Mommy Misgivings

It's Monday Tuesday, and we're back from another whirlwind trip around the state. We had a hectic but wonderful weekend, and it got off to a great start when we got to see some good friends who live in Charleston. We all went out to dinner together (including AG) and I found myself in an unfamiliar situation.

I was the Mommy expert.

Ha! So far I've managed to keep AG mostly unharmed (more on the choking incident over the weekend some other time), but I would never go so far as to classify myself as an expert. But there we were, and the Mrs. half of our friends started asking me questions. How did I like motherhood? How had it changed our lives? Was it everything I thought it would be?

That was me a few years ago. As our friends started having children I began to grow more and more curious. I would grill them ask politely what having kids was really like.  How had it changed their lives? Was it worth it?

I came to discover that even after my twenty questions sessions, I still had no idea. At all. I had rarely been around infants, and the Captain never had. I was wrong about so many things. It's so much harder than I thought. And it's so much better than I could ever have imagined.

I now can understand how Mom jeans came to be. You spend your time, and your money, on your children. I never realized I could (mostly happily) pass up a new pair of pumps so that I could afford a tiny pair of patent leathers. Heaven help me, I hope I don't ever get to the fashion abyss that is mom jeans, but I can see how some end up there.

One of my biggest misconceptions was how much time I (thought) I would have. Seriously. I had a good seventy four things on my maternity leave to-do list. None of these were related to the actual said maternal product. They were more along the lines of "organize bathroom cabinets" instead of "provide care to completely helpless new creature". You don't have to look underneath my bathroom sink to know which won that little contest.

The main thing though is that somehow, you manage to figure it all out. I remember, before I had AG, looking at one of my friends with her daughter and thinking how natural she looked, and being a little jealous. I didn't realize that somehow you just become that natural when its your own child. Somehow it all makes sense. Somehow, you figure (most) of it out.  If you don't,  you have your parents and friends, pediatrician, and the all together frightening internet to help sort everything else out.  Who knew?