Things that no one told me...

Acid Reflux.

Towards the end of my pregnancy I couldn't even drink water without getting acid reflux and my nights were spent snuggling up to my giant bottle of tums. Somehow it never occurred to me that little tiny people can have acid reflux issues as well.

He started out projectile vomiting, spitting up all the time, and crying before, during and after feedings. His burps are nice and juicy and he frequently whimpers like a little puppy as we were trying to burp him. He would gag on whatever was coming up and then be 'chewing on it for days.He gets fussy and doesn't flap like a bird when his little belly hurts. Thankfully they have acid reflux medicine for little tiny guys that minimizes his pain or else I would have been letting him lick Tums before and after every meal.

Have you ever seen a 7 week old give you the pouty face? It breaks my mother heart. Seriously.

Attire.

Don't count on dressing cute unless you are leaving the house and even then prepare to change a few times before you actually head out the door.

Sweats are a must. Crazy amounts of baggy shirts are a must. Good nursing bras are a must.

No More Sleeping In.

My baby is 7 weeks old and somehow every Friday I find myself still getting excited about sleeping in the next morning and stay up way later than I should...

...and then I remember that Ezra loves waking up at 6:30 everyday and there will be no extra sleeping.

Some people are lucky enough and their baby will take a bottle and so on the weekends mom can get a break while dad takes the early shift. Not at our house. I guess it's a blessing and a curse that he won't take a bottle. Or a pacifier unless we are in the car.

Baby Weight. 

Yes. I do recognize that my prepregnancy diet was not the most healthy diet out there and I would reward myself for exercising with a treat. During my pregnancy I had no appetite and so eating anything was acceptable and that is something that is difficult to get away from. I guess I should have been and need to be a little more realistic about what it is going to take to get my extra weight off since I currently don't have that much free time. It took 9 months for my body to get to the point it did. Looks like I should be more realistic and give myself 9 months to get it back to where it was,

Because dairy, peanut butter, granola (oatmeal) and too much chocolate put Ezra in pain they have all been taken from my diet leaving me with less options than I would like. Since remembering to eat during the day is hard enough, I frequently grab whatever is the quickest thing. Chips, toast, and ham sandwiches and if I have time spaghetti generally fill my breakfast, lunch, and snack que.

And chocolate chip cookies. I like those too.

Looks like I should start doing some food prep.

A Mother's Love. 

I wouldn't exactly say that I had this overwhelming feeling of love for Ezra when he was put on my chest, it was more of a shocking feeling that was accompanied by a lot of tears. The love came when it was just Sam and I with him in our hospital room.

We were standing over his little fish bowl and he was all swollen and partly swaddled with his little white hospital beanie on and his Morro Reflexes were hard at work at he was jolting all over the place. My heart felt like it was going to explode.

I'm sure that I will still have that same feeling for the rest of my life, but each time I go pick him up out of his bed while he is screaming to get my attention after his nap is over he stops crying when I hold him close I get that same feeling.

Mother hearts are supposed to explode with love.

Recovery.

If carrying a child for 40 weeks wasn't enough...

No one told me that I wasn't going to be able to get up on my bed, have to brace myself for the pain involved in sitting down, the enemy that stairs would become, the burning, the need to always have a pillow to sit on.

...I totally thought that 6 weeks of hiding after the baby comes was for the baby. It's not.

Holidays.

My child may be only 2 months old, but the idea of dressing him up for Halloween, having an extra family member at Thanksgiving, and a tiny person to buy fun gifts for at Christmas is almost more excitement that I can bear by myself. Good thing I have a husband to share it with.

Everything is just so much more fun and way more magical. And there is one more people to snuggle with when it's cold outside.