What I'll Miss

Often times I'll just look at my son and realize that he won't ever be like this again. Exactly how he is in this second will never happen again. Each day he is changing and growing and it's a sad thing for a mother to realize. I know that soon he will be too big to take a nap on my chest, or sit in his swing. Soon his tooth will be grown and he will say his first word. Soon he will finally roll from back to front and front to back. Someday in the near future he will crawl for the first time or eat off a spoon. Soon he will take his first step and fall for the first time. I know that soon he won't be making the cute faces he makes or the cute sounds. He won't want to suck on his, and everyone else's, hands. His favorite food will no longer be formula. His little feet won't be so little anymore. Every time he sees me he won't light up with glee. His favorite toy will no longer be the Oball. It makes me sad to think about my son changing, and growing. Even while I'm writing this and he is laying next to me asleep I know I will never get this moment back. It's a funny thing about time, it will always continue to move forward and you can never get it back.

The Things They Don't Prepare You For

When I was pregnant, along with most pregnant woman, read tons of information about babies. Everything I looked at online was about my pregnancy and my baby to be. I learned how to swaddle, how to feel even what to do when the babies choking. However, there are certain things the books and websites fail to mention.

1. The amount of spit up- Yes they may mention it to you. Yes you may have read about this, but until you have a newborn you truly do not understand how such a beautiful little baby can create this amount of throw up. It will get on everything. You will go in public with it on your shirt. The scent is your new perfume. You will constantly have it in your hair. And it will never fail, when you finally look decent, maybe you even have makeup on, the baby will throw up on you.
2. Arguing with significant other- The books just so happen to regret to mention how often you and your significant other will fight. Combine the stress of a newborn and lack of sleep and it's just asking for a break down. There will be a point where you step back and look at what your arguing about to find you were just arguing about what speed the fan normally goes on. Just apologize and move on. Just don't hold grudges and pretend he didn't mean it.
3. Pre-pregnancy clothes- These won't fit right for months, if ever. The pregnancy weight doesn't just fall off like you see in the media. It takes work, lots and lots of work. Beware also for body shape change. Weight wise you may weigh much less than pre-pregnancy but those hips don't lie-and they wont be letting you back in those jeans! I suppose this probably does vary person to person, but don't beat yourself up if the weight isn't coming off as quick as you'd like.
4. Sleep deprivation- I don't really think an explanation is needed here. You will be surprised how well you can run on two hours of sleep.

All in all parenting is not just something you can learn from a book. It just happens. You probably will make mistakes but in the end those mistakes won't matter and won't be remembered. All that will matter is the fact that you raised a child. Your child will wind up only remembering mostly good stuff anyways.