my view on mom shaming and comparing

I think most moms have an opinion on this and pretty much every blogger has written about it. But I just wanted to share my opinion on "mom shaming" and why I can't keep up.  I've only been at it 11 months now and to be honest, I'm exhausted from it.

I'm tired of worrying about if my kid "measures" up to the kid that was born the same day as him, or the kid that was born two weeks after him who is already walking.

The things my sons accomplishes are not a reflection on my parenting skills. I have to tell myself that every day. He's not, not walking because I didn't make him walk those extra 10 steps behind the musical push thing. (technical term there) He's not, not wearing 12 month clothes because I'm not feeding him all the right things.

I mean my son doesn't even have sunscreen on in this picture.  How do I even know what sunscreen to put on him that won't kill him? 

Whatever.

I'm going to be totally honest, getting ready to switch my son from bottle feedings to full time solid foods, FREAKS ME OUT! I feel like I'm not going to feed him right, feed him the things he should be eating, give him the right nutrition, etc. And believe me, I've looked on Pinterest and pinned 10,000,000 articles about it but it still makes me crazy. I see these "perfect" moms who grow their own food, feed their kids balanced meals on organic plates, and "organic water" (because I'm sure that is a real thing out there somewhere). I'm not going to be that mom.  I'm just not.  My son will eat white bread sometimes, hot dogs sometimes, cereal probably, cheese puffs, processed food, even McDonalds. It'll be ok and he will survive.  Guarantee it. Maybe he wants to eat soap while you go to the bathroom.(see picture below). 

My mom tells me things that I ate and did and guess what.  I survived.

It never ends. The list goes on and on.

Do I use essential oils on my 11 month old, do I give him water or milk or juice, do I use Johnson and Johnson products?  Don't even get me started on coconut oil now. Sigh.

Back to my main point.  It doesn't really matter what other moms do, does it? I mean what's good for my family isn't going to be good for your family.  If a mom wants to co-sleep so she can get some sleep, its ok. It's none of your business. If a mom wants to put her baby in their crib from the first day they get home, its ok.  It's none of your business.

Be you and be the mom that God created you to be. If you want to let your child scream the whole time at the store, that's ok. It works for you. And it's NO ONE'S business.

If you want to let your son climb in the dishwasher all while taking a picture of him instead of worrying about him falling off. That's ok. 

Stop staring at other parents whether its for sympathy or judgement. When a child is screaming that parent is already feeling judged and not looking at you to see if you have caring or judgey eyes.  If you want to do something, go up to them and say, "you're doing a great job, is there anything I can do to help?"

Because mom's...YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!!! Your child is alive. And that's all we can ask for these days. You're family is perfect in it's own way.  If we were all the same then the world would be too boring. Love each other and encourage. If we all feel like failures then we can't raise children who believe in themselves. Because believe it or not, they can tell when you're down and eventually they will figure out whats getting to you.

in to everything

Rylan is in to everything.  At almost 11 months he is crawling, climbing, pulling on, and chewing everything! He's my absolute favorite and I am so lucky that I get to be his momma!  I feel like it's really pointless to put all the toys away for the night because it starts bright and early with just tearing them all out again.  But it's ok because hes happy and that makes me happy! Momma loves you big boy!

He obviously doesn't have enough toys.  No matter where I put them or how I store them, they all have to be out. I have waited for so long to see toys all over the floor that this site actually makes me happy!

There is a trend starting.  My son is either in pajamas or is half dressed. He loves to be in just his diaper. Apparently, that's how I was when I was little.  A boy after his mommas heart!

So, he's not "allowed" to have this remote.  But every day hes manages to find it.  We hide it different places and he always sniffs it out.  As you can see he is SUPER proud of himself. Gosh he's cute.

Movies everywhere. He will sit and stare at the covers for minutes.  I think hes trying to figure out why the people are staring at him because he only stares at the ones with faces on the front.  Castaway is his favorite to stare down.

<3