Baby Ear Piercings!

Before I even knew we were having a girl, I was already dreaming of getting her ears pierced. Why? Just because it's cute and my mom had mine done at 6 months. I really don't know my reason... It just popped in my head and there I was dreaming about it.

I had never heard about all the conflicting opinions on the "issue" until I posted Should You Pierce Your Baby's Ears? I asked about it on Facebook and Reddit Parenting. I didn't realize it was a crime (according to some people) to get a piercing I thought was socially acceptable. All the online drama made me really anxious and nervous when I went into Clair's to have her ears pierced yesterday. I felt like I was about to ride the world's biggest roller coaster. I was nauseous and sick to my stomach! Blahh. I went with my sister, Pricilla and close friend, Jannalee. They both are in favor of baby ear piercings and were there for support and encouragement. I asked several concerns I had to the assistant manager who would be piercing her ears with another assistant. She reassured me that she had done several ear piercings, many of those 3 month old babies and to not be worried because caring for them is easy. And it is easy. I can't say much yet because I've only been caring for Miss A's ears for 15 hours. I bought her cute silver, daisy, sterling silver earrings in order not to worry about nickel possibly bothering her skin. These earrings lie flat on her ear too so she won't be able to pull them out as easily as studs.

For ear care, they gave me a free after-care ear solution for her piercings. I simply apply it to a cotton ball and swab around the piercing 3 times a day. This is EASY. However, I had horrible images in my head such as a bloody, painful ear that would hurt to touch it... I didn't really think that would happen but I didn't know what to expect. The only piercing I remember getting done was having my tongue pierced. (That didn't hurt or bleed...). But I was being a paranoid mother. 

In the store, they had me sit up in their tall chair with Miss A on my lap. She was having fun and pulling at everything in sight. I gave her my phone to distract her. (Her favorite toy!) They planned where they would pierce and applied small dots to her ears. We all checked to make sure they looked okay and bam! we were ready. My stomach was rollllllliinnnggg. And then in less than 2 seconds, it was over and done. She cried for less than a minute and was soon smiling again. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. AT ALL!

Photo Courtesy of Jannalee :)

BUT THEN.... yes... There's more. Something that I never imagined would happen, happened. Her earrings were crooked (not lined up). I didn't say anything in the store because I was hoping it wasn't true. Jannalee, Pricilla, Bill, and I all noticed. The next morning, my mom came over to look at them. She could hardly tell they were crooked but we brought her back to Claire's again because I didn't want them to look weird. The store manager said one earring needed to be fixed. So they took it out and pierced it again. Right on the spot. She said that the hole would close up in half an hour and that there would be no scarring from the other piercing. While it all sounds terrible (like I'm the meanest mother in the whole world...), it wasn't bad. Miss A was not happy about getting it pierced again but she did really good. The lady was super patient with Miss A, making sure to get the dot placed in the exact spot to match up with the other earring. There was another little girl in line to get one ear repierced as well. It was a two year old who took out one of the earrings right after it was pierced! Afterwards we took Miss A on the carousel at the mall and she laughed and laughed! It was her first time. :) I'm definitely happy it's done and now we just have to make sure it heals well. I'm not worried about it at all because she doesn't even notice the earrings. When I cleaned her ears before, she sat very nicely for me and let me do it. It doesn't hurt her.

Another thing that's just sooo cute is that her daddy thinks they are adorable on her. He honestly likes them and doesn't think it was stupid to get them done. I would NEVER pierce our baby's ears without his permission but he was a little nervous about the idea at first. Now he loves it! He even sneaked into her room when he got out of work at 1am last night to look at them.

TWO MORALS OF THIS STORY:

1. If our next child is a girl, we are definitely piercing her ears around 3-4 months old. This way she won't be moving around so much and they can get a good look at where they want to place the holes. They will be able to take their time. [Though, 7 months is better than taking a toddler to get ear piercings! At least Miss A will not pull at them.]
2. Don't ask people's opinion when you don't want them! I should have never asked what people thought of baby ear piercings. It was silly to ask others' opinions because I had already made my mind up. I was just looking for reassurance. If you as a parent believe it's moral and you want to do it, go for it! It's your child. Your own opinion on controversial issues is what makes you unique.

***Please no negative comments. They will get deleted. Thank you!***

Should You Pierce Your Baby's Ears?

Before I found out the sex of my baby, I hoped it would be a girl so I could pierce her ears. Trivial, yes... but I thought it looked so cute and pretty. I've always been thankful that my mom pierced my ears when I was 6 months old so I never considered any moral issues with baby ear piercings. Now that Miss A is 7 months old already, I have grown more and more hesitant about actually doing it.

Pros/ DO IT!

