Things THEY Don't Tell You

Who IS this "they" who never tells you anything? (ex. They don't tell you this stuff…) It's the same person who knows everything too. (ex. You know they say…) So someone knows everything but refuses to tell you. Cruel.

I could hunt this person down and kick them.

But that would be entirely too difficult for this busy mama who only seems to have time for laundry, cleaning, and homework these days. Oh. And she's going back to work full time Wednesday. Holy. Crap. How will I find time to do anything!? Much less find time to hunt "they" down...

Now that I've been a mom for two and a half months, I've learned several things. I'm still not even close to knowing enough and I know I will forever grow as a mom. However, there are a few things I have under my belt I'd like to share… This will keep you from having an unhealthy vendetta against "they" like I do.

Here are my parenting tips and/or things that I didn't know that I now know and will pass on these learned experiences to you. Wow that was an awful run on sentence. Oh well, I don't have time to edit it.

Filthy House Filthy Clothes
Laundry never ends. Ever. I am constantly washing clothes and what I need seems to always be dirty. All I do anymore is clean the house. It's always messy. This weekend I was able to do a deep clean but I know it'll start back up within a couple of days.

Feedings
I was prepared to get up every 3-4 hours. Totally prepared for that. But what I wasn't prepared for was the fact that it takes babies like 30-45 minutes to eat their share for that feeding - and I have a good eater and I'm not breastfeeding. Apparently if you have a slow eater and/or are breastfeeding, you could spend over an hour feeding the baby. So that's where the lack of sleep comes from.

SIDS Mattresses
The new SIDS recommendations are great. They really are. The numbers have decreased by leaps and bounds. But for real, my crib mattress is harder to deal with than our Queen mattress in our bedroom. You see, the mattresses have to fit exactly into the crib. And the sheets have to fit exactly onto the mattress. So changing the bedding is seriously the hardest part of parenting. Ok, I kid… it's not the hardest part, but it really is hard! I don't remember who suggested the following tip to me, but I'm pretty sure I owe them my sanity - Put a mattress pad on the mattress, then a fitted sheet, then another mattress pad, then a second sheet. Guys, as painful as that process is, it will save you when the baby decides to explode on the mattress in the middle of the night (sleepily toss the top sheet and pad in the washing machine and you'll be back to dream land) or when you have a lazy laundry day and don't feel like pulling that last load out of the dryer at 10:20pm. Also. When you change the sheets and do all that layering, take the mattress out of the crib. They are relatively small mattresses so don't torture yourself by trying to make them in the crib like when you make bigger beds.

Save The Manuals
Yes, you did your research and purchased the top-of-the-line swing that grows with the child and eventually even converts to a mini fridge for their college dorm room. Kidding. Or maybe I'm not? They really have come up with crazy items these days. And yes, you had the hubs assemble the swing and found the perfect place in your house for it before baby arrived. But once the baby is born, your brain turns to mush and you forget what in the world that swing actually does, much less how to make it do those wonderful things. For instance, two and a half months later, I realize our bouncer has two reclining positions. Thanks, Graco.

Stack Wipes Containers
You never know you're on the last wet wipe until you pull the last one out. So what's a mom to do when that happens mid-diaper change? I had excellent advice to always put a spare wipe container ready to go under the open one. This is a great piece of advice and I recommend it to everyone!