Mrs. Stranglove
In my 20's, I lived in a hip town. I sang in a band. I had a job, took care of my business, and I was cute. For lack of more subtle words, mommy used to ROCK, man!
I drove around in my first ever “new” car. It was a two seater blue Del Sol convertible. It was the the pride of my young adult life – the first major purchase I ever made with my own money. For awhile, I felt extra hip with my hair flowing in the wind and my handsome fiance in the seat next to me.
I loved that car. It took me to work for years and to band gigs, with my guitar case strapped into the front seat next to me. It drove me and my new hubby away from our wedding, with white ribbons and veil lace trailing behind us. It was my personal symbol of love and freedom.
After it was paid off and I discovered that I was pregnant with my first baby, my husband and I had our first discussion about how to cart around kids. This was the conversation where he first tried to convince me to trade in the convertible and get a minivan.
Farewell: Cutting Back on Parenting Writing to, Well, Parent
If you had told me back in 2003 as a first-time mom that newborn infants are actually pretty easy when compared to other stages of parenting, I would not have believed it.
In fact, I probably would have colorfully (albeit silently) cursed you.
But after our second child was born in 2006 and our third child arrived in April, this was a truth I quickly learned. Healthy newborns sleep about 20 hours out of every 24. Sure, they need to be fed eight times a day and their diapers changed about that many times too, and they frequently wake in the night. They require doctors appointments, pounds of gear and sometimes bodily recovery for mom in some very interesting places. But if no complications arise, newborns kind of tag along with your life, sleeping in their car seat carrier during meetings, conference calls and the answering of e-mails.
All that newborn sleepy time is fabulous if you are a blogger and a freelance parenting writer from home.