We all know that a lot of things change when you have a baby, but as I was browsing around various baby/parenting websites I ran across this article at babycenter.com. It’s interesting to read through the list and see which ones you can identify with.

This list is from babycenter.com but we elaborated a little with our own answers on the ones we could really identify with.

After reading, leave us a comment on the ones you can relate to. It’s great to hear other perspectives on parenthood!

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.
(Daddy walks around the yard almost every day with the baby looking at all the nature that is around)

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. [See a reader's perspective in #22, below.]

4. You respect your body … finally.
(Uhh….I would still like my pre-pregnancy body back thank you very much :p)

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.
(Sometimes there would be weeks where Husband wouldn’t talk to his parents. Now he talks to them several times a week about the baby and life in general)

6. You find that your baby’s pain feels much worse than your own.
(It’s true what that says, you wish you could take it all for yourself)

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.
(Husband has always been a kid at heart so he is looking forward to renewing his belief in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and playing pretend)

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.
(We have definitely lost touch with friends but only because it’s so hard to get out and do things with the friends that don’t have children. It’s like a whole different world.)

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

11. Every day is a surprise.
(Isn’t that the truth! Plan all you want but it will rarely go as you planned!)

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)
(If you get a little doody on your finger it’s no big deal, you just wipe it off.)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.
(We have a big mirror in the hallway that we walk past when holding the baby. We just stop and stare at him starring at himself.)

14. You become a morning person.
(I was always a morning person but my husband was NOT even close. He didn’t like to talk for the first couple of hours he was awake. Now, with the baby, we have had full, pleasant conversations as early as five or six in the morning!)

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.
(So true. It allows you to do/handle things that you never thought you could)

Responses from readers of babycenter.com

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.
(Daddy even wants to plant a garden so he and the little one can play in the dirt and watch things grow.)

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. [See a reader's perspective in #22, below.]

4. You respect your body … finally.
(I would still like my pre-pregnancy body back thank you! :p)

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.
(My husband used to go weeks without speaking with his parents but since the baby came he talks to them a couple times a week about the baby and life in general. It really does bring you closer.)

6. “You don’t mind going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday night.” — Kellye
(In fact I sometimes look forward to it!)

7. “Silence? What’s that?” — Anonymous
(Naps times are the greatest!)

8. “You realize that the 15 pounds you can’t seem to get rid of are totally worth having.” — Brenda
(I hope you’re referring to my 15 lb baby and not the 15 lbs that have taken up residence in my hips and stomach!)

9. “You discover an inner strength you never thought you had.” — Ronin and Brookie’s mom

10. “You no longer rely on a clock — your baby now sets your schedule.” — Thomas’ mom
(But some times you can set your watch to it.)

11. “You give parents with a screaming child an ‘I-know-the-feeling’ look instead of a ‘Can’t-they-shut-him-up?’ one.” — Jaidyn’s mom
(Unless they bring a screaming little one to the movies. There is just no place for that. Wait for your baby to grow up or get a babysitter!)

12. “Your dog — who used to be your ‘baby’ — becomes just a dog.” — Kara

(The cat has definitely noticed he does not get as much attention as he used to.)

13. “You take the time for one more hug and kiss even if it means you’ll be late.” — Tracey
(Especially if he is awake in his bed. You HAVE to see his smile once more before you leave for work!)

14. “You learn that taking a shower is a luxury.” — Jayden’s mom
(It is very relaxing when you can take a real shower and not a 2 minute shower while you THINK he is napping!)

15. “You realize that you can love a complete stranger.” — Dezarae’s mom

(Yes but only your baby. Regular complete strangers I still don’t love.)

16. You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place. — Arizona

(You want to leave it better than you found it for your kids. Good luck in these times!)

17. If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do!  — Ciara

(Your baby really is the most beautiful thing in the world.)

18. You start to appreciate Sesame Street for its intellectual contribution.  — Anon.

(We haven’t quite gotten that far yet.)

19. You have to quit watching the news because you see every story from a mother’s perspective and it breaks your heart. — Brooke&Boys

(I’ve had to change the channel a few times because I didn’t want to see the outcome.)

