Second Baby Bliss

We were shopping at Lowes today when Clinton's sister called and announced that she was pregnant! I am so thrilled! My response to this news was such a joyous burst that a worker two aisles away could hear me loud and clear (this was evident because later she approached and jokingly stated, "So are you sure she's pregnant?").

But when you hear my reasons for being thrilled over this news, you'll realize how lowly and small of a person I am.

The thing is, brand new parents get under my skin. They fawn and dote over that first child like he or she is God's gift to creation (which I guess technically is true, right?). They ooh and ahhh over every menial thing that the baby does--I mean, I get it, it's cute that your little butterball just blew some bubbles, but I'm sorry, that doesn't make him a genius. Furthermore, new parents' entire universe is absorbed by the fact that they now have a baby, always buying the latest trendy products and tip-toeing around the baby's schedule and trying to do everything exactly perfect.

But once parents embark on that second-child journey, this dreamy new-parent syndrome tends to fizzle out. From my experience, parents who have that second child completely relax with the whole parenting role. Especially when they have two little ones close in age...they just sort of go into survival mode where just about anything goes. Their houses are always messy, they no longer tiptoe around the baby's schedule because now they have a toddler running around wreaking havoc, and they're too perpetually drained to ooh and ahhh over their cherub's every little action. I love second-time-around parents. They're so much more down-to-earth and over the whole "let's make our baby the center of our universe" phenomenon. They don't care about the latest research regarding parenting, they don't care about being perfect; they just want a nap.

I do care about Clint's sister, so trust me when I say that I'm not proud of the way I feel about this. I wish I was more into the miracle of babies. Don't get me wrong, I applauded all of Trinity's and Elijah's milestones, but geez people, learn to draw a line. I am just so over moms' entire identities being centered around their kids. I love my kids more than I can even describe, and if it ever came down to it I would lay down everything I am to protect them, but I still recognize the value of having a life that doesn't necessarily revolve around them. As far as I'm concerned, all of this fawning and doting over our kids is doing nothing more than creating a bunch of self-entitled generation me-ers.

So in summation, I am very excited about my sister-in-law's pregnancy. But I'm also a self-seeking brat. Shame on me.