Since becoming Mom...

His old man pants crack me up :) 

I've Learned:

Zipper pajamas are far easier to get on a baby than those with snaps.

Newborns take forever to nurse (or at least mine does). You can only stare in wonder or stay awake for so long. Smart phones help the time pass quickly and help you stay awake in the middle of the night. 

There is something really special about other people who love your kid and invest in them.

The ridiculous comments from strangers don't end when you pregnancy ends. (Today in Costco, an older man asked me how old Peter was and when I told him he was just over a month, his response was, "Yeah, I knew he couldn't have been out too long because you've still got a tummy."

I can't get over:

How much more I love Kory since Peter was born. Watching him as a dad is one of my very favorite things!

How calm I feel about nothing going as planned in my labor and delivery (I'm a planner by nature and often have trouble adjusting when things go "off course").

How cute Peter is. I seriously planned for him to be an alien-looking newborn for a while and then he was cute from birth. Don't tell me if you feel differently. =) 

I have been surprised by:

The incredible flood of emotions the first two weeks after giving birth. Whoa. People told me it would happen but I had no idea how intense it would be.

The fact that my nursing cravings are far more intense and urgent than they ever were in my pregnancy.

How quickly my perspective on everything changed: work, faith, family, stress, love, you name it. 

How well I am able to handle this lack of sleep. It was the thing I was most nervous about before Peter was born and it just really hasn't been nearly as big of a deal as I imagined it would be. I'm tired, but not miserably exhausted beyond belief. It helps that I don't have to work right now, so I'm aware this could totally change.

I don't want to forget that:

The scary thing to me about having more babies is having to endure delivery again. Having Peter has made me want lots of babies, but I need the memory of the pain to fade away before I can commit to going through that again.

My view of my mom (and all moms) changed right away. When I watch movies now, I see them from the perspective of the mom and not the child. 

I understood all of the mom cliches immediately and found myself saying/thinking really corny and cliche things about my baby that I used to roll my eyes at in the past.

I have seen God at work:

When I remember that I spent the last few weeks of my pregnancy wide awake from about 3:00-5:00 a.m. I'm often up feeding at that time now and I had enough time to adjust to waking up at that hour.

When I receive texts from friends or family members at the perfect time with just the message I need to hear. After the hardest night yet, Kory and I were talking about me needing to ask for help from someone the next day while he was at work (this conversation was in the middle of the night). The next morning I woke up to a text from a friend offering to come watch Peter so I could go out by myself and take a break.  

I am thrilled that:

My parents got to be here for his birth. That wasn't our plan but it worked out so much better than our plan A.

God has given me the enormous blessing of being Peter's mom. It's better than I ever imagined it would be!