Warts and All

I read last night’s post to Linda, and she commented that there are probably loads of experienced parents rolling their eyes in response to our reactions (or overreactions) to Violet’s issues. Violet’s our first, so every problem, whether it’s a molehill or not, seems like a mountain. I thought about what Linda said and looked through the names of recent posts, realizing that much of what I’ve written about since Violet’s birth concerns those things that keep us up at night – whether in our mind or in the crib next to our bed. It’s hard to imagine that we used to keep a log of every wet or soiled diaper, of how often I gave her a bottle and how much she ate, but we did, and at the time, we thought it was essential.

So Linda’s words made me wonder – for a moment - if I should ease off writing so much about our worries, since so many of them might sound foolish to more practiced ears. But I only thought it for a moment, because I felt so much better after writing last night’s post, and it led to my friend Amy sending me an email, talking about how she read that a lot of the crying and discomfort during pooping – like Violet experienced last night - is just a result of it being a new (and perhaps scary) sensation that babies don't understand. Most importantly, I want Violet – years from now - to see what we were going through today, yesterday, tomorrow – in all its unvarnished glory.

206 days old