Four Generations

Today I was reading an online board I frequent of women who all had babies in November. It's a great place to share ideas and get help with certain issues we're all having. The two questions that were big topics were: Vaccinations: The great debate or when to start solid foods. First of all, as a new mom, let me tell you how easy it is to get caught up in every piece of new research and recall that comes out. HEADLINE: If you put your baby in a swing that goes back and forth instead of side to side, then your baby may be at risk for growing an extra arm out of his head! (says some doctor who did some research, one time...somewhere on some animal) To which I'm thinking, "Dear God, what have I done to Sam? HE could have an extra arm growing out of his head! Then he'll never get a date to prom." Hehe...I struggled a lot with info on vaccinations and toxins in plastics and fretted and worried about all the decisions I make that might affect my Samuel forever...then I stopped. I thought to myself about San Quentin. San Quentin? Yes, that's right I thought if I went to San Quentin and interviewed a death row inmate what might his answer be to the question, "Where did it all go wrong?" (Gulp) "Please don't say my mom put me on solids too early...or dipped my binky in ice cream when I was fussy"! (side bar, I just googled San Quentin and this is an actual line to describe the prison, "The prison occupies 275 acres of waterfront land overlooking the bay..." sounds great. I think I'd like to vacation at San Quentin)!

Any hoo - my point is not to go to San Quentin. My point is what makes me a bad parent? It certainly shouldn't be that I made the best decisions I possibly could with the information I had at the time. Furthermore, it makes me think back to how my mom did it...or my mom's mom did it. Did my great great great grandmother have to take her wagon into town so she could buy nipples that elminated the incidence of gas in her baby's belly? Did she fret because she realized her two month old was chewing on a toy meant for a three month old. Did she even take the temperature of the water with that little duck that says "hot" on the bottom of it when she was giving her babies their baths...of course she didn't! So as I was pondering all the things that could possibly go wrong in Sam's lifetime and how I would be directly at fault, I decided that I was just going to have to relax, then I dipped Sam's binky in a frosty and stuck it in his mouth. I just can't spend my life worrying.

And in the same vein of the older generations, I often think, as I'm rotating Sam from his deluxe rainforest swing with real animals swinging from it and the calypso band to his fisher price bouncy seat with ten songs in rotation and the massage like vibrating chair to his crib with the brightly colored fish and the light show that pops up on the ceiling after you turn the lights off...what the HECK did they DO with their children all day?

So this blog has been a little random, but the real reason to write today is that I finally got the one thing I've wanted since I found out I was pregnant...My four generation pictures. It is a tradition started with a picture of my Aunt Jan, Granddaddy, Daddy Cook(e) (great granddad) and Jerry Cook (gg granddad). I'm lucky to have my Nanny and Granddaddy close by as Andy has his Grandma Lucille nearby as well. A month ago I went to visit my grandparents and got my 4 generation picture and we got Andy's last night at Maggiano's. I wanted to post them below. Family is SO important to me and I can't wait for Sam to grow up and really get to know his family. He is so lucky to have his grandparents so close (and incidentally so am I).

In terms of milestones, I have to say that Sam is laughing more than ever! So many things in this world are hilarious, he is finding. This morning, I tried to hoist my baby in heels (I was in the heels) into the car seat base in the back of my car. To Sam it could have felt like a roller coaster ride. I practically tipped him backwards. Well, I got him latched in and looked up at him for obvious signs of a concussion...he grinned and managed to give a hearty laugh at his mother's attempt to get him, safely, in the car. It just seems to make all the laundry you have to do worth it!

Well, have a frosty tonight and think of us!