The Mother of Invention

Braden & his mom, Tamara

Necessity is the mother of invention.

---Plato

It wasn't truly necessary to weigh Braden on Thanksgiving Day. He wasn't the one who had overdosed on turkey and Great Grandma's dressing and Aunt Abby's pecan pie.

But, during a lull in the board games and the ballgames, we found new entertainment: Weigh the baby.

I don't know what happened to the old baby scale. My mom had a scale for the four of us. It looked similar to this one I found by searching "old baby scale" on Google. (Yes, if it weighed her babies it is old. In fact, it now qualifies as an antique ... or at least a collectible.)

My sister, Lisa, and I then passed the scale back and forth as our babies were born.

But I guess it didn't survive to begin weighing my mother's great-grandbabies.

So poor Braden was plopped like a sack of sugar on an old kitchen scale.

And, after testing the scale for accuracy with a 4-pound sack of sugar ...

... it was determined that Braden, who was born August 20, now weighs 12.75 pounds.

He looks surprised by that, doesn't he?

Alas, I don't think the rest of us are as surprised by our holiday weekend weight gain.