I guess I'm a mom

I've now done two mom things that really bothered me when I would witness them in other moms. And, let's be clear, they still bother me!

A couple of weeks ago I started realizing that Evelyn did not have very many clothes. This seemed odd to me since her closet and dresser were full of clothes. Well, I finally went through all those clothes, packing away the ones she had grown out of, and sure enough, it was slim pickins! This bothered me on several levels. One, as you know, I hate packing away her clothes because it means she will never wear them again and that she is growing up so fast. But besides that, of course this meant I needed to get her more clothes. Now, do we have the money for that expenditure? Of course not! And it's right before Christmas! And I hadn't thought that I would need to buy her clothes for her first year. Well that is hardly the first thing I've been wrong about since becoming a mom, but it's kind of a pricey mistake. You may not realize this, but baby clothes are often more expensive than adult clothes. Which seems rather absurd when you think that they only last three months. But here we are. So I decided to go to this little consignment store. I had bought a few things there for her before, when I needed a few pieces for Halloween. It's a nice store, but I had kind of envisioned buying my daughter clothes for the first time in a slightly different way. It's odd really, whenever I'm at any store and see little girls clothes, I can hardly resist buying some, which does not bode well for the future if I'm having a hard time saying no to new clothes before she is even asking me herself! Anyway, I bought her several cute outfits, all in great condition and she looks adorable. Getting to what bothered me. I really need new clothes! You would not even believe it if I told you how old some of my clothes are! I can't remember the last time I bought new clothes-not counting maternity clothes cause I really don't feel like wearing those anymore. But I had to spend money on clothes for her, so no clothes for me. Over the past years I've talked with several moms who have complained about that very same issue. And I always thought that would be miserable and not really a sacrfice I would want to make. But here we are.

On a lighter, but just as shallow note, Evelyn has started eating table foods. This is fun, slightly hilarious, convenient, and very messy! She has little pieces of bread or rice cakes and manages to get them to her mouth, where they mostly stay. She still keeps her little fists clenched most of the time, so it's lots of fun when I open her hand after feeding her and find a piece of bread that she has been squishing for ten minutes. Now, something you may not know about me, but I hate discarded food. Loading dishes grosses me out and I really hate touching food that's left over. I've worked with kids most my life and I've always thought that part was just, well yucky. I've always seen moms wiping food off their baby's faces with their hands, picking up food that's been chewed, and cleaning up barely recognizable, partially eaten, mush. I would watch them and just be grossed out and never want to do that myself. So of course I was more than a little surprised to find myself picking up half chewed pieces of toast and throwing them away, with barely a sigh.

Hmmm. . .this seems like a good blog to print out and read to her when she is older and mouthing off!