After hearing all the horror stories over the past few months it makes you wonder who in their right mind goes through with their pregnancies as if babies were never without all the crap and attention that seem to be demanded nowadays. And marketing....one thing you realise early on is that you've entered a rarified and glorious marketing niche that PT Barnum could only have dreamed about. Buy the wrong crib or pram and the baby might come back to torment you with their therapist in 20-30 years.

If it weren't for these damn hormones, I'd be reaching for the adoption hotline. :)

Finland has a quota for accepting refugees/immigrants of six hundred or so but had only accepted about 70 as of last November. Scandinavia and the whole Nordic region have already begun to feel what happens to a largely social welfare structure in a homogeneous population when immigrants come and begin to enjoy the fruits of their labour and it isn't usually very positive. You don't have to be black or Muslim to feel unwelcome, either, just not a native with a funny name.

Sweden is far ahead of Finland in terms of numbers of immigrants and the percentage of the population who are not ethnic Swedes, but they still have the same problems as other countries far ahead of it just on a smaller scale. http://www.thelocal.se/ carries stories in English and features a lot of news about how immigrants fare in Sweden, e.g. http://www.thelocal.se/6303/20070205/

Just because they let you in doesn't mean they have to give you a job or invite you over to dinner.

I moved back to the US after a few years in Scandinavia just before my daughter was born and the whole cult of children is incredibly bizarre. I keep wondering what happened to the down to earth kind Erma Bombeck sort of mom that has been replaced in this Boston suburb by throngs of competimommies who don't smile or greet you but discuss your stroller in front of you as though you might be deaf.

I actually bought a Bugaboo Frog as the nice pram I had bought before we moved was still in storage/at sea and we were living in a hotel for 2 months until we found a house. To its credit, that bugaboo served as my daughter's bassinet, held her car seat and was a source of liberation on walks around town until we moved into suburbia. I still love that pram and use it several times a day, but recently I pulled out the one I bought before we moved since it's one you can't purchase in the US and I figured I should get some use out of it before she's too big for it. The looks and comments that thing gets astonishes me as I never really considered a pram as a status symbol. There is a baby fashion mag now, too, so I guess I should have seen it coming.

I must also thank the author for mentioning toting the kid around town as normal and healthy as I do that daily and thought that maybe I wasn't being a good mom by not playing with her and shopping in the evening instead. If nothing else, this kid has learned that smiling and waving and saying "Hi!" to anyone around her is terrific fun. I don't know why something has made me feel insecure enough about my mothering skills that I need to hear that I'm doing OK from external sources when I have a happy, healthy child who seems to be coming along at 16 months just fine with kitchen ephemera and books while I cook. She is especially fond of the recycling bin.

I also briefly considered the signing thing until my Finnish husband guffawed and noted that the human race had managed for millennia without baby signing. Over time, I think his scoffing was warranted as babies communicate well enough if you are paying attention and you know them well enough to guess what they want.

And where were you or anyone else with the suggestion of a sleep coach when my baby didn't sleep for more than 30min at a time for the first year and I had been scared away from the Ferber method by one too many crunchy mommies who viewed his method as child abuse? In the end, I bought the book and I was sleeping 5+ hours or more in a few days. :)

I just remembered, too, that don't all, or at least very many, the parenting magazines and blogs seem to be showcases for all the expensive designer crap you can buy for your kid nowadays?