Normal Complaints on a Friday

Some days I feel like I am truly insane, by the posted definition of "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome".... and today is one of those days.  

I emailed my FIL with a few questions and he responded with a one word answer that covered the first question.  GRRRRR and I feel my bp rising. Is that normal? probably not. I want him to be different and he isn't going along with my wishes LOL.  

I also have started to really appreciate the non-goofy appearance of my kids as compared to some people I know (no one i know in this realm or in my immediate personal life...)  I am a horrible mommy b/c I compare my kids to the way I see other peoples children.

I am that mom who thinks her kids are beautiful, but I am concerned that maybe they aren't and no one will tell me.  Unattractive children are something that bugs me and pretending that I think a baby or child is cute pains me.  "isn't he precious" or "isn't she something else -- what a little monkey" come to mind.  I can't force myself to say "what a gorgeous baby" when the baby is NOT beautiful.  As you can see  above my daughter (the one with the pop-eye in our annual Christmas card the year she was born). I harbored no illusion that she was a beautiful baby.  She looked like a god-damned skinned squirrel for the first few months of her life. She was an ounce away from being diagnosed with "failure to thrive" and thank god she started to gain weight.  But the friends who told me how beautiful she is became the friends that i did not ask opinions of...b/c I know she wasn't a beautiful infant.  I think she's quirky and beautiful and full of life and energy today, but a beautiful baby she was not....  

So, I ask this question of my bloggy friends, followers, or the random person who reads parenting/mommy blogs -- do you WANT To know how your child appears to others, or do you prefer to think that your little darlings might be king or queen of the prom one day?

I would appreciate honest appraisals of my own offspring.  I am so tempted to post the pictures of the kids in question but alas, I am chicken chicken chicken...