20. You just plain love life more – everything comes together and becomes better because of one tiny person and your love for them. — Anon.

(Everything is better with a little one!)

21. You finally find out the real reason you have those breasts. — Anon

22. In response to #2 [above], I’d say that where you were once afraid, you’re now fearless. I was always very timid and shy and let myself get walked all over … but now where my kid’s concerned, I’ll speak my mind and really connect with my inner “b”! — gummismom

23. The support you get from other people surprises you, because the people giving it are not always the ones you’d expect. — japanese_macaque

(Very true. Some people are very excited about your baby and you would have never thought it.)

24. Nothing is just yours any longer. You share EVERYTHING! — DylanLsMom

(And it doesn’t bother you a bit.)

25. No matter what you’ve accomplished in life, you look at your child and think, “I’ve done a GREAT job!” — Anon.

26. You want to take better care of yourself for your child. — Treasor

27. You can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds like “ahhh” and “oooo.” — littlehulk2008

(If only the conversations I have at work were that interesting!)

This past weekend we took a long weekend trip to visit Grandma. It was baby’s first big road trip and I must say that he did excellent! On the way up to Grandma’s we fed him right before we left and he slept the entire four hour trip! On the way back we had to stop for dinner so we woke him up to feed him but he went right back to sleep. This boy loves being in the car. The one thing he doesn’t like is red lights. If the light stays red too long he starts to get fussy but as soon as it turns green and we are going again he calms right back down. This sounds promising in a few years when I rent us a big RV and we take a family vacation across country.

Over the weekend the baby had several more of his firsts:

First road trip

First time Grandma babysat him

First time in an arcade

First time he met one of his Grandpas

First time in a Dairy Queen

It’s fun to take note when you are doing something for the first time with your new baby. You always get to say, “This is the first time he’s….” or “This is his first….”. I’ve been mentally tracking these but just the other day Mommy informed me that his baby book has a section for all of his firsts. Now I have to go back and try to remember them all.

He turned three months old over the weekend and with it has had a few new milestones.

He’s very close to laughing now. I can tickle his belly and make funny noises and he smiles from ear to ear and shakes his head. The only thing missing is his laugh but you can tell it’s coming soon.

He has discovered that things other than his fist can go in his mouth. While in his tummy time gym he grabbed a hold of a little butterfly that hangs and plays music and the next thing I knew he had the butterfly’s foot in his mouth. I also gave him a sock to hold while I was changing his diaper and he stuck that in his mouth (it was a clean baby sock). He did not like the flavor of the cloth though as he made a very amusing “This is disgusting!” face.

He’s moved up a size in his clothes. There are several outfits that we have been waiting to put him in but he just didn’t fit into them but now he does. The flip side of that means he is outgrowing some of his old clothes that we have grown accustomed to seeing him in. Like his little green alligator sleeper. He looked so cute in that but if he stretches in it I fear his feet will pop out of the bottom.

It’s exciting to watch your baby grow up but at the same time it’s sad because you know you will never get to see some of the things again. Kind of like my six weeks with him. It’s only half over but I am already thinking about going back to work and dreading it because I realize now how much I am going to be missing during the day.

Does it count as sleeping through the night if your baby goes to bed at 8pm and doesn’t wake up until 5am? I think it does. Those night don’t happen very often. He usually needs to eat at least once in the night.

Now while you may think that him sleeping through the night was a good thing, it happened to coincide with the same night I decided to stay up until midnight. So by him sleeping through the night it caused him to wake up about 2 hours earlier than normal and since he was fully rested, he had no desire to go back to sleep after his 5am bottle. You know the old saying, “If the baby ain’t sleeping, nobody is sleeping.” Except for my wife. Since she fell asleep at 9am and the baby didn’t wake up during the night, she too got a full nights rest.

Which brings us to 9am this morning where I was greeted with the worst spit up to date. Not because of the quantity of spit up but because of the after effects. You see, as I was burping him he had his head buried in my shoulder. At the same time he decided he projectile vomit. My shoulder and the burp cloth absorbed plenty but the majority of it bounced back into his face. He was covered in spit up from his forehead to his chin. It was in his eyes, nose and mouth. I would have taken a picture had I not had to clean him up so quickly. Just imagine your kid dunking his head into a bowl of milk. Now triple it.

