Things I wish I'd known

1. Boys pee on you....all over you.  And I could always tell when it happened to Lonnie.  He would scream a very distinct "oooo" and step aside until Jude was finished peeing on himself.  Luckily, Jude didn't seem to mind.

2. Babies really don't do much, but sit there until they are 6 weeks old.  It's hard being a first time mom, and anticipating a bouncy baby to roll out of you, when in reality, they are blobs.  There I said it, a blob.  A hungry blob of joy and preciousness, but a blob nonetheless.  But, when you get that first smile, it makes it that much more rewarding!  Here's one of Jude's first smiles.

3. Doctors don't have the answers to everything.  Jude had terrible baby acne when he was 1 month old, but from 2 - 6 months, he had such dry skin that he literally lost a layer of skin on some of his face.  And in those places where he lost skin, discoloration occurred.   I don't consider myself to be terribly vain, but I was really having a hard time having a blotchy skinned baby who had three different colors of skin on his face.  And not only did it look bad, but he would itch and scratch it and be miserable.  We took him to the Doctor (3 different ones) 4 times over a 2 month stretch and one said it was eczema, one said some sort of yeast infection, and finally the dermatologist got it right with a staph bacteria.  Finally, he was diagnosed correctly, but come on.  Is it really that hard to figure out something like that?  I went in to motherhood thinking everything could be solved by a quick Google search or trip to the doctor, but much to my dismay, the Doctor doesn't know everything.  Here's Jude at around 4 months, with his poor splotchy face and neck :(

4. They will lose their hair, in the strangest ways.  I had heard of this, but no one prepared me for this mess of a head.  He lost all of it except for his curly tufts on top. 

Someone even likened him to Sloth from the Goonies!  Have a heart!  Poor guy.

When it did grow back in, it was even wilder looking.  People thought we gave him an intentional Mohawk.  A 6 month old?  Who does that?

And right before his first haircut.  The hair on top was 4 inches long.

5. Babies will sleep anywhere, and are MUCH easier than I anticipated.  At least our little guy was.  At first, I was scared of taking Jude out in public because, what if he got tired and yelled like a maniac?  What if we got in a traffic jam close to feeding time, what would we do?  What if other moms thought I was a bad mom because I had my child outside when it was the hottest summer on record?  I was a little paranoid about what others thought about my mothering skills at the beginning, but now, not so much.  We just do what we do.  And if that means napping wherever we are, then so be it.  He turned into a nap-on-the-go pro!

Napping at Uncle Waller's art show with Laura.

At a cookout.

On K Pa.

At the pool after his first swim.

At the ballpark.

At the Zoo "watching" the new seals and sea lions.

In the car

6. It will REALLY TRULY change your life for the better!!  You hear it from all parents; you hear about the hard work, sleepless nights, frustrations, but you would never ever change it for anything in this world.  Until it happens, you can't explain it.  Life with Jude is so much more rewarding and satisfying.  We couldn't imagine life without him and can't wait to see what the future holds for our little family!