Baby sleeping in the bathroom

[adidas]

She knows all the right things to do. She's posted about them. When she was pregnant she posted a hooter hider with a wire edge and made a comment that indicates she KNOWS how important it is to her to maintain eye contact while a baby is being breastfed. She used to babywear. She used to enjoy playing with toys with him. She was excited about their life in Chicago when they first got there. She used to want to document herself interacting with him. Watch the video down the bottom. She KNOWS all of this stuff.

thatwifeblog.com/2010/08/operation-documenting-mothers-and-babies/

I think the combination of a failed breastfeeding relationship, plus moving to Chicago combined with some PPD and led her down a dark path and she doesn't want to acknowledge it. She's obviously very deeply depressed. Hopefully going away for 6 weeks will help her. A break from the baby and her husband (which is also a good thing for the baby) will hopefully lead her to realize that she needs to be more actively attentive when she's home.

Does anyone know whether they're moving out of their apartment while she goes to BYU and her DH and baby go to her parents' farm? Hopefully they'll get a new place after she finishes school and the baby will have a bedroom for himself. She made a few comments when they first moved to Chicago about the bathroombedroom being temporary.

[Mountain Girl]

I’ve had women and black people nod their heads and agree with me that as a white male I’m going to have the hardest time climbing upwards. Whether it’s promotion at my firm or getting to business school, I am being honest when I say my life would be made if I were a black woman – no question about it.

He actually has this conversation with women and black people? Mmmmhmmmm.

I find it weird (as if everything else wasn't bad enough) that ThatWife is hamming it up in every picture with her baby. Most pictures of parents with their babies, unless they're posed portraits, show the parent interacting (ha!) or reacting to what the kid is doing. Going "look at me, look at me!" while baby sits in the unfocused part of the picture is just weird. (Sorry if someone else already mentioned this.)

[Austin]

I get a very strong exhibitionist vibe from her, but I don't know what that means exactly. I mean, in terms of what's wrong with her.

[Witsec7]

I was not comfortable watching her and the baby in the video clip. All of her interaction was at and for the camera. She was constantly 'posing' him to face the camera. The interaction between her and her child was flat. She didn't seem comfortable handling him either.

edited to add: That blog entry with the clip was more about her own self image than raising her child.

[atheistjd]

Congrats sableduck :D

[StarrieEyedKat]

Congratulations sableduck!

I can't get this woman out of my head. When I look at my happy kids, or I see a parent interacting with their kid out in public, I get really sad for ThatBaby. I can't imagine not wanting to interact with my children, or screaming back at my baby, or repeatedly scolding an infant for getting spaghetti sauce on the carpet on accident. I know they drive me up the wall on a daily basis (Oh my god, the 3 year old) but I still find them so fascinating and amazing and I love watching them learn. You can actually SEE them learning things, it's so rewarding to be the one teaching them and helping them. It breaks my heart that her son is either locked up in the effing bathroom in the pitch black or caged off with very few toys to stimulate him while she plays on her computer. I surf the web on and off all day, but the focus of my attention is always my kids.

I'm not trying to say I'm the greatest mom in the world, but I can't imagine staying at home with my kids all day if they frustrated me or bored me as much as her son seems to. Not everyone is meant to be a mom or a SAHM - this is a prime example of that and it's doing a huge disservice to her child.

I don't understand the attitude she gets, either. If numerous people were repeatedly telling me that I don't seem to be interacting well with my child, or that keeping my baby in the bathroom is a bad idea, or that my husband is a douche, or that I shouldn't use electric clippers on my baby while he's sitting in a tub full of water then I would start to listen to them! Even if I didn't change my ways, I wouldn't be all "You are stupid and wrong and I always do things the right way." I said this before, but she just seems so smug. And self absorbed.

[makepeace]

Anyone checked out her tumbler?

thatwife.tumblr.com

It tells a fuller story, more videos and photos of them out and about.

However this photo was eye catching:

thatwife.tumblr.com/page/13 - 9th photo down the page.

Caption: "This is his room while in Washington. The photo closet! Technically a bathroom so he feels right at home :)"

[emmiedahl]

Holy crap, her parents live really near me. That is the landscape I see every day. Granted, most of central Washington looks alike.

[StarrieEyedKat]

However this photo was eye catching:

thatwife.tumblr.com/page/13 - 9th photo down the page.

Caption: "This is his room while in Washington. The photo closet! Technically a bathroom so he feels right at home :)"

For fuck's sake, do they not realize that he isn't a coat to be thrown in the closet until needed?! He's literally being stored away in bathrooms half of his life. I get that sometimes when space is crunched you make do, but the child's nursery is a bathroom so his parents' computers have enough room. I challenge anyone to say that to someone and not get a side eye.

[treemom]

http://thatwife.tumblr.com/post/8983782 ... get-in-the

Wtf. I hope that doesn't meant they use the tub to keep him out of trouble while they are doing other stuff.

[Wolfie]

This is the man who taught it to my DD.

RIP Utah.

Um, are you my neighbor?

