Lessons Learned

I'm taking it easy tonight now that the noises in the other room have ceased, and my mind is wandering to the way our lives have changed over the last eight weeks.  Sure, I'd been told numerous times that this change of adding a new little person to our family would be a crazy ride, but there's nothing like first-hand experience.  The first month we had with Emily is kind of foggy, but I do remember being tired :)  Now that Emily is kindly sleeping at night & giving her mom a nice stretch of sleep, those memories fade even more.  I've definitely been stretched during this phase of life, more than ever before.  Going into this, I really thought that I'd remember everything I learned with my first baby.  Sadly, I found that my mommy-memory was a bit foggier than I expected it to be.  Here's the short list of the things I've had to learn again:

* ALWAYS have a clean diaper ready for the switch-a-roo.  I should have learned this lesson after Elyse blessed me on several occasions with the "insta-pee."  Seriously, how do they go just when you move the diaper?  I'd love to know.

* This rule is pretty valid: if baby is crying, she is probably either hungry, tired, or messy.  At the beginning, I was so motivated to get this girl sleeping soundly that I often discovered a nasty diaper after trying to soothe her to sleep for an hour.  DUH.  

* Change baby's diaper before or halfway through a midnight feeding.  Changing baby will typically WAKE HER UP when she is only a few weeks old.  As with Elyse, the lightbulb came on one night when I couldn't figure out why Emily was so awake after eating.  DUH.

* Unless you are fortunate enough to have a baby who doesn't spit up, a burp cloth must accompany the baby everywhere.  The second that you place your baby on the couch or the bed without it, she will spit up.  Keep in mind, if you place your baby on the couch or bed with the burp cloth, she will probably not spit up.

* If for some reason you can plan your day around taking a nap, baby (or her big sister) will almost always wake up just as your head hits the pillow.  Similarly, when you get up to retrieve your baby (or her big sister), your baby (or her big sister) will often go back to sleep just as you approach the bedroom door.  By this point, napping is no longer an option since you are wide awake.  If, on the other hand, you have no expectation of napping on a given day, you will often find that your baby (and her big sister) will unexpectedly leave you a large portion of the afternoon to do with as you wish.  In that case, DROP EVERYTHING and nap.

* You know the most common piece of advice you get when you're a new mommy: nap whenever you can - the laundry (dishes, cleaning, etc...) will wait?  Well, it is true.  Not only will it wait, but it will rise up and bite you.  Hard.  If you don't get a grip sooner or later, you will end up wearing the same pair of dirty pajamas for weeks.  

I'm sure I'll be able to post more lessons learned as I go, but for now, that's enough.  And, since a post would not be complete without a picture, here's a picture of the two little reasons that I love being a mommy:

Seriously, this is the best job ever.