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Tales from the motherhood
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Published: April 9, 2009
Motherly wisdom — it's both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you've accumulated years of hard-learned lessons; the curse is that you can't resist sharing them with others.
And moms do love to share their war stories. That stomach bug that just wouldn't go away, the time when Anna touched a hot stove, the day that Chris ate all that blue paint — no detail is left out.
At a baby shower last week, I got a funny little reminder of the girl I used to be before I became "Mom" as I watched the horrified faces of the single, 20-something guests who were listening to the moms discuss frequency, consistency and color of newborn poop.
In fact, I hazily remember a time when I wouldn't have even said the word poop, let alone talked about it at length in a group setting. How things have changed.
The reality is, parenting can be a pretty dirty job, and you get a thick skin fast. So that snot bulb that comes in the baby care kit doesn't seem gross; it just seems useful, because you remember the night it worked and your baby finally slept.
And you can joke now about how your baby had reflux and would spew formula like something out of "The Exorcist," because they're no longer a baby, and you no longer need a mop and a change of clothes after every feeding.
It's like a rite of passage — if you can survive everything your kids throw your way, you get a lifetime free pass to sit back and share your stories, and give all those not-yet-moms a little preview of the messy years and memories to come.
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