What's it like to take everything you said you would never do and manage to undermine yourself in one month? It's a little amazing - and pretty funny when it comes down to it. Lately, I have crossed off quite a few things I said I would never do as a parent.
10) I will never lick my thumb and clean my child's face with it.
Yeah this one was crossed off on Day One. I don't really consider myself to be a germaphobe by any means, but I always thought that was so gross. Seriously. How is spit any better than whatever is on that kids face? Well when it's my spit - it is infinitely better than whatever foreign substance was on my daughter's face!
9) I will never put my finger in a diaper to check if its dirty.
Dipping your finger into the unknown crevices of a diaper is something that only a parent is willing to do. But it is slightly better than...
8) Picking a booger out of someone else's nose.
Endsley is still too small to figure out how to blow her nose. So when something is blocking her airway, it's mom to the rescue.
7) I will never use my clothing as a napkin.
You would think that with all of the burp rags and little towels we have around the house specifically for Endsley, this wouldn't be an issue. Yeah... think again. So far I have used my shirts (and pants) to catch spit up, pee, and poop. Spit up happens fairly often, and even with my burp rag ready and waiting, it manages to find my clothing more often than not. This may be a new mom thing. It could be something that happens less frequently with time. For now - I am the human burp rag.
Oh and as for the pee and poop... even little girls can tag you with their pee. And newborn poop flies like no other. At least I have mastered the diaper changes. It's been two weeks since my last disaster.
6) I will never update my Facebook status with my dilation progress.
This one was more for when I was pregnant, but hey, I was a parent while I was pregnant too! Before I was pregnant, I couldn't believe that people would post that on Facebook. I always thought, God that's disgusting. Don't you realize that is a part of you I don't wanna think about? Even though I was ecstatic for my friends - I really didn't want to see it on my Newsfeed. Too bad no one tells you that when you're the one that's about to have their baby, you have endured so many things by that time that nothing is TMI! (And never will be again).
Speaking of Facebook:
5) I will never incessantly post photos of my baby.
Guilty. Yes, I happen to think that my baby is the cutest thing to ever appear on this planet.
4) I will never be one of those parents that thinks their child is "so advanced for their age!"
This one always drove me nuts. I rolled my eyes whenever I would see "Omg my baby is so advanced for her age! She can do x, y, and z. Etc, etc." With a few child development and child psychology classes under my belt, I immediately discredited most of the milestones that friend's children had reached. Now that I'm a mommy - to hell with those classes! My baby IS advanced!
3) I will never ask a pregnant woman, "Are you ready for this?"
Ugh... shame, shame, shame on me! I HATED being asked this question when I was pregnant. And now I'm as guilty as ever. This question makes it sound like I don't enjoy being a mom, when it is the exact opposite. I adore being a mom to Endsley! But sometimes you hear things that first-timers say and part of you goes, "Just wait." So now I understand why I got that stupid question while I was pregnant. I still feel bad for asking it.
2) I will never breastfeed in public.
This is a very controversial issue here in the United States. I remember seeing a woman breastfeed her infant in the middle of a restaurant while I was pregnant with Endsley and wishing that she would cover up. The thought ran across my mind before I could stop it. This came from someone knowing that breastfeeding is natural, knowing that it is the best thing for a baby.
On comes the day when I'm in Target buying groceries and Endsley has a full meltdown. Nothing can console this kid! I pick her up out of her car seat, I rock her, I "shhhh" her, I try using my finger as a paci (she won't take a real paci)... and nothing works. I know she's hungry. But I also know that I left my nursing wrap at home. So with my screaming child in my ear, I head to the baby section in the store and pull out my boob. In retrospect I could have gone to the dressing rooms at least. Like I said, screaming child in my ear. I wasn't thinking all that clearly. And the baby aisle was much closer than the dressing rooms.
Lucky for me, my mom was with me. She found a nursing wrap in one the aisles and threw it over us. Amazingly, I couldn't have cared less at that point. My baby needed to eat and I fed her.
1) I will never have kids.
Ha!
