The Other Side

When Katy Jo was born a friend commented on my facebook, "Welcome to the other side." Now I know that when I actually delivered my baby and became a mom-- I entered the "other side." But, today I drove full speed down a one-way street into the "other side." No turning back- I'm in mommy land.

I wanted to hop into Gap, a luxury we don't have in Germany. As I parked my car I spotted a young hip girl jump out of her car and throw hr purse over her shoulder. That was it. She was on her way. I had to maneuver a huge jogging stroller, clumsily place the heavy car seat on top, all while shielding my baby from the sun and holding her pacifier in her mouth. Why don't they invent a pacifier head gear to hold that thing in place? Just an idea. Okay back to my mall outing... so we stop off at chick-fil-A and all is well and I have an adorable sleeping baby. Then as I'm searching through the baby clearance section at Old Navy my sweet girl is getting a tiny bit fussy. No worries, I'll just take her out of her seat and hold her for awhile. Well, good thing I did, because the next thing I know is that my stroller has gone lop sided and a kind older woman is bending down to pick up loose bolts as she bluntly tells me that my front wheel just fell off my stroller. What? My mind is racing, what am I suppose to do with this broken thing now? This disaster ends well only because of my handy dandy sling. (Thank you Steph!) And I must say that probably only the fellow moms out there realize just how complicated it is to juggle all this baby equipment (especially when it breaks and is unusable). Later, after treating myself to a Wendy's frosty I told Katy Jo how much I loved her and didn't mind the two trips out to the truck in the sweltering heat.

Just yesterday I was swinging in the backyard while holding her on my lap when she spit up right into my shirt. Yep, it was a lot and it went right down and in between my "baby-feeders". I'm allowed to allude to breastfeeding because... this blog is about the journey to motherhood. After this happened my father-in-law made some comment about how "it was okay because just think it couldn't have even happened two months ago." And he was right. I am so thankful for my baby and I am learning the ropes on the "other side." Did I mention I'm typing this with one hand as I rock my baby to sleep?