The Working Momma

Tomorrow my HH’s parents will get here. The last time that they came to visit was over Easter and they only stayed for a long weekend. This time, they will be staying with us for a week.

We will get the holiday off of work next week but that is it. Neither one of us gets enough vacation time to be able to take the time off to spend with them while they are here. While they are here, they will of course want to take care of Z the entire time. No daycare at all. That should be interesting to say the least.

When my parents took Z for the day before we left on vacation, they came back exhausted. Those that came back at least. They lost my grandma along the way to exhaustion. My stepdad fell asleep on the couch as soon as he sat down and my mom was looking pretty bleary-eyed. They underestimated the amount of energy an almost 2 year old has and I am wondering if my inlaws have too.

Z likes to go-go-go, never stopping to take a breath or even go potty. Who needs to stop and potty when you wear a diaper. He hates having to stop what he is doing to do something like eat, nap or even change the dreaded diaper. It isn’t just us that has noticed it, everyone does. His teachers at school say all the time that he is such an “active” child (code for he doesn’t like to sit still or anything along those lines).

Can the inlaws handle it? Can they handle the toddler meltdown he has when he is hungry or tired or just doesn’t know what he wants? Can they handle his throwing of food? Can they handle getting him to take a nap? How are they going to keep him entertained all day every day? Are they going to go places or do they think that staying at our house is going to pacify him? What will they feed him for breakfast and lunch? Are they going to go through three changes of clothes because he isn’t the neatest eater? Are they going to be able to handle him when he decides he likes the sound of his own voice so he is just going to screech at the top of his lungs?

Who knows if they can do it again after it being so long since my HH was that age. We probably won’t. If things are bad during the day, we will hear how wonderful he was. And more than likely he will be wonderful. He always is when it isn’t us. Never mind that, the days will be wonderful for them because he is their grandchild and they love him more than anything else. Nothing else matters to them except that they get to see him and spend time with him because these years are so short and so fleeting.

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The Baby Borrowers is a new show that premiered last night on NBC. It looked like it would be cute and funny to see teenage couples taking care of someone else’s child as if the child were theirs. It was definately funny when you just watched it for entertainment value but the show took on a more sinister note in my head once I actually started thinking about what I was watching.

These kids (between 18 and 20) believed that they loved each other enough and were ready enough to start a family. They sign -up for the show and get selected and the couples are moved innto their new homes to live together for the very first time. First of all, how do they know they are ready? What makes them so sure? I wasn’ that much older when I got married and had a kid (24) but I like to think that I was mature and educated. That this makes the distinction between them and me.

The second day that they are there, they get a pregnancy suit that they have to wear for a whole day. During which they have to go to childcare class (singular, not plural) where they will be taught the principals of taking care of a baby. One girl didn’t even make it that far. She refused to wear the suit because it was uncomfortable, made her look fat and ugly and she just wasn’t going to do it. Totally immature. What does she think being pregnant is going to be like - all rainbows and tweeting birds? No, it consists of awful mood swings, swollen ankles (cankles), looking fat and bloated and way too many other negatives for me list. Though all experiances are different, don’t expect a walk in the park by any means. Oh yeah, her boyfriend wore the pregnancy suit the rest of the day. How is that for maturity and reality? Does that mean my husband can carry our next baby because I don’t want to?

Then the babies showed up the next day. How could their parents turn them over without even looking sad? Maybe they just filmed it until they could get them to do it right. I could see how they could let these teenagers take care of their kids only by rationalization. My baby is going to be fine. Its no different than leaving him/her with a babysitter. I will be able to watch. It is to educate these teenagers about how hard it is to be a parent. Etc. I couldn’t do it. Especially not after I have seen how the majority of these teens take care of the babies they are responsible for. Not every case was awful, some did really well. Yet there were some bad cases and it made my stomach cringe and knot up with thoughts of my child and how awful it would be.

That is pretty much where they left things and it made me think some really serious things. Does the educational aspect of the show make up for the treatment of the children involved? What if it works so well that these teens are scared away from childbearing for good? What if it hurts their self-esteem? Will those parents ever be able to get their child back on a normal routine?

All of this from a stupid tv show that was supposed to help me relax after a long day at work. Plus, this reality tv show is not representative of reality if you really think about everything that you go through to get to the point where these kids pick-up from.

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Should I really be blogging? That is a pretty tough question for me at the moment.

While I really do enjoy having a place to write down what is in my head, I seem to be using this blog more as a way to play with the layout and make it look pretty than I actually write in it. I know that I am a perfectionist when it comes to every project I take on (such as this) and that I am merely trying to find the right image to reflect me and my varying personality. If I spent half as much time blogging as I spend tweaking my blog, you would have quite a bit more to read.

That brings up my other issue. My blog is not very popular. I have very few visitors, even less subscriptions and even less comments. I am not trying to actively get readers but I expected to have found a few more than I have. At least my mom or my sisters maybe. That is okay in the big scheme of things, I am doing this more for myself than I am for anyone else but maybe I am doing something wrong. If I am, will you tell me please?

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