My First Month of Mamahood

We have a month old baby. Where. Does. Time. Go? 

Here are some things I have learned in the first month of being a mother...

1. If you have sleeping plans once you come home from the hospital, laugh for a second and realize it might not happen the way you envision. We thought we'd all sleep in our bedroom, Clark in his bassinet and us in our bed with the dog snuggled at our feet. HA. Clark hates his bassinet and our dog left to go sleep alone in the spare bedroom.
    
2. You can do almost anything on just 3 hours of sleep. Really... Clean poop off of walls. Get a screaming child to sleep. Care for a 3 year old crazy energetic dog that just had kneecap and ACL surgery who's not allowed to move. Oh, and bake funfetti cake, because I am going to eat whatever the hell I want. 
    
3. One thing you actually can't do is have a hot meal. I left my breakfast in the toaster until lunch multiple times this week. Also, soggy/cold grilled cheese surprisingly isn't that bad.
    
4. There. is. so. much. laundry.
    
5. My new perfume is milk... fresh or smelly spit up milk.
    
6. On the milk note... Breastfeeding is hard. Like, really really hard. Don't give up though! It is so rewarding for both you and baby once you get the hang of it.
   Now that I can pump, I don't want anyone to give him a bottle, not even his Daddy hah. I emotionally can't handle it. I'm told that's normal. But nothing about my weird emotions and mind feels normal right now. (Reid has given Clark some nighttime bottles now though!) The most important thing for me was having a lactation consultant. You worry if they are getting enough to eat. Advice and direction from a professional was key in keeping me calm which led to more relaxed feedings and that helped both of us get better at nursing. (I could go on and on about this part. I'd be happy to share the wisdom my lactation consultant aka booby guru gave me so please reach out if you feel you need support!)
    
7. There is no shame in asking for help. When I felt like I was at my wits end, I asked my Mum to sleep over. This happened more than once and I'm sure will happen again.
    
8. Drink all the coffee.
    
9. Tears will be shed, many many tears. Happy ones. Sad ones. Ones for no damn reason. Let them flow, you'll feel better afterwards.
    
10. It will get better. I didn't believe people when they said that but looking back on the first 2-3 weeks compared to now, it's completely different. You get used to less sleep, they get used to being on the outside.
     
11. Let Daddy change the nighttime diapers. Reid doing this is immensely helpful. Sometimes feeding, burping and getting baby back to sleep takes an hour. Nighttime is precious these days.