Day 185: "Your baby is probably happy and outgoing"

When Maddie was born I registered with a Web site that sends me weekly updates on her development. And so today my inbox included a message that began with the sentence "Your baby is probably happy and outgoing right now." Well doesn't that sound just lovely. I would like to one day open this weekly email to read, "Your baby is probably throwing hysterical screaming fits at the mall right now" or "Your baby is probably driving you to the edge of sanity right now." I would really love it if they threw something like that in here and there. Just to keep it real, you know?

My baby consumerism has hit a new and embarassing high. A while back I mentioned Maddie's affinity for the little fabric tags attached to toys. Well some enterprising soul out there has capitalized on this - and on a new mom's desperate willingness to try absolutely anything that might occupy baby for a minute or two - and created a line of baby products called Taggies. I'm sure you have an idea where this is going. They make books, blankets, stuffed animals... the item itself doesn't really matter. What matters is that they all have a bunch of fabric tags sticking out of them, in hopes that that your baby will be lulled into a tag-induced state of quiet bliss. So I cracked and bought Maddie a Taggie board book - something about a pig, I think. Well wouldn't you know that the one time she has a plethora of tags at her disposal she instead chooses to suck on the cardboard. In summary, when I buy her a toy she wants the tag, when I buy her the tag she wants the toy. There's no winning with this one.

Those of you who know me will be surprised to hear that I have reached shocking levels of domesticity lately. For instance, a couple of weeks ago I made Maddie's baby food. From scratch. I boiled it, blended it, froze it. And then today I cooked dinner for the family. This second one might not seem like much - especially since it was just spaghetti - but when you consider it has been months since I cooked, it puts it in a whole new light. Not only that, but I went grocery shopping, developed new baby photos for the grandparents and did two loads of laundry. And took care of Maddie. While debating whether I really needed to separate the coloured clothes from the whites or whether that is just some old wives' tale I suddenly stopped with the realization: my god, I am a stay at home mom. I think that is a definition of myself I have been running from in the past six months. Today I basked in the full glory of it, laundry and all.