2:32 p.m. - 2006-05-01
A Weird, Wild, Wonderful Process
Plagiarism's a funny thing.
I joined a website called whattoexpect.com, based on the book What To Expect. It's a pay site -- I think it's $4.95 per month, and it's been an amusing way to learn day-by-day what's going on with Pumpkin and me, and meet other expectant moms on the "due in October" message boards.
Last week, one mom decided to start a "secret mommy pal" thing -- kind of a secret Santa set-up. I joined. What the hell? Today I got the name of my person -- a chick named Laura who lives in Ohio, and who is also pregnant with her first, and also due on 10/22. I set up a fake gmail account from user "SecretStork2006" and sent her the following message:
Hi Laura!
Just wanted to to introduce myself. I'm Secret Stork (SS for short), and I'm your What to Expect secret pal for the next 5 months and 21 days!!
Can you believe it's coming up so soon? I am also due on 10/22 with my first baby, so we should have lots to talk about. Feel free to ask me anything, or write if you just want to vent. Such a weird, wild, wonderful process, huh? Are you showing yet? Have you felt the baby move? Are you going to find out if it's a boy or a girl? (My answers: yes, no, YES! I think it's a boy, but I want a girl! I find out on 5/31.)
I have to get back to work, but I look forward to chatting with you and getting to know you. Have a great day!
She replied, and it was cute, and I thought, "Ok, we're off to a good start." Approximately five minutes later, I receieved this message in my work inbox, sent from her:
Hi Diana
Just wanted to to introduce myself. I'm your What to Expect secret pal for the next 5 months and 21 days!!
Can you believe it's coming up so soon? I am also due on 10/22 with my first baby, so we should have lots to talk about. Feel free to ask me anything, or write if you just want to vent. Such a weird, wild, wonderful process, huh? Are you showing yet? Have you felt the baby move? Are you going to find out if it's a boy or a girl? (My answers: yes, no (although I swear I felt the baby move last week, but we decided it was just hunger pains!), YES!)
I look forward to chatting with you and getting to know you. Have a great day!
Um. Ok. So this isn't a secret, then? That's fine. It's nice to have a new pen pal, but wow, not much mystery here. I thought about stringing her along for the next six months, but figured I'd get tired of having my own messages plagiarized. I think I'll just let her know, "Hey, you're not so secretive (or clever), so I'll just drop the ruse."
I returned the pink Kate Spade diaper bag. After mulling it over, I just decided that I need to look around more before I invest that much money in a bag designed to hold diapers and wipes that will ultimately get splashed with lots of bodily fluids. While I was out at Loehmann's, I made a spur-of-the-moment pit stop into 7-11 for a pina colada slurpee. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend that you go and do the same. Yum. Tastes like summer, and no caffeine (though, honestly, that was really what I was looking for, but the coke slurpee side seemed to be out of order).
