Baby Haters Better Deal

It’s great to be back at work after the craziest months of my life. I was on bed rest for the end of my pregnancy due to medical complications (trust me: bed rest is nowhere near as fun as it sounds). After two nightmarish months, my daughter was born on September 2, 2012—perfect, sweet, beautiful, and healthy.

The past nine weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, tears, bottles, bath times, burping, and diapers, diapers, diapers (and more diapers). Sure, I may be running around like a spit-up-crusted, sleep-deprived psycho half the time, but I am a happy spit-up crusted, sleep-deprived psycho. The joys of motherhood! I am fairly certain that the blood coursing through my veins is 30% Maxwell House Dark Roast, and I can’t remember the last time I slept for more than four hours. In fact, I can’t remember much of anything these days, and that’s a major bummer: I want to remember every moment of my little lady’s infancy and share those memories with those I love most.

Luckily, I have a camera. And my phone has a camera. So guess what? I take pictures. A lot of pictures. Okay—an excessive amount of pictures. Can you blame me? I don’t want to forget the first time I saw that gummy little smile… or how cute she looks in my Ray Bans (prepare yourself!)… or when I dressed her in her dad’s (way, way too big) work polo… the way her nose crinkles when she sneezes… or her striking resemblance to a cherub when she sleeps.

I don’t want to forget these things, and I don’t have to. I have technology on my side. Just a few years ago, taking pictures was a process—you had to snap the pics with your camera, drive to the store for the film to be developed, wait like a chump to get your photos back, and finally watch in horror as everyone’s greasy fingers smudged up those precious pictures when you passed them around at random family get-togethers. Sharing photos took forever—and it was a huge deal. These days, I can snap a pic with my phone and upload that bad boy on to Facebook quicker than it takes me to change a diaper (which is pretty fast, because I got mad mamma skills). By the time I log on to Facebook, our entire family has had a chance to see and share the photos of our little girl. It’s amazing how social media can truly unite us all.

Yes, everyone. Even the haters: I’ve seen them; you’ve seen them. They take time out of their otherwise totally awesome and blissfully child-free lives to complain about seeing baby pics on their newsfeeds as if seeing a photograph of a child is equivalent to some sort of nuclear holocaust. There are even people out there who have devoted the time and effort into creating applications like “Unbaby Me”—an app that allows you to block all photos of children from scorching your delicate baby-hating eyes.

I’ve even had a few friends (passive-aggressively) suggest that I tone it down when it comes to sharing photos of my baby. Really.

Now don’t get me wrong—I know that seeing photos of children can be tough for those facing a loss or struggling with infertility issues. I’ve been there, and I know how hard that can be. My beef is with those who, for no apparent reason, find it necessary to scoff at mommas like me who can’t help but share pics of our kids.

I don’t get it. I don’t complain when you Instagram every meal you eat (OMG TACOS! CHEESEBURGERS! CRAFT BEER! SUSHI!) nor do I dish out the snark when you upload a string of selfies you took to show off a new outfit. What gives? You must have an appreciation for the adorable because you post and share photos of cat and kitten memes like nobody’s business. So, seriously, what’s the deal? What about a photo of a human baby is so annoying and repulsive to you? Are you so jaded and cynical that seeing a baby doesn’t, at the very least, make you smile?

I am so over it. Baby haters, I will worry about you no longer. I am a proud mother and will post and share photographs of my baby with reckless abandon. I have family and friends that live in all corners of the globe and will gleefully harness social media to unite us all in reverence of my daughter’s unparalleled cuteness. I hope my fellow mommas out there will do the same. Having a child is one of the greatest joys in life and we have a Zuckerberg-given right to share that joy without fear of judgment.

Post away, moms! Let me see those baby pics and if someone gets an attitude with you, let her know what she can do…