Are you expecting your first child? Are you ever going to be? My non-traditional advice is to get yourself a Netflix subscription and compatible device before that baby comes. Vickie got us an appletv for Christmas and since then, in the time I've spent pumping, folding laundry, or nursing Nora in front of my tv or phone, I have watched: 3 seasons of Parenthood, 2 seasons of Downton Abbey, 4 seasons of Mad Men, and 1+ season of Friday Night Lights. I wish we'd been subscribers during Nora's bout with RSV and the peak of her colic. Those first few weeks, when the baby requires so much holding but doesn't interact with you, having good tv on call would've been awesome. I never would have been stuck watching Rachael Ray's show even though I hate it.
I also want to report that Tami's experience with her newborn in the first few episodes of the second season of FNL has been the most realistic representation I've seen anywhere. I wish I'd been exposed to her struggles when I was having my own. She's smart, and capable, and confident in regular life, but an inconsolable baby drives her to desperation, perhaps in part because of those qualities (and also the absence of her husband, which I obviously can't include in my list of reasons for feeling the same way). Conversely, the baby on Parenthood, whose name is also Nora, made me want to scream. She was apparently born as a three month old who laughs, smiles, and sleeps whenever they want her to. They are always setting her down and going about their business. In one episode, an unmarried couple is so thrilled by babysitting her for a whole day when she is a few weeks old that they decide they want a baby. I literally laughed out loud-- there is a 0% chance that could have happened with our Nora. My school friends love her, and yet they still refer to her as "birth control."
Seriously, there are some great stories on TV these days, and I've missed all of them because I never have time in my school life to commit to an hour long program. Thank you, Netflix and Vickie!
I, too, have watched more TV (Netflix) than ever before between not working and being pregnant last summer, and then maternity leave/nursing/pumping. I have also enjoyed FNL, parenthood, and embarrassingly, private practice and now gossip girl.
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