Someone asked me the other day if I would be getting my infant daughter’s ears pierced.  The short answer is..no.  I won’t. 

Lots of people get their baby girls’ ears pierced as a cultural thing.  I think that’s cool.  I’m not knocking generations of a family or anything.  Some people think it’s better to get it done when the girl is little so she won’t remember the pain of metal rods being shoved in sensitive flaps of skin.  (::pause:: Ew.  That sentence alone would turn anyone off to “down there” piercings.)  I’ve heard of parents who do it when their daughters are babies because I think the doctor has to do it and that’s supposedly safer. 

I’ve heard the arguments against it, “Why would you subject your daughter to that pain?!”  “Let her make her own decision!”

Yeah, yeah.  There’s one real reason I won’t, this girl right here….



Why do I always have red eyes?  ::sigh::



In 3rd grade I stared at a new school.  I knew what I wanted for my 8th birthday.  New school, new friends, and pierced ears.  That’s all I wanted, pierced ears.  A couple of weeks before my birthday mom took me to Cary Village Mall.  It was the world’s tiniest, crappiest mall with maybe two department stores before the “big upgrade” to Cary Towne Center.  (See, towne has a “e” so you know this upgrade was high class.)  But, Cary Village Mall had a freakin Claire’s ya’ll, a Claire’s boutique!  Claire’s!  The place with all the sparkly plastic junk a tween girl could want.  They even had New Kids On The Block buttons and Best Friend necklaces you could share with the lucky gal you gave the other half to.  It was a florescent lit heaven, and I was going there for this life changing event. 

Mom and Dad agreed 8 was an okay age for this, and off we went.  My sister Julie was still 5 and unbelieveably nervous for me as we walked in  The girls at the store sat me up in the high stool and handed me a placard with about a dozen different beginner studs to choose from.  After much pondering I went with the 24k gold hearts with the “diamonds” in them.  When I asked Mom if they were real diamonds she winked at the clerk and said she wasn’t sure, but said they “sure were pretty!”  I agreed and waited patiently as they used ballpoint pen to mark where the holes would go. 

When kids get pierced they have two people fire the guns at the same time so you don’t chicken out after the first ear.  When I had been all alcohol swabbed and prepped, Mom asked me one more time, “Are you sure?”  I took a deep breath and said I was. 

::POP::

Ow!  That was my first “pain to be pretty” lesson for sure.  I put on a brave face and leaked minimal tears.  Julie, on the other hand, was a little shaken at my reddened lobes. 

I carefully turned and cleaned the studs everyday.  My ears were pierced for the first day of school.  I marked 6 weeks on my calendar.  That was the day I could switch out earrings.  I got tons of little Claires boxes filled with $1.99 nickel-free colorful earrings at my birthday party.  Some were even dangly ones!  I was big time! 

Remember when you used to be jealous of some awesome toy another kid had?  I distinctly remember coveting my friend Erin’s Barbie condo.  It was awesome!  It had a rooftop pool and everything!  She also had Cricket doll that I accidentally broke at her 6th birthday party.  We are still friends and she still reminds me of this.  I just thought it was neat and I didn’t mean to jam the cassette tape in her back.  I was trying to get it to work!  I still owe her.

In hindsight, Cricket is kinda creepy.

Yesterday I left work brooding, stressing, and just being generally miserable.  Greyson has been away most of the week on business and I’ve been single-moming it.  (My hat is off to all the single working parents out there!  I don’t know how ya’ll do it!) 

My little sweetie greeted me with her usual, big gummy smile when she saw me come and pick her up.  (Late, the last one left at daycare.  ::sigh::)  As I kissed her and begged for her forgivness at my tardiness I noticed a little something extra in her mouth.  Could it be?!  A tiny tooth?!  Finally?! 

Sure enough, I felt a razor sharp little thing in there.  (On my finger, thankfully, and not my boob, but I’m sure that’s coming soon enough.)  I was so unbelievebly delighted at her development I forgot all about my misery.  She spent the evening grinning and melting my heart as she showed off her new smile.  It’s amazing how something as little as that turned my whole day around. 

I should have guessed something was up when she had a very light appetite this week and a runny nose.  Those were thankfully her only real teething symptoms. 

Through all her sweet smiles I tried to capture the tooth on camera.  No luck.  Enjoy this goofy cartoon of a baby with a tooth instead.  Happy Friday! 



Courtesy: Gregory Kogan http://www.gagcartoons.com/



Yesterday at church the sermon was all about fear, how fear holds us back, and how we can overcome it.  The minister rattled off a list of American adults’ most common fears.  There was of course, public speaking, spiders, heights, failure, and clowns.  (The clowns thing is dumb.  I think adults afraid of clowns are acting to get attention.  I find it hard to believe any grown-up truly has a “crippling fear” of clowns.) 

I got to thinking about my biggest fear.  I realized it’s changed.  9 months ago I would have said failure was my biggest fear.  Not the case now.  My biggest fear now is something happening to Charlotte.  I fear her getting hurt, burned, cut, stabbed, suffocated, drowned, molested, harrassed, sick, falling off a subway platform, stung by a jellyfish, bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider, pricked by a cactus, getting addicted to Meth, bit by a rabid animal, becoming a victim of medical malpractice, kissed by a Dementor, or cyberbullied.  (Thanks ABC Family for that last one.) 

As the minister was speaking about overcoming fears I thought, “Oh God!  How am I going to get past being afraid of all that?!?”  Then I realized, I did something this past week to overcome my new-mama fears.

I bought this awesome little portable exersaucer thing that folds up like one of those tailgating chairs.  I got it from One Step Ahead, and it is great!  How did this thing help me be less afraid?  I bought it to put out on the deck so Charlotte could play in it while we all enjoyed the top deck of our beach house last week.

If you’ll recall, much of my anxiety and the beginning of my Postpartum OCD all started with visions of a baby falling off the high deck of our beach house when I was pregnant.  I had a lot of anxiety about this before our trip, but I absolutely refused to be crippled by this fear during our family vacation. I wasn’t scared, just cautious, and we had a great time.

I figure if I just prepare and face my fears head on, I can manage.  So, I’m off to master my patronus charm and dismantle the Internet. Wish me luck.