So, the last time this site got a brief wave of press was back in October, and a lot of the coverage focused on my “lack” of children, which sucked. Knowing that the book response could have been more of the same, I decided to take some proactive measures so as to not go crazy like the last time (which prompted posts like this and this). Those things included practicing deep breathing, getting plenty of rest, and maintaining a steady diet of carnitas tacos and guacamole, which has been delicious.

It’s all worked out pretty well the past couple of weeks, but there was one comment, written on the STFU, Parents Facebook page, that I simply couldn’t keep confined to that page. It’s just too good. This is the stuff the blog is made of (and the type of person the blog was made for):

ZING. Tricia wins Sanctimommy of the Day fo sho. I do hope she felt better after venting. I’m totally picturing her yelling “BOOYAKASHAH!!” at the computer and then texting all of her girlfriends: “Ummm I just told a total stranger that she’s wasting her life on her own Facebook page. #mommyneedswine #makeitadouble LOL.” Oh, Tricia.

Then, a few days ago, I went on Huffington Post Live and said the thing that I usually say about how the blog doesn’t get that much hate mail and most people tend to like okay it if they read a few pages (which is true). Within a few hours, I received this sweet love note:

Daaaaaaaamn, that’s cold!

Here’s what bothers me about this email: In the subject, Emma says I deserve the title of Cunt with a capital C, but in the body, she just reduces me to a stale old typical cunt, lowercase c. Thanks a lot, Emma. I’ll be staring at my computer screen pondering this embarrassing discrepancy for the rest of my life.

And now, a round-up of interviews about the book as well as several discussions about “childlessness” and overshare for those of you who are interested in checking them out:

• CNN posted an awesome Q&A with a funny gallery, and then the next day talk show host Don Lemon and his guest panelists had a chat about the book and parent overshare. It was amazing. Go here to read the article and here to watch the clip (starts at 7:20). [CNN]
• As mentioned, I went on Huffington Post Live with my “Internet friends” Nancy Redd, Jessica Gottlieb, and Kim from One Classy Motha aka the inventor of Beaver Babies. [HuffPost]
• My homies at Mommyish posted about the GMA appearance. [Mommyish]
• Jeanne Sager over at The Stir posted a popular article titled ‘17 Most Annoying Things About Parents (According to People Without Kids’. [The Stir]
• Mary Beth Williams interviewed me for Salon and chose an excellent closing line. [Salon]
• Mom’s Gold Star winner Claire Zulkey interviewed me for WBEZ. [WBEZ]
• Jen Doll did a Q&A with me for The Atlantic Wire (and asked me what my mom thinks of the blog). [The Atlantic Wire]
• Kristen Kemp at Parents.com featured a fun ‘n short interview about the book. [Parents] 
• Bitch Magazine ran an interview and asked about “insufferable parent shenanigans” in Brooklyn. [Bitch]
• Judy McGuire from the Mike & Judy Show (which I’ve been on twice and am going on again this weekend!) wrote an article for Tumblr’s Storyboard. [Storyboard]
• Nicole Cliffe included the book in a great books round-up on The Hairpin. [The Hairpin] 
• The Pudding posted a Q&A and sprinkled submissions from the blog throughout the post. I enjoyed that. [The Pudding]
• Babble featured a gallery of 20 overshares from the blog in conjunction with the book. [Babble]
• Policy Mic wrote the article with arguably the best lede, AND they included a picture of the baby cake from the Book Shower. [Policy Mic]
• Brooklyn Based, which is my favorite events mailer in my adopted hometown, ran an interview about the book. [Brooklyn Based]
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which is the newspaper that I used to sell door-to-door in my original hometown, ran an interview about me and the book. [AJC]
• A blogger at the AJC took issue with the blog/book and essentially compared pictures of poopy diapers to pictures of toes on the beach. [AJC Momania]
• Dustin Rowles over at Pajiba shook things up with his post ‘STFU, Childless People.’ [Pajiba]
• The Wall Street Journal wrote an article (and referenced this post) about the book and the Book Shower. (If you hit a paywall, you can Google the title.) [WSJ]
• Last but not least, I got “realer than real” in a personal interview about blogging with Alice Wright from Get Off My Internets. [GOMI]

Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to talk with me and/or check out the book! And thank you to the great blogs that have hosted book giveaways so far: Fucked In Park Slope, One Classy Motha, The Mouthy Housewives, and Motherhood In NYC.

