Reality Check

In addition to the shows I talked about before, I caught a few episodes of A Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby the last time I was at my parents' house. These shows made me feel like a big slacker while simultaneously making me wonder why on earth people do all this stuff. So here is my reality baby show!

Above, you see Jack in his car seat, ready to come home. This was about as far as we had prepared for having a baby. The first night he was home, bedtime rolled around and we weren't sure where we were going to put him while we slept.

Eventually he was living in high style. These plastic crates from my classroom became his dresser.

And you can't forget his luxury queen-sized crib.*

He had the laundry room as his closet.

When Alice was born, we had a few clean outfits and lots of diapers and some books. So far, both kids seem to be okay. That's the kind of fancy stuff you get when you're born while your parents are planning a move, which happened with both kids. So now when I watch shows where people are picking out nursery art and coordinated bedding, I am genuinely surprised that people actually do things like that. I never even considered a nursery for Alice, and if we had a third child, who knows what the poor thing would end up with, though I'm pretty sure it wouldn't matter too much.

While watching these shows, I saw tons of commercials for Toddlers & Tiaras. This is the one reality show I have been dying to see, and I just found out there are episodes online, so guess what I'll be doing when the kids are sleeping and Jay is out of town! I have a feeling it will be similar to seeing a car wreck on the side of the turnpike, but I am fascinated every time I see those commercials. How do you even get a kid to sit still long enough to put on all that makeup? I'll let you know after I've watched, because I know you'll want to know, too!

*When this picture was taken, we were in the process of packing and moving, so please don't think I'm always that bad of a housekeeper!