What I've learned thus far...

Today was supposed to be my due date. I had thought my entire pregnancy that even today was too early to expect little Blueberry to arrive. Boy, did I learn an important lesson in not having everything go as planned...

This brings me to reflect on the lessons I've already learned in the short 2.5 weeks since I've officially become a mom. First, I must have some sort of sixth sense because I somehow felt that I was going to go into labor the night I did, and asked Kyle to come home from his guys' night. Now I can tell that this "instinct" to parent is most definitely real, as all the "ideas" I have in my head, such as how to calm Emerson down when he is grumpy, seem to work in reality when I implement them. Today, for example, Emerson was not happy, and would cry if he wasn't eating. He didn't nap like usual, so I assume he is over tired, and is only turning to hunger because, like an adult, he doesn't know what else to do. So, my idea was to distract him, take him outside on a walk where he couldn't concentrate on being hungry or sleepy, and wouldn't you know, he immediately stopped crying in the fresh air and sunshine and was happy as a clam until the minute we walked back into the house. It was seriously instantaneous crying once we were back home until he got to eat again. But the experience helped to get him back into his feeding routine.

The next thing that I've learned is that the SIMS in NO WAY really helps to simulate parenting. The reason I bring this up is because back in 2000, around the time the SIMS was released, my siblings and I had a little problem with fighting over who got the most computer time to play the game. I remember my summer home from college and staying up all night to play so I wouldn't have to share the computer with my family. In this game, if your characters had a baby, for 3 computer-simulated days you would have to be prepared to wake up at any given moment and feed the baby, rock the baby, sing to the baby, play with the baby... Then, magically, after 3 days, the baby became a kid. Then you never knew what your kid would look like. Sometimes they were annoying kids. In one famous incident, my sister locked her kid out of the house until it died because it was too ugly. (There are many embarrassing stories about my characters, too, but not dealing with the parenting of the game). Well, SIMS, your simulated parenting in NO WAY helped me to prepare for the challenges of actual parenting. Kyle will be the first to tell you that every time it is feeding time in the middle of the night, I ask for "just 5 more minutes" before I can get up the energy to go get Emerson out of his crib and stay up with him for an hour to eat. To minimize the monotony, I play a lot of Mahjong on my phone. (That was a highly alliterative sentence). So, I guess what I've learned is that this really is a challenge that you can, in no way, prepare fully for, or understand the difficulty of, until you have experienced it.

I have also learned that I can pretty much immediately fall asleep on demand now, knowing how precious a commodity true sleep is.

I have learned that eating with one hand while nursing a baby is a valuable skill.

I have learned that having backup clothes readily available at all times is essential, for Emerson can pee all over everything at any given moment. Backup clothes for him and you, the parent, that is.

I have learned that the great outdoors really is helpful for a little man named after the great Transcendentalist, Emerson.

I have learned to ask for help (although I am still really bad at it) and to trust in the help that I receive (like from my coworkers who had to step it up to get my sub transitioned).

I have learned that daytime TV is horrible. Except for HGTV.

I have mostly learned that I can't control, plan or count on anything going smoothly when I am no longer the one making the calls in the family. I've had to change and cancel plans because of feeding schedules, and I've had to let some things I've wanted to do go, like attending the grand opening of the new J.Crew outlet store.

But most of all, I've learned that I truly love and appreciate my family, all of it, from my parents and in-laws, to those who are considered family but not by blood. And of course, above all else, I love my husband and my little one more that I'd ever imagined. Even if I am just a food cow and an incubator for them...

My eyes are open more and more often these days!

Dad likes to nap with me on the couch.