I Have Become a Mum
I know, you may find the title of this entry a tad obvious given that Isabel is 8 months old now (holy shit…) but I am just sat here evaluating my day and it occurred to me that I am a mum. I do mummy things. Today I went shopping for ‘responsible’ things and didn’t get sidetracked by shiny crap I don’t need. I changed nappies. I made salmon fishcakes from scratch. I made conversation with 2 total strangers. I got stared/giggled at by teenagers.
I think that last one was the key to my sudden revelation. I am no longer the carefree cocky starer, I am the older recipient of the disdain shown by “hip n trendy” emo types.
Fetch me my slippers and a paper, I’m officially old.
(I was feeding Izz in case you’re wondering. Unless it was my hair they were staring at… thinking about it, I did have a pretty bad hair day.)
Nellie said:
On 24 Jul at 8:50 pm
I’m like that without being a mum! I don’t think being a mum makes you old. Just a little more responsible. You still have youth!
Trish said:
On 24 Jul at 9:10 pm
Being a teenager myself, my guess is they were laughing because you were breastfeeding. (You know, "LOL BOOB")
Just ’cause you’re a mom doesn’t mean you’re old! My mom still thinks she’s nineteen – which is really embarrassing sometimes – and she’s almost forty. :/
Mumblies said:
On 24 Jul at 9:11 pm
Your hair was fine, so they must have been giggling at the almost sight of your ‘shock horror’ ….breast!
Welcome to the world of sensibleness Jem, but do bear in mind that you can still have impromptu fun and frolics, even though you are really really old now XD (That is if you can drag Karl the long suffering away from his computers that is)
I’m certain you will survive this dreadful stage… we all do you know ;)
Brigitte said:
On 24 Jul at 9:17 pm
Realizing that you’re growing up is terrifying to me XP I realized that I bought a house around its one year anniversary. I got up in the middle of the night to turn down the AC and was like, "Oh my lord, I bought a house!!" lol
Teenagers have giggled at me since I was a teenager though, I get called m’am consistently though, I hate that XP
Haley said:
On 24 Jul at 9:22 pm
Congratulations, Jem, and welcome to the club! :P Ehe. I’m not a mom as I do not have children, but I think that "sudden revelation" that you had can happen to people for a multitude of reasons, whether they are focused around children or not.
For me, personally, being in my early 20s I never thought there would be a kind of "sudden revelation" to understanding I was a true adult. I was legally responsible for myself at 18, and have been through many "grown up" situations that like 98% of under-20-year-old people will never and should never experience. I thought it was a gradual thing, growing up. While that was indeed true, I did most definitely have that kind of light switch moment that told me that everything in my life was very, very different from those younger than me and a lot of my peers.
My mother has been through an extremely debilitating mystery illness for the past 2+ months, but because of our entire "family situation", it has been me – the youngest of her three children – that has had complete responsibility for her, including legal responsibilities. My mother is in her 60s and has always been the one taking care of me, so to realize the roles had switched in such a drastic way in a very short amount of time was exactly when I had that "sudden revelation" that adulthood had crept upon me without my noticing it.
So I definitely understand what this entry is all about, even though I don’t have kids. ;) And you know what? There is nothing wrong with sitting on the porch with your slippers reading the paper with a cup of tea. :P Not a thing wrong with it at all!
Aisling said:
On 24 Jul at 9:59 pm
Do you wear Mom jeans? Because I will certainly giggle at you for that.
Ashley said:
On 25 Jul at 12:44 am
Good for you. You’re an awesome mom. :) Who cares if people stare. You’re awesome. You should be stared at. ;)
Jem said:
On 25 Jul at 6:55 am
@Aisling: what are mom jeans? I wear ‘normal’ bootcut/boyfriend cut jeans. I think. :S
Kendra said:
On 25 Jul at 9:07 am
Just wait until someone decides to tell you that you look like a mum. What the hell does that mean?
I was in work the other day with EMZR and Hubs, and one of my co-workers told me I looked ‘more and more like a mum.’ Is it cuz I’m 8 months prego again? And toting around a 1 year old? Nope, first thing that went through my head was that the maternity top I was wearing was something my mum said was cute. AKA it was now frumpy. And was being retired from the closet ASAP. :(
Just wait until you call someone a jerk face or replace words like ‘ass’ in a story with ‘bum’ or ‘butt’ while speaking with another adult and there are no children around. *sigh*
Amanda said:
On 25 Jul at 9:57 am
Nonsense. I do all that (nappies aside), and as far as I’m aware I’m neither a mother nor pregnant. You’re simply an adult with responsibilities. :)
Aisling said:
On 25 Jul at 1:55 pm
You know, mom jeans: http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z40/unclebad/mom.jpg
Mimi said:
On 26 Jul at 12:05 pm
I think maybe they are the ones that are pulled up around your belly button (or higher) that sort of just taper at the bottom. Sometimes with elastic bands!!
Katy said:
On 26 Jul at 8:20 pm
I’d like to say that they were giggling/staring at the breastfeeding (so either "teehee, boobs" or "urgh, how dare she").. but then I remembered that these are teenagers in Telford, so it’s not like they’ve not seen/done it before :p
Jem said:
On 27 Jul at 6:24 am
Haha, harsh Katy ;) (We were in Shrewsbury though..)
Kayt said:
On 27 Jul at 6:13 pm
aww babies are so cute! I hate the fact that people feel the need to STARE.. its like they’ve never seen a mom feeding their baby or something lol. I admit I used to be one to watch what people were doing or w.e but now i dont see the point lol.
Cody said:
On 28 Jul at 6:30 am
I love your site, just to start off with, but the reason I found it is why I’m writing this now. About an hour ago, I was searching for "Swimchick", considering when I had my website 6 years ago, that website was among the top personal blogs. As you know, that is definitely no longer the case. But after reading the main page, I left her site, and in my Google search, I found your "pants" review on Swimchick. I’d really like to thank you, I needed that laugh. And now, an hour after exploring your website, I realize that I’d really like to get back into the once-dominating world of personal blogs. Thank you again, and you have an amazing and inspiring website.
Anna said:
On 29 Jul at 2:31 am
I bet every mom goes through a moment of wow I am turning into a parent. Doing parent things and following in the steps of there parents. Granted this is idealized, but you get the picture. :D
Dom said:
On 29 Jul at 9:13 am
People often stare at me and laugh when I breastfeed.
Rebecca said:
On 31 Jul at 3:10 am
Jem’s not old!!!
Also, those mum jeans…. hot stuff.
Bex said:
On 01 Aug at 2:25 pm
I totally know the feeling, Jem. The hard bit is resisting the terrible urge of ‘in mahhhhhh day…’ and ‘THIS is proper music *puts on ye olde band-of-yore*’. The best part of motherhood, however, is The Look – the ability to make a child squirm guiltily from 30 feet away.
Chris said:
On 03 Aug at 5:16 pm
Hip and trendy or idiots?
Sudo said:
On 04 Aug at 5:23 am
Congratulations Jem! You are definitely not old. Just think of yourself as being like a fine wine, you are better with age. ;)