Smarter Than I Think I Am

Our friends, Matt and Mary, had their second baby three weeks ago so last night Chris and I ventured over to say hello and meet their newest addition.  She’s beautiful.  And she smells good.  And she slept the whole time.  All very good things for a new mom-to-be to see.  Matt and Mary told us all about the baby – how she was adjusting and how the family was doing adjusting to her.  Mary took me into the baby’s room and showed me some of the tricks of the trade that she was using to make life easier.

And you know what?  I KNEW EVERYTHING ALREADY!!!

She showed me how to take two towels and roll them up with a blanket draped over them to create little bumpers so the baby felt secure and didn’t roll over on accident – I ALREADY KNEW THAT!!

She showed me how to swaddle the baby and told me that the swaddling kept the baby from flailing around and waking herself up – I ALREADY KNEW THAT, TOO!!

She showed me how to hold the baby when she had gas (flip her legs up a little bit to bend her at the waist) and how to hold her when she was bored (facing outward so she could see) and how to hold her when you’re just carrying her around the house (pretty much however you want) – AND I ALREADY KNEW ALL OF THAT, TOO!!

She and Matt told Chris and I that sometimes babies will just cry for no reason.  They have a clean diaper, a full tummy, they’ve been burped, they’ve napped, and yet they’ll just sometimes cry it out for a while, and it doesn’t mean that you are doing anything wrong.  Its just how they react to things – AND I KNEW THAT, TOO!!

And then they asked us if we had any questions about the pregnancy, delivery, or the first few days of having the baby home, and I sat there and thought for a second…and I thought…and I thought…and I thought.  And I came up with nothing.  Nadda.  I had no questions.  Now, I’m sure that questions will arise when the baby is here and I’m not planning to always be this smart, but last night when I was pushed for a question and couldn’t come up with one, I felt really proud of myself.  And I felt ready.  And in control.  And – more important than any of that – I wasn’t scared.

I’m not pointing out how baby-smart I am to say that I know it all.  I’m pointing it out and documenting this moment right now because I know that in a few months when the Beaner is here and its 4:00 AM and I’m crying because he’s crying and I can’t get him to stop wiggling so that I can swaddle him, dangit, I know that in that moment, I’m going to doubt that I know anything about being a parent.  And now, I can look back at this post and say to myself, “See?  At one point, you DID know it all and you’ll know it all again soon, so just hang in there.”

Self-proclamation is big with me.  My ego needs a boost every now and then.  Doesn’t yours?