• It's Cute. Duh! [Pretty earrings to match pretty little outfits! :) ]
• Chances are she will choose to get her ears' pierced later in life. Why not do it now and get it over with?
• It is less painful for a baby because their ear lobes are thinner. (So I hear).) Baby will forget about the pain quickly... an older child will remember this memory. I personally am happy to not have this memory, even though it's not that painful.
• This is not an abnormal thing for a parent to do... people have been piercing their ears for thousands of years. It's not like you are piercing your baby's belly button!
• It's socially acceptable to have ear piercings.
• The internet causes so much room for dramatizing every and any issue you never considered to be an issue in the first place. Do what you want as a parent. I've never heard of a girl complaining and irate about their mother piercing their ears when they were a baby. Just saying!

Cons/ Wait...

• You as a parent have to provide daily ear care to make sure it doesn't get infected. Baby can't take care of it. (Obviously)
• Baby might pull on the earrings or get it snagged on something and rip it out. 
• Baby does not choose to get a hole in their ear. Violation of baby's body???
• Baby could swallow the piercing.
• Doctor might not like the idea... though you can ask. (Update: Miss A's doctor is fine with it.)
• You could hold off the excitement until she is older, when she asks to have her ears pierced. It will be a special occasion for her.

Clearly I am pro baby ear piercings!
However, I need people to convince me that it is okay to do it. This is mainly because of my baby's paternal grandmother and maternal great-grandmother who are strongly opposed to the idea. My mom is PRO ear piercings... but that is because she did mine and my sisters at a very young age.

Let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions!

xx Monica xx

Update: My baby's ears are pierced now... Here is her ear piercing story! =)

Another Wave of Depression

In order to keep my Facebook and Twitter free from being bogged down by negative posts, I will try to capture them all in one blog post here. I told myself before starting my blog that I would mainly post about positive things related to family life--- life with a baby. But let's face it. Family life.. or any part of life does not only consist of sunshine and rainbows. If there are ups, there are downs. And right now... I am down.

I'm feeling...
Trapped. My beautiful 7 month old baby makes me feel like I can't do anything, despite all my ranting and raving of how "Just because you have a baby, doesn't mean you can't do anything!" The absolute worst thing about parenting is that I have had to wake up to a crying baby everyday for the past 7 months. [That's a big FML]. In addition, my husband is at a job with a crappy schedule & he is forced to work a lot of overtime. This makes me feel like I'm going crazy, especially because I am home 24/7 without him and without a job myself.
Bored.  I am stuck at home... I feel like I'm waiting for my life to end. Nothing exciting is happening. Baby milestones are exciting but they aren't exciting when you're withering away while your baby is blossoming.
Uninspired/Unmotivated. I can't find motivation to look for jobs. I wanted to apply for jobs outside of Michigan/outside of the country. Now I can't do that because I am stuck with a million dollars in student loans and Bill has a job that he does not (rightfully) want to leave yet. He said he will leave it, if I find a job that is higher pay. Also we have been looking for houses to rent in a town I absolutely do not want to live in. Everyone (including Bill) thinks we should look there and it's because of convenience of having a free babysitter nearby. My biggest reason for not wanting to move to this place is irrational and therefore ignored. I simply hate this town. Why? Just because of how I felt when living there. Too difficult to describe. I'm uninspired because I'm not accomplishing anything I wanted to do. My bigger goals were moving away/having an exciting career, but I shouldn't complain because I have the family I've wanted too. Handsome/loving/awesome husband & beautiful/healthy baby...
Worthless. I don't feel like I will find a job that even has decent pay. When I say decent, I mean $20,000 annually. I have way too many student loans to settle for something like that. I can find a job, trust me but you what that job is? Sales clerk jobs.... Other minimum wage jobs. For now, I work as a reader, grading standardized tests. If that was full time, it'd be great because the people are awesome. It's part time though so... yeah.. I must motivate myself to commit to a full-time job search. I graduated from Michigan State University over a year ago now! It's crazy how fast time flies.
Overwhelmed by Nothing. I can't keep my life organized anymore with a baby. It is difficult. I feel like I should be able to do everything and anything I want. For goodness sake I am a STAY AT HOME MOM right now. My only task is to take care of our baby. I feel overwhelmed though. I used to be able to effortlessly keep our apartment clean and keep up on laundry & the dishwasher. I don't know how to do that anymore and it bothers me because I need a clean, clutter-free space to live in.

I feel like I should be on depression medication but I really hate medicine... including birth control pills. I'm not good about remembering them. My only cure right now (which helps a bit) is coffee.

I'll be fine... I just need something unknown that's around the corner.
I have a career fair to attend tomorrow. That could help me. We will see.

Don't Do This... [Wordless Wednesday]

Daddy's Work of Art: Peas in microwave for 27 seconds.