I Have a Brand New Life

I have a brand new life. It is much better than the old one. Here are some things I've learned about motherhood in the short week and half that I have been able to experience it so far:

- I may never sit down to a hot meal again. I feed the baby, make dinner, and by the time I can sit down and eat it, it's time to feed the baby again. 30 minutes later, dinner is cold, and I probably have spit-up on me.

- I may never sleep longer than 3 hours at a time again.

- The only being in the house that doesn't demand food is my mother. I spend my time around the clock feeding the baby, the husband, and the cat.

- When all you do is make food, you have way more opportunities to experiment in the kitchen. For example, for lunch today I made a spicy Thai carrot soup. For dinner on Wednesday, I roasted a whole chicken for the first time. It's so fun to finally have the time to really play with my cookbooks.

- I may never be sexy again.

- If it's edible, it's probably on my clothes.

- I forget basic routines every day. I have to remind myself to shower, then try to make it to the shower before I get distracted by something else I need to do.

- It does no good to beg the baby to go back to sleep. He doesn't understand me.

- I must get used to the baby giving me heart-breaking looks of betrayal whenever it's bath-time.

- The whole milk-production experience is way more gratifying when you have a baby around to eat it all.

- Elijah is a snacker. An ounce or two an hour would be lovely, thank you. No, really, I've had plenty. This way I get to wake up in an hour and play with you.

- He is a generally content baby. He does not cry for the sake of crying. If he's crying, something is wrong.

- He likes the turtle. Didn't have much to say about the monkey.

- He wakes up the moment he doesn't hear me. Good luck leaving the room for five minutes.

- His big, gummy smile makes everything alright.

- I can eat chocolate chips by the handful and nothing will happen to my waistline. I have a metabolism like a nuclear power plant.

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I have never felt more fulfilled as a woman as I do now as Adam's wife and Elijah's mom. There's something about it all that just clicks for me. I like my new job. My boobs have a purpose. I get to cook a lot (which is something I really enjoy). It's ok that I'm tired all the time because I'm tired doing the only thing that I have to do. Some people might think I'm being medieval, but I think of it more as being primal. I make food. I feed my young. I've reproduced myself and given my mate a son. I dunno. It's empowering, in an odd way. I'm the mama bear. Roar.