Does your baby wake up when the lights go down? Here’s the blueprint for building a peaceful bedtime: put on these calming versions of Jay-Z’s biggest hits. You may have 99 problems, but a crying baby ain’t one.
1. Empire State of Mind
2. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
3. Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
4. Big Pimpin’
5. ’03 Bonnie & Clyde
6. I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
7. Girls, Girls, Girls
8. Show Me What You Got
9. Can’t Knock the Hustle
10. Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)
11. Run This Town
12. Young Forever
I don’t know about you other parents out there, but I have a confession: I’ve been bad.
I’m on the heels of not only celebrating my daughter’s first birthday, but also—something people don’t have parties for, but probably should—surviving my first year of parenthood.
And, I’ve got to say, as I’ve gotten closer and closer to my 1st Mommy birthday, I’ve constantly beenbehaving badly. I don’t know if it’s me stressed out over planning her birthday party, me realizing, s!#? (see, bad mommy), I have a lifetime to go with this gig. Or that after all this time—41 weeks of carrying Little D, plus, the 365 days of being responsible for this little person’s life—I’ve decided it’s my turn to throw tantrums. And, boy, have I been throwing them this month.
Shall I rattle off my offenses?
There was my mommy meltdown at work, when I managed to accuse half of the office staff for moving hand-me-down presents I had left at the desk for a new parent colleague to a junk pile. (I actually left it at the wrong desk.) Earlier in the week I was even called “angry mom” because of my roaring. Sorry, coworkers.
I screamed at my own mom on the phone, while holding my baby and walking in 100-degree weatherat a volume I didn’t realize I could reach, saying, “You ruined my day,” after my mom had just finished a 5K walk to raise money for cancer research. My frustration was due to street traffic she couldn’t control en route to us meeting her at the finish line. (Context: I’d been in the car for 2 hours trying to get to her and she had already left. Yeah, s!#?ed.) Sorry, Mom. And, Los Angeles traffic, you totally get the finger.
I’ve started screaming matches with my husband just because I’m really enjoying screaming these days. And, unfortunately, my daughter has started following my example, screaming at her papa, too. Though she’s super cute screaming, “DADA…DADA…DADA!!!” all the time, and not just to him. Apparently any guy with the same build in a black T-shirt has been getting the same treatment wherever we go. Sorry, dudes.
There are more, but you get the gist. A girl at my work, sensing my mother rage sweetly said to me as I was preparing to leave to pick up Little D from daycare, “I hope you feel better.”
And, for a moment, I felt a sense of calm, and replied, “I always feel better when I see my baby.” So, to you, Mini Me, screaming D, I promise you, Mommy will do her best not to behave badly at your birthday party and make a scene.
Father’s Day is just around the bend and we can’t decide on a name for our special Father’s Day Bundle. So we’re asking you what you think the title should be!
The bundle includes Lullaby Renditions of: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Weezer.
……
Vote for your favorite bundle name below to help us choose. Add a comment telling us what you love about being a dad or what you love about the dad in your life and who knows, you might just win the bundle!
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words . . . but we’re looking for just one word, today!
May is National Photography Month and we want you to hit us with your best shot.
Take a snapshot of what represents the word “spring” to you; be it budding trees, sipping on lemonade or a nice outdoor nap. Whatever you want!
Use the hashtag #rockabyeyourbestshot when posting your picture—or pictures (enter as many as you want)—on Instagram by Friday, May 24 to be automatically entered. Our grand prize winner will be gifted 5 Rockabye CDs of his or her choice and two runners-up will be given our latest releases: Lullaby Renditions of Muse and Lullaby Renditions of The White Stripes. The three winners will be announced Friday, May 31.
Happy 48th birthday to our favorite industrial rocker, Trent Reznor!
To celebrate, we have a few fun facts about Trent’s childhood before he was a rock star/record producer/movie score composer, etc., etc., etc. The catch: Some are true . . . and some are false! Do you think you can differentiate fact from fiction? Answer them all correctly, send your guesses to moc.cisumybabeybakcornull@yawaevig and you could win a copy of Lullaby Renditions of Nine Inch Nails!
True or False: 5 Facts (or Fake Facts) You May Not Have Known About Trent’s Childhood:
1. His real name is actually Michael. His father had the same name, so to avoid confusion, he went by his middle name, Trent.
2. When living with his grandparents after his parents’ divorce, his grandmother considered pulling him out of school to focus on his piano playing in the hopes he would become a classical pianist.
3. He has an older sister named Theresa.
4. Trent was a very talented viola player and played in his school’s orchestra from junior high and on.
5. In high school, Trent played Judas in a school performance of Jesus Christ Superstar and landed the leading role in The Music Man.
Do you keep losing sleep because of a restless baby? Is the moon stealing your baby’s slumber? Spin these bedtime-ready renditions of Silverchair’s most-loved songs. Your little tadpole will be dreaming sweetly, asleep in a golden ocean.
1. Tomorrow
2. If You Keep Losing Sleep
3. The Greatest View
4. Emotion Sickness
5. Freak
6. Anthem for the Year 2000
7. Pure Massacre
8. Israel’s Son
9. Across the Night
10. Ana’s Song (Open Fire)
11. Straight Lines
12. Miss You Love
My daughter, D, is turning 1 on May 24. The year’s gone by so fast! Way too quick for me to even have much time to think about throwing a birthday party to commemorate her first year of life. So I’ve had to act fast to start our birthday plan of attack—even if she won’t remember any of it. Mama likes to party.
So we’ve done what most parents in this day and age do:
Sent out an electronic invitation/notice of some form. I’ve counted 4 so far: family e-group list, Facebook event, email, text message.
