Shelbyville Times-Gazette: Columns: Tamara Belinc

Worry just goes with the job of being a mother (11/15/09)
It's a mom's job to worry. Right now, my own mom is driving me crazy because of how worried she is about me and my blood pressure, but as someone told me yesterday, it's her prerogative as a mother to worry. Yes, I'm still pregnant, and yes, my blood pressure is continuing to go up but goes down when I rest. ...

The boredom of bed rest (11/08/09)
Lying in the bed for over a week now makes it hard to come up with a topic to write about for a column. My time has been spent going to the doctor twice a week, doing homework, reading a little, doing a little homework, napping some and watching a lot of television...

A long way from here to maternity (11/01/09)
A few months ago, I wrote a column about how I don't do pregnancy very well. My appointment at 35 weeks re-confirmed this for me. I had an ultrasound that day to check for growth. The baby now weighs four pounds, 11 ounces and is shorter than average. ...

Hurtful words cut like a knife (10/25/09)
Maybe it's because I'm extremely pregnant and hormonal these days, but people just seem to be a lot meaner than they used to be. A few weeks ago, I was eating lunch at a restaurant and overheard two women talking. They appeared to be in their early to mid-20s. One was clearly upset. I heard her ask her friend, "What is it about me? Why do they always break up with me?"...

Luck makes it worth the trip (10/18/09)
Last weekend, my husband Brian and I traveled to Memphis for his 20th high school reunion. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to it. I was nearly 33 weeks pregnant, and Memphis is four hours from here. Sometimes, the things you dread the most turn out to be the most fun...

Back to college: Major effort, but worth the trouble (10/11/09)
I am about halfway through my first semester back in college, and I'm enjoying most of it. It looks like I have an A in all of my classes except for one, and I have a B in that one. My hardest class this semester is astronomy. I have a B in it, although if I mess up on even one test, I'll be down to a C. This class requires me to read the chapter, go through the online lecture, answer study questions, take a timed test and do a lab. The hard part is the lab...

Age difference between siblings is cause for concern (10/04/09)
What is the perfect age between siblings in a family? I've been wondering about this a lot lately, as there are going to be six and a half years between our daughter, Tessa, and the new baby, Ella. It seems like a huge age difference to me, and sometimes, I think I was crazy to start all over. We have our routine down, and we've had a lot of fun as a family of three with an only child. But, it always seemed like something was missing...

Favorite TV shows return after a summer of reruns (09/27/09)
As much as I love to read, I also love a few television shows. When they end for the summer, I don't miss them at first, because I'm busy catching up on my reading, and we spend a lot of time outdoors with our 6-year-old daughter, Tessa. But, come August, I am really ready for them to start back again...

I didn't quit - so she can't, either (09/20/09)
My six-year-old daughter, Tessa, wants to be a first grade drop-out. The other morning, the first day back to school after a long horse show break which was made even longer because of a cold she had, she declared she was finished with school and not going back...

Not the best side of pregnancy (09/13/09)
I don't normally tell people this because they usually wind up looking at me like I'm crazy, but I don't really like being pregnant. I do it because the end result is a beautiful, marvelous wonderful experience, but I could do without the parts leading up to it...

A conversation with myself (09/06/09)
I was all set to write a column this week about pregnancy woes, but I had a lot of trouble getting it to come together. So, I decided to do what my co-worker Sadie Fowler did a few weeks ago. I decided to give my own answers to a few of the Sunday Conversation questions...

Back to school, even while facing motherhood (08/23/09)
I am officially an MTSU student. Classes start Aug. 29, and I can't wait. I am a member of the first online cohorts program in the psychology department. That's just a fancy term for a group of students who are going to take their core classes together online...

Grief subsides but never totally leaves (08/16/09)
Grief is a funny thing. Sometimes you can be doing just fine, going about life, thinking you have moved past whatever or whomever you have lost, and bam, it hits you like an anvil on the head. I should be as flat as the Coyote on the Road Runner cartoons by now because of how many times this has happened to me. ...

Birthday a time to look over life's goals (08/09/09)
Birthdays don't really bother me anymore. I'm about to turn 32. I don't mind sharing my age with anyone, although some women do. Age is all relative. To a teenager, I'm ancient, but to someone who is in their 80s, I'm still a spring chicken. It seems like just yesterday I was 16, riding up and down Madison Street with my cousin, Kim, the windows rolled down, the Eagles or Garth Brooks blaring on the radio, singing along at the top of our lungs. ...

Postpartum psychosis victims can't help actions (08/02/09)
I recently read a story about a mother who killed her 3-week-old baby in a horrifying manner and said, "The devil made her do it." The child was decapitated and mutilated. The story link was posted on a Web site I visit, and some of the comments astounded me. Many were advocating "frying her"; others thought she should be subjected to the same treatment as her baby received...

