I was sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for my appointment (I won’t go into detail but I was there waiting for almost an hour!) and happened to read an article about Jennifer Lopez’s baby nursery in one of the many parenting magazines that I browsed while waiting. The article criticized J Lo’s luxury baby nursery as a death trap with curtains billowing over the cribs, candles and breakables on tables, and suffocation hazards decorating every surface of each crib.

As a person in the design and marketing field, there was probably quite a bit of styling involved in that photo shoot, but even so, as a first time mom, I’m sure that even J Lo might have gone a little overboard on the baby stuff. Even non-celebrity first-time moms are seen loading up on all sorts of gadgets and decorations for the baby’s nurserys in the hopes of making it the cutest and best nursery possible.

I noticed that a friend of Mr Puffle’s had posted a picture of his new baby’s nursery on his page – proud of the custom mural he had painted on one wall of the room. I browsed through the rest of the nursery pics and noted that each item was carefully places and everything looked neat and orderly. On the changing table, on both sides of the changing pad, I could see little baskets filled with tiny diapers, diaper rash ointment, lotions, and wipes. Ah. First time parents. Only parents who have gone through this before would know that after a couple of months, your beautiful wiggly baby will be fascinated by those same bottles and tubes and crinkly packets and you have just put them in grabbing range (or kicking range) of their little hands and feet.

I remember carefully placing diapers into a little basket on the changing table. That was four years ago. Now the changing table has stacks of diaper boxes on either side because both Puppy and Miss Piggy are still in diapers. Rash ointments and lotion bottles are stashed on the window ledge – just out of reach of wiggly and curious hands. A lovely picture of cranes on a Chinese scroll has been removed from above the changing table and sits tucked behind it against the wall. Carefully staged baby rooms have turned into romper rooms for toddlers and preschoolers. Toys clutter the floor and stuffed animals lay in strewn about the beds and floors like victims of an attack.

Happy chaos.