[treemom]

http://thatwife.tumblr.com/post/8257209 ... ito-attack

Shouldn't you notice one or two bites and then deeet the kid up?

[Witsec7]

Um, are you my neighbor?

I'm a neighborly kinda person. Drop me a p.m.

[Annette]

http://thatwife.tumblr.com/post/8257209928/after-a-particularly-vicious-mosquito-attack

Shouldn't you notice one or two bites and then deeet the kid up?

:( That looks so miserable, poor baby!!

[Witsec7]

thatwife.tumblr.com/post/8796633117/ive-discovered-an-awesome-new-way-to-let-him-feed

I don't get this, its either a way to tease with food, or a trick she wants to teach him.

[NurseNell]

thatwife.tumblr.com/post/8796633117/ive-discovered-an-awesome-new-way-to-let-him-feed

I don't get this, its either a way to tease with food, or a trick she wants to teach him.

That looks just plain mean.

[masagoroll]

Hmm. She seems much more involved with him on her Tumblr stuff. That's good!

ETA: Hey, I'm "Secretly Bill Gothard" now!

[Brainsample]

:( That looks so miserable, poor baby!!

They look more like flea bites, actually. Mosquito bites aren't usually that red for that long of a period of time for the whole group of bites to be red like that.

[Witsec7]

Hmm. She seems much more involved with him on her Tumblr stuff. That's good!

ETA: Hey, I'm "Secretly Bill Gothard" now!

I'm pretty amazed at her web presence. Does it take a lot of time to do all that posting? I'm an elder that doesn't social network and couldn't imagine breaching my personal privacy or that of my family. I have a hard time understanding how one could spend so much time taking documenting the kind of stuff she does ( her hair bun, wardrobe changes, clothing purchases, every plate of food she's dined on).

[masagoroll]

I'm pretty amazed at her web presence. Does it take a lot of time to do all that posting? I'm an elder that doesn't social network and couldn't imagine breaching my personal privacy or that of my family. I have a hard time understanding how one could spend so much time taking documenting the kind of stuff she does ( her hair bun, wardrobe changes, clothing purchases, every plate of food she's dined on).

Taking pics and posting them is fast, but doing it SO MUCH and documenting EVERY LITTLE THING would take up lots of time. She definitely does that more than most people...more than almost anyone I've seen!

[ilovetchotchkes]

I'm pretty amazed at her web presence. Does it take a lot of time to do all that posting? I'm an elder that doesn't social network and couldn't imagine breaching my personal privacy or that of my family. I have a hard time understanding how one could spend so much time taking documenting the kind of stuff she does ( her hair bun, wardrobe changes, clothing purchases, every plate of food she's dined on).

I don't do it to the extent that SHE does it but personally I post a lot of stuff that my son does on FB but I have a LOT of family out of state and a LOT of friends who that's the only way I keep in touch with (believe me when I say I can't STAND talking on the phone). My goal is so that his aunt and uncle ESPECIALLY can feel like they're not missing out. However, I've got it set so that only friends can see it. And i've got filters within filters.

And, the difference for me is, all of updates of facebook are usually funny/cute stuff he's done. A picture of him sitting in my tomato patch cramming cherry tomatoes into his mouth with a gleeful grin on his face, him finger painting with yogurt... you get the idea. Not of my damn hair dos or clothing purchases. I did a huge friends cut/purge when I realized there were people I didn't know, whom I've never met who were seeing his every day life, and it creeped me the hell out.

[Extricated]

http://thatwife.tumblr.com/post/8257209928/after-a-particularly-vicious-mosquito-attack

Shouldn't you notice one or two bites and then deeet the kid up?

Judging by the shape of the ankle and foot that's her leg not his. Hopefully he fared better.

[ChickeyMonkey]

I just love that she so seriously calls it "his cage." I can see myself jokingly saying a few years down the road, "Oh, go put little Johnny in his cage!" But no, this poor little boy is literally in an effing cage. The mind boggles. :shock:

For what it's worth, I always called the play yard thing (they sell them in pet stores as well as places like Toys R Us) a "cage" because I could never remember the thing's name for some reason. Our youngest didn't stay in there very long (so long trying to do anything without him getting into anything *sigh*) because he learned how to climb out very quickly. Then he'd just drag the damn thing wherever he wanted to go while he was still in it. Our oldest would play quietly for a time, when he was little. The youngest? Not so much. The play yard did make a good place to toss all the baby toys for a quick cleanup, though.

[cupcakes]

http://thatwife.tumblr.com/post/1152693 ... ughty-this

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the open comet cleaner next to the toilet.

And obviously he was left alone in the bathroom to make that mess, meaning he was left alone with a bottle of comet cleaner.

....

This has honestly, for me, gone beyond funny and snarky. This is negligent and sad.

[cupcakes]

In response to another mom blogger asking if anyone's kids drinks/tries to drink their bath water:

"P drinks entire (empty) shampoo bottles full. We stopped putting soap in the water to make bubbles b/c of it"

So you are letting him drink shampoo bottles full of his own dirty bath water?

Really? Am I reading that right?

Fucking awesome.