I had so many thoughts about how motherhood would be before I became a mother, and I know I’m not the only woman who did that, too. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE being Harrison’s momma. There’s nothing like looking at his sweet face and having him stare back at me or being able to calm Harrison when he’s upset. But there are some things that are different than what I expected them to be…
Expectation: Harrison would be on a schedule.
Reality: NOPE! I read Moms on Call a long time ago with the plan of putting whatever baby we had on a schedule. Except Harrison was born premature and put into the NICU for 11 days on the NICU’s schedule. Then with his reflux problems and trying different formulas, there was no way I could try to get him on a schedule. Now that’s he’s 7 weeks, I think we’re ready to try the MOC schedule–just about 6 weeks later than I had thought haha! He’s finally going a little longer than 3 hours between feedings at night, so I think he’s ready to try!
Expectation: I would have plenty of time to get done what I need to (cleaning, reading, working out, etc) since babies sleep most of the time.
Reality: I still am not sure how it’s been so tough for me to get anything accomplished??? I feel like I’m barely able to get the dishwasher loaded and unloaded every day, so there’s no way I even have time to think about working out. And sometimes I try to nap once a day when he’s napping–especially if he didn’t sleep much the night before.
Expectation: Feeding would be a breeze.
Reality: I feel enslaved to bottle feeding haha! Harrison is such a slow eater so it takes him 30-40 minutes to drink his bottle. Then we have to keep him on our shoulder for about 10 minutes after because of his reflux. Then we change his diaper. Sometimes I feel like I’ve spent an hour doing all of that and then he eats again 2 hours later. This is definitely way different than I thought it would be!
If you’re a mom, is there anything I left off of this list that applied to you? I’d love to hear!