Mommybloggers: Welcome, Stefanie! Let's jump right in and get to know you better. You have said you don't like people who say "one thing to know about me." so, tell us 5 things we should know about you.

Stefanie: Well, since you asked…you probably should know that I’m addicted to carbs. I couldn’t last twenty minutes on the Adkins diet because my body craves hashbrowns like a heroin addict craves smack. Mmm…hot crispy hashbrowned potatoes…what else? I was the least popular person in my junior high school. It was just like Welcome To the Dollhouse and I was Weiner Dog. All right, stop crying! I’m over it. Pretty much. Let’s see, I’m a really big tipper, my breasts are real and I own a Celine Dion CD. There you go.

Mommybloggers What do you think of the term "mommyblogger" and do you consider yourself a "mommyblogger"?

Stefanie: My problem with the term mommyblogger is that it implies that the reason you are blogging is just to talk about being a mommy. The reason I wrote a book is because I was so horrified the second I popped out a kid, I felt that I was looked at solely as a mommy. I needed to get my perspective that you can still be edgy, swear and have sex with your husband while parenting your child at the same time. Okay, maybe not the sex part.

Mommybloggers How did you get into blogging and does it ever interfere with your book writing? Which is harder in your opinion?

Stefanie: I got into blogging because I needed an outlet in the first few months after giving birth. I was so damned anxious and felt I was going crazy from my new schedule of feed, cuddle, feed, sing, feed, check my email, feed, watch baby sleep, repeat. Once I got the book deal I stopped blogging until the first draft was done and then I went back to it. Writing a book is definitely a lot tougher than blogging. The trouble with blogging when I’m writing about parenting for a book is trying to save the material for the book instead of purging it right then and there. Sometimes I can look at a post and see the nugget for a chapter and that helps but then I have to take it down from the blog.

Mommybloggers: Your book Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom is a fantastically humorous read and one of the most honest looks at motherhood out there. What was the catalyst that caused you to take these thoughts and make a book out of them?

Stefanie: I have to say that I read a lot of books on pregnancy and the first year of motherhood and found most of them mind numbingly boring or terribly alarmist (mostly the preggo ones). I felt that despite the huge number of books offered on the market, I had yet to find one that captured my experience. I realize that not everyone has the same experience I do but walking through Target and seeing all the tired, expressionless moms, I knew I had to write something different. Something funny but not in an FM DJ way.

Mommybloggers: You received a lot of flak for the section of your book on breastfeeding. How did that effect you? Or did it?

Stefanie: It did affect me. I wanted to shake people when I read some of the harsh reviews and say, “you didn’t even read the book you moron.� A lot of people who came down hard on my book based it on that one chapter. If they’d actually taken the time to read it, it would’ve saved them the time it took to wrongly tear it and me apart. I never say that anyone shouldn’t breast-feed. My point is that for the people who are having a tough time of it and want to stop, they shouldn’t let people make them feel guilty. I wasted too much time on guilt when I could’ve been enjoying my baby. Now, I just don’t care anymore. Breast-feeding is just one of those politically charged topics although I don’t know why, that get the crazies out writing letters. Hey, why not protest the war and forget about my boobs for awhile.

Mommybloggers: Since then, have you ever felt the need to censor your words either on your blog or in your books?

Stefanie:I don’t feel the need to censor. Obviously I struck a chord. And in doing so, must’ve helped some people. If people don’t have a strong response to your writing (good or bad), you aren’t writing anything interesting.

Mommybloggers: Your book was featured on The Today Show (Go Stef!). So tell us, is Matt Lauer as buff as People magazine makes him out to be?

Stefanie: I didn’t see Matt let alone speak to him but I will say that Natalie Morales is skinnier and prettier in person if that’s even possible. Bitch.

Mommybloggers: Later you were featured in a follow up segment on Cocktail Moms. Why do you think they came to you as a follow up Mom to talk about this issue?

