Karen's Baby SS#5

[Kylie90210]

In reality, I think Karen would have been very jealous had Lisa had another baby.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

Apr 30, 2009 23:23:19 GMT -5 Kylie90210 said:

In reality, I think Karen would have been very jealous had Lisa had another baby.

Oh most definitely. The new baby would be constantly criticized in all of the future chapter 2's lol ;D.

[m0drnmoonlight]

Apr 30, 2009 23:23:19 GMT -5 Kylie90210 said:

In reality, I think Karen would have been very jealous had Lisa had another baby.

Oh yeah, especially considering how Karen reacted when Emily Michelle arrived!

[sparklymouse]

^Aw, I don't blame her for her reaction when Emily showed up. Everyone really was doting on Emily and ignoring Karen and Andrew. They hadn't seen their dad for two weeks and when they got to the house he barely said hello to them. I would be grumpy about that too.

I think if Lisa and Seth had a baby Karen would be overly involved and in the way like Claudia was when Peaches had her kid.

[m0drnmoonlight]

May 14, 2009 14:26:57 GMT -5 sparklymouse said:

^Aw, I don't blame her for her reaction when Emily showed up. Everyone really was doting on Emily and ignoring Karen and Andrew. They hadn't seen their dad for two weeks and when the got to the house he barely said hello to them. I would be grumpy about that too.

I think if Lisa and Seth had a baby Karen would be overly involved and in the way like Claudia was when Peaches had her kid.

Oh, definitely. One of the most realistic things about Emily Michelle's adoption was how the younger kids reacted. I think David Michael, Andrew, and Karen were all incredibly jealous at some point! And that's completely normal - siblings tend to envy the new baby. Unless you're Myriah and Gabbie, who were overjoyed at having a new sister, and were even hoping they would get a baby brother!

If they had a baby, I could see it going either way for Karen - she'd either be overly involved like Claudia, or she'd feel jealous, since she loves being the center of attention so much.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

May 14, 2009 14:26:57 GMT -5 sparklymouse said:

^Aw, I don't blame her for her reaction when Emily showed up. Everyone really was doting on Emily and ignoring Karen and Andrew. They hadn't seen their dad for two weeks and when the got to the house he barely said hello to them. I would be grumpy about that too.

I didn't blame Karen for her reaction either when Emily came. Everyone was giving Emily tons of extra attention and ignoring Karen and Andrew. I know that new babies need extra attention but would it've been so hard to devote some time to them while they were looking after Emily? That house had enough people around to do so. The situation was even more complicated because Karen and Andrew barely saw Watson and his family at that time; every other weekend and two weeks in the summer. That's not a lot of time to spend with Daddy and his family. I would be mad too if after looking forward to a weekend with Daddy, you barely get a "hello" because he is too busy doting his new Vietnamese daughter that he gets to see every day.

I also understood how Karen felt because I was in a similar situation as a kid. When my dad's cousin and her husband had their first baby and we went to see them and the rest of my relatives for her Baptism, everyone was doting over the new baby and pushing me aside. Being young (I think I was 8 or 9) I didn't much understand what was going on and I was hurt because I barely saw these relatives and at the time it seemed like they wanted nothing to do with me anymore (thankfully now that I'm older I know this is not the case . So I understood how Karen felt in that aspect.

[supprazz]

I never understood people being jealous of younger siblings, but I would get jealous sometimes if my friends wanted to play with my sister instead of me when they came over.

[tiff85]

I agree, Karen always had that jealous streak. In Karen's Little Sister, she appeared to be jealous of her stepsister Emily Michelle.

[wenonah4th]

I didn't know about a Jewish custom of not having baby stuff; I had just learned that it's an Indian custom to wait until after the birth to give gifts for a baby.

[anzuhana]

I wonder why there were no chapters in Nancy's POV. After all, she just got a new member of the family and I think her chapters would've been interesting to read about.

[Honeybee]

I finish this book, today. I enjoy reading it. I was excited, when my older sister was pregnant with her first child. I couldn't wait. But, I didn't call her every 2-3 hours, bugging her, if she was in labor. I got to see my 1st niece birth. My older sister had baby shower. Were everyone buys baby gifts. Theirs games to play, lunch, the parents to be open gifts, prizes for the winners, and baby decorations. We had it at the old church they used go to. It was fun. I love baby showers. But it's been while, since I been to baby shower.

Nancy, take Danny to show and tell. I don't know anyone took their new baby brother or baby sister for show and tell, at school. Not the school, I went to, when I was kid.

[supprazz]

I think Karen might have been too clingy and overbearing leading up to danny's birth and after....wouldn't most mom's want space around that time? LOL

[maddieruns]

The end of the book when Nancy surprises Karen by inviting her over and pronouncing her Danny's Fairy Godsister was very sweet. It was my favorite part in the book.

From the Show and Tell picture, Nancy looks a lot like her mom. They both have a lot of freckles and Mrs. Dawes looks younger than I originally imagined.

[Katie]

I relate to Mrs Dawes completely. My son is 6.5 years older than my daughter. My daughter arrived after years of secondary infertility, fertility medication and a miscarriage. My son is friend's with our neighbor's daughter who was very impatient waiting for my daughter. Thankfully not as stalkerish as Karen but she would ask every day if the baby was here yet. Kids are funny. The age gap is interesting because my children are in very different places in development. I have a 1 year old going through the fussy teething toddler stage and a big kid in second grade. He was so happy when she arrived though and adores her. He specifically asked for a sister so he could keep being my only boy.

[sparklymouse]

This book was dedicated to “Eddie Peterson, the Cat Man of Park Slope.” I am intrigued.

There were so many name suggestions in this for all you name-nerds out there. Karen picked Rachel, Susan, Eddie, and Tony. She later wrote lists of: Darlene, Maria, Chantal, Rebecca, Hilary, Sue, Christine, and Danielle for girls. And for boys: Henry, Timothy, Eric, Justin, Brad, Richard, and Will. All very respectable names.

Karen wanted Nancy’s mom to have multiples. She wondered if you could have eight babies. Karen would be a fan of OctoMom.

Mrs. Dawes bought literally everything for the baby in one store in one afternoon. Talk about supporting small businesses. The girls picked a cute theme of teddy bears and balloons, but I cringe at the thought of every single thing in the room having one or both of those on it.

I thought it was weird that Lisa just invited Nancy over to the Big House without consulting Watson. Of course he said yes, but you still don’t just send an extra kid to your ex’s weekend.

The girls made a lot of money selling their horrible sounding baby stuff! A lot of it sounded like 2 pieces of felt just glued together. Nancy was quite the entrepreneur charging each bootie individually.

Karen randomly mentioned being in Brownies.

The activity pages:

They gave the top 10 names for girls/boys in 1950, 1980, and 1988. This book was published in 1992. Ann was born in 1955. What were these random years that they picked?

I learned that babies like black and white best because that is what they can see best. I like the idea of having an all black and white nursery. They also had to specifically say not to give the scary wire hanger mobiles to babies.

I have stared at the babies on page 109 and cannot see a difference. There’s no answer key for that one in my book, so somebody tell me!