That’s as far as we’ve gotten. Yeah, we have a long way to go. But I did also consult an expert, my 5-year-old niece, Natalia, for advice on how to throw the ultimate birthday party for her cousin. Here’s what was on her checklist for D’s party, which she shared via telephone, in the order she relayed them to me:
KID’s GUIDE TO THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY
Here’s all you need:
1. “One of those big things that, y’know, hangs from a tree and is filled with stuff!” (translation: piñata) 2. “M&Ms…lots of them.” 3. “Um, cake, cookies, cupcakes. CHEESECAKE…yeah, one of those, too!” 4. “Maybe a little pasta.” 5. “Decorations…like those things you throw into the air.” (translation: confetti) 6. “Oh, yeah, and it has to be a surprise!”
That last tip kills me: a surprise party for a 1-year-old. I asked her, “How do we surprise her?” She said, “Just have her papa roll her over!” Anyone care to translate?
No party is complete without a little music! When things need to wind down, turn up our lullaby renditions.
It’s happened again: another chomp-down on my daughter. I knew something was up when I went to pick her up at preschool and was immediately swarmed by concerned teachers. I also received an official “ouch report,” which documented the incident with a series of check-box choices.
By the time I got to my daughter, who was sitting at a table finishing her snack, I’d been schooled in what to do and say. “Nothing,” said one teacher. “Let her bring it up if she wants. It’s better to make her feel comfortable here again. You can talk about it once you get home and she feels totally safe.”
Of course, I didn’t listen. As soon as I spotted the big red welt on her arm I broke. “What happened, honey?” I asked and she pulled her arm away, ashamed. It was the first time I’ve ever seen her be embarrassed (this is a girl who strips off her clothes at any occasion and I’ve had to bribe not to dance in places where it might be deemed inappropriate, like say, a funeral). It broke my heart that she should discover shame, especially when she was the victim, not the perpetrator, of the problem.
I realized, for about the hundredth time, that her teachers know way more than I do. I kept my mouth shut about the bite and helped her collect her things. We invited a friend of hers over to play and the rest of the afternoon was all fun-and-games, none of which were blood sports, thankfully. I wanted to bite that kid back so badly. I understand why the teachers never tell you who the biter is—that delinquent needs protection.
As soon as we were alone, she brought it up, showing me her arm and relaying the entire crime. She’d gone to get a ladybug costume from the dress-up stand when the perpetrator (she told me who), misunderstanding the school’s rules, told her she couldn’t. He then tried to take the costume away. She would not relent (don’t get between my girl and her choice of fashion), and pulling-and-pushing ensued. When he realized she wasn’t backing down, the violence escalated to him biting her arm so that she’d drop the costume.
Putting my feelings aside about the little vampire who bit my baby has been crucial to our efforts at damage control. First, we don’t want her to feel ashamed or afraid (she seems fine and still loves school). Secondly, we don’t want her to see biting as an option when other means of communication break down. “Use your words,” is the mantra around here, and most of the time, it works. But still, for three-year-olds and adults alike, physicalizing our feelings and frustrations can feel good. So we make critical distinctions: You can hit a pillow when you feel mad; you can’t hit a person. Feel like biting? Get an apple.
And leave my little girl out of it, you preschool punks.
Soothe the bitten and the biters—and the punks—with a sweet lullaby to bring things down to nap level.
We’ve got another one on the way . . . but we’re not sharing all the details just yet!
Listen to the lullaby below. Can you tell what song it is?
Got it?
Send your guess for the song and artist to moc.cisumybabeybakcornull@yawaevig by 8 pm PST Friday, May 17, and you could be one of the 5 lucky fans to win a copy of our upcoming release!
Think you know The White Stripes? Well, we’re putting you to the test today.
Yeah, VINYL! Send your answers in by 8 pm PST Friday, May 17, to be entered to win.For being an expert in all things White Stripes, you could win a copy of Lullaby Renditions of The White Stripes on vinyl.
1. What profession did Jack almost pursue instead of musician?
a. Architect
b. Priest
c. Farmer
d. Guitar Technician
2. Which song is not featured on Get Behind Me Satan?
a. White Moon
b. Red Rain
c. Catch Hell Blues
d. Little Ghost
3. Jack and Meg first met at ________.
a. a mutual friend’s wedding
b. a bar
c. high school
d. church
4. Which White Stripes song features only Meg’s vocals?
a. Hypnotize
b. Blue Orchid
c. In The Cold, Cold Night
d. Expecting
5. Which of the films below has Jack White not been in?
a. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
b. Cold Mountain
c. The Rosemary Murders
d. The Social Network
6. Complete these lyrics: “And the stains comin’ from my blood tell me . . .”
a. “Go back home”
b. “We will rest upon the ground”
c. “You took a white orchid turned it blue”
d. “I had a brain”
Do you keep losing sleep because of a restless baby? Is the moon stealing your baby’s slumber? Spin these bedtime-ready renditions of Silverchair’s most-loved songs. Your little tadpole will be dreaming sweetly, asleep in a golden ocean.
Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of The White Stripes
Just don’t know what to do with yourself when baby won’t sleep? Don’t fret, Mom and Dad; slip on these blissful versions of The White Stripes’ rock hits. There’ll be no screeching guitar and no crying infants. Tonight, your baby and bedtime are going to be friends.
Mamas and papas, we need your help!
I realized, for about the hundredth time, that her teachers know way more than I do. I kept my mouth shut about the bite and helped her collect her things. We invited a friend of hers over to play and the rest of the afternoon was all 
