Baby belly cast in plaster? not on your life.
Video of birth? not allowed. hospital policy.
Birth announcements? nope.
Baby book? nada.
2 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo photo shoots? uh-uh.
bronzed baby booties? are you kidding!?
photo album? um, no.
There is an overwhelming lack of milestone memorabilia in our house. We haven't been to a photo studio with our son. We haven't made a baby album. We haven't even contacted the courthouse yet for a copy of Aaron's birth certificate. Heaven help us if we have to prove he's ours. Or if we have to flee to Canada for some unforeseen reason. Oh wait. We can't go there anymore without a passport. Guess we're stuck.
At least the firstborn through the lastborn children of our family will have the same lack of stuff. We will have none of this SuperCollection for the first, BigCollection for the second, Collection for the third, and dwindling off to nothing for the others! In our house, there will be no echoes of, "Mommy loves me more. She made me a baby book! NYAH!" as tongues stick out. No strains of, "So prove it that you're not adopted - where's your birth announcement?"
OK so maybe the real reason I've not done any of these things is that I am a cheapskate. Or a slacker. Or clueless. Maybe even unorganized, unprioritized, and undoubtedly, something far worse. I'm definitely not a Blue Ribbon Creative Memories Mother. And the horrid, stark truth is - I don't really want to be. I can hear your gasps of horror now.
Aaron and siblings, should God send us any, will be documented on the CD's full of digital pictures that are stacking up quickly on our desk - his milestones, in the little squares of the calendar (when I remember) rather than the exquisite scrapbooks that Other People's Blue Ribbon Mothers slave over for hours, cutting their fingers with special edged scissors and agonizing over paper choices. But our kids will be able to fit their childhoods in a duffel, and travel the world. And if by some odd twist of genetics they want to make their own scrapbooks, then they'll have the digital photos to do it.
Also about now, I'm beginning to wonder if there was some sort of manual that I missed out on. It didn't even occur to me to get Aaron a special Easter outfit. And I don't think I will.
Lord willing, I won't stink quite as badly at the other aspects of mothering I have yet to face. Hopefully, we will be able to show our kids God's love for us, and our responsibility and privilege to honor and worship Him with our lives. I pray that we will be able to see Aaron and any future siblings accept Christ an an early age. We certainly expect to have lots of fun in the Muth family. I sure hope we'll be able to enjoy our family and make memories that will be stamped in our brains forever.
And for this mom, that is worth more than Copper #47 on acid free "Autumn Leaves" paper.
15 comments:
Oh Jenny, yet again I howled with laughter and clapped my hands with glee at your latest missive. You do have a way of putting things. I enjoy scrapbooking, but I must admit I do a shameful amount of "agonizing over paper selections." I think that as long as you have digital pics, your kiddos will be fine. But I would highly recommend a birth certificate..
Kristi
That cracked me up! Especially the part about fleeing to Canada :o)
It was actually refreshing to hear your perspective! I think memories are great and all, but when you do all of those things to be the BEST MOM in the eyes of others, what is the point... you aren't even doing it for yourself, your child, or the Lord.... good post :o)
Hi Jenny,
I had one of my friends tell me that one of her friends was very into scrapbooking. Her friend mentioned that she was so busy with her scrapbook that she was missing precious time with her children. Moderation is the best way - right? In a way you are "scrapbooking" by keeping this blog. You have great priorities and are more concerned with Aaron's soul than "wood, hay and stubble".
Don't get me wrong! I love photos and beautiful scrapbooks. I just don't make it a priority as I am not very creative in that way and I too am somewhat "frugal". We have thousands of pictures of Michael that we have uploaded on the Kodak Photogallery. Anyway, I loved your post and can relate. Have a great day.
I had a huge smile on my face as I read your post because about a month ago, I decided that I was going to start a scrapbook of Kayla's first year (I had gotten paper, stickers, and an album for Kayla's shower. I only have limited experience with scrapbooking so this was very overwhelming to me, but I really wanted Kayla to have one). Well, I did four pages and got stuck because it wasn't "just right" -- the lettering wasn't straight, my journaling wasn't all the exact same size, the page didn't look like the ones I had seen on the internet because I don't have the tools. Needless to say, I haven't touched it since the first two days I worked on it, and I don't have the ambition to get back at it. I also came to the point where I decided I wasn't going to let it bother me that I wasn't doing this "expected" part of mothering. :-)
That is so me Jenny! I'm glad to hear you say it so beautifully though. =)
good news...you can still go to canada without a passport until Dec.31st! Trust me, i know these things! :)
sweet!! we have a fleeing place!
Jenny,
Great blog entry as usual. You are SOOO creative. You should write for a living...oh wait, you are a mommy - and that is awesome. I guess we will just continue to be the benefactors of your super creative writing. I understand totally. Even though I work in the world of scrapbooking and see customers come in and drop $250 without thinking on what really is a small stack of scrapbooking supplies that they probably will just pile up at home for that "special page" that will never come together, I still am amazed by it all. You are a great mom and that is what your son will remember...with or without a scrapbook. One more thing...as the youngest of 4 and not sure what I looked like from about age 2-10, I can testify that you are smart not to make one for the first so that your 4th won't wonder why there aren't very many pictures of his/her childhood. :)
OK so I feel better now. I am just not into the creative scrapbooking thing. I know I would be right with Karis in I wouldn't be satisfied with my work. . . I do have Audrey's birth certificate, but we had to get it so we could get her passport for our missions trip to England.
The digital pictures do put my mind at ease.
Jenny, that picture of you and Aaron is priceless! Loved this post. Checking your blog is the highlight of my day. ;)
Very funny and well-put! I had to do a scrapbook page for my mom's 50th and I was floored to see how expensive all that stuff is! Seems to me that living in america spreads its consumer over abundance even into mothering. Glad you aren't taking your lack of scrapbooking/babybooking seriously. :)
You know, Jenny. Blogging could be considered your way of baby-recording. You can show Aaron all the posts and photos of him you blogged during his babyhood. If our technology hasn't demolished the internet by then that is .. .
Ditto with all the others! Beautifully scribed & I think SO true for the majority of us mothers out there! Enjoy the moment...the memory will make of itself what it may. GREAT PICTURE of Aaron...such a sweet smile.
I am glad you reminded me about the birth certificate! I need to do that still!!! ;)
You do have a way with words! I laughed out loud! I tried starting a scrap book a couple months ago and maybe got one or two pages done. I haven't touched it since. And I just realized about a month ago that we need to send off for the birth certificate. Haven't done that yet either!
Oh! And that is the cutest picture I have seen of Aaron!!
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