Babies can be mean

To say that I love Robby is an understatement. That doesn’t mean that I love every last quirk about him though. For instance, I don’t love that he yanks my hair out, pinches me and laughs, bites me, kicks me, rips my glasses off, and scratches me with his razor nails. Despite being a massive 17lbs, he can be pretty darn mean sometimes.

Here he is just waiting for me to turn my back so he can take every thingy of baby wipes off the changing table shelf and put them all over his room. This past weekend he took one of my shoes and hid it under the bed and I could not find it anywhere! Yesterday he went thrashing through a pile of mail on the floor and ripped my Fast Company magazine and a bunch of envelopes, including some bills. (Why was the mail on the floor, you ask? I was "mommy multi-tasking", playing with Robby while sorting mail.)

He’s definitely getting to the age where items will start becoming displaced. In addition to taking things, he’s getting bolder by the day testing his limits by opening every cabinet, drawer, closet, door, stealing ipods, phones and Wii remotes, touching the stereo equipment and his latest trick, turning off the TV while smiling a devilish grin.

Robby gets more attention when he does mean things, which provoke's him even more. We're thankfully at the stage where his bold behavior is really kind of funny. He's charmingly mean, not tantrum-y mean. I know he won't be like this forever, but I like my little mean Robby just the way he is.

Right about nothing!!

7/2/08, 10:52am - Became a mother
7/2/08, 10:55am - Became right about nothing

On July 1st, 2008, I was ON. Had my head right, had my shit together, knew how to do things in my life. On July 2nd, that all changed. Robby looked at me utterly amazed to be outside the womb, and I must have looked back at him, utterly amazed that I became a mother, just like that! I remain amazed that this beautiful baby boy actually thinks I knew a thing or two about being a mother!

My cousin Karyn recently made a very good point. In any other profession you don't just become the highest title you could reach. You don't just become an expert overnight, President of the company without having first at least held a few more titles beforehand! Couldn't I spend at least a little time being 'assistant mother' or 'associate mother'? "Not so fast mommy!, you've got diaper rash to treat, noses to suction, strollers to navigate, and a myriad of other tasks I didn't think of on July 1, 2008.

But on July 2, when my son Robert Henry was born it was a moment that will never slip back into the depth of my mind. It was (and still is!) every positive adjective you can pull from your brain and then use a thesaurus on every word you came up with to find more words.

It's been five months since Robby came home with us from the hospital. I've learned more in five months than in my 27 years on this planet. The most important thing that i've learned, is that although I don't always have the answers, it doesn't always matter. My journey into motherhood has just begun. I'm still riding in the carseat (which was probably installed incorrectly), but I love the view from here.