The Things you Forget About Babies

You would think that after having my third child, I would remember more about them.  The one thing I forgot the most has to be the lack of sleep at night.  You really start taking certain things for granted.

My other boys are 2 and 3.  At this point they pretty much sleep through the night and the 3 year old might visit us once a night to inform us of a bad dream and to attempt to sleep in our bed.  Almost makes one feel spoiled with so few interruptions.

At least somebody is getting his sleep!

Now there’s a whole new level of adjustment again.  Being woken up several times a night is something nobody who’s sane looks forward to.  Yet, I seem to have forgotten that this is a vital part of having a newborn.  Lack of sleep is truly a fundamental part of being a parent.

The whole commodity of sleep can be underrated until one becomes a parent.  Sure, before that you have a whole lot of late night partying when you have to get up early the next day.  So maybe you do understand.  Let me put it like this, when you have a newborn, it’s like staying up most of the night partying, getting up early and dealing with a hangover the next day. 

I know, I’m not painting the prettiest of pictures.  I’m sure at this point, though, my wife could paint a much worse picture.  But despite that, there’s a bit of adventure all over again. 

You forget just how small and delicate they can be.  How different it is to change their diaper versus that of a 2 year old.  Changing his clothes was even something I had to relearn all over.  Once again, with a 2 year old you don’t have to be delicate in changing them.  But you marvel at the daily changes as well.  It’s a pretty special adventure and the boys love their new brother.

Here’s to new adventures!  No matter how familiar those adventures feel.

The Things you Forget About Babies