Now that I have almost seven years of motherhood under my belt, I often laugh when I think about the things I sweated about when I was a newbie mom. Of course, it’s amusing now because we look at the things we did or had to have for our first born, that we didn’t even think about or realize we didn’t do with our third born.
When we found out we were pregnant with our first born, we were over the moon excited. We decided to keep the sex of the baby a surprise until birth and just decide on a name once we saw him/her. But we recorded all moments, took too many pictures to count, documented everything, read a stack of baby books and had to have everything perfect before D-day (delivery).
But when I look back, I definitely didn’t stress about half of the things I did with my two daughters that I did when my son was born. Now that I consider myself something like a pro, here are a few obvious signs of a newbie mom.
1. You share everything. From your pregnancy test, to your morning sickness, to how much your baby grows each week, you make sure everyone is following the journey with you.
2. You register for every item in Babies’ R Us. You are absolutely convinced that your new baby will need a baby food processor (instead of just using the blender you already have), a bottle warmer (when a warm bowl of water works just as well), or special “boogie” and “pacifier” wipes. Oh and yes, you must have that $500 video monitor system.
3. You take monthly milestone pics of your growing baby. And you have the t-shirts and/or bibs to go with them. And while you’re at it, you throw them a 6-month old birthday party.
4. You don’t allow anyone near your baby for at least the first 6-8 weeks, and especially not before they’ve drowned themselves in hand sanitizer. And even then, they may have to wear gloves and a mask just to be on the safe side.
5. You’ve done so much research that you probably have a stack of baby books, magazines and several Pinterest boards to organize all of the info you’ll need to know through the baby’s first five years of life.
6. You value and can’t wait for the luxury shopping time by yourself...in the grocery store or your favorite coffee shop.
7. You hiss at anyone who so much as breaths while your baby is taking a nap. You make sure you get everything you need at arms reach before the baby falls asleep because you know once you lay him/her down, there is no moving about for fear of waking them prematurely.
8. Everything has to be disinfected, powerwashed, or newly reconstructured before coming in contact with your precious little one.
9. You automatically become the master multi-tasker. You manage to breastfeed while changing the baby’s clothes and folding laundry all with ease.
10. You’ve learned to master the 30 second shower (and that’s if you get one in that day).
BMWK: What are some other signs of a newbie mom you would add to the list?