Also, for anyone who’s reading in L.A., I’ll be on a panel next weekend called The Politics of Parenting* at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on Sunday, April 21st at 12:30pm. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll come by and get a book signed! 

*your guess is as good as mine regarding my qualifications for this

I haven’t posted a Links Round-Up for a couple of weeks, but I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to post this awesome picture. Many times, I’ve heard from people who say that when they “liked” the STFU, Parents Facebook page they were immediately attacked by rabid mama bears, so this image perfectly sums up that response. I might need it to print a poster version for my childless den of baby-hating debauchery, where my childless friends and I take selfies in bikinis, drink wine coolers until we barf, and call each other “bitches” a lot.

Now, let’s see what’s been shaking around the Internet (and the world!):

• A very intelligent New Zealand woman made headlines after leaving her sleeping baby alone in her car with a note. “It was written from the baby’s perspective [ed. note: OF COURSE IT WAS], and it said, ‘My mum’s in doing the shopping, call her if I need anything’, and it had the cellphone number.” They say ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ but by ‘village’ they mean ‘parking lot.’ [NZ Herald]
• A massive 15lb, 7oz baby was born in the UK — vaginally — which prompted The Shudder Felt ‘Round the World. [Metro]
• ‘We Already Know Who the Worst Person in NYU’s Class of 2032 Will Be’, so parents, don’t even front. [NY Mag]
• “But when you want your child to eat fruit, consider giving her fruit.” Great concept! Plus, we all know this act can inspire amazing art, too. [Slate]
• More earth-shattering news: A groovy Melbourne crossing guard is still allowed to “touch” the children (i.e. give them high-fives), and a Brisbane school is embracing the “potentially litigious” playgrounds of yore, because parents who sue after little Madjesti trips on an obstacle course tire can shove their lawsuits up their asses. [News.com.au and Courier Mail]
• In case you missed it, the Gray Lady, whose antiquated notions grow grayer by the day, lead an obit about a rocket scientist saying that she made “a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, and took eight years off from work to raise three children.” Oh yeah, and she was also a rocket scientist. (Dissertation defense, anyone?) [Buzzfeed]
• This baby changing station better be for real. [Happy Place]
• As it turns out, modern life steals kids’ childhood. It’s a bummer, but that’s what happens when iPads and padded bras for newborns are on the market. [News.com.au]
• Speaking of iPads, here’s an article about the effects tablets may have on children’s minds and communication skills over time. [NYT]
• “While perusing your Facebook news feed, have you ever wondered why some people’s babies are adorable, while others are butt ugly?” Why yes, yes I have. [Discoblog]
• “I resented the time my children consumed. Like parasites, they took from me  and didn’t give back.” Do not try to tell this woman that she’s better off for having had her kids. [Yahoo! AU]
• An Easter egg hunt in Seattle turned in a bloody brawl between moms. The mama bears are all coming out of hibernation! [Gawker]
• A much-talked about article in the Daily Princetonian that has since been pulled was written by a mother who solemnly warns young ladies that they should scoop up smart, amazing guys like her sons now, or risk being alone forever. Preachy! [Slate]
• This story about a mother who allegedly shot another mother after their children got into a minor argument is, as they say, some shit. [HuffPost]
• Domestic Triage Experts are “human time and motion machines” and “domestic management consultants” who “never have a shower without cleaning it at the same time.” Supermoms — now with fancy vocabulary! [Daily Mail]
• There is no greater example of “one person messes this up for the rest of us” than annoying parents-meets-the airline industry. [Telegraph]
• “Facebook has become a repository for information that we may not…know about.” Especially when investigating idiots who don’t pay child support. [ABC News]
• This ‘Shouts & Murmurs’ column might be my favorite thing I’ve read in weeks. [New Yorker]
• Modern parenting confuses Frank Bruni and some people got upset about it. [NYT]
• Finally, behold this barf GIF. I mean… wow. That is creamy. [Tosh.0]

As an aside: Thanks a lot to everyone who’s purchased a copy of the book (aka the instant literary classic inspired by this blog). If you enjoyed reading it, please consider leaving a comment on Amazon or Goodreads — and don’t forget to email me for a free signed bookplate and temporary tattoo! 

