This morning as I changed a quick Gemma diaper, I got to thinking. I had just opened a new package of Luvs size 3's and I paused to take a trip down memory lane.Back January 1997, we had just brought home our new little winter princess. Noelle had just rounded our family out to a nice even quartet. We were living in married student housing in the Great White North, and our two kidlings were sharing one of our two tiny cinderblock-walled bedrooms. We had a white, not-really-wood, type dresser thing for the kids to share. It was almost like a little mini entertainment center. The left side of the dresser opened up and had three or four shelves inside. In an attempt (a very futile attempt) to be semi-organized,( it's a life long struggle) I opened all of the packages of diapers that we had received as gifts and the ones we had bought and stacked them into straight tidy white stacks on the shelves inside the dresser. Rows of toddler diapers along side little newborn diapers. It was an overwhelming moment for me, my life's destiny staring me right in the face. I grabbed the camera.
If I had a scanner I would share.
I chuckle at myself now. I was a young (very young) mother taking a new step in parenting. Nate was gone during the day going to school and working three different jobs to support our family, and I was home with my our little ones. I was now outnumbered. The diapers were a wake up call to me. A visual of what was to come. Oh if I had only known. I haven't quit changing diapers for eleven years and three months. We have always had at least two kids in diapers, sometimes three if you count pullups.
As I wrapped up the diaper this morning and threw it into the trash, I smiled to myself. What kind of a picture would it be if I had ALL the diapers (clean of course) that we have used in the past eleven years, stacked up in a room? How long would they stretch if we lined them all up end to end? A mile? Ten miles? I think that if the nineteen year old mother that I was could have seen that picture, she would have passed out. One day at a time, one diaper at a time.
10 comments:
that is an interesting thought....
Wow, now that would be a sight! I can't even begin to imagine, lol.
My dad one actually calculated that number up for me, and it was staggering. And it made me realized I've spent a large percentage of the last 9 years dealing with body fluid.
Neat Heth...really neat.
I love watching the enthusiasm of young parents. It does however make me feel a bit jaded sometimes though.
that's awesome. what are you going to do when you're all done? to think when i have maja we tried cloth, yuk!
a great friend gave me a card once that said, you shouldn't have to wipe anybody's anything today!
Thank God we can't see everything that is ahead of us, true?
One diaper at a time is right! Sometimes it seems so overwhelming when we are in the middle of all that busyness but in the end, all of it is a blessing!
11 years and 3 months taken day by day is a SERIOUS accomplishment. What a great blog!
Can you take a digital picture of the picture?
And, six kids, huh? Can't imagine the amount of diapers, but hey -- it's time to start working on the seventh!
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