"I'm a Mom" and Other Startling Revelations of a First-Time Mom...

Mommyhood has brought up new lessons for me everyday...whether it be about myself, my son, or life in general. Some things I've learned have been more surprising than others...here are some that have really stuck out for me.

• Yep. I'm a mom. My son is now 4 months old and I still look at myself in the mirror and say "I'm a mom" in disbelief. Not in a bad way, I love being a mother...its the most fulfilling experience in life for a woman. But I still see myself as this goofy, useless knowledge-knowing, random movie quoting, lover of football more than the average girl...with a horrible short-term memory and a love of sarcasm. I am in fact all those things, but you don't normally think of a mother necessarily being that way. In a way I am more grounded, responsible, and domesticated. But I feel like I should be more...grown up. Older. Whatever. I still look like I'm 12, so I feel like sometimes people look at me as the babysitter instead of the mother. But in the end, I guess I'm glad I haven't aged like 30 years after becoming a mother. I hope I keep my energy (even though some days my low fuel light turns on before noon), sarcasm, and overall goofiness instead of becoming some serious overly paranoid parent. And I'm pretty sure that my son will start quoting Mrs. Doubtfire very soon after he utters his first words ;)
• I threw out the book a long time ago. I'm the type that likes to do my research when it comes to new things, and motherhood was no exception. I spent the majority of my pregnancy reading about baby development and sleeping patterns and nursing and blah blah blah. So you'd think I'd be a strict by the book parent after doing all that research. Well, I was for a couple of months at least. Then realized that trying to do everything 'by the book' was damn near impossible because there is no ONE book. You have 500 different people (and doctors) telling you what is best for your child and what to do in certain situations, etc. And most of their advice is conflicting against someone else's. Especially when you have family in the US and Syria...things get a little crazy. Well, no one knows MY child better than ME. And just because it worked for someone else's child doesn't mean its going to work for mine. I try to listen to everyone's advice to get ideas, but in the end I'm not going to let one person influence me all the time, even if it is my child's pediatrician. Cause my pediatrician in Saudi tells me different things than the pediatrician we had in the US (of course there are the key important things that are universally accepted that I do follow). So I'm winging it...and I'm totally ok with that. Its less of a headache, and hamdillah I have a happy and healthy baby, so I must be doing something right!
• I don't get grossed out by the gross stuff. I always used to gag when I saw moms letting their kids puke in their hands or having to endure other bodily fluids being sprayed all over them. Well, I'm now one of those moms. I mean honestly, you get to a certain point where you're just used to it. Maybe the first time I got peed on, I got a little grossed out. But then I got pooped and puked on afterwards, and it was just pointless to even care. You clean it up, change clothes (although sometimes if it's just some spit-up I just wipe it off with some baby wipes and not bother changing clothes...don't judge me.) and carry on with the day. Cause chances are, its going to happen again that day and time is too precious to be spending it gagging over some wayward poopie. (By the way, surprisingly my hubby is way more grossed out by all this than I am...I can literally hear him gagging when changing a poopy diaper!)
• There's dust on my hair straightener. Its true. I used to straighten my hair at least once a day to make sure it was perfect and no hair was out of place...now my hair straightener is in a basket collecting dust because I just don't have time to sit there and try to fix my hair every time I shower or leave the house. Speaking of showers...
• It's scientifically proven that babies puke more on their freshly-showered mommies. I quit being upset about this a long time ago. A washcloth and hand soap are my new best friends.
• My son looks at me funny when I have make up on. Probably because its on rare occasions that I have time to put on a full face of makeup...so in the off chance that I do, I feel like it takes him a while to realize its still me under there (and I hope he thinks I'm pretty since most days I look like a ball of crapola). 
• Having a housekeeper saved my life. My son's a cat-napper, ergo I don't have any time to clean. I can't even imagine what my house would look like if I didn't have a housekeeper coming to clean twice a week. *shudders*
• I may never fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans again. I knew I wanted to keep a few of my prego pounds cause I like having a curvier figure. But it never occurred to me that that would entail me giving up on all my pre-prego jeans. I should have known that the little extra weight would be in a particular..err..southern area of my body and that means bye bye size 2 jeans.
• One smile cures everything. I could have gotten 2 non-consecutive hours of sleep the night before and be too tired to function and be in the worst mood, and all of it goes away when my baby boy smiles at me. It's infectious, and reminds me that it's all worth it. :)

My baby Omar is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I am so thankful for having him and my husband in my life. I may not do things the conventional way, but I'm doing it the best way for me, my baby and my family...my son is teaching me more than I'm teaching him everyday, and that's the beauty of mommyhood.

The smile I live for!!