It's a girl - and she's obviously already stubborn (07/26/09)
My husband Brian is officially surrounded by women. We just found out the baby I'm carrying is a girl. We have a 6-year-old daughter, Tessa, and even our dog, Rosie, is a girl. He wouldn't have it any other way, though. Our appointment, to find out the sex of the baby, was on a Monday in Murfreesboro. Brian is off on Mondays, so he didn't need to take a day off. We had even decided to let Tessa go with us so she could see her new sibling on the screen...

A mother's struggle with breastfeeding (07/19/09)
Last week, my six-year-old Tessa and I talked some about the new baby we are expecting, and the discussion led to feeding. She asked me if we were going to use bottles, and I told her I was hoping to breastfeed the baby and had tried with her, which didn't work out so well...

Welcome to Farm Town, a virtual life for the harvest (07/12/09)
I'm finally able to grow something besides dust bunnies under the bed and mold on old cheese, forgotten at the back of the refrigerator. I have a green thumb. Corn, wheat, rice and sunflowers are popping up all over my fields, and friends have sent me farm animals to raise...

Oh boy! Another girl would be just fine (07/05/09)
Lately, a lot of people have asked me if we know whether the baby I'm carrying is a boy or a girl. I don't know yet, but I will be finding out in the next few weeks. Research suggests we'll have another girl, because we've had two already, our 6-year-old and our baby that was stillborn. Studies show that people who have two babies of one gender are 85 percent more likely to have another baby of that same gender...

I finally got my vacation (06/28/09)
Every year when I was a child, my family took a vacation together. Usually, we would go visit my stepfather's family, who all lived in or around Johnson City in East Tennessee, and then head over to Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg for the rest of our trip...

Looking at some good years ahead (06/14/09)
I'm coming up on 10 years in the newspaper business, and during that time, I've seen my share of the funny, sad, heartwarming and just plain strange. My strangest story ever involved a man who was still searching for his stolen dog five years after it was taken. He wanted to offer tips on how to keep your dog from being taken and what to do if it happened...

Winners, losers in the baby name game (06/07/09)
In an earlier column, I discussed how much trouble my own name has given me over the years. I also said I would never give one of my children a name that is hard to pronounce or made up. So, here I am, at 14 weeks of pregnancy, trying to decide on a baby name with my husband. We don't know yet if we are having a boy or a girl, but considering I was almost eight months pregnant before my 6-year-old daughter, Tessa, was named, I thought we might need to get a head start...

No more looking like a star for me (05/31/09)
I am slowly coming to the realization I'm always going to look older than I am. When I was younger, it was great. I liked looking older then. One time my cousin Kim and I went to a restaurant and were waiting for a table at the bar. The bartender asked me if I wanted a drink, but said nothing to Kim. I was 18, and Kim was 22. And, no, I didn't get a drink that night...

Who was the second woman? Ask Tessa! (05/14/09)
Children say the funniest things at times, and even when you are feeling down, their sweet or funny words can put a smile on your face. My daughter, Tessa, is no exception. She usually keeps me laughing, especially when it comes to her observances about everyday things...

How to make a sad day just a little bit brighter (05/10/09)
Ever since my daughter, Tessa, was born on Mother's Day 2003, this day has been extra special to me. Honestly, no Mother's Day will ever top the one when I first held my daughter in my arms and sang "You are My Sunshine" to her. This Mother's Day is a little bittersweet for me. ...

A magnet for outdoor mishaps (04/30/09)
Whenever my husband and I plan to spend anytime in the great outdoors in any way, something always goes wrong. This weekend was no exception. We rented a pontoon boat to take out on Tims Ford, and as we were coming back in, the gear shift went out on it. One of the guys who worked at the rental place came out to help, but he just made us bounce into the dock over and over again...

You doesn't have to call her Tammy (04/26/09)
Don't call me Tammy, please. Growing up, no one ever got my name right. It's pronounced Tam-ah-rah, but most people would say Ta-mar-ah or Ta-mare-ah. It all started right after I was born when my uncle and a friend of the family didn't like the name my momma had given me. They didn't know what they wanted to call me, but until they figured it out, they said they were going to call me George...

The confidence of a child (04/19/09)
Last Sunday morning, as I was getting ready for Easter services at my church, I left my daughter, Tessa, in our bedroom playing with her new toys she had received from the Easter bunny. When I turned off the shower, I heard her singing at the top of her lungs, "Stupid, old pick-up truck you never let me drive ..."...

Tamara Belinc
Blink and you'll miss it

Home