Diary of a Moody Mom

Photo: R. Navarrete

Why am I so moody? Before I became a mom, I was normal—at least I felt normal. I got sleep, for one thing. I actually talked to my husband during dinner.  I read books! I had hobbies. I walked the dog…every day…or twice a day. I had time to watch American Idol…live at 8:00. So what happened in the past 9 years?

Baby Number One

It all started with one baby. It was pretty manageable except it took me 30 minutes to load up the car with the baby, diaper bag, two bottles, pack n play, stroller, seat cover for the grocery cart, extra pacifiers, favorite toys, and actually the entire kitchen.  My first baby got my attention…ALL my attention. I wanted to give it to him, and I had the time to give it. He was my world. If I needed a shower, he was in the bouncer chair in my bathroom. If I needed to cook, he was in the high chair with me in the kitchen. If I needed to spend the day going broke in Target, Kohl's, and Hobby Lobby, he was there in the shopping cart, munching on goldfish or playing with the 5 new toys that my husband had bought for him in the past 5 days…because how can you stop in Walgreen's and not buy a toy for your new baby?!!

I mean—I was not that moody back then. I was a little obsessed with bragging about my baby and reading baby books and taking baby pictures and making baby scrapbooks and painting nursery art and making keepsakes of every first in his life, but I was still normal—at least I still felt like me.  I see why some people stop at one. Life is still pretty normal with one child. You can still go out to eat. You can still talk at dinner with minimal interruptions. You can still shop and go on trips and pretty much do everything you used to do. It takes a bit longer to load up, but with careful planning as all first-time moms do, you can still get to church on time and make it to all your friends' kids' first birthday parties. You can still go on vacation because the baby can sleep in a crib in the hotel room, and you have not spent all your vacation funds on field trips and new kids' clothes and new kids' shoes and piano lessons.

To be continued...