The ten things that surprised me most about becoming a parent...

1. Nothing grosses me out too much. I knew that poop and pee wouldn't be a big deal. And spit-up from a baby is one thing, but I really thought that the first time I had to deal with true throw-up I would freak out and throw up too. But when it did happen, I gently patted the boy on the back. I cleaned it up. And I took it like a champ.

2. Discipline is hard. Like, REALLY hard. I thought I would be a hard-ass. I'm definitely not.

3. I still love rap music. Growing up, I didn't know anybody's parents that listened to rap music. I guess I kind of thought that when I became a mommy, I would wake up the next morning and stop liking rap. When I'm in the car, I still love to turn my radio up close to max volume, find the latest Lil' Wayne song, and feel the beat of the bass compete with the beat of my heart.

4. I am able to let go of the fear of germs. I remember being terrified of any environment my newborn baby was in. Was there mold? Are the chemicals I cleaned the bathtub with somehow going to stick around no matter how much I rinse the tub out and mix with his bathwater and harm his fragile baby skin? If I had to change him in the Wal-mart bathroom on the changing table, would get pick up some sort of freaky strep-throat germs? (probably a valid concern) These fears stuck around for a while, and it probably didn't help that he didn't get sick at all until he was 9 months old, when he had his first cold, because I kinda felt like because I had been so careful, he had stayed so healthy. But after he survived his first cold, and the next one...and I saw him pop dirty toys into his mouth before I could stop him, and survive, I don't freak out anymore.

5. I can't imagine hiring a babysitter. Now, I am NOT, I repeat, NOT dissing anyone that has found a great babysitter for their child(ren) and enjoy the occasional night or day out. But I can't imagine leaving my child with someone that I don't know, and I don't even have the first idea on how to find a safe reliable sitter. I didn't foresee this being a problem.

6. Sometimes your child hates you for no apparent reason. Okay, I knew this would come from a pre-teen girl, but sometimes Gabriel is in a bad mood, and has just had enough Mommy. Ouch.

7. You never get tired of looking at your child, and truly think they are the best-looking person in the world.

8. The amount of sleep you get at night is probably the biggest dictator on how your day is going to go.

9. I don't really care what my child is wearing. I thought one of the greatest joys of parenthood would be dressing my baby/toddler/child. It's not. It's more like...what is clean and temperature appropriate? I do put a lot of time in dressing him in what I think will be comfortable and not too hot/too cold. But other than that...nah.

10. Becoming a mother doesn't necessarily mean giving your body up. I gained 50 pounds when I was pregnant. I knew a lot of the weight would come off once I stopped eating like a crazed 10-year-old, but I pretty much figured I would be at least a size bigger than I was pre-pregnancy. I even bought some clothes in bigger sizes right after my son was born. I gave a ton of my old clothes away to goodwill and to my sister, thinking they would never fit me again. Which was true...for a while. But parenthood pushed me to do something I've never done before-which is eat healthy and work out. I wanted to change how I felt and have more energy, which ended up changing how I look. I am actually down a size from what I was before I got pregnant, and I feel better than I ever have my whole adult life.

Hope you enjoyed reading!!