List: Top 10 Things I Appreciate More Now That I'm a Mom

Numero Uno:
Birth stories.  When I was a single lady, I could not have cared less or identified less with your birth story.  Now, I want all the gory details.  How many hours of labor?  Epidural?  Contractions in the front, back, or both?  C-Section?  Vacuum?  First thought?  Did Dad cut the umbilical cord?  Did Dad pass out?  Did Dad look?  How soon after did you decide you wanted another one?

2.
Child-friendly restaurants.  I was the young girl who would shoot you dirty looks if your kid so much as grunted in a restaurant.  Now I'm the mom who expects you to think my daughter throwing her food/plate/silverware on the floor/wall/table to think it's cute and shut up and deal with it.  My daughter is usually pretty good at restaurants, but she definitely has her limits.

Don't even tell me you wouldn't want to eat right next to this.

The third item:
Music with a good beat.  My daughter loves to dance, and she's got some pretty sweet moves.  Her Auntie jokes that before long, we'll have to teach her the booty-drop.  My hubby does not think this is funny.  Among Gracie's favorite songs are:  The theme song to Gilmore Girls (Carol King, God love her!), the theme song to The Office (do you see a pattern?) and I've Got Feelin' by the Black Eyed Peas.

IV.
Childcare providers.  I want to ask them every single day, "How do you do it?!?!"  But I'm afraid they will start to ask themselves the same questions, and then realize that their job is crazy-demanding and will either demand the amount of pay they are worth or just run away screaming, like any normal person would do.  They are angels.

Five-er:
Baby wipes.  Seriously, how did I ever go without having a box in my car, on my kitchen counter, on my bathroom counter, in every bag I own, and within 2 feet of my daughter at all times?  I <3 wipes, and I use them for EVERYTHING!

What's that?  A new candle holder?  Nope, just my mandatory box of wipes in every single room.

SIX:
Hannah Montana.  I've always thought Miley Cyrus was a cute little bugger, but now she entertains my daughter while not simultaneously driving me completely bonkers, and she is more of a God-send.  I absolutely hate cartoons, and I'm not real crazy about puppets or mascots or anything like that either.  Hannah is something the whole family can enjoy.

Don't judge.  "She's just bein' Miley." ;)

Lucky Number 7!
Small dogs.  I have two dogs who now reside with my parents - Rory and Stella.  Stella was my daughter before my daughter, but our house does not have a fenced yard so she lives on the farm.  Rory is the other dog.  These little dogs LOVE Grace, especially Stella.  And Grace loves them!  They are small enough that they can actually play with Grace without hurting or intimidating her.  Grace is scared of large dogs, especially really active ones because they are at eye-level with her and they always want to lick her face and inevitably she falls down and feels vulnerable.  It's just not good.  But she has a blast playing with Stella.  And Stella serves a double purpose of eating up all the food Grace has thrown on the floor! (see item number 2)

Me and my main squeeze, Stella, pre-hubby and baby.

eight.
Professional portraits.  I have never really liked these, and for my wedding I even said that I didn't want any posed pictures, I wanted them to all be candids.  Well, after about three months of trying to get a good picture of my little sack of potatoes, I began to see the benefit of professional portraits.  We had a set of family pics done last April, got married in October and had more professional pics done, and then did 1-year-old pics in December, and just now did another set of family pictures.  They are WONDERFUL, and when you see the pictures hanging on my walls, they aren't the ones I took.  Those go in a scrapbook.  The ones "suitable for framing" are the professional pics that I used to think were too posed and a waste of money!

Good thing I finally realized the value in posed pictures, eh?

No. 9
Food you can eat with no silverware & no mess.  This include cheerios, cereal bars (sometimes messy), english muffins, bread, graham crackers, animal cookies, fruit snacks, wheat thins, etc.  These items are absolutely priceless, in my book, and you can always find them in my cupboards!

And last but certainly not least, the Number 10 Thing I Appreciate More Now That I'm a Mom:
Mommy Blogs!  I had a blog a while back about my adventures with my horses, and I mostly read other horse blogs.  Almost two years later, I decided to look in to the Mommy Blogger community and I have easily found other women sharing my same first-time mom experiences!  Of course, I also read plenty of blogs of gals who are not first-time moms.  But the point is, I always felt like when you have a child, you become a member of this unspoken club...only, with the blogs, it's a spoken club! 

-Grace's Mom