Ch-ch-ch-ChAAAnges

This week I've been thinking a lot about how my life has changed since I became a mother. I find that whether these changes are good or not-so-good, I am grateful for them. I have found myself much more appreciative of the small things and sometimes get a good chuckle when thinking about the "stressful" things that seemed important prior to pregnancy (Scoff! What did I know?!).  As I'm going through my day to day activities with my son I make mental note of the things I'm doing or have done on a regular basis that if you told me a year ago they would be normal day-to-day activities I'd quickly mentally note that you MUST be some level of crazy, and no, no one does these things as part of real life. So here's my list. Ready?

1) Look down someone else's pants for signs of poop.
2) Smell someone else's butt for scents of poop.
3) Eat leftovers on a regular basis (Prior to working part-time I HATED leftovers with a passion and would regularly make fresh meals for dinner while my husband happily took leftovers for lunch. Now, eating leftovers ONLY makes sense (time wise) and cents (well, you get it) <--see what I did there ;).
4) Plan meals around coupons and sale schedules for the week.
5) Continue to wear a shirt that had remnants of barf on it.
6) Find food in my hair the next morning from dinner the night before. (dried green beans for breakfast? No-we're not THAT financially strapped and yes-I wish I made #6 up for kicks but it really did happen to me once.)
7) Be so concerned with someone else's pooping habits.
8) Talk in depth with my husband or nanny about consistancy and color of poop.
9) Be elated when someone else pooped.
10) Talk so much about poop on a list on my blog.
11) Have a blog.
12) Plop out a boob in front of someone other than myself or my husband. When the kid's hungry, modesty has no meaning. I never was brave enough to bring it out in public (i.e. the mall), but I definitely had no concerns about family or close friends. I figured if they were uncomfortable they could exit.
13) Weekly mentally calculate how much I made in a days work vs. how much I was going to have to pay the sitter. (Ugh. This one still annoys me, especially on those days where I'm cutting it close or even lose money. Yes, lose money. Unfortunately my line of work is not always consistent. Being in the healthcare field I often have to deal with people who no-show their appointments or cancel leaving holes in my day where I'm not making money while still paying the sitter. I could probably write a whole post on how much this irritates me. End rant. KEEP YOUR APPOINTMENTS PEOPLE-doctor, therapist, hair, nail, dentist, massage, etc. !!! Clearly, I feel very strongly about this. Ok, now end rant).
14) Forget to brush my teeth until lunch when I realize my teeth feel a little extra grimier than usual or if I'm being really honest, just forgetting to brush them altogether.
15) Feel like putting on makeup and showering before leaving the house is a real accomplishment.
16) Occasionally look forward to going to the grocery store as a means of social interaction and/or, on days when hubby is home to watch the kiddo, sigh...quiet time.
17) Forget to feed the dog or cat until they kindly remind me that their food bowls are empty by tossing their water bowls around on the floor. Seriously, this is a big one for me. I grew up an animal lover and the thought of any one of my pets taking a back seat to anyone else prior to and even during my pregnancy seemed like an impossible concept. I was a fool. My baby has my heart. The pets will just have to make do. They are still very loved and spoiled, but baby rides shotgun.
18) Leave the floor wet from above water bowl incident until I can get baby down for nap time. Then I clean it up if it hasn't dried yet. To leave such a mess would have drove me bonkers before!
19) Spend more time on the floor than on furniture.
20) Be grateful to wake up at 6 a.m. Seriously, the first time baby slept through the night I thought I was misreading the clock. Surely it said 2 a.m. or something of the like. No! 6 A.M.!!! Hallelujah!
21) Find myself singing Dora tunes to myself on a regular basis ("I'm the map. I'm the map...")
22) Picking someone else's nose.
23) Cleaning out someone else's ears.
24) Loving very slobbery kisses. P.S.  I got my very first intentional kiss from baby the other day and I could not be more elated. Be still my heart.
25) Be so concerned with the specs on every baby item you could possibly purchase. I used to just buy something if I liked it. Now I feel that before I buy something I must research it to the extreme (i.e. car seats, baby bottles, strollers, high chairs, swings). One can never be too safe!