Being a new mom is hard–it's incredibly rewarding, but it's been one of the biggest challenges of my life thus far. So many things have changed–my schedule is different, my priorities are different, my perspectives are different. And now that my life as the mom of a new baby is in full swing, I've certainly resorted to some things I never imagined I would.
Before the chaos and busy schedule and exhaustion kick in, it's really easy to say that you'll never let your baby sit in a peed diaper or that you'll eat healthy so that your little one gets the best breast milk possible. Oh, how things change, and in the end you just have to roll with it. For the most part, I'm okay with that. Here are the five things I thought I'd never do as a mom, but now do all the time:
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1. We eat at least one frozen pizza a week. I absolutely love to cook, and for years I've been committed to eating mostly whole foods and staying away from most pre-fab highly processed convenience foods. But ever since my titi dropped off a couple of DiGiornos the week my son was born, we've been including them in our weekly grocery and totally relying on them when we are too tired to figure out what to cook, let alone actually do the cooking. And you know what? I don't even feel bad about it.
2. We let him fuss it out. It seriously breaks my heart to hear my baby cry and from very early in his life, I decided that the misery that letting him cry it out caused all three of us just isn't worth it. But out of desperation, it's now happened a few times. It's still horrible and I absolutely hate it and usually end up crying hysterically myself, but sometimes babies are just inconsolable, and I've learned that there really isn't a way to keep babies from ever crying. That being said, I have no trouble at all letting him fuss for a bit, especially when he wakes up way too early from a nap or he's on his third middle-of-the-night wake up.
3.He sometimes sleeps in bed with me. When my little guy is sick or going through a growth spurt and is having trouble sleeping, I get him out of his crib and bring him to bed with me. Usually I nurse him until he's almost in a dead sleep and then deposit him back in the nursery. But sometimes, we both just fall asleep, and other times, I just want the extra snuggles. He'll only be this sweet and cuddly for a few years and I'm trying not to sacrifice the enjoyment of this time by stressing over creating bad habits.
4. I leave the house without brushing my teeth. And no, I don't brush them later in the day. Getting ready for work in the morning is no easy feat with a four-month-old, especially since my husband works nights and doesn't get home until I'm walking out the door. I have to give myself an hour and a half to get myself ready to go and to nurse my son and feed him his breakfast. The tricky part is, sometimes he wakes up during the beginning of that hour and a half, and sometimes I have to wake him towards the end. At this point it's totally unpredictable, and I've now left the house several times without brushing my teeth and washing my face. Worst part is, I usually don't realize it until I'm halfway to work. I have no clue how it keeps happening, but it does.
5. He watches TV. So sue me. And I'm not talking Elmo and friends, he watches what we watch. Most nights, I get home so late and we have so little time to get things done that I eat dinner, nurse and catch up on DVRed shows all at the same time. And usually, Abel is sitting in one of our laps during this whole process. He's super young, so he doesn't really know what's going on and he doesn't ever get really engrossed in anything, but yeah, he watches. I just pray he doesn't start dreaming about the kill scene from Dexter.
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