Ten Things...

...I Have Learned From Being a Mother

Eddie is only a month old, but what a month it has been for all of us. I guess I was a little naive before he was born (so all of you more experienced parents can say "I told you so"), but I never realized how demanding such a little person can be. My whole life is entirely consumed by him at the moment, and I already look forward to the day when I can have a little more freedom (like when I can take 2 minutes to use the bathroom without feeling bad for abandoning my child or when I will have time and energy to go places out of more than necessity).

All in all, I would say that parenthood is completely different from what I imagined, but I still wouldn't trade it for anything. Inspired by a similar post our friend Amanda made on their blog, I thought I would share some of the things that I have learned over the past 4 weeks. (My sincere apologies to Steve for making yet another baby-related post. Like I said, my entire life is consumed by Eddie, so any post about me becomes a post about him by default.)

10. Achieving a cute belly button is quite the process.

9. The extra dollars that went toward stain protection on our couches were well spent.

8. If you and the baby are already on your second outfits and it is still only 8 am, it is going to be a long day.

7. Waitresses in restaurants are much more attentive to you, but not in a "can I get you another refill of Sprite?" kind of way.

6. Sometimes it really can be funny to witness someone pee all over your carpet.

5. Nothing is worse than having a snot-sucker up your nose.

4. Babies give strangers an excuse to strike up silly conversations (I'm looking at you middle-aged man in the Sears parking lot).

3. The lyrics to Barry Manilow's "Mandy" are versatile, and can be modified to fit almost any baby-related activity (i.e. "oh Eddie, you went and filled up your diaper")

2. The chorus of "oh, you just wait" doesn't stop when pregnancy does.

1. Even if you are still in the hospital recovering, it is never too early for people to ask when you are having another one (to answer your question: not for a long long time).