If you’re reading this post, you probably aren’t a new mom, ha! Well, unless it is 3:30 am (oh heck you don’t know what time it is!) and you’ve got your iPad/Kindle/Phone out while feeding/nursing the bambino and the brightness is turned down as low as it will go. Heck, I’m a new mom to a 4 month old and this post is finally happening. Writing blog posts has taken a back seat. New mom = all kinds of crazy. These are a few fun tid bits I’ve learned over the last 4 months. Please share with all moms to be and tell them to enjoy their Starbucks and strolls through Target alone because soon that sweet baby of yours is the boss.
You know you are a new mom if…
1. …you get super excited about drive throughs: I used to think drive throughs were for lazy people and/or rainy days. I never really used them. I would always rather just park and go inside than sit in my car and wait in a long ol’ line of cars (see #1 on my exercise routine). But, now, the idea of just driving through Starbucks to get my tasty treat instead of lugging in the 1,481 lb infant car seat thing is heavenly. I really wish there was a drive through grocery store. And maybe a drive through Target where you could actually drive your car down the aisles and look at all of the items from your car. Yea, that would be really awesome. Ohh or maybe Target should just have a free day care section, like the gym and IKEA! (You’re welcome for the genius idea, Target!)
2. …you go to stores depending on the size of their shopping carts and/or if they have carts: I love HEB, but I am super frustrated with their shopping cart situation right now. They have this dumb little shelf at the end of the cart that does not allow the baby car seat to fit inside of the cart. I know you’re supposed to be able to put the car seat over the seat thing, but I’m still too nervous for all of that action. I just want to put him in my cart and shop on my merry way. World Market, I love you too, but your carts are too little. Babies R Us, you’ve got the cart thing down! Little cute vintage/ furniture stores, you need to get carts ASAP. Oh heck with all of the lugging of the car seat, just wear the baby! (I love this thing
.)
3. …you’ve some how turned into a singer: I’ve got a few talents up my sleeve (gymnastics, cutting out letters), but y’all, singing is not one of them. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m tone deaf. And for some reason, I’ve decided now that I have my sweet Max baby I have to sing to him. Now not only am I tone deaf, but I don’t know the words to any song. I find myself making up names for stuffed animals and singing about the objects in the room. Sometimes they rhyme. Most of the time they don’t. It’s ridiculous. I almost feel sorry for Maxwell! (This is the one song I know and sing a lot.)
4. …you could compete with fear factor on any level of grossness: Poop in you nails? No biggie. He only puked once on your t-shirt? It’s absolutely still clean! Getting peed on? Ain’t no thang. Slobber and drool make ya cool! But, seriously these babies are just as gross as they are cute! It’s incredible how many weird fluids can come out of something so tiny. Fear Factor has nothing on babies.
5. …you sit in your car in the garage while the baby is till asleep because you know their giant eyes will pop open as soon as you open the front door: I don’t know about you, but Max baby knows when we are home and his giant eyes pop open the second we walk in the front door! Maybe he’s a genius? Maybe it’s the smell? I have no idea, but it happens 99% of the time! If he’s asleep in the car, I absolutely utilize my time in the car before we enter the house.
6. …you delete apps so that your phone will hold more pictures. Or even worse, by a whole new phone just for the camera and extra memory!
7. …an expert at using only one hand. Overnight I became an expert of holding baby in one arm and eating with only one hand. Typing with only one hand. Washing my hands with only one hand. Putting on pants with only one hand. Doing laundry with one hand. Putting dishes away with one hand. I kind of impress myself. What a skill!
Did I miss anything? Do share in the comments below… If you like this post, check out the tips I learned for taking care of newborns below!
Comments & Reviews
i would kill for a drive thru grocery store. I think about this almost daily. You could order ahead and just pick it up from a window. I have a 2 month old and a 15 month old. Grocery stores are not convenient.
Go mama! 2 and 15 months! You’ve got a lot going on over there 🙂
A note on the cart thing… a gentleman greeter at Walmart taught me that the particular carseat I have (one of the Graco ones) has a little red hook on the back that way, if you want to put them in the front seat part, it holds on. Let me tell ya, it took two of us several minutes to get the thing off at the end of the shopping trip. That carseat is not going anywhere when you hook that to the cart! It also reclines them more instead of the seat sitting up, so little one can nap.
To start off, I am no mommy. I am only 17 years old. However, I have 6 younger siblings, and I know a thing or two (or ten) about baby care. Here are some tips for you new mommies…
Do NOT:
~ Spoil the baby rotten by always putting him/her to sleep while standing! Then when you try to sit down and keep him asleep, he’ll wake up immediately. I don’t know how they know the difference, but they do. Mix it up and put baby to sleep standing, sitting, and lying down by turn.
