Relax Y'all...

The above picture was just us having fun... 

We were unprepared for the controversy that followed!

Let me set it up...

We all drove to Portland for the day to run errands, shop, and I had to meet up with a couple customers so we decided to make a day of it...

The Girlies, Baby face up there and I headed to the mall while the guys headed to Cabellas & Harbor Freight... What's the big deal you ask? Well, we don't have a mall or any of those other things near us... We have to drive 45 minutes to get to a Target and/or Starbucks and make the two hour trek to South Portland to go to a "real" mall...

I don't know about you guys but a two hour each way drive in January is a commitment for us Mainers so usually if we go we make a day of it... We all had Monday off so it became one of those days for us... We loaded all of us up in the mini van and headed off...

Like I said, we girls did the mall first thing... Macy's, Pottery Barn, Sephora, Lush, H&M, Victoria's Secret (since I guess it's impossible for twenty somethings to actually walk past that store) and the Clarks Store for "Little Miss Thing's" first actual shoes! (Plus a few other stores for good measure!) Then we met up with the guys to hit a buffet for lunch... (Yes, we do more shopping before lunch then most ladies do all day!) Then it was off to Nordstrom Rack (quickly becoming my new favorite store) and Target. 

When we were done there we headed across the parking lot to the Starbucks to meet my last customer of the day. She was running late so we were goofing off in the van... When we bought our coffee we asked for a teeny tiny little cup and thought it would be funny to have her pose with it... It never contained coffee... As in clean, new, empty... When we went to take the picture one of the girlies thought giving her the now empty little Sephora bag would be funny too... Hence the above photo. Please keep in mind we were in the van, but not moving, waiting, having fun and keeping a very overtired baby entertained until the "driving" began again and lulled her to sleep... 

I tell you all of that because when Allison posted the above photo on Facebook we got criticism... That we gave her a coffee cup, that she wasn't properly buckled (she wasn't buckled at all... We weren't moving!) and that she was wearing a bulky winter coat... (It is actually one rated safe to wear in a car seat... It looks bulky because the arms on it are long enough for a monkey so they are a bit bunched up on her arms!) 

Why are all these self proclaimed parenting police out there waiting to pounce? I get it if you are concerned for a child's safety, but the baby in the above photo is quite obviously, clean, fed & well taken care of... She is dressed appropriate for the weather and in a top of the line car seat... I would assume from all of the above that the same parents who pulled all of that off so far are fit parents and not be quick to judge.

I love the internet and the Facebook and such most of the time, but I think the semi-anonymity of it has made people a bit more judgmental and opinionated and free to voice both... I makes me glad the web was a new frontier when the girlies were small... Seriously, Katy has gotten criticism for posting a picture of the baby sleeping on her belly... She rolled herself onto her belly... She was rolling over at six weeks... When Katy responded by telling the person that she said it was impossible... Really?!?!?

Join me in reminding the thought/action police on the internet to just relax! 

On a separate note... How cute is she!?!?!?

 

Thanks for listening,