Ok. Our daughter will be 3 in less than 3 weeks (what?! subject for another post) and I'm STILL updating her baby book. How is this possible? How can I remember what happened those sleep deprived days and nights ago? Well I'll tell you...it's been part improvisation as far as dates and first go (When did she sleep through the night? Really? I can't remember when I slept through the night).
I've put pressure on myself to fill in every little detail and there are so, so, many details I'm "supposed" to remember. Yes, I know I was "supposed" to fill everything in the first year, not three years later...but in time of warfare and pure survival the last thing on my mind was to grab the baby book and a pen.
I did pretty well, I think. Even so, I still sat there the other day sweating over the blanks taunting me: "What?! You don't remember when your child got her 3rd tooth (really)?"... Finally, finally I resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to complete the book the way I thought it should be completed. I felt like I hit the wall and put the pen down. Done and done and done. I want to be the perfect mother but I know that perfection is boring and unrealistic. I'm trying not to feel guilty and you know what, a few days later I don't.
In fact I've got a great idea...
There should be a
Book of First for Parents. Here are some momentous firsts I think would be suitable:
FIRST TIME YOU:
- though, oh God...what have we done?
- used your hand as a baby wipe
- accused your husband of "pretending" to sleep in the middle of the night so they didn't have to get up and attend to the crying baby (because they were pretending to sleep!)
- pretended YOU were sleeping in the middle of the night so your husband had to get up and attend to the crying baby (I recommend this)
- cried over a pile of laundry that seemed to multiply before your eyes
- felt like asking for a divorce when your husband asked, "what's for dinner?"
- tried to assemble an outfit that didn't have bodily fluid on it and accepted that this was no longer possible
- locked yourself in the bathroom and lied that you had diarrhea so you could just get a moment to yourself (I haven't done this, yet)
- considered grocery shopping as an exciting night out
- picked your child's nose with your hand, held it up and shouted, "I GOT IT!"
- decided that you may was well laugh about things or else you may as well shoot yourself in the foot (my grandma's suggestion)
I love where I'm at in my life. I know that it's going by way too fast and soon I look back on things like baby books I'll be happy I took the time to fill out the details (the funniest things so far are looking back at what my daughter has said at what age...). Whether it was April 28 or June 1 - who cares? Nobody will know but you.
