Growing up…I never really liked kids. Before I had Charley…and I openly admit this…I felt that once a toddler became a kid they started to become more annoying than cute.
Wow…that sounds harsh.
Let me start over. I was never the nurturing type. I never really enjoyed babysitting…unless it was an actual baby. Visiting my mom’s preschool classroom was the definition of uncomfortable to me. And dolls…never played with them.
So it’s somewhat of a shock to people when they see me with Charley. All the motherly instincts I thought I would never have came pouring out the moment I saw those two pink lines.
And these instincts have been rubbing off on Charley…
She has become extremely attached to her bitty baby…a present she got for Christmas and wanted nothing to do with. Now she takes her everywhere…
…even eats with her sometimes.
I have no clue where this has come from…I was so not a girly girl. It figures that God would give me a sassy little thang. Watching her interact with her baby melts my heart…which is probably me already living vicariously through my child.
She grabs her doll every time she wakes up…brings her in the car, and at any stop we make, that baby is the first thing she grabs.
See that dirt under her nose? She face planted in the dirt…didn’t even cry. She’s a warrior…a girly warrior who loves her baby doll.
Such a little mama.
I’m gonna completely switch gears here…
While pregnant with Charley I frequented the website babycenter.com. I joined the March 2011 group…which is comprised of over 13,000 members. Through a series of events I found my way to their Facebook page…which then spawned off another (and way cooler) group made up of roughly 20 people.
And now I find myself calling these women my friends. I chat with them every day…we support each other when we have rough days…encourage each other…make each another laugh. It’s a beautiful thing.
One of these women happens to live in East TN. So out of over 13,000 women…I find the one that lives where I grew up. We have similar parenting styles and…both have a love of consignment clothing. So what does a self-confessed consignment-aholic do?…snag deals for my new friend and meet up in TN to bring them to her.
So this past weekend I met Jennifer and her beautiful daughter Maci…although I feel like I already know them. The weather was crappy…but we found a church pavilion for the girls to run around under. Consider this your warning…cuteness overload ahead.
I can already tell a lesson on sharing…even bitty baby…is in the near future.
I think the internet has pros and cons…but this right here is definitely one of the pros. Without the internet I never would have met all these wonderful women…and never would have physically met Jennifer and Maci. Many more play dates are in the future…not to mention I already found more clothes for her to buy.
It’s amazing…watching Charley grow and develop. She’s on the verge of a verbal explosion, and before we know it…we’ll be having conversations with her. Her little personality is still as spunky as ever…she’s got the same temper she did at 2 months old…but seeing her with her baby doll is heart warming. I know that whenever we have another baby, Charley will be an awesome big sister.
Of course we’ll teach her the right way to hold a baby when that time comes.
It’s Mid May already…Charley is almost 14 months old. Good Lord time is flying.
But flying has never been so fun.
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