And now, part 2…

6) Hormone outbursts.  My temper is so short this pregnancy.  With the Hoo, the dogs got the brunt of my totally irrational outbursts of emotion.  I could randomly cry in their fur, or take out my rage by screaming at them for eating all the baseboards in our rental house, or eating the back of the dryer, or eating the whole side of the bathroom door, or a huge section of the master bedroom carpet, or using the house as their personal bathroom….okay, so maybe some of that was justified.  Unfortunately, and to my great shame, the Hoo is getting the short end of my temper.  She can drive me so nuts by being, well, 2.5.  And then I’m in tears by the end of the day because I have yelled at her over being herself.  It’s a lose lose situation.

7) Doctor’s appointments.  You don’t really realize how damn easy it is to just go to the doctor pre-kiddo (or let’s be real, anywhere for that matter).  I could just go.  No adding in 20 extra minutes to park, get the stroller, get the snacks, the drinks, the distraction toys.  No worrying about potential outbursts.  No worrying about where you are going to stick the kid during the ultrasounds or appointments that involve a paper sheet & stirrups.  No wasting extra time & money to find a sitter or a drop in daycare place.  When you have to go 2-3 times a month, and to a high risk OB that is an hour away, it kinda wears on you a bit.

Baby shopping.  When you are first time mom (or maybe this was just me, but whatever), going shopping for all the cute little baby things you need is fun.  Exciting.  All the cute stuff you can match, the little clothes, the accessories, researching what is the best, etc-it’s almost like you are setting up your parenting style right then and there.  Now, granted, it quickly all goes down the shitter when you actually have said baby, but it is fun while it lasts.  Your next pregnancy?  Not only do you get to look at the swing you loved and realize that they make ones that plug in so you aren’t hacking into your retirement fund to pay for damn batteries, but going into any place that sells baby stuff for the disposable things that need to be replaced or clothes for a different season baby (yeah a May girl, then a Dec girl-not smart thinking) also sells toys.  And usually fish crackers, DVDs, and the bane of our shopping trips, balls.  Balls that send the Hoo into screaming fits of joy and fits of “MINE!”  She is obsessed, and she doesn’t sit nicely with them until we leave.  No, she has to start playing with them right in the store, leaving my eight months pregnant butt chasing bouncy balls down the rows of Target.  Yeah, I should have sold tickets to that hilarious event.

9) The hospital stay.  I’ll be honest, I hate hospitals.  I couldn’t wait to leave with the Hoo.  I wanted her HOME.  I wanted my own bed.  I tried to leave early with Pipes, mostly because Pilot was deploying eight days after and my family was coming in for Christmas.  However, once I found out I couldn’t leave (and ended up being a good thing, since the family practice doctor in training tugged on the cord and that caused a piece of the placenta to be left inside me) I started to realize that it actually wasn’t that bad of a thing.  I got my meals brought to me.  They were decently hot.  The nurses brought me water, towels, and other supplies whenever I asked.  Diapers and wipes magically refilled themselves.  Sure I had to watch two lame videos and get woken up several times to get checked out several times a night, but I was waited on.  My new hospital has even nicer rooms and better food.  And I have two kids at home.  I think I am going to beg to stay for at least forty-eight hours.

10) The pregnancy brain and klutziness.  Kind of ironic that I came up with this, because I have been struggling all day for the last thing to write about.  When you are first pregnant, all you have is the pregnancy brain for those minor slip ups and the klutziness.  It isn’t that overly bad.  Now add in a kid or two.  Not only is your brain affected by the growing baby in your belly, but you now have small children that like to suck the gray matter out before breakfast.  I feel like I have no brain left.  And being a total klutz- I broke an entire carton of eggs all over the checkout line while pregnant with the Hoo.  I would also trip over my own feet just walking.  Add in some learning to walk children, damn freaking Legos, Matchbox cars, and you have a recipe for disaster.  If I don’t start my day in a sleep deprived haze that is shocked out of my system by walking into a doorframe, then it will be a good day.

What have been some things that you have taken for granted?