hooray!  there are a few photos from mia's 6 month photo shoot up on the photographer's blog.  we won't get to see the rest of them (and there are a MILLION) for a few more weeks, but i love the ones that she's got up  right now.

my favorite is in the header of the blog.. mia's the 2nd one in on the first cycle of photos.. in the aqua dress..

and then the others are the 2nd posting on her blog, under the family in orange.
in case you didn't recognize us

why are we humans so obsessed with labels?  is it just our american culture, or is this a worldwide phenomenon?  i'm not sure.. but it drives me batty.

i've heard recently that i'm not a "typical homeschooler"..
i've also been told i'm not a "typical christian." 

really?  is anybody?  how could you be?
why are we so quick to throw a label on a person or a group?  it even starts as babies.  people ask me all the time if mia is a "good baby"... what the heck does that mean???

i assume they want to know if she doesn't cry "too much"... if she sleeps "enough"...
basically, if she doesn't annoy me too much.  is that what it is to be a good baby?
why does she need to be a good baby?
what if she does cry a lot or wake up a lot?
does that make her any less of a good baby?

it just drives me nuts.

i try super hard not to label my kids.. i see that a lot also...
kid A is the "smart one"
kid B is the "athletic one"
kid C is the "artistic one"
etc, etc.

can't we all just BE? 
is that impossible?  do we need labels? 
am i missing something?  would it be so bad?

i suppose it helps people identify others like themselves.. and maybe it comes from the whole naming everything in the Garden of Eden?  i suppose maybe there was some evolutionary benefit to find others like you?

apparently this post is just all questions.  questions that probably don't have answers.

i just wish that we all really valued individuality as much as we like to think we do.  hmm, that's too many "we"s, really.  umm, i'm struggling with finding what i want to say... but it seems like culturally, we praise individuality.  it's supposed to be a treasured commodity....

but it seems like it's just as often a downfall.
you can be an individual, just don't rock the boat TOO much.
it's ok to think for yourself, but don't shock TOO many people.
you can have a big family, but don't have TOO many kids.
you can explore career options, but don't take TOO long.
you can get some tattoos, but don't get TOO many.
etc. etc... but not TOO many etc's

i started thinking about all of this after the Duggar Family's 18th child announcement.  on both online communities i'm active in, it was the talk of the town.  everyone had something to say about it.  but why?  why does it matter how many kids they have?  why does it matter what their motivations are?  why do we worry that their kids aren't getting raised the "right" way?  what does it matter if the older kids are helping around the house more than normal kids?  are they really not getting a "normal" life?

what the heck is a NORMAL life?
i say it doesn't exist.
but yet, we seem to all be pursuing it..
and keeping tabs on those folks that aren't pursuing our version of normalcy...