Advice on Advice

I know a lot of my friends are either pregnant or thinking about starting a family in the near future. I just wanted to share my opinion on advice that you hear while you are pregnant. This is coming from someone who doesn't usually listen to advice!! aka stubborn.

My favorite thing that people would say, "you better catch up on sleep now". Wonderful advice if it was possible. Yes, you will be exhausted beyond belief and will find yourself trying to remember what it was like to sleep through the night. You will be thinking, hey maybe the getting up to use the bathroom 100 times wasn't so bad...at least I could go back to sleep. Here is my advice...when you are thinking maybe it would be better to get out of bed and work on the nursery, don't do it! Take a day to lay in bed and do nothing and enjoy every second. It will never be the same.

The next common misconception is you have to buy everything out there for babies and it all should match and look cute. You find yourself buying the cutest stuff for your little one and making sure every detail in the nursery is perfect. Don't get me wrong, I did the same thing. If your baby is like ours you will find that they are fickle and what works one day may not work the next. A swing, bouncer, and all the other things that look shiny and great may not phase your little one and end up collecting dust. You will find yourself becoming extremely creative in a Macgyver sort of way to find anything that makes your little one stop crying. Trust me, you will not give a crap about how cute something is as long as it works!!

One thing that surprised me is how differently I treat the animals. If you know me you know I treated these doggies like babies...they were spoiled. I was shocked because I immediately became overly protective and overly annoyed with the dogs. Maybe it is because they are so noisy and seem to come galloping in the house at the exact moment Piper has fallen asleep. It is amazing how hard you work for that perfect moment when they finally fall asleep and you will lose it on anyone or anything that wakes them up! Don't get me started on the cat...she thinks I spent nine months creating the perfect nursery for her. Needless to say, they have reluctantly spent most of their time in the back yard. It probably sounds pretty harsh to all you animal lovers out there but its just part of being a protective momma. Don't get me wrong, they are still my babies, just not my number one anymore. 

Some other words of advice from a first time momma.....

you will quickly master how to do everything thing with one hand, like eating, making bottles and writing a blog. 

 yoga pants will be your best friend

the plans you had for post pregnancy will just have to wait

you will do endless amounts of laundry and dishes, stock up on detergent now

your clothes will not fit, even your "big" jeans

showers will become a luxury

You will say the word "poop" more in one day then in your whole life combined.

Taking your baby out in public will scare the crap out of you.

I promise this is not all negative......

you will be so absolutely in love with your little one that you look at them and it brings tears to your eyes

you will watch them grow and learn and it will melt your heart

you will find yourself thinking that the things you want to do are just not that important and making sure your baby is happy is your only concern

you will be amazed that you created something so beautiful

the way you thought before the baby is completely different now that you are responsible for another human and you love it

This part of the list could go on and on.....

So the last piece of advice is, get excited about this wonderful blessing, you will truly love being a parent.

Motherhood

 Well it has been almost one month since we met our baby girl and I can honestly say I happier and more in love with her every day! She is such an amazing blessing. We are so lucky to have her and even when she cries I just thank God for everything he has given us. Motherhood has been an adjustment especially when you are recovering from a major surgery and trying to figure out how to care for a newborn. The first couple weeks were extremely hard just caring for Piper because it was hard just to move at all. Getting out of bed and moving around were a challenge and are just recently getting easier. I had no idea how hard the recovery from the c-section would be. I still have 4.5 weeks until I am "fully recovered", which means no driving or exercising until then. This has been one of the hardest parts for me...I never thought I would say this but I can't wait to go for a run! Piper has only been a couple places, the park and for car rides. We are really trying to wait as long as possible to take her out in public because we don't want to risk her getting sick. We are so blessed to have such a healthy baby its not worth the risk of her getting sick because we are going stir crazy! We have had a lot of visits from family and friends which has been great. We are so thankful for all of the support!

Piper is doing great so far! She is eating all the time and gaining weight. Her sleep schedule is getting better and she is sleeping better at night. She is alert more during the day and has started cooing when she is playing. She is making eye contact and smiling all the time. She is already trying to roll over....she is going to be all over the place! She is grasping and holding her head up. We are amazed at what she can do already... and she is just 3.5 weeks old!! We love watching her grow.

mini-Justin

Being a mom is awesome. I had no idea I would love it so much. Yes, luxuries like sleeping and long showers are long gone but she is so worth it.