Pumps to Pampers: My First Year of Motherhood

Okay - not Pampers, because those were too expensive. More like pumps-to-off-brand-diapers-and-formula-bought-at-Costco-with-the-leftover-money-after-paying-the-scary-West-Coast-mortgage.

My first year of motherhood was crazy. Having thought I'd always work, I spent the first twelve weeks racing against the FMLA clock to get my late summer baby sleeping in his own crib and taking a bottle.

By October I was back at work, my easy bus commute replaced by an early morning ride with wails at stoplights, a very expensive parking space, and lunchtime nursing sessions frustrated by child care providers who cared more about my son's selfish need to eat than my own desire to breastfeed - they always seemed to give him a bottle just before I arrived for our lunchtime nursing session.

On Thanksgiving we moved into a new home - the one with the yard and the quiet neighbors (and dry rot and leaking walls), but no handy coffee shop downstairs, no gym in walking distance, no doctor's office and grocery store in strolling proximity. It didn't matter because I wasn't home much anyway. In addition to working full time, my position required me to travel. During my second trip out of town in a month, I decided in a Phoenix hotel room that I was done. I resigned a week later.

By the end of my son's first year I had morphed from suit wearing spreadsheet maven to a freaked out first time stay home mom. We had no money, on account of losing that second income, so there was no shopping at Baby Gap or decorating the nursery. There was no nursery. (In fact, there was no kitchen for a while, but that's another story.) However, my Excel skills came in handy when trying to figure out which bills to pay first.

So what did I do for fun with my baby?

Here's the thing - when you just have one child, your first child, it's really more like a pet or an extremely lifelike doll. You get to take the baby around with you collecting accolades. You get to go out to lunch with friends who marvel over your new toy. That's fun. You still get to eat in restaurants with your husband because babies sleep a lot, and those carseats don't take up much space. You hang out with your new baby-laden friends at the park. You go to the museum on free days and watch cheap matinees with a nursing baby on your lap. All this is fun.

Oh yeah, making him laugh. That's the most fun of all. You do anything to get your baby to giggle. And I made up songs, because that's how I roll - the stroller.

You even have time for occasional sex. This is fun, and yet, also problematic. Before you know it you are pregnant and while that's pretty fun, soon you have another baby. That's two kids - if you're counting. You are now a full fledged adult and card carrying parent. That's when the fun having gets a little more challenging. How about you? Rookie Moms everywhere are dying to know. These amazing women have put together a website to help new moms find fun things to do every day of the year. Oh how I wish I'd had their help during my first year. Check out Parent Bloggers Network today to read more stories.

ps - Happy Mother's Day, y'all!