When You Know You're A Mom

I went through the 9-10 months of pregnancy with multiple symptoms, most of them not enjoyable. And then I went through the life altering experience of labor but with painkillers. I nursed my baby and held her while she slept but yet I still didn't feel like a mom.

At 2-3 months we took MC to a surgeon for a consult on her bellybutton. As I was completing the paperwork it had a spot for relation to patient....and of course I wrote "mother." Then I turned to my husband, while looking down at MC sound asleep in her carrier, and asked him "we're really parents, is it me or does it seem like a dream?" This continues through the nights of sleep deprivation, the spit up, the diaper changes, etc. and then one day it hit me....

You know you're a mom when.... you reach into your pocket for change at Starbucks and find a pacifier instead

....you don't even what to know what that brown stain on your jeans is or where it came from you just want to change clothes

...the diaper bag is your new must have accessory and you'll forget the cell phone before leaving the diaper bag behind

...when you're out at a bar, etc. and see a very young person acting stupid you don't think, I really miss those days, you wonder where her parents think she is and if you should give her some advice

...you never use the rear view mirror to check your make-up anymore but to double check that your child is securely strapped into her seat and riding comfortably

...you no longer choose gyms based on the hot trainers and clients but the safety and proximity of the childcare area

...alone time has nothing to do with a spa day but more about using the bathroom without an onlooker

...choosing a mall to go shopping has less to do with the stores and more to do with how accessible it is for strollers

...sleeping in means you slept a little later today than yesterday

...your magazine subscriptions to Redbook, Cosmo and Shape have been replaced by American Baby, Parents, and Parenting

...social networking has left the bar scene and been replaced by your membership to a Mommy & Me group