Tuesday's Thoughts

Hi, ya'll. I know it is a little late but if you come on in I have some coke or iced tea I can share. Kinda had a writer's block the last day or two, or maybe it's because I am taking care of Roy and his new knee. He is doing great and had therapy for the first time today. I am glad to say he did not kick the cute therapist or use any profanity, at least out loud. Just kidding, for he said it was not that hard. Now Thursday may be a different story, will let you know.

We have some dear, young friends who have just a had a beautiful baby girl. It is their first child, and I think the reality of not having an unbroken night of sleep is beginning to become a reality. I told them just get used to it, for it is forever. Ours are grown and gone, but one phone call in the middle of the night can destroy your sleep. When you hear that beloved voice say "mama" in just the right tone, you know something is wrong. So, as I said, it is forever.

Now that is OK, for after they get to be adults, you can say, just do what you think is best and how much is going to cost me? After all, you raised them to think for themselves and even if you disagree with their thinking, you did it so you have to live with it. I remember once after a terrific disagreement with our daughter, I turned to her daddy and said, "Well, we tried to raise her to be independent and think for herself, and now what in the heck are we going to do with her?" He looked at me and said, " I don't have the faintest idea, you did it, so you handle it." It isn't easy being a parent!

It also amazes me how much stuff you have to have to raise a baby these days. Back in the olden days when we were raising ours it was fairly simple. The baby bed was the one you had when you were growing up, the changing table was any flat surface big enough to lay them down on, bathing was done in the kitchen sink, and the stroller folded up nice and neatly.

With our first one, we were in college, living in married student apartments which was about the size of a postage stamp. We used to laugh and said it was like a co-ed dorm with kids and there were lots of kids. We could lie in our bed and I could reach through the slats of the baby bed and pat Robby's back and never get up. Small is the word you are looking for.

His bathtub was the bathroom lavatory with a towel folded as padding and I would put him on the towel in about 5 inches of water to bathe him. Soon we had to graduate to the kitchen sink but that was just right for him to sit in and splash around. Didn't matter to him just as long as it was water for he loved to bathe.

Now when Becky came along, we were a little more up in the world, job and all, but we still bathed her in the sink. If you can wash dishes in it, seems to me babies will do just fine. It was a better sink, however, for it was a double sink so I could wash her in one side, and rinse in the other. Robby just had to do with one. Becky had it made!

What amazes me are these huge baby mover things. You know those things that is car seat, stroller, bed, bath and beyond on wheels. It's those huge things which take up a whole aisle in the stores and you can't get by with your buggy at Walmart. The things cost almost as much as our first car! This thing is padded with all kinds of stuff around it. They need to figure out how to put a motor on it and let it be the kid's first car. It's big enough!

We had a little stroller which had a basket in the back and it folded up neatly when you got home. Robby and Becky enjoyed riding in it and you didn't take up the whole aisle in a store. We walked many a mile pushing one of those for that was the only way Robby would go to sleep sometimes. We would put him the stroller and walk and walk until he would fall asleep and then very carefully put him in his bed.

Now you take the car seats you have to have now. Don't get me wrong, I think they are very safe and they have probably saved many lives, but there are several, living, generations who never rode in a car seat and they are grown, unmangled and sane, at least some of them. Our 2, like most other children we knew refused to sit in the little car seats we had, so they sat right by us on the seat with a seat belt, or stood by us and each time we applied the brakes, the right arm shot sideways and pinned the poor child to the seat. My right arm still flies to the right to pin whatever poor soul is sitting by me to the seat. It becomes and automatic reflex for mamas. If you are riding by a middle-aged lady whose arm does not fly to the right when you hit the brakes, you can bet your bottom dollar she never had children, bless her heart.

Pictures are the big thing now. I know someone who had a video of the birth! Now that is gross for even though it is a miracle, who wants to look at it for it is not a pretty sight. Many a big strong man has passed out at the sight. Now they take pictures in the labor room, the delivery room, afterwards, and forever more. I can remember telling Roy to get out of the delivery room for even though he helped get me in that mess, I would get out it by myself, didn't need his help.

Back to pictures, I think they are great for most all babies are pretty. Ocassionaly there is a homely one and you just say, "How cute" but most of the time you can say, "How pretty." They take these pictures with their phones and send them instantly around the world, which is awesome. We took lots of pictures with the old fashioned camera with film with the first one, but they seem to get fewer in number with second and so forth. If you have more than 2, the poor third on down wonder if they were even born for there are not pictures, bless their hearts.

Now I think it is great you have all these wonderful things for the babies and I know they are safer, grow larger and are smarter than ours were, but ours turned out pretty well. You know that God protects drunks, fools and little children and your parents are living proof.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

1 comment:

Becky said...

I think you and daddy did pretty good raising Robby and I. I love you!

Becky