a tale of three mothers

You may not have heard, but a new baby boy was born into the royal family this week. Of course, I don't care about such things but I know some people do.

KIDDING.

I walked around Walmart with my phone propped up in my purse so I could see the live stream and not miss the baby's debut in front of the hospital. If I had the same level of dedication to exercise that I have to this family I'd be a supermodel in less than two weeks.

Kate wasn't the only one to have a baby that day. Annabelle went into Walmart intending to buy a veterinary kit (or as she says, "a doctor for animals who are sick who need a doctor because they broke a nose or something so they need to see the doctor kit") but she got a doll instead. An adoption happened right there in aisle 11. It was very touching. She and the baby have been inseparable since. She has four other dolls she plays with occasionally but had nothing like her attachment to this baby. It could be that I pushed the other babies too much or maybe it's just the age she's at, but either way, it's so sweet to see her care for the baby.

There was a brief period of time where the baby was called both Ruthie and Paige, but even Kate Middleton hasn't released the name of her baby yet so the delay in naming was keeping with the theme of the day. The name officially decided on is Paige Aige.

She went on a field trip to the aquarium with us yesterday. Annabelle didn't show her the frogs because she knows I hate them.

All this talk of new babies got me thinking about when I had Sesame. Kate looks like a glowing angel sent down from heaven. Prince Squishy Cheeks is bundled to perfection. She looks as if she was on her way to an event at Royal Albert Hall and she happened to pick up a baby along the way.

This was me a few hours after the worse hours of my life I had Annabelle. I have never looked worse. My face is puffy, I had been crying for hours and all I wanted was more pain medicine. There was nothing angelic or heavenly about it.

Apparently, I've lost all self-respect. I swore no one would ever see this picture.

I know Kate had a team of people to help her get ready and look glamorous but I'm sure she wanted nothing more than to be wearing sweatpants and slippers instead of parading her child in front of the world. I felt so bad that she didn't get to lie down for hours on end. She may have looked saintly but I know under that pretty red dress she was wearing mesh underwear and a pad the size of New Mexico. Motherhood is the great equalizer.