde Mom Blog, Ninja Poodles (dang, but that woman made me spew snot all over my laptop...several times!) and was introduced to cool mommas, like Because I Said So (she's got, like, half a dozen kids and wrote the book, that's why!) and that Amy over at MotherLoad and MomAdvice...well, she's just too darn cute!
I mean, it was all overwhelming, really. A little scary, too. Why were we here? What do they want? Will there be visible displays of animosity and much name-calling?
[crossing arms and pouting, a little]
I know what you are, but what am I and what is it to you, anyway?
Don't even get me started about Twittering alongside (or, having to stand next to) Erika Jurney, Motherhood Uncensored, IzzyMom, Friday Playdate, Notes From the Trenches and Jennnnnnnay...well, what can I say, except that words like, "So NOT worthy," and "Please, don't stand so close to me," quickly came to mind.
But, I also got a chance to meet my blog inspiration Mindy over at The Mommy Blog and totally made Suburban Bliss feel awkward (sorry Melissa, I'm a hugger) because, well, I wasn't quite sure what to expect (especially, all the food...Lord, the food...how it was never ending) and having a familiar face nearby made the anticipation a little more, I don't know, palatable.
Being invited to an event like this? I mean, my kids don't even listen to me. Unless, I yell. Really loud. Friends and family still don't understand "this blogging thing," and well, let's just say that this was a big deal, for me.
Still.
J&J is a big company - heck, they've got divisions all over the planet - and I was born in the generation that still holds corporate America suspect and perhaps watched way too many episodes of The X Files, pregnant.
My womb trusts no one.
Point being, and perhaps contrary to popular opinion, Johnson & Johnson did a pretty good job of bringing together a diverse group of blogging voices and - thanks to the candid conversations that were held and they had no choice but to listen to the truth - I believe that the company set a major precedence on how to properly organize such "high profile" events, in the future....trust me.
The sleep expert, Dr. Jodi Mindell, was awesome with her sleep schedules, bedtime routines and encouraging parents that...yes...their babies should be falling asleep, independently.
"Um...I have four children...but, the three girls...and...um...well...we have a really small house...and they share one room...and...uh...well, did I mention we have a really small house?"
Thank goodness Dr. Jodi is really smart and, when I shamelessly approached her while she tried to eat something, she understood what I was desperately trying to ask her.
"If they're sleeping and happy, and you're happy, then it's perfectly fine."
Basically, she reiterated the fact that the sleep arrangements we currently have, and especially if it works for our family, is "perfectly fine" and will NOT cause my children to grow up to be a bunch of sleep-deprived-little-axe-murderers, or something like that.
Phew.
Then came the lady scientist - babies have soft skin and you make lotion, I get it! - and then the germ expert pretty much convinced me that ...YES...my house is indeed dirty and will perhaps never, EVER be clean enough, again!
Ick.
Then, came my favorite part:
Dr. Scott Jens is an optometrist (a medical doctor...who specializes in eyes...I know, I always get that confused, too!) he is the chairman of InfantSEE, a program devoted to providing free eye exams to 1 year-olds....and babies, younger.
Why?
Well, Dr. Jens showed us a video of child. Her parents noticed one of her eyes just didn't look right, but were led to believe that it was probably fine. Still. They got her eyes examined by an eye specialist and I was horrified to learn that their baby actually had a life-threatening tumor.
The really scary part is that it could only be discovered with the kind of instruments used by doctors trained to examine eyes.
InfantSEE is offered nationwide, and it is FREE.
If you are the parent of an infant between 6 and 12 months old, please visit here for a listing of optometrists who participate in the program.
Meanwhile, back at the camp, I spent the rest of my time with J&J cringing - what, with having gone through natural childbirth, four times, and all the talk about how my female parts were probably ready to fall out, right now - but, that comes with being born female and I pretty much left thinking...yeah...being a woman sucks wet poodle!
Oh....AND....I don't want to be involved in anymore discussions on hair braiding, EVUH!
You can see for yourself here and here are more cool stuff about J&J, jus so you know:
J&J's Blog - yeah, who knew?
Kilmer House - J&J's corporate history blog.
Johnson's Baby - takes you to the on line sleep tool for parents.
MomAdvice.com - has a giveaway for Dr. Jodi Mindell's book, "Sleep Deprived, No More"
It wasn't perfect. Then again, it could have been worse. Personally, I'll take the good (and the bad) with a grain of salt and believe that "the moms" and "the corporates" left the weekend a little more educated and, hopefully, can continue the conversation on a more level playing field.
I hope there's a t-shirt!
© 2008 This Full House - All Rights Reserved.
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