It’s time for another weekly installment of the best and worst links from around the web! But first, let’s study the above Pregnant Paper Dolls (+ Bonus Baby, the kind of bonus every Pregnant Paper Doll wants!). This image was sent in by a perplexed reader who was out shopping and paused to reflect on this uniquely insane crafting opportunity.

Which Pregnant Paper Doll would you be? The sassy first trimester doll, the somewhat unamused second trimester doll who’s struggling to fit into her jeans, the utterly miserable third trimester doll having a shotgun wedding, or the post-baby mom in yoga pants with her stomach hanging out and looking like she hasn’t slept in a week? They’re all SO fun! I want to collect them all. :)

Being a woman totally rocks sometimes, you guys. I think that’s what this special doll collection is all about. I bet the manufacturer imagined Sheryl Sandberg, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Marissa Mayer, and some Retro Wives all playing together with these delightful dolls over cucumber sandwiches. She may be the Pregnant Paper Doll who doesn’t “have it all,” but by golly was she cute before she got knocked up, amirite? Love that halter dress. 

Now on to the links!

• An article about beer halls in Williamsburg that impose baby curfews inspired this wonderful line: “Brett, part of a 90-member Brooklyn mothers group with only Williamsburg moms who gave birth this fall, said all the “hipsters” who had kids in the area needed somewhere to go.” Naturally, that place is a bar. [DNA Info]
• “There’s no words to describe it. It’s the biggest nightmare of my life.” These words were uttered by a delusional mother who called the police on a suspicious man who turned out to be a cleaning person. Paranoia will destroy ya. [KHOU]
• A blogger asked the very reasonable question “Can We Bring The Holidays Down a Notch?”, and everyone on the internet was like, “Um, YES!” (Unfortunately this will never actually happen.) [Huffington Post]
• A paring knife was found inside a toddler’s Walmart birthday cake, and according to the story, the dad said, in succession: 1. My kid will never get that birthday back. 2. I might sue Walmart. 3. Eh, fuck it, who am I kidding? I’ll never stop shopping at Walmart. And then everyone ignored the story and went about business as usual. America! [CBS 6 WTVR]
• Speaking of America, “a California mom plans to sue a maker of instant noodle soup after she claims her son was severely burned after the soup spilled in his lap.” She was quoted as saying, “The average person does not know how bad those noodles can burn a child.” Not sure if that was based on scientific research, but I’m guessing it wasn’t. [WPRI]
• A new study about personality traits and predictive “Likes” on Facebook says that people who “Like” ‘I Love Being A Mom’ have a low IQ. [Insert Joke Here.] [The Guardian]
• Organic baby food is expensive but not more nutritious. Is this surprising? I thought the decision always had to do with pesticides, but maybe I’m just dumb. [The Washington Post]
• This dad “hasn’t had it all either.” But the bigger question is, are there any paper dolls dedicated to his struggles?? I THINK NOT. [NYT]
• Liz Gumbinner aka Mom 101 wrote an awesome post on “having it all” and the way the media spins stories to benefit traffic and ratings. Go, Liz! [Mom 101]
• “Your delivery room is going to resemble the stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers’ “A Night at the Opera” if you don’t entirely rethink this.” Emily Yoffe with the zingers! [Dear Prudence / Slate]
• An Australian woman has a slew of kids who all have wacky names. Is this journalism? [Newcastle Herald]
• “The Nickells likely meant to call out their kid for being “selfish,” “self-centered,” or “entitled” (“self-entitled isn’t a word)” <— Oh SNAP. Yahoo! got saucy in this article about kid-shaming. [Yahoo! Shine]
• Finally, we have some pictures of Perez Hilton in the bathtub with his baby. In case you didn’t know (or care!), he recently became a father. My day was going just fine until these came across my radar. [BuzzFeed]

And that’s it for this week! On a personal note, please excuse my weird posting schedule right now. I’ve been dealing with an unfortunate family matter, and y’all know the old expression that family comes before placentas and sanctimommies. Now I understand what that means! To make myself feel better, I’m posting this giraffe emoticon. 

PS: The Swiss fashion magazine Annabelle ran a profile of me this month that I can’t really understand since it’s in German, but I do know the headline is the most amazing thing ever. It says, “The New York blogger has nothing against Mommies. Just against the crazy shit they post online.” Thanks, Annabelle!