Stefanie: Cause I’m funny. Hello? And probably because they wanted someone opinionated. When they came to me the second time I believe they just wanted to lighten the topic up after all the flak they received for the first airing. Being a comedian, they figured I’d bring the funny. I’ll admit it was a bit tough with the stuffy psychologist but I did my best.

Mommybloggers: Do you have any advice for someone who is asked to be interviewed for television?

Stefanie: Yes. Know that people always have an agenda. As a former producer myself, I know that no one is asking you to be on a show because they think you’re cute. It’s all about the rating and controversy gets ratings. The best advice I can offer is know what you’re in for and be prepared. If a producer is making you feel uncomfortable before you go on, you can back out. People do it all the time. Case in point: after all the Today Show nonsense, I got a call from the Montel Williams Show. Being the whore that I am, I told my publishing company (Simon Spotlight) that I’d be excited and happy to do it. But when I spoke to the producer at length, all she wanted was to portray me as the alcoholic mom. I told her that I wasn’t interested in revisiting that again but she pushed. Finally she relented and tried to get me to be the anti breast feeding mom. After talking to her politely for another few minutes, I got off the phone with a bad feeling. I didn’t want to judge anyone else’s parenting and I didn’t want anyone judging mine whether or not it would help sell books. I didn’t go on the show and I have no regrets.

Mommybloggers: Okay, we are intrigued and must hear more about it: Tell us about your live show you do in LA called Nobody Likes A Yappy Skirt.

Stefanie: Yappy Skirts is a live reading show for women. I love a confessional story and I love to share mine but the competition in LA is fierce. So after having a piece of mine turned down from five different reading shows, I just decided to produce my own damn show!! It’s easier than you’d think.

Mommybloggers: What is your opinion on the so-called Mommy Wars?

Stefanie: I truly think it’s all bullshit and that the world would be a better place if mothers would try supporting each other’s choices. Unless that choice is going back to work. What kind of horrible parent does that?

Mommybloggers: Tell us a secret about you that no one knows?

Stefanie: I’m pregnant.

Mommybloggers: Are you serious?!

Stefanie: I am a comedian. What do you think?

Mommybloggers: We think that is mean.

Stefanie: *laughing*

Mommybloggers: Talk to us about your next book. What's the name and can you tell us what it is about?

Stefanie: My next book which will be out next March is entitled Naptime Is the New Happy Hour. It’s about all the ways that parenting a toddler turns your life upside down no matter how devoted you are to staying the same. You can expect more of the same snarkiness and opinions.

Mommybloggers: What advice would you give to an aspiring writer who wants to write a book?

Stefanie:Hmm…I get asked this one a lot. All I can tell you is honesty and misery are what sells. Have you ever been a prostitute? Done crack? Lost custody of your child due to getting caught doing the first two? The world wants to hear about it. Otherwise, you need to make your story sound as juicy as possible.

Mommybloggers: Can we come over for a Moms Night Out? Because you are one hilarious and fun woman!

Stefanie: Please do. I rarely can find a sitter who’s available so that works out perfectly.

Mommybloggers: And here are the questions we subject all of our featured bloggers to (With apologies to Bernard Pivot and Inside the Actors Studio):

1. What is your favorite parent related word? Naptime!

2. What is your least favorite parent related word?
I’ll give you a few: Binky – that word just sounds obnoxious, Tushy – especially when you stop using it on your kids and transfer it to your husband, and lastly Yummy. It just sounds corny.

3. What is your favorite creative censored curse word used around
children?
Fudge packer! My daughter’s too young to know what I’m talking about and how wrong that is. Which makes it all the more fun to say.

4. What is your favorite hiding place within your home when you need to get away from it all?
My bed. That’s what high thread count is for.

5. What hiding place have you been found in too often and can no longer use?
The bathroom. If I’m in there, there may as well be a sign that says, “I’m pooping! Come on in!