Compromises & Overprotective Parents

So I have a lot that I've wanted to blog about, but whenever I sit down to write all my beautiful words fly out the window and I end up spending too much time on the debate boards arguing politics.

I am now determined to start and finish this post, which I've been thinking about for a couple of days. It may be wandering and incoherent, I don't care - at least I'll have finished it. There's pictures at the end, so you can skip to those or they can be fun rewards for making it through this post.

First: Compromises
Marriage and parenting is nothing if not a series of compromises. Actually, life is a series of compromises. I can't count how many times I've compromised with myself (and subsequently beaten myself up for said compromises)... although there are some instances in which I've refused to compromise. Penelope's birth was one of those.

But I don't necessarily want to discuss the things I haven't compromised, rather I want to focus on some of the recent compromises we've made.

1. Diapering... we still cloth diaper. But we've decided to use disposables when we travel for a variety of reasons. Mostly because it's a pain in the butt to do laundry when you travel, it takes time away from the vacation. The last thing I want to do while on vacation is spend time at a laundromat. It does make me feel a little guilty every time I throw one away - and yes, this is just my super-crunchy side showing. But one of the reasons we decided to cloth diaper was because of the environmental impact of disposables. I realize CD'ing isn't for everyone, but it is for us - so even this small compromise sometimes makes me feel a little guilty.

2. Baby food... I had every intention of making ALL of Penelope's food. It's not really that hard, it saves money, allows me to know exactly what is in her food, and allows me to use all organic produce if I so choose. However, I have come to realize that it's just too much for me. Motherhood, grad school, volunteer work, my job, housework (not that it gets done on a regular basis), leave little time for "me" as it is. Even though Bryan is amazing at taking her when he comes home so I can do school work and make dinner (he's not allowed to cook, I don't want to eat spaghetti every night), I still don't have a lot of down-time. The time I DO have I usually spend blogging or on Mommy Support Group sites to help save my sanity. I'm sure I could squeeze in making baby food, but I honestly don't want to sacrifice the little "me" time I have. I know that makes me a little selfish... but I trust Gerber.

You know, I'm sure there are more but I lost my train of thought. On to Topic #2

Second: Overprotective Parents
Before Penny (BP), overprotective parents (OPs) used to make me roll my eyes and think "oh, those poor kids". Now, OPs just make me shrug my shoulders. That might not sound like much of a difference, but it is... having Penelope has made me understand why some parents freak out even though there are many things OPs do that I cannot imagine doing. They know their children better than I do, and so it's not my place to judge. I wouldn't want anyone to tell me how I can or cannot parent my kids, so I keep my mouth shut. Even though sometimes I still think "oh, those poor kids" :)

So CONGRATS! You made it through my post. You are now rewarded with some pictures of Penelope!

Here she is trying to kiss herself in her play mirror, she does this nearly every time she plays with this toy:


This is us + Bonnie & Omar in Old Sac - I love these photos!