"Oh THAT'S what you meant!"

Before I became a mom, I got all sorts of advice and warnings:
"You're going to be more tired than you've ever been in your life."
"Get used to wearing grungy clothes, because you're always going to be getting messy."
"She's going to get into everything!"

And at first, I thought to myself, "Ha! Joke's on you suckas! My baby rocks! NONE of those things are true!" However, I recently realized, they just weren't true, yet! As a newborn, E slept soundly, and I was well rested. She typically only woke up once a night. I woke up way more than that to go potty when I was pregnant, so waking up only once made for some great sleep!

Getting clothes dirty? Not really. I frequently would hang up her clothes and mine at the end of the day to use again later. She wasn't a spit-uppy baby, so she hardly ever spit up on her clothes. And what with just eating milk, she hardly ever got her clothes dirty. And since she hardly ever spit up, my clothes hardly ever got dirty either.

And she didn't get into anything, obviously, because she couldn't move herself around. So I didn't have to worry about hiding sharp objects, or putting away the computer cord....

And then came the Fifth Month... 

She isn't sleeping! Why won't she sleep people?! I have done everything humanly possible! Seriously, if you leave a comment with a suggestion on how to get her to sleep better, I will cry. And then find you. And make you cry. We do baths every night before bed. We use the lavender bedtime soap.... ugh, for more info, see the previous post on her sleeping. I have never been so tired. Oh my gosh. I almost have to prop my eyelids open with toothpicks. And when she wakes up in the morning, is it terrible that I just lay her next to me in the bed and let her wiggle quietly for 15 minutes until I can muster up the energy to get up?

Messy! I've recently started giving her rice cereal before her bedtime bath. Now, one of her favorite things to do is blow raspberries, and she thinks it's even MORE fun to blow raspberries right after I've put a spoonful of rice cereal in her mouth. Which equals rice cereal all over my face and her clothes. She also wants to be big and independent, and insists on holding the spoon herself. So I have a spoon, and she has a spoon, and we're both trying to get them in her mouth... mess. And she likes to bang her spoon. Oh, and put her hands in the bowl. And hold the bowl. So goodbye to the days of recycling clothes, and hello to bigger, more frequent loads of laundry.

And she now, does get into everything. She is learning to scoot and crawl, and while she's still moving mostly in a backward motion, she can also turn in circles and pivot while on her tummy, so she can get almost anywhere now. She just had to turn around and scoot backwards. I find her chewing on the computer cord, books, anything that's been left on the floor, that is not meant for babies - that's what she goes for. She'll scoot right past her ball, her doll, and her links, and head straight for my shoes, mouth open wide, eagerly anticipating the taste of rubber and dirt in her mouth. (I suppose when all you eat is milk, any variety in taste is welcome.)So now on to learning to baby proof the house.

I understand now. This is what they all meant. The advice and warnings just came too soon. I celebrated too soon.....

Don't let this fool you. This picture was taken, pre-mess