The Things You Forget

It is funny all the things you forget from the time that you have the first baby to the time the second baby comes.  My wife thinks that our first baby was so traumatic that it erased my memory banks.  Our lactation nurse says that if my memory banks weren't wiped clean that I'd never have another child.  She always right.

Some of the things I had forgotten...

Milk Fed Diapers.  I had forgotten that diapers from a child on mother's milk don't stink.  They are still gross mind you, but I haven't lost my cookies yet.  This will come in time.


How To Swaddle.  This is key for daddies as we tend to do it better than the mommies do.  Yet, after watching one time I was right back in the thing.  Kinda like wrapping up a bum knee.  You have to learn to do this if you want the kiddo to sleep.

Ice Water.  I plain forgot how much water a nursing mom consumes.  Today I bought two more bags of ice just to supplement the ice maker (a jumbo one at that) so I can keep Marie in water.  She is drinking gallons a day.

Doing Things In My Sleep.  I'm just remembering that I was able to change a diaper and sterilize bottles in my sleep.  Walking around like a zombie was easy for the first one.  This time it is a little more dangerous now that Barbie parts are scattered all over the floor.  I keep several pairs of tweezers around to pull plastic toys out of my feet.

Cold Food.  Because I usually want the ever-hungry mommy to eat her meal, I often hold the baby.  This means that I am always eating my dinner cold.  Even after we can go to a restaurant I'll need to take the crying or misbehaving child outside and will have ice cold steak, usually out of a doggie bag when we get home.

Arm Cramps.  Holding little ones for hours on end can give you serious arm cramps.  Now I'm sleeping with my hands in my face because the arms won't go down.  The baby carrier weighs in at about 20 pounds.  This stretches the muscles and makes it worse.

Gas.  Mommies with C-sections have a LOT of gas.  I had to extinguish the pilot lite on both the furnace and the stove.  The good thing is that my oldest daughter has started a sideline selling hot air balloons to neighboring children.

Laundry.  Wash, wash, wash.  It is piling up faster than I can take it downstairs.  There has been a load in the washer every minute since we got home.

Dishwashing.  This is my single biggest pet peeve.  While I don't mine washing dishes and bottles, I'm doing three or four loads a day!  My poor hands are so wrinkled that I don't even have fingerprints.  The sink is always full everytime I go downstairs.

Last night I dreamed that I was at my private label rum factory in Barbados.  The first bottles were coming off the line and we were down at the beach testing them while steel drums were playing.  The warm ocean breeze was blowing and my wife was in a swimsuit and the water from the ocean was splashing on my chin.

I woke up and found myself drooling on the pillow again...