Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me

Before I delivered my baby, I received lots of helpful and not-so-helpful advice about motherhood and parenting. Now, four months out, I’ve found a few things I wish I had learned waaaaay back at the beginning of this crazy ride.

1. Two-week-old babies are more portable than four-month-old babies. I’ve read this two or three times in the last week, but I really wish I had known it BEFORE we hit this stage. I honestly thought we would be able to tote the little guy more places as he got older, not fewer places. But alas, he no longer sleeps in his car seat, and we have naps to take!

2. Jane Kershaw at A Mother’s Place (Centennial Women’s Hospital) is an absolutely amazing lactation consultant. I’ve worked with some other women who have been really encouraging and supportive, but Jane is absolutely incredible.

3. Yes, newborns really do eat ALL THE TIME. Yes, I know you just fed him, but he’s hungry again. I think I heard this several times before giving birth, but it really didn’t sink in.

4. Consignment sales are awesome. I got a taste of consignment sale awesomeness when a friend took me to one last fall, but I really didn’t understand the true draw of BARGAINS!!!111!11! I skipped the sales at the end of February because I still had a couple of showers to go, but in hindsight, I would have recommended hitting the sale anyway. After all, I could always consign any duplicate items at the fall sale! MWAH HAH HAH HAH! (As you can see, consignment sales produce a certain insanity in mommies.)

5. Parenting really, truly does limit one’s social life. And that’s okay. Kinda sad, but okay. I think people meant this when they pronounced that “parenthood changes everything,” but I wish I’d had specifics on this one. I envisioned that once Ian was six months old, we could cart him around with us to family-friendly concerts (with ear muffs!), Predators games, casual restaurants, friends’ houses, etc. And we can do all those things….for about two hours at a time, before 8pm, twice a month. 🙂 I really thought that, as long as he didn’t cry and got plenty of sleep in general, toting Ian everywhere with me would be fun. Now I’m realizing that it would be fun for me and overwhelming for him. The occasional Preds game probably won’t hurt, though!

Maybe I did hear most or all of these statements somewhere along my path to motherhood, but I’ve found that there is much about parenthood that I can’t be told — I just have to learn.