So I had a baby a little over a month ago and it was a beautiful and painful experience. Since then, Mike and I have been adjusting to life as parents. My kid, Ivy, is the sweetest, loudest, funniest, cutest little baby in the world, in my unbiased opinion. She’s getting chubbier and longer and growing up way too fast already. I didn’t really start considering me as a mom until my late 20s. but I’m enjoying motherhood a lot.

Taking Care of Baby

Truly a test of patience and sanity, raising a child is a full-time job with overtime, trust me. The newborn, 0-3 months phase isn’t so bad, once you get through the chaos of sleeping at night. She sleeps most of the day and eats and poops and makes noises. Learning her hunger cues and when she’s sleepy-fussy versus gassy-fussy didn’t take that long to pick up and learn. Cleaning 3 diapers in the span of a 1 minute because she wouldn’t STOP POOPING was a true highlight of parenting so far.

But seriously, she’s an easy baby, thankfully, and that has allowed me to still do my hobbies and enjoy my fave media.

TV Shows Binged/Currently Bingeing

• The Witcher: Blood Origin: I wasn’t originally intending to ever watch this but I ended up needing something to stare at while I was pumping milk. The show got review-bombed because of it’s “woke agenda” (”woke” meaning too many Black and/or gay people.) It’s overall a pretty decent watch if you’ve never read or played the books/games or whatever they were originally. It’s got:

  • Hot, hot, hot elves fighting and banging it out

  • INSANELY BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES, mostly by the iconic Iris van Herpen, worn by Merwyn.

  • Fun, magic stuff

  • Big-ass monsters

  • Michelle Yeoh!!!!

  • A Black elf lady lead

• Trixie Motel: I love watching any and all drag content, so when I saw this pop up on HBO Max a couple weeks ago I was like”oh hell yes.” It’s a very, very funny show about Trixie Mattel, Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 winner and make-up company owner, buying a fucking motel in Palm Springs, California. They have to get it all renovated in a few months and on budget, hilarity ensues. Honestly I would consider staying here if it wasn’t so fucking expensive, because each room is themed and they’re SO CUTE.

• Wednesday: Man, when this show dropped, the quickness with which fancams and stan accounts popped up for Wednesday Addams was astounding. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch it but then I had a baby and needed to kill time while she ate.

  • I like this show a lot, it’s campy and fun and had some legit good writing. I had issues with how every Black character on the show with lines was an antagonist or foil for Wednesday. There was a lot of moments of non-Black characters trying to humble the Black characters and put them in their proverbial space. It was a bit uncomfortable, even though 2/3 of the Black characters got redemption arcs by the end.

  • Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia is EXCELLENT.

• We’re Here: I binged seasons 1-2 of this show again before the 3rd season dropped in November. It’s such a feel-good, kind of devastating show. If you’ve seen To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar then you get the gist of what this show is all about. Drag queens going to small towns, facing fear, bigotry and changing lives with drag shows and dressing up locals in drag. Features one of my favorite drag queens of all time, Bob the Drag Queen and two other queens.

• Hacks: Hubby and I just started watching this and I’m already loving it a lot. It’s set in Vegas about an “aging” comedian and a shittalking comedy writer, who get thrown together and the jokes write themselves. The cast is fantastic and I love seeing all the Vegas parts, I find it amusing, especially the constant references to how hot it is.

Comics Expert Corner

I am reading shit from 1993 and shit being released weekly. I probably consume 30-50 issues of comics weekly and that hasn’t dropped any since I had Ivy. Of the new comics I’ve been reading, my favorites are:

• Poison Ivy (2022-) written by G. Willow Wilson, with art by Marcio Takara. It’s one of the best books out right now and I am not just saying that because she’s one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. Dr. Pamela Isley’s has a physical and mental journey, while killing innocent people and trying to stop fracking and poisons from getting into the earth. She’s anti-capitalist, a radical with no regard for human life. She’s awesome. The book is ongoing, I’m excited to see where this story takes her.

• Action Comics: Everything from the Warworld Saga to now has been so deeply excellent. Superman and his family have been lifelong favorites of mine and I’m so happy to see them all together and superheroing in all their different styles and unique takes. Kon-El and Power Girl are being pulled back into relevance and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

• The Flash: Barry Allen has always been my favorite of the speedsters but lately I’ve been appreciating Wally West more and more. His current run in The Flash ongoing is actually so fucking wholesome. He’s surrounded by family and close friends and having all kinds of adventures from goofy to terrifying thrown at him. I am genuinely delighted that DC is focusing more and more on the main heroes’ families as well. (Flash family, Super family, Bat family, Arrow family are all getting more stories this year. Wonder family had some good events last year but are weirdly absent from the upcoming line-up after Lazarus Planet.)

There’s also older stories I’m reading like old Superman comics from the 90s and Milestone original content like Static and Icon & Rocket. I love reading older comics and comparing how the art and writing have evolved. Most current comics still aren’t holding a candle to George Pérez’s New Teen Titans and Wonder Woman runs.

Wrapping it Up

It hasn’t been the craziest few weeks but it’s definitely been a constant learning lesson. Mike and I are figuring this all out one day at a time and still finding time to appreciate each other and laugh about all the random shit our baby does.