I like the pods...is that strange? (I don't care. Still would rather eat pod-peas than out of pod peas...the wrinkly skin or something is nsm obvious with the pods...don't ask.) Also, sweeter. It will probably be hot Cash, although last time we had El Nino we had a great May. I hope that happens again. Oh, and you guys should meet us and we'll have dinner or something.

Is there anyone else out there who records shows they suspect will be "watch from the hall" material and then waits to find out how bad it is before watching?

Edit: Thanks to the above discussion, I am now craving green beans.

Do not eat the iPod shuffle.

Talk me down. I'm feeling Bad Mommy guilt. This time it's taking the form of feeling like Annabel is getting the worst of both worlds with my freelancing--if I were a "real" SAHM, I'd be devoting more time and attention to her development, instead of encouraging her to amuse herself in a safe place while I work, and if I were a "real" working mother, she'd be in day care learning from other children.

How much time a day are you directly interacting with Annabel, Susan? It's not like you're leaving her in a playpen for 8 hours at a stretch are you?

Babies are not fragile. If babies fell apart because their mothers did not stimulate them in exactly the right way, the species would be GONE.

Yes, if you put a baby in a crib and ignore it, it will die. But a baby who is being fed, loved, and cleaned will do just fine.

How much time a day are you directly interacting with Annabel, Susan? It's not like you're leaving her in a playpen for 8 hours at a stretch are you?

Today is fairly typical, except that normally I take a shower before she wakes up, but our morning schedule got thrown off because Dylan had an early meeting:

-She woke up around 8:00, and I dressed and fed her. Process took about half an hour.
-I showered and got ready while she played in the exersaucer for another half hour.
-I took her to a meeting with my accountant, so that's about 45 minutes in her carseat and stroller.
-By the time we got home, it was naptime, so I put her in the playpen to play and then fall asleep. She was probably in there 1 1/2 hours, an hour of which was sleep.
-When she woke up, I fed her, put the gates in the living room doors, and put her on the floor for an hour or so. Most of the time she was on her own, though I started out by reading her a story and would occasionally rescue her from things she shouldn't be in.
-The guilt comes in here--she got to a point where she was constantly testing limits by trying to get into forbidden things, and I had a resume that had to be done this afternoon. So I put her back in the playpen for an hour and a half.
-I just fed her her next meal, and as it's naptime again, we're back in the playpen.

Susan, I'm a "true" SAHM with virtually nothing on my plate except for the house and Owen and nothing you've written here seems remotely wrong to me.

I'll put the baby gates up and let Owen crawl the hallway and the nursery while I fold and put away clothes in our bedrooms. I'll leave him in the "baby corral" while I'm around the corner loading the dishwasher and making dinner. I'll put him in the swing for a half an hour while I iron. He'll sit for 40 minutes and watch Noggin without blinking while I check email and post here.

I don't think there are hard numbers out there for exactly how much time babies need your undivided attention. You have to realize that every activity you do with her--from getting her dressed and changing diapers to feeding her are VERY quality individual attention moments. The older she gets, the more she'll need to learn things on her own so there is no time like the present to start.

Is your guilt stemming from stuff you've read and thought "this is the right way to do it"? I think whatever works for you and Annabel is really the "right" way to do things. If she's content with things the way they are, I don't see the need to put yourself through the ringer.

It's a whole complex of guilt, I think. Part of it is that we're living in such a small and difficult to childproof house--even the supposedly childproof living room has things like bookshelves and cabinets we can't let her get into. If we had a house with a truly childproof space, she'd get more time playing on the floor. So I then feel guilty for not having worked harder or managed our money better so we'd be in a bigger place.

So I then feel guilty for

Susan, that is the key, right there. It seems to me that if there is anything, anything at all you can work yourself up into a tizzy of guilt over, you will. You are driving yourself bonkers, and you need to stop it. Stop. worrying.