Baby Book Guilt

I think that a baby book is a good idea.  In fact, right after Madelyn was born, in a fit of "have to be a perfect mom" anxiety, I was horrified to realize that I had not gotten a baby book to keep track of all of all of those things important milestones that seem to fly by.  Of course I rushed right out to pick one up, only to be overwhelmed by the enormous selection of choices.  Finally I settled on one, mostly because I liked the picture on the front.  Once I got home the guilt started.  There was a whole section I was supposed to fill out BEFORE she was born...already my book was doomed to be less then perfect.  Also, we were supposed to have the hospital staff put the footprints and handprints right in the book.  Sigh...I was determined to not let that ruin my book and I knew that I was absolutely going to keep track of things from there on out.

What I forgot to take into consideration was reality.

Over the last 15 months I have come to the conclusion that the true purpose of the baby book is to make me feel guilty for not keeping track of things that I should have.  The big things were easier to remember to put in the book, like the first time Madelyn tried solid foods.

But, when I went to record this momentous occasion in the baby book what did I find?  Not only was I supposed to record the story of Madelyn's first solid foods, but also her first finger foods, the first time she used a spoon, the first time she used a cup, foods she loves, food she hates, her favorite dishes, games we play at mealtimes...you get the idea.

Of course, there were some important things that this baby book forgot to include - such as the first time that Madelyn's hair actually laid down flat.  I added that one in since it seemed like a pretty big deal.  After all, she seems to have inherited Justin's hair which he likes to describe as gravity-defying in it's efforts to get as far away from his head as possible.

The problem is that I wish that I had recorded all of the things in the book - as ridiculous as some of them are, because I like things to be complete and I don't like there to be blank spaces.  Thus - baby book guilt.

I console myself with the fact that most of the important firsts we got on camera.  Here are a few of them.