It's Just Baby Fat

Surprise, surprise - 1 month into my New Year's resolution I slacked off. Well, I suppose that's what New Year's resolutions are for, eh?


I decided that this post should be about the major thing going on in my life right now: I am 17 weeks pregnant with baby number 2! ............(a moment of silence for your jubilant reaction).......... I found out on December 8th and tried very hard to keep it on the hush until the end of the 1st trimester, as recommended in most books. I had to tell our families because of our timely trip to Disney World, where I was unable to ride all of the major (and best) rides in the park. I still had an amazing time; it is DISNEY WORLD, afterall, but I severely missed going on "The Tower of Terror", which is my favorite ride.
I feel like I'm showing a whole lot sooner with this pregnancy - which is standard for 2nd time pregnancies - but it still makes me feel self-conscious. Oh well, it's just baby fat, and I'm only going to get bigger from here!

We have tried to explain the new baby to Killian, but he has NO clue what we're talking about. We decided this week that it would be a good idea to buy him a baby doll so that he can practice his gentility on it. Off to Toys 'R Us we went - Kim (my cousin), Killian, and I. We perused the 2 double-sided aisles of baby doll glory for close to 20 minutes. My method was to look at the prices under the dolls before looking at the actual doll - the cheaper the better. Here is a sample of my thoughts during this process:

• "$9.99....good price, but that one has cloth hands. Don't really like dolls with cloth hands."
  
• "12.99....ok price, but that face is WAY too creepy. My goal is not to give Killian nightmares about the new baby."
  
• "Oooh, that one is so cute and lifelike.....but it's $24.99, and I am not willing to spend that much on a doll that a boy will not appreciate. And Jay would think I'm retarded."
  
• "CLEARANCE!! My favorite word to see in any store! Ok...$7.99...good price...and these dolls are..." (pause to look up at the dolls)..."not white.....hmm....would that be confusing to Killian? Maybe I should continue looking."

This continued for a few more minutes before I decided to take another look at the CLEARANCE babies. Kim and I searched through them trying to find a...more accurate....baby for our situation. Meanwhile, I gave Killian one to look at. He took to it immediately; cooing at it and petting it like a cat. The one I handed him had a picture of a white girl in the picture on the front of the box, while all the other ones had African American children. This baby was also slightly different looking than the African American ones, so I decided that it must be bi-racial. For some reason, that seemed like it would be less confusing for Killian. And more importantly, I decided that it would be an excellent opportunity to teach him not only how to be gentle with a baby, but also how to be racially tolerant and open-minded. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. (And as I told Jay later - at least one of us won't be shocked when my baby comes out half-black.....Jay didn't seem to find that as humorous as I did.)

The real selling point for me, however, was the writing on the package. This particular doll is from the collection of dolls called "Lots to Love Babies" - as in they are so fat that there is more to love. That made me giggle. I have heard people say that they are attracted to heavier-set women or men because there is "more to love", but I would never think of that phrase being used with an infant. And then I saw the slogan underneath the name, which is "It's Just Baby Fat!" - which makes me laugh out loud every time I read it! (I don't know if I can explain why I find that so funny, but hopefully I'm not the only one.) I think it's the idea that a newborn baby has to justify its chubbiness by explaining that "it's just baby fat".
Since coming home with us, the nameless chubby baby has received lots of kisses from Killian, and I overheard him sweetly pointing out the baby's facial features (nose, mouth, cheeks, etc). Once in a while he also decides to "punish" the baby by smacking it. I don't know why he feels the need to do that - we NEVER smack him around. I am 100% sure that he would do this no matter what the color of the baby's skin, but I am concerned that he will beat the doll in public and it will come off as a hate crime.

I LOVE this picture because it looks like Killian is making the same exact face as the doll!!!