Julie, you are an inspiration! I love both of your posts so far. Please keep this up, I enjoy reading from you so much. You have a great writing ability and you should be proud of that because there are people who's blogs I follow who can't write at all! You should end some of your posts with a picture from that day or some pictures that you love.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much :) my newest post has a picture just for you!
ReplyDeleteThis one is my favorite so far! Betcha can't guess why!? lol.
ReplyDeleteI too said I would never do most of these things. In particular, the breastfeeding, posting excessive pictures of Rilee on FB, claiming that my baby is so "advanced", and using my clothing as a napkin!
It used to bother me so much when people would post 8 million pics of their babies on FB...I was like, "OK, I get it...you have a baby, he/she is cute...get over it." ESPECIALLY because most of the time all of the pictures were like the SAME thing. BUT, once I had Rilee, I couldnt help it. Lol. To me, she was the most precious, beautiful thing in the world and everyone else should enjoy just looking at her as much as I do...lol. NOT the case. So I have tried my very best to reel it in with the picture posting. But my excuse for still posting so many is that I have two grandparents, and lots of aunts and Unlces that only see Rilee online.
ALSO, I have a cousin who is ALWAYS saying how "advanced" her daughter is, and a sister-in-law who says the same about her son, and it is just so far from the truth it's not even funny. I always thought,"do they not realize that their baby is just like all other babies? No need to exaggerate, it's not like we will like said baby any less if it is NORMAL." But I just assumed that all parents saw the best qualities in their little ones and magnified them or something.
ReplyDeleteI HONESTLY never thought Rilee was that advanced when was newborn because I hadn't taken any psych classes, and didn't have much experience with young babies. I had a hard time believing the doctors, other parents, and my family members when they said she WAS so advanced, mainly because I was trying to avoid being THAT parent. So for a long time I just shrugged it off and was like,"yeah, she's doing well I guess." I was almost afraid of being proud of her at all, when she did do things like: hold her head up completely with full control less than two minutes after she was born, rolling over at a day old and continuing to do so, sitting up by herself at 3 1/2 months, and start saying actual words at 7 months, saying more than 50 words at a year old, and now is talking in short sentences starting at 15 months. My Ob/GYN said, "WOW Leanne, looks like you got a three month old, not a newborn." and the nurses would ask,"What the heck did you EAT when you were pregnant?!" Sounds like Endsley is on the same track already, and I am in no way surprised.
And I also went through a stage not long ago on FB when I rarely even mentioned her or what she was doing, because I had heard through the grape vine, that my family in Michigan, and some of my friends didn't believe the things I was posting on FB that she did! The whole point of me posting those things on FB is to keep my family updated, like they asked...and they thought I HAD to be lying about the things she was doing because they are so far advanced for her age.
It really hurt my feelings since I have always tried to avoid being that way, to falsely assuming my child is some sort of prodigy. So I stopped posting to avoid those kinds of nasty remarks from them and THEN they all bitched cause I wasnt keeping them up to date. Fortunately, I live with my grandmother who SEES all of the things that Rilee does on a daily basis and was able to vouche that I wasn't making stuff up. She decided to get a facebook (huge deal for her) just so I would feel more comfortable and wouldnt have to be too ashamed to brag about my pride and joy! She will pop in on my statuses here and there and confirm that I'm not a big fat liar to other members in my family. I was so close to deleting my FB alltogether. Talk about some stupid drama.
Anyways, moral of that story...I will never again be afraid to brag about my baby girl, because she is beautiful, intelligent, and happy and deserves all the praise in the world, regardless of if she is some sort of child prodigy or not. And I will never let ANYONE make me feel bad for bragging on her ever again. You don't ever feel bad either! Smart mothers make smart babies!THAT is a proven fact. A baby's IQ will closely resemble that of their mother's. And I'm sure yours is up there. We take the time out to talk, interact, and constantly stimulate our babies. I have no doubt that Endsley will be just as bright and beautiful as you are. (Especially with those psych classes under our belts, you'd think we'd be a little more knowledgeable about what is normal at a certain age and what is not.)
I had to get that off my chest. Your blogs always hit home with me!