Now that he is cleaned up and calmed down he is currently fighting his nap. Has he really reached the age where he doesn’t want to nap? He’s only three months old! He’s been playing this game for the last few days. He eventually will nap but not without a fight. I’m trying to teach him to nap where ever I lay him down without me intervening very much. He’s getting better at it and very few times do I have to go and pick him up.

We aren’t the type of parents that can let their kid “cry it out”. There are ways to console a crying baby without “spoiling” him and without just leaving him by himself to cry himself to sleep. Besides, as fast as they grow up and change, we feel like we are missing out on things if he just cries it out.

Like today for instance, during his little fussy bits I got to sit with him by his swing and bounce the swing up and down. I get to console him and be close but he also has to work things out for himself. But in between his fussy spells he would just stare at me and I would smile at him and he would give me a coy little smile in return. I would have never got to see that if I had left him alone in his room. You can’t get those moments back so why set yourself up to miss them?

During his nap I’m working on cleaning out the laundry room. We are getting our new washer and dryer tomorrow so I’m doing the last load of laundry today so I can take the old washer and dryer out. I never thought I would be this excited about laundry!

Call me Mr. Mom! Except I still suck at cooking. I’m getting pretty decent at laundry and cleaning though.

Today has been a surprisingly easy day. We started off the morning at 630 with him laying next to me on my pillow and listening to his favorite acoustic music. Then we had a bottle and a diaper change. Shortly after that he took about a 3 hour nap. We then had another bottle, a poopie diaper and we headed out into town where he slept the entire time.

I was approached but another stranger that told me how cute he was and then reminded me, “Enjoy it now because they grow up so fast.” I’m really getting tired of hearing that. When we got back home it was time for another bottle and we’ve just been playing and talking for about the last hour.

Now it’s nap time but he doesn’t want to admit it. He’s sitting in his bouncer half crying/fussing and then calming down and then starting back up and then calming down. In between he closes his eyes for a moment. It’s like he’s upset that he’s sleepy and he doesn’t want to miss anything. The only thing he will miss is me sitting on the couch and possibly doing a little tidying around the house.

It’s ok, you can sleep through that child because when you’re older you will be the one doing the tidying!

Now he’s sleeping.

Nap time – 3. Baby – 0

Day #6, started off on the wrong foot and just continued from there. It seems the baby has a bit of a cold so I got him dressed yesterday morning and headed over to the doctor to confirm it was a cold. All he has is a runny nose, one episode of diarrhea and a very slight fever once. Since then he has been fine minus the runny nose. Really all I have to do is suction out his nose (which he used to not mind but now he HATES) every so often and give him some nasal drops. He is much better this evening.

After coming back home from the doctor we just stayed in the house the rest of the day so he could rest.  I suspect we will do the same tomorrow.

::4am:: So begins our day. We enjoy a little quiet time together with a rocking chair and a bottle. Luckily he went back to sleep pretty easily. It’s funny though how for the last few days it seems he tries to do most of his practice talking around 4am in his bed. He makes some very cute sounds when he is practicing.

::730am:: Well now we are up for the day. The usual morning routine. Get him out of bed and lay him on my bed where we talk and play for a few minutes and I watch him smile. He’s a morning baby. He loves to see smiling faces when he first wakes up for the day. Then we move to the changing table to get him a fresh diaper. He continues to smile throughout the diaper change. Then we sit down for breakfast. He has a bottle, I have cheerios.

::830am:: Poopie diaper. My evil plan to train him to save his poops until around 5pm when Mommy gets home is not working. It appears he operates on the same schedule his Daddy does. Curse me and my regular bowels!

