Wednesday Wisdom

Here are some things I have learned since becoming a mom. I still have a lot to learn seeing as how I only have a little over seven months under my belt. Shocked that I do not know it all? Me too! ;)

1. Drool is drool. It doesn't magically become cuter or less disgusting when it belongs to your offspring! Maybe for some people this is not a very big deal, but I have never been a huge drool fan. When you put it that way, who is a drool fan? Anyone? Yea, didn't think so. So while I absolutely love that my son is getting to that age where he wants to give me kisses in the form of a big open mouth on whatever he can and drool on my face...I will wipe the drool away.

2. The mundane becomes celebrated. This is something my loving father teases me about all the time. Whenever Ian burps after a meal, it is second nature to say, "Good Job!" My dad teases that nobody ever tells him that after he burps, in fact he gets quite the opposite. It is silly when you think about it. I might have to start watching that sentiment of praise, it could come back to bite me later. Oh, who am I kidding? He is a boy! He is going to love burping and all kinds of yucky stuff no matter what I do now!

3. Who needs an alarm clock? No, seriously! What parent of a baby needs an alarms clock? Now, given this might sometimes be a different story if I had to be at work by 8 instead of 9 but that is not entirely important. I have my alarm set on my phone for a certain time, depending on whether I showered the night before or need to in the morning. I set that alarm, giving myself plenty of time to feed Ian, let the dogs out, feed the dogs, and then get ready/try to keep Ian occupied. Do you know how many mornings that alarm goes off? It goes off every morning...AFTER I have gone downstairs to get Ian up, changed him, let the dogs out, fed the dogs, and fed Ian. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. I do recall the one time it did go off and I was still in bed. I jumped out to make sure the monitor wasn't broken and he was alive.

4. You learn how to fake appreciation. Ok, this one sounds bad but you quickly learn how to do this in order to survive. What do I mean by this? I mean when people you have not asked start giving their parenting advice. Now, there are times when I ask and by all means- when I ask...give it to me. But if I haven't asked you...I probably don't care what you think. Is that harsh? Maybe, but everyone has their own views about what is best for kids. And that is all fine and dandy, you let them practice those on their own children and you stick to doing what you do with yours! However, as harsh as that sounds...sometimes in an effort not to be a jerk- you simply smile and pretend to appreciate whatever nugget of advice has just been thrown your way! :) That way, you keep parenting your way, and they can go on believing their advice was helpful in some way.

5. Your heart is never empty. This is the greatest thing I have learned. There is no way I can possible describe the happiness that overflows from my heart when I go to pick my little boy up and he gets excited to see me. I will never get tired of seeing smile real big when he sees me and start kicking and bouncing to try to get to me! It makes the drool, the burps, the early mornings, and the unsolicited advice all worth the while!