Consider Jennifer Mally's notes a kind of blog in slow motion.  "It's not moment to moment commentary.  It's not always current, and it's not always colorful.  That pretty much describes me," says Jen, "but you might relate."

Creativity and the Uterus...Hmmm
by Jennifer Mally

On November 1, 2000, five days after my 40^th birthday, Greta Rose Mally was born, and I became a first-time mother.  She was actually due to be born a few days before I turned 40, and I would have preferred it that way -- but she had other plans.  Honestly, we would rather have had her five years ago, but God had other plans.  (I've since learned that women who have babies after they're 40 are five times more likely to live to be 100.  Is that a blessing or a curse?)

I seem to remember only vaguely a pregnancy that went on and on and on.  It's all very hazy to me because I think I slept through the entire thing.  Believe me, sleep wasn't easy once I reached that whale-like stage, but I managed to find a way.  Sleeping and eating have always been two of my fortes, so I generally handled the pregnancy well.

What I did not do much of, was work.  And honey (my dear husband) has been paying for it ever since.  My friends on the Oprah show say that a woman carries her creativity in her uterus.  You know, as goofy as it sounds, I think they might be right -- for this woman anyway.  When Greta was in there, there wasn't a whole lot of paintin' going on.  Much of the painting I did do was dark and heavy.  Hmmm, do we have a correlation here?  I think perhaps we do.

After Greta was born, I feverishly went at it, pumping out a heap of new Christmas illustrations.  With fierce determination and a newborn at my breast, I made every effort to get a holiday mailing out.  Didn't happen.

So, I turned my attention to the production of Valentines.  A number of new illustrations later, Greta was nearing four months old and, oops, Valentine's Day had passed.

Which brings us to this day, with no particular deadlines looming on the calendar; a daughter teething, crawling and now 8 months old; and me trying to catch my breath in preparation for the next 60 years -- and finally, with a fun, new batch of cards and a newsletter ready to mail.

Sorry it took so long.  My uterus has been a little busy.

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