Welcome to Parenthood?

Maybe there is some sort of "right of passage" that I had yet to pass through until last night. This special moment between baby and parent. A very special bonding moment that will forever change the way you look at going out for dinner.

Gone are the days of taking my time to get ready when we go out for dinner. I am sure my hair will develop a permanent kink in it from all the pony tails I wear. I wear makeup sometimes for two days, just adding more to my face to get rid of the bags under my eyes. I don't curl my hair anymore; I don't wear eye shadow, and forget about lipstick!

Gone too are the days of going to restaurants that require too long of a wait, seats that make it too difficult to balance a baby on one knee, or simply sitting at the bar for faster service.

We now live in the land of high chairs, eating with one hand (which I have mastered) and only going to places that have the changing table in the bathroom (I am surprised by the places that DON'T have this feature!).

I was aware of all of this. I knew that we now entered a whole new world and I was embracing it. I enjoyed showing my baby off at restaurants and was even proud of my baby for tackling a few places that I once figured would not be baby friendly!

But this whole new life smacked me right in the forehead last night when Kirsten peed all over me in PF Changs.


My mother-in-law was holding her throughout most of dinner which meant that she barely ate. So after finishing my meal I took Kirsten so she could eat. She was acting especially squirmy but I figured it was due to us sitting at the most uncomfortable booth ever (when holding a child). I tried to entertain her but she refused to sit or stop moving.

That is when I felt it, gushes of liquid going down my leg. I reached down and felt my dress... yep... soaked. I held her up and saw that her entire lower half was literally dripping in pee.

Great..........

I grabbed the diaper bag and held her away from my body as we made our way through the restaurant to the bathroom. The whole time I prayed to every God possible that 1. there was a changing area and 2. I had the sense to bring a spare outfit. Thankfully both were true.

I cleaned her up and she giggled and smiled at me, knowing full well what she had just done. I couldn't help laugh. Of course I would get peed on the day that I actually put on nice clothes for a dinner out. I usually wear my "mommy clothes." You know what I mean, the clothes that are somehow stain proof or at least already have so many stains and marks on them that any new ones would go unnoticed.

This experience certainly will not keep me from taking her out. And hopefully it won't keep me from wanting to dress up every so often. But I feel like now we have been ushered into parenthood with a proper initiation.

Thank-you Kirsten. I look forward to you pooping on me the first time I wear white pants out on one of our dinner dates!

Mommy Filter?

I will be the first to admit that I turn to the internet to answer all of my questions. I was never really into sharing until I got pregnant, and now that Kirsten is here, my filter is officially gone.

While pregnant I talked about every single thing that happened to my body. I shared photos of my growing belly, and discussed gas more than a woman ever should.

And now that Kirsten is apart of the family, I share everything. My Facebook is covered in photos of her doing every little thing possible, I turn to message boards and talk about her poop regularly, and discuss my "aunt flow" openly on Twitter.

I wonder, at what point will discussing such things get old? Or at what point will Kirsten turn to me and say, "mom, can you please stop discussing my life on the internet?"

At what age will people stop caring about how I raise my child? When will this whole "blogging about being a mommy" thing need to stop and I'll have to come up with a new "gimmick?"

I think about this often. Will blogging about a mommy ever get old? Is there a line between over sharing and just talking about normal parenting stuff, but more importantly, will I ever cross it?

As moms we feel this need to over share. I go to the mall and listen to the other "mall mommies" talk over each other about what their baby is doing, what milestones they hit, at what age they were able to do certain things, the color of their kids' poop, etc etc.... The filters are obviously off and these women are just in their glory. Maybe they can't discuss this stuff with their husbands, and they just can't wait to get to the mall and spill their guts about what their baby is doing. I also think there is a huge sense of competition, but I do think it stems mostly from moms just needing to over share with one another.

I guess my biggest question though is, when will I stop feeling this need to over share about my daughter? Does it ever end, or just change forms? As in, we go from talking about poop to discussing their coloring skills, to ballet classes, to how they did on their Algebra test.

Hopefully I will still feel the need to talk about my life, and the amazing journey of being a mommy. But then again, when Kirsten starts using the internet, I may need to change my concept on here. Hmmmmm.... maybe I need to look into baking....