Things that change when you have a baby

Addison Michael

Angela

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

(Wow, have I! I look at every little feature on her body, notice every little action and thank God for every single moment I have with her whether daytime or middle of the night.)

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

(Who knew that you could be so scared for someone else..and she's not even crawling yet.)

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

(In-vitro? What in vitro? All I know is that it worked and she's HERE.)

4. You respect your body ... finally.

(Even moreso, you forgive the way it looks after being pregnant. I treasure my stretch marks as a right of passage in my life.)

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

(So this is how mom felt at 1:30 a.m. when I wasn't home from my my first date with Michael, even if I was 26!)

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

(Have you ever hurt your child accidentally? OMG, I've never felt so small and horrible.)

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

(People are essentially good. I've witnessed the beginning of life and it is good.)

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

(Who has the time to hang with the stragglers? Life is happening and I'm going to be there!)

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

(She is my heart. I literally gave birth to my heart.)

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

(You jump at every little grunt or moan at night as well.)

11. Every day is a surprise.

(It doesn't take much these days to be wowed by the growing and changing of a human in the beginning of life.)

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

("Do you smell something? No? Oh look, it's a poopy diaper. Did you do a poopy diaper? What a good girl you are!!" Actual Conversation)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

(Why on earth would I want to look at myself anymore?)

14. You become a morning person.

(You become a whenever person...whenever she calls.)

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

(It's the only thing that enables you to be that "whenever" person. It's stronger than adrenaline and available at any time once you've given birth. C-section? No worries. Super mom will get off the couch the day she gets home, several times during the night to tend to your every need...no problem at all. She will go for days and days on minimal sleep and still pop up for that 3 a.m. feeding as fast as she can possibly move at that point. She has been endowed with supernatural stamina that will defy explanation.)

What a wonderful, difficult, amazingly important gift it is to be entrusted with such a miracle as a child. I love my Addison.