Part I:

My how things have changed over the past 22 years. Change is good, we should always welcome change, however I’m still amazed at all the new inventions for mothers and babies. I know I sound like my own mother when I hear myself say, “We never had that when you were a baby” and that’s good. I had only one child; I can’t even imagine how my mother did it for six children and she had absolutely no help. Today, there is so much help, so much public awareness and so many services available for all income levels that it would be foolish to not take advantage of any freebies or assistance. Be it physical or internet there is help everywhere these days. Not so, 22 years ago.

Which got me thinking in retrograde – how it was for me 22 years ago as a new mother who had to work full-time outside the home. I don’t want to mislead you; I worked full-time because I wanted to, I was a Superwoman, just like most every other young mother in the 80’s. I was 24 years old at the time, had a good-paying job that I’d been at for four years, so having a baby would be a piece of cake. It was the height of the Murphy Brown era, which incidentally Murphy was my idol; I even had the Murphy Brown hairdo and those horrid shoulder pads. Let’s not discuss 80’s fashion trends, okay?

Maternity clothing designers were still dressing expectant mothers in either drastic-wear or in cutesy ways which really weren’t very cute. Take for instance the repulsive tee shirt with the writing “Under Construction” across the chest and a large arrow pointing toward your stomach. Yeah, right.

Car seats just became mandatory and suddenly letting the kids bounce all around the car was no longer legal, it was okay for us when I was a kid but not the new generations. What was a really odd memory while writing this was that I didn’t 100% quit smoking while I was pregnant, but I cut down to only one before work and three at night. I didn’t dare smoke during the day where my coworkers could see me, and I was able to smoke right at my desk. But the funniest part is I was able to light up and enjoy as many as I wanted in my hospital bed! I remember hanging out with the other young mother in my semi-private room and we would gab and smoke together. Like I said earlier, change is good.

This Pajama Mommy website is a prime example of excellent change. There was nothing, and I mean nothing like it in the 80’s or early 90’s. The Baby Einstein contest, and oh! that Rebecca Denny bag – I saw that bag in real life and try as I might, I couldn’t bribe my daughter to let me have it for a carry-all type bag. I love bags.

It doesn’t look like a diaper bag, not that it’s not supposed to, but what grown woman wants to walk around with cartoon characters on everything. Cartoon characters are nice but let’s not go overboard with them; baby things, not my things should have cartoon characters on them. Some things can still be kept in a more mature light, if one chooses. I would choose the Rebecca Denny bag because it fits my taste. Care Bears and Winnie the Pooh are adorable, but I didn’t want them on everything I own. And, if memory serves me correctly, I had a royal blue and white pinstriped bag for my daughter’s diaper bag. Even then I went with conservative.