I figured I would do a couple throw-back pictures to Liam in the hospital. It's seems like yesterday, and it also seems like so long ago (literally a lifetime ago!).

One of the things that I never bargained for when we entered parenthood was the constant compare/contrast that goes on between parents. You can't help it to some extent; it's hard not to notice what other babies around us are doing in relation to what Liam can and can't do. We all give updates on these kinds of things, and it's not necessarily to imply that our babies are ahead of the game or behind. I love chatting about babies with my close friends.

There is, however, a LOT of bragging that you have to endure listening to. I see it on Facebook, I hear it in talking to friends, I got so sick and tired of it on the February Leap Frogs message board that I quit lurking...I can imagine it only gets worse as the years go by, as some kids begin to emerge as high achievers and others not so much. It just seems like this long, competitive road ahead that will never end as long as I am a parent (which darn well better be for the rest of my life).

I was giving Liam a bath, though, the other day, and this light bulb sort of went off. I was looking at his little bare arms and his beer belly and his puffy wet cheeks and I just thought, "I love this little guy SO much, and there is absolutely nothing that I would ever change about him." I've never really been one to feel like my baby is anything less as a result of peoples' bragging, but you can't help but feel a little twinge of something when someone says "MY baby is ONLY seven months old, and he is doing THIS!" like he just discovered the meaning of life or something.

I just thought, though, that to feel any kind of jealousy or inadequacy as a result of other parents' bragging implies that you want to change your child in some way. I don't. If Liam doesn't walk before his first birthday (and he has 2 weeks), I wouldn't change it for the world. To change that would be to change a piece of him and would indicate that I don't think he's absolutely perfect in my own eyes.

I don't expect anyone else in the world to think that he's absolutely perfect. That's my job.

Birth weight, length, the age your baby first rolls over, the age he starts crawling, walking, talking, eating, sitting up, the speed at which he can progress from one size clothes or diapers to the next, sleep patterns, temperament...I mean, I want to talk about these things with my friends, don't get me wrong. It's just that none of it makes either of our babies better than the other.

I'll take my son exactly the way he is. That's also my job.

I remember Hilary and I recently were talking about size 3 vs. size 4 diapers. Size 3 goes from like, 18 lbs. to 27 or something like that, and then size 4 overlaps, starting at 22 lbs. to 36, I think it is. Hilary asked me what size Liam was wearing, and I told her "well, he can certainly still fit in size 3, but we recently started using size 4 just because they give a little more coverage." She said something like, "I just don't get how size 3's are supposed to fit up to almost 30 pounds!!" And we started rambling off about size 3 vs. size 4, just discussing where the boys were but not in any way in the sense that diaper size had any bearing on their worth as human beings. Those are the fun conversations.

Anyways...just a little burst of enlightenment that came my way the other day, and a little something to look forward to for any of my soon-to-be parent or someday-parent readers.

That is all.