Baby Shower Thoughts

There's definitely an advantage to having younger siblings. Well, there's a lot, but one of them is that when I have my own kids, I won't be one of those new mothers who are always stressing out about their babies, overprotective, smothering, and really irritating. God, I hope I'm not like that! When I see these types of mothers, I feel sorry for mother, child, and father. My friend's sister-in-law recently had her first baby and she made everybody crazy with her notes and tables that kept record of when her baby last ate, from which side (sorry, TMI), what time he slept, how long, and so on. That's too intense for me, plus too much tension in the house. It can't be good for the baby if the mom is constantly stressing about all these technicalities. Motherhood is a natural thing and babies shouldn't have to deal with such a stressful environment.

To a certain extent, I understand the obsessiveness of some parents. Babies are a huge responsibility, they're fragile and precious, which makes them quite scary. I suppose some parents deal with this by trying to enforce control on the situation, but sometimes you just can't force things.

I was at a baby shower today and an older friend of mine told me that she was in a similar situation as mine - when she was 16, her mother had a baby boy. So when this friend of mine had her first baby, she wasn't one of those stressful moms because she was familiar with having a baby in the house. "When you get married though," she says, "make sure you tell your husband that you want to wait a while before you have kids." I totally agree. As much as I love my siblings and as much as I want kids of my own someday, I'd like to enjoy a quiet household with no babies for awhile. Apparently, my friend waited five years after her marriage before she had her first child. She only had one baby brother, I have four!

Anyways, at the baby shower, one of the gifts was a box of 96 newborn-sized diapers. One of the guests comments, "Only someone with no kids would buy such a thing. Your baby's going to come out weighing 8lb..." (Basically, the baby will grow out of the newborn size diapers/clothes before the box of diaper finishes). I later commented to my mom that the thing I noticed is that the diapers didn't have the dip in the front. (Explanation: Newborns' belly buttons have to stay dry so that the umbilical chord can fall off. My mom always bought these special diapers that had a dip in the front so that the belly button doesn't come in contact with the diaper and any dampness.... I told you - I know these random but useful tidbits.) My mom laughed and laughed at my observation, and she said, "It's going to take you at least five years to forget this stuff." :) I don't want to forget the information I have, I just want to keep it stored in my mind for some time before I have to use it.