Back off my kid!

If you've seen photos of my child, you know that he is quite a guy. We laugh about him being a "chunky monkey", and this was well before his Halloween costume. Yes, he is on the upper end of the scale when it comes to those "all-important" baby percentages. And there is not a day that goes by that someone - typically some random stranger - doesn't comment on how big he is:

"Wow! He's a big guy! How old is he?"
"Well, he's certainly a good eater, huh?"
"Ooh, you're a big boy, aren't you?"
"Is he crawling yet? Well he'll thin out when he gets more active."
"You need to get that kid on a running program." (From a college friend upon meeting Cameron.)
And the ever-popular, always inappropriate,
"How much does he weigh?"

Truly, it's enough to give Mommy a serious complex.

So, I was in a children's clothing store yesterday waiting in line to purchase a winter hat for Cameron, and another mother says to me, "He sure is a big kid, isn't he?"

Really, how am I supposed to respond to that?

Other mother: "Wow, he's like in the 100th percentile, isn't he?"

Me: "Um...well, yes, he is in a higher percentage."

OM: "What is he, like 4 months old?"

Me: (huh?!?) "No, he's 9 months old."

OM: "Oh...huh. Well, (here it comes) how much does he weigh?"

Me: "I don't know...20-21 pounds."

OM: "Oh. My daughter is 8 months old."

Me: "Really? And how much does she weigh?"

OM: "Um...16 pounds." I think at this point she's starting to realize she's being a bit rude. "I just meant he looked really tall for his age."

Me: "Uh huh."

Look, sister, back up off my kid. He could pancake your 16 pound pipsqueak without even breaking a sweat.

Come on, mothers of the world! We need to stick together here. We all know what it's like to have perfect strangers ask us all kinds of inappropriate questions! As soon as you get pregnant, suddenly you're fair game:

"How much weight have you gained?"
"Are you going to breastfeed? For how long?"
"Are you going to co-sleep?"
"You're using disposable diapers?"

Is any of this anyone's business but those with whom I choose to share it? This is between me, my husband, and my OB/GYN.

And it just keeps going from there. Motherhood...the great barrier breaker. Suddenly any topic is fair game, whether you know the person or not. So, come on moms...when you see another harried mother just trying to buy her baby boy a dang winter hat, think twice before you smugly express your astonishment about how big her sweet baby is and asking what percentile he's in. Hey, she may not thank you...but at least she won't write about you later on her blog.

MIA

Clearly life as I know it does not include blogging. Disgraceful, I know. And even more pathetic when I realize that all of my friends with multiple children blog regularly...and here I am with one little Mini, and I haven't posted anything since July. And even that was mostly a cop out. You'd think with 2-3 naps a day and a 6:30pm bedtime I could sit down and write something.

So here's something.

Life is rolling right along at a pretty regular pace. Cameron will be 9 months old this week. Really?? He's army crawling his way around the house. I've threatened to strap a Swiffer cloth to his chest so he can clean my floors. Yeah, start earning your keep, kid. The bad part is when he finds dust bunnies, and tries to eat them. Yech... Speaking of eating, he now simply tolerates his baby food. What he really wants is Cheerios, cheese toast, bananas, Gerber Puffs...basically anything he can eat on his own. It's amazing how many Cheerios this little man can pack in his mouth.

Kevin is all done with his MBA...hallelujah!! He finished in August, and is now home every single night. No more class until 9pm. It's wonderful. And, since Cameron goes to sleep every night by 6:30pm, we have our nights to ourselves.

Me, I'm picking up more hours as a personal assistant, and generally figuring out how to juggle the 7 million things I want/need to accomplish each day. I find it rather astounding that I can run around like a crazy person all day, then collapse on the couch at 6:31pm and feel like I have completed nothing. And again, with only one child. How do you people do it? There are definitely moments when I think, yeah, one kiddo is plenty. We're at this great stage where he sleeps 12-13 hours a night, can often entertain himself for short stretches, takes great naps, is happy and fun and pretty hilarious...why do I want to go screw all that up by having another baby?? Plus, since there's simply no way I could even consider loving another kid as much as I love Cameron, wouldn't that just be cruel?

Ok, ok...I know...all you veteren moms out there will assure me that you do love your subsequent children (almost) as much as you love your first. And I believe you...really. Sometimes it's just hard to imagine.

Anyway, that's us in a nutshell...a quick little catch up. We a currently enjoying a lazy Sunday, and are looking forward to dressing Cameron up in his Halloween costume for the Fall Festival at church this afternoon. Oh yeah, pictures will be forthcoming.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful autumn weekend!