~ Be absolutely silent while baby is sleeping. NOOOO!!! This is probably the worst mistake ever. Because it takes literally years to reverse the effects. Because the baby will soon wake up due to a door softly closing three rooms over. Because you will regret it. Just trust me on this. If you don’t, you’ll regret that, too.
~ Try to carry the baby in the car carrier everywhere you go. This is probably the shortest lived thing new mommies do. Admit it, that carrier is way heavy, and trying to take it out or put it in the car is bound to wake a sleeping baby. And if the baby wakes up and cries to be carried, now you have to carry the baby AND the huge carrier. Have fun with that.
DO THESE!!
~ Make bath time fun! If babies become scared of baths (even as infants) it can take up to years to make them tolerable again. Try to maintain this fun attitude during bath-time even if they like baths; one bad experience can ruin it.
~ Sing songs you know (and more than just two on rotation!). Singing babies to babies to put them to sleep is natural, and usually does help. But if you sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ over and over at every naptime and bedtime, what’s going to happen? Well…before long, your baby will ONLY allow him/herself to fall asleep if you are singing THAT song. Not fun. Again, you’ve got to trust me on this.
~ PUT THE BABY DOWN. Okay, so I know you have a new, cuddly little bundle of joy (when she’s happy), but if that baby is attached to your shoulder or hip, your life may be over. Put the baby in a bouncer while she sleeps. Get some housework done. Throw dinner in the crockpot. Check up on your favorite blogs. This can also make the baby attached to you in the sense that he/she’ll only sleep ON YOU. You won’t get a date night for two years.
Good luck, mommies! Your babies will soon grow up to thank you for your tireless and unending love and efforts. =)
Do I get brownie points for reading this while nursing my 4 mo old? I agree with all but #2, kinda. I don’t worry about carseats because I pretty much always wear baby in stores- my 3 year old sits in the cart, or I need both hands to chase him. We do avoid stores without carts though! All of your other points were perfectly on point too!
I remember the era of mastering many tasks with one hand!
So true! My little one just turned 3 months and I switch off arms when I carry him so I don’t end up with one giantly buff arm and one weak one. I have thousands of photos on my phone, they’re my prize possessions aside from my little one. Whoever invented baby carriers is a genius because I’ve started wearing him everywhere which has made my life infinitely easier when in public. Hands free!
I love this! Recently had my first and was wondering where you had been the last several months! Now I know… CONGRATS! I love that you point out things like drive thrus and deleting apps for pics. Not your typical new mom article! Love it.Your comments on the shopping cart made me giggle. I’ve actually been approached in stores by those, what I like to call, sancti-mommy types, who scold moms for every little thing, especially putting the car seat on the front area, where an older child would sit! Thankfully my guy is older now and sits there! Craziness, I tell ya! It’s amaIng how motherhood changes people. Congrats on your new adventure. Eager to see some more really awesome things from you.
This is spot on! I have deleted more apps than I can remember just to be able to take more pictures of my little guy!! I wish Panera had a drive through and I totally will wait in the car if he’s already asleep or drive around longer haha. Love this post! Congrats on your little guy and I really enjoy the blog 🙂
Lol love these!!! All of these are so true! Especially blogging to the back seat. I’m just starting to get back into a routine with them. I think we need to add doing everything one handed!
haha! So true! I sit in my car all the time… even if they awake.. if they are all quiet, we sit in the car. You never wake up a sleeping baby, and I NEVER EVER disrupt quite and calm children!
I’m totally with you on the cart situation. Luckily my daughter is old enough to sit by herself in the child seat in carts now, but there were stores I wouldn’t go to because I knew it was going to be a hassle with the infant seat. Oh – brilliant thought about daycare at target!!
You are not, in fact, supposed to put the car seat over the seat of the shopping cart. You are very right to be afraid to do it. It is rather dangerous. Keep up the good work, mama!
This absolutely made me laugh! My little guy is seven months old and all of this is so true!!! I’m also too scared to put my little guy over the seat part of the cart. It just doesn’t seem secure and if someone accidentally bumped me or something, he could go toppling over! The part that really had me laughing was the singing. I can’t sing to save my life, but you better believe I sing to my little guy! I make up songs or just sing what I’m doing. “I’m cleeeeaning the dishes and wiiiiiiiping the spoooooon.” LOL!
I’m clumsy too! I know I’d be that mom that ran my cart into the freezer door at knocked my sweet baby off of the seat, ahhh!! Hahhaha… I sing what I’m doing too and I know it’s awful!
You so know that most infant car seats actually do fit in the seat part of grocery carts and lock in place just like in the base you put in your car? I find that safer than wobbling all over in the big part of the grocery carts.