Not a Mommy Blog (why I won’t post baby photos)

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I had my 21 week anatomy scan last week, and in the midst of measuring bone lengths, checking for all the heart chambers, and telling us that we’re having a girl (yay!), the tech managed to snap some excellent 3D images.  One in particular turned out absolutely gorgeous.  I love it. The details of her little nose, mouth, and cheeks are so clearly her and not just some generic baby.  I can’t stop looking at it.  It’s my baby, in 3D and color.  Absolutely breathtaking.

I almost included the photo in this post as part of my gender reveal here.

Almost.

Then I went back and deleted it from the draft, replacing it with the nice stock photo seen above.  Here’s why:

First, I don’t want this piece of the internet to turn into a “Mommy Blog”.  That’s not my reason for being here.  I started this blog with an idea and a dream, not with the intentions of simply sharing details of my life.  I don’t want to lose that purpose.  Mommy blogs can be wonderful things, but that isn’t what I set out to do here.  I want to keep my focus.  I may not be able to post as often as motherhood takes over my life, but when I do, I want it to still fit in with my content from the last two years.

More significantly, though, I made a conscious choice to tie my name and photo to this blog.  I could have blogged anonymously, but I chose not to.  My daughter has not had a chance to make that choice.  I wonder what adulthood will be like for the children who have grown up with their lives digitally documented and shared for the world to see.  I wonder if in a few years college admissions counselors and employers will be looking at their applicants’ preschool photos.  I would have hated dealing with that myself, so I’m going to do my best to keep my kids from having to deal with it too much.

Will I keep all photos of my baby off social media completely?  No, I don’t think I’ll go that far.  Family and friends will take pictures and post them, I’m sure.  In my proud mommy moments I’ll probably share a few myself, but I’ll share them with specific people over e-mail or on Facebook where I keep a close eye on my privacy settings.  I won’t go crazy, though.  I’ve already had two separate people actually thank me for not inundating their Facebook newsfeeds with pregnancy photos!

However, I draw the line at posting photos of Baby Girl Roberson on my blog.  This is just too public.  I have absolutely no control over who reads these words and sees my pictures, and I’m not comfortable with that.  Ever heard of “baby role-playing“?  It’s seriously creepy, and it’s my job to protect my baby from something like that happening to her.  That ultimately convinced to me to not share even the sonogram picture here.  As beautiful and adorable as it is, it does still look like your basic 21 week baby in utero, which is why I almost justified posting it. But she’s not some generic baby.  She’s my baby.  My daughter.  And I don’t want some stranger making inappropriate use of even her sonogram picture.

I always thought I wanted a boy first, but I am excited about my daughter.  I’m so relieved to know she’s healthy.  Dan and I are enjoying narrowing down our list of names and picking out things for her dragon-themed nursery.  She’s our gift, and we’re thrilled to have her.  She will grow and develop into a unique person, and I want her to be able to do that without the eyes of the world on her.  Thank you for understanding.