The Making of a Christmas Card...

When I was pregnant, I dreamed of every detail of motherhood and how I was going to make sure that everything was absolutely perfect.  I planned everything in her nursery, right down to making sure the diapers were lined up in a perfect stack and the crib skirt put on just right.  It was insanity.  But I thought that if I planned enough and paid close attention to all of those details, that the motherhood part would be a breeze!  Boy, now I know why so many moms just laughed at me when I was fretting over the perfect clothes hanger and burp cloths.

My friend is pregnant with her first and we were talking (or texting, the new talking) about the bedding that she wanted getting bad reviews.  I remember scouring the internet for hours upon hours looking for the most perfect set.  She is in that place.  My advice to her:  just get something with nice sheets and a cute bedskirt--'cause that's all you'll really use.  Do I think she'll take my advice?  No.  I was there.  I know.  You think, it'll be different with my baby.  I'm going to do things perfectly.  I'm going to wrap my baby in this adorable comforter that came with this matching set.  No you won't.

Just like with the clothes.  Oh the clothes.  Kinley had more clothes than any baby should.  We didn't even get to wear them all, and she stayed in sizes for quite some time.  I bought all of these fancy little outfits that were unbelievably cute--in the store--but then 9 times out of 10, I put her in what was comfy.

Those dreams of playing dress-up with my little girl were just that, dreams.  I mean, that is what rocks about having a baby girl!  The dress-up!  And then, you find out that the changing of the outfits and the newborn or infant that hates getting her clothes changed, makes dress-up so not fun.

Time is ticking away and I have yet to get a good picture for our Christmas card this year.  Not for lack of trying, though!  Richie refuses to help me with taking pictures of Kinley, he gets way too frustrated, way too easily.  So I'm on my own here.  I "played" dress up with her, got her all pretty in her Christmas dress and grabbed my camera.  My hopes for the "perfect" Christmas card....ended up like this:

She just got mad.  And she was *not* going to cooperate.  End of story.  She is the boss.

Moral of this story:  don't plan for perfection (when it comes to babies) because what you will really get is life.  But sometimes, that life that you get, it pretty close to perfection.  Just not the perfection that you dreamed of.  It's a whole lot better.

And if Christmas cards just don't happen this year, then they don't happen.  Life will go on.