A Journey from Pregnancy to Motherhood

When I was pregnant with my first child I wanted to have everything ready for my daughter's arrival. Every article of clothing was washed and folded and placed neatly in her drawers. The bassinet was set up perfectly beside our bed. The carseat was installed in our vehicle well over a month before I was due. Stuffed animals were all on a hammock hung in one of the corners of the nursery. Bottles were all washed and nipples all sterilized and put away neatly in the kitchen. Diapers, wipes, baby lotions, and diaper creams were all organized in a cabinet next to the changing table. Looking back at how 'perfect' everything was then, now that I'm pregnant with my second child, makes me laugh and wonder what happened to the lady who wanted everything neat and in it's place? Where did she go? And will she ever come back?

Having a 15 month old daughter and being almost 4 months pregnant again really puts things in perspective for a mother. The things we once thought would never happen to us or things we used to say we'd never do when we became parents occur on a daily basis now without even thinking twice about them. For instance, a few things I was guilty of saying:

"I will never have two kids that are in diapers at the same time. I will wait to have a second or third child at least until their older sibling(s) are out of diapers and completely potty trained." Well that isn't happening...unless I win the Guiness Book of World Records for having the youngest potty trained child.

"I will not be a stay-at-home-mom. There's no way I'd ever have the patience to do that." I've been a stay-at-home-mom now for 15 months, and will be for at least another two years. The patience I'm working on...I think it's something that gets better with time.

"I will never let my child(ren) eat food that they've dropped on the floor. That's just unsanitary." There are currently about 10 goldfish crackers on my living room floor. I know my daughter will eat them when she wakes up from her nap but I don't bother picking them up and tossing them in the garbage...unless, of course, company is coming over...why waste them, right? This is not, however, a concept I use at other people's houses or restaurants. I don't know how often they clean their floors.

"The word 'poopy' will never be apart of my everyday vocabulary." Not only do I say 'poopy' two or three times a day but my daughter has almost learned the word herself and is close to being able to tell me when she needs to have her diaper changed.

"I will never give my child(ren) a toy to play with or let them watch a cartoon just to get them to stop crying or whining." Sometimes, when you're in the middle of an email or finishing up a conversation on the phone...it just works.

I think when you have your first child, your priorities change quite a bit. Certain things like keeping everything clean and neat and it's place just aren't that important anymore, at least not to me anyways. It's more about keeping our kids happy and giving them what they need and spending valuable time with them everyday. However, there are those people who do these things and still have the tidiest houses where everything is in order and all the toys are put away and it just makes me wonder, "How on earth do you do it?" But I guess I'll never know. I'm perfectly happy in my untidy house with the goldfish crackers on the floor. And I wouldn't change it for the world.