Confessions of a Beginner Parent

As a parent, there is an abundance of information out there on the ways to raise, discipline, teach, feed, and interact with your children. This information comes from a variety of sources: media, family, other parents, doctors, books, interenet, etc. I tend to listen to these suggestions, but make my own decision on whether I will follow them or not. Some of my decisions may be looked upon negatively by society, in fact, some may say these acts are "wrong". Therefore, as a somewhat devout Catholic, I have been raised to confess my indiscretions. Please to not notify SRS.

During pregnancy, I drank coffee and ate sushi, deli meat and an abundance of soft cheeses.

I have driven without my baby buckled up. (In the winter, when there is a cover for the infant carrier, I may or may not have forgotten to buckle both Curtis and Brock, when he was little, into the carseat before zipping it up and transporting the child. On more than one occasion.)

We propped our newborns in the Boppy to sleep at night. (There. The secret is out. That is why my boys sleep all night from nearly day one.)

I never childproofed my cabinets.

"Second" rule!? Ha! What's a "second" rule? We have a "if you find it or get to it before the dogs, it's all yours" rule.

I leave Brock unattended in the bathtub. (Never for an amount of time long enough for him to get brain damage if he were to go without oxygen that entire time.)

I leave Brock unattended in the backyard. (Trust me, I watched him for 30 minutes, and he only picks the poisonous berries and looks at them, he's never put them in his mouth.)

I have left newborns unattended on the changing table. (They make those pads U-shaped for a reason, even with Curtis' monster strength, he can't get up that hill...)

I let the baby sleep in my bed. (When Curtis wakes up between 5 and 7am, I let him sleep with me until I get up; this is more selfish than anything. I love snuggling with my teeny baby. The Boppy can have him for 8 hours, can't I get him for 2?)

I have re-heated a same bottle, fed a baby from a bottle that has been sitting out for more than one hour, and don't record when the milk was pumped, so I just hope it's still good. It doesn't smell sour...

I have let Brock go an entire day on nothing but milk, juice and fruit snacks.

I don't buckle Curtis into the swing. (Which is only an issue when Brock decides the blanket he is sleeping on is his and tries to pull it out from under Curtis.)

I let Brock stand in the basket part of the shopping cart. (And he may or may not have fallen out on one or more occasion - on Matt's watch, of course.)

There. I've said it. What's done is done.