The Joys of Motherhood

I love being a mother. It is the single most important thing I have ever attempted to do. It is the most challenging but at the same time the most rewarding experience I could have ever dreamed of.  I really love having a new baby in the house. Especially since I didn’t have to carry or labor with this particular baby. It’s really nice to actually have some energy to take care of her. It really is not the blur that the first few days with my other children have been. She sure isn’t sleeping much during the night though. We had forgotten about the lack of sleep that a newborn brings. We keep talking about how we can’t believe we already did this five times. When will we learn?

I really love babies. They are so beautiful and warm and snuggly. Babies smell so nice (most of the time). Their skin is so wonderfully soft and smooth. They make little sweet grunty squealy noises.

I love their little baby bits..

Babies are so wonderful they make you forget things.

Things like the pain of labor.. until we find ourselves in that pain once again and then its, “Oh yeah, not this again!! What was I thinking?! Why am I doing this again?”. We seem to forget that postpartum funk. Those painful, rock hard breasts. That quite literally spray across the room every time you take of your bra, or hear a baby cry, or get bumped or even just bend over, for Pete’s sake. Or the way they clamp down when nursing and then decide to look over their shoulder only to take the entire nipple with them…The way your newly emptied abdomen sways for those first few days when you walk, if you can walk..

You forget to eat. When you do remember to eat, the baby decides that he or she wants to eat at that exact moment. Your food gets cold and then really its just not worth it.

When you have a newborn, the most important thing on your agenda is actually being able to shower. It is the one thing that actually seems to make you feel human again. Yet it seems every time that you get ready to jump in, the baby wakes up hungry or wet or just wanting to be held. And then the minute you think it is safe to step in to the shower you hear them start to cry, so you rush as quickly as you can and you may or may not get all the shampoo out. You might as well forget about shaving your legs until they are at least 6 months old. You jump out of the shower, hurriedly get dressed because the baby is now in a full blown wail, you pick her up and she throws up and the last clean shirt you have because you have not had time to do laundry in two weeks. You don’t have time to take a second glance in the mirror because it is way more important to brush your teeth. You finally brave a trip to the grocery store and you get there only to realize you are in your house shoes. You get home and finally get a chance to look in the mirror only to see a booger dried on your cheek after you’ve been to the store in your house shoes.

Then one day this sweet little thing smiles at you for the first time. It is one of the best feelings ever. It makes you forget. almost