Well the good news just keeps on coming. Turns out hubby also has a sinus infection. And, I have some kind of creeping crud- but who actually has the time to take medicine? If you've ever seen one of those cartoons where the mom has 5-10 unidentified stains on her shirt, hair sticking out everywhere and bags under her eyes, then you have a pretty good idea of what my yesterday night/this morning was like. It wasn't even the LM this time! The unreal wind and rain from yesterday re-appeared at about 10:30 pm and then again at around 3 am. I probably sat awake in bed for at least a half hour wondering if I should go check if there was a weather warning. I seriously thought I was going to have to take the baby and myself into the bathroom so I could get some peace of mind and sleep. But finally the winds died down. Then, after he woke up, I nearly had a panic attack when LM started coughing uncontrollably/vomiting occasionally for about 2 minutes straight. For a moment I was actually worried the doctor had misdiagnosed him and perhaps he had whooping cough! Thank the Lord it was not so. I think it was his antibiotic meds. I can't say I blame him. If anyone tried to give me something that looked like Pepto Bismol and tasted even worse, I would chuck it right back up on the person who gave it to me, too. So I walked around getting laundry started and our new cloth diapers stuffed and ready to be used with pink spit up stains all over my pjs. Then, in the spirit of learning on the go, LM pooed a very messy poo in the very first cloth diaper I put him in. Well, no one can ever say I live a dull life. At least hubby volunteered to pick us up some lunch while he was out getting his meds so I didn't have to bother fixing anything for myself.
Then this afternoon I stumbled across an article in my newest issue of Parenting magazine. It talks about all kinds of "tread lightly topics" and how we need to perhaps avoid altogether speaking of things like our views on things such as co-sleeping, crying it out, circumcision, organic vs. regular baby food, etc. etc. This just made me a little frustrated. Why is it that we feel we can't talk about certain subject with other moms? I don't think the issue is "Avoid talking about these things", but should instead be "Exercise common sense and courtesy when speaking and listening to others". What it really boils down to is that all of us at some point or another judge others kids by the way they raise their own children, either aloud or silently. But the thing is, if they are not your kids, they're not your kids. It is not my business to tell other mothers how to raise their children or to judge them for the way they do it. Now I'm not talking about child abuse or things that cause severe health issues, that is something altogether different. I'm talking about the fact that it doesn't matter whether Janie is bottle or breastfed, or whether Chase is wearing Pampers or Parent's Choice. Kids have been being successfully raised for many years before any of us were mothers and it will continue to happen long after we're gone. Is it really worth straining or ruining a friendship just because you don't agree with the fact that another mother uses disposables instead of cloth? As sharers of this strange and wonderful role we call motherhood, we should be each others' cheerleaders. A quote from the same article reads, "[As moms] we need to spend more time supporting each other's attempts at mothering. Everyone has a different belief system, and we should use these differences to learn from each other. What's right for one family isn't always right for another, but that doesn't make it wrong." And I'm not just talking about outright calling someone out on the way they are doing things. I'm talking about the pointed facebook posts or conversations where you assume someone else does things the way you do because it's the "right" way. I actually had to get rid of a facebook friend because I got so tired of her "informative" posts about rice cereal and epidurals and the like. I don't feel guilty that LM ate rice cereal- in fact he would probably still be eating it if it hadn't caused a little constipation and we had to switch to oatmeal. And I don't feel like the hospital told me I couldn't get through labor on my own. I thank God for that pain relief. It turned my birth experience to something memorable and peaceful instead of painful and hectic. On the flip side, I don't think there is anything wrong with a mother who feels rice cereal is bad and chooses not to feed it to her baby, and I think anyone who goes through labor without drugs ought to have a statue built in her honor. But in the end what it comes down to is that we are all just trying to do our best to raise these incredible blessings, and we should be encouraging each other to that end.
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