never say never

After reading a post on one of the online boards I frequent, I started thinking about all the things I've done as a mother that I swore I wouldn't do before I had kids.  I can't even think of all of them, but here are a few:

* Let the baby/babies sleep in our bed.  When they were not sleeping through the night, this was the easiest way for me to get some rest and still nurse them.

*Forget to pee or shower because I was taking care of the baby.  Whenever I heard new moms say that they hadn't had time to pee or shower, I thought that was ridiculous.  Who can't find time to pee for 30 seconds?  And then I had a baby who needed to be held constantly, and who would get hysterical if I put him down, and there went the showers.  Oh, and I learned to pee while holding an infant in my arms.

* Continue to breast feed after the babies are able to ask for it/walk up to me and start touching my breasts.  Yup.

* Use food as bribes or rewards.  Sometimes I need to do something like, say, buy food for the family, and the boys are cranky.  So they get snacks while we shop to make the experience more pleasant for all of us.  And now I am trying to teach them to say words to get food, and it works.

* Let the TV "parent" them.  If it keeps them in one place for long enough for me to make them breakfast, and no one is tap-dancing on the kitchen table, then it works for me.

* Eat food off their tray when they're done eating.  I don't know what to say, sometimes I'm hungry, and cold macaroni and cheese is somehow appealing.

* Drive a minivan.  Eric and I agreed, what would we get in a minivan that we couldn't get in a station wagon?  Minivans are for soccer moms, right?  Well, you try squeezing your behind between two convertible carseats in the back seat of a small station wagon so you can entertain your kids during a 6 hour car ride; and then try packing 2 pack n plays, a double-stroller, diapers, baby clothes, and oh, right, your own suitcase in the back of that station wagon.  I hate driving a minivan, but I love having one.

* I also thought it would be no problem for Eric and me to take time for ourselves and our relationship.  I always thought that we would have lots of date nights or time to focus on our relationship.  Ha.  We both focus on the boys, and then when the boys are in bed at the end of the night, collapse.  Date nights are few and far between!

In other ways, I am definitely the total cliche of a "mom."  I wear yoga pants most days I don't have to work, and forget makeup or doing anything special to my hair.  I drive around in my minivan full of cracker and cheerio crumbs, say "excuse us!" in the grocery store aisles, and am grateful someone invented the hot dog.  It's a long way from my former life, but I am loving (almost) every minute of it!