Things I Know as a New(ish) Mom

Y’all… can you believe that it is NOVEMBER already?!! I can’t believe it! Oh and Miss Taylor turns four months old today (but I won’t have the recap until tomorrow!!)! I mean seriously, the older I get the faster the years go by! And this year has been filled with huge life changing things (ahem… parenthood). I have more big life changing news to share with you guys later that I can’t quite get my mind around how to write about right now.  But lets just suffice it to say that this will go down as one of the craziest years of my life.  But today I’m focusing on the things that four months in I know as a new mom.

1. My daughter smiling and laughing is the greatest thing in the world. It doesn’t matter how many times she does it or what makes it happen, but when that smile lights up her face, everything in my world melts away.
2. I don’t need as much sleep to operate as a previously believed.  Over the last four months the most I have slept at one time is 6 consecutive hours… and frequently it is less than 4 uninterrupted hours. But the world hasn’t come to an end and honestly… I feel great. I’m not tired all the time… and sure, I would love more than anything to sleep in until 10 on a Saturday morning, but really… I’m doing okay.
3. My fridge looks packed full… until I throw out the expired food.  Maybe real grown-ups have mastered the art of not letting food/leftovers expire, but this is not something I’ve mastered… I’m pretty sure I’m not even in the intern stage of learning this skill, but I’ll keep trying.
4. Breastfeeding was the best decision I’ve made.  I want to post more about this later, but after the first (REALLY ROUGH) month, its been fantastic. I am definitely in the camp of to each their own in how to feed their child, but for me this was an excellent choice and I am grateful for the support from friends, family and my hospital to make this possible.
5. Body fluids are easier to deal with than I thought… I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be very good at dealing with these since I have a super sensitive gag reflex, but I find myself easily wiping snot away from my daughter’s nose and I only change my shirt if she spit up A LOT.  And that’s what we call very disgusting Badges of Honor.  (or rather… I don’t have enough clothes for that or patience to do that much laundry…)
6. The whole pregnancy process, birth and the first year of a child’s life is truly incredible. It is unbelievable to watch a child go from nonexistence to coming into this world and then watching her learn and grow and change on  daily basis. I am frequently amazed at how much she changes and learns as her dexterity increases, she is more alert, she is more personable and she gains new skills.
7.  Time is FLYING. It honestly feels like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and even though I am amazed at how much she has changed, I cannot believe that this much time has gone by!
8. Little babies=lots of laundry… for me and her! (see number 5 about body fluids) Just because they are little does not mean they have smaller amounts of laundry… between burp cloths, a few outfits a day, and the spit up on my clothes, I do a LOT of laundry.
9. You think your child is the cutest thing. Ever. I now understand why first children receive so much attention. There are tons of people who are FASCINATED by everything she does…”oh she cooed!”, “look at her chewing on her hands… that’s precious!!” etc.  I actually sent my husband a picture the first time she accidentally grasped a toy.   And honestly? I’m not likely to stop any time soon. I’m so fascinated by the learning process and watching her gain new skills and I’m going to enjoy this phase of life where I have nothing to do but watch her grow.
10. I wouldn’t change any of these things for the world.  I wouldn’t give back the sleep… or the early evenings… or the massive mountains of laundry due to all.the.bodily.fluids.  I don’t even want time to speed up or for her to move to the next stage. I am trying so so hard to enjoy every phase and spending quality time with my daughter.  It is so tempting to keep looking forward to the next milestone… when will she roll over, crawl, walk, have teeth, etc.  But I know that she will never be in these stages again and I’m so grateful to get to experience each one with her.

So here’s to taking the moments to enjoy all the ups and downs of parenthood… and hoping time will slow down just a bit so I can enjoy each moment.