mommy mistake # 947

What started out so sweet and innocent ...


... turned into one of my many mommy mistakes! He was completely covered in ice cream by the time we got home!

I was telling a pregnant friend the other day that there are really only 2 things that you aren't allowed to f*#$ up as a new parent (sorry for the language, I was feeling very passionate at the time):

#1 You aren't allowed to starve your baby (obviously I was referring to people with the means to more than adequately feed their children). When your baby cries, the first thing you almost always offer them is the breast/bottle. Right?

#2 You should change your child's diapers when necessary. It's just cruel and there is no reason for your baby/toddler to sit in a dirty diaper. Is there?

Of course there are many other things I should have added to this list (keeping your baby safe being way up there) but in the context of the conversation, these were really the only things that seemed important to point out (I will skip the reasons why).

This will be my friends first baby and she was growing increasingly nervous as she listened to me talking and laughing with another mutual friend of ours about all the crazy things we've had to deal with as a new mothers as well as all the mistakes we made because we simply didn't know any better. Most of the mistakes we've made are funny in retrospect (like not knowing you should ALWAYS keep an extra change of clothes in the diaper bag because inevitably a blowout will happen -- especially with newborns -- at the least convenient time in the absolute worst place possible, and it won't be pretty). It's good for the soul to confess how clueless we've been at times, as well as how downright stupid we've been at others, so this is what new mothers tend to end up talking about when we get together.

But I guess we need to pay a little more attention to the entire room and remember to balance our conversations with all the great stuff too. I suppose it's just not nearly as fun to gush over how much you love your child ... and unless a few glasses of wine are involved I rarely feel the need to get all mushy with my friends. Still, we need not frighten the expecting mothers, right? I mean really, what is the point in that?! It's far more fun to cut them loose and see what kind of crazy funny stories they have to share with us a few months in ;)