The Things You Don't Know... Until You're a Mom!

I'm sorry to any of my family and friends I visited in the hospital, I had no idea what you went through and it was selfish of me to want to see you and that new baby! I am so appreciative that my husband and I agreed to no visitors ahead of time and stuck with it for so many reasons; recovery is hard, and that time is so special and important to bond as a new family of 3. 

I'm sorry for not understanding the importance of a registry. People register for things for a reason... just follow it! (Unless it's a 'my child loved this and I noticed it wasn't on your registry so I just had to get it for you' item, those are also key!) OK OK some of the cute things you just have to buy are also ok, but for the most part please try to stick to peoples registries.

I'm sorry if i ever got upset for you not responding right away. Good grief this one hit hard. I respond to everyone, like right away. I hate notifications on my apps. When I tell you I lost it trying to keep up after having a baby, I'm not joking. I've slowly learned it's impossible and now give myself and others so much more grace.

I'm sorry if you haven't received a thank you card from me yet.... see above, it's also impossible to keep up on thank you cards after baby! The second you go to work on anything you get distracted... it's literally sitting on my to do list that gets transferred every day I don't get it done!

I'm sorry if you've been around me and I'm not truly present. This one is also hard for me. I had social anxiety before baby... post baby it's even worse! I feel like I can't truly be present with people because I'm sleep deprived, and I'm distracted. I promise I want to be present, I promise I'm not doing it to be rude... so if I seem out of it, just snap me back to the present I would really appreciate it. 

I'm sorry for always rolling my eyes when you asked if kids were invited. The anxiety of leaving your baby for the first time with Dad was hard-ish, the anxiety of leaving your baby with someone other than yourself or Dad is - well we haven't done it yet if that tells you anything! 

I'm sorry for any outfits I've ever gifted that aren't a double zip sleeper... seriously... my child is never going to wear a cute outfit in her life because the convenience of these double zip sleepers is insane. Ok that's probably a stretch, but I did go out and buy several after the first week of being home with her and I will buy those as gifts going forward! 

I severely underestimated the amount of burp rags I would need and the amount of swaddle blankets I would need (Copper Pearl are the BEST swaddle blankets by the way. We're still debating which burp rags are our favorites, we now have several we've tried.)

Bottles and pacifiers... when they say your child will determine which ones they want to use, they're not joking. We've gone through so many trying to find the right ones, and every baby is different! 

When they say becoming a parent is isolating, they're not joking. It's so nice to have close friends who are also Mom's and understand what you're going through. They're your people, they're your tribe. (Don't get me wrong, I love my non Mom friends too, but just like this blog there are just some things you'll never understand until you become a Mom and that's ok.)

I think that's it for now, there's probably several more I could go on and on about, but those are the key ones that come to mind! Keeping It Real Mom - OUT!

Picture of my baby cuddling her first lovey at nap time, because how cute and sweet is this?! I have a feeling this might be your favorite thing to cuddle for years to come...