::930am:: He’s down for his morning nap which allowed me to take my shower and get myself ready for the day. It also gave me a chance to fold all of his clothes that I washed yesterday and then just dumped on the couch. Funny how many things come up during the day where you say, “I’ll finish this in a little bit” and then you never get back to it at all. After that I spent about 10 minutes readjusting his car seat. Since he has grown a few inches I had to move the straps up a notch otherwise it was just too cramped for him. I’ve been using Mommy’s car seat for the last few days since I had already adjusted hers. Even though her’s is the same brand as mine and we both have the same base, her car seat does not like to unlatch from my base. I guess that’s good. I’d rather have it not unlatch then to have it not latch.

Now we’re going to head across town to see Gpa! We didn’t like sitting in the house all day yesterday! Next update will be from the road!

::404pm::We’ve been back from Gpa’s for a while now. He slept for most of the time but then got hungry so Grandpa got to feed him two bottles. After running around town a bit more we stopped for lunch at Chic-Fil-A where two random people stopped to tell me how cute my baby was. Duh!

One lady then proceeded to tell me she had a two year old but she was a “single momma and kicked the daddy out when she was four months pregnant”. Why would you tell a random stranger that?

Back at home we’ve played and talked a bit, drank a bottle and had another poopie diaper. Then a short nap and he is currently fussing in the swing. Guess nap time is over!

A small road trip tomorrow to visit my aunt! Stay tuned!

Daddy out!

::530am:: It’s nice to have six weeks off work to stay home with the baby but it was stupid of me to think that I would get to sleep in. Hello 5:30am, let’s start our day shall we?

::745am:: Vanilla Milkshake pop tarts are the best! Not part of a nutritious breakfast I’m sure but when you’re up at 5:30am, who cares.

Baby played a nice little trick on me. He was crying in the swing so I picked him up to play with him. He kept right on crying and after a while I decided to go ahead and make a bottle for him. So I laid him on the couch to go get the bottle and he’s just been laying here playing for the last 20 minutes. No bottle necessary. There is something about laying flat on his back on the couch cushion that he likes. I’m wondering how long it will be before he spits up on the cushion. I should probably put a burp cloth under his head shouldn’t I?

::807am:: Note to self: Before feeding baby, if you need to go to bathroom go beforehand. Only one of you is wearing and diaper and the baby is in no mood to wait for you to do your duty.

::9am:: It’s funny how 9am feels very similar to bed time to me. Good thing I still have my PJ’s on. I’m going to turn this couch into a bed now.

::1005am:: Like father like son. After spending some time fussing/crying in the swing I picked him up to console him. My traditional methods weren’t working so I broke out the iPhone for some music. He loves music. Today Boyce Avenue was very effective at calming him down. He just blankly stares off while he’s listening. It’s like he’s really taking it in. Here are some of his fav’s from Boyce Avenue.

::1110am:: He’s a little late on his morning nap today. It might be because for the last two days we have been outside of the house in and out of the car. He loves riding in the car. At times when we stop at red lights for too long he gets a little cranky but he’s fine as soon as the light turns green and we take off again. I think he has his Daddy’s need for speed built in. During Mommy’s break at work we sent her some live video of baby playing on the couch and talking with our Knocking Live Video app on our iPhones. She sent me live video everyday while I was at work so now I get to return the favor. It’s great to see your baby even while you’re working! If you don’t have this app you need to download it and use it!

Now that he’s napping I’m not sure what to do. I could eat lunch. I could get dressed. I should probably do both.

::1247pm:: While baby was napping I managed to get in a nap myself. I think it was only about 20 mins but I feel refreshed nonetheless!

::1005pm:: Whoops! Totally forgot to update at the end of the day. Today was the first day in 4 or 5 days that we didn’t leave the house all day. The baby celebrated by sleeping most of the day and Daddy went stir crazy. So we made a trip to Target when Mommy got home and bought a couple of outfits for baby. One I Love My Daddy and one Future Rocket Scientist. I was told not to get the Future Rocket Scientist one because “orange doesn’t look good on him” but I got it anyway. Anything looks good on our baby!

See ya tomorrow!

It never fails. You spend an hour rocking and consoling a crying baby. You anxiously wait with each passing rock as his eyes grow heavier and heavier.

He closes his eyes. You hold your breath.

