Student of Motherhood

My son was born 3 weeks and 5 days ago. He is my first child and my husband's fourth.

Mostly I imagine that this will act as a kind of a journal. I'm completely fascinated with the baby in ways that I never could have imagined before he was born, and this seemed to be a good outlet for expressing that fascination. I'm totally inexperienced with this whole mothering thing, hence the blog title: Learning Mommyhood. I'll learn along the way from my husband, our families, other moms, and above all from my son. And then I'll post about the things we experience. Oh, also I'll post links that I think are useful.

In the past four weeks, I've already learned so many things as a new mother. It has been exhilarating, frustrating, enlightening, overwhelming, and fulfilling. Plus a lot of other -ings.

Here is a short list of some things I've learned:

• Postpartum recovery really means recovery. As much as you want to go to the annual street fair three days after leaving the hospital, DON'T GO. It's an annual fair. Go next year. Your crotch will thank you.
• If you ignore my advice and go to the street fair anyway...ice packs are your friend.
• Babies are cute for a reason. That reason is that they are really kind of gross.
• One extra person in the house equals 2983792876 times as much laundry. See the above bullet point for further explanation.
• What used to be really disgusting becomes not-so-disgusting anymore. This is a survival mechanism for parents, as well as fodder for STFUparents.
• I will always find some things disgusting. Like placentas.
• After giving birth, the length of a day shrinks by approximately 6 hours.
• It is possible to think about babies for 18 hours straight.
• Baby "I'm trying to poop" faces are cuter than one would think.
• Babies grow too fast. I mean, come on. It's only been 4 weeks and he's breaking my heart already by changing so quickly.
• What worked last week won't necessarily work today. What worked yesterday won't necessarily work today.
• Breast milk is really sweet. Also, it can squirt pretty far. Spontaneously. You might not want to know why I put those observations together.
• On a related note, nursing pads are your friend. Might want to double up on those. Or stuff a burp rag or 2 in your bra.
• And lastly for tonight, I learned what love is. Not only for my beautiful kiddo, but also for my husband. Everything is transformed in wonderful ways.

Good night!