7 surprising things about being a mom.

Being a first time mommy, I have had my eyes opened. I read a lot of books and talked with many already moms, but somehow some things were just total surprises. 

1.  Just because you read a few baby books, does not mean you know everything there is to know about being a mom. 

Seriously, I did not know this. As I said before I read a bunch of books, I had all the sleep stuff down for getting baby to sleep, I pretty much knew everything. Or so I thought. When A-Cakes came along she had different ideas, and for some reason, none of the answers were in any of the books. You kinda have to figure things out on your own sometimes, every baby is different. The books do help, I think they made me a lot less paranoid, because if A-cakes had a fever or a cough, I wasn't freaking out. But also they make you feel super guilty. Like when you read 'most babies will be sleeping through the night by 12 weeks' and your baby is teething and no where near that. That just makes you feel super bad. Being a mom is seriously not knowing what you are doing half the time. But luckily as long as you are loving your baby, you can't screw it up too bad.

2. You sometimes won't know how to have a normal conversation with someone who is not a baby. 

Sometimes I spend so much time entertaining A-Cakes that I forget what is funny to adults. I blow raspberries with my mouth and make crazy noises and pretend my hands are going to eat her all day, and I get laughs, big laughs, from my little chunky angel. But somehow when you go up to your husband and pretend your hand is eating him, he doesn't think its as funny. Seriously, I forget this all the time. I will stick out my tongue and blow a raspberry at him and he just looks at me, and then makes fun of me :(  . I have heard other stories from parents with toddlers, and they start talking like the toddler saying 'I have to go pee-pee in front of other  adults' is quite a common occurrence I hear. 

 (also it might not even be as bad for me as others, my husband works from home, I talk to him all day and this still happens)

3. Once that baby comes out, you will seriously not have a good nights sleep ever,

or at least a long long time. I guess people did tell me this, but I don't think anyone can seriously explain just how tired you can get. When A-Cakes was born, she had her days and nights mixed up, so she was up a lot of the night, and then at about 2 weeks old, she decided that screaming all night would be fun. She would scream off and on and be fussy starting at around one a.m. Sometimes she wouldn't fall asleep until 4-6 a.m. We did see the pediatrician about it, and she said it sounded like reflux, but since it was only at night (seriously she was fine in the day) we couldn't do anything or give her anything for it unless it was all day. This went on for about a month and a half. I never knew I could be that tired. I was completely and utterly exhausted. She eventually got better and started waking up only twice a night, and it was lovely. But just when I thought everything was figured out, she started teething, and then she wanted to wake up every couple hours. Now that nothing is wrong with her and she is feeling fine, she is sleeping great, she is actually sleeping through the night most nights now. But still she is sleeping in her own room now and I go in every few hours to check on her. So I really never sleep like a whole 8 hours straight anymore. 

4. Just when you get one problem solved another thing comes along.

Whether its getting them on a sleep schedule or routine, or teething over, reflux, colic, jaundice whatever, you get one thing out of the way, and somehow something else takes it place. You finally get them sleeping well, and then they start teething. Or they enter into the 'stranger danger' phase and won't even look at someone else (yeah we just entered that phase, fun fun, everyone looks at you like you have the grumpiest baby in the world, even though you try to explain the doc. said its normal.) 

5. It really does change your whole schedule- Babies need a ton of sleep (my husband is still shocked at how much sleep A-Cakes needs. And if they don't get that sleep, they are not happy campers, and they want everyone to know it. So you really can't go out all day long, every day. You have to get them home to sleep. So you have top plan everything around their sleep schedule. Because your baby probably won't fall asleep in the cart at Walmart while your grocery shopping (like I had planned on before A-Cakes came). You will also have to get home at a decent hour for them to go to sleep. I had read before that babies have to go to sleep around 6 or 7 at night, and laughed at that, I thought if you put them to bed later, then you could sleep in later. And decided she would go to bed at like 9 or 10 and then we could stay out later, visiting family or friends. Nope! If she doesn't go to bed before 8 p.m. We have one ornery girl. So we can't stay out too late these days anymore. But honestly, her going to bed at 7 is awesome. I get to have time to myself, and time with the hubby. It is AMAZING!, you will finally have some time to clean the house, read a book, or watch the Harry Potter series 8 nights in a row like we just did. And I learned even if she goes to bed later, she won't sleep longer in the morning anyway.  

6. You Worry, ALOT! You worry if your baby is developing at the right speed, are you teaching them enough, are they eating enough and growing enough? That first week you wake up like 10 times a night to make sure they are breathing, you worry about SIDS, and them being warm enough or too warm, you worry about spoiling them too much or not giving them enough attention. You worry about your baby tugging on her ears (is that an earache, teething, is she tired, or maybe she just really likes playing with those things.) You even worry if they are pooping enough, and you worry about the color of their poop 'Babe, do you think her poop should be this color of green?' (Or maybe I am just a crazy person, and no one else worries this much). 

7. It is the most rewarding thing ever. I guess I heard this too and I loved that little baby in my belly so so much, but before you have the baby, you have no idea how much that little one will pull your heart strings and change your life so much. You have this wonderful and precious and straight from heaven baby, that adores you. They love you unconditionally and it is such an amazing feeling. They will look up at you with pure adoration and give you the best gummy smile and it is the best feeling in the world. When you help them learn a new skill you jump for joy. You are so proud of them, and you feel like you are doing something right as a mom. It is an experience like no other. It can be difficult at times, but man the benefits out-weigh all the difficult times. You don't even care that you don't sleep or can't carry on a regular conversation without making a strange face or bursting out in wheels on the bus, because it is soo worth it.