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Celebrity Lines

When I was 15, like most girls my age I dreamed of becoming some sort of celebrity. And I'd be lying to you if I didn't occasionally have that fantasy now. But the difference these days is that I'd like to be a very low grade J-list celebrity as opposed to any sort of A,B, C or even D list celebrity. Over the last few days I've been reminded just why I've lowered the bar somewhat.

"I was with her yesterday, and Kris separately," the radio DJ said on air this morning, "Brian and I were giving Dannii a little cuddle."

via www.news.com.au

Today the model tried to detract attention from reports surrounding his crumbling relationship with Minogue by tweeting: "How good is (English singer) Adele, really I mean she is unreal. And so down to earth... Jumped into my top 5 singers."

via www.heraldsun.com.au

And finally, something sane;

ImageVideoKris Smith arrives at Perth Airport for the Myer Spring/Summer fashion shoot. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: Herald SunDannii and Kris romance on the rocksWatchCloseDannii and Kris romance on the rocksRadio jock Kyle Sandilands confirms Dannii Minogue and Kris Smith are going through “rocky times”Herald Sun30 May 2011CloseAdvertisementYour video will play following this advertisementPlay0:00 / 1:05ScrubbermuteScrubberShareFullscreen

via www.news.com.au

I'm using Dannii Minouge as my example here. Her son, Ethan, was born almost 12 months ago now. Any parent will honestly tell you that the first twelve months of their child's life is often the hardest for their relationship. With the amount of work both Danni and her partner seem to do - based out of two very, very distance countries - it's really no wonder that her relationship might be suffering. It might have even been too much for the two of them. I know of many relationships that haven't survived the ultimate trial that parenthood brings. 

Dannii has even made some less-than-crypitic comments on her twitter about how unhappy she is generally. Again, this has been reported in all the articles above as some sort of anomaly. Let me assure you it isn't. Open up a new tab, and go to your facebook News Feed. Go on, I'll wait . . .

I guarantee that at least one of your friends has a complaint about their spouse as their status (in fact, I'm might just go vent about my husband's sudden war against clean work clothes). Also I could point you in the direct of at least 4 Australian based parenting forums that have entire sections devoted to complaints about relationships. 

Complaining about your partner isn't news. New parents struggling to communicate with each other while juggling little sleep, high profile careers and the small person reliant solely on them is also not news. Rumours and acceptable human behaviour should not be paraded as news.

I'm a firm believer that Celebrities are aware of the downsides when they sign up for their life in the spot. But I also believe in the line. 

When exactly do we force the media to draw it?

Whats in a name

I'm aware that's it a very thin line that I walk when talking about baby names and social insanity. At the ripe old age of 21, I gave birth to our first born. I'd already picked her name, even before I'd met my husband. I knew that it was unusual but I figured that I'd hadn't been damaged by having an uncommon name, and I might as well pass on that legacy to my offspring.

There was only a week towards the end that I hesitated. My baby girl almost became a Cassidy that week. Once I'd gotten past the hesitation, we started to stop calling my belly "Lumpy" and referred to her by her name. 

Not everyone liked her name to begin with. One of my Aunts told us that it sounded like a breed of dog.

Undeterred, we named her anyway. Matisse Anne.

Matisse is a fairly uncommon name, but of all our encounters maybe only 2 out of 10 people aren't aware if the French painter she's named after. We've also met a couple of other Matisse's (of varied ages) since her birth. And I don't have to spell it out to people very often.

However spelling was never my main concern when naming her. I was (and am) more concerned that people would make assumptions about her as she grows. Luckily she likes Art. But she also likes dinosaurs, science and keyboard. Her reading is amazing and she's fabulous with our puppy.  Will her name prevent people from allowing her to find a place in the world outside of her name sake. At birthdays she's given more art/craft kits then Barbies. By giving my child a name thar I loved, after someone who inspires me often, have I restricted her abilities? Possibly. As her mother, it's my job to ensure she understands that she is bigger then her name, and she push against any limitations it might bring.

There was a news story today that talked about a couple in Isreal who called their baby "Like" after the button on Facebook. I don't find it that odd. I mean, in Egypt an entire revolution was started via Facebook (and in fact a baby was named Facebook there too) and so naming babies after it's functionality isn't really all that different from naming babies after virtues - Charity, Grace or Patience. Or after Gospel writers. It's simply a new media having it's impact on the next generation. 

My ruling on names stays the same. By all means, name your kid "Letterbox", but just don't spell it "L3tter...b0zx" because it makes them unique!! 

Do you have any name 'rules'??

365 days to go.

365 days until my twenties official end. And right now, I'm feeling okay about that. But admittedly I've had easily 4 mini-breakdowns throughout the day. 

I'm not convinced that I've really achieved enough, almost halfway through my life. So I've made a few lists today. I've been to university, I've gotten married, I've had two beautiful children, I've lost pregnancies, I've served on the board of a non-profit organisation. But is the list worth anything? And those things that I have achieved, have I or am I doing them well? Am I going to be considered successful? If I was, heaven forbid, to fall in front of a bus tomorrow, what are my girls going to tell people about me? 

Well, ever the control freak, I'm deciding that I'm going to tell them what to say. And I'm going to say it first.

I used this blog for a couple year while scrapbooking. It was the first time I'd really experienced the idea of building up myself as a branding, and while at an art/scrapbook convention in Syd, I had a number of women tell me that they read my blog which freaked me out a little bit. Worse they told me that they enjoyed looking at my girls grow, my creations and my writing style. A part of me knew that it was the beginning of the end of my blog. It was easy to blog when no one was watching, but now I knew people where watching, and so there was pressure to perform. As it turned out, Facebook arrived soon after, and so my need to tell my story and update people on the girls was overruled by FB's instant gratification. And so my blog lay neglected for the last few years. 

But in the last year of my twenties, I want to start to build that brand again. I want to record the stories of our lives, what impacts them and how we feel so that my girls, as strong independent women, can look back and see where they came from. 

There are many things that as a parent I'm afraid of. I deal with a mammoth amount of guilt as a working parent, as a wife who doesn't always come home until after 10pm and as partner who doesn't do her share of the housework. I worry that I'm not the best example for my girls, that I'm not modelling the life I want them to want. And so this blog will hopefully share with you the things that scare me the most, and the ways I've tried to deal with them. 

What does parenting/motherhood mean to you? What are the scariest parts and what do you do to try and get some (broken) sleep at night??