“Is this it? Is he finally asleep?” you ask yourself.

His eyes open back up. He’s not asleep. If sleeping were the kiddy pool, then he’s just dipping his toe in to check the water.

You keep on rocking. Not in the “Woo! Parrrrrty!” way you did back in your younger years when the only thing you were cradling in your arms at 2 am was a case of beer. This time you’re half asleep, in your pajamas and sitting in a rocking chair with a 6 week old baby. You’re staring at the clock and doing the math in your head over what the maximum amount of sleep you can still get before you’re alarm clock goes off.

“If it’s 2am now and I can get him to go to sleep by 2:30 then I can still get 4 hours of sleep.” It’s the sleeping equivalent of the “if a train leaves Los Angeles travelling at 60mph” riddle.

Except now it’s 3am so you’ve had to adjust your calculations a bit. Eventually the baby closes is eyes and you watch him for about five minutes. You’re convinced he’s asleep so you ever so gently get up from the rocking chair and place the baby in his bed. His eyes are still closed and you breathe a sigh of relief. Now you can get some sleep too.

It’s at this point that it doesn’t matter how hard you try, as you head back towards the bed you will inadvertently make as much noise as humanly possible. You’ll bang your knee into the night stand and knock the lamp over. You’ll step on the loudest toy in the house. You’ll roll your ankle as your trip over your own house shoes. Whatever it is that happens, something will happen. After spending so much time and effort into getting the baby back to sleep in the middle of the night, you will quickly undo all of your hard work as you clumsily stumble back to bed and end up waking the baby back up. Now it’s 3:30am and you have a newly energized crying baby again.

It’s at this point you calmly climb back into your bed, roll over next to your wonderful spouse and whisper into their ear, “Honey, it’s your turn.”

Someone needs to sleep like a baby. It might as well be you.

This week baby had his two week check up with his doctor. We are happy to report that he’s a happy healthy baby and has gained almost a pound since his 4 day visit so he is up to 7lbs 7oz and 19.5 inches long. Coincidently, the exact same as his daddy was when he was born. We thought we had it timed perfectly for the visit. He just finished eating about 30 minutes before we left the house so we had a easy 2-3 hour window before he got fussy again. We also changed his diaper right before leaving to ensure a clean baby for the doctor.

One of the first things they do at the pediatricians office is have you strip your baby down so they can weigh him. As I was taking off his clothes I got a faint whiff of something foul. It seems during our 15 minute wait in the waiting room he decided that was a good time to fill his diaper up with poo. So we not only had the pleasure of changing his poopy diaper in the doctors office, but as we were wiping his butt he decided he wasn’t done pooping. So we had to sit and wait for another 3-4 minutes while he continued to poop. I’m sure the nurses there have seen everything. It just goes to show that when you have a baby, no matter how much you plan things out, things will never go according to your plan. He’s a very good baby though and rarely fusses unless he is hungry or wants to be change. Other than that he either stares around the room or sleeps quietly.

After the doctor visit we stopped by the car wash to wash the last two weeks of snow and grime off the car. He was particularly content inside the automatic car wash. After a moment, Mommy came to a realization.

“No wonder he likes this. The car wash sounds a lot like the womb.” she said.

As I listened I realized she was right. Curled up tight in his car seat with his cozy cover over him and the heat blasting it reminded him of his old home where he stayed for nine months. I’ve been to the car wash a thousand times and I never thought about the sound. It’s funny the connections you make as a parent.

Take a listen to the below video to see if you can hear some of the womb sounds.

Next time he gets fussy I’m putting him in the car seat and heading to the car wash. Sleeping baby and a clean car. Double win!

Throughout the pregnancy, we have bought and been given several baby books. What To Expect, Belly Laughs, The Expectant Father, Skinny Bitch: Bun In the Oven just to name a few. While each of these books have great information in them, there are some of the every day things they just don’t explain.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, what better way to explain the everyday items of parenting than in pictures. Enjoy!

If you enjoy these parenting tips (or the pregnancy tips we posted the other day) you can go pick up the books at Amazon. Click on either book to go take a look!