Things I've learned since becoming a mommy

I've recently been pondering the MANY things that I have learned since becoming a mommy. I've listed just a few below:

1. You will get peed on, pooped on & puked on. Probably within the first few weeks of bringing your little one home. This will most likely happen on a daily basis for some months to come.

2. Breastfeeding is hard work, even with no supply, latching, etc. issues. All I can say is God bless the manufacturers of lanolin!

3. Four hours of uninterrupted sleep begins to feel like a full night's rest. It's crazy how little sleep you learn to function on.

4. Advice & suggestions given by others can be very helpful, but at the end of the day you know your little one best & you need to do what makes the both of you happy. Be polite, smile & say thank you, but don't feel bad if you don't end up taking that persons advice. This applies to a multitude of situations!

5. Your little one will almost never nap when you need them to. If you have something planned & need them to take a nap so that they will be happy & not over-tired, you can almost always count on the opposite (for me anyway).

6. Try not to stress out too much & just enjoy your time with your little one.

7. Don't rush them in growing up & hitting new milestones! It will happen soon enough & before you know it! This can be a difficult one because when they are little & sleep all the time, you just want to see them do something, trust me they will! Which brings me to my next item:

8. People weren't lying when they say how fast it goes. The past 9 months have flown by in the blink of an eye!

9. Take pictures! Babies change so much every day. We did really well with taking pictures when Hannah was 1st born, but kind of got away from it for a little while, we're back on track now though. I'm planning to do the 365 challenge with my next child, which is when you take their picture every day for their 1st year of life. It's so cool to see how much they change in such a short amount of time. Don't get me wrong though, we have plenty of pictures of Hannah! I just wish we hadn't slacked off on the photo ops around 5-6 months.

10. Last, but not least (for this post anyway), nothing & I mean NOTHING can prepare you for how much love & devotion you will have for your child. I always knew that I would love my child(ren) unconditionally, but until I actually saw her & held her in my arms I had no idea what unconditionally meant.

So, that's my short list. There are many other lessons I have learned & will continue to learn on my journey of motherhood, but 10 is a nice round number so we'll just leave it at that for this evening.

**Hannah's 9 month Dr. appointment is this Thursday so I'll update about that later in the week =)